Today we hit an important milestone: “Ride Like the Wind” for macOS and Windows is far enough along to be declared “Alpha.” Different studios use that term differently, but for us it means it’s essentially feature complete. The various tutorial elements are not implemented yet, and there are a number of known bugs and things to polish. But the UI is all there, and you can play the game. Rusto Games has done a great job adapting to a very different game engine.
Our QA team has started taking a more thorough look at the port. Their available Windows machine had a smaller screen than I thought we could support, but it seemed to run well enough. That’s a good sign. It can also run on a 5120 x 2880 Retina display connected to a Mac.
Once it’s had more testing, and the Guide and Tutorial are in, we plan on doing some beta testing with a small number of players. We’re still planning the particulars with our publisher, Kitfox Games.
Once we have beta feedback, we’ll be in a better position to know a release date. One reason this is hard to know in advance is that it can depend on other games. With a couple hundred games coming out each week, you obviously can’t avoid all conflicts, but there can be games you don’t want to release simultaneously with.
If you haven’t already wish listed the game on Steam, please do. We also expect the game will be on GOG (though they don’t have store pages for alpha software).
App Store
We’re also fixing bugs and added another interactive scene to the game for an App Store update. Thanks to all our players who have reported bugs!
Chapter Two
Meanwhile, we’ve been working on the next game in the saga, “Lights Going Out.” The art style is defined and a reasonable amount is complete. It’s hard to know how much writing we’ll need until you can play the game from start to finish, but I think we’re close to having half the necessary scenes written and coded.
“Lights Going Out” lets you continue a game of “Ride Like the Wind,” so you can determine the next chapter in your clan’s saga. As a practical matter, you might want to save any games you’ve completed.
Congrats on being alpha ready!
Great job David!! Really looking forward. If you need on more guy to test it on MacOS or Windows, I have both. Let me know.
Eventually we will, though we will likely let Kitfox manage this.
They will likely be using Discord to coordinate: https://discord.gg/Jkb9z3M
Fantastic, can’t wait!
Very good)
By Orlanths stormy beard what hero quest must i do, to acquire this treasure now!
You can visit Apple Lane and use some trade tokens to get an iPad. (Well, you need to first wait until we finish “Lights Going Out” if that’s your choice of treasures.)
Exciting!
I’m glad the port is going well, and that Lights Going Out picture is highly intriguing.
Nice
I was wondering if porting Ride Like the Wind will make it eventually easier to port Lights Going Out. I was also wondering if coding Lights Going Out is easier, given that the “engine” was already created for RLW.
I’m going to wait until we’ve shipped for the second, but yes, the idea behind doing two games with a similar structure is that the second will be easier. (Though it’s also because we want to create a LONG term story.)
Seriously cannot wait for this game, I’ve been waiting ever since I played KoDP in 2010.
How bug free and polished is the iOS version currently David?
Very. There are bugs because any game this big will have specific sequences of events that have never come up before, but it’s very solid.
It’s good to read there’s another Six Ages game on its wait. I can imagine that the process of making new games with the new engine is quite a bit less frustrating than the complex rebirth of King of Dragon Pass.
Of course, I know nothing about coding or engines, nor do I really care to know. But it’s always good to check out this blog from time to time, if only out of admiration for your perseverance and craftsmanship. There’s just no other word for it.
Enough praise for today. Now get back to work. Make Glorantha great again ; )