New Projects: Codename: FIGMENT/Hell's Kitty:Mobile Game:
Last weekend we had a studio meeting, where we set the groundwork for the next big project. For now, the project name is going to be called Codename: FIGMENT, and it will be built on the Unity3D engine. I'm not going to reveal too many details for now, but I will say that it will be an episodic game.
Also going back into development likely next week will be the Hell's Kitty Mobile game. Two more programmers are joining the team and we're going to redo the base programming, but keep it on the same framework. It had to be put on hiatus for a bit for various reasons, but the priority will be programming HK and Selatria while Codename: FIGMENT will be in the conceptual stage for a month or two more.
Speaking of which...
Selatria:
Progress is going well on the Selatria project - Matt has been working on a lot of the Chapter 2 cutscenes and I have been splitting up the audio files in order to implement them into existing scenes. We're both working on polish and making sure it's a fun experience for all.
The artists in the project are working on changing the look of the game too. So this is a work in progress.
Chapter 3 is also in the writing phase. Jon, Matt, and I came up with some fun ideas yesterday evening and I'm going to flesh them out a bit more later today.
A new trailer is coming soon with all of the new voices and gameplay assets, music, and the like!
Some in-development screenies of Selatria Chapter 2:
RPG Maker Commercial Games:
I wanted to talk about this for a bit. RPG Maker seems to get a very negative light from those who use it and want to sell their games commercially. There are a few great games out there made by talented people on the engine. I can name a few... To The Moon, Aveyond, The Legend of Erthia, Eternal Eden, and Legionwood among others.
However, a lot of these gems are buried within a lot of poor games made on the same engine. By people who think they can throw few areas together and put a game up just to put their games out there in a commercial hardcore venue such as Steam Greenlight. It puts us more developers in a tight spot because a lot of bad projects make it harder for us to get ours out there without being pigeonholed into "It's RPG Maker. It's crap."
What I mean is more along the lines of, when someone releases a sub-par game on Steam, Desura, or the like. They not only hurt their own reputation as a game maker, but they hurt the whole community. Especially the RPG Maker scene. The reputation has been ruined by developers who raise money for all of the wrong reasons, at least in my opinion.
I'm not looking to create something completely original with Selatria, but I'm looking to release a quality game which has passion and dedication to a project. I feel like for every bad RPG Maker game that's released to the public and tries to put themselves on Indiegogo, or Kickstarter, or Steam (yuck)- it makes it that much more painful to the RPG Making community as a whole.
I guess the point of the rant is that it's great to make a game, get it out there, get some feedback, improve on it. I have a whole notebook of ideas that never make it anywhere, and I've made a few freeware games in my high school and early college career that I'm...not so proud of. It's a learning process. But if you put your project out there for the public and expect them to spend money on you, I believe the effort needs to be put out there so it's worth paying.
Also - about Steam: No intention of releasing on there unless Selatria does well elsewhere. Start easy, build a fan base, accept feedback, and slowly work the way to the big-leagues, the "end-game" of the indie scene. Well, at least that's what I consider Steam to be. End-Game. And game development is all about the journey, not the destination. A lot like the game itself.
That's my two cents.
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Some links I was using that inspired this whole thing.
RPG Maker games on Kickstarter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL77m3Zf2o8&hd=1 (Read the comments on this one.)
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/412101570/unemployment-quest-a-non-epic-rpg
http://i.imgur.com/UJjGP.jpg
http://zephirzophar.blogspot.com/2012/05/echoes-of-eternia.html
http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion/30/echoes-of-eternia-kickstarter-videogame/542573/
Steam Greenlight on RPG Maker Games:
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/4526-steam-greenlight-and-rpg-maker-games/&st=0
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