Where are we?

That is one heck of a question.

And why are we here?  NO, I'm talking about "Where are we in development of Killer Kenn" in reference it's schedule.

Well, to answer: It's a little hard to say for a few reasons. First, because we are so early on. Second, because I really suck at scheduling. I seriously thought Ooga would be done in a year. I guess I was only three years off. But what I can tell you are a few of the big things that we have finished and some of the big things that are left.

Big things we have done:

• Complete Script: That's right, the current plan on Ken is to have fully animated cut scenes between levels. We finished the first pass on the script about a year ago. I felt like it was strong right from the start, but since then, and have been reworking, tightening, and touching it up ever more.

• Concept art: I have about 5 years' worth of sketches and ideas. Most of them are mine, but I even hired a pro a few years back to put some ideas together.

• First pass cut scene sounds: My wife and I got out a microphone, warmed up our craziest voices, pressed record, and read through the entire script.  Sounds fun right?

• Story boards: Yup, you heard it right. You can actually watch through the whole story beginning to end. Sure, it has some weak spots, and some corners to sand down, but it's all there! What a GREAT start!

• Lots of 3d art assets: Even though we're still pretty early on in development we actually have quite a few modeled art assets. Before you get too excited, remember most of these need rigged and animated. (For those of you who don't know, 'Rigging' means connecting a 3d model up to a skeleton so that it can animate.)

• Design: We have hordes of awesome ideas. So many, in fact, that we have to constantly weed through to pick the very best ones. We're constantly refining it and making it so that if and when it launches, it will launch with a BANG!!!! 
• I'm trying to do a better job of staying organized with design this time around and actually writing it all down rather than keeping it all up in my head.

• 2d prototype: We have a top down prototype using simple 2d lines to mock up AI movement and weapons. It's actually a pretty cool little program, and it has been super helpful in working out and refining the design. Maybe someday I'll throw it up for you to check out. 

• 3d prototype: You can actually run around with Ken, and shoot his weapon. How cool is that? Now just finish all the game mechanics, add in the levels, put in some enemies, cut scenes, cool artwork, and we're done! Right?

  

Big things we don't have:

• A game: Yeah, two unmerged prototypes and a bunch of ideas are a far cry from having a complete game. 

• A platform: The game isn't approved for XBLA yet. We're interested in expanding our horizons this time around. PC seems like a no brainer since our engine is already set up to work there. Time will tell how this all unfolds.

• Art style: A lot of this is kind of worked out in my head, and I know what direction I want to go, but sometimes things don't turn out how you think they will. Until we can all see it, this will remain a huge item left on the list.

• Animations: I LOVE animating. If I could have my dream job, I think I'd sit and animate all day. Wait a minute; don't I have my dream job? I guess so, except that along with animating, I have to squeeze in all the other art, programming, audio, and management tasks. Anyway, I'm mostly looking forward to working on animations, but that doesn't make it any less daunting.
• Including our cut scenes, Kenn will have far more to animate than any of our previous projects, and animations are one thing that you just can't (or at least shouldn't) rush.

• Bosses: Dang right! We have some awesome bosses in the works. Right now, they're nothin' but ideas, but they're freakin' cool ideas!

• Weapons system: Sure you can shoot, but there's no upgrade system, switching of weapons, and the effect on the bullets is a little sissy. There's definitely a LOT of work that will have to go into the weapons system and other basic game mechanics. 

• The rest: There are TONS of other little details including: Particles, HUD, menus, level objectives, sound and music implementation...I could go on and on. This stuff all takes time and we don't cut corners.

• Things I'm forgetting:  Oh yeah!  I forgot about that stuff.

So how long is it all going to take?  Man, I wish I knew.  I crunched some numbers, and if we keep the scope similar in size to what we did with Ooga, considering our current team size and budget, it'll take roughly 36 months.

I do keep discovering things that we won't have to re-do because we already finished it with Ooga or Clyde, but I also keep thinking of things that are new challenges that we've never done before (i.e. animated cut scenes) that could REALLY eat up a lot of time.

  

Also, the 36 months would be if I could work on it straight without other distractions, which currently doesn't feel very likely.

  

If we stick to that, it means we'll ready to ship right around the start of 2014. By then we'll all have flying cars and living in carbon casing with our brains hooked straigh into our computers, but people will still want to play a good gooey shoot 'em up. Right?

  

Who knows? Miracles happen. Right?

As for the scrumptious piece of art, here.  Take a look.  This is Dunkin, a local cop.

"I bet you wish you had a real weapon.  Somethin' like this puppy here."
      -- Dunkin Buster