Two weeks until the release of #Narball. I thought about doing some pre-release influencer marketing, but I don't think I will. They'd just be playing with each other if they could find games at all. Exclusivity is kind of against the ethos of #WorldFabric anyway. I think I'm just gonna stealth drop it and see what happens. I can do streamer outreach after its out, and then they'd be able to play with their fans. I designed a whole new asynchronous event architecture to make sure weak PCs on crappy connections would get the same quality experience as the best hardware, prioritizing elites for release would be incongruous. #indieDev

There's like 6 different ways to join a game through Steam. I've got most of them working for #Narball, but joining a dedicated server through a rich presence link off of a friend while the game is closed always fails even though the connect command appears to be the exact same as the one I generate when joining from a server list request API call, which almost always works. It works sometimes if the game is already open. It's the same command! #Steamworks

#Narball playtest went well. Dedicated server and quickplay are still not quite behaving, but everyone got in, no crashes, no desyncs, and the physics updates went over really well. Narball is feature complete now, just need to tidy up a few rough edges before release.

Time for more #Narball playtest rounds starting in a little over an hour (8PM ET). This week I'm testing the feel of physics changes, so I need opinions. Come be a narwhal and hit balls! I'll be giving out Steam keys on Discord. https://discord.gg/2nqMDRZ4xn #indiegame #playtestersWanted

I have added matchmaking to #Narball. #WorldFabric is decentralized by design, so I'm not running any servers myself, but Steam has a built-in server browser. The game accesses the Steam server list and then scores the available matches client-side to select one. The game includes a DedicatedServer exe in the folder that anyone can run. If you open the port for the Steam server browser, then people who click quick play might join your server. #decentralization #indieDev

I'm hoping people will play #Narball, wonder how it works so well, and that will lead them down the rabbit hole to watching my videos about the technology behind it. I am the rabbit in the rabbit hole. #WorldFabric

#Narball is now approved for release on Steam. I'm still working to get dedicated servers and matchmaking working, but it could release without that. There's certainly more quality of life upgrades possible, but right now it is playable with friends, quite fun, runs well, and no one is crashing or de-syncing anymore.

I've added a new mechanic to #Narball : tail kick. If you bump the wall with your tail you will get a boost in the direction you are facing. You can also hit other players with your tail to knock them back.

Time for another Narball playtest in about 30 minutes. I'll be giving out Steam keys and hosting matches in Discord shortly. Anyone is welcome. https://discord.gg/2nqMDRZ4xn #indieGame #videogames #playtest #playtestersWanted #narball