Games Hearts of Cold - Redemption

Hi Everyone,

Hearts Of Cold - Redemption

Here's a quick update for the new years progress so far.

I have moved on through the levels updating levels and have now reached the end Level 27. Lunar Surface.

Attached below a screenshot of the level which at the moment has just some basic content.

This is currently the second part of a single level The Moon. i.e. Orbiting Moon Base : Lunar Surface.

I am stopping there and now have to go back to around level 18 and Update again levels through to this end level as more content needs adding.....

e.g. More Characters, dynamic game play scenarios and general content updating and additions....

That is enough to get on with for the moment to get on with. Sounds like a lot of work though some of those levels need little work and others somewhat more. Adding more Characters, allies, friends, enemies, their behaviors and sounds (speech, story telling, instructions, shooting and alike) is the main consideration in fact......

I will keep you updated as to how I get on occasionally. I am running out of things that I can update, add or improve without extending or adding to the existing number of game levels (which i don't intend to do) so any progress is good and a step closer to a game release.

Episode 2 : (Homelands) of this project is another ball game altogether as it poses different challenges and enough of that for now.

I must get back to this now and get to work on the game.



See you soon with more...

Kind regards

Peter

 

Hearts of Cold - Redemption - Quick Update

Hi All,

Here's a quick update of where I am now.

All of these remaining levels have been updated somewhat and now I am updating them with more content...

23. BattlePort : Mostly done except a lot of Characters and other things to add. e.g Level has a lot of offices containing a shedfull of computer work stations and other furnishings/fittings, living areas and alike which require some non combatant NPC's to match up busying themselves Add more "Battle" AI's. Enemy NPC's and other AI Enemies....
Not really too much work - hopefully.

24. The Leaving : Final level on Terrestrial Earth. Mostly done except for Adding similar to above. i.e. just some Overall Updating really to add whatever additional content I can get in to make the whole level well just better
Again not too much work really.....
The hardest thing I have to do here is to optionally add the "Player" destruction of a non terrestrial element.

25. Stargate Earth : Not much to see or do here so should not take long to complete this one.

26. Moon Base : This level is now to be included in the first episode. As a staging post again not that much to do here.

27. Lunar Surface : This level split off from the level above as a separate level now to be included too. As this "Moon" levels extent is potentially a very large area it could as one might expect be developed in to quite a large complex level containing a lot of content and game play....which may not be included in the first episode and in such instance the second episode of the Game may start at the point the Player concludes this first episode wherever I decide to end it

Episode 2 : Homelands :

Yes I have some content and levels started for this following on from the Moon level and in fact would look forward very much to developing further the second episode as Scifi is my particular bag and right up my street. However not sure if or when I may get ahead with that in earnest....

First things first and see how things go me thinks

Kind regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION

Hi all,

Before I start work on the game today thought I would give a quick update...

Currently working on "BattlePort - The Leaving" level the last level on Earth and thought I would share a Screen Shot....

Not much to say here really but as a note:
You can see here two Allies and one dead enemy (of many in this location) and an Enemy Craft. This screen shot is taken in Editor test run when playing the game and as with most screen shots you have seen to date you may notice that the Player in FPS mode - is missing here. The Player with weapon is in Fact here "Shooting" but for some reason my two Editor screen shot plugins/scripts do not show the Player and often Particles in the game?

Later when the game is almost done and published I will be grabbing a new set of screen shots from within the published game and perhaps more videos to upload. They will be also of higher quality as I govern that in Editor Development Building so as to reduce the strain on performance in Editor test runs....

My computer is already working near its limits in Editor and this level being perhaps the most important level and being rather complex overall is stretching it to that limit...there's a lot going on in this level and I am running out of potential here to add much more. Its almost complete but will push it even further yet

After this level its just two small(ish) off world levels and the final "Moon" level to decide what I will do with and I am done.....Hopefully that wont be too far away.

Except of course the inevitable things that need to be done before any Release which could be a lot of work or not depending upon what condition I want to release it in... but that's for another time..I need to get to the end as outlined above first.



Regards

Peter

 

Alright, read the first posts about this title, think at least could say everything looks FABULOUS, and the story is also perhaps sensational, amazing work, graphics are also amazing, not sure the title of the stuff is also still homo2, anyway only got positive, or otherwise supportive words for all that's going on here . . .

 

Hi vintage-retro-indie_78

Thanks very much for the kind words of encouragement which are very much appreciated.

Here's another Screen Shot not seen before I don't believe



More to follow as I get closer to completion....

Kind regards

Peter

 

get a feeling this is a very personal project, and that it might have . . . vast importance also, for the maker here, so best of luck with this amazing title, and hope also all dreams come true // find the right place for this quality work, and also amazing content . . . .

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE

What I have been doing?
I have been updating the last 6 or so levels of the game again to the last level "Lunar Adventures" mostly adding and updating Characters (all types) and their behaviors and the dynamic sequences of Vehicles as they relate to level changes....

An updated screen shot of the lunar surface is attached below...there are currently 4 dynamic vehicles here currently...

Player ship vehicle, friendly ship vehicle (furthest grey) dark ship vehicle right which I have added to this moon landing sequence..this vehicle is an "Ally" vehicle which leads the Player, into the moon landing from the Orbiting Moon Station above There is also a terrestrial Rover so the Player can drive around the surface. Only two Astronaut characters here at the moment in this scene.



What am I working on?

As I am now working Off World in Space and wish to develop this level further somewhat - (how far remains to be seen)...then I have a necessity to update the game with some new dynamics relative to a Space environment....for Characters, vehicles and other off world type content....

I have been gathering together some new content which is mainly for use in Episode 2 of the Game but will be also useful in this Moon level too where the action will most likely be on the surface so not much different to the dynamics needed in levels to date....thus I am looking forward and have been working on new vehicle dynamics for including additional space control craft systems for Space scenarios...

Currently just added and still working on systems to add new Player vehicle Space Craft control for flight, space battles and alike, hovercraft, helicopter and possibly jet pack flight and other player controlled terrestrial vehicle types. This is notwithstanding of course any Player, allies, enemy and weapon system updates which may be required mostly for the Second episode. Lastly my attention is also drawn to the question of Off world Space environment generation and I have a lot of content already available for that so again game dynamics will play an important part.

I think that's enough work to consider for the moment and I firstly have to continue to Update what I have with any "necessities" outstanding mostly relating to this Moon level...and some work to do back on the 6 levels aforementioned....I still have some necessary work and some nice to have stuff to do omitted or bypassed to date. e.g. I should stop at some time to add (create) sounds/speech to many characters and scenarios and add them to the game...it's endless really but will bring it to an end before too long so I can get a game release which will be it is what it is at that stage - any more after that will be dependent upon may factors including my own and my computer systems "endurance" if nothing else

Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE

Hi All,

As I may be adding some new off world game dynamics to include in the game First Episode - Looking ahead I have done some work on building a system for such things that may be needed (ongoing)...

I have attached two screen shots which show some space environment content in a level The Red Planet (Mars).

1. Screen Shot of Player Craft and Enemy Craft. Currently the Navigation and Shooting system works though will need a fair bit of work to update and extend it for what one might call space battles. Currently Enemy craft can shoot at the Player craft and the Player can shoot via Gun and Missiles and destroy Enemy ships.

2. Screen Shot of Player Craft Internal Camera view.....





Now returned backwards around 6 levels from the Lunar surface to Update the levels as needed to the end of game once again.

Kind Regards

Peter

 

It all looks like a lot of work coming together really amazingly. That's some great dedication to make as many levels and also to add different varieties to the game play.

 

Hi Enzo36t,

Thanks for your interest in the game.

Yes getting there now. Screenshots really don't do justice to the whole which is indeed a massive undertaking with a great deal of concentrated effort and care being given to all aspects of the game. Playing the game is a vastly different experience to looking at a screen shot

Here's another screen shot taken yesterday looking back from the base of the upper Battle Port platforms looking backwards in the game. This level is just about complete now so will move on to the upper platforms - the The Leaving level shortly that should be completed too within this week which will leave just the remaining off world levels to concentrate on. i.e. Earths orbiting station, The Moon and Lunar surface, the first two of which are well advanced and the Lunar surface itself "Lunar Adventures" will be a bonus as it were and I will end work on that when I am happy enough is enough until Episode 2 of the game is underway where it will continue or not as the case may be depending upon the level of interest in the first episode....

Episode 2 would require more effort in brain power, endurance, time and money too even than Episode 1 due to the challenges it poses to a one man indie developer But hey I have already some levels under way....



Kindest regards

Peter

 

Hi All,

I have moved on from the Battle Port level (screen above) which was an endurance in itself, updated and moved past The Leaving level and now back updating the level Stargate Earth. No Enemies at all here and after enough of those in the previous few levels Stargate Earth provides the Player with a moment of Solace and a chance for some quiet contemplation before a flight to The Moon orbiting station and on to the Lunar surface the last level in this Episode of the game.

Stargate Earth should be complete shortly - within days and the rest of this Episode as soon as is possible all being well.



Kind regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE - Complete Game - Episode 1 Published.

Hello,

Now completed the current round of updates of the Game to the end of Episode 1 - Lunar Adventures level 27.

I have the project backed up and have published the full Game. I could refer to it now as Release Candidate 1 or an Early Access Version.......

At the moment I have started Playing the Game and making notes of anything I find that needs fixing.

The Game seems to have published well and I have not found any show stoppers or critical issues as yet.

I have seen quite a number of various glitches which need updating or fixing which however do not prevent game play but just impair the enjoyment of it somewhat.....I have only found once location where there is what you might call a must fix and that is one building that has some content which need meshes added and the levels nav mesh rebuilding so that Non Player characters do not walk through objects in the building. "Ooopps Missed that"

Not quite sure where I will go from here other than completion of Playing all levels perhaps more than once to find as many glitches I can find and fix them as necessary and re-publish, then test again....

I could release as is and that would be the easy thing to do but not the best idea me thinks

There are a load of things I could do to improve the Game but then there would always be more one can do.

Anyway I have to get on and complete my game testing - fix and re-publish and test again....

Here is what may be the last screen shot for some time while I work away at preparing another Publish....

This is a screen shot of inside the Moons Oribiting Station :



Kindest regards

Peter

 

Here a quick up date on HEARTS OF COLD progress for you :

At the moment I am in a relatively good place having completed the latest round of updates, Backed up the project and re-published the game and backed that up too for safe keeping.

I am currently playing through the game levels and making notes on anything needing further attention. Now to cut a long story short I could spend another 5 years updating and extending what I have but thats not going to happen and I suspect that Game players would rather see time spent on Episode 2 rather than endles updating of Episode 1. One could I guess always Upgrade the whole later if life would allow

Anyway the only major level work that could do with some effort would be the end level of the Moon sequence "Lunar Adventures level 27 the last one. Screen shot attached of the current level as it stands. I have added some more content here - which is not really representative of what it may end up looking like, as I am not at all happy with this currently as a Moon "Landing" site and have an inclination to do something more based on concepts in my consideration which would be more appropriate. All content in this screen shot may be removed and or simply moved to another location in the level and or disabled for the time being....Currently this is just not inkeeping with the rest of the game quality and something must be done about that

The Moon is a big place and needs a big Terrain so one can fly and otherwise move around and this level is currently composed of the crater area shown here situated in a Unity terrain of 2000 units sq. This is extended all around with an additional 8 terrains of 2000 Units sq so its a big area in total allowing for sensible amounts of gameplay....

Once my current testing of the latest published game is complete I will again run through all levels in Unity Editor and fix any critical issues if any I find that must be done and then concentrate once again on this last moon surface level.

To Update this Level will require my buying some additional assets and I dont have a budget for that at the moment (May is an expensive month!) so doing so is not a good idea but we shall see if the world is kind in the near future



Anyway thats it for now, Happy Game Making all.

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD progress...

I continue to Update the Game and re-published it today.

Currently testing specific levels in the latest published Game to check a couple of important fixes have been corrected and they have which is good.

I will need to again Play all levels and list any defects of any kind...thus far found one change of skybox which is not fading in correctly and one level where Esc does not display the In Game Menu which has a return to Main Menu button which is not critical as such as the F6 key returns the player to the Main Menu at any time if needed. Still these and any other fixes will be done.

I have been updating the visual display/quality of the game while working on all the other things and have changed the relevant content a number of times in an attempt to find the best compromise of display resolution and visual quality with respect to the impact on performance for game Players in consideration too of the included Game Settings Options Menu for providing a range of control for different Players computer hardware.....

This proves to be quite difficult for me as my changing the Game default settings display/quality of the game relative to my own hardware which limits the overall quality I can display myself while developing is limited. i.e. I cannot dev the Game in Editor for test run in editor at the Highest possible quality/display as I would grind to a halt

In the published game therefore the overall quality for the end Game Player will clearly be a compromise between the range and volume, and quality of content included by me in the game and the hardware and settings they can or have to choose in the Game Settings Options Menu when displaying that content for best quality/performance options choices. Nothing new in that.

Anyway I must get on but in the mean time here are a couple of Screen Shots of the Main Menu as it stands to keep you going



Main Menu Interface : Screen 1



Main Menu - Screen 2 : Level Thumbnails : Load an Individual Level to Play.

Note :
Start Game Button Loads the First level which is not displayed as a thumbnail choice.
There are 3 Level Thumbnail Screens displaying a total of 26 fully playable level thumbnails (27 Levels in Total).

Kind Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD progress...

OK Here's where I am at the moment....

Working on/Testing : Settings, Quality, Lighting and Performance in published Game.

I have been through all levels to give all levels consideration of the same and I am relatively happy.
All levels now use a single (the same) Post Processing Profile throughout I am happy with so I have some consistency as my benchmark.

Here is a Screen Shot from the level Future City Approach which makes a good Desktop Background to keep me going Bear in mind that the Game Settings used here are not set at maximum for quality and the screen resolution is set at 1360 x 768 so there is scope for users with good hardware to bump up the quality considerably.



I need to stop and backup the Game Project again shortly as a matter of urgency but for now firstly in the Level, "The Leaving" I discovered that my Player leaving Earth sequence which is complicated has messed up (again) so I have to fix that first and republish the Game again just to ensure that works correctly before backing up the whole project.

That's all for now

Regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD progress...Taking a break for the moment....

If I go quite I am working away...

I have been still working on quality, lighting and performance and going around in circles somewhat having pushed my computer to its limits and running out of options to find the best compromise. As I go I have also been updating whatever I can that I see I can improve on the content and dynamics and game play without it taking forever....

Having pushed my system to its limits I would be interested in what kind of computer systems users, devs or just game players around here have and if they are any lower end than mine? if anyone cares to comment

Here are my specs so you can see what I am working with and up against :

Device name LAPTOP-S5IMH832
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz 2.70 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.87 GB usable)
Device ID 26157F93-5C0F-488F-A6B0-FBC13ED08260
Product ID 00325-95994-53952-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Drive C : SSD : 464 GB Free 291 GB
Drive D : 931 GB : Free 606 GB
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M : 4 GB VRam
System Ram : 8 GB DDR4
Computer : Acer Aspire F15
Second Monitor : Huawei 24"

Great System but way under powered for a project of this magnitude.

Unity : A pain in the butt but nothing would be done at all without it

Kindest regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD progress...Its been a while so here's a quick update

Still working around 12 - 16 hours a day at this

I have made some quite major changes to "Environmental" considerations so as to improve the overall visual appearance largely in regard to the open world areas. e.g. Removed volumetric fog, removed Global Fog, Removed all fog related scripts from all Player cameras and replaced with new system. This has also improved performance to varying degrees relative to each individual level.

Continue to Update and add level content and at added one new building and contents.
Adding more NPC's as and where I feel a need. Fixing errors and issues.

Spending some time on improving civilian, ally and enemies behaviors and particularly the More advanced TSAI enemies......

That's all for now except for a screen shot from in game play showing some action for a change



More to follow ASAP.

Regards

Peter

 

From one Peter to another, this is amazing and inspiring work! I can imagine it has required a lot of patience given your current laptop build.

I have a custom desktop build I've been adding to over the years. The focus has been for composing music, but lately I have been trying to learn a bit of Unity development, too.

(Desktop build)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz
System RAM: 32 GB DDR4
Video card: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB
Hard disks: Lots, mostly to store samples for virtual instruments!

Last year, I upgraded my video card for the first time in 10 years... Much better!

You could look at some comparable games for their system requirements to get an idea of what might be reasonable from the player side.

Again, really inspiring to see your work and work ethic

 

Hi shadowflight,

Thanks for the reply...

My Latest game publish was yesterday and I backed up the project folder too.
Not play tested the publish yet but I reckon I am not far from a final publish now (relatively speaking) but i always say that until I publish and actually test

Today and until I am happy with the next thing I have to do - I need to spend some time optimizing any content that I can which has not been done to date for various reasons, e.g. convert and or resample textures, audio files and so on where need be and physically delete any unused files, obsolete (Not Used) level content and alike. I have to be careful of course I don't mess anything up when doing all of this. I will draw the line when I get fed up of this boring stuff and then get back to finishing of anything outstanding.....

Which to all intense and purpose is just to develop further the last game level "Lunar Adventures" Screenshot of which is somewhere above......

There is as I have stated previously a lot more that could be added to this game but that will have to wait at least until I can "Upgrade the Game" or perhaps wont happen if I move on instead to Episode 2 of the game

"Again, really inspiring to see your work and work ethic"

I have to say it is to me at least a fairly decent and fun game to play and I never tire of playing it as I go. There's always something happening I don't expect and though I know my way around the levels very well the behavior of game characters (especially enemies of which there are many) varies considerably depending upon how the player plays the game. One should not under estimate enemies which tend to become harder the longer the game goes on, save often, don't waste health and ammo (Collect as much as you can) as you never know whats around the corner..

Game looks really good now and Screen Shots really don't do it justice. I always miss the best screen shot opportunity as every time I hit the screenshot key the action I wanted has passed me by while I am also trying to stay alive

Still more screen shots and a new video at some time to follow....

Regards and thanks.

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE

Hi Everyone. It's been a while and I have been extremely busy working on the game so heres an update....

What have I been doing then? :
Updated all levels, backed up and re-published numerous times.

Most importantly recently, I have been concentrating on updating the last level of Episode1 : Lunar Adventures...
Updated the landing Zone (Screenshot attached) adding new buildings. Offices, Living quarters and the inevitable food growing Lab all with contents...

I have also added as you can see in the screen shot to the left a new vehicle - a driveable Rover Buggy (car) so that the Player can get around the Moon without havig to walk everywhere in a vast terrain unless of course you want too. The Buggy has a top speed of 180kph and a high torque so can surmount quite steep slopes.

I have added two new Zones and added some content to them :
1. What is likely to become a Mining area which could be a considerable undertaking to complete at the end of the day.

2. Importantly I have added a Space Port area with some content : Buildings and a Ship (Space Craft) which will allow the Player to get on board and leave the Moon on the start of its journey to Mars. Shortly after taking off the game will end and load the Game Over level. That is all functional so the Game can now end correctly.

What have I left to do?
Play the latest published Game from start to finish and check for issues or fixes that MUST be done if any.

Further Update the Last level Lunar Adventures : It is Under developed currently with just a few few Characters walking around doing, well nothing much.

1. I should add Numerous Characters with interactions and alike to the landing Zone
2. Add to the Mining Area content and add Game Play Characters. Civilians, Allies, Enemies
3. Add to the Space Port Area and add Characters and Interactions. At a minimum the Mars Take Off Ship should have some people inside who would "Pilot" the ship, as in the case of this ship the Player is an internal bystander

4. Update the Lunar Landscape with terra forming, additional texturing, detail and so on.
5. Following the above the whole level would need re-baking.
6. Update the Game Credits.

----------------

Now as long as I can find no critical show stopper errors the above list of things to do could be optional and as I can now as far as I am aware Play the game from start to the end leaving of the Moon so I could in theory instead....

Re-Publish the Game to the last update as of yesterday.
(as long as I move the Player to his correct location to start the Lunar level)

Release the Game.

Update/Upgrade the game following Release.

-------------------

Screenshot as promised. Here you can see I believe for the first time the Player arms and hands (Unarmed)



Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE

Hello all...I have continued to develop and update the last level Lunar Adventures and now have the basic content complete.

3 Zones : Landing, Zone The Lunar Mines and Take Off Space Port.

There is quite a lot going on with a decent amount of content and quite a few dynamic objects and Characters populating the scene....

Its a big place and I could add more Zones however it is already pushing the limits of what my computer can handle performance wise in some location situations, this given that there is currently only just 1 enemy character in the level all other existing characters being external bystanders at idle, or walking around and alike albeit some of which the player can interact with.....

All buildings really need to contain some interactive characters some of which should speak to the player for best gameplay....

I had republished it earlier today and performance is better in the published game....

Its looking good thus far...

I am not done Yet

I will continue to update for a while and push it as far as I can whilst looking to maintain or improve performance.

I am coming to the end of this and will move on to final tweaks and preparation for release as soon as I am able.

Anyway thats all for now, except the screenshot which shows a corner of the Lunar Mines.



Kindest regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION UPDATE

A quick update and screen shot.

I have been very busy of late working around the clock on the game dev.

The Level Lunar Adventures has proved to be hard work and I had to revamp or recreate some of the game dynamic elements like the Moon Buggy, Elevators and had some problems with the initialisation of some characters "Patroling" towards the end of the level. All sorted now.

I have also in effect added a further level as I have changed the Game Over (level) to be something more that a Game Over screen as it were and it has become Game Over where the Player character (proper) existing in the level can walk around inside a Space Craft which is on its way - destination Mars! This is where Episode 2 of the Game will start is it ever gets made. Upadated and added the Game Credits. You can see this in the attached screen shot.

I have a Published Version of the Game to date of Today which is to all intense and purpose complete.

What have I left to do? I will update any final things I am aware of I should do and put together a release version as soon as I can.

If anything heaven forbid should go wrong then the Published version of Today will do the Job

The Screenshot :



Kindest Regards

Peter

 

When, if ever will you plan to release? Just wondering.

 

Hi khos,

I have re-published the game again a little earlier today after having made some more updates to the Lunar Adventures level - the last level and have not yet tested that to see how its looking....

I have a total of 26 fully playable levels + the initial start level and the end game over level which dont appear in the individual Main Menu level selection thumbnails list.

I am at the stage that I am looking to release the game at the earliest possible opportunity. I need to test the latest published copy of Today to check the last level in particular. If I am happy with that, I should then Ideally test the whole latest published version of the game to check for any things that may have been impacted since I last tested the whole Game from beggining to end which was quite a while ago now so hopefully nothing bad has happened there ;-)

The problem with that is of course that even given no show stoppers or major errors show up I will always find things I am not happy with and would like to update or improve, however I have gone past that stage now and must ignore such and concentrate on a release. There will always be things one can add, update and improve and so on and they are endless.

I have a fairly extensive, hopefully enjoyable, fun and entertaining Game. Enough is enough for an initial release.

I will test out the latest Lunar Adventures level either tonight or tommorrow. It will take me a few more days to playtest all of the Game from start to finish.

I am hoping therefore that some time next week I will be looking at getting a release done....

I am not sure where or how I will release it - probaly Steam and that may take a little while.

Whatever a release "IS" on its way and just like the game itself one way or another given I and my health and computer stay alive - it will be done.

I will keep this thread updated with any further info about any release.

Hope that helps.

Kindest Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD

Quick Update. Published a new version of Game. Not been well and had a spell in hospital. Back at my station now but have to slow down a bit...Working on some support documentation for a release...

Lunar Space Port


My Settings


Regards

Peter

 

Hi All,

HEARTS OF COLD - Update

A quick update to let everyone know that I am still working on a release. Currently still updating things I find to do throughout that are either critical which are still popping up as of today due to my own stupidity when working in the Editor and I often miss out on reactivating stuff that I deactivate when developing or just minor stuff again I have noted previously but not updated when editing levels again useually due to something like being disturbed or interupted by something and forgetting things I intended to do but have not

I am about half way through testing all levels again and have a small list thus far of things to fix once again...Then I am afraid I have to publish and yes test again. Thats getting to be a bit of a bind but thats life I guess. Overall the game has improved quite a bit and is looking and playing well. Some Advanced TSAI ccharacter enemies that behave too erratically for my liking I have removed and replaced with other Enemies so the game plays better without TSAI misbehaviouirs

Thats all for now folks except the inevitable screen shot.



Kind regards

Peter

 

Hello Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD UPDATE

Just finished publishing and backing up the latest version of the published game which is V1RC4.

I had been through all the levels and Updated and or fixed anything I had noted as requiring attention and hopefully have not left behind and overlooked any "mistakes" I may have made along the way which seem to keep being the case

Editing can be frought with dangers due to so much being rather complicated....

Anyway I will now need to test the latest published game fully I guess as that's the only way to confirm all is as it should be and there's a lot of it I wont be rushing that process as I have been pushing myself too hard and need to slow down a bit so the "Doctors" tell me. (Fine chance of that me thinks). I am sure I will be back again shortly with feedback on this latest published version.

If all is well and there are no glaring issues then this one will become a release candidate proper. Otherwise it's back to the editor If there are any errors its likely to be just something I have missed at this stage so should not be too much effort to fix.

Of course there's lots of stuff I could do to make the game bigger or better, to remove unused (deactivated) content, optimize further and so on but I will ignore any of that if the release is stable and "works" from start to finish without anything preventing the game functioning or the Player having too much of a hard time

I will also continue to produce any supporting documentation for the Game. e.g. User Manual which is under way too.

Lastly for now the obligatory screen shot(s).






Kind Regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD UPDATE

Just finished publishing and backing up the latest version of the published game which is Now at Release Candidate7.

They have been coming thick and fast now as there has not so much to concentrate on.....

I have continued with what are minor updates, tweaks and fixes..along the way as always made some small additions including MORE enemies as is always the case....I think there are enough of those now. I do hope that as well as a good story and quite periods of calm and contemplation where one can just enjoy the atmosphere and environment any game players out there do like a Battle now and then where all hell breaks loose

Anyway I think I am Done!

I have not played through the latest Publish as yet and do not know even if I will....though knowing me I will do so to check for anything that prevents the Player from playing the whole game from start to finish. I have covered all aspects as far as I am aware that help prevent that. e.g. if you get stuck when driving a terrestrial vehicle then try and avoid driving over any particularly silly things like large sharp rocks and alike that the vehicle could get stuck on top of If a Player does get stuck then simply get out and walk - exercise is good for you! If for any reason a level change does not function then a user can load any level individually from the main menu. If a Player gets stuck themselves on any internal object polygons (e.g. fall down a place they cant get out of) then if they have saved the game frequently as they should they can reload the saved game and continue on. Yes. Those are some of the main things I can think of covered that could happen in any game.

Whats Next :

September Prepare a Release V1 : Release Date : TBC (as soon as possible) Where : Unknown (under consideration/everywhere).

And the screen shot : Urban Apocalypse



Kindest Regards

Peter

 

Hi All,

HEARTS OF COLD UPDATE

Its been a while so I thought I should give a quick update.

Current Status of the Game.

Game To all intense and purpose complete. There will be some very minor final things to update or tweak. Not fully tested all of the Game Levels of the last publish as I have been busy on other things relating to the Game.

Creating Documentation
Taking some Screen Shots from within the published Game.
Generating some Video clips from within the game.
Working on creating a Release Promo Video.

Working on Steam Release
Working in Steamworks and started the necessary work for a release at Steam.

As the latter and other release supporting work may take some time I may not be here so often but will let everyone know how the progress is going and provide details of when a release may happen and supply a link to anything you may be able to access or see at Steam or any other location.

Need less to say I will keep updating info here as soon as I have some to share.

And the Screen Shot if I can find one :

View attachment 1299084

Kindest regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD UPDATE

Hearts of Cold - Steam Page is now live.

There are some new videos and screen shots there showing up to date in game play and so on.

If anyone would like to have a look and leave any comment at Steam or Here and add the game to your Wishlist at Steam if you have one, then that would be much appreciated and would clearly help towards further development of the Game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2592320/HEARTS_OF_COLD__REDEMPTION/?beta=0

I hope you are all well and still busy on your Game Making.

Now lets see if I can find a new screen shot..



As always my best regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. QUICK UPDATE.

Yes its still ongoing. I have not died yet.....

OK I am currently at this stage :

I have prepared and just Uploaded a Demo version of the Game to Steam and submitted that for Steam Review....

Now I hope that I will get a response from Steam this coming week as to whether that is OK or NOT if they will require me to make changes to the Demo Review Submission and re- Upload and submit for a further review....which may be quite likely Who Knows...

I have set a Date for the Demo Release some time in November unless that will have to change due to their responses and how many times I may need to make any changes they may require...

I will of course always try and keep you updated and informed...

Now the screen shot this time will not be from a scene in this Game but one of a prototype scene I have started for testing some content for Episode 2, which is entirely a different matter and animal.

.......the screenshot simply is to test out some entities I have and particularly a Building I made a long time ago and only just again discovered hidden on my external backup drive which had been lost to me for years without finding it

The building can be seen in the distance right of screen shot and is a large kind of Octagonal shape which is effectively an Arena type structure with a corridor of rooms around its circumference. This could fit into a Roman type game but it is of course a SciFi Arena in this case which will end up in a Planet Mars Scene or elsewhere perhaps. It contains one new Enemy I have not used before and the Large Rocks seen are also new to HOC. I have more of them....

The FPS weapon shown is one of a number of new weapons also and may be updated later. Right now I have to concentrate mainly on the current game....and this is a bit of fun and relaxation as it is not inside Unity engine and less stress than the main game.



That's all for now folks..


Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. DEMO RELEASED ON STEAM

Hello Everyone,

Just to let you know that a Hearts Of Cold - Redemption Demo is now live on Steam....
Comprising of the first 4 Levels which will give you a good idea of what the game is all about and what to expect in the full game when it is released....except that of course will overall be somewhat more diverse and challenging as the game progresses.

The Demo can be downloaded for Free if you have a Steam account.
Link to the Game Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2592320/HEARTS_OF_COLD__REDEMPTION/

Feedback or comments welcome.

Kind regards

Peter

 

Congrats! Just as a heads up, be prepared for good and bad feedback, Steam players can be quite harsh, and this seems like a labour of love, you might get personally affected or misinterpret, I'd take any feedback with a pinch of salt and be proud of what you have created!

 

Hi khos,

Thank you for your feedback which I really appreciate....

The game is indeed a labour of love as it were with 6 years and around 9000 hours of investment of labour and more additional time if you include a great deal of work getting it up on Steam and associated promotion and so on with more to follow. It's a fairly big Game overall with 27 levels and is relatively complex.....a lot of dynamics, many hundreds of characters and so on

However, I am aware having developed and tested/played the game a thousand times myself that it is far from perfect having been developed by just myself with limited resources and indeed limited expertise, that it is not a AAA title and I do not pretend that it is so

I understand that there will be an unknown degree of negative response from some Players and that is to be expected. It is an indie Game made by one person after all.

That said I believe that overall it is a reasonable playable Game that at least some People will find interesting, enjoyable, and hopefully also fun to play. It is just entertainment and not to be taken too seriously. It is not reality

For me it is simply an achievement, a "creation", a long term goal in which a lot of effort has been invested and a desired result achieved. It could always be better but never perfection and I had to draw the line somewhere....

Now I have the goal achieved, I can Play the Game myself (forever) which is always something enjoyable as it is never the same and always a challenge even though I know the Game inside out (almost)....

A Release on Steam is secondary and relatively unimportant compared to the satisfaction of achieving the goal....

I had some difficulty in deciding whether or not to release the Game publicly at all and eventually decided that is was a shame to hide it away on a hard disk forever to be seen/played by just me and friends or family. Hopefully as said others will be able get some enjoyment or pleasure from playing it to brighten up their day just a little and that is an enviable objective too....

Not sure if you have or will play it (the Demo) but if you do then again your feedback would be most welcome.

Thank you again and Kindest regards

Peter

 

Good luck Peter!

 

H khos,

Thank you.

I hope you and your family are well and wish you the very best for the future

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. UPDATE

It's been a while since I posted an Update so I thought I should at least state that Yes the Game is still a Go in case you thought it was dead

I have continued to Update a number of things in the full game that I felt an improvement was necessary and of course also Played again both the Demo and the Full Version throughout to check the game play and functionality. As an indie game there are some what I would call minor Glitches that can be found but I am able to play the Full Game without finding any show stopping errors at least on my Machine/System

I had two people at Steam say they had some issues playing the Demo. e.g. Can't find the way out of a level. Doing so is easy and Game Players in this game have to put in at least a little effort when playing ;-)

After the release of the Demo on Steam, the next thing I had planned was to submit the Game to the Steam Next Fest which takes place in February. Not sure If that will go ahead yet or not or I will delay that until the one after which is Scheduled for June I believe. However I have a date set for a Full Release before that if that goes ahead.....

I will post another Update nearer any important announcements to keep interested people informed.

In the meantime I wish you all Compliments of the Season, whoever and wherever you are.



Kindest regards

Peter

 

Happy New Year to you all. Have a good one.

Kindest Regards

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. UPDATE

Just to say this project is still alive by the way

I have been updating the Game with a few minor fixes that I felt were important to make to improve the game play. As is usual I then needed to re-publish and play through to check all is still functional throughout so have to play from beginning to end. Then back up all again and so on. Done this many times of course....

I have a few more screen shots I have grabbed of late while playing through the game so below are a few of them....







Whats Coming Next ?
The Demo of the Game at Steam is due to be part of the Steam Next Fest Event. 5 Feb - 12 Feb. 2024. I wont be Live Streaming Game Play for the event but I do have a new Video of the complete 4 Level Demo Game Play Pre-Recorded and will make that available shortly.

Following the end of The Steam Next Fest Event I will then hopefully be able to Upload and successfully set up the Full 27 Level Game for approval by Steam with the Release to follow shortly after doing so. I will then finally announce the Current Full Game Release Date which is due in March if all goes well.

What Then ?
Well I have taken some time to work on some preparitory Level work mostly game dynamics for Episode 2 of the Game which may or may not be continued with as the case may be going forward. I also have some other projects partially complete. Main issue with continuing on with all of these is time/costs as they really require investment in both. Currently most of my Hardware is not up to the job any longer It's old and under powered, like me!

Anyway I hope you all have a good 2024.

Regards

Peter

 

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. UPDATE

Hi All,

Hearts Of Cold - Redemption. Steam Next Fest. Feb 2024



Kindest Regards

Peter

 

Hi All,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. UPDATE

Completed Full Version of the Game has now been uploaded to Steam and I have test played the complete 27 levels from start to finish through the Steam Client. The game plays well and I found no show stoppers which would prevent other game Players doing the same.

I have therefore today submitted the Full Game to Steam for Release Preview.

Hopefully I will receive a reply next week and if need be will update with any changes Steam may require so I can get a Green light for release in March if possible.

I will confirm the exact Release date as soon as possible....

I the mean time I am spending some time working away quietly on the Second Episode of the Game that may or may not follow later depending on circumstance.....

I don't really have any new screenshots relating to Episode 1. Instead I will try and find something from Episode 2 to show as I go....



Kindest Regards

Peter

 

Hello Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. STEAM GREEN LIGHT

Hearts Of Cold has been given the Green Light at Steam and is ready for release.



I have around one month where I will need to spend some time on marketing the Game to give the game a fair chance of generating some further interest in the game before release, as well as continuing with some more Game Dev

I trust you are all well and busy.

Kindest Regards

Peter

 

Ive watched the game progress and its great to see it in release form!. Nice job Pete, some great dev work right there

The best to you...

 

Hi warthos3399,

Thanks for that.

I enjoy playing the game and though it's not perfect and could certainly be bigger (27 levels) and better after 6 years going on 7 years developing in Unity I had to draw the line somewhere when at a complete playable state as it were. I still have a lot of ideas and so on for adding more content and levels and updating much of the game but have no idea how much more time, effort and so on it would take overall and whether without basically revamping everything from scratch too it would be worth the effort.

Really I make Games because I have nothing else I enjoy to do and I enjoy and get some satisfaction from achieving a goal. I originally never had intention to release the game publicly but was persuaded to do so by others and at the end of the day it's not much use to others stuck on my computer so, Someone may find it interesting, entertaining and FUN, which is the intention The game also has a story and a morale to the story if you like.....

The Game gets more complex, with various levels of difficulty and levels tend to get bigger and more Open World as it progresses and the Story develops.

The end is the end and not the end as it were as the story is intended to continue in Episode 2 ,if and when that ever gets made. I also have another large Hack and Slash Project under dev which has if I can remember correctly 23 existing levels currently standing which is going nowhere at the moment.



Thanks again and kind regards

Peter

 

Understand where your coming from, my RL situation allows me to devote all my time to game dev and i love it. I work for other studios/teams and work on my own projects here. You devoted years to this project and i agree its time to release it. I think adding updates (new levels, etc.) isnt a bad idea, but if involves complete re-write...no, you spent years developing it, let it stand on its own, its good, dont worry, lol.

I too have many other almost complete projects, 2 in Unity, 3 in UE, and a few from in-house engines. Its hard to dev and finish one project then start on the next, as you learn so much along the way that when you revisit one of those projects, you want to start from scratch all over, lol.

HOCR will do good pete, people will have fun and the best part, they will always have questions and comments and thats the part i like...

 

Hi warthos3399,

Thank you for your reply and thoughts on HOFR and game making which adds a perspective to my own thinking and I am grateful for that. Good to hear opinions from others.



This screen shot is from Episode 2 and the level is named Hearts of Cold from which the Game gets its name. Its a large level composed of 9 terrains only one of which is seen here. Currently all of the levels existing in this second Episode are a challenge as the level designs and content is complex by the nature of the beast as it were, requiring hardware much better than I currently have. I already have a lot of content ready to go in but much of it I can't use as it is as its far too complex for my Dev computer which will grind to a halt even if I don't . Still I continue on because I like a challenge and this one is no joke. A lot of trickery and optimization is needed here even to progress at all and that's not ideal.

Regards

Peter

 

Hello Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. UPDATE

Just 8 Days left before the release of Hearts Of Cold and I have been busy preparing for that and spending a lot of time continuing developing.

For an unknown reason to me some of the levels I have been working in the Second Episode project at least have seen a sudden increase in FPS which is very helpful for developing. I don't have to crawl around at a snails pace in Game Play Test and the editor is also somewhat more responsive to boot of course.

Been working on all kinds of things, level construction, adding content - new buildings (Living Accommodation and so on) and some new Characters and game dynamics mostly related to vehicles which will be needed to get around. So terrestrial and much flying about. Also including another Race sequence

Not sure what I will do with all of the Second Episode content yet. Some of it may find its way eventually back into HOCR 1 or will become a full Sequel. I am a long way from any of that yet as it hard and complicated stuff for me to do. Big Open World Levels in the main as they have to be really.....

Anyway I will continue developing onwards as and when I can and post some info and hopefully screen shots as I go to show development progress.....You may have seem glimpses of some of these levels before from Episode so I will try and find something interesting as I go to show without giving away too much as always

Here's some for you though by and large as in the main I have to flesh out environments first in consideration of how to design them with how I envisage dividing them up into various Zones where I can add content whilst maintaining optimization, in by and large big environments you may not see much content Yet as I turn it off and on so I can work away testing frequently more easily....





Thanks again to everyone who have helped my game making efforts and supported me with encouragement to date.

Kindest regards

Peter

 

Hearts Of Cold - Redemption. Full Game Play Through of the Game Demo.

Full play through of the first 4 levels of the game to get you started.

Helpful for anyone needing a tutorial of how to play the game, interaction, activating switches, opening doors, collecting weapons, health, ammo, finding security cards and more.

Regards

Peter

 

HOCR Not long now.

HOCR 2.

Below is a screen shot of what is at the moment the craft the Player uses to land on Mars. It has two cameras, the external view as here and a cockpit cam. I am using this craft as it has very little impact on performance if any when flying around using it. Whereas most vehicles driven by the Player I have used previously have a lot of impact and reduce the FPS dramatically while inside them and moving around at speed. Probably because they have very high quality and detail. I am not sure.

I am working on quite a number of different levels and hope to flesh out more quite quickly to expand upon. I have a Mars Colony base in game Level which I need to extend to well being bigger and more complex like most things in this sequel project. My brain is working overtime and I have lots of creative stuff going on in my head

I am needing a lot of things like buildings (enter-able of course) and highways, perhaps both on the ground and in the air and like vehicles mentioned above at the moment I am thinking that I may have to make them myself to my own design and spec so I can control the impact on performance if possible as I need a lot of them in levels. That will be a lot of work so I will have to see how I get on on that one.



That's all for now folks.

Peter

 

Hi Everyone,

HEARTS OF COLD - REDEMPTION. RELEASED.

Hearts Of Cold - Redemption. Is now Released and Available at Steam where you can Download the Demo, Wishlist or Purchase the Full Game.



Regards

Peter