This week, we’ll be doing an overview of the new unit and upgrade menu system. Infinite has some elements of a strategy game in its DNA, the basic structure that is quite common in some real-time strategy games such as unit building and unit upgrading is featured in a light, alternative form in infinite. First, lets go over the unit system.

The menu system we wanted to be very simple, elegant, and match the overall feel of the game. Keep in mind, the visuals for the menus are not final, but is a step in the direction for how we want them to appear.

As you can see, this is the unit selection menu. On the left, there are five units, these range from planets of different sizes (for example, a Mercury sized planet all the way up to a gas giant like Jupiter.). There are more units available in the game including non-planetary units.

Beside the planets is a resource metre, unlike the resource metre that runs in the HUD, this will show the resource cost for each unit / upgrade that is required in order to build. Once you have selected your unit, tap once to show the units cost, tap again to confirm your selection (this method is not yet final).

This is the upgrade selection menu. Same concept as the unit menu, however, based on the upgrade mechanics. Once you have selected your unit currently in game, this menu will appear, allowing you to further upgrade that unit. As shown, there are currently four types of [planetary] upgrades available. Basic upgrades such as a single moon to orbit your planet, or advanced upgrades such as planetary rings. These upgrades have special bonuses and effects to each planet. The four shown here are just some of the upgrades available.

Once your unit or upgrade has been selected from the menus, we then move on to the build phase. For this phase, we’ve added a time based construction method. Select your unit and this build icon will appear on screen.

These build icons will replace the menu when it is time to construct or upgrade the unit (keep in mind both build icons will not appear together, only one will appear for its respective menu. We are just showing both for demonstration purposes.). Normally the circle will be empty with only a “+” symbol in the middle as the touch indicator. To build, hold your finger on the circle, the inner (gradient) circle will begin to grow larger towards the outside circle, if both circles meet, the unit construction / upgrade is complete and the result will appear in game. If you release too soon, you must start over again from the beginning of the build phase. Depending on the unit or upgrade, each will have a different timing variable that will determine how long you need to hold the build icon for, usually the better unit / upgrade will take longer to construct.

This is how our current unit and upgrade system works and looks, bare in mind this is not final and will probably change in the end product. One thing I would like to mention is that the menus will be hidden and tab on the edges of screen will allow you to bring them up anytime, this will allow the user to have more screen space to see the in game action.

If you would like to learn more about our game development, follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information.

We are in 2012, a fresh new year and a chance for us to really set ourselves in the right direction. We hope everyone had an excellent holiday and a happy new year! This update we have quite a bit to cover, we have had some major progression since the last update. First and foremost, let’s talk about Nexus. The biggest factor in holding back our development has been time, we were lacking an adequate amount to pour into development and attempt to work on the game as much as we could, when we could. We have (and will be) doing some pretty major life changes to ourselves to accommodate more time towards Nexus, over the next month we can work far more than we ever have and quite soon we will be working full time at Nexus. This is a big step for us personally and is a greater leap towards realizing our dream.

Another big change is that we have now hired on a new member to the Nexus family, his name is Daniel Brear. Daniel will be our new lead programmer and is currently tasked to be working on our new unannounced project in development. We are very happy to have him on our team, his experience and skills will help the development progress improve greatly.

Now it’s on to infinite. Since December, we have worked quite a bit on revamping and implementing new systems towards the gameplay. We have also been working on trying to achieve a performance mark on the older generation of iOS devices. First, we’ll go over some of the new changes to infinite.

We have redesigned the HUD for infinite (as shown above), as seen on the previous screens there was only a “hit point” system. In this new version, we have expanded this HP system to be more cohesive to how the planets HP actually work. We have now included a new style resource system that shows the current amount of matter collected (previously was just a numeric value). If you look at the top of the image, you can see a very long horizontal bar stretching across the screen, this is our new experience point system. Not quite as in depth as say an RPG, but every action will earn you experience points that go towards unlocking new content. This helps improve the flow of the gameplay as well as gives the users a visual perspective on their gameplay progression (your current level will be shown as a numeric value in some form so you will have something to compare to other users.). We wanted to keep the HUD extremely minimal but also show enough information to keep the user understanding of their current status.

We have also done quite a bit of code rewriting, not only has this help performance but also has us doing better code practices to make everything run faster, smarter, more efficiently. The core gameplay has seen quite a facelift code wise and our galaxy map is now half the amount of code than its predecessor. Removing useless functions or by having one function to run multiple actions instead of many independent actions for example. The effort was well worth it.

We have been also refining the gameplay, improving how gravitational forces work in the game, working on new units and enemy types. We have other parts of the game that we are working on still, just not quite ready to show those off just yet, soon enough however. We want to nail the gameplay first, once we have the feel just right, then we can be more comfortable working on other scenarios for game types.

As we have stated before, we have been working with the talent of Tyler Jones of Indiglo Rush who has been composing the soundtrack to infinite, we have been receiving constant updates to the musics progression and from the sounds we have been hearing, the tracks are coming along quite well. He has been setting the mood of the game and we hope to share some of these samples in a future update.

Infinite is a very experimental and difficult game to develop. We plan on doing a private testing session soon to gather feedback on how we can improve the game. We are pushing ourselves to make this a great, unique game experience that we hope everyone enjoys. 2012 is a big year for us, not just Nexus, but us personally.

If you would like to learn more about our game development, follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information.

One year ago we have released Gravonaut on the Apple App Store, a scary time for us, our first app into the wild. Gravonaut has been successful for us, many high scoring reviews, free updates that add a slew of new content to the game and even award nominations. It all started with this teaser image:

To mark Gravonaut’s first birthday, starting today, December 20th till December 26th, Gravonaut will be FREE on the App Store in all regions. Those who have purchased and enjoyed our game thus far, thank you for your support! Those who have yet to pick it up, please accept this gift and try it for yourself, we hope you like it!

Infinite has seen some major improvements since our last developer diary. Previously we have stated that we were having issues with getting optimal performance on the older iOS devices such as the iPhone 3G or iPod Touch 2nd gen. After much code cleaning we have managed to get the game running at a stable and playable framerate, a major increase from before. We are still aiming to have infinite run on the older iOS devices. This was only some of the early passes at optimization thus far, once we hit that phase fully, performance will be higher.

Today we are going to be talking about the galaxy map. The galaxy map is a major part of the game, it acts as your hub overworld for all the games levels. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working on our galaxy generator (which we have been previewing over twitter recently.). This generator is fairly simple in concept but is very complex. The generator has sets of variant designs of galactic gas clouds, depending on how you play the game and where you place your stars on the galaxy map will affect which clouds form, their position, alpha index and which tone from the colour spectrum your galaxy will glow. The more stars you have, the more dense and detailed the clouds become and the larger your galaxy appears.

As you can see from the image above (which is completely randomly generated! Not yet finalized) there are many layers, patterns and colours to this galaxy. For testing purposes, this galaxy has no stars in it, in game, there will be many. This is a full zoom out perspective of the galaxy of its current size. The more you play, the larger the galaxy becomes. There is no size limit to your galaxy, it becomes literally infinite. Every single person will each have their own unique galaxy, no two users will have the same. Visually we have worked with more realistic graphics and while it looked really good, it did not mesh well with the rest of the game, so we took a more stylized approach to the galaxy visuals to match how the solar systems look.

We have also implemented a pinch to zoom system, this will allow you to get a very close perspective of your galaxy and see all of your stars up close. There are some more features we have planned for this that we are not quite ready to talk about yet as we are still testing out this feature. The above image is an example, you will be able to zoom in much further than what you are seeing now.

Previously we have revealed our two game modes “Prime” and “Eclipse”, these are two of several modes that will be in the game. In order to access these modes, you tap the galactic core and  bring up a menu where you select the mode you wish to play. Once you have your mode selected, you are then to place your star anywhere in the galaxy that you have unlocked. At first, you have a small area near the galactic core that you can place your stars in, once you have reached a certain number of required stars, you unlock the next tier that expands your placement area, again, the more you play, the larger your galaxy becomes.

What is beautiful about the galaxy map is our seamless transitions and loading system. From when you’re at the main menu which will zoom in towards your galaxy, to when you place your star and zoom in on your solar system, it is all seamless. This is very important because we wanted to have that connected feel and add to the whole grand scale of your galaxy, not broken up by load screens and obtrusive menus.

The galaxy map has been a very big task and challenge for us, however it is a key part of the game. We have a few more plans we still have to implement including some social features that we are looking into as well. Some stuff is placeholder or will change by the final version so take what you see as a representation of what to expect in the final game.

Remember, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information and development progress.

Over the past month we have been really cracking down on memory issues regarding the older generation of iPhone and iPod Touch devices, it has seen a significant improvement since our previous developer diary and we still plan to target the older generation devices.

Overall progress on development has been great, the galaxy map is still a major development task, but is progressing rather nicely and the previous issues we have had, are now solved. In the mean time, we’ve been tinkering with updates to the overall graphical style of the game. The first screen capture we put out during our reveal was a rough pass at art. Since then we’ve put some more time into feeling out a new updated graphical style, what you see here now is still not final but is much closer to the final product than before.

As you can see, we’ve played more with the colour pallet, not so blown out as before and the colour tones have a more space feel to them. The background has a grid overlay that adds a little texture that really helps the white planets stand out more.

Previously, the HUD was based on text on screen that showed the units “health” as well as the age of the system. Went more for a geometrical representation of the health to also include moons (moons are used as a shield system, more on that later.). Also right now, we have rid of the age system, this decision is not final but it is something we are looking into to see it’s importance to gameplay.

The HUD design is not final, but it is a step in the right direction for now.

Next up, a preview of our second game mode. Infinite will feature several game modes to choose from, right now the main one you all have seen is the standard “Prime” game mode. Now we would like to reveal our second mode, “Eclipse”.

In eclipse mode, the solar system has a second, smaller orbiting star, when this star passes through (as dictated by the dotted path of orbit), any collision with the star causes instantaneous destruction of that unit or matter. Matter near the secondary star are also affected by the strong gravitational pull which can yield some rather interesting results. This really changes the dynamic of the mode and adds the element of timing and precision control. The art for this level is not final and we are also still working on the orbit path of the secondary star, so the results will change with the final version.

In later developer diaries, we will be revealing more game modes, some of which have a more drastic look and gameplay style to them.

Lastly, this week we have met up a gentleman by the name of Tyler Jones of Indiglo Rush, a very talented composer and DJ. We’ve been in contact for a few months now, Tuesday we met in person to make the agreement for him to compose the soundtrack to infinite. We think his work will very much complement the style of the game and really improve the users gameplay experience. Audio has a very heavy involvement and is not something we wanted to short hand. We will be previewing his works in future developer diaries, so stay tuned.

That is it for this major update. Remember, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information and development progress.

Many of you have asked where to get our snazzy Nexus shirts that we wear. We decided to change service providers that print our shirts since we designed our new logo for the studio. We are with a new company called Spreadshirt, the quality of their shirts is outstanding and better yet, it costs less than the previous service, shipping is slightly faster. The shirts feel more comfortable, the design is top notch, and we have also added zipper hoodies!

For those who are requesting the shirts with the old logo design, too late, we are no longer reproducing those and are now self deemed “vintage” by us, you had a year to buy one, no excuses! The Gravonaut shirts have also returned but are now modified, decided to go with the smaller logo on the chest instead of the very large design previously, if demand is there, we’ll bring back the old design as well.

So why do we do the shirts you may ask? We don’t really make much profit off the shirts, we’ve reduced our commission to keep the prices down. We rather you guys buy the shirts to show your support and to help spread the word of our team, plus they just make you look damn sexy!

Check out our online shop, we really appreciate any purchases made!

After our full reveal infinite (previously known as the project title of Kepler), the response has been outstanding! Comments on the blog, from twitter, email, facebook, in person, whichever, all have been extremely positive and we’re very pleased that everyone is excited about our new game.

We’ve been cracking away at the game even more, and have some of the features more fleshed out and realized now. The biggest design overhaul we have had recently was the galaxy , this plays a big part of the game and is far from a simple menu.

The galaxy not only a map and guide to all the various levels, but it shows player progression as well as the users creativity. As we’ve stated before in a previous developer diary, each galaxy is unique to every player. Since there is no specific design for a galaxy, we’ve decided to let the player create their own, in space, the possibilities are infinite. At first it will appear barren, but the more the user plays, the more stars will form, populating their galaxy. We allow each user to place their stars manually before they are born, this concept enables players to design the galaxy as they see fit.

As you can see from the examples below, you’ll be able to tell the difference from a novice player who may have a smaller, low populated galaxy (top), from an experienced player who may have a much larger galaxy with many stars (bottom). Please note that these images are just from a prototype demo and is not from the actual game, galaxies won’t be square.

The colour of your galaxy will all be dependent on how you play the game, each star has a colour and based on game mode and player performance will change the colour and brightness of that particular star. If the star is placed rather close to a neighboring star, then their colours will blend, forming a new the colour around them (ex. a red star within close proximity of a blue star will blend and will appear to be purple). This dynamically changes the galaxy but allows users to get creative if they wish for their galaxy to appear a particular colour.

Right now, as you can see, this system is very early in development but is our main focus right now. We will be talking more about how our galaxy system works as well as more features of this system in a future dev dairy. Remember, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information and development progress.

Finally! Today is a special day for us, we have reached our goal of achieving “alpha” status on project Kepler’s development cycle. For those who do not know what we mean by “alpha”, for us it means that we have reach the point where we have an unfinished game that is not content complete and may still contain bugs, but is in a playable state. This also means that we are about 1/3 complete in development, thankfully the hardest part is over now.

As we’ve stated on Twitter, we will be fully revealing the game as well as the name once we hit alpha status. That time is now, we can now say that our current project is no longer tentatively titled “Kepler”, instead, I would like to introduce to you, our game…

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We’ve stated previously that we were going to be doing a large developer diary, since we have been making stellar progress (no pun intended), we have decided to hold back just a little bit more so that we can officially announce our new game and reveal it properly with plenty of details. Quite a bit has changed with the game since you’ve seen it last and has received quite the overhaul. We’re extremely close to hitting alpha status, hopefully within the next few days! Until then, here is a little tease:

Remember, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information.

The latest update for Gravonaut has been approved and is released, version 1.2.2. Nothing special in this update, more of just minor fixes, here are the release notes.

GRAVONAUT Update 1.2.2.

-Bug fix to level 9 where player could get stuck on a graphic.

-Minor bug fixes.

-Updated Nexus Game Studio logo upon software boot.

Make sure to update to the latest version of Gravonaut through iTunes or the App Store.