Update on the Extra Levels
Originally published October 9th, 2018
So a thing happened…
“But I thought you said you’d post dev blogs on a monthly basis” I hear you say. Well, I usually would. However, today we must make an exception. There’s been an unexpected occurrence that will more than likely delay War Ender’s extra levels. I was originally hoping that the extra levels would be released sometime in October, but now I honestly can’t say for sure if that will happen or not. So how did this occur?
I tweeted out that my computer had recently been giving me problems. None of my attempts at repairing the machine had worked, so I took it to a shop to get looked at. The results were…unfortunate. It would appear that it was the cause of a hard drive failure. And what’s worse, there was no way to get the data off the hard drive. So I ended up losing a lot of stuff.
This wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened to me, and as a result I have thankfully learned to make backups. So don’t worry, it’s not like all of War Ender’s files have just disappeared. However, this did occur while I was still working on Extra Level 3. The first two extra levels had already been prepared. Thankfully, my last War Ender backup was made very recently and thus had little lost. The main item lost with my hard drive was the third extra level. I had finished retooling the level and, if I remember correctly, was finalizing enemy placement.
Once I have an operational computer to work on again (I’m writing this using my wife’s laptop, and unfortunately it doesn’t handle Unity the best), I’ll essentially have to start back with square one on creating the third extra level. Not a huge loss, but it does set me back on top of still waiting for my new computer parts to arrive. There have, unfortunately, been other losses as well. For starters, those two other projects I had been working on took a hit. My smaller, narrative focused project had a backup made about a week before the hard drive gave up the ghost, so I didn’t lose too much. I mean, that’s still a week’s worth of work gone, but it’s not devastating.
No, the biggest loss as far as my game development works go is my next big project. You know, the one I’ve shared…basically nothing about. And that’s because it’s still in a very early phase and cannot really be discussed right now. Unfortunately, I neglected to make a backup of that, so I’m literally going to have to start that project over from scratch. That’s…a bummer. It was really coming along. Why I didn’t make a backup of that sooner is anyone’s guess. But the point is, it’s gone.
I’ve only discussed the game development side of things. There’s a handful of other real world things that have been lost, things that I need for other work. When you pile all this up, you begin to see why War Ender’s extra levels are going to (most likely) be delayed. Now, when will my brand spanking new computer arrive? Or rather, its parts?
Well, hopefully the very next day, which would be October 10th as of this writing. I’ll get it built, get all my programs together, and then get started with getting everything back. Real world comes first, so I’m going to be spending time getting back stuff related to that. After that, then I can begin thinking about working on War Ender’s extra levels. But keep in mind that this will be on top of getting my small project back to where it was and getting my big project up to speed.
So…yeah, that’s where we’re at. As always I of course recommend following my Twitter for the most recent updates. I may not post on there much, but you better believe I’ll be showing off my computer when it’s ready. The Facebook page will also have some updates posted, though not as regularly as Twitter. Whichever one you choose (though you should really follow both * wink * * wink *), you’ll know pretty quickly when things start happening. As for an estimate on when those extra levels will arrive? It’s hard to say, but I wouldn’t expect them to release in October. It could still happen, but I wouldn’t necessarily count on it. I’ll of course keep you posted.
See you in November!
-Lance T.
War Ender store links:
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/884070/War_Ender/
Itch.io: https://prof-smash.itch.io/war-ender
GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/war-ender/355809