Technical Debt...

This week has been a slow one- admittedly, because I believe that all of us have been busting our collective butts, and deserved both the weekend, and at least two days off for the inclement holiday.

However, that doesn't mean that progress hasn't been made!  After the recent release of the Mac alpha, a great sigh of relief arose from our office.  What is more- we were VERY gratified to see that performance on the Mac OS had improved dramatically thanks to our more efficient back-end architecture.  While 30 FPS might not sound ideal, it's approximately twice the frame rate of the previous Mac alpha- and it's due to improve.

NOW- AS FAR AS MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Right now, that is in a state of flux.  Since the day that Laura and I started this project, we wanted it to be available for EVERYONE to play.  However, currently we have discovered that 16GB of RAM, and a dedicated graphics card will ensure the game has the best chance of running on your PC at this time.

On the Mac, we are hearing reports of the game not running on certain mac laptops- but we've yet to assemble a concrete list of criteria that will ensure smooth operation on the Mac.

If you are encountering issues with the 0.8 Alpha not running, Don't Despair - Just contact me directly: PeaceIslandLLC@gmail.com.  Please include your system specs, and describe your problem as best you can.  If you can provide screenshots, that would assist us, as well.

If we take a day or two to respond- please be patient with us.  We're growing as a company, but we are still VERY small, with one guy (Myself) handling about half of it.

In the time that I DO get off for hands-on dev, I've set myself the goal of re-vamping the island's biomes.  As I have recently pointed out: the island currently has about 8 Biomes, but there's a bit of "Sameness" to be overcome in the lowlands.

Now, I thought this would be more or less relatively easy.  However, when I consider the following image:

And compare it to our new backend, it is clear that things are currently not set up in the most optimal way.

BTW: the above image is another backend "technical document" that I don't mind sharing with ya'll (firstly, because it's outdated, and secondly, because it doesn't show anything that you've not seen in overhead maps published here in times past.)

While it might seem that there are a ton of transform gizmos, it only displays about 50% of the hundreds upon hundreds of individual points that had to be placed and adjusted to create the current biomes of Peace Island.

To better make this work within our new framework, this map will have to be meticulously cataloged, disassembled, and transferred to a new "placeholder" terrain, where we can start the more fun work of adjusting tree cover, placing fungi and ensuring that the old LaFlamme mansion's environs have just a FEW more twisty branches, to accentuate the mood...

As I start this work, I am excited to see so much landscaping remains to be done - trails that need to be better dug, roads that need resurfacing - I feel like a painter, surveying his canvas, looking for where the finishing touches will go.

There's a LOT more I can cover, but I am behind in my Customer Support emails and invoices.

Please join us on Saturday on Youtube, as we host our Year-End Q&A/Meetup/Livecast.  We'll be showing off new features, and of course, chatting with you guys!

Thanks as always for your support, patience, and confidence!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE THEM!