SGAaaAAAa

Yo dudes!

We submitted Secrets of Grindea to SGA, the Swedish Game Awards. Exciting stuff. The nominees won't be presented until June or something though, but yeah!
You can check out our entry at http://gameawards.se/competition_entries/676.

Wish us luck mudda fukkaaas!

WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!

Hey dudes!

Haven't updated this sucker in a really long time now. One reason being that we've started to post about Secrets of Grindea at a bunch of different places. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, our devlog as well as some game development forums. Add a barrage of emails on top of that and you'll be surprised how much focus it takes to keep up.
Also, we've reached a state in the development where we're not really sure if we want to show all and everything we do. Spoiling too much before the game is even out would suck, as would not showing enough and having people lose interest in the game. We're trying to be smart about it, but it's a frickin science.
Since this blog pretty much always has been about me updating all the time with a shit load of stuff, it kinda demotivated me a bit when I couldn't show all the stuff I do. Oh well.

I was pretty blown away though over the amount of people who still visits this blog even though it hasn't been updated in forever. Pretty cool. And I feel kinda bad, especially since I'm such a hater when it comes to guys having blogs which they never update. "They can't take frickin 10 minutes to write a blog post? Fuckers!". So I'm gonna stop being a hypocrite (for the time being) and give this sucker a well deserved update!

So, there's not a lot of new and exciting stuff that has happen since last time I updated really. We're still just hammering away at the game day and night and it's shaping up pretty great. We put together a little video the other week with some visual updates to the combat.

We also set up a more fleshed out scheduled, with like weekly tasks and stuff just to get a clearer view of when it's reasonable to put up deadlines. Before we would just pull a date out of our asses and hope to finish everything we needed by then which rarely worked. The amount of "Oh we forgot about this!" and "Wouldn't it be cool if..." is pretty ridiculous when you're working on a big project. Especially for us, because we love cool stuff and want to (and will!) add all the shit we come up with.
But now we have a neat little weekly checklist with stuff that needs to be done and it's worked out great so far. Crossing shit of lists is the best motivator ever, I'm not even kidding.

In other news, I started playing Final Fantasy 9 the other day. We haven't started out next course here at campus so I figured I could spare an hour or two everyday to chill out a bit. To this I often treat myself with my new favorite snack, peanut butter, avocado and turkey sandwiches! Sounds pretty disgusting, but they're pretty great!
We'll see how far into the game I get before I quit. I've played like, 11 final fantasy games. I've only finished two of them. I have this weird tendency to quit playing games when I reach like the final boss. Oh well!

So yeah. Life is pretty great at the moment. Hopefully the next course won't screw that up with being a pain in the ass. Now, I'm off for some UFC and some sleep. Catch you later duuudes!

MINI BOOSSSSSS

New weekly update over at our devblog! Check it ooouuutttt!
www.secretsofgrindea.com

KRAANNgggg!

Super busy week, not much time for updating this sucker!

We're going to keep weekly updates over at our newly launched homepage with everything we've been up to the past week. You can check it out at http://secretsofgrindea.com/devlog

I'm gonna try to keep this blog updated as well, probably not as frequently as before though. Since we're updating the progress at so many different places (facebook, twitter, tigsource, our own devlog etc) it feels like a waste of time to post the same shit over here. But yeah, we'll see what happens!

Anyway, keep an eye on our devlog for weekly updates and our twitter (@PixelFerrets) for smaller, more frequent bullshit updates!

CCC YAAAAA!!!!

Co-opppp!

Gonna keep this short, cause I've got some school work to catch up on!

Video of some co-op action in motion! Enjoy!

HAUDOKEN!!

Last few days have been pretty crazy to say the least!

So, a couple of days ago we decided to but a devlog up over at TIGsoruce.com. You know, just posting some shit, getting some feedback, the standard routine.
The next thing we know, we are at the front page of indiegames.com and a dozen other sites, people are blogging about us left and right and we get over 5000 hits on the youtube video we posted on tighsource. The traffic to my blog increased with like a few thousand percent as well.
And while I know this is not some "OMG WE MADE IT WERE SO FUCKIN FAMOUS GIVE US UR CAAASH!!!"-moment, it still is pretty frickin cool! Feels nice to know that there's at least some dudes and dudetts out there that like the shit we're doing!

So we're going to do weekly updates in our devlog over at TIGsource, with videos, screens, WIPs and all other stuff we can think of! So be sure to check that out, next update will feature the co-op and combat system in full action!

So yeah, since I always try to update with some form of animation or whatever when I update here, today won't be any different!
I've spent most of the day reworking old animations and creating some exclusive animations for our female sprite!
I think the first animation I did when we started out a few months back were the running animation for the main character. After doing a hundred something animations, I've gained a few levels so to speak! It's pretty cool to compare the old stuff to the new, you kinda get proof that the hours you put in actually pays off!




For the untrained eye, the one to the left is the new one and the one to the right is ooold. The update features better posture and less stiffness, better pacing and motion, more flowy fabrics and more fleshed out legs! I don't know if the difference is as major to everyone else as it is to me, but yeah. Pretty sweet!

Now, I'm gonna get some sleep. It's 7 in the morning, been working pretty much all day. I'll talk to you later assholes, byyyeeee!

SCH0000LLLLL!

Gonna keep this super short cause I want to go to bed.

No updates due to the first courses in school are about to finish up. Been stuck with school work and stuff like thaaat.
Even in times of hard studying, we always keep working on the game though!

Anyway. Video of the first village in the game. Hell, yeaaaah!



Now, time to sleep. FUUUU!

ANIMATING, LIKE A BAWX!

Been busy with animations for breaking stuff today. This here being for a jar och a crate. The crate involved a lot of trail and error and cursing, but it turned out pretty ok in the end I think!

Besides these two, I've got a barrel to take care of as well!

In other news, been starting to get my gym routine back. I had a break during the summer after I hurt my arm due to over training. When I got back to the island I bought a gym card, but the scabies took a pretty huge toll on me and I didn't have the energy to go for a while. But now I'm ready to get back, so it feels super great! I missed it quite a bit, gonna take it pretty easy to start out so I don't hurt myself again!

Now, sleepy time. Tomorrow, I'm gonna be animating smoke. My favorite thing in the world! Night hobos!

CHICKAAANS COOP!!!

Been working on this today, along with some other stuff! Sticking with the chicken frame of mind, this is going on top of the chicken coop in the first village!

Vilya did the original sprite, I did the animation!

Besides this, I've been doing some birds and their animations. Mainly ambient stuff today in other words, details that will really bring the game to life. Super excited about doing stuff like this, cause they make such an incredible difference.

So, I think that I can promise. That within the end of this week, I should be able to post a video showing of the village. Like I said, we're working on the details at the moment, so we're getting close. So, yeah! Keep an eye here for some new niffty ingame videos!

Now, time to watch some speedruns and fall asleep. Night fagss!

CHICKAAANS!!!

Just wanted to give a shout out to Peter Queckenstedt over at TIGsoruce.com. By dropping a comment on one of the animations I posted in the pixel art thread my daily blog views went from the regular 10-15 to 150+. Pretty cool!

Mainly been busy with school stuff this weekend, mixed with some Devastation/IPL3 streaming. Did managed to squeeze in some Grindea stuff though!

Chickens, all games should have them!

Tomorrow will probably be more school stuff. Suucksss. But ohwell.
Now, time to sleep. And watch some more starcraft. ByyeeEEE!

Wakakaka

Been a pretty productive day. Rounded up a few more animations for this guy. I think there's like 1 or 2 more and then he should be all finished, for the time being.

So this is the death animation. He's not really dying, more like fainting. But yeah! Also done a few damage animations but it's nothing worth uploading here.

So what else is new? Last few days we've spent a lot of time talking about milestones and deadlines. Our initial plan to be finished one year after production started will probably not happen. As always, you are a bit optimistic at the start of a project.
So, we have set up two milestones. One being at around Christmas, and the other being when school ends, which is in late May. We are aiming at being around 75% finished, and hopefully more. If schools keeps on not being a pain in the ass, I think it's very doable.

We've also been doing some layout sketching, mainly for the starting village and the capital town. Vilya is hard at work puzzling all of her environment graphics together to match the sketches. So far, it's looking really, really cool. I'll keep you guys updated when we got stuff to show, which hopefully shouldn't be too far away!

Now, I'm gonna sleep like a mother fucker and brawl with some school stuff tomorrow. Peace out suckaaaas!

Gettin' back in the mix!

So since I medicated myself, I've been able to work much, much better. The itching has been reduced tremendously and hopefully it will disappear all together within a week or two.

I've been working on some bow animations! I've got all of them finished actually, turned out to be a few more then what we first expected. But it's all good!
I'm not gonna post any of them here cause I figured they won't look that interesting on their own. I'll post a video or two when Teddy has got the bows working properly!

So, since I don't have anything of my own stuff to show, figured I could post this:

Crafting? Fully working? Aw yeeeea!
I did not make any of the super menu stuff, that is all Vilyas doing!

Now, I'm gonna catch a few hours of sleep before I need to bounce of to school! Byyeeee!

SPEAK PRRIEST!

Hey. Have any of you guys accidentally touched your dick after you've chopped a chili fruit? That's kinda what it feels like when you apply anti scabies cream down there. Only worse.

So, the doctor finally agreed with me and confirmed that I most likely have scabies. So I went and bought a bottle of Tenutex, which is the shit you use to get rid of them. You have to apply it to your entire body, neck down, and let it be for at least 24 hours.
The first hour or so wasn't a pleasant experience. But hopefully, this will solve everything and I'll be back at 100%! Feels like I've been working at maybe 20% of my regular potential the last few weeks, which totally sucks in every way.

But anyway! No Grindea stuff today. I have done a few animations, but it's mostly idle, walking animation and shit like that. Nothing super exciting. I am working on some heavier stuff, but I got caught up in The Binding of Isaac. It's a pretty cool game actually, you should check it out!

I don't want to leave you guys totally empty handed though, so here you go:



That's me. Such a bad ass.

Now, I'm gonna sleep! See ya fags!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Sorry about the lack of updates.

My rashes and shit is getting pretty serious. Gonna head back to the doctor next week and hopefully he will hook me up with some skin specialist.
I though I was allergic to something in my apartment, my main suspect being the cat. So I went home to stay with my parents for a week, but it hasn't gotten any better. More like the opposite.

My initial thought was that I had scabies, but my doctor didn't think so. But apparently, after massive amounts of googling my symptoms the last few weeks, I've found out that regular doctors suck at spotting scabies due to it not being super common. More often than not people have been sent home 3-4 times before someone finally spots it. So yeah, I don't know. I can't think of anything else really that could've caused it. I've tried taking stuff out of my diet, but to no avail.
Hopefully I'll have some good news next week when I've been to the doctor. Shit is fucking killing me. Like I said before, this is the worst thing I've ever experienced.

Anyway. Been doing some work. Been doing a few new character sprites for what you probably could class as the first boss of the game. Exciting stuff!
Been doing a few animations for one of the dudes. Here is the super smooth attack animation!



So basically he is supposed to look like a badass, but being a worthless fighter. Hopefully this animation succeeds with that.

Now, I'm gonna try get some sleep. Which, I probably won't. Fuck my life. Bye.

Enemy Showcase: Mr Flower!

So, here's a quick video of me talking about the flower enemy I've been working on the last few weeks. Sorry about the crappy sound, mumbling and shaky english!



Quality is so-so, I'm gonna try recording with fraps next time I go ingame!

In other Grindea related news, things are moving along smoothly. We've got the inventory part of the menu up and running, and it's looking pretty niffty so far! We've moved on to the equipment section now where we hit some design issues regarding skills and weapon sets. Hopefully will sort that out tomorrow when we're back at the office. And by office, I mean a random room in the library. The glorious life of the indie game developers, aw yeeea!

So yeah, next video will probably be me showing of the menu or whatever, when we got some more work done on it. Until then, stay black!

Reachin' 5000, awyeeea!

Just a quick post!

The other day my blog reached 5000 views! It's been up and running for about one and a half years now, going steady with a few hundred views every month.
Might not be all that much, but I've never been that good at selling my self and showing my work off before I started this blog. So while it might not be millions of views like other major blogs and artists have, I'm still happy about it!

Also, thanks to all the guys who's been following me and my blog! I'll keep posting my shit as always, and hopefully you will keep dropping by and checking it out!

Thanks again, peace out mothefuuuukaaas!

FML :DDDDDDD

Been sidelined with some health issues, that's why there haven't been any regular updates lately.

I've had this crazy rash that has to be the worst thing I've ever (for real) experienced.
Imagine having your entire body, itch like a motherfucker. 24/7. You can't focus on ANYTHING. Sleeping is the worst part. If you even manage to fall asleep in the first place, you're gonna wake up in a few hours, not being able to fall asleep again. So I've had to power nap my way through the last few days, sleeping 1-2 hours in session spread out over the entire day/night.

Anyway, been to the doctor 2 times the last 2 weeks or something and I've got some medication that's helped out pretty good. The rash is still there, but its manageable. Hopefully it will be disappear within the next few days.
According to mr Doctor I've had some kind of allergic reaction to something, but he couldn't tell what. Hopefully it's not the cat. I did an allegri test a few months ago, but it came back negative. So yeah.

Anywaaay. I've been able to do some work at least. Today was the first day in forever where I could actually keep my focus up the entire day, so it felt super good.



Just one more animation for this guy and he will be all done! Teddy has implanted what we have so far in the game and it looks pretty sweet! I'll show you guys when it's all done!

Besides that, we've been focusing pretty heavily on our menu design the last few days. We really need to have a super slick and well organized menu, since our game is pretty much all about finding gear and items. We don't want to have players navigating through a million of side menus and shit, but at the same time it has to be fairly complicated to be able to store all the stuff we have planned. So it's kinda tricky.

We have made some good progress though, and Vilya have created a pretty sweet base that I thinks gonna work out good. I'm psyched to see it actually working in game! I'll keep you guys posted on that as well, throwing up some videos as soon as we have something to show!

Anyway. Time to sleep. A new day at the office tomorrow! Byeee fags!

:3

Hey!

Been kinda missing out on updates the last few days because a friend from home dropped by for a visit for a couple of days! That doesn't mean I haven't been working though. We've started working in school with set hours to be more productive and able to talk about design face to face. We've more or less managed to set up a basic outline for the entire game, with dungeons and all areas you're going to visit. Of course there's still a lot of stuff to be decided upon and stuff can always change, but feels really good to have a better view of what exactly we have to do!

So, here's the finished animation of the sketch a posted last time. Done some changes to it, which always happens, and all in all I think it turned out pretty sweet.



Gonna be keep up with the videos next time I start on a new animation. Now, I'm gonna take a shower and get some sleep! School starts tomorrow, I'm pretty pumped! ByeeEEE!

Whip it good!

This is pretty much my process for doing the sketch for an animation. Probably gonna be changing a ton of stuff as I go about rendering it, cause I always do, but that's how I work. The sketch is just there as a base, nothing set in stone.

Now I'm off watching BJ Penn getting his as kicked in UFC 94 :C Fuck you GSP, fuck you. Talk to you guys later, byeezzzzz!

WHIDEE-HOEEEE!

New video, aw yeeeeaa!



Ended up with two different versions there in the end, but we chose to go with the less meaner looking one. Since this guy is goign to be hanging around in the earlier parts of the game as well, we figured we didn't want him to be too intimidating. We're saving the bad ass one for his more dangerous counter part you'll bump into later in the game though!

We had our first meeting in like 2½ months today, over a few burgers. Went great, even though a lot of stuff had to be pushed forward until next week. Still a few of the overwhelming amount of question marks got cleared out!

In other news, school seems to start out rather chillaxed. One course here at campus and one distance course. Hopefully neither of them will take extreme amounts of time and we'll be able to put most of our focus on Grindea! Pumped!

Now, time to sleep. Somehow, I've manged to end up with an even more brutally raped sleeping schedule than usual. Even though I actually tried (and succeeded) to fix it just a few days ago. Oh well. UFC and morning sun are the best conditions for resting anyway. Bye fags!