"Hurry Up & Wait"

First off, it has come to our attention that certain Radeon graphics cards are having issues with the PC alpha...

A few days after I released the PC alpha, some folks were getting in touch with me, saying that the alpha wouldn't even run, despite their computer having adequate memory, and decent graphics processors.  It became unfortunately evident a few days later that there was one common thread among all of these incidents:

The computers in question were all using Radeon graphics cards.

Now, I KNOW that the Peace Island alpha can run on CERTAIN radeon cards, but not which ones, specifically.

If your computer cannot run the Peace Island alpha, and has a Radeon card, please know:  Identifying & rectifying the source of these conflicts is at the absolute TOP of our list of priorities, right alongside producing a workable Mac alpha.

Apparently, both sides of this issue are blaming the other:  the folks at Radeon are saying it's Unity's architecture, and the Unity folks are saying it's the Radeon chipset.  I never thought I'd have to be dealing with this kinda childish "He said/She said" nonsense at this level of game development, but we're not going to let that stop us from finding a solution.  As always, we appreciate your patience!

 Secondly - let's talk about progress... 

Our animator Kayla continues to deliver TOP-NOTCH work.  As we speak, she's rounding out the second phase of animations with a decent "Cat Loaf" idle, and has started work on making each cat physically remarkable.  Here's her rough of Anin- note how she really nailed the unique Siamese facial structure:

Richard - the guy we brought in to work on our AI has gotten a SOLID start on the geese - they now patrol, snooze, eat, and on sight will chase & surround targets.  

The two Mikes in New York are ready to start work on sectorizing the game, which will bring with it a quantum leap in overall performance, and free us up to add LOADS more content.

I can't wait to get alla this stuff integrated - hence the title of this update:

"Hurry Up & Wait."

We are (hopefully) within 18 hours of getting our Versioning system up & running.  It all depends on a number of factors that I really have no control over: 

First, our server machine needs to be delivered.  Then, I can bring our tech guy in to connect it to our Perforce account.  Then, the source needs to be uploaded & propagated among all users.  

All well & good, but I have absolutely no control over each step, as far as scheduling goes.  

We're using this time as constructively as we can.

Our player controller will soon have the proper hunting/jumping mechanics added, thanks to a developer up in Gray, Maine.  Laura has taken on tweaking the sky system and ocean to make them more closely resemble what you'd find here in Maine.  I've gone over the landscape to ensure the terrain features look a bit more naturally eroded, which in turn has made the flora and rock spawners behave a tad more properly.

And of course, we're still hammering at that Mac build- we got a tad closer to a working build this evening, with certain skybox elements actually functioning properly.  Unfortunately, the sky remains a freakish uniform magenta...

I'll see ya'll again on Sunday - thanks again for your support, and patience!