How are things progressing visually for Squadron 42, in general?
TL;DRVisuals are approaching the upswing of the development curve, with a recent long review running with only one crash, planetside locations, stations and ships still in development, and something planned for a year-end show.
So visually, we're pretty much on a curve up. Game dev, if I just draw a curve, it's kind of like this for a long time, and at the end of the process, it goes straight up to the top. So it's not a linear curve, but I think we're just approaching that crest now. But we've come in in the new year. It's always nice to get that break and then just really resurvey how the team's operating, how the teams are split up and what they're focusing on. We have our internal reviews as well. So it's a good time for us all to speak about the project, get a lot of stuff out in the open and just really work on that feedback as a team. But as for the game as a whole, it's genuinely really beginning to come together now. We had Chris here the week before last, and it was really refreshing to be able to sit down for what was a six-hour review, and at the end of it, the game, okay, it crashed once. That's sort of unheard of at this point in dev. And pretty much everything was beginning to work. One of the most technical aspects of the game was running, and people were doing their things, NPCs were doing their things. You could speak to people, have conversations with people. You're in the Idris floating around the system and looking outside at the epic view. And when you see these little nuggets coming in, it's really helpful and really motivational. So visually, it's just continuing to grow on that momentum now. Obviously, we've got planetside locations in development, we've got stations in development, ships, other ships from other races we're trying to get into, all sorts, a bit of everything. And part of the review process is also always really trying to make the most of people's passion. So I'd never want someone on the team to be working on something that they don't want to work on, if that makes sense. You're not going to get much out of them. So that's generally what's been happening. And of course, dare I say it, there's a lot of cool stuff being put together for a certain show at the end of the year.