Looking back before leaping forward

Treasure Adventure Game is almost finished! All the content is in the game, and there's been continuous play-testing going on for about 3 weeks. There are still small bugs here and there but they are really winding down, overall. I'm hoping to have a true public release (most likely still a beta release) in the next 2 weeks. If you want to know when it's available check back here or follow me on twitter.

Part of finishing TAG, was, of course, finalizing the sound-track. Robert stayed right on schedule and finished the last song for the game this week. Fittingly, the last song he made was the final boss music, which is absolutely phenomenal. It sets a great mood and incorporates many themes from other parts of the game. If you want to read more about how the soundtrack to TAG was put together, Robert Ellis updated his blog with a look back at his process. 

To continue the theme of looking back. I found some really early screen shots of what eventually became TAG (the game was called Karma then). No one has ever seen these before. They date back to 2008, and I'm comparing them with that part of the game today.

Saying goodbye to Karma

It's been awhile since I've updated here but much progress has been made on UTAG (untitled treasure adventure game).

Sadly, I've decided to end development of Karma. However, just about every part of Karma will be used in UTAG. Some of the game-design decisions I made for Karma made it difficult to progress with the game they way I ideally wanted it. However, I feel that I've resolved those issues with UTAG and I'm going to implement all the areas and puzzles in Karma so far, into the new game. Many of the game-play elements will be enhanced with the new engine.

These screen shots show some of the areas of Karma I've integrated into UTAG.

I want to thank everyone who helped with Karma, and assure you that none of that work went to waste. UTAG is going to be a much superior game to Karma as I've learned so much while developing it.

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking

I can't believe I haven't updated this in 3 months. Well, even though you wouldn't know it, progress on Karma is still coming along nicely and I wanted to share a few screen shots with you.

In my non-Karma life, since my last post I lost my job, fought with unemployment and lost, got a part time job, graduated (I now have an MBA degree ... too bad I don't know what to do with), quit my part time job and moved to a new apartment.

Being unemployed has many benefits for the development of Karma, but unfortunatley only negative consequences for the rest of my life. And with the economy, sales have been really slow at my online t-shirt store (robitstudios.com). Boo.

 But enough about me... I decided Karma will definitely be released in chapters. The first release will include a prologue and the first level. I don't know if I'll release each chapter as a separate executable or build one complete file that contains each chapter as they are completed. Either way, the game will read your save file to ensure that you completed the previous chapter in order to move on.

Also, I don't think the game is going to have 100% original or used-with permission graphics. Graphics are a weak point for me and even though I have a few artists helping out with stuff I am going to rip some from commercial games. For example, a couple of the screen shots I posted on this update have graphics from some 16-bit Disney games.

I implemented a dialog system in the game which works well for my needs. However, I can't find the right sound effect to go with the scrolling text. I wan't something to the effect of Cave Story but I can't seem to find a sound that gives the right tone. Can anyone help out with that?

Level 1 Progress

Motivated by all the  positive feedback on the demo I got straight to work on the beginning part of the game. 

I also received some good criticism that I'm going to attempt to work on as well. In fact, I'm going to list a couple of the common complaints and some solutions right here:

• Too much is left to guess work 

Since the demo is actually the second level of the game I've made sure that the first level will introduce the game play mechanics to the player. Also, I'm adding dialog to the game which will help solve this problem and others.

• Needed more direction
• Some things were not obvious enough (hidden passageways, the point of the karma system)

As I mentioned, I'm adding Dialog to the game  which will help give the game more direction, explain game play mechanics and develop the plot. I wanted to avoid doing dialog originally because I though if it sounded cheesy or contrived it could ruin the experience. But I think it's the only way I can make the game work. 

• NPCs and enemies look too similar

This was partially a game design choice and partially because my graphics abilities are very limited. I chose to have enemies and NPCs look similar because, like in life, evil is not black and white. One's appearance can often be deceiving. There is a way to tell who will attack and hurt you and who won't and that will be explained in the game, via dialog . :)

More later...

Demo released

Karma: The Game is a retro-styled platformer where moral choices guide your progression through six lifetimes. This demo represents just one of those lifetimes. 

I'm calling this a demo but it's more of a beta-test. I'm looking forward to getting feedback, criticism, new ideas etc. I'm planning on releasing this game in chapters. This is actually the second chapter (level) of the game. My plan is to take the feedback I receive and work on the first part of the game. Then eventually re-release this chapter as a final version. 

I'm really looking forward to what everyone thinks about it. I'm going to take all feedback very seriously. One thing I'm interested in is how long it takes people to run through the level the first time. 

I've been working on this for over 4 months. Hope you enjoy it!

http://robitstudios.com/karma/karma_the_game_demo_v1.0.zip