Yesterday and today the Nordic Game 2008 is running here in Malmö (Sweden), which means the “number of game developers per capita” has sky-rocketed for a moment. We took this opportunity to meet up with some of the indie celebrities, namely Petri Purho, maker of IGF 2008 winner Crayon Physics Deluxe and Crayon Physics, Erik Svedäng, maker of the very much talked about Blueberry Garden, and Martin didn’t-catch-his-last-name who runs www.grapefrukt.com and a lot of cool stuff in his blog.
As some of you might already know, we’ve been working (experimenting) with adding Lua to Harvest. The mods allow you to alter the game rules in Creative Mode, and can be used to add new effects, triggers and even gameplay elements. While there still is a lot of work to be done (such as modifying alien AI), it’s already running nicely.
The mod support has its own forum category, where you will be able to find documentation and other people’s mods. So far we’ve released a “beta patch” for those who wants to try the mods or make their own ones. You find the patch, and some basic example mods, here: http://www.oxeyegames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=246
A few weeks ago I released the server source to our old online role-playing game, Whispers in Akarra. I thought it was time for the next piece of the puzzle, and have uploaded the files for the game’s server-side editors. You can download them from here:
The editors were created using a tool called Borland C++ Builder. Borland has since then discontinued it in favor of the Java Builder, so I’m not sure if it’s possible to get your hands on a copy any longer. In any case, some of the editors are a real mess, I suggest you check the readme in the source package before you begin. Of course, if you’ve never used the compiled binary versions of the editors, it will be even harder. Check my previous post for download links to the editors.
The Akarra shard hub, Akarra.net, hasn’t really gotten started yet, but according to rumours TbbW is working on the back-end, so hopefully it will be more useful “soon”. I suggest you check back there every once in a while if you’re into Whispers in Akarra.
It’s time for the first “Harvest: Massive Encounter” update. The new version is numbered 1.03, and is a non-crucial patch that fixes some errors. In other words, if you don’t have any problems with the current version, you don’t need to download this. The fix list:
A weird crash bug before “Game Over” which occurred with the OpenGL renderer. This is one of those bugs that make me believe that there’s more to programming than bits and bytes. Somebody or something is out there to get us. Anyway, we added a redundant and “unnecessary” fix, and it seems to work…
Removed the gamepad controller from the main game since it caused problems for some people. You can still play with a gamepad in the “easter egg” (check the forums for more info).
On the Mac, files are now stored in your user folder instead of the system folder. This should solve some problems people reported on Leopard.
So… here’s the Mac OS X updater for registered users (2 MB). Open the dmg and run the patcher, then simply drag and drop the Harvest application on to the patcher’s window. Simple and elegant, huh? We have also updated the demo version, of course. You find it on the downloads page.
The Windows update is available here (1 MB). This patcher requires a previous installation of Harvest, simply use the same application folder when you run it. As above, the demo has been updated and is available from the downloads page.
Update: We’ve patched the patcher now Please try again Hit the jump for more Harvest-related news…
Games4Mac.de has posted a video podcast of Harvest: Massive Encounter. The podcast is made by the Harvest expert Daniel Wolf, known as lupodw in the forums, and shows some useful tips and tricks. The podcast is in German, and can be found here:
Also, Daniel has constantly mocked our attempts to prevent super-high levels in the game. He has challenged me that he’ll reach level 1500 in the release version too, so now there’s a €20 bill at stake. In other words… if you happen to reach level 1499, and the progress bar seems mysteriously stuck… well, that’s why
First impressions of the game are a little bit mixed. At first its all a bit confusing, there’s not much outline as to what you’re supposed to do and what does what. After a short while of figuring this out, Harvest shines. The game is fantastic to play! Finishing your first game you’ll readily want to take in the animated graphs and look over your explorations and weaponry. However, the game soon becomes a little tedious as the game grows ridiculously hard.
Only a week until the release of Harvest: Massive Encounter! We are very excited! The game will be released for Mac OS X and Windows, and launch with support for at least 6 languages (English, Swedish, Portuguese, German, French and Korean). If you plan to buy the game, you better hurry up to get the pre-order discount! We will have this option available up to this Sunday (March 2).
The forums at the Whispers in Akarra hub site are now available. If you are having problems with the game’s source code, or maybe the game itself, you can ask for help there.
Speaking of the source code… If you add new features, bug fixes or simply tweak the source, please let me know! I’d love to see what happens with the project. So far I’ve only heard that the source is “clean”, which sounds good, and the expected “how do I compile?” questions. I hope you will be able to create some cool stuff with the server.
The Korean site Pig-min.com covers independent games from all over the world, and has now written a post about our Korean translation of Harvest. Head over there to see two previously unreleased screenshots of Harvest in Korean!
Having a Beer or Two
As some of you might already know, we’ve been working (experimenting) with adding 
A few weeks ago I released the 
We have also updated the demo version, of course. You find it on the 
Please try again 
Games4Mac.de has posted a video podcast of Harvest: Massive Encounter. The podcast is made by the Harvest expert Daniel Wolf, known as lupodw in the forums, and shows some useful tips and tricks. The podcast is in German, and can be found here:
The Korean site 
