February 2012
4 posts
News and stuff
Welcome to the regular Proteus news ‘n’ updates post! Ahh, who am I kidding… maybe someday soon I’ll have a regular update habit. Anyway!
We’re nominated for the IGF Nuovo prize. Hooray! If you’re in SF for GDC, see you there!
In case I didn’t already post it here, the plan is to have a new website at www.visitproteus.com and a paid preorder open for...
January 2012
1 post
December 2011
4 posts
Oh yes: Teabags!
Proteus won 4 Golden Teabags at the #indievisiblity awards party last night!
This was weirdly overwhelming! I’d been tipped off about one of them (the “Best Placeholder” nomination) but otherwise they were a big suprise. Really touching, especially Notch’s nice message about Proteus - “using small tools to convey big messages that might not even be there”.
...
UDPATE
I forgot about tumblr for a while… need to get back into the habit! For now, here’s a quick “we’re not dead” post:
Currently we’re working on a content milestone (in a very loose sense) for the 20th: New animals, new “portal” effects and musical score and various refinements and improvements to how things are communicated. After that, we’ve a...
September 2011
3 posts
New Proteus site →
www.visitproteus.com is currently only a “landing page”, but will eventually have downloads, video, news, etc. for Proteus. Once it’s fully up and running, this tumblr might become more about cool stuff I’ve found, but I’ll keep the two sites connected.
Or I might find a way to integrate the tumblr with the site? Not sure yet.
Indiecade
So this thing happened:
You can read the full list of finalists here, and read a PC-centric write up from RPS here (the very kind words about Proteus at the end made me well up a bit whilst on the train back from London)
It’s amazing to be part of this. I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of great people that I only know online and catching up with friends who also got...
August 2011
3 posts
An ancient ancestor of Proteus?
I think this came up in conversation on twitter a few weeks ago.
About 19 years ago, issue 33 of Amiga Format landed next to my A500+. One of the coverdisks looked like this:
It was a fractal landscape generator. Even back then, the images had a weird grainy charm to them and I spent many days setting up renders and waiting for the results. At the highest detail it took about 45 minutes to...
Oh, devblog, I'm sorry I neglected you
I keep having good intentions of updating this on a regular basis, maybe even weekly.
Maybe I’ll try to keep that up for the next couple of months. Maybe something exciting will happen?
June 2011
5 posts
Making Proteus accessible
This is great: Information on how to make Proteus (and other games) playable with one-switch and other accessible input systems.
via http://twitter.com/OneSwitch
YouTube video roundup (??)
Searching for my old Proteus videos, I discovered a lot of “let’s play” type clips. I was quite blown away!
Here they are!
Part 1, Part 2 - These two are probably my favorite raw footage
Exploring Proteus - Another wandering-around clip
This one has some good portal action (and I just spotted a horrible cloud/rain bug that has since been fixed. The player was kind enough not...
Release plan: "Proteus EP"
We’re thinking of releasing the Indiecade version plus fixes, tweaks and a few extra bits and calling it the “EP.” It’ll probably sell for about $5. There’ll be a free cut-down demo.
Depending on interest and energy levels, we’ll make an “LP” version later with more content which will either be free or discounted for “EP” owners.
...
May 2011
7 posts
Indiecade Crunchmode
We’re planning to submit to Indiecade as a work-in-progress at the end of this month, or middle of next month if I don’t get enough time to finish the list of shiny things on my shiny new planning whiteboard.
We’ll be making a new trailer around that time too, since the current videos on youtube are a bit old.
February 2011
9 posts
Pre-GDC "Oh go on then" Proteus build
I figured I should probably link to the current work-in-progress build of Proteus, so here it is:
http://www.twistedtreegames.com/files/Proteus.zip
Controls etc in the readme file, but if you go for standard FPS buttons you can’t go wrong.
Stuff to discover currently include 2 types of “mildly interactive” creatures and 4 seasons with different music.
In-game music sample by David Kanaga
Proteus downloadable test build soon...
We’re hoping to release an “alpha” test/preview build pretty soon, and then fix bugs/add content for a full version next month.
Music preview and screenshots to follow…
January 2011
1 post
tumblweed....
So, not been posting much here then eh?
I’m currently working on a tactical RPG game, inspired by XCOM, Blood Bowl and Age of Wonders. You can find some development pics here but only certain elements are indicative…
However, in a rare fit of completionism, I’ll be going back to Proteus for a while soon to get it into a respectable state for public consumption, and add some...
November 2010
2 posts
1 tag
"Draco" - The Plot
So, I’m thinking of it being 2 main characters that have got left behind somehow (e.g. they were thought to be dead) when the entire rest of the population went on a mass pilgrimage (in a fictional taoic/druidic religion) to a spectacular event that only happens every 80-odd years, e.g. (1) The moons align*, causing (2) A lake to drain away (some gravity thing) causing (3) some amazing...
October 2010
6 posts
1 tag
1 tag
Collating some reference ideas for creatures and...
On a frenzied link-gathering mission to build up a load of ideas for atmosphere, creatures, etc. Might as well dump it all here!
http://danilevski.org/Gilgamesh.html
http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/art.asp
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Dreams_and_fancies.jpg
http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/h-p-lovecraft-at-mountains-of-madness.html
And plot structure:...
1 tag
finding a tumblr theme
As part of a warmup sequence to getting back working on this project (now that my wrist is heading back towards normal function) I’m trying to fix up my tumblog. One thing I’m trying to do is get a decent customisable theme (background image/colour, header image/font settable, etc). If anyone has any ideas, please shout!
August 2010
2 posts
“Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by...”
– Robert Louis Stevenson, “An Apology for Idlers” (1876) - via The Idler ;-)
hiatus & new website
This project is currently paused whilst I recover from a wrist operation!
Since the last video we’ve added a day/night cycle including dynamic music and effects, a “timelapse” mode and some basic water reflections.
Lastly, there’s a new wordpress-based site on the way. I’ll probably try and keep this tumblr going for videos, pics, links, etc.
July 2010
2 posts
The Celestial Sphere
I’m starting work on a geocentric model of the heavens. Gallileo would be upset.
After fixing a problem with palette interpolation*, I’m working on the day-night cycle. I’ve decided to implement a geocentric model, with the sun(s), moon(s) and stars stuck to a giant sphere that rotates around the gameworld.**
As soon as I started thinking about this, obviously I decided that I...
June 2010
11 posts
Playing with some creature sound ideas…....