Little Nemo's Adventures in Shaderland

You know what? Updating is hard. I mean really hard! Development is the relatively easy part. It's making awesome screenshots, videos and blog parts on a semi-regular basis that brings me to my knees. Let me explain:

We've been working hard on Physix as usual. We've got some music tracks hammered down, the menus and what little HUD pieces we're using are nearly complete as well. Right now we're once again waiting for some engine tweaks to be made and most of the effort around here is devoted to particle effects and shaders which are mostly done, but there's always something with a project like this.

Still not sure when you guys should expect a release, but we've been talking with some publishers and for anything to move further with the marketing end, we need to have a final beta out and that's what we're working on right now. Not exactly sure if we're ever going to have an open beta, but that may be something to consider if there's enough of you out there who want to give a swing at it before it's out.

Other than that, not much really. We've gotten beyond any sort of mass experimentation or major changes/fixes. It's kinda boring here in dev-land for the time being. Just more chugging away at assets and stability. We usually like to have a post here a month, but it's been kinda hard (like I said before) with nothing much notable going on. While we're adding even more environmental media to flesh out scenes and remove the dreaded “flat-wall syndrome” most of it needs to be tweaked before it matches the esthetic of the rest of the environment to begin with, so no pictures of that and since the other changes are more for stability or logistic reasons, many people wouldn't be able to really see a difference if we posted about it ad nauseum anyway.

Don't get me wrong, when it's done it will be glorious (in our opinions at least), but for the time being there's just not much to report. We'll try to keep you all posted if something drastic happens, but for now it seems like snoozeville. Speaking of which, I'm going to go take a nap and then tweak some shaders... Catch you later!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Hey everyone, I have a bit of bad news: GamePro Labs (the indie publishing arm of GamePro Magazine that was scheduled to launch Physix) had closed down. Yeah, it's pretty much how it sounds... This means that they will NOT be publishing Physix (or any other game by, well... anyone!) and we will most likely not be featured in the January issue of the magazine either (unless big business starts to give away free full page spreads, that is). It was quite a shock to me and the rest of Wraith to get the phone call today. It's kinda like finding out that your friend has been in a car crash or something. I must assure all of you that Physix will still be launched, but it might take a bit longer than we had anticipated. We'll soon be in contact with Steam, Impulse, D2D, GamersGate and a few others to try to find a good distribution method in the following months. Who knows, this may work out even better in the long run anyway.

On the lighter side of things: We have nearly finished development on Physix and should be entering BETA soon. We'll have some screenshots and a new video up soon and I know that you'll love them. We've added some new graphical enhancements, media assets and gameplay elements that we can't wait to show off!

There are a few other announcements, but I'm gonna have to keep those under my hat for now... at least until things have been finalized, that is. I'll hopefully have those out later this month, so keep your eye out, stay sharp, and remember to PLAY HARDER!

Two Big Announcements

Well, if you know anything about gaming communities, the first announcement won't be anything new to you: Wraith has opened up a new BETAing program with Section Eight Gaming (s8glive.com). If you want to participate in the program, all you need to do is join, which is completely FREE! It's sorta like playing our games before they come out!

The second is a little bigger and more awaited: Physix has found a publisher in the new arm of GamePro Magazine: GamePro Labs! After a lot of talking and a little paperwork, Wraith has worked its way into an exclusive, online distribution contract with the newly founded publisher. This opens the doors for many marketing and promotion deals for our little company. We will have news posted on the game itself both here AND on their blog along with exclusive screenshots on GamePro's site. You can find our page by clicking on their link at the right.

These are big changes, but it's all for the better. Bettering us betters our games and better games means that you can PLAY HARDER!