Posts Tagged ‘ Soul Brother

Factual Update

Thought it was time to collate where I’m up to with all my unfinished games, in order of oldness. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture I’m afraid.

Super Super Ice Balls – the Bubble Bobble clone I’ve written three times. The last time I got really far but put on hold because I wasn’t happy with the art style. I plan to re-do it in a pixel art style most likely.

Trip The multiplayer shooter I’ve been working on since ’91. There have been around ten evolved versions of it over the years. I hope to bring it to a console one day. Just waiting for the right opportunity, and a suitable answer to the one-player mode. Would also like to give it a graphical overhaul soon.

Amnesia A psychological survival adventure. The most personal project I’ve ever undertaken, and hopefully one day in the next year or two it will be a reality. Check my earlier entries for more info, I’m working away at it right now.

iLoveWar My iPhone SRPG. This has been put on hold not because I didn’t like the game, but because I feel it is the right time to make Amnesia. I will definitely finish this one day!

Soul Brother – There’s a feeling of solidity lacking from the game, perhaps in the mechanics, which Stephen Lavelle pointed out to me. My heart sank a little because I knew he was right, I felt it too. There’s nothing ostensibly wrong with the game (I know Dock is not a fan of the non-linear format and perhaps he’s also right), but I’m not really sure how to fix it. It might just come to me!

Uh oh, what have I done?

I go through this a lot, losing faith with projects, getting it back, losing it again…  Sometimes it results in finished work, the rest of the time it results in stress only.  I feel that way about Amnesia often.  I don’t want to make it unless I can make it a well as I imagine it – on the other hand I don’t think I can make it as well as I imagine it.

Soul Brother’s one of those projects that’s just outside of my ‘comfortably achievable’ zone.  I’m still not sure if I can finish it, but that being said I’ve done a little more work on it.  It’s slow and laborious though, partly because of the unfamiliar level design ideas I have to deal with as a result of the mechanics.  It took more than a day to make the room below this post, believe it or not (ok I was tired, the week after my wedding to the lovely Kanako Byrne, neé Koseki…  We had a lovely little do last week, ending up punting down the Cambridge rivers with almost all my favourite people in the world, and plenty of champagne.)

Anyway, I’ve almost finished level 2/5 (there will be around 20 screens in each, as well as three new creatures, except the last level – which I won’t reveal yet as it could be considered a spoiler.)  Here’re the money shots:

Can you see what to do here?

It's bath time in Soul World.

Shutdown

I’m sorry folks, I don’t think Soul Brother’s gonna make it to your computer. I’m closing down operations for the time being. There’s just too much other stuff going on in my life. I’m sorry to disappoint anyone who was interested!

Jasper

Soul Brother Is Coming…

So, thanks to the feedback of a select few talented game devs, the game is really taking shape.  It’s gonna be a little bigger than expected, but that’s ok – I get to work on it so little what with getting married next month that it never feels like a chore!  

I have a solid demo finished now, but still think it’s too early to release.  Want to polish the basic mechanics until they shine.  So far the feedback has been fairly good, so I’m excited about it.  It might just be that the people I have shown it to like that kind of game though, haha.

Anyway, here’s another sneaky shot of it (actually a bit out of date, I’ve dropped the bottom rainbow for clarity):

It should be out within two months hopefully.

A small game, with small animals.

Meet Soul Brother. This is just something I’m working on as a kind of filler (need brightness to break up the darkness of Amnesia)…

It’s done for an imaginary computer that was like a ZX Spectrum, but with a programmable 8 colour palette and no ‘colour-clash’ (the 2 colour per 8×8 tile limit)… although features colour-clash of a whole different kind… behold:

 

 

To be released soon!