Delays and all that has got to be one of the most depressing parts about game development. I’m really looking forward to getting the alpha out so people can start digging their teeth into the game!

However, the fact of the matter is that the alpha is not possible to deploy yet =(.

We are working to release the alpha as soon as possible, and to avoid unnecessary speculation, I will not guess about any ETA.

Check out Jeb_’s tweet about it too!
http://twitter.com/#!/jeb_/status/130223883646279680

Again, if you want to discuss the game, I’m idling in #cobalt on IRC, esper.net

So what have we learned?
First and foremost we discovered that our main character’s name is Cobalt and not Blueface or Shitface or Metalface or whatever we’ve been calling him/her in the past.
We’ve established a direct line of communication to Cobalt (who is currently stationed at Trunkopia) to avoid further confusion.

We’ve also discovered a new talent amongst us! Actually he’s not new, he’s pretty old (member of Oxeye), but when it comes to words the only ones Jens have been cranking out have either been code related or hasty words of affection jotted down on postcards .
Until now that is.
Surveys show that since he took over the editing department of the Galactipedia Encyclopedia Profundus customer satisfaction has gone up exponentially.
Confusion remains unchanged.
A sample of his latest creative outburst can be viewed below.
In fact, he’s writings have been so popular at the company HQ that he’s taken the prodigious Mattias (aka Anosou) as his writing apprentice.

Speaking of Mattias, another thing we’ve learned during these past few weeks is that his musical genius spreads beyond human comprehension. He’s fast to. You only have to hint the idea of a new tune and before you’ve uttered the last words explaining the song you’ll have it blasting through your headphones.

We’ve also been tinkering with co-op. Cobalt has been nagging us about it for some time now. I guess loneliness knows no decency.

Last but not least, I, Pontus (Kinten), have had to slowly accept the fact that I no longer sport a fantastic beard. I accidentally shaved it all off using a rogue trimmer.
Support mails concerning this are appreciated.

Until next time, swim calmly (Swedish expression).
/Kinten

This is just a small update on the matter that I will be working at Mojang this winter and onward. Mojang, and especially its founder Markus Persson (Notch), is pretty famous for the game Minecraft, and I really look forward to helping them out! This feels like a perfect match to me. I’ll be able to do what I feel I do the best, and Mojang is a successful company that has the “indie spirit.”

This will not change matters for Oxeye very much, either. Project B is mainly developed by thewreck and Kinten, and if anything it could even help Oxeye a little since I will need to move to Stockholm, where they already live

About Project B, we will be announcing its new name very soon!

// jeb

But then, from beautiful California, there shines a light at the end of the tunnel! Spelunky and Meat Boy are hanging out and seem to have a great time. Blueface just had to send a big…

Hello!!! Be seeing you at GDC ‘11!

Long time no see! We actually have a lot of stuff to tell, such as we are now working with anosou for music in Project B and that there’s more info about the game online now, but these news will have to wait just a little bit longer

We just came back from No More Sweden 2010 in Skövde. We had a great time and met a lot of really cool indie developers. During the event we also created a 48-hour game called The Dubai Grand Prix Scandal.

It’s a game intended for two people using two game pads, but we’ve added keyboard support as well (using ESDF and IJKL for main controls, check the readme for the other keys).

Download Windows version here (and please read the readme file!)

This game has also been made in our DaisyMoon prototyping engine. Feel free to hack around in the Lua source code!

/jeb

First up is Pontus Hammarberg, our own very cuddlesome artist who is trying to save mankind, one life at a time He has turned 26 today. Give him a cheer! (And in case you were wondering, Pontus goes by the internet alias “Kinten”, you may have seen him around.)

Second up is Harvest: Massive Encounter that is 2 years old today! It’s crazy how long time that has passed since its release, and how different things are now compared to back then.

To celebrate this we are going to give you a present! We are going to send out postcards (real, physical postcards) to anybody who wants one. All you need to do is to give us your home address (we’ll not use it for anything else, don’t worry), and maybe suggest a name for Project B! Anything goes, but obviously we prefer actual usable game names over “Cheesemaster of Death 2000″ The best name will receive an extra present… I think.

In any case, suggesting a name is optional, so to receive a postcard all you have to do is to go here:

–> http://www.oxeyegames.com/addresses/ <–

We’ll gather addresses for about 2 weeks. I’ll post again later. (We may not send a postcard to everybody in case this becomes unexpectedly popular, since I have to write all of these by hand… so if that happens it will be first come first served.)

/jeb

UPDATE: Remember to write your NAME with the address! Our divine senses can only stretch so far…

Nordic Game Program’s managing director is Erik Robertson, a really nice guy. You should head over to their GDC booth and have a chat if you get the chance. Here’s his NGP presentation from the last grant ceremony:

We have applied for the grant almost every round since it was started (2006). We missed one round because I didn’t know it was twice a year (I thought it was only once). In total we have applied with 5 or 6 different projects, I think… This time we applied with Project B (again). We still haven’t been selected for the grant, unfortunately, but it would obviously help us a lot. At least we could pay thewreck more than $3 per hour, hehe.

There are some noteable NGP recipients in their funded games list. Of course, being independent is a requirement to seek the grant, but these are the names that you may recognize:

Limbo

Limbo, one of the current IGF finalists, has received the grant two times (once in 2006 and once in 2007). Both grants were 300,000 DKK.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Petri Purho received a grant of 100,000 DKK in the round after winning IGF.

Boingo

Black Drop Studios received 300,000 DKK in 2008 for their platform game Boingo. (I just realized when visiting their site that they have disbanded! That was a surprise )

/jeb

The interview is mainly about Harvest, but we also talk a little about games that we like, and the future. You find the interview here:

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?s=dc6fdb0bab7d47261bcec7f1270ad96c&t=15834

/jeb

I think a lot of game developers have this kind of problem. They know what they want to create, but the finished product didn’t really turn out as they had thought. It can still be a good game, but it’s missing something. It’s nice to hear a solid reason why you should keep on going, and not just empty phrases like “believe in yourself.”

The other parts of the inteview are interesting as well.

/jeb

The good news is that during the weekend I filled our wiki with a lot of DaisyMoon info! I think I added over 20 new articles about methods in the API.

The bad news is that our host decided it was a good idea ™ to upgrade our PHP to 5.3.1. Unfortunately that version of PHP contains a bug that breaks MediaWiki, so it’s currently not possible to edit pages on the wiki. We don’t know if or when our host decides to revert the upgrade, or upgrade again to PHP 5.3.2, so we will have to wait and see…

/jeb