Andrew Natoli

It’s been a while since the last update regarding Spherack Online and my games as a whole, so I figure it’s about that time I let you in on what I’ve been up to.

Between school, work and music rehearsals, I’ve been working on the “Spherack Reloaded Engine.” (pending title, perhaps?) This is in short, the backbone to Spherack Online 3 but without all of the networking material that makes the game online multiplayer capable.

Instead, this is designed as a base to power single-player shooters. I still haven’t decided however, whether or not I’ll be releasing the engine to the public or keeping it private for my own use. Maybe if someone or enough people beg (ask kindly) I’ll put it out there. For now though, if you’re a follower of mine on Twitter or at least follow the Spherack Online account, you may notice I said I’ve also been working on “AI.”

That’s for you to learn about my next update here

Stay posted!

To try again to build the ever-so-not-existing hype for Spherack 3, I’ve put together another quick promo video for Spherack Reloaded. (Actually the real reason is because I was bored but… you should still play the game!)

Though the recent Build 061 addition of a brand new server browser and chat system was the biggest and most important updates in Spherack 3’s history, it was probably the worst. Why? Did it not help users out when finding their friends in games and chat before-hand? Well, it did… but not for all users. On top of demanding a lot of system resources to power its cosmetic aspects, half the game’s population ran into severe, inexplicable crashes.

So now, a few months later, with time to actually work on the game again, I’m including a brand new menu & server browser as part of the game’s big 3.1 Update. I can’t say I’ll be retaining the chat system just yet, but I can say it’s faster and far less glitchy to use.

If you’re interested in catching some previews, follow me on Twitter!

Well I’m pretty excited to announce these past couple of days with school out of the way I’ve been hard at work here and there trying to get Spherack back on its feet. I’m finally starting to get to those highly requested features that will really turn the tides of gameplay. I’ve started by upgrading the cosmetics a little bit… Rather than appearing completely flat, players and landscapes now give drop-shadows behind them to give more depth. It actually supplies for a very nice visual effect while in-game and can be turned off through the new options menu.

Yes, an actual options menu, and I mean IN-GAME options! Rather than instantly quitting the game when you hit the escape key, you’ll open up this window from which you’ll have quite a few choices I think you’ll all like. As I said, you’ll be able to adjust the in-game settings, and you’ll also be able to change your team in-game and switch weapons. New weapons! They’re coming! I’ve already got a rocket launcher made up and its filled with awesome!A variety in weaponry is sure to bring a fresh approach to gameplay as some have their advantages as well as disadvantages. Choose what works best for you and suits your interests.

There’s a lot of things to come in the future update. When it will come I can’t say, but for now stop by my new bug tracker at http://flyspray.AndrewNatoli.com to browse and submit your own feature requests and bug reports! I’d love to hear your ideas on what I should add and change, so why keep them to yourselves?

I might go about posting some screenshots from the upcoming build soon. I apologize for the lack of progress the past few months but hope you’re excited for what’s to come!

I’ve just finished designing a new multiplayer network for D+Pad Games and Spherack Reloaded. The update involves the addition of my server to the mix of connections going on but adds reliability to the server list and allows us to bring users more data before having them connect to a multiplayer game. For example, you’ll be able to find out who’s in the server, what map is being played and also there will be a player lobby available for users to chat and meet up before joining. Though this new project means I’ll be delaying work on a new game I have in mind, it really doesn’t hurt to expand with what I’ve already got, right? Click on the image to see the diagram full-size, as well as the previous set up!

So you’re this guy living in a world where nobody will hire you and you’re running low on money. In short, you’ve got nothing to live for except for your favourite food, Clam Chowder. Then the idea hits you; you’ll create jobs for the unemployed workforce and sell your own clam chowder at the same time!

You venture off into the middle of no-where, which ironically everyone visits all the time and open up your own chowder stand by the shore. The question is, how long can a one man shop supply the entire community before everyone moves on?

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Well, Spherack Reloaded having been released a week ago, I’m looking to start on new projects finally, while keeping the existing ones up to date. This will be started by reviving two of my older projects, Racer Online & Spherack 2 and re-releasing them. Pretty much my plans for both consist of fixing a few minor bugs and integrating the D+Pad Games Accounts. After that they’ll be released publically. I’m starting with Spherack 2, then continuing with Racer Online later. Expect more news on them to come.

Wow, so tonight was the first time in a long while that I managed to get a ton of work done on some of my own projects and learning stuff. I started off doing some work on Spherack Reloaded, which I’m working on implimenting fmod to enhance audio effects and just planning art still. I might redo the character sprites and animations to make them feel more “actiony.”

I continued on-ward to reading a GIMP tutorial on how to use unimask (which is an awesome feature) which helped me to design new product images! Yay. I’m not really all that creative so they’re pretty much based off of Link’s, but I spent a while making them and them and am quite happy! I’m using them within the My Games and My Software pages. 

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