zaphod

I guess SVN is not the biggest issue we will be using it for. It is mostly to host the game servers. I think as far as power, it would be ok to be hosted on one of those game servers which am sure host a bunch of game servers on the same machine, the only issue is that we will need complete access to the box in order to admin/update/run the server software, which I could see being an issue with the people that use shared hosting for common game servers.

*edit* going to email gameservers.com to see what is possible, the ping to the san jose servers is pretty incredible.

Update: We looked into GoGrid tonight. It seems really promising. At least for short term testing.

They host virtual servers which we can bring up and shut down at any time. It will be a lot cheaper if we don't need the server running 24/7 (we won't until a full beta is underway). It seems really fast and has really good ping times to both our locations. It is located in SF and my partner gets a ping of TWELVE to the server. My ping is a whopping 45 from San Diego.

need some help / advice:

We will start closed beta testing very soon. We need to be able to support up to 16 players with a very low ping to the SF / Bay Area. A windows server is preferable, and the machine specs can be pretty mediocre as long as the connection is fast. Obviously we need to be able to remote into the machine in order to set up our game server. We would also potentially like to use the server for SVN.

Price: we are super cheap ramen-eating indie game devs, so we really don't have a lot to spend. We are hoping we can find something suitable under or around 100 bucks a month if possible. I have no experience renting servers so I have no idea if this sound like something reasonable. I would appreciate anyone's advice or guidance as well.

ZAPHOD=GOD

lololol

http://hl-away.moy.su/ee/cs_estate.jpg

As I have been promising for some time now we finally have a new video for everyone. This video showcases our initial 3 race maps that we are working hard to outfit with all the gameplay gears and gadgets that Brian is developing as we speak. These will be 3 of the 5 maps that we plan to have for our first beta release.

by the way, if you are interested in being in our initial beta, you might want to join our steam group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/zerogear

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Pretty pathetic that I don't know how long it has been that way. I have so little time these days that devbump has slid towards the bottom of my priority list.

Brian wrote a new blog post today titled "The Secret of Zero Gear". An excerpt -

I'll tell you a secret, Zero Gear is not a kart racing game."

in non-blog-posted news, I am currently polishing our 3 race tracks - Spaghetti West, Champion Circuit, and Chill Mountain. And hope to have some fly/drive through video of each of them soon.

Brian is toiling away on the race mode game rules and system, as well as tweaking some of the vehicle physics setup as we come to better grips with the different types of terrain people will run into.

*edit* finally got around to downloading some of the items other people have been making, here is a get-up made with some of them:

I like the way WoW looks . . . so, sure!

I have been spending a lot of time polishing up the tracks in our game in preparation for the race mode that Brian is working on. One of the fun parts is adding particles to the level, here is a shot of the mine from Spaghetti West with lots of glowy particles.

my parents were somewhat worried about it at first too. They kept asking me how I knew games weren't just a fad and wondering if I would have a job 5 or 10 years down the road.

new post up on the blog: http://nimblebit.blogspot.com/2008/08/z ... pment.html

shows some more of the custom content people are already making. Zero Gear is 1 years olds! wewt!

I have mostly been focusing on Polycount since they have been pretty active about making stuff for the game, but we have opened up the garage editor to anybody who can show some progress on working on karts / characters / hats / accessories already.

If you are working on something, go register at the ZG forums and PM marshmonkey with a shot or two of what you are doing.

if you are interested in making something but don't know where to start, information is not all in one place yet - but you can either fish around in this polycount thread or you can start reading through the Zero Gear Wiki I am in the middle of writing.

putting the finishing touches on for the very first test build of the garage to go to the folks already creating stuff! My default character right now is Baron Von Evelsok

It will always be models, the editor will just make it a lot easier than placing everything inside it with an XML file - it will basically just parse and write that XML file. But you will always be making the level in max or maya or whatever.

not my mother.

Last weekend was my birthday, and in celebration my girlfriend made me this awesome Zero Gear cake!

lol, yes they are.

I don't think Zero Gear would port well to the iphone, but my brother is an iPhone developer he even has a game waiting to be launched on the store atm, so if I can ever hire him full time NimbleBit will be releasing some iPhone games for sure.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=19620

good article, and some good reasoning as to why indie game devs aren't all clamoring to get on XBLA and XBLC

can you add my linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/marshmonkey

new hat

not when the other company actually owns you and is not just your publisher.

ouch, High Moon is one of the biggest houses in San Diego.

some more spiritual hats:

the visual kart customization will be separate from behaviors, for gameplay and game design reasons. But you will be able to tweak the physics of your kart such as weight handling, etc. I would like to brainstorm some visual effects for how those sort of tweaks could also influence the look of your car, things like the more power it has the bigger the rear wheels are, or if your kart is heavier we scale your entire kart slightly up, etc.

Don't know how we will handle it for sure yet though.

Skullkar lives!!!