We did it to Crazy Over Goo, now prepare for the latest in Flash-versions-of-my-games!
We haven't made major changes to the game aside from some difficulty balancing and extra background art, as you can see above. This was mostly a light-hearted side project, thanks almost exclusively to PickleMan, who does not actually maintain a particularly active web presence in the same way I do. This dedicated and talented mofo threw this together really quickly, though, and was hella responsive to making changes and adjuestments as I suggested them. A big round of applause for him!
Why wasn't this announced when the game was finished, months ago? We wanted to find a good sponsorship deal! Alas, sponsors did not really like the title, further cementing my confusion with the Flash world vs. PC gaming world. We decided to take matters into OUR OWN HANDS and crafted a Kongregate exclusive package here, banking off the dimes and nickels we may earn through ad revenue. Money was never really a major factor in this game anyway, from its inception back in October 2010 to the Flash version proposal to our half-hearted attempt to garner sponsor interest.
Anyways--ESCAPE FROM THE UNDERWORLD, everybody!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
New (HTML5) Game - Jurrasic Jetpack: Hold On To Your Butts
Yep, I made an HTML 5 game.
This was for a class assignment. We didn't have to make it HTML5, and it didn't have to be nearly this polished, but, I had the capability, so I did it. There were 4 other people in involved in the project; 3 pals who did art, and 1 pal who made the music and the sfx (using an ACTUAL Gameboy, in his hands, wow!) (I will work on finding more links to the other pals)
There are 3 stages that loop continuously until you lose. You can rack up lots of points on the third one.
This game is nothing too special. There are a couple issues that will never be fixed, because at the end of the day it's "just" a silly class assignment. I think we can all agree I've got more important things to do.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Ultima Origins
I got a question on formspring recently asking about some of the old old comics I did before I was making games. I've been discussing them a little more often lately because Phantasmaburbia's main cast is made up of re-invented characters from those days of yore. The question asked on FS was pertaining specifically to the villain, "Ultima," who the characters were opposing.
Luckily I just so happened to be visiting home, and I had a stack of old comics readily available to scan (read: photograph and then touch up in PS). So I went ahead and uploaded some old drawings to satisfy your curiosity.
Warning: really terrible elementary school art ahead!
This was the first recorded appearance of the villain, I believe. This was in fact drawn NOT by me but by my good childhood friend Yoshi. We both drew comics and made a more-than-regular habit of borrowing each other's characters and expanding each other's canon. Ultima started off as such a snag by myself from Yoshi.
This comic was one of many many series which he started, though never completed. Usually his protagonist was Yoshi, the Zelda/DBZ-like legendary hero. This was to be the story of his 5th descendant, Moshi. I went on to make use of the name Moshi in Phanta as the samurai ancestor of the protagonist, as a nod to this. It's especially apt because "Moshi-Moshi" is a phrase used in Japan to answer the phone, based on an urban legend that if one were a ghost they would only be able to say "Moshi" once. So, saying Moshi twice proves you're not a ghost to the otherwise unaware caller.
Anyway.
This was the first page, also drawn by Yoshi.
Et cetera. I took him and managed to make him even more generic for my purposes. It took a while to find a drawing that actually featured a full shot of the guy: here. This is just a piece of the 100-ish page spanning final battle between him and "Greg," the OTHER Zelda/DBZ-like legendary hero. I promise you that this page probably had the most talking in it of the entire fight, because the vast majority went something like this.
And then later on I sort of "updated" the design a bit to make him ever so slightly cooler-looking.
His story as I told it was generally that he was this super-great god like demon who created Earth, but then a mysterious black liquid from space turned him evil. You know, like Venom in Spiderman. So he goes nuts. Anyway, it turns out he doesn't have the full powers of a God anymore and that the power was kept in this big castle locked behind a sealed door than could only be opened by killing the 5 or 6 "chosen ones" who kinda represented the different seals on the door and passed on this seal to their descendants. So naturally he goes and kills them one by one, including the main character, Greg.
Greg has to go through a whole bunch of trials to get back from the afterlife, and arrives just in the nick of time as Ultima is about to get his grubby demonic hands on the god power. Just then, the famous/best wizard Sauron shows up in the nick of time as well and splits up the energy, casting it in pieces to the ends of the Earth. A piece of it goes to Greg, which makes him way stronger and a match for Ultima. Ultima takes out the super wizard Sauron in frustration, but then is defeated by Greg in a big final battle.
And then when he inevitably came back in later comics, the heroes of the day had to go on a big Zelda-style adventure and collect the pieces of the god power stuff to fight him.
That pretty much covers it! All this stuff about Ultima isn't without parallels to the big bad in Phanta, though this is probably mostly because as a whole Ultima is pretty generic. When the game is finally finished and everyone gets to see how the story unfolds, you might enjoy finding the characteristics and plot stuff that crosses over between the two.
Luckily I just so happened to be visiting home, and I had a stack of old comics readily available to scan (read: photograph and then touch up in PS). So I went ahead and uploaded some old drawings to satisfy your curiosity.
Warning: really terrible elementary school art ahead!
This was the first recorded appearance of the villain, I believe. This was in fact drawn NOT by me but by my good childhood friend Yoshi. We both drew comics and made a more-than-regular habit of borrowing each other's characters and expanding each other's canon. Ultima started off as such a snag by myself from Yoshi.
This comic was one of many many series which he started, though never completed. Usually his protagonist was Yoshi, the Zelda/DBZ-like legendary hero. This was to be the story of his 5th descendant, Moshi. I went on to make use of the name Moshi in Phanta as the samurai ancestor of the protagonist, as a nod to this. It's especially apt because "Moshi-Moshi" is a phrase used in Japan to answer the phone, based on an urban legend that if one were a ghost they would only be able to say "Moshi" once. So, saying Moshi twice proves you're not a ghost to the otherwise unaware caller.
Anyway.
This was the first page, also drawn by Yoshi.
Rule 1: Eat healthy foods (unless you are Will) [[disliked classmate]]
Once the world was made...
By Ultima, that holds the Ultima power
40000000 years later...
(Moshi: This is it...)
(Moshi: Ultima!)
One day, Ultima turned evil (Ultima: Mwahahahaha)
Then the world turned evil... (Man: Eek!) [Comment: Wash your hands after you kill someone, or if you are killed]
And Evil
Et cetera. I took him and managed to make him even more generic for my purposes. It took a while to find a drawing that actually featured a full shot of the guy: here. This is just a piece of the 100-ish page spanning final battle between him and "Greg," the OTHER Zelda/DBZ-like legendary hero. I promise you that this page probably had the most talking in it of the entire fight, because the vast majority went something like this.
And then later on I sort of "updated" the design a bit to make him ever so slightly cooler-looking.
His story as I told it was generally that he was this super-great god like demon who created Earth, but then a mysterious black liquid from space turned him evil. You know, like Venom in Spiderman. So he goes nuts. Anyway, it turns out he doesn't have the full powers of a God anymore and that the power was kept in this big castle locked behind a sealed door than could only be opened by killing the 5 or 6 "chosen ones" who kinda represented the different seals on the door and passed on this seal to their descendants. So naturally he goes and kills them one by one, including the main character, Greg.
Greg has to go through a whole bunch of trials to get back from the afterlife, and arrives just in the nick of time as Ultima is about to get his grubby demonic hands on the god power. Just then, the famous/best wizard Sauron shows up in the nick of time as well and splits up the energy, casting it in pieces to the ends of the Earth. A piece of it goes to Greg, which makes him way stronger and a match for Ultima. Ultima takes out the super wizard Sauron in frustration, but then is defeated by Greg in a big final battle.
And then when he inevitably came back in later comics, the heroes of the day had to go on a big Zelda-style adventure and collect the pieces of the god power stuff to fight him.
That pretty much covers it! All this stuff about Ultima isn't without parallels to the big bad in Phanta, though this is probably mostly because as a whole Ultima is pretty generic. When the game is finally finished and everyone gets to see how the story unfolds, you might enjoy finding the characteristics and plot stuff that crosses over between the two.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Productivity vs. Humanity
I've been doing lots of pondering, as I'm often prone to. As of late my pondering's been centered on a pretty specific facet of my life that's relevant to this blog. It's something I think I only really began to be cognizant of at some point midway through the development of Dubloon, and since then has only ballooned, particularly as I've gotten farther into my work on Phantasmaburbia.
In considering the general path of my life, a particular trend has been very visible in the last handful of years. There was a point in my life when I was a pretty socially active person. I always had semi-artistic leanings, sure. I drew comics and came up with card games and ran a website or two, maybe, but these were all expressions of various interests which I might have introduced to strangers as factoids alongside my favorite color or my favorite Pokemon. And then I started to get into making computer games.
I think the first really visible signs actually came when I was finishing Assassin Blue. I was running a website at the time (which is still online) where I posted scans of doodles in my notebooks. It wasn't anything great or special, but it was one of the things I did for fun and I was still in the process of cultivating a steady stream of visitors. And then one day I stopped. You can even see now that on my last update to the site I reassured that I was going to update on a regular schedule that week, and never did. I never even came back to correct myself or to apologize. I completely and honestly forgot about it entirely, and spent that entire week focusing on Assassin Blue stuff. And then the next week, and the next. Whoops!
The trend from there gets only more predictable, and largely already known to this blog's readership. I went on to work on more games. Slowly I stopped actively drawing apart from compulsion. I had a promising start as a writer of fiction that quickly faded. I definitely stopped maintaining any sites that weren't directly related to my games, let alone maintaining a presence on communities that had at most a tangential relation to my growing interest.
All of this is probably well and normal, really. I found my passion! I should be more than happy, and indeed satisfied with the gentle removal of the more nonessential parts of my day and life. But it started to become a very recognizable issue when I started to ebb away from friends as well.
The root of this isn't that hard to trace. When I want to make a focused effort on my games, I fairly feel the need to distance myself from people. Such is the nature of focused work! But more and more this starts to express itself in a very literal decision of if on a given night I'm going to go see some pals and party or if I'm going to stay in and fine tune that level or finally get to doing that boss fight I've been planning out for the last week. And then that decision starts to create an impact in wider circles, an example being my sleep schedule. Too often nowadays do I find myself awake and restless when the rest of humanity is sound asleep, even when maybe I'm not quite feeling the game stuff at the moment! (This is the part where I check the clock and realize it's close to 6 in the morning.)
I'm not complaining. I'm not pointing any fingers or calling any fouls here. This is actually what I chose for myself, sometimes through aloof persistence to my work but often through conscious choice. All of this begins to illustrate a very essential question of personal philosophy which I haven't yet definitively answered for myself.
I see very clearly that there are two ideals at play which are at ends with each other. On one hand there is the social life in which one draws energy from the people around them and expresses themselves through their relationships with others, their lasting impact being the impression left on their peers. On the other is the working man who shuts himself in his study and works tirelessly to produce work(s) that epitomize their knowledge and skill, a perfect brainchild which serves to immortalize these people long after they and the people who knew them have left this Earth. We all know of a lot of great figures like this in history, and it seems true with little to no exception that all the great artists and thinkers who produced the most thoughtful, emotionally significant pieces lived a lifestyle like this latter one.
At this point I might once have stopped to say that these dual pursuits of intro and extroversion were not diametrically opposed and that one could, with desire and practice, be master of both. But more and more lately I'm second guessing this. They're opposed in more ways than just literal time investment--when you choose whether to work or to socialize, you assign a value to those actions which is either greater or less than the other. You might like your friends very very much, but the more you let yourself be convinced that the most important things in your life are your achievements and productions, the more your friends become by definition distractions and less worthwhile investments. And even if that doesn't reflect your sentiments, it's the message that's sent when you essentially ignore them for extended periods of time. Conversely, once you get up from your work and go see your friends it's hard to pull away and come back, both in the span of that evening and in the long term as you're seeing them more and more. There are plenty of people who don't claim to have any particular hobby or talent or interest besides hanging out with their friends (and being a consumer of something, like listening to music or playing games)--and those people are perfectly interesting dudes with perfectly interesting lives!
I don't think I've yet fallen totally completely into either territory, but I do ride that line frequently and for me it's very easy to slip too far one way or the other for a long time. It was only really with Phantasmaburbia when I considered this balance in my life and decided to really let myself slide into that introverted zone and see how my production was affected. And now I'm facing the ramifications of that, and it's made me thoughtful. I'm seeing how my friendships become more strained, and I'm also seeing how my gradual detachment from people gives the actual product a very different energy from the perspective of me, the creator. I'm starting to question what is indeed optimal for me, while I fear actually experimentally pulling back from my project in fear that I'll somehow lose it. Which is pretty ridiculous to consider.
Obviously the "answer" is different for everybody and in all cases lies somewhere paradoxically between the two absolute extremes of introversion and extroversion. I didn't really write this with the purpose of coming out with a conclusion, and indeed I haven't yet even really reached one for myself yet. Just something that's been on my mind, that maybe you might be interested in pondering as well.
In considering the general path of my life, a particular trend has been very visible in the last handful of years. There was a point in my life when I was a pretty socially active person. I always had semi-artistic leanings, sure. I drew comics and came up with card games and ran a website or two, maybe, but these were all expressions of various interests which I might have introduced to strangers as factoids alongside my favorite color or my favorite Pokemon. And then I started to get into making computer games.
I think the first really visible signs actually came when I was finishing Assassin Blue. I was running a website at the time (which is still online) where I posted scans of doodles in my notebooks. It wasn't anything great or special, but it was one of the things I did for fun and I was still in the process of cultivating a steady stream of visitors. And then one day I stopped. You can even see now that on my last update to the site I reassured that I was going to update on a regular schedule that week, and never did. I never even came back to correct myself or to apologize. I completely and honestly forgot about it entirely, and spent that entire week focusing on Assassin Blue stuff. And then the next week, and the next. Whoops!
The trend from there gets only more predictable, and largely already known to this blog's readership. I went on to work on more games. Slowly I stopped actively drawing apart from compulsion. I had a promising start as a writer of fiction that quickly faded. I definitely stopped maintaining any sites that weren't directly related to my games, let alone maintaining a presence on communities that had at most a tangential relation to my growing interest.
All of this is probably well and normal, really. I found my passion! I should be more than happy, and indeed satisfied with the gentle removal of the more nonessential parts of my day and life. But it started to become a very recognizable issue when I started to ebb away from friends as well.
The root of this isn't that hard to trace. When I want to make a focused effort on my games, I fairly feel the need to distance myself from people. Such is the nature of focused work! But more and more this starts to express itself in a very literal decision of if on a given night I'm going to go see some pals and party or if I'm going to stay in and fine tune that level or finally get to doing that boss fight I've been planning out for the last week. And then that decision starts to create an impact in wider circles, an example being my sleep schedule. Too often nowadays do I find myself awake and restless when the rest of humanity is sound asleep, even when maybe I'm not quite feeling the game stuff at the moment! (This is the part where I check the clock and realize it's close to 6 in the morning.)
I'm not complaining. I'm not pointing any fingers or calling any fouls here. This is actually what I chose for myself, sometimes through aloof persistence to my work but often through conscious choice. All of this begins to illustrate a very essential question of personal philosophy which I haven't yet definitively answered for myself.
I see very clearly that there are two ideals at play which are at ends with each other. On one hand there is the social life in which one draws energy from the people around them and expresses themselves through their relationships with others, their lasting impact being the impression left on their peers. On the other is the working man who shuts himself in his study and works tirelessly to produce work(s) that epitomize their knowledge and skill, a perfect brainchild which serves to immortalize these people long after they and the people who knew them have left this Earth. We all know of a lot of great figures like this in history, and it seems true with little to no exception that all the great artists and thinkers who produced the most thoughtful, emotionally significant pieces lived a lifestyle like this latter one.
At this point I might once have stopped to say that these dual pursuits of intro and extroversion were not diametrically opposed and that one could, with desire and practice, be master of both. But more and more lately I'm second guessing this. They're opposed in more ways than just literal time investment--when you choose whether to work or to socialize, you assign a value to those actions which is either greater or less than the other. You might like your friends very very much, but the more you let yourself be convinced that the most important things in your life are your achievements and productions, the more your friends become by definition distractions and less worthwhile investments. And even if that doesn't reflect your sentiments, it's the message that's sent when you essentially ignore them for extended periods of time. Conversely, once you get up from your work and go see your friends it's hard to pull away and come back, both in the span of that evening and in the long term as you're seeing them more and more. There are plenty of people who don't claim to have any particular hobby or talent or interest besides hanging out with their friends (and being a consumer of something, like listening to music or playing games)--and those people are perfectly interesting dudes with perfectly interesting lives!
I don't think I've yet fallen totally completely into either territory, but I do ride that line frequently and for me it's very easy to slip too far one way or the other for a long time. It was only really with Phantasmaburbia when I considered this balance in my life and decided to really let myself slide into that introverted zone and see how my production was affected. And now I'm facing the ramifications of that, and it's made me thoughtful. I'm seeing how my friendships become more strained, and I'm also seeing how my gradual detachment from people gives the actual product a very different energy from the perspective of me, the creator. I'm starting to question what is indeed optimal for me, while I fear actually experimentally pulling back from my project in fear that I'll somehow lose it. Which is pretty ridiculous to consider.
Obviously the "answer" is different for everybody and in all cases lies somewhere paradoxically between the two absolute extremes of introversion and extroversion. I didn't really write this with the purpose of coming out with a conclusion, and indeed I haven't yet even really reached one for myself yet. Just something that's been on my mind, that maybe you might be interested in pondering as well.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Phantasmaburbia Pushed Back; Pollushot Video
As you can see on the Phantasmaburbia website, I've pushed back the release date to a yet undetermined date. Don't panic, this has no malicious meanings or intents, we're just taking more time with it so it's better in the long run.
You can distract yourself in the meantime with Pollushot, which was recently featured on the front page of the Android app store and saw its sales skyrocket past 10,000! :) To commemorate, I've created a video of tips/tricks/techniques to try in the game.
You can distract yourself in the meantime with Pollushot, which was recently featured on the front page of the Android app store and saw its sales skyrocket past 10,000! :) To commemorate, I've created a video of tips/tricks/techniques to try in the game.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Pollushot Released on iTunes and Android Marketplace; Joy Ensues
Get all the links and juicy info here!
For those not in the know, Pollushot is a game I made with Game Maker back in January/February for YoYoGames. They took it in, ported it to mobile platforms (updating the graphics, adding some new enemies, and making other tweaks along the way), and now they've released it to the masses. I get money if you buy this game! And it's actually very good! So please, if you are the owner of an iPod/iPhone/iPad/Android phone, do check it out!
Monday, September 05, 2011
Win Free Copies of Phanta + New Trailer + New Music Album
OKAY.
We have some announcements here that have been waiting a very long time to see the eyes of the public. Brace yourselves.
First of all, our composer Jason Covenant has just released a suite called "Conscience of a Dreamer." You can listen to it here, and never listen to anything else ever again. Naturally, most of these songs will make their way into Phanta as well.
Then there's this.
Featuring music from said suite is a new "official" Phantasmaburbia trailer. There's a lot of new little things in this I haven't yet shared on the site, but it all moves pretty fast. Most importantly, this summarizes the basic story and whatnot for people who are still a little confused on what this whole dealie is all about.
To get all the deets on winning a free copy of the game, you'll have to visit the game website. This is because entry involves posting on that website!
Good luck!
We have some announcements here that have been waiting a very long time to see the eyes of the public. Brace yourselves.
First of all, our composer Jason Covenant has just released a suite called "Conscience of a Dreamer." You can listen to it here, and never listen to anything else ever again. Naturally, most of these songs will make their way into Phanta as well.
Then there's this.
Featuring music from said suite is a new "official" Phantasmaburbia trailer. There's a lot of new little things in this I haven't yet shared on the site, but it all moves pretty fast. Most importantly, this summarizes the basic story and whatnot for people who are still a little confused on what this whole dealie is all about.
To get all the deets on winning a free copy of the game, you'll have to visit the game website. This is because entry involves posting on that website!
Good luck!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Introducing Clair!
[Reposting this from http://phantasmaburbia.com/2011/08/27/introducing-clair/]
Whelp, there's a hurricane heading towards me, and my form of emergency preparation seems to come in the form of a new gameplay video. Lucky for you!
Fun fact: the dog is voiced by my sister. I'm starting to make a minor tradition of having my sister submit cameo voicework in my games, it seems.
And of course now you can watch all of the introductions for each character in the game on YouTube, excluding (somewhat ironically) the one that's actually publicly playable. I dunno if I'll ever put a video of his intro on YouTube, since it would seem sort of unexciting now with all of this unreleased content just begging to be seen.
Anyways... enjoy!
Whelp, there's a hurricane heading towards me, and my form of emergency preparation seems to come in the form of a new gameplay video. Lucky for you!
Fun fact: the dog is voiced by my sister. I'm starting to make a minor tradition of having my sister submit cameo voicework in my games, it seems.
And of course now you can watch all of the introductions for each character in the game on YouTube, excluding (somewhat ironically) the one that's actually publicly playable. I dunno if I'll ever put a video of his intro on YouTube, since it would seem sort of unexciting now with all of this unreleased content just begging to be seen.
Anyways... enjoy!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Phanta Website, Release Date & Price
Check out the new Phantasmaburbia website at http://phantasmaburbia.com!
With the new site, I'm ready to say that I'm aiming to release the game on October 31, 2011 with a starting price of $9.99. Those of you who have been paying a lot of attention to my stance on release date and price may find that this is a little later and a little more expensive than I've sometimes lead people to believe up until now. This isn't me trying to stab anyone in the back, rather, it's a result of the game's scope expanding far beyond what my initial vision was for it. My most recent post concerning the dungeons provided a taste of that.
In addition to the new site publication, I've gone and updated the free demo available at GameJolt and YoYoGames. As is usual, there's no new content available but there are plenty of changes to bring it closer to what the final product might be. Changes you might notice include:
- Numerous speed optimizations & bugfixes
- Updated victory music
- Updated tiles, as seen in the above screenshot
You might be wondering what happened to the yellow, desert-like landscape that used to be characteristic of the early game Spirit Tunnel. I've moved it to a later part of the game, into a dungeon that fits it much butter:
PS: I can't say when for sure, but check back here a lot if you want to catch the impending release of Pollushot to iTouch and Android app stores!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Phantasmaburbia's Spirit Tunnels
I've been putting off making new posts, holding out for news on Pollushot and some other upcoming things, but it's been getting on for a bit long and I'm itching to share some stuff. So here goes.
From day 1, I planned out Phanta specifically to be a game with good replay value. Generally what that translates to is that each time you play the game, things can be played pretty differently. That mentality's spilled over into a lot of the game's aspects, but none so much as the game's dungeons. Let's talk about them a little!
The game's overall structure is fairly unusual. The first half of the game introduces each of the protagonists individually, slowly raveling each of their yarns towards a critical moment which joins all of the characters and sparks the game's second part. From there the game opens up quite suddenly, with a wide berth to explore around freely.
Completion of the game's second half involves beating 4 different dungeons--or as they're called in the game, Spirit Tunnels. However, I'll actually be designing and including 8 dungeons in the game. You're given a lot of freedom with what dungeons you want to challenge and what order you want to do it in; but as some dungeons are completed, others will be closed off to you. What dungeons you do beat affect what powers are available to you in combat, as well as some other gameplay factors.
The dungeons themselves will be very, very reminiscent of those in Zelda. There'll be a healthy balance of combat (and I've made a lot of effort to have a cast of diverse enemies who each present unique gameplay) mixed with puzzles that make use of your ghost powers. I might get into a whole post some other time about the actual specifics of the puzzles and the joy of puzzle design, as it's actually one of my favorite aspects of game design. What's important here is that these are more than just mazes with enemies in them; each dungeon will have a unique set of puzzles based on environmental interaction, and it'll be worth your trouble to actually play through the game more than once to see everything.
One thing I didn't want to do was have multiple endings. I find that when making a selection that affects the story, it's almost always a little forced and the effects of your decision are very obvious before you've even made it. Generally speaking, when presented with branching story paths, players will try to "win" by making the decisions that create the best ending, and it becomes very little about role playing or exploration. Once you've seen the ending where everyone wins, why would you play again? Or for that matter, what if you play through the entire game only to see a bad ending? Even in situations where "there are no good endings" and every conclusion is equally bittersweet, your actual effect on the game is very superficial--all you're basically doing is seeing one cinematic in place of another at the same juncture in the story. Some would argue that's not even part of the game.
I like decisions that have an affect on gameplay, meaning how you play and what mechanics/abilities are available to you. The actual bulk of your time spent with the game involve actually playing in it, so decisions that impact how you're playing the game have a much more substantial impact and are all the more satisfying to make.
I think I've said enough for now. Look forward to some more posts in the coming days/weeks.
From day 1, I planned out Phanta specifically to be a game with good replay value. Generally what that translates to is that each time you play the game, things can be played pretty differently. That mentality's spilled over into a lot of the game's aspects, but none so much as the game's dungeons. Let's talk about them a little!
The game's overall structure is fairly unusual. The first half of the game introduces each of the protagonists individually, slowly raveling each of their yarns towards a critical moment which joins all of the characters and sparks the game's second part. From there the game opens up quite suddenly, with a wide berth to explore around freely.
Completion of the game's second half involves beating 4 different dungeons--or as they're called in the game, Spirit Tunnels. However, I'll actually be designing and including 8 dungeons in the game. You're given a lot of freedom with what dungeons you want to challenge and what order you want to do it in; but as some dungeons are completed, others will be closed off to you. What dungeons you do beat affect what powers are available to you in combat, as well as some other gameplay factors.
The dungeons themselves will be very, very reminiscent of those in Zelda. There'll be a healthy balance of combat (and I've made a lot of effort to have a cast of diverse enemies who each present unique gameplay) mixed with puzzles that make use of your ghost powers. I might get into a whole post some other time about the actual specifics of the puzzles and the joy of puzzle design, as it's actually one of my favorite aspects of game design. What's important here is that these are more than just mazes with enemies in them; each dungeon will have a unique set of puzzles based on environmental interaction, and it'll be worth your trouble to actually play through the game more than once to see everything.
One thing I didn't want to do was have multiple endings. I find that when making a selection that affects the story, it's almost always a little forced and the effects of your decision are very obvious before you've even made it. Generally speaking, when presented with branching story paths, players will try to "win" by making the decisions that create the best ending, and it becomes very little about role playing or exploration. Once you've seen the ending where everyone wins, why would you play again? Or for that matter, what if you play through the entire game only to see a bad ending? Even in situations where "there are no good endings" and every conclusion is equally bittersweet, your actual effect on the game is very superficial--all you're basically doing is seeing one cinematic in place of another at the same juncture in the story. Some would argue that's not even part of the game.
I like decisions that have an affect on gameplay, meaning how you play and what mechanics/abilities are available to you. The actual bulk of your time spent with the game involve actually playing in it, so decisions that impact how you're playing the game have a much more substantial impact and are all the more satisfying to make.
I think I've said enough for now. Look forward to some more posts in the coming days/weeks.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
New Phanta Teaser
Sorry for the blatant cutting/transitions/occasional audiovideo misalignment. Experienced some tech fail in trying to record, which is also why it's taken me so long to actually post this! :)
Development is a lot farther along than this might suggest, so look forward to seeing more in the coming days/weeks. I'm thinking of doing some long ranty posts about the design process, or maybe get into stuff about the game's structure (which is/will be pretty unique) or the story or something. Does that sound like something you'd be into?
PS- News on Pollushot to come, I think.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Art Dump Summer 2011
I've been waiting for a decent time to throw some of this stuff up online, evenly spaced between other progress posts on Phanta. And I guess now's a pretty good time. Here's a select collection of pieces I made for school in the last few months...
LEFT: A black and white painting of Clark Gable. RIGHT: This is a self portrait with solid black & white dots. We had to design a "value scale" and then tile out an image of ourselves over a photo. This one is a little hard to make out, but this was considered a fairly inventive solution because I didn't utilize any gray and used a totally consistent pattern.
Possibly my magnum opus for the year, this was my final project for my 3D modelling class. The class was 10 weeks and was my first time ever using 3D modelling software of any sort, so I'm pretty proud of the results... the assignment was to design a setting/scene/space/room that had to contain at least 5 unique models (nothing organic/alive). I made a fancy restaurant for monkeys. I lost a lot of sleep over the course of many weekends to put this together (while staying productive on Phantasmaburbia, no less!)
So that's that. I'll close this post with a new Phanta screenshot, for kicks.
And with that, all 4 of the primary human cast have been revealed. :)
LEFT: A black and white painting of Clark Gable. RIGHT: This is a self portrait with solid black & white dots. We had to design a "value scale" and then tile out an image of ourselves over a photo. This one is a little hard to make out, but this was considered a fairly inventive solution because I didn't utilize any gray and used a totally consistent pattern.
Possibly my magnum opus for the year, this was my final project for my 3D modelling class. The class was 10 weeks and was my first time ever using 3D modelling software of any sort, so I'm pretty proud of the results... the assignment was to design a setting/scene/space/room that had to contain at least 5 unique models (nothing organic/alive). I made a fancy restaurant for monkeys. I lost a lot of sleep over the course of many weekends to put this together (while staying productive on Phantasmaburbia, no less!)
So that's that. I'll close this post with a new Phanta screenshot, for kicks.
And with that, all 4 of the primary human cast have been revealed. :)
Friday, June 24, 2011
Demo 2 About to Close!
This is just a friendly reminder that the full second demo of Phantasmaburbia isn't going to available in 24 hours. Better grab it while you can!
In the meantime, I've gone and added the "partial" demo 2 to GameJolt and YoYogames.
In addition to all the updates that came with the full 2nd demo, I fixed a number of new things. Namely:
-Running is faster, and there's now an option to "Run by default," so that holding right click makes you walk instead.
-To use a SPEC item, you can simply right-click the target object. This makes puzzle stuff way faster and cleaner, and I love it.
-Doesn't reload sounds and stuff when you return to the title screen, which makes it way faster and avoids wasting memory.
-Fleeing from battle is now animated.
Not huge changes, but they make the game a lot more playable. Thanks to everyone who's played and commented on the full demo 2! :)
Oh, and...... one more thing......
(Click)
Just a teeny sample of what I've been working on in the last 10 days.
In the meantime, I've gone and added the "partial" demo 2 to GameJolt and YoYogames.
In addition to all the updates that came with the full 2nd demo, I fixed a number of new things. Namely:
-Running is faster, and there's now an option to "Run by default," so that holding right click makes you walk instead.
-To use a SPEC item, you can simply right-click the target object. This makes puzzle stuff way faster and cleaner, and I love it.
-Doesn't reload sounds and stuff when you return to the title screen, which makes it way faster and avoids wasting memory.
-Fleeing from battle is now animated.
Not huge changes, but they make the game a lot more playable. Thanks to everyone who's played and commented on the full demo 2! :)
Oh, and...... one more thing......
(Click)
Just a teeny sample of what I've been working on in the last 10 days.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Phantasmaburbia - Demo #2 FULL
Here it is! The full second demo for Phantasmaburbia!
Get it HERE!
Note that this link will EXPIRE on June 25, exactly 240 hours from this posting. Get it while you can!
Things to note: This game is WINDOWS ONLY. In addition, it uses some effects that might not display as pictured on every graphics card.
What is this game?
Phantasmaburbia is a JRPG with point-and-click elements about a group of teens in modern day suburbia battling an invasion of ghosts and evil spirits, armed with weapons found in their houses and mentored by friendly spirits of their ancestors or former residents of their homes. It's my current major project, with my self-imposed deadline for completion aimed at late September.
The final version of this game will cost a modest sum of money to purchase and only the first 20-30 minutes of the game will be available as a free demo. However, from June 15-25 I'm making the first hour of the game available online for free. This is that demo.
Gameplay video:
Some screenshots:
Get it HERE!
Note that this link will EXPIRE on June 25, exactly 240 hours from this posting. Get it while you can!
Things to note: This game is WINDOWS ONLY. In addition, it uses some effects that might not display as pictured on every graphics card.
What is this game?
Phantasmaburbia is a JRPG with point-and-click elements about a group of teens in modern day suburbia battling an invasion of ghosts and evil spirits, armed with weapons found in their houses and mentored by friendly spirits of their ancestors or former residents of their homes. It's my current major project, with my self-imposed deadline for completion aimed at late September.
The final version of this game will cost a modest sum of money to purchase and only the first 20-30 minutes of the game will be available as a free demo. However, from June 15-25 I'm making the first hour of the game available online for free. This is that demo.
Gameplay video:
Some screenshots:
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Phantasmaburbia Demo 2 Coming Soon! [Details Enclosed]
Set your calendars, folks! The free demo for the next part of Phantasmaburbia will be posted here and will be available only from June 15th to June 25th.
Why's that, you ask? When the final version of the game is released, a lot of the stuff in the next demo won't be available in the free demo that accompanies it. So I'm making the availability a little more exclusive, BUT this is your chance to snag more free playtime out of the game before the final release!
Once June 25th rolls over (or probably before then) I'll be updating the version currently online with improved engine/gfx/music/etc, but it won't contain any content/playtime that wasn't present in the already released demo. Past that, I may or may not offer any more free content to the public until the final release!
To commemorate the impending release, here's a gameplay trailer we put together.
Why's that, you ask? When the final version of the game is released, a lot of the stuff in the next demo won't be available in the free demo that accompanies it. So I'm making the availability a little more exclusive, BUT this is your chance to snag more free playtime out of the game before the final release!
Once June 25th rolls over (or probably before then) I'll be updating the version currently online with improved engine/gfx/music/etc, but it won't contain any content/playtime that wasn't present in the already released demo. Past that, I may or may not offer any more free content to the public until the final release!
To commemorate the impending release, here's a gameplay trailer we put together.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Sleep's for Chumps
Was about to write a bunch of tweets, then decided to just make a brief blog post instead.
I've been working really hard on Phanta these last few days! I've been weaving my time between this and [final] school projects, working several hours at a time and alternating between them (at the expense of sleep and food, naturally). It's been very tiring, but very fulfilling as well. Meanwhile, Jason and Mack151 are working hard on resources as well... it's quite thrilling to have such talented people at my fingertips. :]
You might be excited to know that this means a demo is fast approaching! The distribution for this one is going to be more exclusive, so if you're somebody who wants to play more free content be sure to keep an eye over here. My hope is to post more specific details by next weekend, once the demo is actually prepared.
There are a LOT of exciting new things I'd love to share via screenshot, but I think some of them will be more fun if I keep them a surprise until later. For now, here's a screen that demonstrates some new and improved battle graphics...
(Click)
...Courtesy of Mack151. Whenever an attack is launched, a super pretty highres portrait of the attacker flashes across the screen! It might seem like a really minor change, but I'm seriously in love with these portraits and it does a lot to make battles feel more visually appealing.
I've been working really hard on Phanta these last few days! I've been weaving my time between this and [final] school projects, working several hours at a time and alternating between them (at the expense of sleep and food, naturally). It's been very tiring, but very fulfilling as well. Meanwhile, Jason and Mack151 are working hard on resources as well... it's quite thrilling to have such talented people at my fingertips. :]
You might be excited to know that this means a demo is fast approaching! The distribution for this one is going to be more exclusive, so if you're somebody who wants to play more free content be sure to keep an eye over here. My hope is to post more specific details by next weekend, once the demo is actually prepared.
There are a LOT of exciting new things I'd love to share via screenshot, but I think some of them will be more fun if I keep them a surprise until later. For now, here's a screen that demonstrates some new and improved battle graphics...
(Click)
...Courtesy of Mack151. Whenever an attack is launched, a super pretty highres portrait of the attacker flashes across the screen! It might seem like a really minor change, but I'm seriously in love with these portraits and it does a lot to make battles feel more visually appealing.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Phanta Progress Update 5/25
I've made a number of changes to Phanta this last week and I've been sharing them around on forums, decided to collect all the info and post it to here for posterity! A lot of this has been in response to some very helpful comments by players, so I want to give a big thanks to everyone who's been giving me crits and pushing the game to improve.
-I've altered the lighting engine to create more colorful scenes, and you can see an example of the new color scheme below (from back when I still had some programming kinks to work out)
(Click)
-I've updated the mouse movement and made it a little more "smart," so characters will typically circle around objects if they're mistakenly guided into one.
-Battle speed has been played with a bit to make faster, more dynamic battles. What this translates to is:
1- When you're not selecting an attack, battle speed is bumped up 4x so that the turns quickly fly by. Once your selection menu is up, though, it resumes its usual speed so you have time to select attacks.
2- The fewer party members you have, the faster battles move since you have less to select for
So battles go by a good bit quicker now, without becoming more challenging.
-Enemy "death" animations now show them becoming smaller ghostly versions of themselves and rising up offscreen, something more fitting of the ghost theme.
-Made a number of edits to dialog boxes, making them better match in quality with their portraits:
(Click)
All those in addition to numerous little tweaks, bugfixes and housecleaning to tighten the game. I've made pretty decent progress as far as plot/cutscene stuff goes as well. A demo might be fast approaching once I have a lot time to sit down and crunch on the game again.
Here's a parting little screenshot with background art I've just done today;
(Click)
-I've altered the lighting engine to create more colorful scenes, and you can see an example of the new color scheme below (from back when I still had some programming kinks to work out)
(Click)
-I've updated the mouse movement and made it a little more "smart," so characters will typically circle around objects if they're mistakenly guided into one.
-Battle speed has been played with a bit to make faster, more dynamic battles. What this translates to is:
1- When you're not selecting an attack, battle speed is bumped up 4x so that the turns quickly fly by. Once your selection menu is up, though, it resumes its usual speed so you have time to select attacks.
2- The fewer party members you have, the faster battles move since you have less to select for
So battles go by a good bit quicker now, without becoming more challenging.
-Enemy "death" animations now show them becoming smaller ghostly versions of themselves and rising up offscreen, something more fitting of the ghost theme.
-Made a number of edits to dialog boxes, making them better match in quality with their portraits:
(Click)
All those in addition to numerous little tweaks, bugfixes and housecleaning to tighten the game. I've made pretty decent progress as far as plot/cutscene stuff goes as well. A demo might be fast approaching once I have a lot time to sit down and crunch on the game again.
Here's a parting little screenshot with background art I've just done today;
(Click)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
19 Years
Whelp! Today's my 19th birthday. All in all it's a pretty godawful boring year. I'm not quite in my second decade, and I can't do anything I couldn't do when I was 18, legally speaking. I've essentially resigned myself to having a boring year to reflect a boring age. Or who knows, maybe it'll be awesome!
One thing that's looking to make this year a good one is Phantasmaburbia! Let's talk about that for a bit, shall we? (It's really interesting if you juxtapose this birthday post with the one I did last year and even the year before that, when I was finishing and starting work on Dubloon, respectively.) I've been working on it as diligently as possible, but I must say, school has been a much larger timesink than it's been in the last couple years (which is why I'm writing this post a few days in advance just to ensure it is delivered on time!). I guess that's college! I'll get out of classes in June, which will definitely mean a rapid increase of production rate.
But there's cool stuff to report! We've introduced a new member to the "team," and he goes by Mack151, or sometimes, Rockythechao. He did a really excellent Let's Play series on Dubloon (the original!) and Escape from the Underworld, and he's volunteered to offer his beautiful art services to the game in the form of new character portraits! Look at these beauties (click on them!):
So that's the big news of the day! I look forward to sharing more as this little project continues...
PS Have you seen The Room? It's my current obsession. You can find it online for free with the right Google searches, just saying.
One thing that's looking to make this year a good one is Phantasmaburbia! Let's talk about that for a bit, shall we? (It's really interesting if you juxtapose this birthday post with the one I did last year and even the year before that, when I was finishing and starting work on Dubloon, respectively.) I've been working on it as diligently as possible, but I must say, school has been a much larger timesink than it's been in the last couple years (which is why I'm writing this post a few days in advance just to ensure it is delivered on time!). I guess that's college! I'll get out of classes in June, which will definitely mean a rapid increase of production rate.
But there's cool stuff to report! We've introduced a new member to the "team," and he goes by Mack151, or sometimes, Rockythechao. He did a really excellent Let's Play series on Dubloon (the original!) and Escape from the Underworld, and he's volunteered to offer his beautiful art services to the game in the form of new character portraits! Look at these beauties (click on them!):
So that's the big news of the day! I look forward to sharing more as this little project continues...
PS Have you seen The Room? It's my current obsession. You can find it online for free with the right Google searches, just saying.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Quick Phantasmaburbia Update
Since originally posting Phantasmaburbia, I've been pushing out small updates making little fixes and changes to match complaints and speed/gfx issues. I've just now uploaded what I *think* is the final bugfix version.
(Click)
The total list of fixes IS (as I remember it):
-Expanded config options including scaling, a toggle for high detail gfx, and music volume
-New battle transition that renders easier
-New run animation
-Faster walking/run speeds
-New background effects in Spirit Tunnels
-Some optimization of effects (particularly focused on lighting effects in indoor areas)
-Slight dialog edits for brevity and clarity
IF you played it before and had issues with speed, gfx or anything else listed above, I encourage you to try it out again and let me know if it plays well for you now. Even if things are still running slow or looking bad, you at least have the option of turning stuff off to make it work.
Get it at GameJolt!
Or... Get it at YoYoGames!
What this now means is I'll be comfortably pushing forward with more content creation. When the final final version of the game is ready and for sale, I don't think I'll publicly release any gameplay aside from what is present now. BUT, in the intervening time I'll probably put out another demo or two for testing and feedback purposes, so what that translates to is you'll get to play more of the game's content for free if you keep an eye out and play these little demos as I build up to the game's completion.
Here's a parting screenshot of what's to come...
(Click)
PS... Watch this site closely for the next week or so to catch the release of Pollushot on the iTouch/Android app stores!!
(Click)
The total list of fixes IS (as I remember it):
-Expanded config options including scaling, a toggle for high detail gfx, and music volume
-New battle transition that renders easier
-New run animation
-Faster walking/run speeds
-New background effects in Spirit Tunnels
-Some optimization of effects (particularly focused on lighting effects in indoor areas)
-Slight dialog edits for brevity and clarity
IF you played it before and had issues with speed, gfx or anything else listed above, I encourage you to try it out again and let me know if it plays well for you now. Even if things are still running slow or looking bad, you at least have the option of turning stuff off to make it work.
Get it at GameJolt!
Or... Get it at YoYoGames!
What this now means is I'll be comfortably pushing forward with more content creation. When the final final version of the game is ready and for sale, I don't think I'll publicly release any gameplay aside from what is present now. BUT, in the intervening time I'll probably put out another demo or two for testing and feedback purposes, so what that translates to is you'll get to play more of the game's content for free if you keep an eye out and play these little demos as I build up to the game's completion.
Here's a parting screenshot of what's to come...
(Click)
PS... Watch this site closely for the next week or so to catch the release of Pollushot on the iTouch/Android app stores!!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Phantasmaburbia First Demo!
Happy Easter! Here's approx. 30 minutes of Phantasmaburbia gameplay!
(Click)
Get it at GameJolt!
Or... Get it at YoYoGames!
This is my current major project, an RPG set in an modern American suburb with ghosts and evil spirits as the antagonists. I'm really excited about it! For now you can play the game for free, but when it's all finished up I'll be selling the final product for a small fee (probably less than $10). I'm looking for reactions and opinions on what I have so far so I can improve the game, so please leave feedback!
---
And for those who missed it: I released Crazy Over Goo flash just a couple days ago!
PLAY IT HERE (Newgrounds!)
We're trying to get some good recognition on Newgrounds, so please support us by voting "5"! Thanks!
(Click)
Get it at GameJolt!
Or... Get it at YoYoGames!
This is my current major project, an RPG set in an modern American suburb with ghosts and evil spirits as the antagonists. I'm really excited about it! For now you can play the game for free, but when it's all finished up I'll be selling the final product for a small fee (probably less than $10). I'm looking for reactions and opinions on what I have so far so I can improve the game, so please leave feedback!
---
And for those who missed it: I released Crazy Over Goo flash just a couple days ago!
PLAY IT HERE (Newgrounds!)
We're trying to get some good recognition on Newgrounds, so please support us by voting "5"! Thanks!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Crazy Over Goo FLASH and a Bunch of Other Stuff
Finally, it becomes publicly available! CRAZY OVER GOO FLASH VERSION.
PLAY IT HERE (Newgrounds!)
PLAY IT HERE (Steakface!)
(Click)
It's got 63 levels now, a heavily expanded level editor, more unlockables (costumes, custom colors), completely redone graphics, time attack mode... I don't think I can remember everything we added. Play it!
I redid all of the graphics, reworked levels, made new ones, and other misc. design minutia. The real gold medal for this one goes to Kristian Macanga, who reprogrammed it from scratch and did the sales and worked to add all the crazy cool new features. Follow him on Twitter! And for other Game Maker users, hit him up if you're interested in getting your game(s) ported.
PS: Phantasmaburbia is going really well. Once I catch a break from schoolwork (I'm missing class now just to write this post!) and can work in a few last touches, I'll be putting out a free demo. Keep your eyes peeled!
(Click)
PPS: Pollushot is tentatively scheduled to be submitted to the iApp store on April 29. Pretty soon! This could be pushed back though. But here's something even cooler: it's coming to the Android app store as well!
Get pumped.
PLAY IT HERE (Newgrounds!)
PLAY IT HERE (Steakface!)
(Click)
It's got 63 levels now, a heavily expanded level editor, more unlockables (costumes, custom colors), completely redone graphics, time attack mode... I don't think I can remember everything we added. Play it!
I redid all of the graphics, reworked levels, made new ones, and other misc. design minutia. The real gold medal for this one goes to Kristian Macanga, who reprogrammed it from scratch and did the sales and worked to add all the crazy cool new features. Follow him on Twitter! And for other Game Maker users, hit him up if you're interested in getting your game(s) ported.
PS: Phantasmaburbia is going really well. Once I catch a break from schoolwork (I'm missing class now just to write this post!) and can work in a few last touches, I'll be putting out a free demo. Keep your eyes peeled!
(Click)
PPS: Pollushot is tentatively scheduled to be submitted to the iApp store on April 29. Pretty soon! This could be pushed back though. But here's something even cooler: it's coming to the Android app store as well!
Get pumped.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
And the Title Is...
Phantasmaburbia.
Thanks Alex Stiskal! Let's celebrate with the first screenshot of battle!
(Click)
You'll find that it plays a lot like Dubloon, with a number of refinements. Looking forward to sharing more down the road! Keep your eyes peeled for a free demo or two as I get more of the game together.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Title Needed Phase 2
Okay, I narrowed down the list of suggestions to just these few which I like. Let me know in the comments which one you like best! Think also about which one you'd want to play the most.
Phantasmaburbia,
Suburban Haunt,
Spirit Siege,
Suburban Souls,
Specterhood,
Battle Against the Underworld,
Urban Souls
Phantasmaburbia,
Suburban Haunt,
Spirit Siege,
Suburban Souls,
Specterhood,
Battle Against the Underworld,
Urban Souls
Monday, March 28, 2011
Title Needed
Let's start with a new screenshot (click):
...and then get down to brass tax. I've made some good headway into the game, done all the major introductory stuff (first ~10 mins of gameplay). Now I'm asking for any help anyone can offer in coming up with an actual title for it! If you have any ideas or like anything listed below, please do respond either in the comments or twitter or whatever. If you need a refresher o what the game's all about, read about it here.
Words I'm thinking of are "ghost," "spirit," "neighborhood," "town," "suburb," "suburban," "home," "burb," "specter," "phantasm," "haunt," "soul," "underworld." (though many of those words are clunky and long).
Here are some ideas (though I'm not particularly attached to any...)
Ghost Town
Suburban Haunt
Suburban Underworld
Battle Against the Underworld
Suburban Shadow
Neighbourhaunt
Urban Souls
Suburban Souls
Spirit Siege
Spirithood
Specterhood
Phantasmaburbia
I will perioidically update this list as I get suggestions I like. If you like one of these let me know in the comments.
...and then get down to brass tax. I've made some good headway into the game, done all the major introductory stuff (first ~10 mins of gameplay). Now I'm asking for any help anyone can offer in coming up with an actual title for it! If you have any ideas or like anything listed below, please do respond either in the comments or twitter or whatever. If you need a refresher o what the game's all about, read about it here.
Words I'm thinking of are "ghost," "spirit," "neighborhood," "town," "suburb," "suburban," "home," "burb," "specter," "phantasm," "haunt," "soul," "underworld." (though many of those words are clunky and long).
Here are some ideas (though I'm not particularly attached to any...)
Ghost Town
Suburban Haunt
Suburban Underworld
Battle Against the Underworld
Suburban Shadow
Neighbourhaunt
Urban Souls
Suburban Souls
Spirit Siege
Spirithood
Specterhood
Phantasmaburbia
I will perioidically update this list as I get suggestions I like. If you like one of these let me know in the comments.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Welcome to Owl Creek!
Just wanted to share some more information about the RPG I'm working on. If you follow me closely on Twitter you've probably seen a lot of this already.
Here's a map of Owl Creek, the setting for the game. All of the events of the game will take place in this small region. From a young age I've found suburbs and their forestation very explorable, and I hope to evoke that with exploration in the actual game.
I'm planning to have the soundtrack done by Jason Covenant AKA Prophecy, the same composer I'm used to working with. I'm going to be using more of his full orchestrated work a la Escape from the Underworld, and I'll definitely be pulling a lot from his newer music that he's been posting to his website.
This will be the main battle theme.
This will also be a battle theme.
Most of my focus thus far has been on planning the game, so barely any real content's been made yet. Part of this is due to school making me pretty busy in the closing week(s) of this past semester. As of now I'm on break, so hopefully I'll find the time to really push the game forward.
Here's a map of Owl Creek, the setting for the game. All of the events of the game will take place in this small region. From a young age I've found suburbs and their forestation very explorable, and I hope to evoke that with exploration in the actual game.
I'm planning to have the soundtrack done by Jason Covenant AKA Prophecy, the same composer I'm used to working with. I'm going to be using more of his full orchestrated work a la Escape from the Underworld, and I'll definitely be pulling a lot from his newer music that he's been posting to his website.
This will be the main battle theme.
This will also be a battle theme.
Most of my focus thus far has been on planning the game, so barely any real content's been made yet. Part of this is due to school making me pretty busy in the closing week(s) of this past semester. As of now I'm on break, so hopefully I'll find the time to really push the game forward.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Announcing my Next Big Project...
(Click to enlarge)
A role-playing game set in a modern American suburban town.
Ghosts and evil spirits begin to appear all over town, corresponding with the impending reincarnation of a transdimensional demon. A group of teens, armed with weapons found in their homes and assisted by spirits of their ancestors or former residents of their homes, set out to prevent the rise of this evil being.
The engine is based on Dubloon with a number of changes and upgrades. I'm setting out to make this story my best and most exciting yet. This is going to be my first commercial PC game; I'm currently planning to charge $3 for the final product. I still need to research what my options are for distribution and such.
My goal is to have the game finished by September 2011. Start saving up! :)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Nuzlocke Challenge Part 3 (more Pokemon comics)
I drew more Pokemon comics. AGES ago. I beat the game not long after my last post, but never got around to drawing the final comic depicting my battle against the champion. At this point I don't really remember that well and don't totally care either.
NEW:
9 |
10 |
11 |
OLD:
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
What I remember of the champion battle isn't that great anyway. Was a pretty straight cleaning up of the place. At the end I had to sacrifice Mrs. Smells I think, but it ended with an epic Overheat or something from Strider. End of story.
The new games (Black&White) are coming out soon in America, and I'm totally snagging myself a copy of White version. Can't wait.
9 |
10 |
11 |
OLD:
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
What I remember of the champion battle isn't that great anyway. Was a pretty straight cleaning up of the place. At the end I had to sacrifice Mrs. Smells I think, but it ended with an epic Overheat or something from Strider. End of story.
The new games (Black&White) are coming out soon in America, and I'm totally snagging myself a copy of White version. Can't wait.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Pollushot Timelapse + New Crazy Over Goo Art
My iOS game now has a working title, Pollushot. Here's a video of me making a new enemy from scratch. No editing was involved, this is the speed at which I actually work. Stick around to the end to see some regular-speed gameplay footage.
MEANWHILE, after a number of comments on Crazy Over Goo flash I underwent an epic adventure that involved redoing all of the graphics in the game in the span of a couple weekends. PHEW. The new art style takes after the one I implemented for Pollushot, and will hopefully turn our luck around with getting the kind of bids we're looking for. Here are some screens of the new style.
It took a lot of time and energy in a painfully short period of time, but I'm really happy with the results.
Hey, you guys remember Prophecy? The dude who made the soundtracks to Escape from the Underworld, Assassin Blue, Dubloon, Crazy Over Goo, and Wolf? Well he's now AKA'd as Jason Covenant and he's launched a new site after being mostly inactive on the internet for several years.
I urge you to check it out.
Oh, and did I mention that he's got some bangin' new music with new track due weekly? Yeah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)