Hey, guys! This week, we give updates on Pumpkin's game and talk about the games we played for #FeedbackFriday - Shepherd, Dark Dragonkin, and Saga Space.
Placement Preview
Pumpkin trying to place a plant somewhere it's not supposed to go! Silly Pumpkin.
There will be a lot of placing things in our game, and their placement will matter. So to help our players out a bit, we designed a placement preview feature. Check it out!
#FeedbackFriday - Shepherd
We. Love. This. Art. Style. By love, we mean like if we had to rate this on a 10-point scale, we'd give it like a 20. That's how much we like it. Like, LOOK AT IT:
The abstract background...the shadowy yet responsive plants...the rare splashes of bright color...we can go on and on - these all convey a mixed atmosphere of nostalgia and...existentialism? Not quite sure that's the exact word we're looking for, but it's close. Reminds us of when we were daydreaming in class in middle school.
Shepherd is a game with a simple premise - you play as a shepherd finding your lost sheep and then guiding it around the puzzles in the game. While doing so, you do whimsical things like splash colors around onto the abstract canvas background and find "treasures", which are simply appreciating the small things in life, like a compliment or finding interestingly shaped clouds. Overall, the game is absolutely marvelous because it captures the simplicity of the life of a shepherd into game form. Very solid game. Check out the demo and the developer below!
Developer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shepherd_Game
#FeedbackFriday - Dark Dragonkin
Dark Dragonkin is a retro style puzzle game where you use the unique abilities of the characters, which you control, to obtain the treasures in the dungeons and make it out of there alive. In the process, the player also manipulates the characters to work together to defeat the dragons there.
This game is like an RPG game where you get to play the roles of warrior, thief, mage, and healer simultaneously. And it works out! Because the game is primarily a puzzle game, meaning timing and problem-solving are more of a factor than speed, you don't need four keyboards like you would if this were an action game ;-) Check out the developer and demo below!
Developer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Twintertainmen1
#FeedbackFriday - Saga Space
We had a chance to play the free Android mobile game Saga Space. This game is a retro-style turn-based spaceship MMO for Android! It combines tactical elements with space exploration and ship management, along with MMORPG elements. You start captaining a starter vessel in a persistent universe inhabited by all the other places of the game. In the beginning you'll be mining some asteroids for resources, but quickly the customization options become obvious - you can trade, you can build bases on asteroids and planets, you can even fight/battle other players in the game.
This game really caters to those that love strategy and tactics. It seems to mix elements from other space games like Eve Online and Elite: Dangerous, and turn-based strategy games, but feels very unique and fresh. The game is still in very active development, and we can't wait to see where this game goes!
Developer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SagaSpaceGame
That's all for now. Have a great week!
Hi, all! The following is the agenda for this week's devlog:
Phase 2 Planning
Camera for Building UI
Bouncy RocketZ Update
Hypercasual #2 Music
Phase 2 Planning
This week, we went into more detail on planning what we need to get done in Phase 2 for Pumpkin's game. With so much to get done and so little time (our aim is to get a ready-to-play demo in three months), it was crucial that we figure out how to organize and manage the project efficiently.
In Phase 1, we were focused on plant/player mechanics. In Phase 2, we'll be focusing on building mechanics, specifically non-plant objects.
Camera for Building UI
The building UI will require a separate camera, and transitions to it as appropriate. Since the camera needs to show the entire area, we realized we can't have the conservatory building scene (where the building interface is) be separate from the main scene (where the actual building takes place).
Left: Conservatory Building Scene, where the building interface is to be located.
Right: Main Scene, where the actual building takes place.
In order to transition from the former to the latter, they'll need to be in the same scene under Assets.
So we moved the two scenes into one, modifying the scripts as necessary to provide the correct transitions in the game:
Now we can see outside the building without having to load/reload a scene.
Bouncy RocketZ Update
We added a leaderboard to iOS Bouncy RocketZ! Check it out and compete against your friends! Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bouncy-rocketz/id1555870744
(Unfortunately, we had to call quits on implementing the leaderboard on Android. It just wasn't working out. You won this time, robot. Yeah, that's right - I went there. You're just a robot.)
Hypercasual #2 Music
We've been working on custom music for our second hypercasual game! It's the first time we are doing custom music for a game, so we are pretty excited! It also means that Billy had to dust off his old Ableton installation and relearn all the hotkeys :-)
Getting the theme music for the game drafted up!
And that's all, folks! Follow @AngryGoatGames on Twitter for more updates on our upcoming games!
Hi, all! The last few months have been focused on our two hypercasual games. Today, we're giving y'all an update on them before officially beginning Stage 2 development of Pumpkin's game.
Bouncy RocketZ
Bouncy RocketZ is officially out on Android! Check out Bouncy RocketZ on the following links: iOS and Android.
Mr. Chubbs is in a dilemma. He has landed on a foreign planet, and his trusty vehicle - RocketZ - can no longer fly, only bounce various distances. Help Mr. Chubbs by controlling his rocket's bounce strength to navigate this unknown land. Beware however...it will be a difficult journey with no end in sight... Now bounce away! Boing! Boing! Boing!
Hypercasual Game #2
This game is almost ready for release! The only thing left is composing music for it - our first game for which we're doing that! Stay tuned! (Get it? Stay...tuned? XD ...nvm)
Ba dum! Ba dum! Ba dum-dum-dum!
Pumpkin's Game - Stage 2
We're excited to begin Stage 2 of Pumpkin's game! We've put together a list of features we want to include in this stage over the weekend, and we're pumped to start development. Stay tuned!
And that's all, folks! Follow @AngryGoatGames on Twitter for more updates on our upcoming games!