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.

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. :)

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.

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:

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.

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.

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)

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.

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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! :)

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.

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.

New Year, New News

Happy new year, everybody! (20 days late).

I'm pretty bad with remembering to post on here, so I guess I apologize for that. So, here's the news:

---

New Game
Remember that iDevice concept I mentioned last month? I made a prototype over the course of a few days before Christmas after posting, and then just tis last weekend came back to it to update graphics and polish. At this point I'm basically working on it full-time, and you can expect to see the game finished and playable sometime soonish. My self-imposed deadline is February 15.

Screenshots! (Click to enlarge)


What do you guys think?

---

Crazy Over Goo Flash
Still on the search for bids and stuff! We've been fixing and changing minor things based on comments we've gotten from sponsors and players; so far it's been something of a learning experience in what's expected of flash games vs. freeware. Not sure how many details I can release at this point beyond that!

---

EoYear Awards
Indie Games blog had a lot of Banov love this year! They named Dubloon #8 in their Top 10 Freeware RPGs of 2010 list, and they named Escape from the Underworld number ONE freeware platformer! Quite an honor, indeed.

---

Escape from the Underworld... wiki?
I find this pretty funny. It's a wiki on Escape from the Underworld, with a humorous take on the game. Only 10 (brief) actual articles on there, all worth a read if you're into that sort of thing.

Branching Out

Hey dudes!

So while I wait around on Crazy Over Goo sponsorship offers, I want to share with you guys a newer game idea I've had. This would be a casual iDevice game, and I have a couple ideas for how I'd like to get this on there. This is all part of my "maybe earn some money for once" plans.

Here's the basic concept (click to enlarge):

More details:
There'll be about 10-15 different varieties of enemies, each with a unique attack/defense pattern. You'll fight them one by one in random order forever and when you die you'll get a high score. It'll be moving quickly like other good replayable arcade iPhone titles (Sollipskier, Doodle Jump, Canabalt, etc.) so it won't feel repetitive.

The best way to kill enemies and score points is to break apart their shields, catch the falling debris, and fire the pieces back at them. If there's no debris on the screen and you're unarmed, the game will drop occasional default meta-ammo shots from the top of the screen you can use, but it's worth less points to use. Enemy attacks will be energy-based and can't be caught; but anything solid can be caught and used as ammo.

---

I'm looking for some initial reactions + ideas. You like this idea? Would you pay $0.99 to get this on your iDevice of choice? What additions do you think would improve the game? This is still in the conceptual phase so I'm open to all ideas.

Thanks! :)