As promised, this week we're taking a look at a new gameplay element which no self-respecting Western would be complete without: the multi-purpose lasso. This will be one of the player's key tools, used for navigating the environment and ensnaring enemies. Programming wise, this is probably going to be the most complex part of the game, and for that reason, together with the fact that it provides such a large part of the player's experience, it's well worth investing the time needed to get it right. The video below gives a glimpse of the lasso mechanic in these very early stages: nothing fancy, but something we can see working and get to grips with.
Development Diary 4: Matters of Scale
11th May 2015
Boy howdy! Welcome back to Filly the Kid HQ, where we've been burning the midnight oil. This week brings some important developments in terms of game and world design; sometimes, in the excitement of designing a new universe, we can get a little carried away and end up heaping unreasonable amounts of work on ourselves, adding in feature after feature which, although they all sound fun, we just don't have the time or the man-power to implement. Over the past couple of weeks, the team has been doing some much needed reigning in (no pun intended) in order to really get to the heart of what makes this game fun. Check out the video below to hear about how the design of the game world has changed, and be sure to check back next week for some exciting gameplay updates.
Development Diary 3: Welcome to Paydirt
4th May 2015
May the 4th be with you! This week the production design and digital effects team has been blocking out geometry for one of the game's most important locations: the many-horse-town of Paydirt. This town will be the game's central hub, complete with saloon, Sheriff's quarters and equine townsfolk. At this stage, details such as textures and normal maps aren't present yet, as we're still getting a feel for the general layout and architecture. Check out the video below for a sneak peek of Paydirt in the making.
Development Diary 2: Piano Prototype
27th April 2015
This week is all about prototypes. Filly the Kid is currently in prototyping phase, which basically means we're experimenting to see what elements of gameplay we want to include in the final game (and which elements we want to avoid!) Everything at this stage is still rough and ready, as the aim is to get something up and running quickly without worrying too much about how it looks. In this week's video diary, we look at one of these experiments, and learn an important lesson: if the gameplay isn't working, move on and try again.
Development Diary 1: Rigging Tests
20th April 2015
Hi there, and welcome to our very first development diary! This week we're focussing on how to solve an interesting character design challenge. Most of our characters stand on two, quadruped-style legs, which looks nice, but gives us a few problems when trying to use a biped rig, as a horse's knees are in a different position to humanoid knees. Check out the video below to see how we got on.
