By Nicole Hamlett
It is seldom that a developer can go back and revolutionize their rookie title. However, NetDevil has done just this with Jumpgate: Evolution. The game that started it all in 2001 comes back with an updated look, mechanics and play. Initially, when this native Colorado Company decided to get into the game business, they prevailed through adversity and a leaky sink to get Jumpgate out the door. Learning from their past mistakes, the Evolution team (8 people) has been hard at work for the last ten months upgrading the system and ensuring that this title is fun and visually stunning. I was able to sit down with Hermann Peterscheck in NetDevil's Louisville offices and get the scoop.
"Essentially, we're building the game from the ground up", says Hermann. "Graphics are being redone. The UI is being redone so that players can move windows around. We've decided that the game needs to be much more accessible. On the one hand it means that the game is easy to get into, easy to play and get around. The other important factor is the UI. Communicate the information that people need at the time they need it. We do tests every day with people who have never played the game to see how far they can go. We're able to see where they get stuck, address those issues and then test the game the next day."
One of the directives that the team has taken to heart is that if players don't play the Jumpgate: Evolution because they don't like it, that's fine. However, if players don't play the game because they can't actually play it, that's not fine. In order to achieve the latter, there are steps that NetDevil is taking in their development process.
"Step 1: Your game has to be playable. That means all kinds of things. It means that your framerate has to be high and consistent. It means that you have to give people the information that they need but not too much that it blows them away. It means that it has to be relatively simple in the beginning to get a lot of success. That doesn't mean that later on it can't be hard. It can be incredibly hard in the end - Just not in the beginning." Hermann tells me.
Continuous integration is a process that the entire company has implemented in their development. This means that if someone checks a piece of code or artwork, the server immediately uploads and builds the content into the live product. If someone uploads something that doesn't work, they see the problem immediately and can start implementing the fix. It not only saves on time, but it adds instant accountability.
"This process saves hundreds of hours. We probably do thirty builds a day or however many we need to get that quick iteration. As a result, everyone is always testing. We don't have testers coming back a week later with bugs that we may or may not have fixed. It's just the act of developing the game, that drives the testing. It also ensures that our framerate is good. There is no such thing as a good game with a bad framerate."
I asked if this would decrease the build time for all of these games considerably with this new process. "I'm not sure." He answered. "It doesn't make building the game faster, but it does make us focus on the details that matter."
One of those details that really pulled me in was the target reticle. When you target an enemy, the target reticle will stay focused on the engaged target. Since this is true 3D atmosphere, it is hard to stick with a ship that flies above or behind you. NetDevil has fixed this problem with shading. If a target is ahead of you, the reticle is obviously going to be a vibrant red. It lessens as the ship moves further away or somewhere that is not immediately within view. Something that is so simple can really screw up your fun if it isn't implemented properly. Hermann explained that because of the issue of losing targets in testing, they implemented this solution. They are bound and determined to ensure that people have fun playing their games. They don't want to make them too complicated, difficult or un-intuitive to play so they've really re-thought the processes that they use.
If you can look beyond some incredibly gorgeous graphics, really great UI advancements, fun game play and a team that is seriously dedicated to making a great game Wait you don't want to look beyond that. That is all that it takes to have a good game on your hands. Partner the above with the passion to rebuild a game that is still solid in its first iteration and you have Jumpage: Evolution.
Do I seem to be repeating myself? I know that it's really hard to believe but this development team is for real. They have definitely learned lessons from past experiences and you can definitely expect nothing but the most solid of games from NetDevil from here on out. This is truly a team that is standing at the cusp of the gaming revolution and they are prepared to take on the world.
