Devlog #1 - Where to Next

So it's been two days (give or take) and Phwoomph has done very well, getting views and downloads and all that. All of us who worked on the game are very happy about how things are going, though that doesn't mean the launch has been perfect. I want to take the time to not only discuss what's next for the game feature-wise, but also what I plan to fix and tweak based off of your feedback, as well as a few other things.

Performance Issues & Other Bugs

Going to start with the obvious one - I realize that lower-end PCs can't handle all the over-the-top lighting effects that are in the game by default. It's the biggest oversight with the demo that I didn't add the proper options to disable them so that the game can run better on PCs not built for gaming. Rest assured, this will be fixed in the next update as its my highest priority remedying this.

I also am getting reports that some people can't open the game at all. I'm looking into this and trying to see what the problem is. Sorry about that, it will hopefully be fixed in the next update

The Next Update, Feature-wise

So what's also going to be in the next update besides graphics settings and bugfixes? Well, it's non-functional in the build you've seen, but currently the multiplayer section of the menu is very functional in testing. I've already done a lot of work on making this game function as a PvP multiplayer shooter for around 2-4 players, and the infrastructure is there to let people make simple servers and play a game of deathmatch (or Phwoomphmatch, as I call it). There's still a lot of work to go before it's done and ready to be unveiled to the public, but a lot of the hardest hurdles have been cleared. This next update is going to have that at the least, though I'm planning on making it a bit beefier beyond that.

And if you'd rather just play single-player, I'm still going to focus on that, though the multiplayer is what takes priority for now. At the very least there will be a bunch of gameplay tweaks that'll carry over back into the demo levels.

Help Wanted

And this is the point where I let everyone who has gotten this far known that I'm interested in expanding our five-person team at least a little bit. Keep in mind that this is freeware and thus an unpaid group project, but if that somehow doesn't deter you then give me a ring on my Twitter/FA and we can talk. I'm open to pretty much any contribution to this project, so if anyone out there wants to help out then I'd be glad to see if you'd be a fit for this team. Though I should also say that we don't strictly need help or anything; the project will continue on just fine without any additions... though an extra set of paws or two wouldn't hurt.

Again, thanks for viewing, downloading, and playing the project. It definitely still needs work, but we're more than willing to work on it.

-StockExchange

(StockExchange on FA, @shellstockley on twitter)