2014 Recap, Plans for 2015

Recap of 2014, and Plans for 2015

(Rather than make about like 5 different posts on things I need to say, I thought I would combine everything into this post.)

     It's that time of year again, where EagleSoft Ltd gives an overview of last year's accomplishments and plans for the new year! Unfortunately, not very much was completed last year, due to "real-world/life" commitments such as university life. However, EagleSoft Ltd did begin work on a retro homebrew port of its famous Ultra Air Hockey game to the Sega Genesis/Sega CD using a basic programming language called BEX, began work on a 3D, Deluxe multi-platform edition of the game called Ultra Air Hockey Deluxe using Unity3D, and added more content and extensive visual changes to my old fan game, Sonic CD Breakout.

    For 2015, unfortunately, due to technical difficulties and limitation of the BEX programming language, the BEX retro port of Ultra Air Hockey is being cancelled, but moved to the Sega Genesis Development Kit (SGDK). Likewise, the BEX GSpriteLibrary which was being developed in parallel is also being cancelled, and will not be ported to SGDK, since SGDK has most the library's features built-in. The SGDK is a C-based dev kit for the Sega Genesis, which is more powerful and stable than the glitchy BEX compiler, and which compiles code through the GNU GCC compiler in your IDE of choice. (I am using Code::Blocks.) It includes advanced features such as virtual Fix16 and Fix32 floating point data types, trigonometry, sprite and spritesheet management, input controls (Sega Genesis 3 and 6-pad joypads, Sega Mouse, Light gun, etc), and more. Due to this set back, the publishing and release of Ultra Air Hockey (Retro) is now greatly delayed; however, the end result show be a more polished, professional product.

  Furthermore, EagleSoft has finished a large chunk of programming for Ultra Air Hockey DX. We currently have everything completed except online multiplayer. Initially, we were going to release the game as a Windows 8 app in the Microsoft App Store without online multiplayer support before Christmas 2014, and were going to simply add that feature in a future update post-mortem. Unfortunately, we also want to publish it as a standalone W7 executable (especially since Windows 8 is a heretical, blasphemous, Satanic abomination to computing), but the Windows Store only allows for Windows 8 apps. This would have caused us to create a separate update/serial system, in order to allow Windows 7 customers to be able to download an update without re-purchasing the game. Instead, we are going to publish it once, after multiplayer is coded. After done with UAHDX, we plan on creating yet another original indie Unity3D game. No details or plans on what that game will be yet...

   Lastly, we are continuing to work on our Sonic CD Breakout fan game. Although this is a low-priority game, we are continuing to develop new zones, special stages, and other features by removing limitations and extending features of the BreakGOLD game engine.

   In conclusion, although not much was completed last year, we are working to make next year better, and to create more exciting video game projects!

-EagleSoft Ltd