Well I thought it would never come, but I've finally finished my first solo project in Unreal.  Trail Breaking is releasing this June 25th on the Steam Store!  It's been fun and a great learning experience.  Thanks to everyone who helped out with the beta, gave suggestions and those who have been following the games progress.  

As you can see by the front page of the site, I have my store page up on Steam as "Coming Soon"!   So I'm very close to release.  No exact date yet, but should be spring sometime.  I've also been working on creating Steam cards, badges, backgrounds, emoticons, and achievements.   That has been a time consuming process, but fun.  When it becomes available for purchase from other sites I'll post that information.
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The game works best using Keyboard and Mouse but for those who would like to use an Xbox-style controller, I've been working on implementing gamepad controls for the game.  Who would have thought that would be such a pain.  For some reason that isn't already something that Unreal has setup for navigating through the game menus.  It apparently isn't as simple as clicking a mouse button on a menu item and then running code.  So I've been working on getting the gamepad setup from scratch for days now.  That was not fun and I lost a lot of hair in the process.  It's is mostly all working good now.  Still need to fix up some rough edges but the framework is there.  

I wanted to thank Just Adventure and Cindy Kyser for her awesome 'Upcoming Release' article for Trail Breaking.  It's very  much appreciated.  Please visit their site and give the article a hit.  Thanks!
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​Just Adventure Link

​Article Link

Hello all,

​Just added some new screenshots and a new trailer video on the media page.  I could really use some feedback regarding any of the screenshots and videos.
​I got a lot done during the holiday break from my other job.  Just putting more shine and polish on each level and fixing any issues and bugs.  

​I'm hoping to possibly have it released by the end of the first quarter of 2018.  

​Fingers crossed.

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  
​Levels are roughly 95% complete.  Gonna start closed beta testing very soon.  In the mean time... enjoy a few updated screenshots and a video will be coming shortly.

Thanks,

Jeremy Smith

So if you hadn't noticed already... the name of the game has changed from "The Way Back" to "Trail Breaking".  Apparently, not enough research had been done back when that name was picked.  It appears that another game of the same name already exists.  So for now, "Trail Breaking" it is.

​I've been mostly buttoning up a few levels and upgrading the atmospheric visuals in some other levels.  I've also updated the cloud effects, water reflections, and added a new ocean shader for my island level.  Finally, I've done a lot of work on the menus systems and got most of the graphic options implemented. 

​I did upgrade to a newer version of Unreal Engine as well.  Unfortunately, that always causes a few issues in my levels.  So a lot of time was spent getting things back to where they were before the upgrade.  

​Things are coming along fine and I can see the end in sight.

Sorry, it's been a while since I've updated the site.  That's because I've been very busy going through each level step by step fixing bugs, adding more assets, checking the save feature through each stage of the game, and basically polishing it up as best as I can. 

​It's a long tedious process, but the end is near.  I may soon be able to start beta testing levels.  I'd say most of the level are 95% complete, just a few more to go though.

​I just posted some new screenshots from the earlier levels that I had been working on the last couple months.  I'll post a new gameplay video possibly next weekend.

Thanks,

​Jeremy Smith

Well it's Thanksgiving Day at the moment, so happy Thanksgiving to you all. 
​Before I head out to eat way more than I should, I wanted to post a quick update on the state of the game.
​I am currently working on what I think may be my final level.  We'll see.  It's vastly different in every way from the previous levels.  I tried to make them all  unique, but this one is very unique. 
​I've also created a new Facebook page which you can get the link to on the Home Page of this site.  I'd love it if you could share that page with any of your nerdy friends who may also be into video games.  Also, I added the game to Steams' Greenlight program under Concepts.  Please click the link on my Home page to go straight to the Greenlight page and give it a thumbs up.  That will help me build an audience for the game as I get closer and closer to release. 
​Finally, I'm considering starting a Kickstarter campaign after the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I would at least like to recoup some of the costs I've incurred over the last year and a half plus some for additional assets to finish things off and help with later subscription costs. 

​Thanks and Happy Holidays from JLS Softworks!
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Well things are coming along nicely.  I just finished tackling an item that I have been putting off doing for quite some time.  I now have a save game feature working.  I still need to add all the variables but it's working fine. 

​I took a break from level design for the moment and had been working on creating the title screen menus, in-game menu system, animated company logo screen, save game feature, tweaking inventory system and more.

​I'm happy to have the save game feature working.  That was really the last thing I wasn't sure how to do yet in Unreal.  Turns out it wasn't that hard at all. 

​I'd say I'm roughly 70% complete on the levels.   The Dark Forest is what I'm currently working on and I think it's one of the better looking areas of the game.  Still have a bit of work to do on that level and need to figure out how I'm doing the puzzles still, but the main landscape is there and some of the ideas for solving the level.

​I had started a level which I think will be the final level of the game, but it is still in its early stages.  But that is the final level that I have planned.  Once I do a full run through and testing of the game, I'll decide if another level or two is needed.

​So things are coming along fine.  Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.