I guess this question doesn't serve much of a practical purpose but I'm still interested to know how others are doing at this point.

I'm probably a bit behind, but I've got till the 25th before school starts again and I wont be working either.  So I'm pretty much going to spend every waking hour working on this for the next few weeks, then I'll go back to part time when school starts.

I'm done with all the core game play, I took care of all the profile/gamepad/storage stuff a week or two ago, and now we're just working on some final polish, revamping our art, and finishing up the menu system. If we have time we're considering adding in a local co-op mode, but I'm not sure whether we'll have that in time for DBP. But if not, we plan to add that and (hopefully) networked co-op in time for IGF as well as XBLCG.

We've been working on this now since early June so about two months of work. I generally put in about 15-20 hours a week (yes, that's after a normal 40 hour work week) and my brother the artist/designer usually puts in about 5-10 hours a week. So we've been taking this all very seriously and putting tons of effort into it. The hardest thing at this point is keeping our enthusiasm up as we near completion. We're both ready to move on to a new project and explore new ideas, but we've got to buckle down and finish this one up over the next few months so we can have a respectable offering for XBLCG when it goes up.

Well i've been caught by feature creep, big ones at that, not the kind of features you want to be adding 3-4 weeks before deadline. But im so far in now theres no going back. All or nothing.

Hoping we can get it bug free and playable in time for DBP, Got to now concentrate on polishing what we have once the new features are in place. Then we have to get it tested so it doesnt crash on the judges.

Oh and we dont even have any audio yet. So we're running real tight for time. I know how important the audio is so that is really concerning, but we'll see how it goes. Might have to get out the banjo a microphone and a bottle of jack daniels and see what comes  up :)

I cant even begin to calculate how much time we spend on our game its beyond a joke most of the time :) its a good job its fun.

And like Nick G we want to get onto our next project ASAP, itching to get on with something new. But must get this project finished first :)

I am still developing under Windows (xbox deployment a little too slow for my liking + I like watching TV whilst coding ;)). But hopefully switchover is a small part of what I need to do! I have a friend who is provide final artwork and we had a meeting this past weekend. Other than that the game is pretty much well into development. I chip away 2 - 4 hours a night after work. I am primarily still working around the core game mechanics but I still have a list to get through. AI is a biggy, trying to figure out how to code for 3 types of AI will be a challenge. And if I have time I'd love to get Live play in, but I really don't know if I will make it - that may have to come post-deadline. Then there is polish. Little tweens and animations are actually a ballache I find. Far harder than just switching states. But that's stuff that comes later. Right now, focus is on getting the game working for 2 players, local play. I think you have to be ruthless with yourself. It's very easy for me to imagine what my game *could* be with more time, more artists, more 3d know-how, but you have to be realistic. What do you really want to show off. What are the core things needed to make this playable. Focus and prioritize. Good luck :)

moneras s:

I'm still interested to know how others are doing at this point.

Core gameplay is done. To-Do list in rough priority order:

Options/Settings/Menus
Three graphic assets to replace
Sound effect mixing and normalising
Help system
Port to XBox
Multiplayer/network play
Resolution independence
Widescreen format
Soundtrack licensing

moneras s:

... but I'm still interested to know how others are doing at this point.

The main gameplay is (I think) in place. starting to move more and more on XBOX for play testing so usually a sign to me that things are just about there.

Things done (all bar usual tuning):

-    Core gameplay (including level progression and local co-op). I'm toying with the idea of throwing in some bosses (although time is running out).

-    Sound effects (although I have a habit of continually tuning these things)

-    Core gameplay graphics (Once again, forever tweaking, but core ones their and working)

-    Music (easiest bit, I did the music years ago!)

Things not done (i.e. hardly started)

-    Co-op tuning (Camera, Collision, etc)

-    Options and High Scores

-    Cut scenes (wanted to inject some humour .. not sure I'll get time for this now).

-    Play testing (Difficult to code and test at the same time, I guess I'll wing it like last year...  ;-P )

Old video (come some way since I recorded this) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7H1k2lu-4

 

Duckocide, I remember seeing that nad it looked like a great start - I can't wait to see how it progressed.

Wow... That looks sweet!

Who did your graphics? Animation and artwork are really good. Love the particle and heat haze effects(!)

Good Luck

arrogancy your game does look really good. I saw a video of this a while ago and had high hopes for it. Hope it delivers :)

I love the flashback/another world feel to it..was that the inspiration behind the look of the game?

Thanks for the compliments guys. My main goal isn't winning contests (edit: Although the added money and publicity would help - there's no denying that!) but making the game as fun as possible for everyone, so I hope it delivers. We work on it all day every day.

To answer the questions posed:

a) I do all the art and animation and music and writing and much of the design. My co-creator does all of the programming and some of the design. It's just two of us.

b) I'm inspired by everything. Earthworm Jim, Flashback, Castlevania, Metal Slug, quite a few indie games - and this game is like my love note to all of the games I enjoyed growing up.  It has variety in design; one area looks like Okami, another like Flashback, another like a sketchpad (and features homages to classic and indie games).

I'm putting together a demo for the contest and just to put on CC now, so hopefully you guys will enjoy it. In line with the topic, we have around 30 mins of polished, completed gameplay ready , but we want at least an hour for DBP, so we have a month to go yet before it's where I am happy with submission. I'm planning on the full game being 4-6 hours, but most of the hard stuff is already done. 

Earthworm jim and and flashback... :O Awsome!! can't wait

I went with a simple game design since I just started this in July and the deadline is in Sept.

Core game play done.
Menus done.
Level progression done.
Network play is in progress.
Graphics need some work.
Audio needed.