zaphod

Just a PC release was already stretching beyond what we were really capable of, spending even more time on a console release probably would have been a step in the wrong direction. I think we just aimed too high with ZG, and after the whole experience I find smaller projects on iOS to be the real sweet spot for me and my bro.

Zero Gear was pretty much a flop, I actually lost money on that whole experience. Our iphone stuff has been way more successful.

Ribbit!

RDR was the first single player game I played all the way through since portal came out. It was absolutely fabulousness. I live in the same climate / region as the game is set in and the environments are just spectacularly done. I don't think I have played another game in recent memory where I could play for hours without seeing something in the environment that looked out of place, but the environments in RDR just look natural.

TWITTAR http://twitter.com/NimbleDave

We have a few more months at least of full-time ZG development to address issues and hopefully grow the player base more. We will have to make a judgement call after that point as to where it is best to go from there.

Might I suggest a sampling on NimbleBit games? http://www.nimblebit.com/games/ textropolis / fishtropolis are the ones I actually play the most, I don't do a lot of proper gaming on my phone.

yea, although currently you have to go into the settings menu and bind them manually. The controls are also still binary (off or on) for turning even with the controller - so you might get a better feel assigning them to the dpad for now. One of the overwhelming community requests is for analog and better controller support ( just plug in and play) so we are hoping to look at getting those in there in the somewhat near future.

I was trying to keep up but it is getting harder and harder to do so.

Free Week! How's that for promotion

We are going to see eventually about sharing our numbers like we do with our iPhone stuff, I have not figured out if we are allowed to do that yet. The pre orders have not been selling much but just started to pick up this weekend due to the massive holiday sale being over. Our numbers won't be very interesting to look at until the game has been out for at least a few months and we can see where things level out at.

most multiplayer games use UDP

Starting today, Zero Gear is available for pre-order! Players who pre-order will get 25% off the price of the game, as well as immediate access to the beta version! Visit the Zero Gear product page for pricing information. Zero Gear is slated for release on January 12th, 2010. Stay tuned for more release information in the weeks ahead, including a 4 package deal! Also included in the latest beta update (which you can access by pre-order), is a new goal mode map, Hoops. A special thanks goes out from us here at NimbleBit to everyone who has helped us beta testing the game. We hope you will pre-order and continue to be the foundation of the Zero Gear player community!

The beta has been on steam for a while now!

new build out on steam: * Added Eight Iron race map * Added Space Race race map * Added Touchdown goal map * 44 Achievements!!! * The server browser now reports ping times for servers * Added support to invite friends to the game you are in and added an "Invite Friends" button to the escape menu * Experimental Steam Cloud support saves your kart setup and key layout between multiple computers * "Find Game" button added to the escape menu to browser servers while in a server * Friends only games now supported (your server won't show up on the server list, you must invite your friends into your game) * Alt tab crash fixed (it appears there is still a problem if you have multiple monitors hooked up, will fix ASAP) * Fixed problem with wheels rotating erratically when the client was lagging * Added support for keys above arrow keys and in number pad * A minimum resolution of 800x600 is now enforced correctly in the settings GUI * Removed the dialog box asking the user if they wanted to run the game even though their video card doesn't support SM 2.0

New beta is live on Steam: 1.0.1.4 Change Log * New race map added: Zero Circuit!!! * Network bandwidth usage optimized, uses up to 75% less data * Skate now has a simple point based game mode * Puncher can be used behind kart, has better range, and causes the punched object to spin more * Reduced the time it takes for a twister to become active once deployed from 2 seconds to 1 * Soccer ball mass increased slightly * Forced race mode back to warmup if there is only one racing player left * Camera follow rotation is now 3 times faster when the kart is moving slowly * Changed quick play to look through the first 3 lobbies for a valid server instead of just the top lobby * The server browser now only shows how many humans players are in a server * Added dialog box to warn the user when they connect to a server running a map they don't have * Texture filter mode now saves when changed in the settings GUI * Other player's ping times displayed in the player roster GUI will be more responsive * Upon detecting that the required shader model 2.0 isn't supported on the player's computer, it will ask the user if they want to try running the game anyway

here is a sneak peek of a map I just finished that will be in the next beta update (hopefully out by the end of the week)

Something you might want to look at is Garrysmod's implimentation of Lua/Gamemodes. To my understanding it provides a lot of functions hooks in Lua for the gamemode maker to different things with. Then custom gamemodes are as simple as a folder + an info.txt file that gives some information about it, and then the game lets you load it. As for the color thing: Same issue in TF2, people can use the "XX Has found " colors . cool, I will have to take a look at Garrysmod.

We will support custom game modes and with it probably custom items. It is not super straight forward though, there is a lot of things in lots of different lua files to touch. Hopefully we can simplify it some. You can sometimes color text in the game by adding hex #00ff00 color codes in front of things.

This weeks update is live on Steam: 1.0.1.3 Change Log * New Target mode map: PACHINKO!!! * Experimental gamepad support, only tested with the 360 controller so far, please give feedback! * Fixed the checkpoint random reset bug, you should no longer be reset while going through the correct checkpoint * Stunt tracking added, you will gain boost after a sound and particle effect fire off after performing a barrel roll or flip * Air steer force increased so it is easier to do rad stunts * Pressing Apply in settings will now close the settings GUI * Added a button to reset controls to default in settings GUI * Servers in your country are specially indicated * Removed ability to color player names so the names are colored according to teams in Goal mode (server names can still be colored)

Here's a short clip of a new pachinko type map that will be in the next build:

Just a few errors from yesterdays build to correct, and a few other things thrown in. Version 1.0.1.2 is now live on Steam. 1.0.1.2 Change Log * The game will no longer throw error: "OGRE EXCEPTION(10:MyGUIException): ComboBox::setIndexSelected : index number 8 out of range [8]" if the min players is set to 8 in the server settings file * The game will no longer throw error: "RaceServer.lua: 1042" when resetting at the start of a race map * Quick Play now defaults to 4 min players and a random map order * New default camera angle in the garage * Added another checkpoint towards the end of Chill Mountain * Red arrow point loss rate decreased from once every 2 seconds to once every 3 seconds, this means you lose less points while in red mode * Point loss particle effects in tag now show the correct points lost * Client and server log files added to error report in case of a crash

New build is up on Steam: 1.0.1.1 Change Log * 65 MS of lag removed * Increased the network sync time to 30 times a second from 20 * Quick play button added to the main menu which will join the best server or start a local server if there aren't any good servers to join * Reverse speed increased slightly * Soccer ball tweaked so it is easier to hit around * Player karts colored based on their team in Goal mode * Tag rules modified * Spring and punch strength increased slightly * Punchbowl tag map reduced in size and other tweaks * Some trees removed from downhill part of Chill Mountain * Min players now defaults to 4 instead of 0 * The score now sorts correctly in Target mode * Significantly improved the performance of the collision detection code when there are many objects in the world * Bandwidth usage improved now as time shift wasn't enabled in the last build (oops) * Going in reverse at the start of Chill Mountain will no longer cause the player to get stuck at the starting line * The number of bots can be adjusted during play by changing the minimum number of players in the server manager GUI * The maximum number of player will not be exceeded on a server anymore * The player list in the server manager GUI now updates correctly when people leaving/join the server * Pressing connect at the server browser when no server is selected no longer tries to join a local server * Mouse sensitivity slider added to settings * New "auto" mouse look mode added as default, the old mode can be enabled in the settings if desired * Bots ping times in the roster GUI are now listed as "BOT" instead of the real ping time * Players in result GUI no longer display above other GUIs in Goal and Tag mode * Kicked players now go back to the main menu after being kicked * Players with names longer than 32 character no longer cause the server to throw an error * Exit removed from the key binding list in settings * XPadder profile added to the Assets directory for the PC XBox 360 controller Also, you can help show your support for Zero Gear by joining our Steam Group we are slowly climbing the official game groups listing!

added another gameplay video I had capped last week:

how else would you expect a cactus to be able to wear a hat?