The last update was exactly one month ago. And there is hardly any progress behind the scenes. What did I do during the last four weeks?

Well, I wasn’t lazy. As mentioned in this post I started some traffic gain experiments for www.blackgolem.com. One of these experiments is regular posting. I don’t know if that’s the reason why traffic raised but it nearly doubled within the last month. There are many more Google searchers which arrive at the site. That’s cool. More visitors are always welcome. I can’t figure out exactly what boosted the figures but it’s great.

On the other hand the experiments took also extra time. Therefore Nordenfelt’s progress dropped to 50%. Tweaking the editor for more fluent work took also some time. The rest went into coding new enemies (e.g. ships and new plane AI) and adding gameplay in level 1. Many changes under the hood, nothing to show.

I don’t promise anything at this point but the game’s worker thread priority should increase within the next few days. But first I have to do my tax declaration. That’s something I really hate. Useful statistics are great when they serve your needs. But our tax system is just a dated bureaucratic behemoth which must be fed with fine grained figures to keep officials busy. Thank god I’m a small indie without income. The less $$$ the less declaration work.

Cheers,
Thomas

This article was cross-posted on www.blackgolem.com.

It’s time again to show what’s happening. Quite some new stuff found its way into Nordenfelt:

Simply download the game, unzip it (e.g. with 7-zip) and start Nordenfelt.exe. As usual there is nothing to install and the game can be deleted any time without hassle.

Download Nordenfelt 0.3

Drop me a line what you think. I’m looking forward to your feedback.

Cheers,
Thomas

PS: This blog was abandoned for the last few weeks. Don’t worry, continue button already pressed.

I dismissed blogging because I vowed myself to not write anything before version 0.3 is out. That was in the last week of October. Time flies when you’re having fun! See you next post, very soon.

I just recognized that the RSS feed shows only the very first blog post. This is because I’ve moved the blog to an URL sub directory after posting the first entry. I forgot to update the Feedburner settings accordingly.

The problem should be fixed now. If you are subscribed to this blog’s RSS feed (I hope so) and are missing the last few posts in your feed reader:

Unsubscribe and subscribe again, that should solve the problem.

Cheers,
Thomas

Hi! This is Thomas (aka hermitC) from Black Golem and this is the new blog for the upcoming Steampunk shoot ‘em up Nordenfelt.

Site Changes

Some of you may have visited this website before. The former layout was a simple information panel with a newsletter subscription form. BTW: Feel free to subscribe to the email newsletter. You can find the subscription form on the right hand side of this blog. Subscribers will always receive news first!

This blog is dedicated to players, testers and finally customers. Everything concerning the progress of Nordenfelt’s development will appear here. Everybody is welcome to comment on the development state. Nordenfelt relies on your feedback. Playable demos of the game will be published regularly. The first version (v0.1) can be downloaded from the download page or directly here.

The Game

Nordenfelt is a vertical shooter for Windows, settled in an alternative world where Victorian art and science meet modern views on technology. This combination is widely known as Steampunk. If you have no clue what Steampunk is, this illustration may give you an idea:

The picture contains many Steampunk basics like Victorian fashion, giant steel constructions and advanced mechanical vehicles. It shows an alternative path in time where the culture and science of the late 18th century was never ousted but developed to their maximum. The fictional aspect of Steampunk is a great challenge. Everything is possible but it has to work within the physical rules of old knowledge.

Concluding Words

I hope that some fans will gather here. Your input is important. So let’s make Nordenfelt an enjoyable game!

Cheers,
Thomas