Yes, the console is back and will remain in some form or another. I have been working on integrating new features into FGF as school has started to wind down for the semester. The below shot is of the current build of Foxhorn which includes LAN and Live session creation, search and join through the console (The new build of the GUI library is not ready for testing yet).

Right now I am testing a few features being built into Thrust for the next release including the ability to log and share data between people playing a game on Live. The goal is to abstract the idea of a high scores sharing component to be able to share anything. The next release of Thrust will come with two things to share: high scores and error reports. While high scores will be a liberal thing to hand out, error reports will be setup in a client / server manner where only one server exists and is only connected to when a) it is up and running and b) the client wants to or can (ie the game detects he/she is idle in the menus).

I am taking a different approach to the menus in the next version of Galactic Wars (formally known as Galactic Wars 3). The previous version (1.3) used a new sliding menu that shifted to seemingly random points on an image and displayed some text for the point. It made sense since Galactic Wars does take place in space (each menu choice was a star in a galaxy). However the graphics required to do this were a big drawback, even on the Zune. This is because you can’t really have a low resolution image and have to make it much larger than the screen to get the sliding effect to look good. Because the game is going to the PC and Xbox 360 platforms, to carry over this idea would require even bigger images. In the end, it just doesn’t make sense.

So the new idea is to keep it sleak and simple. On the PC/360 version the menus will drill down a little differently but the idea is the same.

Looks like Gato Muy Splato should be ready for some public play by the end of the week.

Today I am releasing the very first full version of Galactic Wars 3 v1.2 for the Zune. This version contains several bug fixes and more functionality. Most importantly, it is the first version to include high scores tracking with name input. It is also the first version to allow you to switch control schemes between the touch pad and the DPad though for simplicity’s sake all UI is controlled by the DPad regardless. I have also moved the content loading upfront so starting a new game takes much less time. Last but not least, this version supports the Andromeda (Hard) gameplay mode which gives you more points for a kill but is much harder.

As always, comments, critiques and suggestions are always welcomed!

Galactic Wars 3 (28381) - 2.58 MB