Hi, I've done tweaks to the work-in-progress version 260 and this version goes to closed group of testers. 

If there are no major problems (null reference errors) then this version goes to open beta testing where you possibly have signed up. 

You will get the new version soon. I just don't want to send you a broken game. The version beta testers get will be still unbalanced work-in-progress version with some features missing, but it will be playable. And it will be balanced. And some of the missing features are to be added in the following days.

I get back to you tomorrow.

It's been taking way too long to get this point, but now there's finally a version that's gone through enough testing. Long story short, I've done two Unity upgrades, new Google policy updates, Playmaker system update, Unity asset updates. Removed code. Added code. All this "technical stuff" has taken more time than I hoped for. But that's now completed. While going through these technical issues, I've spent the last 6 months on building the gameplay and adding more content.

We are now going through testing with group of about 50 people. There were tons of bugs and during the past couple of weeks all game-breaking bugs have been crushed. I will spend few more days to add more features in the game and re-doing certain things that were not working due engine upgrade problems. 

Pics tell more than these words, so here's a few screenshots. About what's coming.

There's quite a bit of new things in the game, but the basic view hasn't changed much. Now there's one less button on the main screen, and injuries system has been changed. There's also "shelter" and "campfire" options available when location offers those to be built.

Pike Lake acts only as instructional type of very easy "let's do some fishing" type of scenario. Just for learning some of the basics. Swamp is a proper new scenario with much variety and different problems than other scenarios.

Hunting screen now allows for multiple ways to get food. There's dozen or so different ways to hunt or build traps.

Inventory has been totally redone. 

So yes, there are many changes but most of the changes are improvements or simplifications or adding bit more variety. For example the hunt screen now gives several more options - no more need to wonder "why I can spearfish but I cannot use fishing rod at stream" that happened in version 196. 

Open beta testing begins on June 5th. If you wish to join testing, then join the "mailing list" (link should be there on top of the page). 

Thanks for patience,

Juuso - Survive game developer

A new version 200 is right around the corner.

We are now testing the game to make sure it doesn't crash

The game supports 14512 different Android devices. I do not have 10 000 different android phones at my home, so for this reason I've gathered a small group of people to help me try crash the game.

Since the new version has tons of codebase changes (new location path system, new savefiles, new engine upgrade, 3rd party library removed and so on) I want to make sure all the buttons and features work. Game cannot be fun if it cannot be played. 

So far looks pretty good and I've managed to fix few problems that appeared. I don't have exact estimate but I'd guess this testing period lasts some more days. 

After "crash test" period, the "gameplay" testing begins

After the game is stable enough, it's time to enter "game play" testing. There is a group of 12000 players who will receive the beta version. This version is fully playable with all the features in it. 

For one week (or 2 at max) we play the game and I get feedback and I will fix any major gameplay issues there are.  

After "gameplay testing" it's time for public release

Once the gameplay testing is completed, I make a public release and then everybody gets the new version via google play. If "crash test" period is done by April 26th and then 1-2 weeks for "gameplay" testing, I'd say somewhere around May 5th there is going to be the public launch.

Stay tuned.

Juuso

P.S. To join alpha/beta testing please join Survive game mailing list.

Engine changes, refactoring

For the past months, I've been working on several new things, balancing, adding bit more content, changing firecraft and tweaking many other aspects of gameplay. One major thing has been Engine Upgrade. I've upgraded Unity engine to 5.4 and this has been mostly a good thing, but it also meant of upgrading Playmaker (3rd party system). In addition to tweaking gameplay, I've gone through some major improvements "behind the scenes". New location save system works better for me in order to keep on updating the game.

Another very big improvement is the new inventory system. This alone took a month to do with handling all the user interface changes, changing how items are done, redoing all throw away / use / disassemble / other actions. 

All this produced some garbage I needed to get rid of. There were unnecessary code that I threw away. When removing something, it might affect few other things that also need refactoring.

Back to this day... alpha testing

I'm gathering a group of players to test the game. First test round is about simply... button mashing. I want players to try break the game. Crash the game. Find any problems with it. Today I made a new build for you players to try out... and it turned out that a recent change had caused problems. Here's a chain of events.

Happened during the past 24 hours: 

- I checked out main menu SCENE that I hadn't touched for a while (in Unity, Scenes are treated bit like "levels" or "main menu" etc)

- I noticed a new error I had not noticed earlier. I wanted to get rid of it, and the solution I was presented was: upgrade Playmaker. 

- I made a backup and upgraded... and the error vanished. 

- But... another error appeared. I removed some bits of playmaker to get rid of the error and eventually it turned out that some changes were incompatible. 

- After some debugging, I decided that I will remove Playmaker completely. I would do any animations somehow differently instead. I was reasoning that similar had happened to me earlier: trying to upgrade Unity Engine is not easy if 3rd party software is not up-to-date. And bearing in mind it's been 2 years since I've started this project. 

- Anyway - I removed Playmaker. And this resulted in a dozen of problems in my game objects. I managed to fix all of them by removing some unnecessary code but few problems remained...

- ...and that's where we are now. I'm disabling rest of the animations and I'm building a new version. I decided to have a cup of coffee and write this blog post though first. 

What next:

The new version is upon us. I will fix those final few errors by disabling animations and I will get new version to alpha testers.

And then alpha testers can start mashing buttons and breaking the game.

After alpha testing (In a week or so), I'll enable some features and we go for beta testing where gameplay testing begins. That's where the juicy stuff happens. And after one week (or so) in beta testing I will fix any major bugs and then we go for public release of version 200 for Android.

And after that it's the IOS porting.

Thanks for your patience.

Stay tuned. Getting closer to release day.

P.S. To join alpha testing please join the mailing list. 

New version 200 alpha testing is beginning. Cool stuff coming soon. Stay tuned.

Hi there, 

It's already February, which means my estimate about "December 15 release" was as good as rotten meat.

Here's something I've been working on.

I've done an Unity engine upgrade from 5.3 to 5.4 which is a big deal. It should make game work faster, and it should fix some issues on certain devices.

One big thing has been re-doing the travel screen. In version 139 you could choose the next location to travel. In version 196 this option was gone. In version 200 I'm bringing back a choice for player to make. I'm testing how much information will be given (and fixing UI) but here's a mockup work-in-progress screenshot about the current plan:

I've also been working on adding some new stuff (gear mainly), tweaking existing gear, and fixing dozens of bugs.

Today I also fixed annoying "you see 2 video ads right in the beginning" which should from now on show only 1 video ad (and this applies to version 196 right away). That was a problem that happened on certain connections. 

I've also tried out Windows version (worked out of the box) and IOS version (I need to try that one again and do some code changes), but at this point I don't know when those will be ready. 

My next steps are to finalize development of version 200, get it to the beta community  and then we are closer to public release. Not giving any dates at this point. I keep you posted.

Thanks,

Juuso