Time for a Kablooey update! Tons of stuff is going on as I’m trying to make the September 15th deadline…

-This game will be the most graphic intensive game I’ve made (but if your computer can handle Spirits of Metropolis and greenTech, it can handle this one.) There’s real time shadows and shadow layering, color filters, environmental particle effects (such as steam coming out of the sewer covers in the morning), and a sound layering system I’ve never tried before. I originally wanted to use Game Maker’s built in doppler 3D sound engine (which allows sounds to pan over the speakers and warp in real time) but it’s just not working like I want. So the game will have simpler, but effective, panning sound engine. Parts of the city will sound louder and different than others.

-I’ve learned so much over the last few games that I’ve done…this time, I’m building Kablooey one chunk at a time, instead of one massive game. This essentially means I make the game engine for the HUD display, merge with the full game, then another separate engine for the sound pan engine, merge, etc. This game will probably have ten merged engines in one (Spirits only had two, the main game and the level editor). The only downside? The game will always be in a state of in completion until the very end, preventing me from doing any trailers or preview footage.

-For those wondering, yes, there will be a tutorial, but not a huge lengthy one that I usually do. I know that my previous tutorials in other games are too mind-numbingly long, and this one will be mercifully short.

Jonathan Geer is doing the music for Kablooey! There’s some slower parts to the music, but I thought I’d show a sample of the fast-moving track used during the mid-day part of the game:

This text will be replaced by the flash music player.

You can find his website at Jonny Audio.

-You might remember the original Kablooey logo looked a bit different than the one used today. That’s because I created the original logo using a generic istockphoto design and slapped a font on it. I always use temporary istockphoto designs in the preliminary stages of making a game (such as the original Spirits of Metropolis blue theme) and I knew that logo would always be temporary. Sara Gross was able to come up with a brilliant new logo using old fashion paint mediums and photoshoppery, and if you think it’s easy doing something like that, well, it’s not. As these great logo sheets show. (click for hi-rez)

You can find more of Sara’s work at her website.

Well, back to work I go. Expect more news soon!