Work Log

     Since the 1.0 release I have been continuing to fix bugs and overall improve the game. I am also collaborating with a team on a new project. Minor Update-1.1      A week after the release of the game I worked on the 1.1 version. The main features to pay attention to are the addition of Linux support and the option to have up to five save files. The other less flashy changes mostly include small bug fixes and minor improvements.      Support for other platforms is something that I've wanted to do for some time but never got around to. It was only when that I got a specific request for a Mac version that I realized there was real demand for it. So I looked into packaging for other platforms and I found that it's not as simple as I would have hoped. In terms of making a Mac build from my Windows PC, I had no luck. You need an Apple machine to build for that platform so that was more or less out the window. I found you could rent ma...

     On September 6, 2021 at 5:05pm MT, Mini Solar System version 1.0 was released. I had initially planned to launch at noon but a last minute bug with volume control of all things, delayed the release until the end of my day. This progress update will not focus on the work I did for the upcoming 1.1 release, but instead will be a post-mortem; recounting the entire development of the game. Overview      Mini Solar System started with the working title "Space Game" and development officially started on May 10, 2020 exactly 16 months ago to the day of me writing this. Development really began to speed up in mid February 2021 when I went full time on the project after deciding to defer university for a year; due mainly to threats related to COVID-19.      There was no real design goal at the start and was initially meant to be a way to display my technical skill and also learn more about the Unreal Engine while I was at it. At the begin...

    Preparing for Launch / Open Beta Post-Mortem      This is the last full sprint I'll have before the game officially launches in v1.0. I did a small amount of promotion for the open beta that got some people playing the game. I also made fixes and optimizations as well as a tutorial in preparation for the game's launch. Open Beta      I posted the game in 3 game-dev related subreddits and the project sharing channels of two Discord servers. The game page was viewed 72 times and downloaded 22 times for a download rate of 30.5% which I am happy with. According to the analytics page though, all of those people came from reddit so I will keep that in mind for future promotion.      I only got one bug report from the beta though. I assume because if you give the game to the public then most people won't be actively trying to break the game so I guess that's excusable. I did get a few questions though on how to play the game wh...