Note: This post is by your favorite programmer, Joraaver!

     Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait. My first project in my Operating Systems class took an insane amount of time. But enough about me. Time to dissect the game (WARNING: LONG and MEATY)!

     I'll break this post up into 4 parts (NOT 4 posts, 4 parts): setup, analysis, solution, and remarks. Please keep in mind that I strive to explain everything to my best understanding, but I'm a beginner game developer, a student, and above all, nowhere near perfect. If I did something wrong or could have done something better, PLEASE tell me!

The Setup

     It was around 11:50 pm Saturday night, January 4th, when a play-tester called me to report an error. After the 16th level and the 20th level, he would get a java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Direct buffer memory error. So, as any developer would, I collected the details of his machine--graphics card, RAM, operating system, the works. However, the machine wasn't anything special, so I will leave those details out. The main part occurs now: I have a bug, it's 12:

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Note: For anyone new to this blog, this is a postmortem of our first indie title, The Sharpest Blade. It is a puzzle-platformer game; you can read about the release here.

     We've given our game, The Sharpest Blade, some time to frolic in the fields, but we believe that now is a good time for a postmortem. Well, I realize a little more might be appended to the game, so it isn't technically “finished,” but I think a postmortem is called for anyway. Especially for all of you looking to really see what happened during development.

Statistics

     First, I'd like to provide a few statistics. There have been 102 downloads of the game, with 39 coming from GameJolt, 50 coming from IndieDB, and 13 coming from Itch. Here are the distributions of each platform, by day:

GameJolt

IndieDB

Itch

     Each platform had the most downloads on the day of our release; hopefully some of those had to do with the blog post we made on release day. Over time, of course, the downloads declined. There is nothing too special about that. Now, however, we must

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     Big news everyone. Our first indie title - The Sharpest Blade - is officially released as of today! It has definitely been a rough and sleep-deprived 48 or so hours from the last post, but it has been a learning experience nonetheless. However, all the reflective jazz will come in a later post; this post is one of celebration.

     We've currently got the game on 3 distribution platforms, so have your pick:

GameJolt       OR

OR       IndieDB

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     For those of you just tuning in, The Sharpest Blade is a puzzle-platformer game that has been in development for the past couple of weeks. It is the first game we have made as a team, and part of the reason this blog exists is to track our development habits as well as make the process transparent for other indie developers looking to get started.

     I'll keep this post short, so you can spend more time playing and less time listening to lil' old me. Next time, expect an analysis of the

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What time is it? It's progress update time! Today, I'll be showing you more art to look at and soundtracks to listen to.

Demo

To start, I've got a nice little demo for you all to try out, if you feel so inclined. Mind you, even though I call this a demo, we still are developing it, so it is more like a beta. Can you even have a beta without an alpha? I'm not sure. Anyway, enjoy!

Versions:    Linux    Windows    Mac

Feel free to email us or comment about the game here, or give feedback over at Feedback Friday on Reddit.

Art

The previous post's works were quite light, so this time you will see a darker tone.

I don't know what the rest of you think, but I was thinking The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle, with the one below. You know, the moor.

Music

I've got another soundtrack for you guys, and this one comes with an interesting "medieval" flute section. Let me know what you think!

Final Thoughts

Joraaver goes back to his day job (being a student) on Monday, so expect the release

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In accordance with the title metaphors, I believe it is high time for a game update! Well, it is actually more than an update, given how little information we gave you in our previous post, Wading In.

Let us begin with perhaps the most important part of the game—its name.

The knight in shining armor must rescue the fair princess, taken by none other than a black magic wielding sorcerer. Typical. But how does a knight who has been stripped of his sword fight? That's the focus of the game here. True to its genre, expect to be thoroughly puzzled upon entering the levels. Most of the time, all you will get is the entry point, the portal to escape, and the name the sorcerer has aptly provided for the altered space you are in. It is up to you to connect the dots and make your way. It's not death you will be, or should be, scared of. Rather, it is being stuck in the void for all of eternity. Good luck.

That hopefully painted a fairly accurate picture of what has been in development for the past week or so. In case it hasn't, take a look

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