First off, Philip Truax sent me an image to celebrate the release of Derelict 1.2

I've added it to my rotating list of Desktop Wallpapers. Makes a nice change from the usual assortment of anime babes!

Hey, that means I'm finally starting to get Fan-art sent to me for my games! Awesome.

Secondly, Justin Deuel submitted a few screenshots. I requested those from him because he was testing at 1920x1200 resolution and I've never seen Derelict running at such a ridiculously high resolution before! Here are some of them (Click to view full screen).

So, now that Derelict 1.2 is out, I've had some time to think about what to do next.

My very next priority is to publically release the 'Earok Editor', my long delayed 3D level editor for Derelict and related games. It's in a functional, but not terribly user friendly state at the moment. Work's sending me away for a few days next week so it might be a good opportunity to get stuck into it then. I hope to release a very early beta version by the end of this month.

Starting early June, I hope to get stuck into working on my re-release of Project Firestart, but unlike Derelict 1.2 it won't be a mere gloss-over, but rebuilt almost entirely from the ground up. The team consists of only myself and Sam Jeffreys at the moment (If you haven't got sick of waiting! So sorry Sam) though I'd be keen to get a 3D modeller and audio engineer on board to make it look and sound perfect.

After that, I might have a go a programming a multiplayer online game, which I haven't attempted for ages. My three ideas are:

1) Ball Battle, a pong like where the paddles rotate around a circular arena, supporting up to eight players. I already made this game years ago but it was very badly bugged and had a bad habit of playing up when there were more then three players, so it needs to be remade from scratch.

2) Ultra BlastEmUp Siblings, a cutesy, cartoony first person shooter with Smash Bros mechanics. If you've never played Smash Bros before, basically you can't die from just taking damage, but the more hits you take the further you get knocked back, and the more likely you are to get knocked out of the arena. It was strange enough in a fighting game, but in an FPS?

3) Mobile Warfare, a highly simplified online vehicular combat game. Think Battlefield 2 meets Combat on Atari 2600.

Definitely favouring option three at the moment, but I'll keep thinking it over.

By the end of this year, I may start working on Derelict again. There are a few major areas of the game I want to work on before I'll finally be satisfied with the game:

Gameplay - Add a simple RPG system for character development, change the focus from being purely defensive to having some offensive actions (such as planning attacks on enemy held areas). Create a brand new tutorial level that is actually fun to play and makes sense in the storyline.

Graphics - Replace the awkwardly animated stock character models with ones made especially for the game. Add more high detail backdrop objects as well as subtle touches (Meteors burning in the planets atmosphere, for instance). Do a planetside level or two.

Narrative - Rebuild the storyline from scratch. Bookend the game with cutscenes. Keep the narrative flowing through the levels with audio, text, images and scripted scenes. Give the Marines names - even the Soldiers in Cannon Fodder had them!

Multiplayer - An online mode where each player controls a single marine, and each player needs to rely on other players to make it through the game.

Well, that's quite a lot so I'll stop now.