06/30/2021 12:27pm — @ZSG
From the top. It's been a while, so this is going to be a long one. Recently, we've been looking into what is involved with bringing Spectre to Playstation & Xbox as well. PC is guaranteed, and although it's still early, I think Fred and I are on the same page about wanting to get Spectre to Xbox/Gamepass. Badly. lol That being said... We are OFFICIALLY FEATURE LOCKED. Literally all that's left of the game now is finishing it. No new gadgets, no new mechanics, no new features. The game is not done, and there are bugs, but it is playable and looking pretty frigging good.
As we're approaching beta, the timeline to make decisions regarding Launch is quickly closing. This looming deadline also means that I need to stop neglecting the smaller (actually, maybe bigger lol) stuff like UI, the menu, putting a pin in the progression system and fleshing out the rest of the Edges, etc. The pretty stuff. haha There's a common practice followed by devs that Fred had brought to my attention, and I wish I had adopted earlier; The idea behind it is to complete a feature or something to about 80% before moving onto the next. This way, we can uniformly get the game to an 80% finished state, where the rest is essentially polish and minor changes. I've admittedly been hyperfixated on the maps, and as a perfectionist, it's easy for me to get lost in the details. We've mentioned before how opposite we are, and this is just another one of those things. Something I often struggle with is that I'm never, ever completely satisfied with my work. Even when it comes to things like our trailers, I'd admittedly make Fred redo and re-render entire clips if I didn't like one thing (like a .2-second delay on an audio trigger that just ended up being an issue with my phone. hahahahahahha). I don't imagine that was a fun process for him. lol
Another thing that had hit me recently is just how much time we're investing in SPECTRE. Fred and I have been best friends for decades. We have legit not hung out or just shot the shit since SPECTRE began. Any conversation between us has been brief and SPECTRE-related. The last time we saw eachother was last summer. We had a couple drinks on a patio and-- Actually, we discussed Spectre, and the daunting challenge of server-client replication, amplified by asymmetrical gameplay. This really actually came to head recently, and in hindsight it's kind-of funny. Fred and I pretty much work on our own schedules. We've got our own things to do and keep busy, offering an update here and there. In the last couple months, as you saw in a recent devlog, SPECTRE started to really cut into our personal lives. Because of this, I schedule specific times to spend with my family. During those times, I am 100% offline. Completely invested in my time with my wife and daughters. This started a little easier when they were in school, because I could focus on development throughout the day and then spend the afternoon and evening with them. I also alotted my entire weekends to my family. Zero comprimise, unless it's something absolutely urgent because we'll never get this time back. Ever. The funny part? I've been doing this for months, and hadn't mentioned this schedule to Fred. At all. The result was Fred silently being pissed off at me and thinking I was abandoning the project because to him, it looked like I was no longer engaged with SPECTRE. Sometimes, he wouldn't get an answer all weekend. For months, this festered and I'm sure every time he snapped my neck in game, he pictured my face. hahaha We had a discussion about it, aligned, and had a good hearty laugh. We've also established a slightly more rigid schedule in regards to updates between us and such so that'll take care of that.
That is all.
Oh, and before I forget, alt Spectre skins confirmed.
- Jord