[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!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
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.
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