Destination Arcade (Formerly Xbox LIVE Arcade)

**JasonXe** · 10-12-2008, 06:41 PM

Status Update with the Ferocity of a Thousand Status Updates (recursively)
http://skasoftware.wordpress.com/
Well, not quite that exciting.

But thing are moving along pretty well, albeit a little delayed (I think I’m 2 weeks off schedule currently, but who’s counting?)

One interesting little bit of fun is localization. The Dishwasher is coming out in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese. Since I drew my own font, I had to add all sorts of special characters to the graphic. For Japanese and Chinese I had to change the way the game handled fonts so that it could draw some using my font and others using a SpriteFont (the alternative would be hand drawing a couple thousand Asian glyphs). It took a couple of days to get everything working right with all of that, but the big hassle comes with adding changes.

A lot of bugs that roll in look a bit like “The game quits a multiplayer game with the message ‘you have signed out’ but should show the message ‘you have been disconnected from LIVE,’” or something to that effect. So, for bugs where the message that shouln’t be displayed hasn’t been added to the game’s text resources, that means I have to:

* Add the line of text to the text resources
* Send the latest text resources file to the various localization people
* Get the localized resource back from the loc people (usually there are 3 handbacks per update)
* Put the updated text resources back in the game

Not too bad, not too unexpected, but when you’ve got bugs showing up every other day to this effect, it starts to feel a bit crazy with all the back and forth. Gone are the days when I can just add a bit of text here and there with no repercussions! It’s weird–these are the things you just don’t think about before you get into it.

I added a practice room. It’s not too exciting; it’s just a way for you to see what the game thinks of what buttons you’re pressing. I got the idea from Marvel Vs. Capcom. (This means that the text “Practice Mode” must be put in the text resources, sent off, localized in 7 different languages, sent back, and incorporated–see what I mean?)

I also added support for the Hori Arcade Fighting Stick. I’m not sure how in love I am with this thing (had to order one), but mashing buttons is fun. I guess I’m so used to the original Dishwasher control scheme that having to switch over to something that feels so differently is a bit frustrating–in fact, it felt a lot like trying to dominate in Marvel vs Capcom in arcades after mastering it on PSOne!

Anyway, it feels like I’m getting toward the home stretch. I don’t mean to sound jaded or anything–I’m still having a blast working on all this, even when there’s drudgery involved (I’ve been a student and an office worker, and XBLA-related drudgery simply can’t compare to other types of drudgery out there!)

Also, expect a deluge of themes and gamerpics! I’ve got 2 themes running on my dev kits and they look pretty slick. I’m hoping to do one for free and one for …not free. The free one is good, the not free one is [IMHO] better. I’m not still entirely convinced people buy themes, but if they do, I think they’ll be impressed. The gamerpics are cool too.

Ok, back to work for me!

**OG_Monkey** · 10-12-2008, 06:50 PM

how bout a damn release date

**JasonXe** · 10-12-2008, 06:51 PM

Hope it atleast makes it for christmas ><

**OG_Monkey** · 10-12-2008, 06:55 PM

i know right

**JasonXe** · 10-15-2008, 04:52 AM

Blog Post from TGS
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:13:31 +0000

With mixed feelings we departed the States last week while Josh, Mike, Emil and Kelly stayed behind to wrap up the title update. We arrived in Tokyo for TGS on Tuesday and the show ends today. When we get back Dan promises to make an update showing all the neat stuff Japanese fans have brought by the booth and given to us.

Over the last five weeks we’ve knocked out the issues with CC and are now verifying the changes to be sure they work as intended. Work is rapidly coming to an end for us and we are prepping the build to be handed off to Microsoft for their test pass and certification. This phase involves total regression testing and can take a few weeks, at which point if any issues are brought up, the process starts anew. We are aware that many of you are unhappy about the wait, but this is how the process works to ensure you get a reliable update. We aren’t allowed to fix and upload one change at a time; all known issues must be addressed with the Title Update.

Thank you to everyone who has pointed out problems with the game, and thank you for your patience and support!

tom, dan and john

I'll probably go at it again when the update hits.

**JasonXe** · 11-29-2008, 02:14 AM

http://www.mediafire.com/?btnejrtzwjw

All the songs in castle crashers if anybody is interested.

**OG_Monkey** · 12-06-2008, 01:36 AM

Just when the HELL is this coming out, sheesh

**Dakota Grabowski** · 12-06-2008, 03:33 PM

i've been playing it and it's a great game

**OG_Monkey** · 12-06-2008, 07:57 PM

...-_-

**Kiwi** · 12-06-2008, 09:21 PM

I thought this would've been out aaaages ago.

**OG_Monkey** · 12-06-2008, 09:54 PM

exactly

**JasonXe** · 01-14-2009, 11:55 AM

On Wednesday (Jan14th) we are going live with our first of two downloadable content packs for Castle Crashers. The King Pack will include the following additions to the game:

New Characters!
o Open Faced Gray Knight
o King

New Weapons!
o NG Lollipop
o NG Gold Sword
o King?s Mace (equipped with the King)

New Animal Orbs!
o Pelter (Seal)

New Magic
o King?s Healing
o Gold Knife
o Healing Magic
o Kingley Jump

King’s Healing is an awesome new spell that lets you heal other players and yourself. If you have ever decided to pick the healer class in any RPG with the intention of healing the party, this spell is for you. This pack should go live sometime on the 14th of January for 160 Space Bucks Microsoft Points ($2.00). All pricing for this and future downloadable content is entirely decided on by Microsoft. All we can do is throw in our input (free!!!!!) but at the end of the day it’s their decision.

Thanks.

-Emil-

fukin ms, gimme something for free for baby jesus sake. I'll still probably get it though.

**HPK** · 01-14-2009, 05:16 PM

Not to sound like a cheap-ass, but charging 160 points seems kind of ridiculous for such a small addition. Then again, if the Necromancer and chainsaw were added, it would probably be 400 points.

The King's healing power sounds kind of cool, though. I might pick it up.