Hey everyone! We're still chipping away at more great One Year RPG content for all of you. In this post we have 2 main things to discuss:
- Testing New Graphics
- Mobile App Progress Update
Testing New Graphics
One Year RPG is currently displaying it's "graphics" using the wonderful site: Unsplash
We use real life images to best depict the setting that the current story is taking place in. The limitations this brings is that, since we are using other people's images that they have captured and these images are real life locations, we can't get fine-grain control over them. We can't angle the shot exactly how we want, we can't move items / props around, and we certainly can't make up non-existent stuff.
As we continue to run & develop One Year RPG, we are looking to expand beyond this current graphical setup. We have tried once before in the past to test out a new graphics option using low-poly 3D models, and the response was fairly good. Today, we would like to run another option by you: Minecraft
Playing around with various texture-packs & shaders, we think it may be possible to build out the world of One Year RPG in Minecraft and make it look relatively good & charming. The added advantage to this is, we would be able to release the world as a free download for all of you to play around in if you own a copy of Minecraft. Plus, thanks to things like gamemodes & command-blocks, we could even release various adventure maps, mini-games, and more utilizing the One Year RPG world.
The disadvantages are, in order to play around in this world, you would need to own Minecraft first [ not a HUGE disadvantage considering that a) many people already own Minecraft and b) this isn't a necessary feature. you don't need to run around in this world, it would just be a bit of a bonus for those who really love One Year RPG and want to freely explore it ].
The other disadvantage is, if we were to make any other games / bonuses for One Year RPG, we would have to redo the map from scratch. For instance, let's say we would want to release a mobile app in the style of a turn-based adventure game [ like old-school dungeon crawlers ]. In order to do this, we would have to completely recreate everything in our game engine, since releasing a Minecraft map to mobile players is tough for a multitude of reasons [ not the least of which is mentioned above: only those who already own Minecraft could play it ].
So we are posing the question to you guys & gals, below we have listed 3 different graphics options:
- A: Real Life Images
- B: Low Poly Models
- C: Minecraft World
PLEASE COMMENT & VOTE ON WHICH GRAPHICAL STYLE YOU PREFER OUT OF THE 3
every reply will receive 3 upvotes from our accounts as a thank you
Mobile App Progress Update
The mobile app is coming along nicely. We are creating a unifying and cohesive look & feel to the u.i., and are making sure that no part of the interface / end-user experience feels out of place. We are also coming with ideas for future updates all the time, and are placing them in a priority-queue in order to ensure that the ever-dreaded "feature creep" doesn't kill us!
So far, we are focusing on getting a basic reading & playing experience implemented. This is what the initial release will consist of. An easy to navigate & neat-looking design that allows you to read through the stories as they are posted and vote on the accompanying polls. After that, we will then focus on adding in extra "quality-of-life" features such as browsing the Twitter & Steem discussions around each post, catching up on story recaps, and more.
Got any ideas / features you'd like to eventually see in the mobile app? Leave them in your comment down below, we'd love to hear your suggestions!
That'll do it for this update!
Thank you everyone for reading, playing, and commenting! Can't wait to get all of this out to you adventurers and continue to improve and expand upon our wonderful community and game.