Training mission out and free in the Appstore

Hi.

I haven't been updating this blog for quite a while but I have been working on the demo.

It is finally completed and already in the Appstore.

Here you have a few screenshots of the final version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some more speedpainting and new screenshots

Last night I made a lot of progress.

I have finally put all the models in game.

I have also been polishing the particles and the tutorial mechanics. I have particles with breathing and bubbles sound that look quite good underwater.

 

 

 

 

I also did some speedpainting at lunchtime today. The theme was "Dinosaur". I gave it the space related twist. It took much more than the 20 minutes that we are supposed to use.

Some more speedpainting

Hi.

I have been working hard on the demo and soon will release some more screenshots. This time I have also added particle effects.

In the meantime I will show some more speedpainting that I have been doing. I quite like the whole idea of Baumgartner's jump... It is like coming back to the Mercury times when space was more adventure than a science.

Completely off topic

Hi.

Today I enjoyed a bit of speedpainting after a very long time.

It is not space related but I am fairly happy with it so I will show it.

The theme was "Defender of the Realm"

Neutral Buoyancy Lab

Here is a screenshot of the swimming pool models. You can see the depth fog and the light caustics

I will try to export it into the game tonight and make a few screenshots.

ISS Mockup Greyscale

I have almost completed the greyscale.

I have to clarify that this is obviously not the full ISS and that some of the textures are based on the mockup version that NASA has in the Neutral Buoyancy lab instead of the real thing.

 

 

 

 

ISS Panel work complete

I finally completed the panel work in the ISS. This is the most tedious bit of texturing because you have to be quite methodical finding the reference and the geometry in the texture page.

Now starts the fun bit of painting the greyscale.

 

 

 

Tutorial Version

Hi.

I have been working on the tutorial version of the game. Slowly but surely.

A few people don't seem to like the controls or maybe don't spend the time to learn them. That is why I am working on this demo.

I thought that to make it interesting for everybody I could make the training in the Neutral Bouyancy Lab environment. That is the swimming pool that Nasa has to replicate zero G conditions.

Here are a few screenshots.


One shot ingame without textures

 

And a few screens of the ISS mockup texturing for the training demo. I start the process by identifying the panels. You can see more of my texturing process in previous posts.

 

 

 

 

Back to the ISS

Hi.

I am juggling a few tasks of the development. The only thing I am going to reveal at the moment is that the tutorial I am working on requires that I work a bit more on the ISS.

So here are a few screens of the progress. Not much but I made this game with thousands of little steps.

Training missions mechanics

Hi.

I have the tutorial mechanics working. They had to be created from scratch as the game didn't have any system that allowed me pause the game, have a custom info message and point to which button to press to do something in particular.

The training will include a mission that guides you through the movement and rotation mechanics, a waypoint based mission and then a free flight environment with a few obstacles to fly around so you can master your skills.

I will have to model a few objects for this but I think it is worth the extra effort instead of just making the tutorial in one of the current game environments.

Back from Holidays

Hi.

I am back from a long summer break and I have a long queue of great things to implement.

I  have been suggested to make training missions in the game and after many people complaining about how difficult it is to play I think I have to include them.

Most of the people spend the time necessary to learn how to play but many others give up too soon.

I am going to add a twist to the training too so everybody can enjoy the game and there will be something new for everybody :)

Crashes fixed

Hi

I have been talking to some of the people who experienced crashes and had contacted me about it.

It looks like the update has fixed their problems and haven´t had a problem since.

Hurray.

Update 1.1 already released

Hi.

The first update is out there.

The game is the same but I have modified the loading process to improve memory use. There is also an option to reduce the memory even more in the "Space Centre" screen.

I hope this solves the crashing issues.

Leave a review in the AppStore

Hi. Do you like the game?

If you have played the game, liked it and think it deserves it, please support it by leaving a review in the AppStore.

I have a few 5 star reviews from people that understand exactly what I intended with this game and liked it.

I also have a few reviews from people who just don't like the game and that is also fair enough.

The people with crashes are obviously entitled to complain and give a bad score but, I have seen reviews with crashing issues in many games with hundreds of positive reviews, which makes me think that it might not be game specific but something more device related.

I have been working on fixing any memory issues to improve the loading and avoid crashes for the few people with problems. I hope that the update fixes these issues and people with "crashing" reviews play the game, like it and change their reviews if they think it is worth it.

I will make a post as soon as the update is available. It is currently still in Apple's hands, waiting for review.

ISS modelling resumed

After submitting the update I have resumed modelling the ISS.

I have only done four modules, of god knows how many, but it already looks interesting.

Player's and Website's reviews

AppSpy made this nice video review of the game.

I quite like that many of the websites reviewing the game understand that it is a slow paced experience and not the usual space combat flight game where you pilot crafts that behave like planes.

You can see in the reviews of people in the appstore that those who want a realistic experience love the game while those that wanted a quick pick and play game hate it...

I also got a few strange reviews where they say the game is amazing, it looks and plays great and then give 2 stars because is not for iPad. I am glad that they liked the game but I don't understand why they give it a low score for something that is not. It is like saying Uncharted is not that good because you can't play it in Xbox. It has taken me long enough to make it on my own for one platform....give me some time!!!

Thanks to everybody that has taken the time to write any reviews (positive and negative) in the appstore. I have read them all.

For those who liked the game. Thanks. It makes it worth all the effort knowing that some people got from the game exactly the experience I wanted to replicate and share.

For those with comments on how to improve or change the game. I have taken in consideration many of the suggestions and I will investigate them. I am not too keen in the joysticks though... Comments?

For those with crashes. I have uploaded the first update and should address this issue. I have optimised the loading and memory.

For the one who complained that when leaving the game to pick up a call, the game progress was lost....With the new update, not anymore. 

Let me know anything you want, like or dislike from the game and help me make it better. I can't promise that I will do everything I am suggested but I will definitely think about it.

Update waiting for review

After a few days fixing internet connections (again) I have successfully uploaded the update.

For most people it shouldn't make a difference and would run the same as before. For those with loading issues it should fix memory problems at loading.

If it still crashes there is an option to optimise the loading even more with a button in the new "Space centre" screen.

Even then, you shouldn't note any difference in the game and the art.

I hope it is reviewed quickly enough and be ready soon.

I would like to apologise to those who got the game and haven't been able to play it yet. I hope this update fixes your problems.

ISS model dimensions

I have been working on the first update and now it is finished.

Update:
I have made a small mistake and need to correct it before sending the update. Should be fixed and sent by tomorrow. This proves that you need to test and retest your work.
End of Update
I will be testing it today and tomorrow before sending it to apple. It should address the crashing issues a few people have experienced due to memory conflicts probably with other apps.

I have optimised a few assets to allow better loading performance in those cases where there might be issues while leaving it the same where it works.

Moving on, I have re-started the ISS model from the beginning. I wasn't happy with the dimensions I was using. They were more aproximations that real dimensions. I decided to use some nice drawings from an awesome website, http://historicspacecraft.com/ ,to create an accurate placement and dimensions representation of the ISS.

I have started blocking the shapes and sizes and will start detailling each module individually.

I will model them in the historic order they were installed in space.

Modelling Update

I have started detailing a bit the ZARYA module. This module and the Unity modules where the first to be launched and connected. The round conection bit is still not detailed.

I am still not sure how much geometry I can afford for each module in such a big station so I will detail the geometry in a few stages. This is quite close to how much detail I can probably add at this stage.

I think that currently, the modules have maybe a few too many subdivisions to make them round but I think it is worth spending those polygons. I might reduce it a bit when polishing but only if necessary.

43 years ago today

Apollo 11 launched towards the Moon.

First Update coming soon

Hi.

I have been working on the update to fix the memory issues a few people are experiencing.

This update should reduce the memory requirements and improve the performance of those with launching issues.

I recently found out also an article explaining the difference between restart and reboot in an Apple device. It is worth reading if you have problems as it might fix some of these.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57331922-233/how-to-fix-95-percent-of-ios-app-crashes/

"However, I recommend a full-on "reset," which is performed by holding down the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously for about 10 seconds. First you'll see the aforementioned red slider; just keep holding the buttons. Then the screen will go blank; keep holding the buttons until you see the Apple logo. Then let 'em go."

Nice International Space Station paper model

I have been looking for ISS reference and I found this great website with a breakdown of all the modules in paper models.

They look great. Worth looking at even if you just want to make sense of how the ISS is built.

http://www.axmpaperspacescalemodels.com/ISSpage.html

These are some of the awesome photos in that website:

International Space Station

Well.

I have resumed working on new features for the game wich includes new missions.

I already started modelling the International Space Station

I hadn't included the ISS in the game because I wasn't sure of how many resources I could use in the game and how it would affect preformance.

Now with the game released I can concentrate on both the iPad and the ISS.

I will implement a few features in the iPhone build before moving to the iPad.

I am thinking on adding a few helps like a speed vector display like the forward facing orange cross and maybe a collision detection feature that will show the nearest collision point in your trayectory. 

After seeing a few videos of people playing I am going to add a display to notify when you press null and you have run out of electricity.

The ISS missions will be included in a future update but I am not sure how long it will take so it won't be in the first one.

Great reviews

Hi.

A lot of people have shown interest in the game and have been releasing reviews. I think I will try to put them all in this post. I will edit it later if I miss any.

I have to start with the funniest of them all which is Brad and Eli video review in toucharcade.
"I'm going home, There is the Moon, There is North America, Let's aim for South Carolina and hope for the best"
toucharcade

Then a few written reviews.

"The level of detail and realism is extraordinary, and you won’t find anything else like it on the App Store" 
appadvice

"There’s no doubting that Astronaut: Spacewalk is one of the most difficult iOS games to get into, but once you survive the learning phase, you might be surprised at how hooked you are."
ifanzine

"Astronaut simulator takes players to final frontier"
modojo

"Maybe the realistic-looking iOS simulator Astronaut: SpaceWalk will help inspire tomorrow's private-sector astronauts."
slidetoplay

 "I’d like you all to know that I think it’s a wonderfully authentic game (real spacewalkers may beg to differ), one that is as much as simulation of orbital space manoeuvring as it is a casual zero-gravity obstacle course."
playscifi

"Astronaut Spacewalk is really less of a game, and more of a challenging experience."
the-app-shack



I add the others later

Crashing issues

UPDATED

It seems that a few people are experiencing a crash when trying to load the missions

I think that the issue could be memory related but I need the crash reports to verify this.

In the meantime, if you have crashing issues please try this to free memory:
-Double click your iPhone/iPod button to open the active tasks/app list.
-A list of the active tasks will apear at the bottom
-Touch and keep the finger on an app that you want to close.(Similar to when you want to delete an app )
-You will see a (-) sign in a red circle.
-Touch the apps you want to close. Don't forget to navigate sideways as you might have more than four apps taking up memory.

I haven't experienced the crashes so, if you have these issues,let me know if this solves the problem.

If you have crashing issues I would appreciate if you could send me your crash reports.
-Sync your devices with itunes and you should be able to find them here:

-If you are using a Mac:
/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/

-If you are running Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\

-If you are running Windows Vista:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\

-The files will start with the name of the application and contain a date stamp.

-Please send me the files to astronautspacewalk[at]gmail[dot]com

I would like to apologize to the people that have been interested in the game but can't enjoy it yet.

I am working on resolving this problem and I will issue an update as soon as I fix it.

iPad is next.

Hi.

After all the feedback I have received and the people who have asked for it I have decided trying to make an Universal version and support the iPad instead of the bespoke iPad version that I had initially planned.

I am not sure when it will be available but it will be one of my priorities.

I have also been pointed out quite correctly that the icon is not HD...I failed miserably to spot it. I will fix this asap.

There are also some issues with some people who have told me that their game crashes. There seem to be very few and doesn't seem to have an apparent reason. 99% of the people seem to run the game without problems but I will investigate this issue and try to find the cause as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot for the great comments and suggestions.

They will help me make a better game that you will enjoy playing.

Out now!!!!

After two an a half years of hard work the game is finally out.

You can find it in the simulation and racing categories in the AppStore.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/astronaut-spacewalk/id540221533?mt=8

I hope you buy it and like it.

If you don't like it...I hope you let me know your opinion on how to improve it.

We have cleared the tower.....

The game is approved and ready for sale!!!!!!  :)

It should be available tomorrow.

I would love to hear comments on how I can improve the game and make it better.

I am currently working on a tutorial video and will make a few adjustments before moving to theiPad version.

After seeing a really fun review video from toucharcade I have decided I have to add "black out" as a way of failing a mission.

Alea jacta est

I have submitted the game to Apple.

I hope the review process goes well and they release it soon enough.

I have had a few previews from some websites and they all agree it is quite a tricky simulator but very fun and engaging once you get used to the controls.
http://www.blog.playscifi.com/spacewalking-in-the-sunshine/

I guess that the controls are like nothing out there in the iPhone game market...but the game is unlike any other game anyway.

I had a lengthy process of trying different control modes and I think the one I implemented is probably the best compromise between realism and playability within the platform.

I have made a gameplay video to show the control method and also the pace of the game.

I also made a few screenshots for the AppStore

Tonight is the night...

I have finally send a preview copy to a few websites and I hope they will like the game/simulator.

I am submitting it to Apple tonight so I hope it will be released soon enough if they don't find any issues with it.

Here is a preview of the game icon.

Game completed but...

Finally I have "completely completed" the game....but...I have internet issues at home so I won't be able to submit it until next week...

I guess I will use that time to play the game a lot and try to find any issues that might have escaped me.

Comparing stuff

I have been looking at the NASA website for some more reference and I found a few images that made me think about showing how my game models compare to the real thing.

The real images are from  NASA's JSC Digital Image Collection There are loads of images there. Many of which inspired me to make this game.

Nasa's Concept