End of January.

Sorry for the lack of updates this month, guys, but the project I'm now working full-time on is a secret. I wish I could tell you all about it, and I will...eventually. For now, though....patience. I know that you will love the new project when it releases approximately March/April.

Thanks for following! Hope everyone is well. :)

-E

I'm SICK!

Yee-haa for Pneumonia!

Since I'm spending many grueling hours at home and in bed, I thought I might make use of it to start some work on my next project....that will remain unannounced until at least MAGfest, but probably not until later.

Left 4 Dead is pretty much done now. I'm just going over it a bit to test things and make sure nothing breaks, and so far testing is good. I haven't run into anything game-breaking yet.

Now I'm just prepping for MAGfest since my illness is probably punting me out of commission for the holidays. No family or friends this year, I guess. :(

I'll get one more update in before MAGfest on January 4th. Until then...keep doing whatever it is that's keeping you alive.

-E

...ALMOST done!

Pixel Force Left 4 Dead is 99% complete.

Everything is done except for general debugging, which is coming along well.

Getting closer to January 4th!

Down to the credits...

All is fine on the home front of Eric Ruth Games. I'm starting to slow down a bit on production since I'm reaching the end of "Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead." Today I'm working on (and probably finishing) the credits screen. I have 2 more songs to write (one for the Farm Finale and one for the Credits Crawl) which hopefully I can get started on today. Once all that is round up, I can get to streamlining and final debugging. That should take me about a week or so complete (depending on how many problems I run in to) and right afterward, I'll need to re-encode the mp3s at a lower bit-rate and finally write the "read me" file. At that point, all should be done and I'll just be waiting for MAGfest on January 1st to show off the product in its completion. When I return home, I'll upload the zip file to FilePlanet.com and we'll do the big release on the evening of the 4th!

I'm excited and tired at the same time. *whew* Its been busy couple of months!

-Eric

Dead Air is almost complete

Tonight will mark the completion of the "Dead Air' campaign in my Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead NES de-make. With only one other campaign to complete, the game's basic design should be done in about 8-10 days. It will take a strong play through to determine how best to streamline the project before release. I've tried lightening the game's size by downsampling the sound effects tonight, which has saved me a bit of room. I still have a lot to play with in the optimization department, but with help from my QA guys, I should be done by christmas, and just in time for MAGfest and of course, January 4th- full release.

Speaking of release, it seems that disribution and download links will be handled by FilePlanet.com Be sure to thank them for making this project easily available to the public!

Also of interest is a link to GamePro magazine, where I think you'll enjoy this top 13 list they've compiled. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/213136/13-fantastic-fan-made-game-remakes-demakes/

Thanks for checking in, guys! I hope everyone is well and preparing for the holidays!

-Eric

Half way there

Alright, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can return to programming every day with less interruptions.

I am about to work on the sprites for the escape boat at the end of Death Toll. The campaign is just about done and just requires that escape boat to be completed. Once I get that in today and I test a little bit, the entire campaign should be fully functional. By the end of the evening, I hope to have started Dead Air by at least getting done the Green House tile set.

Its been a busy week, but wrapping up a campaign makes me feel like enough was accomplished. Not looking forward to writing some more music though. I feel like my internal audio well of creativity is drying up quickly. And while I do like what I've put together so far, it'll take a miracle for me to kick out something as productive as quickly as the last 6 original tracks have gone.

If I'm really luck, I can get a few screens in to Dead Air before having to be back at work tomorrow night at 11. Wish me luck!

-Eric

Left 4 Dead update time!

In about an hour, a friend of mine will be showing up to help me get some additional play testing done. Currently, I've finished up to the cabin on the road in "Death Toll." which is about the half way mark of the campaign. When he gets here, I'm going to record a 2 Player video that highlights more of the interesting play aspects of the game. I will then upload the video to youtube in under 24 hours.

Debating if I should add commentary...hmmm.....

Thanks for reading. I'll update with some more later this week.

-E