SnowballZ dev-blog

Zeolite Studios and SnowballZ feature in 3D World #106 as a case study in an article about open source technology in game development.

Click here for details.

In other news, recruiting goes on, see last post for details.

Hello all from Michael Lubker, producer of SnowballZ; We are now looking for developers, mostly programmers, artists, and level designers.

We currently are looking for the following:

Art: 2D and 3D artists, including heightmaps for levels, texture artists, and 3D modelers and animators. Blender knowledge is preferred.

Design: Our main need here is someone to help maintain the design doc and other documentation as well as interface as an Associate Producer to keep the team running. Our other main design need is level designers using our custom level design tool.

Python Programming: Lots to do here; Objects, events, scripting, UI, gameplay, AI, scoring, terrain, level editor, minigames, tools.

Good sites to check out are http://python-ogre.com and http://arcticpaint.com in order to learn about some of the libraries we use.

Production: Per our current way of structuring the team, we mainly need an Associate Producer who helps coordinate the team and keep the design documentation up to date. As well, we will need team leads who are both competent in their field as well as being able to manage and keep their team members on task.

IE Art Director, Technical Director, Community Manager.

Lead Audio, Lead Design, Exec. Producer positions are already filled.

We are not yet ready to start QA but hope to be by mid-August.

Community: We need to look into filling out a full website launch and need web developers to match.

If you can help in any of these things or can refer us to anyone it would be much appreciated. All positions are currently non-relocated volunteer work, though we are actively seeking funding and publishing/marketing partners and have some interest.

Positions that are filled will be noted in the comments. If you are interested in applying for a position please contact us at snowballz -dot - game -at- gmail -dot- com.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present you our first semi-official game trailer. This is currently the best opportunity to see what the gameplay currently looks like. Without any further detail: here is the embedded YouTube clip!

Today we will present you several samples of our internal-development work. Just for the fun of it: see how the work progresses! =)

As you can see, our basic trees and both low and high quality models of the seal are pretty much complete. The skua skeleton is the hottest proposal of our artists: the whole point was to make it look buff and dangerous. Well OK… while it might look buff, it will certainly look more hostile after we apply the skin to it. It’s currently being made and we want it to look perfect but we will post the full-fledged skua here as soon as it’s done of course!

Also, several new penguin breeds are under development right now. Be sure to check them out here soon!

Greetings after a longer break!

We were a bit sloppy with updates on what’s going on with the project… but we have a good excuse For the past couple of weeks our team was busy with private affairs of their own. Changing jobs, moving from one country to another and resolving primary business issues were the main courses on our daily menus… so here we are again, just to let you know that we’re still alive, kicking and back in business of course!

So what happened during that time? On artistic side, we got some more completed 3d models of seals, currently working on more penguin breeds, wildlife and plants. Also, we have completed the first set of desktop wallpapers, which you can now download! Feel free to comment and make requests! We would love to hear about your snowball fantasies! =)

On to the game itself! We came up with a couple of new ideas for minigames, that you will be able to play during breaks between subsequent snowball fights. We don’t want to shed too much light on this yet, but know that at your disposal you’ll have the most popular and playable conversions of good old-school games (set in the snowball-penguin-arctic theme of course). One of these cool games is close to being completed right now, and will soon be available for all of you to test and play!

Sorry for keeping it so short this week, but since we’re back from “vacation”, we have a lot to do right now We’ll be back with you soon and in the meantime: enjoy the wallpapers!

Today we will give you a quick background on the game aspects, that are not directly related to SnowballZ gameplay itself. We will talk about the MiniGames.

One of the features that will be shipped with the game is a set of small and catchy games, that will let you relax before (or after) a snowball battle. Some of them will be concentrated on a single player gameplay. Some of them will be aimed for multiplayer as well. Some will tease your braincells. Some will just require you to have a quick arm and a sharp eye. But all of them will have one thing in common: they will be awesome! Why bothering with such silly games along the way of development you ask? Naturally, there’s more to this idea than meets the eye at first. What we’re aiming at is to create an off-main-gameplay community, that all of you guys will be able to share. And obviously, some of the games will have hidden surprises and extra gifts, with which you will be able to upgrade/beautify your penguins and ice cities.

Did I just write “ice cities”? I guess I did, so it’s time to shed some light on another secret of ours. Apart from playing the game itself and it’s subsequent minigames, you will have the opportunity to establish your own ice cities. This is where your friends will gather, where you will have the chance to form your own clans and even have your own logo/team banner. All will be done by the means of a convienient and cool web interface of course (it IS going to be an online game after all ;))!

Below is a new set of screenshots, as promised. No gameplay this time, sorry (you will get to see the new “igloo takeover” feature soon though). Enjoy! And bear in mind: These are just prototypes and will look different in the final version

Another blog update. And along with it, a couple of breakthroughs that we managed to make in the past few days!

We have now started work on an official SnowballZ trailer. This will be the first look-and-feel of what the game will actually be. But that’s not all! The in-game penguin hat customizer is now completed: this means your own head-wear for the penguins is now possible! Tweaking and polishing is still being done of course, but the major part is done. Apart from that, we have ported the map editor to Windows along with some secret-extra tools that will come for free with the game. A full development kit included with the game for no price at all! What more could a true gamer want?

However, the biggest SnowballZ milestone that we established is something different: we have successfuly set up an installer for Windows and Mac users! What this means is that as soon as the game is released you’ll be only 2 clicks away from playing the best winter experience ever! No need to worry about external libraries! No need to worry about complicated dependencies! The software itself will solve these problems for you (and it works in Vista quite well, too!). To all Linux users: have no fear. We are currently designing an automated process for binary package creation, so all you Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian etc. users will be able to share the gaming experience in few easy steps!

Quite recently a new problem came up for us: support for foreign languages (foreign to English that is). Following suggestions that some of you sent us, we have now started discussion about which languages should we support in the game and how easy it will be to introduce new ones (we will surely focus on German, French and Spanish, but more languages might come up). If you would like to see SnowballZ in your local language feel free to let us know about it!

/Krzysztof

After a short break we get back to you with more news flashes: Things are really gaining on speed right now and we are more busy than ever!

Thing that will probably interest you most: new features have been added to the overall game design. We have now introduced concepts of several different neutral units that will wander around the game world: either willing to join you or attack you. Obviously we can’t tell you too much (why waste the surprise?), but one of the featured creatures will be the fierce skua bird, natural enemy of the penguin. You will either engage it in battle or set forth on many exciting campaigns - it all depends on the mood a given skua will be in!

Did I mention that the penguins are now able to talk? I did? But I certainly did not tell you about the penguins SINGING! That’s right folks. Not only will the penguins entertain you with funny and witty chats, they will also sing you a tune or two when they’re in good mood! Trust me people, when the game is out, you will probably spend the first couple of hours just idling, standing there and waiting for the penguins to do their regular stuff when they’re bored!

On more technical side: we’re currently at the stage of major cleanup and reorganization. Old documentation is being refreshed and updated with new features, we’re planning the testing of every specific game component in detail and obviously: still looking for a publisher Also, for the past couple of days we’ve come up with solutions to ease the download/installation process for Windows users. Surprisingly for us, it turned out to be a bit more confusing than we thought at first!

Most of the development has been done on the backend side of the game, so there is really not much to show right now. What we can say is that the gameplay is improving, penguins are cuter and they move/behave more naturally now. Be sure to check out this blog within a couple of days to see the official market description of SnowballZ. By the way: did I mention that we have devised a cunning and catchy tagline?

More to come… soon.

/Krzysztof

Today we will present you with a couple of screenshots from our current development product. This is obviously just a glimpse, but we want to give you a small idea on what you might expect when the game is released! (click the thumbnail for full sized image):

Things have been generally going smoothly for the past week - as usual Michael is attending the GDC as I type, promoting our game, getting more fans and spreading the word of SnowballZ to general public. The developers are working hard on the igloos and the UI - a prototype interface is already completed and being revised by the entire team. Last but not least - the penguins SPEAK! Marek, our audio guy prepared several samples of what the penguins may sound like. While we cannot tell you more details on that yet, I can assure you - you’ll love it

All in all, our new work system seems to its job - our flow of information has improved and the general pace of work has increased (despite the fact that most of us work fulltime and treat SnowballZ as a hobby).

Keep up the good work guys!

/Krzysztof

Well, here we are! Almost one month since the last blog update. There have been some things going on during that period. Most of the time we spent on improvmenet of our work as a team - being stranded in different parts of the planet it proves to be extremely difficult. First of all, we started working on the community side of the game, which will hopefully be up and running within several days (stay tuned for more details). During several of our brainstorming sessions we came up with dozens of new ideas we want to introduce in the game. I won’t tell you much at this point (don’t want to spoil the surprise!), but I can shed some light on one fact: you will be amazed, astonished and completely dazed! (did I mention “amazed”?) Fear not though: we will gradually share the secrets as the development progresses!

The coding of the game itself is going smoothly as it should. The main concept of the AI for the penguins is almost ready and the implementation is underway. A preliminary user interface is being created and the entire control system of the penguins has been greatly improved. Also, the penguins themselves will soon speak with their own voices! You will love the way they chat, mock and sing!

On the business side, we’ve been quite busy too. We keep meeting new people willing to help us promote SnowballZ in the best way possible. We even found possible contacts in Europe, so we might truly spread worldwide sometime soon! And don’t forget: if you’re going to attend the GDC this year, be sure to talk to Michael Lubker, the “main dude” of SnowballZ team!

Stay tuned for more updates!

/Krzysztof