Satan Sam.co.uk

Haven’t tested them out on devices yet, but oh well! Some iOS wallpapers and/or iOS lock screens for your using pleasure.

Some of my games plus a Piney one!

For no reason I did this. Just flexing some dormant art stuff. It IS 2012 you know.

It’s not even finished. It’s just at a point where I want to do something else like work on the game!

Expect this to be a diary of a indie dev with splashes of IRL stuff.

———————-

Big Sky was launched in Dec 2010, but the poor viewing figures forced me to take another look at it. Looking back now I think it’s incredible I launched that game. I made pages worth of notes; things to change, things to drop, things to add. They weren’t enough though as the notes depict a minor update and not the evolutionary step taken from Big to Really Big.

In Jan I also finished watching Deathnote with Caroline and, as someone who doesn’t go for anime just for the sake of it being anime, I thought (and still do) it’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Over the course of 2011 I’ve watched it from start to finish 4 times.

In Feb I had a job interview at Team 17. Lovely place and people, it was so behaviourally up my street. In my nervousness I bumbled out that I made a game called Satan Sam, to which one of the panel said “Dirty sandwich?”. Inside I couldn’t stop laughing and inspiration for a bread based game was taking over too many of my processes to then dish out further witty answers. It was only a job for a testers role and I was talking too much about producing games and design theory – I didn’t get the job but this wasn’t the end of my connection to Team 17.

March. The shitty earthquake struck Japan. We did what we could. We offered all our sales to the Japanese Red Cross for a week. During this time we didn’t get a penny, we offered no options of giving us money. Some of our distributors also dropped their percentage and also price matched our sales on their respective platforms, which was really bloody heart warming.

April I wanted to take the biggest leap forward in the game yet. Narration. Alex (Piney) had bought a condenser microphone and was already singing at it, producing some brilliant music. My original plan was to have the narrator be a commander/army guy back on [your planet], it’s not something I expressed to Alex but the role of the talkative AI computer was born. For the better! I had some plans of fleshing out the narrators role turning him into a sly bad guy and completely flipping the game around but that was dropped for simplicity’s sake.

MAY! May was great. I upgraded from my low-end 17” 2006 iMac to the highest end 27” iMac. A period of great things was this month. I got to play the games I bought on Steam that I never could, and play the ones I used to on gorgeous maximum settings… and best of all I was able to really push Really Big Sky visually.

I had another job interview in June with a mobile game dev in Bristol. That wasn’t to be either! But each of these interviews did one thing – charged up my dedication to make Really Big Sky the best I could with the tools I had. I’m also not massively into this mobile gaming thing and for now I’d rather take a Vita or 3DS, should I be forced at gun point to only take one portable gaming system on the Orient Express.

June. I was putting the finishing touches into the release build of Really Big Sky. I’d stretched and pulled this scrolling, procedurally generated, twin-analogue stick shooter from something ultra basic to something quite fun. I’d gone way beyond the original design docs. There was no clear end in sight, I just continued to add new features, modes, enemies… all when needed. On the many play-throughs Alex, Caroline and I put in I’d fix all the bugs and tighten everything up – then add more to disrupt the balance.

Oh and at this point we submitted our little game to Steam.

Throughout all this the plan was to release Really Big Sky as our final commercial game and get on with our real lives. I had fun making Really Big Sky. We launched in late June and sales were, well, okay. We did everything expected of us and a little bit more. Those who bought the original Big Sky were treated to a free upgrade because we’re captains of mirth.

Then it all changed.

August. Can’t even talk about most of the things in August apart from one. Months back we submitted our game for the Eurogamer Expo not expecting to get in. Then we did. Really Big Sky was made in my bedroom over the course of 9 months and suddenly Caroline and I are booking train tickets and hotels in London.

At this point [a big dev+publisher] asked if they could get involved with the game and we had to turn them down! Mad or what.

September and Eurogamer. It wasn’t real. We picked up our ‘exhibitor’ passes from the expo, dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went on a night adventure through London. This is the first time since 2004 we travelled anywhere like this; hobbits in Mordor. But we survived and had some of the best, most interesting and friend-packed 6 days of our lives. Also I got to play Rayman Origins early which I consider one of the best 2D platformers ever! It’s top and cheap – so get it! We met some Valve guys, played lots of Street Fighter 4 and Bomberman, attended a charity auction, got lost in London, witnessed a fight involving a cross-dresser, felt like a king walking through waiting lines, met loads of great gamers and devs alike.

Just before setting off for Eurogamer we were invited to take part in Indie Royale. Mike, one of the organisers and all round captain of awesome, was rounding up great indie games to launch with. We mulled this over during our London trip and came back with an emphatic YES. We were to be the headline act of the Really Big Bundle and for such a game that we didn’t think much of in July was suddenly thrown into the spotlight. I think all the team members minds were blown! It was something we never expected.

November. We got the nod from Steam (personal dream come true!) and asked them if we could have some redeemable keys for the Really Big Bundle. And that was that! The sale happened and sold 30k packs. Again… we never expected this.

December. Those 30k players sure found some problems! Nothing we had ever heard of before too, so I’m currently planning an update to fix things and add some other things (like a pause screen, I KNOW!). But that’ll be out in Jan.

So now we’re not going to close shop. There are some massive things planned for 2012, for the Big Sky brand and other projects.

It’s been one hell of a year and next year is gonna be intense too. Happy 2011 all, let’s have a killer 2012 shall we?

Well the most intrepid amongst the internet figured it out. Really Big Sky is included in Indieroyale’s Really Big Bundle! A pack of 5 top games, all pay what you want, all on Steam!

Oh that’s another thing. Really Big Sky is on Steam! The actual real release date isn’t set yet so this is the only way of getting RBS on your lovely list of Steam games.

Get it here! NOW!

Games include Really Big Sky, Runespell Overture, Breath of Death VII, Chtulhu Saves the World and Eufloria!

I only just bought the bugger a month or so ago but I’m really enjoying this. I keep bumping into little things that make me smile. So in a non-fanboy way, here’s a fanboy list-

The controller’s built in battery

I like how there’s a nice little warning before the battery goes, I don’t get that on other systems. My Xbox controller just dies when the battery is low, and the Wii has a nice indicator on the controller itself – but nothing on screen.

Being able to just plug it in via USB and charge is great. The Xbox has a kit to do this, sold separately.

The rumble also feels nice and sharp and the Dpad is great, if a little spongy. But the most usable stock Dpad on any controller this generation. If only those analogue sticks weren’t so loose.

The interface is purdy

The Wii’s is quick and functional. All the things you own are displayed on boot.
The Xbox would rather you look at adverts and things you don’t own on boot.
The PS3 lets you decide for yourself.

It’s just elegant, and really very nice in 1080p. Everything is quickly within reach yet it doesn’t feel at all cluttered or messy. Who designed this? Q-Games or someone? Hats off to you Q.

Accessories!

My 27” iMac purchase earlier in the year came with a BT keyboard, one I didn’t need since I love wires to death. I’ve been using it with my iPod touch, but it’s also fully functional on a PS3. Also: the PS3 supports wired keyboards too. And being able to use printers and any bluetooth headset? Icing is well and truly… on the cake.

Misc

HDD as standard= jolly good idea. More A/V options, blu-ray and backwards compatible with PS1 games? Top.

If only it had…

Play with multiple profiles in multiplayer games, and have those accounts get trophies too. PS2 compatibility (I’d buy sooo many games). BETTER ANALOGUE TRIGGERS.

I’ve avoided the games side of things because that goes without saying. The infrastructure and platform are pretty cool yeah.

This has been me, over and out, from 2006.

(have an indev pic of snow in Really Big Sky, something I was testing and won’t be implementing)

I remember working on RBS and thinking “oh it’s well done now” and actually getting it passed by buddies and industry folk I chat with. But it’s never done. Is it?

Last week I posted 3.00 out.

Today I’m working on 3.01 which has some fundamental changes as well as the usual bug fixes. In 3.01 ice blocks also stop enemy fire, so they’re a nice way to ride out Hell Cascades.

So with that. 3.01 is coming. And some other killer (other) things (again).

I’ve pushed out 3.00 to distributors so the ball is out of my court and in theirs.

3.00 is pretty monstrous. Thanks to the Eurogamer Expo the update has centred around usability features and really refining the hell out of it.

So he is a the changelog, well, half of it. I didn’t bother noting all the small bugs I fixed.

- Remastered most of the soundtrack
- Pandora’s Box now triggers positive narration
- Added power up effect and warning to the charge beam
- Fixed some stat recording bugs
- Added new stats to the recording system
- Fixed a bug which spawned an explosion from the wrong multiplayer ship in 4 player co-op
- Reduced size of enemy laser collision spot
- Fixed a bug where erasing the stats wouldn’t clear Naked, Remix and Hell stats
- Activated the highscore par graphics on all modes
- Freezers and Shielders now move faster during boss 3
- New mode – HELL – focussed on bullet hell gameplay
    – New boss attacks
    – New enemies
    – Maxed out laser stats
- Moved the tutorial messages around to highlight the difference between drilling and the spin attack
- New effects to highlight when the drill is activated
- New effect on starbits
- Removed beat pulsing particles for performance reasons
- Countdown Mode now respawns players on deaths – every round will now last 2 minutes
- Ship respawns on Countdown or Retro the multiplier drops to x1
- Altered respawning rules to make it easier
- Lowered the minimum speed of planets as they fly in
- Added alert for solid planet appearences
- Slowed down meteors on low difficulties
- Reduced number of blob events
- New graphic for Black Blobs
- Higher frequency of Black Blobs
- Customisable Reticule (size, angle, type, colour, transparency)
- Death fade out 3x faster
- Added optional acceleration+deceleration to keyboard controls
- 1000 points on Pandora Box destruction
- Bonus points during Pandora effect
- Pandora Box opened faster
- Pandora Box destroyed when colliding with rocks
- Additional movement added to Bombers
- Spin attack and mines now damage blobs
- Dead ship effect now destroys enemies it collides with
- Multiplayer roster reset when controller settings are modified
- New mouse controls on main menu+mode select
- New dynamic ending messages
- Full mouse control on end screen
- Shorter planets
- Fixed a bug with star x-scaling
- New Mode – PEACEFUL?
    – No score
    – Unlimited lives (press B or Backspace to leave)
    – Plays all the music (even locked songs) in random order
    – Uses Classic mode parametres and shop data
    – No saves, no achievement, mode or song unlocks
- Deaths whilst spinning will set the spin counter back to 0
- Added Hell mode to Remix playlist
- Added new “Points Per Second” stat
- Updated particles
- Added shaders to Boss 4
- Reduced ship graphic size by 10%
- Fixed a bug that caused multiplayer lasers to move fast in blackholes
- Message added for players who have been with us a while and another for new players
- Reintroduced the rotating space feature
- Added the Super Stats unlockable
- Toned down some graphics to make it more playable when things get hectic
- Added shoot/collect messages to some items
- Decreased boss appearence rate
- Added names to power up pads
- New attack during Hell Cascade on higher difficulties
- Magnetcoil and Electromagnet have lower price ramps
- Enemies drop more starbits
- Altered amount of Spinner enemies generated (fewer on easy, more on hard)
- Added new animations to Boss 2
- Increased the rate which powerups are attained in Marathon Mode
- Fixed some layering issues on game over screen
- Increased hitspot of button icons larger
- Charge beam now fires when enemies are present
- Blobs now move and regenerate faster
- Strengthened AI
- Reintroduced Panic Events – moments where the AI will generate streams of enemies
- Lowered difficulty level requirement for some enemies
- Mothership lights are now slightly darker
- Fixed a bug that could trigger a Spike and Hell Cascade at the same time
- Fixed a bug that stopped Bullet Orbs from generating
- Added graphic to show when a Bullet Orb has stopped firing
- Reduced max amount of Bombs
- Fixed a bug that caused multiplayer ships to fly at different speeds
- Fixed a collision bug with Gas Giant gates
- Limited vocalisation lines to 3
- Orbital destroyed when Player 1 is a ghost ship
- Shorter Warp Speed blasts
- Fixed a bug where Player 2′s shield would break if Player 1 was a ghost ship
- Powerups get louder as you fly over them
- Increased the max speed of ships
- Added new homing mini-event
- Fixed a bug on the mode select screen where score values would appear too soon
- Drill warning sound
- Stopped Laser Planets from generating when moving too fast
- Bomb powerups will revoke any spread powerups for precision
- A random enemy will be generated if a Hell Cascade is empty
- New mode select graphics and descriptions
- Added some shaders to menus
- Fixed a bug on the main menu caused by going back whilst using the keyboard or mouse
- Added more difficulty-based HP to Boss 1
- Added a max value on enemy HP during Hell Cascade
- Fixed a problem with planet rocks

So then for the longest time I put off buying a PS3. I believe it had a god awful launch, it was supposed to be up against the Xbox but lacked achievements, centralised online play, no vibration motor in the controller, massive lack of killer title… rather like the PSP of yonder years gone by. And the PSP has grown into my fave current gen system.

But the PS3 man – it’s rather splendid. I love the interface, the Adhoc Party app, the quietness, how it integrates perfectly (technically and visually) with the rest of my Sony home cinema equipment, the free online play, use of REAL MONEY in the shop, cross compatibility with PSP games for PS1+Minis.

I’ve no idea why I bought an Xbox a couple of years ago! Oh yeah I do…

The Xbox was half the price!

Phil-OS-ophy thought of the moment – spend a bit more. Always.

Game stuff- Really Big Sky 3.0 will be out soon. It’s a monster update and one we’re calling the final (for now). It jumps the game modes up to 12 (I KNOW!), massive usability updates, some bug fixes. Should be out very very soon since it’s now feature complete.

I got back almost a week ago now but yeah, it’s been an eventful week too!

Eurogamer Expo was superb. Met a load of great developers, indie and otherwise, plus loads of great writers and fans. Caroline (my girlfriend, the second in command and unofficial booth babe) asked some guy if he wanted to play “No thanks, I already have the game, everyone should get it!”.

So what happened.

DAY ONE

Great train ride down to London. Spent watching South Park, chatting with Caroline, um, EATING. 2 hours later we were in London – my first time since 2000. Jumped on the tube and headed to the expo ASAP. Then on to the hotel! Tiny but clean.

Purple wristbands= ULTIMATE POWER. More on that later (includes Valve).

We then ventured into London to meet one of Caroline’s friends. Trip round Leicester Square then onto some kick arse Chinese restaurant that has rekindled my love for crispy noodles.

DAY TWO & THREE

The expo hall was huge. According to the people I spoke to who attend these kind of things, it wasn’t far from Gamescon or E3.

I’m merging these days together because we split the trip up. The first two days were spent looking around, playing demos, making contacts and spent some time at our booth. The Vita was great. Absolutely brilliant hardware, you should all get one!

One of the best bits took place on day 1. Seeing a huge queue, ultra massive it was, and Caroline and I acting boss as we flashed our purple wristbands and skipped the queue. It almost spanned the length of the hall itself.

I played most of the available games, some bored me (Uncharted 3, Driv3r) and some mega-ly impressed me. Rayman Origins was my fave game of the show and I absolutely can’t wait to get it, I even found a bug that quite annoyed an Ubisoft rep! So in a little way I can feel I contributed to a glorious game.

The new Sonic was also surprisingly good. I’ve always found new Sonic games, even ones that try to recapture the essence of the old ones to be… well… horrible. The DS Sonic’s try so hard but the physics, graphics and music just don’t cut it. Which is why I’m so glad the new one is actually decent. There is still a slight framerate problem where things just appear as you move fast, might be fixed by going to 60fps (which is why I hope there will be a PC version).

We also lived in the Retro Arcade section. Good gravy it was heaven! Competitive Mario Kart tournaments and speed running SMB and Sonic 1 events. There was even a 10 player Saturn Bomberman going on (that I won a couple of rounds on, even against the ALMIGHTY GOD OF BOMBERMAN Mr. Pineapple) and a Street Fighter 4 arcade cabinet (THAT I NEED).

We also noticed that the Eurogamer Expo Guide has 60-odd pages. It’s quite thick. It opens with an advert, then an intro, then there are some listings+content stuff, then we some double page spreads-

SKYRIM – some game where you’re a person OR thing who has to do adventures or something.

UNCHARTED 3 – some 3rd person adventure game on the, PS3 or something?

REALLY BIG SKY – what the actual F.

SONIC GENERATIONS – the new Sonic game.

Then it drops that and goes into the regular format of games and sections. Basically, it was awesome. Total honour.

DAY FOUR & FIVE

Srs business. Caroline just took over. Ran our booth for us perfectly, she pulled in players and explained controls and all that (because yeah, an expo is no place for an in-game tutorial). We met Total Biscuit around here and rumour had it Charlie Brooker was either going to visit or was there.

Not much to say here. We did loads of video and podcast interviews with various people, met various great journalists and internet people we (Caroline, Alex and I) know. So many hugs.

Drinks were almost all free. I just asked for a drink from the Palringo people and they would give me one (they were free to all, however). Then I was queued up for one of the proper paid drinks. A Valve guy walks passed and picks up a drink and walks off, I ask him “How?!” to which he said “If you don’t ask you don’t get.”. Tried it myself and BAM, purple wristband = free drinks.

We also got a few free games just for flashing our wristbands. RIFT (there was a huge queue that we jumped) and some other things that I literally can’t remember. My swag bag is huge! I also bumped into Valve again and used their powers against them – “Can I have a beta code for CS GO?” “okay!” also a t-shirt.

We later attended a charity quiz where we were giving away copies of Really Big Sky and the Lunar Pack. We gloriously lost the quiz part and even more gloriously didn’t win a thing in the raffle. But the atmosphere and people were so great we were given copies of Shift 2 for the PS3 (console that I didn’t own at the time) and some (I think rare) Pokemon Cards and some other games for the PC!

The last days were so packed we actually didn’t get a moments rest (other than sleeping!) from Friday evening till Monday noon.

THE RIDE HOME

We were comfily sat on the train home (9.30pm). All was going well until we stopped at Harrow for around half an hour. The driver noticed a body on the tracks – the station was declared a crime scene and we were sent back to London. Caroline and I stayed on an empty train whilst we waited for news.

A train was put on to replace 4 other trains that were meant to depart that night. Finally at 2am we set off. We got back in Manchester at 5am, back in bed at 5:30am. Woke up at noon and went back to buy a PS3 (as you do, PSN ID: jimmirock).

WHAT I LEARNED!

It was our first expo so we wasn’t sure what to expect. But next time – 4 wired controllers and a chair. The game is so great in co-op and so few actually get to play it.

Don’t bring games consoles. You won’t play them.

POST EUROGAMER!

We’re working on the big final content update for the game, which will be the last big one for a while. But it really is a big one. We’ve taken so many notes from the expo and how to fix the little problems. Plus 2 new modes (definitely 1 new, maybe 1 more if it glues with the rest of the game).

Also meetings with a publisher that are a bit huge. I’m sure there will be announcements in the not so distant future.

And not to forget but Pineapple gave me a copy of Pokemon Blue, so he wins a lot of mental stuff. Also Kirby’s Dreamland 2 but POKEMON. I’m going to have to raise a good team and beat him at the next expo I think.

Definitely the best 5 days ever. I’m sure I’ve forgotten loads of stuff. Too much happened.

OH AND DONT FORGET The Lunar Pack is still Pay What You Want on Indievania (killer site!)
http://beta.indievania.com/games/lunar-pack

We did a little sale for the Lunar Pack, a collection of Wake, Lunnye as well as bonus OST’s for all games PLUS a chunk of Tormi’s OST. And it did really well. But we were limited by tech, or rather our skills with tech, so the sale had to end.

But yeah man! Indievania came along and did a well good job of being great! They’ve given us a platform to bring back the Lunar Pack in Pay What You Want form, permanently!

So http://bossbaddie.co.uk it is!
or http://bossbaddie.co.uk/lunarpack for a better link.

We’ve also slightly updated Lunnye for this. Ever so slightly.