Eternal Journey – Art!

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Ludum Dare 26 was a blast and we came up with our Jam entry: Eternal Journey :D

If you’ve played it and rated it, thank you so much for your feedback! If you haven’t, check it out here and we’d appreciate your thoughts!

We made Eternal Journey with mobile devices in mind (as we have released an iOS title in the past) and we’re happy to read that a lot of the feedback seems to welcome the game – albeit a more finished version – on smartphones :D

This was our second LD Jam and one thing I realized from LD25 was that I didn’t really learn much artistically – besides learning how fast I could work under a time constraint. So, this time around, I decided to experiment. Why not, right? When I heard that the theme was Minimalism, I thought of triangles and, inspired by games like Vlambeer’s Ridiculous Fishing, I came up with the art for Eternal Journey. Below is a handy screenshot if you don’t have time to play the game :D

ld_screen03

Triangles galore, eh? Now that we’re going ahead with the fully-featured version of the game (that we’re hoping to release before the next LD :D), I’m wondering if I should continue with this triangle-istic style. As a game artist, I’ve only really ever worked with pixel art and it’s the most comfortable style for me. I whipped up a quick mockup of what the mobile, pixel art version would look like (note that the background is largely unfinished :D), seen below:

eternaljourney_pixel01

See the huge difference? :D Gameplay aside, which style would you prefer? Do you think pixel art still appeals to the masses or is it played out? Would the semi-abstract triangles fare better in the world of apps?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thanks and happy gaming! :D

We’re in for our 2nd Ludum Dare! And more Dr. Vile! :D

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Ludum Dare 26 starts on April 26 and we’re participating in the Jam (72 hours) again! :D

Our last entry, “Dr. Vile in The Greater Good” made 2nd place Overall in the Jam so we’re going to try our best to make our next entry even better!

Speaking of Dr. Vile, thanks to all your feedback, we’ve been working on expanding the story and game features to make Dr. Vile a full-fledged indie title :D

You heard Lexe! :D Follow us on Twitter (@GreenPixelDev) for Dr. Vile updates! We’re planning a PC/Mac release and then we’ll consider an iPad release. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Break objects and your enemies’ prized possessions to collect resources!
  • Use your borrowed- well, stolen – resources to craft new weapons, tools, and upgrades! Craft a personal Teleporter, sneak around with a Disguise Ray, and much, much more!
  • Explore Dr. Vile’s city – full of rich snobs, regular Joes, pesky robots, rabid guard dogs, fierce soldiers, and more!
  • Make your way through 4 treacherous dungeons! 
  • Relive the original “Dr. Vile in The Greater Good” and complete Dr. Vile’s Death Ray!
  • And tons more! We’re aiming to pack hours and hours of gameplay into a neat, pixel art package with lots of laughs and the corniest of jokes :D

 

  • OH! And BEST OF ALL… face off against Dr. Vile’s arch nemesis: Dr. Ben Evolent! Surely beating him to a bloody pulp will make Dr. Vile the greatest scientist of all time!

We’re looking forward to getting it out and adding another Success Story to Ludum Dare’s illustrious history!

But, this weekend, we’ll be strapping down for Ludum Dare 26! Wish us luck! :D

What a Week!

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BlockHopper finally came out in the AppStore and it has been an incredibly busy and rewarding week for Joe and I! We’ve been sending out review codes to a lot of websites, but we haven’t had a review yet. We remain optimistic! :) BlockHopper launched around a number of other great games from more well-known developers, so maybe we’ll get some interest this week.

We outgrew our old host and Joe was amazing in setting up our new account! We’re now equipped to do almost anything just short of a WoW clone. :D

I found an amazing iPhone dev resource in the Touch Arcade forums. The people over there are really nice and always looking for great new games. BlockHopper got nominated in a Game of the Week poll!

BlockHopper is featured in the New and Noteworthy section of the New Zealand and Australian App Stores and is currently sitting at #21 for puzzle games in New Zealand. We’re pretty excited about this!

Big thanks to everyone who bought our game this week!

Achievements!

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Well, still no word from Apple on processing those tax forms so we figured we’d push ahead and add the things we were going to leave until the first update: achievements!

I am integrating both OpenFeint and GameCenter and letting OpenFeint do most of the GameCenter stuff. As it stands right now, I have OpenFeint working with the game, but I have yet to add all the achievements. If done correctly, OF should update GameCenter as well.

I have completed work on the Lite version, so as soon as we get a link to the actual app, we can submit it!

The current plan is to finish this achievement integration by Monday, submit the updated version and then finish up the work on the flash.

Joe has done a great job on the BlockHopper webpage! No link to it yet, but it’s ready to go when the app launches. :D

Back to Work!

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Happy New Year! We hope you enjoyed your holiday. :D The last two weeks have been a great time of relaxation! Our game, BlockHopper, has been submitted and approved by Apple! We’re just waiting for those tax forms to process before it is fully available. From what I have read, it can take a few weeks, so hopefully by mid-January it will be ready to go. :D

In the mean time, I have a number of small things to do:

  • Record a BlockHopper trailer.
  • Create and submit a Lite version of BlockHopper.
  • Attend an indie meetup in London, Ontario on January 24. http://hellomygameis.ca/
  • Finish work on the flash version of BlockHopper.
  • Create the text tool / make our other tools not as terrible.

Joe has already finished the GDD for our next game, so there’s much more to come!

GreenPixel had a formal meetup today for the first time since we decided to start this adventure haha. I am constantly amazed that we have started and completed two games and haven’t seen each other for 2 years. Thanks, humans!