It has been weeks since we've published any updates and we are beginning to feel an inner sense of guilt leaving the community in silence. On that note it's been over a month since we published any thorough updates for the project - not the plan.

Hows the project going?

'Project Malgate' is going great! We are happy to say we have 32 users, and 32 individual worlds in the spiral! In a sort of behind-the-scenes way we have been working on adding the final elements to the game. A lot of time has been spent prototyping the UI without incorporating the key dynamics they employ. This is a bit like working backwards, but has lead to some great introspection as to what the project is now and started as.

The project began as a simple 2D game to be played in the desktop/mobile browsers. Then, I found out about the capabilities of WebGL and began experimenting with the idea of making the game in a 3D universe, while still maintaining the ability to 'play in any browser'.

First person view and controls were never incorporated into the core mechanics of gameplay - the thing that is supposed to make the game entertaining is not the point of view of one individual. I've spent a good deal of time incorporating camera mechanics that conflict with, if not obliterate, the main concept for the game.

Whats next?

I guess it's just as that one guy said: 'If we don't understand the past, we are doomed to make the same mistakes in the future.'

There's a great benefit to keeping a journal over the course of development. I've looked back over the tens of videos and devlogs I've published for the game over the past 2 years and have come to the conclusion its time to scrap the existing code, take out whats useful to the CORE MECHANICS and throw out (or stash for later) the FLUFFY STUFF. 

I'm really proud of the sheer number of Fortnite mechanics I managed to mimic from the time I started playing it. I worry, without taking the time to look back and realize just how far I let Epic's project in my subconscious, and how far I had expressed it into my own project.

About Account Migrations:

The really beautiful thing about this being a 2D game in its simplest for is that all map data is saved very transparently, meaning accounts can be transitioned into a new spiral just as they were - kinda like a min blockchain. So, if anyone happened to meet their neighbor; don't worry, they are still your neighbor :)

For now that is all, the project will remain online during migration.

- Joshua

Expect MAJOR Updates 09-15-18