Collateral

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All Good Things

Hey everyone!

It is with heavy hearts that we must inform you that Dancing Dinosaur Games will be shutting down as of this weekend. None are more saddened than us by this decision, and it was not made lightly. The health and well-being of our team members is of the greatest importance to us, and with a key member of the team facing significant medical hardship in the immediate future it would leave us as a company entirely unable to function for an indefinite period. Other members of the team are also dealing with personal concerns that are affecting their ability to perform their development work, so this new complication is the straw that broke the camel’s back. We attempted to find ways that would allow us to keep going but none were viable solutions for our circumstances.

Unfortunately this means that Collateral will not be finished. This is incredibly disappointing to us as it is something that we have spent years of our lives working on. We’ve looked into possible ways for development to continue but currently no options seem feasible. We are still trying to get one final update ready for all current owners of the game with all of the content we’ve completed to date, which will hopefully be ready to push out very soon.

We’d like to take this final opportunity to thank everyone who supported us over the years. From the fellow developers and industry professionals that helped us when we were starting out to the fans and players that gave Collateral a chance to exist. Thank you all. We may be closing down, but we couldn’t have made it as far as we did without you.

–The Team at Dancing Dinosaur Games

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Mind Where You’re Going

Hey everyone!

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Voltiyig has a mind of its own. In fact, it’s pretty plain to see. Whatever eldritch nightmare has been summoned to form this vehicle was quite likely intelligent to some degree. That mental capacity makes it more difficult to drive by standard means, but the priests of Cthulhu Corp have a knack for communicating with monstrous entities.

The “drivers” of these vehicles are more like symbionts, bonding with the vehicle in a way that both warps their own physiology while also dulling the mind of the creature that was fused to the car. It’s safer for everyone that way, unless you make the driver or the car angry, that is.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Balance Of Machine And Monstrosity

Hey everyone!

Cthulhu Corp vehicles are very organic in their design, both aesthetically and literally. They are composed of a combination of technology and an unholy amalgamation of living matter summoned from other planes of existence by a combination of engineers and priests. This leads to very unique looking creations because while nature is full of symmetry this unholy, living, …whatever-this-stuff-is tends to do what it wants.

In game design terms that makes things a little more complicated because symmetrical models are much simpler to make and use. Fortunately with the Voltiyig we can get around that issue with its model that has an interestingly asymmetrical design. The physical model can remain symmetrical while the asymmetrical detail on the hood and windshield area can be convincingly created through texturing to give the desired visual effect.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Enzyme Synthesis

Hey everyone!

The Enzyme’s design, as with the other Octopi vehicles, was inspired by a fusion of The Jetson’s era glass-domed flying cars and a more sleek modern sci-fi style. The smooth curves are also a reflection of the waves of Octopi’s helical logo.

I’m not sure I was entirely clear on this point in the previous post, but the tentacles on the engines are not organic. They’re synthetic and they are primarily to make it very clear to other drivers that this is an Octopi vehicle. Actual organic tentacles on the back of an engine would very quickly become calamari or something similar, and Octopi aren’t that interested in getting into the fast food business. Not presently, anyway.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Things On Other Things

Hey everyone!

Octopi have a fondness for anything that’s attached to something it wouldn’t normally be attached to. Robot arm on a swan? Okay. Shark head on a human? Sure. Tentacles on a car? Absolutely!

Much like Octopi’s other vehicles, the Enzyme features their trademark tentacle engines. How do they work? Well actually, the engines work just fine without the tentacles, but if you can add tentacles to those functional engines then why not? For science!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Hoppy Holidays

Hey everyone!

From all of us here at Dancing Dinosaur Games, we hope you all had a wonderful long weekend full of chocolate, bunnies, and chocolate bunnies. Remember, don’t eat the furry bunnies. Especially not if they were originally chocolate bunnies because something has gone horribly wrong.

We’ll be back with your regular scheduled blog post next time. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Noticeably Subtle

Hey everyone!

The Assentor has had its body work finished, its fresh coat of paint applied, and its fairly nondescript NOR styling fully realized. Since one of NOR’s primary focuses is candid observation, the Assentor tries not to stand out too much. Unlike the other factions of New Bedlam, NOR’s lack of vivid or garish colours in their aesthetic definitely helps in that regard. Or rather it would help if they weren’t the only ones sticking to a black and white style in a bright, neon city.

Its lightweight, fine-tuned design makes it an excellent reconnaissance vehicle while still being able to defend itself when the need arises. NOR generally prefer to deal with threats in more subtle ways, but that certainly doesn’t mean they should be taken lightly in a fight.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

The Gentleman’s Agreement

Hey everyone!

Today we’re taking a peek at NOR’s light vehicle, the Assentor. Its design took inspiration from the classic and simple styling of the Ford LTD range. More specifically the Crown Victoria model like the one seen in Men In Black, and the comparison is perfectly fitting for the shady, tight-lipped, but well dressed organization.

Beneath the sleek elegance of its presentable face, the Assentor is packed with all of the bells and whistles you’d find in any other top-of-the-line hovercar in New Bedlam. Of course bells and whistles are against NOR company policy due to them being superfluous decorations, so you definitely wouldn’t find any ACTUAL bells and whistles aboard.

For now though, the WIP model is honestly giving me an almost Cthulhu Corp vibe with those cylinders and circles that look kind of like giant eyes. It’s actually somewhat fitting for NOR as well if this car looks like it’s always watching you. In fact, if you can see it then there’s a good chance that it is.

That’s all for now. As always, thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Comedy of Glitches

Hey everyone!

We’re back at work once again after taking a somewhat extended break in January, and I’ve been diving back into the myriad of bugs and issues that need resolving.

The issue I’ve got back to this week is the main cannon on the Blitz. It’s a bit of a special case compared to other weapons because it has multiple parts, which makes it just like the cannon the Juggernaut has on its trailer. I’ve had to duplicate some code for that where reuse wasn’t feasible, and I thought I’d got things fixed when suddenly something happened that I couldn’t help but laugh at.

Sadly my computer isn’t good enough to handle running the development environment, a play test instance, and recording software all at the same time without serious performance issues. If it could I would love to record some of the weird things that happen when testing, but instead I decided to draw a little comic to show you what happened.

This is why I’m not an artist. To explain a little about what happened, when a vehicle spawns it replaces an old vehicle that had despawned. The cannon hadn’t been cleaned up properly and was therefore still on the next vehicle that respawned. So that’s a little look behind the curtain at some of the craziness I’m trying to fix right now.

That’s about all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Within Reach

Hey everyone!

It’s that time again where the end of the year is getting so very close, and outwardly it’s been a bit of a quiet year for Dancing Dinosaur Games. We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes though, and we’re looking forward to bringing you some exciting news and developments in 2018!

For now we’re taking a break to rest, relax, and spend time with friends and family. We’ll be back again early next year.

That’s all for this year. We’ll see you in 2018. And as always, thanks for reading! -David

[collateralthegame]

Twirling Towards Freedom

Hey everyone!

Something that comes up a lot when I’m coding is the replication of existing features. Or more accurately, taking something that I did a while ago for a one-off instance of something and trying to replace it with a better, cleaner version for reuse in something else. The most recent example of that is the Blitz’s main cannon.

The Juggernaut already has a tank-style cannon mounted on its trailer that can rotate toward its target independently of the vehicle itself, so I had the basics to build from when making the Blitz. However, I wanted to write the new version in a neater and simpler way to hopefully replace the Juggernaut cannon when it was done. Of course testing new ways of doing something inevitably leads to new problems.

Well, new versions of old problems in this case that brought back memories of making the Juggernaut for the first time. I’ve been dealing with the mildly entertaining (but still frustrating) issue of “helicopter tanks”. That is to say when the turret attempts to turn toward the target it just continues to turn in one direction regardless of which direction is the quickest way to turn. Worse still they keep spinning even after they find and point towards their target, letting off the occasional shot when briefly pointing the right way.

I finally fixed the issue (I accidentally added a full rotation somewhere instead of subtracting half a rotation) so they’re not spinning out of control anymore. I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not recording any of my tests to show you, so I’ll try to remind myself to do so for any future entertaining glitches.

That’s all for now. Sorry for the wall of text, but hopefully it gave you a little insight into the kind of things I’ve been working on. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

One Man’s Trash

Hey everyone!

LEST don’t have the greatest materials or the best facilities available to them, but they have no short supply of ingenuity and resourcefulness. Skillfully adding a little bit of salvaged tech to a bunch of what others would just call junk is all it takes to make the Stinker.

This little single-seater may look like it’s barely able to hold itself together (and to be fair, that’s not far from the truth) but it’s a testament to the tenacity of the LEST engineers who took it upon themselves to answer the question “How do we make this shopping trolley MORE deadly than it already is?”

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Don’t Try This At Home

Hey everyone!

Next up for faction vehicles we have LEST’s light vehicle, the Stinker. The other two LEST vehicles were made by Riley, however Mark has been working on this one and is trying to stick to a similar and consistent style with this vehicle.

The Stinker is a weird collection of useful junk consisting primarily of an engine, some metal drums, a shopping trolley, and some scrap metal. What exactly holds all that together is still somewhat undecided. Since LEST tend to use relatively primitive technology compared to the other factions it could very well be as simple as rebar and duct tape, but we’ll see.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Love Me Some Tenders

Hey everyone!

JRC, unlike Big Larry, don’t tend to stick their logo or name in huge letters on everything they own. That doesn’t exactly mean they’re subtle, though. The Tenders are JRCs shiny new street presence, showing off their well-known orange-and-white motif with some brilliant, glowing plumage.

They are a light vehicle though and, individually, aren’t too tough or heavily armed. However, just like actual chicken tenders, it may be best for your health to avoid these in large numbers. Despite their name, they will NOT be gentle if you get in their way.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Playing Chicken

Hey everyone!

This week we have a quick peek at the work-in-progress model of JRC’s light vehicle, the Tenders. Whilst it is stylish, it may not look too impressive just yet but it’ll soon have it’s orange and white branding and be ready to shake those tail feathers on the streets of New Bedlam.

And speaking of JRC, I’ve been continuing to squash bugs and fix issues with the new faction vehicles. Still got a few big problems with the heavies, but those are fairly clear and identifiable so I know roughly what needs doing to resolve them. For example, JRC’s Giant Combo needs to keep better track of its target and know when to stop firing its seemingly limitless supply of seeking chickens. It’s a mildly entertaining sight, but a little frustrating for me.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

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Boom Boxes And Bug Fixes

Hey everyone!

Lately I’ve been fixing a lot of issues with adding the new faction vehicles and I’m glad to say that a lot of them are now resolved. Still dealing with a couple of odd, unreliable bugs (by which I mean they happen inconsistently) which is making them a little harder to track down and fix, but I’m getting close to wrapping them up.

The other thing I’ve been working on is implementing and fixing a couple of new weapons. Most recently I’ve focused on the Boom Box, which is a rear-mounted weapon that has a huge knockback effect to help you escape pursuers. My initial tests with the knockback effect were… more entertaining than helpful, but I learned a thing or two in the process. Not the least of which being that it’s possible to push other vehicles up and over buildings and walls if you really set your mind to it. I think I’ll try to exclude that possibility in the future though.

I’ve also been trying to resolve some issues with the Acid Cloud mines. I figure a single cloud probably shouldn’t instantly get you to full notoriety with the Fuzz because that just seems a little unfair.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David

[collateralthegame]

Looking Tasty

Hey everyone!

The Sabroso has had a bit of body work and some stylish branding slapped on it, and now it’s ready to patrol the streets of New Bedlam looking for hungry mouths to feed. The large propulsion thrusters on the sides have been replaced with front and back hover thrusters in the finished model.

Side access to the vehicle had been momentarily overlooked, but since the Sabroso is a food truck it was important to address functionality for customers. They have to be able to reach their delicious burritos! Of course, when not serving customers the side window is covered by an armoured panel to protect its delicious cargo. And to a lesser extent, the service employee in the back.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! –David