Author Archives: admin

The much anticipated, not fabricated, unmasticated and hopefully congratulated change log for XenoMiner!

Game Engine
Faster Load Times
Less hitching when terrain loads
Lighting is done better (Lights fade into the corners)
Ability to have Transparent types
Radiation is not tied to Lighting (Transparent types let light through but not radiation)

Block Types
Added Door Frame (3 levels)
Added Door Panel
Added Switch
Added Conduit
Added Clear Glass
Added Cloudy Glass
Changed both Capped Regoliths to Surface Regolith
Made Crystals and Diamonds translucent
Most Textures have changed to Artwork done by LithiumSound

UI
Moved Battery and Oxygen information to the top of the HUD
Changed Health and Radiation Levels to a number at the top
Incoming radiation is now a wave at the top of the HUD
Added selector for gear items
Changed Font on the reticle for readability

MiniMap
Is now locked to your orientation (Forward is always where you are looking)
Added items placed in the world
Lights are now colored
Added a dot for the Bot
Changed the dot to hollow for dropped items

Gameplay
Grav boots are now selectable (deselecting will reset down)
Jetpack is now available through suits
Binoculars are available through helmets
Minimap adjustments (range) is available through helmets
Items in Centriforge are now grouped by type that you tab through
Repair and reclaim items in the Centriforge
Items take damage when you do, become less effective until repaired
Door frames allow you to build doors in any rotation
Use Switches and Conduit to control doors
Adjust Sensitivity and Brightness through Options
Added Game Difficulty levels

It’s now in the XNA Creator’s Club PlayTest section (if you are a member and have access feel free to help us test it).

We’ll run it there for at least a day, and if nothing comes up we’ll be heading into Peer Review.

Sent it last night and finally got some sleep after 3 days!

Check out our newest interview posted on gigaloth.com.. It’s about releasing on XBLIG and some of the stuff we’ve found going through that.
Excerpt:

“In order to sell on XBLIG, you need access to the audience. That means you are either on the New Release list, you are on the Most Popular list, you are paying to advertise on the Dashboard, or your game is just cool enough that your first round of buyers (during the release list period) are telling their friends and convincing them to buy it. In other words: Release, Most Popular, Advertise or Viral. Advertising is probably out of the picture, at least at first. It

As we’re very near releasing a second update to XenoMiner, I’d like to make a quick post answering some questions we get all the time via Facebook, Twitter and email:

Is XenoMiner being actively updated?
It is. We continue to work to improve the game and mature it towards our original vision and goals.

WILL THERE BE MULTIPLAYER?!
Indeed! In fact we have working development builds of Multiplayer Xenominer and are currently in the process of debugging and fleshing out the experience. Naturally multiplayer changes touch nearly every bit of code, so we’ve been taking our time to get it right.

Will there be glass?
Yes, in fact, it’s in the update that we are just now wrapping up. There will be regular glass and frosted glass, and we’ve made the crystals semi-transparent.

What new features can we expect next?
Well, this one will be outdated fast, but: Glass, Retractable Doors/Bridges/Walls (with switches and conduit), Thruster Pack (jetpack for suit), Binocular vision on helmet, Zoomable minimap, Tabbed/Sorted Centriforge, Reclaim old gear (trash and recycle stuff for materials), Pointer back to Spawn, Transparency for Crystals, a new Texture set by LithiumSound, the maker of the incredibly popular “Summerfields” Minecraft texture pack, and perhaps a bit more …

How do I use the bot?
The joy of discovery is deep and the opportunity for it is fleeting. For those less patient, see this post (warning, SPOILERS)

Who did your music, it is awesome?!
Lucid Darqly and his project group xXRx let us use some samples, and Lucid made some of it custom for us. Check out their album here:
http://www.fixtstore.com/product/89694/xXRx—333-Ch2-%28MP3-Album%29

Will you be doing a PC version?
Because XNA runs on PC natively (well, with some .NET packages), it is very likely we will release a PC version sometime in the medium term. We are currently focusing on the Xbox experience and multiplayer and will continue to put our energies there until we are satisfied with its progress.

Is DAI-SE a reference to HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
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Is there a Wiki?
Yep! wiki.xenominer.com