Developing Avoyd, a Voxel Editor able to handle large models and a six degrees of freedom movement Game with editable terrain.
Doug Binks - 09 Nov 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
My current development schedule points one way, and a body of evidence points the other. Both directions have benefits and drawbacks, and it's really a matter of biting the bullet and making the call. Perhaps a coin toss would work?
Doug Binks - 19 Oct 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Both the demo and the full version of our new release, Avoyd 1.5, are out. This release could be thought of as a spit-and-polish, as its main purpose is to put a shine to the game rather than add significant new features. For Avoyd members, the ability to select your background opens up the possibility of user created backgrounds, and of course we'll be making a few more of our own for you.
Doug Binks - 15 Oct 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
The mayhems' for the whole week, as we grind our gears and prepare for another release. With much ado, and a short vacation looming over the horizon, I'm hedging my bets by saying that we'll delay rather than release if there are any problems.
Doug Binks - 12 Oct 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
We've released the full version of Avoyd 1.5 alpha 1, which is available from the downloads section of the member pages. Be sure to download the correct version, as we've left V1.4 up in case people have problems with 1.5 alpha 1. This version is not as significant an update as 1.4, but adds a few nice elements which make the game a better experience.
Doug Binks - 14 Sep 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
We've released both the demo and the full version of Avoyd 1.4. This adds simple computer controlled opponents, which really makes a big difference to the game as you can now practice on your own or have huge battles with friends. There are quite a few other improvements in there too.
Doug Binks - 06 Sep 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Last night I got back from ECTS, travelling from a sunny London morning to a dark and rainy Manchester afternoon. It's good to be back :)
Doug Binks - 01 Sep 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
I'm not sure which is the news - that we've got AvoydV1_4alpha1.exe up for download on the member pages, or that this is my second diary update in less than a week.
The big news in Version 1.4 is Single Play against bots! You can also use them in a LAN game, and if the server gets too full the bots drop out one by one, reappearing when people leave. We've also got some new skins for the avatar, and improved performance. Due to a few additional extra variables which need passing over the LAN, I've had to decrease the maximum number of players to 13 at the moment (unlucky eh?). This should increase again when I move to optimising the network code.
Doug Binks - 30 Aug 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
It's an exiting time here in front of my monitor. Recently we've had a spate of hardware troubles, not the least of which is the ongoing saga of getting the car repaired. However, the worst of these was a keyboard and mouse failure at the same time, which led me to first believe I had a more serious problem.
Doug Binks - 17 Aug 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Exactly a month has gone by since the last post, and some might be wondering if I'd given up the promise to keep this diary regularly, or just fallen under a passing bus.
Doug Binks - 17 Jul 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
And I'm not talking about politicians.
The main feature I'm busy working on at the moment is a single player component. This will be in the form of computer controlled opponents, or bots as the games community calls them.
Doug Binks - 06 Jul 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
You get to keep one, and I'll try and keep the other.
Avoyd is now available for purchase, somewhat later than I outlined in the previous post. The game was ready to go 'online' at the start of June, but fate dealt me a a small blow by taking out my internet connection for about a week. That was long enough to take some time to reassess the schedule, and it was decided to postpone the launch to add two features. These were on the map to be included in the next version, but for a variety of reasons we moved them forward. Avoyd is much better for their inclusion.
Doug Binks - 22 May 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Those of you who actually read some of the blurb we've been putting out with the demo may have noted that Avoyd is supposed to be sold over the internet sometime in the summer of 2001. Indeed, the mysterious silence here at EnkiSoftware over the last couple of months has in part been down to getting prepared for this. Soon, we'll be releasing the latest demo version, and also giving you the chance to buy the full game.
Doug Binks - 23 Apr 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
As some may have noticed, things on this site have been rather quiet for the last month. You'll be glad to know that I've been hard at work preparing the next release, which is going to contain a host of new features.
Doug Binks - 03 Apr 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
A month has passed since our first release, and we're still alive and well. Those of you who have been to our forums may have spotted that at least one person experienced a bug in version 1.1 which stopped him from playing it. We've fixed that (thanks Ouroboros for your patience and assistance), and have released a patch. This patch also includes further optimizations, so things should run faster.
Doug Binks - 28 Mar 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Things are going well with the Avoyd demo, and to our knowledge we now have over ten thousand downloads from the various sites which have counters on their download pages (combining versions 1.0 and 1.1 but excluding the patch). We think this is pretty good going for a small game from a small company with a small budget, and hope that it bodes well for our commercial release.
A recent email to us concerned whether we'd release the Avoyd game engine to the public. There are many ways we could do this, and I thought I discuss them here, along with the pros, cons and likelihood of them happening.
Doug Binks - 19 Mar 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
We've released both a patch and a full install for the new version, which includes some new features and a few fixes. I'd like to thank Ranger55 for pointing out several bugs to us in our support forum, along with everyone else who posted in the forums!
Doug Binks - 12 Mar 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
It's been a great week, nervously surfing the web to see how many downloads we've made, responding to emails and posts in the forum, and tracking down strange behaviour from the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler. So far, we're doing very well for a small independent developer, with over four thousand downloads from our site in the first week and about twenty thousand visitors to the site. With the other sites which are hosting the demo, we probably made over five thousand downloads in the first week. What that means is anyone's guess, but it does make Avoyd one of the most downloaded 'small' action games. Without feedback from players it's difficult to form any opinion, but most comments we have had have been very positive about the concept. So, many thanks, and I encourage you all to post what you think in our forums.
Doug Binks - 04 Mar 2001 - edited 30 Oct 2013
[This is an archive post about the first version of Avoyd which we now call Avoyd 1999. The full game is now free to download.]
Finally, the culmination of over a year's work has been reached. It's been great fun, with hopefully more to come. But it's somewhat frightening to unveil to the public something which has been at the core of my life for so long. The positive remarks from those who have seen our test versions have been extremely encouraging. So I now find myself typing in the last few lines to a long chapter in my life.