Franz's Blog

Long Overdue Update

January 25th, 2008

It's been a while, so it's really time for an update to the old blog. Gubble HD is now sold using the "pay what you will" method. It's basically an honor system where people can download the full version and pay for it when they feel like it.

This method has some nice advantages, mainly that there's no need for DRM (digital rights management). It also allows a very large number of people to play the game who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

I recently spent an inordinate amount of time upgrading my technology. This meant getting a new Vista computer with a dual-core processor, a 1920x1200 montor + 1280x1024 side monitor, and a decent graphics card (Nvidia 8600 GT). Man, what a difference. The new system is much faster and better. The cost was reasonable and way less than the old system. The worst part was (and still is) the time and effort it takes to move the data, email, apps, etc. Still, it's well worth it.

Gubble HD is now compiling using Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. This is pretty amazing. Thank you Microsoft for making that compiler available for free. Before this I was still stuck using Visual Studio 6, a 10+ year old compiler.

This'll be the last entry in this blog. As part of the ongoing upgrade frenzy I'll be moving over to using real blog software, sometime next week.

Gubble HDAE Version 1.02 released today

December 19th, 2007

Well, it's time to release an update, Version 1.02, the first of many. I'm not planning on changing gameplay anymore since the game is great just as it is, but minor fixes are inevitable, maybe even major ones. So far, good. There was one major bug in Version 1.01, but the fix is very easy. If you're stuck on level 21 in casual, and you have Version 1.01, that's the bug. Email us and we'll email you the fix.

The next few weeks or even months will be devoted to marketing. It's very time-consuming to sell a "new" PC downloadable game starting with just a great game but having to do all the promotion, web-site design, marketing, etc. It's been quite an education for me so far. I'll be writing more about this issue in future blog entries.

Gubble HDAE released -- just the beginning (insert smiley here)

December 17th, 2007

Well, it's been 12 years in the making, but Gubble HD was released last week. This is the best game I ever made, and I've made a few over the past couple of decades, including Crystal Castles and NES/SNES/Genesis Ms. Pacman. You'd think it would be easy to make a better game after 20 years of experience and technological improvements, but it sure wasn't easy at all. Fun, yes, but not easy. Maybe it was fun because it wasn't easy. I'm masochistic that way.

When I look back at my peers at Atari coin-op, only a few are still making games 25 years later, and if they are making games they sure aren't actually writing code or doing real design work. Most are retired or have moved on to other industries. Many don't even own any of the modern consoles. This is ashame. Fellow geezers, get off your butts and play something that was released this year, not last century.

Sometimes people look at Gubble and see a strong resemblance to Crystal Castles. And while there's some truth to that, it's really a very different (and better) game. There's really no way to capture the essence of Crystal Castles without having the same trackball controller. Playing Crystal Castles without a trackball is like playing Pacman with your feet. It just feels very wrong, not that I'm crazy enough to have actually done that.

Speaking of crazy, If you've seen King of Kong you might have noticed Mark Alpiger playing Crystal Castles with his feet. Weird, but I was thrilled to see the old game get some exposure. Not that Mark is crazy, he's been by far the best supporter and promoter of Crystal, as he calls it.

Gubble was designed for a console controller or arrow keys on a PC. It's really all about the feel and the controls for me. If a game feels solid, that's half the battle. It draws you into the world in a way that no amount of good graphics, sound or story can.

Gubble Gubble Gubble

December 7th, 2007

3 Gubbles? Yes. First there was Gubble in 1996, though it wasn't released until 1997. That's a story for another day. Then there was Gubble 2 in 1998. And then there's Gubble Anniversary Edition in 2007. It's so much better than the original that it should be counted as the third Gubble, but it's not. Then there was Gubble Buggy Racer and Gubble for the PS1. We won't count those either. No, the third Gubble is: Gubble 3D in 2008 (or 2009). More details in a future blog entry.

Beta test closed, release on December 12th

December 3rd, 2007

It's been a very busy month, but the end is in sight. The game is now close to finished except for a few minor things like marketing information and tuning the easy mode. Testing has gone very well, with some really great testers helping out. The graphics look amazing, and the game is so much fun it's unbelievable.

I hope to have more time to do this blog in the future.

Beta testing continuing, public Beta November 7th

October 24, 2007

Well, it's time to take the plunge and set a firm date for the public beta. November 7th is in two weeks, which feels like a good estimate for feature freeze. In a pinch we can always sneak in a couple of features during the public beta, which will definitely consist of several versions anyway.

Featuritis is setting in a little bit, but it's the path of most fun, so it's a good thing. I'm putting in minigames (thanks to Eric Ginner for suggesting it), revamping the scoring (because the old scoring is just plain too simple), putting in a better save system (because the old save system doesn't work anymore with the new scoring), and generally fixing and improving a ton of things. Oh, and the game needs a tutorial to gently introduce new players to the world of Gubble and to show off the game to potential buyers.

If you're reading this blog, congratulations. You get to participate in the public beta for free. [instructions on how to participate removed, thanks to all the testers who helped out].

When is Gubble HD getting released? I'm hoping for end of November. It really depends on the testing. {update: it was released on December 12th, 2007.].

Beta testing in progress

October 9, 2007

Gubble HD is improving every day. Public beta will have to wait a while longer, probably another two or three weeks. There's just too much to do before it's ready.

The graphics are now 90% complete. It was very time-consuming to go through all eighty 3D studio projects, make sure that they work, rerender, and then go through the ten-year old graphics pipeline to put the animations into the game. The combination of true-color and 4x the number of pixels make the animations look great. Some of them will need some reworking because there are flaws that show up now that you couldn't see at 640x480, but most of the animations can be left alone.

I'm still using 3D Studio Max 2.5. It's just not worth it to change to anything else at this point. It still works well enough for this project.

There's a nasty audio bug having to do with midi playback. The current bandaid fix requires that players go into the control panel. It looks like it's only happening with a particular Midi synth, so it might not be all that common. The nasty part of the bug is that it's random. I sure do hate those random bugs. Every few years I get one, and it can be a real nightmare.

Gubble HD Anniversary Edition is now featured at the IGF website together with the other 172 entries. The odds of winning are low, but it was still worth entering. It's very educational to be part of this contest, and besides the publicity ain't bad either.

Alpha going strong

September 26, 2007

I've been extremely busy working on Gubble. First there was the problem of not finding the old archives, but eventually it all came together.

The backgrounds have all been rerendered, and the game itself is now in alpha at 1280 x 960 x 32 resolution. Man, does it look good. Here is an early alpha screenshot but it's really just a peek. The final version will look even better. Some of the levels are just mindblowing, and all I had to do is change the resolution setting in 3D Studio and rerender.

It's very tempting to mess with the graphics and bring them up to today's standard, but it seems just plain wrong to do that. Changing the resolution is one thing, but when you start to rework the models too much you lose the clean vision of the original. For truly new graphics people will just have to wait for Gubble 3.

The first public beta is now scheduled for next week (but I'm not promising that just yet).

On another exciting front, Gubble is getting submitted to this year's IGF. Go to the Independent Games Festival website for more info. Wish us luck, but I'm thinking that Gubble is way better than all those other games put together, but then I'm a little biased.

Alpha coming, Blender and Dunkit

September 12, 2007

Well, there's been some good progress recently. There is an alpha version of the upcoming downloadable Gubble ready to go, so it's time to make it available for testing. I've got some nice ideas on how to organize the beta testing. I'm looking forward to getting some feedback from people. The best way to develop good games is to involve customers and testers early and to carefully consider all input.

I found that Blender is a great product for replacing my old 3D Studio Max, Version 2.5. Max was the best thing out there back in 1996, but now the choice between Max, Maya and Blender is a no-brainer for a really small company such as this one.

Max 2.5 is very obsolete, but I'm keeping it around just to keep compatibility with the old assets. Amazingly I'm still able to recompile the old Gubble code without errors using Visual Studio 6 on my newish 2.4GHz Pentium. 10 years ago our computers were 1/10 that speed.

Steve's new game DunkIt got put on the website in about 5 minutes earlier today. DunkIt is a fun little 2 minute game. It's about as simple and easy as they come.

First Entry

August 30, 2007

This is the first blog entry. The Actual Entertainment website is finally getting some content today. It's a good first step. There's a history page and this blog page, plus the about page is new too.

This blog is basically the fault of Steve Woita who told me yesterday that I should have a blog. So here it is, Steve.

For starters, this blog will be about my game development trials and tribulations. Currently that means Gubble. The game is still good, but it needs some work to update it for 2007. The gaming world has changed a great deal during these last ten years. I shudder to think what we'll be looking at ten years from now.

Actual Entertainment