Leaks, Basements, and My Favorite Tree...

But first, I wanted to share a bit of leveling card art we got in, this week!

We've got about seven more pieces coming in over the next three weeks - it's a particular joy to get old-fashioned 2d art for the project.  When you deal with 3D work 99% of the time, this sorta stuff is like a refreshing, cool breeze running through my mind.

WE'VE NARROWED THE PROBLEM WITH THE MAC ALPHA DOWN TO A SMALL NUMBER OF ISSUES:

The most annoying of which is a persistent "Memory Leak."  Even if you've never done game development, you might have encountered something like this...

Those memory bars are going to fill up, until the system suns out of memory.   Even on the PC side of things, this happens - it's just that the Mac OS has less tolerance for this sorta back-end sloppiness.  

Years ago, the Google Chrome browser was doing the exact same thing on certain systems, leading to instability and unexpected crashes.

We are combing through the thousands upon thousands of shaders, scripts, textures and objects to figure out exactly is happening, here.  It is a laborious process, but we're not gonna quit, until a solution is found.  After all,as said above- this problem is persistent across ALL PLATFORMS.

Now, please understand that this issue has not stopped all development cold in its tracks.

Work on the more accurate controller is speeding along nicely, and just today we received new ambient music multi tracks we need to sort through.  Work on interiors has slowed a bit while we finalize our prop list (a HUGE job in itself,) but it continues.  Here's a few rough shots of one of the basements you'll encounter:

SO much stuff to knock over!

Expect to see more options for interaction in the final Alpha!

AND FINALLY, I WANTED TO TELL YOU OF A RECENT TRIP OUTSIDE...

 Covered head-to-toe with protective gear, and keeping my hands in my pockets every step of the way, I ventured out to my "Happy Place."  As soon as I got off the ferry, I made a swift, direct walk to my destination:  Ya see, I wanted to have a snack with my favorite tree. 

 Deep in the woods, near a graffiti-stained relic from WW2, is a huge boulder.  I happened upon this boulder eight years ago and upon taking my rest, noticed a tiny, six-inch tall pine tree sprouting from an equally tiny gap in the rock.  I believe at the time, the main "trunk" was a mere 3/16 inches in width.

Every year since, it has been a personal ritual that I go and check on this small improbable tree, to see how it has fared.  Every year it has used the meager nutrition that it can glean from that small fissure to grow outward to capture more sun - and in turn, send tiny, unicellular roots deeper into the fissure below in search of yet more water and, perhaps, real soil.  

This tree now stands a little over twelve inches in height, and two feet in circumference.  Beneath its tiny branches, smaller plants have now taken root - Its "trunk" is almost 3/4 of an inch at the base, and has forced this gigantic boulder almost completely in two.

Not to force the metaphor, but:  I always take comfort in the steady, earnest progress this tiny sapling makes each year.

SEE YA'LL IN TWO WEEKS!