Music to Adventure to...

The response I've received from the internet, upon releasing Treasure Adventure Game has been overwhelming. So many kind words have been sent my way. I've tried to thank everyone who has contacted me, but if I missed you, hopefully this will work as a catch-all: Thank you!

I couldn't have asked for a better reception for the game. I feel justified in spending the last couple years of my life toiling away on this project.... frankly, it feels amazing! I'm super pumped and I'm ready to get started on another project.

The only thing that's been holding me back was wanting to get the Original Soundtrack for Treasure Adventure Game out to the fans. Many of you have asked about it and I wanted to do it right.

I'm happy to announce: Treasure Adventure Game OST is now available for digital download at BandCamp. 

You can purchase any individual track for $0.50 or the entire album for a minimum of $6. If you buy the full album it includes 8 bonus tracks (some never heard before), a PDF file containing 99 sketches used in the creation of the game and an interactive map of the entire game. 

By making this purchase you not only get over an hour of great music by the talented Robert Ellis, but you're also going to help support the development of future projects by Robert and myself. All proceeds made by the sale of the soundtrack are going directly to the budget for the next game. 

Thanks again to all the fans of TAG. I look forward to a beautiful friendship with you all!

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.

It is the courage to continue that counts.

It's unbelievable how close TAG is to completion. The list of things left to do is shrinking everyday and the feeling is almost indescribable. I've never had a project that took this long and I remember so many moments along the way where I felt that there was an infinite amount of work left.

One section of the game I saved for last was the underwater diving scenes. My girlfriend reminded me the other day that when I was originally sketching out the ideas for TAG, the underwater treasure hunting was one of the first things I thought of. Over two years later I got around to putting it together. It was worth the wait. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think it's one of the best parts of the game. That really only leaves a few things left.

Here's what's left to do (off the top of my head):

• Final cut scenes


• Flashback cut scene


• Final boss


• Credits


• About half of the game dialog (currently a lot of place-holder dialog)


• Complete game play-through


• A few minor bug fixes (some of them could be considered busy-workish)


• Playtesting (which means someone besides me and Robbie will play the game *gasp*)

Speaking of Robbie (http://twitter.com/beta_red), he is still working on a couple more tracks. I'm currently listening to the new song for the pyramid/volcano levels and it's really beautiful. The soundtrack for the game has come together so nicely and you can expect to see digital download of it available on BandCamp and maybe even a CD run too. If I could get Robbie to create music for me for free for the rest of my life I'd always have a stupidly happy grin on my face. He seems to really get what I'm looking for. I can use a couple words to describe the feeling or mood I want and he just nails it every time. If you're a developer looking for a talented musician for a project, you can not do wrong by hooking up with him. 

I suppose that's all the news for now. I'm going to keep plugging away at that list and try to get this game into your hands sometime this fall! 

Virginia is for Gamers.

I am now a resident of the beautiful City of Staunton, VA! Our move went about as smoothly as could be hoped for. My Volvo is making a slight whining noise which is concerning. But, on the positive side: people here are ridiculously friendly, and I haven't seen anyone picking through our garbage (how novel!).

My job situation is still uncertain. It looks like I may be doing remote-access work for my previous employer, but things are still up in the air.

Now, on to what really matters: Treasure Adventure Game. I started a long over-due spread sheet to track bugs.

 

The bug count started out at 161 but I've already dwindled it down to 72. (And to be honest, these are not all bugs, some were things I left intentionality unfinished due to laziness). There's not a single thing on the list that in unexplainable, which is also very reassuring.

In music news: I believe TAG is now up to around 20 original tracks, all from the talented Robbie Ellis (follow him on Twitter). He's currently working on a track for the factory - think 16-bit SNES music meets heavy metal guitar.

Until my job situation figures itself out I'm trying to use my extra free-time to get TAG as far along as I can. I'm still optimistic that a end of August release is possible. The game has been getting some positive internet hype lately (which I'll talk about in the next post), and I really don't want to disappoint by having to delay the release.

monkeys!

Progress on TAG is still coming along nicely. This past week I've designed, laid-out and coded a good portion of the last big island in the game. It's a rain forest/ jungle themed island complete with monkeys and waterfalls.

My friend Rob has been pumping out more great tracks. It looks like a huge portion of the game's soundtrack will be original.

I made a couple key game design choices that I had been struggling with. Although I gave up one of the major elements that has inspired me to make the game in the first place, I realize that it is for the better. The game-play is slightly more linear but it's going to make it a much more enjoyable experience for the player.

I've also added weather (rain/snow) to the game. There is a random chance of a thunderstorm, and the wind affects the direction of the rain.

I'll try to post again soon. In the meantime, more screen shots: