I haven't been paying attention at all to the Indie releases, and here is something awesome coming soon, and a previous game that I hadn't even noticed. Awesome! I don't need any more games, but I think I need to buy these regardless, because it looks like a ton of fun for incredibly cheap.
So, do you guys mind telling me how you went about developing the games so rapidly? Are you working with a general engine and going from there, or have you done it all from scratch? (This is just curiosity, because I was tinkering with the idea of doing an RPG using Flat Red Ball, but then realized I didn't have the time or determination to do it right. Sounds like you guys do!)
schmads on
Battle.net/SC2: Kwisatz.868 | Steam/XBL/PSN/Gamecenter: schmads | BattleTag/D3: Schmads#1144 | Hero Academy & * With Friends: FallenKwisatz | 3DS: 4356-0128-9671
We started with scratch with Breath of Death VII's game engine. With Cthulhu Saves the World, we just built upon the engine we already had.
To be honest, it boggles my mind a little that we were able to get BoDVII done so quickly (3 months from conception to release and we weren't even working on it full time). I think the keys to our speed were good communication and not being overly ambitious (we decided early on that we'd aim for a 4-6 hour game and not a huge 30+ hour epic).
Well release is being pushed back to September for a couple of reasons. Mainly we want to spend some extra time polishing, and we also expect it to take a little longer to go through peer review and get posted on Live because, since it will support another language (german), it needs a few passes from german devs.
You gonna show this off at PAX? (I keed, though I wonder how hard/troublemaking it would be to just bring a TV and whatever you programmed the game on and show it off in a hall or something.)
Heh. It would be fun to show this at pax. We considered going to that and/or E3 but we don't quite yet have the funds, so it's going to take a while longer and more games etc. before that becomes a realistic option.
So, I was bored tonight and I downloaded Molly the Were-zompire. It was pretty entertaining, but I can definitely see how you'd reach a larger audience with an RPG. Still, not bad for a buck.
Yeah, the e-Books were Rainbow's work before I joined him. They've done okay given the market and nature of the service, but a full-on actual game has a much broader appeal on the service :P
The new graphics are a marked improvement guys, nice work. The Cthulhu sprite especially looks awesome!
New songs sound good too. Gotta make the first 10 seconds count, because that is the bit you tend to hear over and over again due to battles! :P
Thanks! Yeah it's been a lot more work than BODVII. I think it'll be more obvious in the dungeons and towns. Put lots more effort and detail into this one than BODVII. The sprites, too, have twice as many animation frames as the BODVII sprites. And there are far more playable characters. Anyway I could go on and on about the additions but we should have a trailer pretty soon I hope
I haven't been paying attention at all to the Indie releases, and here is something awesome coming soon, and a previous game that I hadn't even noticed. Awesome! I don't need any more games, but I think I need to buy these regardless, because it looks like a ton of fun for incredibly cheap.
So, do you guys mind telling me how you went about developing the games so rapidly? Are you working with a general engine and going from there, or have you done it all from scratch? (This is just curiosity, because I was tinkering with the idea of doing an RPG using Flat Red Ball, but then realized I didn't have the time or determination to do it right. Sounds like you guys do!)
Yeah, for development, we already had some resources going in. RBD had a little bit of dialogue code and I had some resources from a previous retro style game. However, I'd say that 95% of BODVII was built from scratch from the time I joined. The reason we were able to build it relatively quickly is because we started out with a fairly precisely defined idea of what we wanted to do, and we stuck to it. We set a goals and deadlines and met them pretty well. For me, having the experience and tools from a previous game helped me to produce the graphics and maps more quickly than if I were first starting out, and honestly, CSTW 's graphics and maps are going pretty quick given the bump up in quality.
Ultimately it's just about keeping a defined scope and scheduling realistic deadlines and not letting "feature creep" occur. And lots of dedication and focus and determination. Just be realistic with your goals and objectives, lay them down in stone early on, and then stick to it. If you're in a team, keep each other motivated.
"Feature creep"? Like, the desire to keep adding MORE and MORE and never actually getting anything done?
Yeah exactly. You keep getting ideas as you make a game, and you keep thinking, Oh that'd be cool let's add that! Well, you have to keep yourself in check because that can get out of hand and you just end up not being able to finish the game.
Thanks for your answers on the development stuff, guys! I know exactly what you're talking about with feature creep and the like. In the end, I think my friends and I talked ourselves out of making a game due to being too ambitious from the start. Even knowing to keep to a schedule and not to overcommit, I still think that being able to crank out GOOD games in such a short amount of time with such a small number of people is absolutely incredible. You have my admiration and also my $1 (and it will be $3 more once Cthulhu comes out)
schmads on
Battle.net/SC2: Kwisatz.868 | Steam/XBL/PSN/Gamecenter: schmads | BattleTag/D3: Schmads#1144 | Hero Academy & * With Friends: FallenKwisatz | 3DS: 4356-0128-9671
Congrats on the success of BoD VII, RaindbowDespair. The simplicity of the leveling choices and battles was really well done. I am looking forward to the next game. My XNA game suffered from some feature creep as well. It has taught me some discipline that's for sure.
Any chance you guys are going have more art in place for weapons/armor/loot? It's shallow, but I love looking at the gear and so forth.
And I feel yah on the feature creeps. It's much easier to think of new features than it is to polish the current ones! I think Lost Garden just wrote a long article that talked about that.
Not sure about equipment art. It's something we've discussed, but we'll have to see how we're doing for time.
And since I'm going to be working on the game for much of today (I get Friday off from my day job), I've been posting (and will post) various information about the game on our twitter account today: http://twitter.com/werezompire
If you guys ever do a parody action game, do me a favor and name it "Dark Dead of War" because Christ you can barely move without hitting an action game with one of those words in it.
If you guys ever do a parody action game, do me a favor and name it "Dark Dead of War" because Christ you can barely move without hitting an action game with one of those words in it.
If you guys ever do a parody action game, do me a favor and name it "Dark Dead of War" because Christ you can barely move without hitting an action game with one of those words in it.
Dark Dead of War 3: Fair Darkwar
In the dark, grim, warring past, present, and future, there is only grim war. And chainsaws.
We’re almost done with the soundtrack to Cthulhu Saves the World. We just have 2 more songs to go, plus a little polishing here and there and it’s done. From the look of things, there will be 21 songs in the finished game, totaling over 1 hour of music. Contrast that with Breath of Death VII: The Beginning where we only had 11 songs for around 25 mins and you can see that’s a huge difference. Not only is there a ton more music this time around, but I think the overall quality is noticeably higher as well.
We’re going to release the entire soundtrack around the time that Cthulhu Saves the World comes out (hopefully in just a few more weeks, guys!), but in the meantime, here are a few more songs from the game for your listening pleasure.
Oh and the actual soundtrack release will have more interesting names. How’s ‘Across the Crescent Moon, the Weeping Monster Sighs Once More (Victory Theme)’ sound? Pretentious enough?
Oh and the actual soundtrack release will have more interesting names. How’s ‘Across the Crescent Moon, the Weeping Monster Sighs Once More (Victory Theme)’ sound? Pretentious enough?
Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
I bought Breath of Death and then only played like 30 minutes of it. So many games to play, and it doesn't help that there's no physical evidence to remind me of it. Soon!
Forever Zefiro on
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited October 2010
Save anywhere makes me love you so much. You have no idea how good it is to have that when going for rare items or grinding boars in the forest for XPs. When I can stop and save (without needing to go back to a save point) it makes such things far more palatable. Very much looking forward to your game.
In short, if you're a reviewer or an editor at a big gaming website, let us know if you want a review code for Cthulhu Saves the World because they're almost all reserved already.
In short, if you're a reviewer or an editor at a big gaming website, let us know if you want a review code for Cthulhu Saves the World because they're almost all reserved already.
People are asking for your review codes? Awesome. That's a step up from initially being ignored with BoD, right?
Gibbs on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I've got a bad case of lovin' you.
In short, if you're a reviewer or an editor at a big gaming website, let us know if you want a review code for Cthulhu Saves the World because they're almost all reserved already.
People are asking for your review codes? Awesome. That's a step up from initially being ignored with BoD, right?
Yeah, it's a big difference from BoD where we ended up carpetbombing the media with review codes, most of which were ignored.
In short, if you're a reviewer or an editor at a big gaming website, let us know if you want a review code for Cthulhu Saves the World because they're almost all reserved already.
People are asking for your review codes? Awesome. That's a step up from initially being ignored with BoD, right?
Yeah, it's a big difference from BoD where we ended up carpetbombing the media with review codes, most of which were ignored.
And now I want a Cthulhu plushie.
I will trade you a Cthulhu hand puppet for a review code :P
Posts
New songs sound good too. Gotta make the first 10 seconds count, because that is the bit you tend to hear over and over again due to battles! :P
So, do you guys mind telling me how you went about developing the games so rapidly? Are you working with a general engine and going from there, or have you done it all from scratch? (This is just curiosity, because I was tinkering with the idea of doing an RPG using Flat Red Ball, but then realized I didn't have the time or determination to do it right. Sounds like you guys do!)
To be honest, it boggles my mind a little that we were able to get BoDVII done so quickly (3 months from conception to release and we weren't even working on it full time). I think the keys to our speed were good communication and not being overly ambitious (we decided early on that we'd aim for a 4-6 hour game and not a huge 30+ hour epic).
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Heh. It would be fun to show this at pax. We considered going to that and/or E3 but we don't quite yet have the funds, so it's going to take a while longer and more games etc. before that becomes a realistic option.
Yeah, the e-Books were Rainbow's work before I joined him. They've done okay given the market and nature of the service, but a full-on actual game has a much broader appeal on the service :P
Thanks! Yeah it's been a lot more work than BODVII. I think it'll be more obvious in the dungeons and towns. Put lots more effort and detail into this one than BODVII. The sprites, too, have twice as many animation frames as the BODVII sprites. And there are far more playable characters. Anyway I could go on and on about the additions but we should have a trailer pretty soon I hope
Thanks! We're in high gear right now.
Yeah, for development, we already had some resources going in. RBD had a little bit of dialogue code and I had some resources from a previous retro style game. However, I'd say that 95% of BODVII was built from scratch from the time I joined. The reason we were able to build it relatively quickly is because we started out with a fairly precisely defined idea of what we wanted to do, and we stuck to it. We set a goals and deadlines and met them pretty well. For me, having the experience and tools from a previous game helped me to produce the graphics and maps more quickly than if I were first starting out, and honestly, CSTW 's graphics and maps are going pretty quick given the bump up in quality.
Ultimately it's just about keeping a defined scope and scheduling realistic deadlines and not letting "feature creep" occur. And lots of dedication and focus and determination. Just be realistic with your goals and objectives, lay them down in stone early on, and then stick to it. If you're in a team, keep each other motivated.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Yeah exactly. You keep getting ideas as you make a game, and you keep thinking, Oh that'd be cool let's add that! Well, you have to keep yourself in check because that can get out of hand and you just end up not being able to finish the game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
but I...already made one! in the title!
So, yeah >.>
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
And I feel yah on the feature creeps. It's much easier to think of new features than it is to polish the current ones!
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
And since I'm going to be working on the game for much of today (I get Friday off from my day job), I've been posting (and will post) various information about the game on our twitter account today: http://twitter.com/werezompire
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
It was a dark and stormy night...
And some music to go with those zombies - http://zeboyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cth_dungeon_zombie3.mp3
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
You've really seemed to up the ante here.
I've got a bad case of lovin' you.
Looks good RD. Can't wait.
Dark Dead of War 3: Fair Darkwar
In the dark, grim, warring past, present, and future, there is only grim war. And chainsaws.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
We’re almost done with the soundtrack to Cthulhu Saves the World. We just have 2 more songs to go, plus a little polishing here and there and it’s done. From the look of things, there will be 21 songs in the finished game, totaling over 1 hour of music. Contrast that with Breath of Death VII: The Beginning where we only had 11 songs for around 25 mins and you can see that’s a huge difference. Not only is there a ton more music this time around, but I think the overall quality is noticeably higher as well.
We’re going to release the entire soundtrack around the time that Cthulhu Saves the World comes out (hopefully in just a few more weeks, guys!), but in the meantime, here are a few more songs from the game for your listening pleasure.
World Map Theme - http://zeboyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/cth_worldmap3.mp3
Volcano Theme - http://zeboyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/cth_dungeon_volcano10.mp3
Big City Theme - http://zeboyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/cth_bigcity3.mp3
Oh and the actual soundtrack release will have more interesting names. How’s ‘Across the Crescent Moon, the Weeping Monster Sighs Once More (Victory Theme)’ sound? Pretentious enough?
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
http://zeboyd.com/2010/09/21/zeboyd-games-mailing-list-sign-up/
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
http://zeboyd.com/2010/09/27/you-can-save-whenever-you-like-in-cthulhu-saves-the-world/
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2010/10/01/interview-robert-zeboyd-talks-breath-of-death-vii-and-cthulhu-saves-the-world/
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
In short, if you're a reviewer or an editor at a big gaming website, let us know if you want a review code for Cthulhu Saves the World because they're almost all reserved already.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
People are asking for your review codes? Awesome. That's a step up from initially being ignored with BoD, right?
I've got a bad case of lovin' you.
Yeah, it's a big difference from BoD where we ended up carpetbombing the media with review codes, most of which were ignored.
And now I want a Cthulhu plushie.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
I will trade you a Cthulhu hand puppet for a review code :P