Fast Fast Slow Slow Fast by Mr Jack

Well, the promised tweaking hasn't happened yet, instead I got caught up in developing a level editor (in C# no less, making that three C-languages in one week) and investigating various technologies such as OpenFeint and text rendering options. So for most of the last week nothing obvious happened with the game. However, with the newly christened Level Editor harnessed up and ready to roll another 10 levels have gone in the last twenty four hours along with a range of new game play features, a (very) stand-in frontend end and the seperation into two game modes.

More excitingly I today travelled up to discuss artwork with our artist for the project (and my brother) Richard Aidley; getting the first of the art in should really make a big difference to the game and clarify some of the design decisions yet to make. I also dropped in on my pals at Strawdog Studios and had a look at where they'd got with Space Ark on XBLA since I was working for them earlier in the year.

It's a sad truth of working in the games industry that you're not going to like every game you work on, but Space Ark certainly wasn't one of those. It was a joy to play, and with plenty more polish and tweaking since I last played it, it's got even better. The games I've enjoyed the most have always satisfied one of two things, either they've been complex, cerebral games with interesting tactical depths like Civilisation 4 or Age of Empires II or games which provide the simple joy of elegant controls and satisfying movements like Tony Hawk, SSX or Indestruc2Tank. Space Ark slots firmly into the later category with a simple bouncing mechanic combined with in-air aftertouch and a perfectly balanced collecting system that is both accessible and rewards extreme skill with staggering scores. You can find a video of the game much as it is now on YouTube here, and - for those interested in the development process - the original pitch video Paul put together here.

Space Ark is chalked in for release early next year. If you have a 360, keep an eye out for it.