We have a Review from Salty Games!

     We have a web-review from Salty Games, It covers many aspects of the game in it's current state...  Also touches base on the editor...  Check it out!

http://saltygames.tumblr.com/
Mr. Meatball's Salty Games

New editor for Miner Wars 2081

Here is the new editor from Test Build version 01.074.006

The video made by Marek Rosa to showcase the new feature of the VRage Editor.

Last Chance for Pre-Order Price!!

In the words of Jan Jirkovsky:


With the new release, the price of Miner Wars 2081 Pre-Alpha will increase to 19.99 USD as announced a few weeks ago. This means you have last chance today (+ part of tomorrow, until the release will come out) to buy the game for the current 70% discount for about 13 USD.


As mentioned earlier, we are going to gradually increase the price until the final version (in Spring 2012) will come out.

Spread the word 2 & 3 Star

     For those of you who should have the two/three star spread the word medals, I just gave them to you, for those who still haven't gotten their first medal, those will come a bit later, there are many new people on this list and you'll slowly start to get them.   Enjoy your medals!

Public Meetings on the way~

Saturday 20:00 Prague / 11AM PST


They're back, our public meetings are here again in the wake of the release of big update... Set you date on your calender, and meet us up at the designated time.
Meet the Dev, ask questions, get answers! We will be using TeamSpeak for the meetings, however there are other chat channels in case players wanted to hop in before us and spark it up.




GMT: 18:00
US: Pacific Time 11:00 AM
----Eastern Time 2:00 PM


EU: Prague Time 20:00 (Prague/Bratislava)


AU: Sydney Time 06:00 AM


The Teamspeak info is:


address: minerwars.workisboring.com
port: 9989
Pass: MW




Other Chat Channels:



Keen Software Blog info is:
http://keendev.blogspot.com/


The TinyChat info is:
http://tinychat.com/minerwars

We're now on Facebook!

     We've hit a time where following a group has become really easy, and the syndication now a days is scary stuff... but we've managed to get past it, and for the sake of anyone who is interested in getting all our information in one place, as it happens, while you're doing something you normally do anyway.


Like our Keen Software House page and get all the scoop from this blog, marek's blog, and other Miner Wars news sources straight to your wall!  How?


Keen Software House on Facebook  < Click here!

XACT Tips

Hi All!

My first post is related to XACT cross audio platform engine tool, that we use in Miner Wars as a primary audio engine of the game. Miner Wars uses updater tool, that makes sure each time you run game, you will get most recent updates and patches and after that you can start to play. Even if this scenario might seem "uncomfortable" for some, it is necessary for this game and we focus on making this updater process as much comfortable as possible. One of the things that helps it is - making sure that when audio stuff is updated in game, only that updated part is sent as a patch and not whole audio content.

XACT Wavebanks

Initially, we had separate wavebanks created for music, sounds and voices. This was nice, until we found, that when only one music track or voice is modified or added, its whole wavebank it rebuilt and then required to be part of the patch. So whoever of you is in similar situation or "might" once face it, the hint is - create Wavebanks for every separate track or not every track, but at least small groups of them. This will ensure, that when you update one track, other wavebanks will remain unchanged and thus update patch size may decrease in worth tens to hundreds of MB!

One small note at the end - I thought it is usefull to write about XACT, because to me, it looks like there is not much to find on the internet about some usefull and more advanced hints using this engine.

Cheers!

Marek Rosa - personal blog: Berlin 2011

Marek Rosa - personal blog: Berlin 2011: "Berlin 2011 , [Flickr.] My two day trip to Berlin - visiting family and taking in the historical sights. On our way back to Prague..."

All Meeings on Hold

     Our public meetings have been very successful.  Not only do us Developers get an insight of what the players think, but the players get immediate response with questions that have been burning their minds. However due to some pretty neat events (E3) these meetings will now have to be put on hold.


     We will resume these public meetings once the next Miner Wars 2081 update is released. Wish us the best on our outing!  We might even bring you some tidbits from the convention, some scraps for your viewing drool.


     Since the public meetings are a closing door on insight, we will transfer some of that insight here for our weekly-leak. (maybe longer, maybe waay sooner, no purchase necessary, void where prohibited)

Before VRage... Came the Baby Version~

      Keen Software House has it's own in-house engine capable of things that most modern engines aren't able to pull off, however before it's where it is now, there was the infant version.  Before the XNA/DirectX9 version you have come to know and love, there was the test engine which ran on OpenGL.


     I have dubed this VRage Miner.  VRage being the engine name, and Miner being the first implementation of what Marek Rosa foresaw as the bread and butter of his engine.  There are lingering feelings of Terminal Velocity and other old DOS games while I first played this, very colorful and retro nostalgia.







     Here is a video I took of the engine, forgive the funkyness (Blinking Bloodstains), my video card seems to do this to OpenGL.