Archive for the ‘Projects’ Category
Posted on January 26, 2010 - by Eric
Come ye Fusion Tanks!
FUSION Tanks (mutiplayer edition) – a.k.a Ftanks
Experience multi-player tank mayhem unlike any other. 5 chaotic weapons, 4 battlefields, destructible terrain, smooth controls, and the all-new Fusion system. Collect fallen tank turrets and fuse them with yours. Rain terror with up to 4 turrets!
Powered by Come2play, Fusion tanks allows you to challenge your friends even if you are on different websites or social networks like Facebook.
Battles don’t have to be just fun, put your coins at stake with come2play’s betting system which enables the TankSaw ™ – cut tanks in half and automatically fuse their turrets!
Watch out for the public beta in a few weeks.
Posted on August 15, 2009 - by Eric
Rock Paper Laser! Teaser Trailer and Promo Video
Rock Paper Laser! is based on the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, as such, its easy to dismiss as something flimsy and shallow. Well, here are two videos that shows why Rock Paper Laser! is jam-packed with features and full of value. Make no mistake people Rock Paper Laser! is THE Rock, paper, scissors game to beat. 
TEASER TRAILER
60 SECONDS
Software used in the video production: Flash CS4, Soundbooth, Camstudio, Digital Media Converter
Posted on August 9, 2009 - by Eric
Rock Paper Laser! is out!
At long last, our newest and 1st iPhone / ipod Touch game is out — Rock Paper Laser! aka RPL. Here is the app description;
Rock Paper Laser! takes the well-loved game to a whole new level with the addition of 3 new hands; Dog, Water and the all-powerful Laser.All wrapped up in an action-packed and exciting new game with new rules!
* Dog, Water and Laser joins Rock, Paper and Scissors.
* Survive against a CPU controlled hand meant to stop you from getting a high score.
* Play against your friends or family with the 2-player mode.
* Also contains the classic Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
* Learn the rules to play Rock Paper Laser by hand.
* Fast, Fun and Family-Friendly
* Publish your score in the online scoreboard, Facebook & Twitter. (powered by Agon Online)
* 6 backgrounds – Boxing ring, wood, art, etc.
* easy to learn, fun to master
Posted on July 11, 2009 - by Eric
Updates!
Its been a while since we have reported any news on RPL but this is what they call the calm before the storm. The only thing blocking the eventual storm is Apple and the laggard manner they take care of game developers.
- The developer account still has the wrong bank and tax info. For some reason, 2 weeks is not enough time for them to change a single entry in the database. fcktards.
- After 2 weeks, i sent a request to cancel the account so we can start anew. 1 week later, no answer. Apple really hates game developers,
- We will create a new individual developer account if this is not resolved next week.
- We are nearing release with only 1 week left for polish, integrating and beta testing.
- RPL is really shaping up nicely the extra 2 weeks of development time has done wonders to the usability and the performance.
- the microsite will be launched next week, the day when we submit the app to Apple. So 1-3 weeks before release. Hopefully 1 week.
- it done in Photoshop and is currently being CSSize by me. I am hoping to put some Coda style panels there but might be cut if it doesnt work right away.
- We hope to incorporate the Agon online update next week before submitting. Hope they release it early, Scoreloop just levelled up and they have the whole cross-promotion feature in it now. Very attractive.
- Pre-production on Project Slow is well under way.
Posted on July 7, 2009 - by Eric
Project WordMan
We just kicked off our newest collaboration project for the web games market under the codename “WordMan”. Our partner is a 15-yr old, Brazilian student named Gabriel Bianconi who will be handling the programming duties. He has a bunch of adorable sokoban games and mouse avoider games. The game is planned to be entered into Dictionary.com sponsored and Mochi hosted WordPlay contest with these prizes;
- 1st Place – $7,000
- 2nd Place – $4,000
- 3rd Place – $2,000
- Honorable Mention (x2) – $1,000 each
The game already has a running prototype and if feels good already. The feature set includes;
- multiple characters with different abilities
- special assist cards
- casual RPG elements
- random word generation
- fresh new gameplay!
Fans of Sokoban and Word games. Look for it in early August.
Posted on June 17, 2009 - by Eric
RPL Screens and updates
non-spoiling screens
RPL is now feature-locked and iterations will now cease. There are still major bugs to squash, and missing are the scoreboards and the 3rd (minor) mode. Depending on how fast BJ can build / bugfix things we might just miss our beta milestone by a day or two (or three), Hey! better than a week late, right? Hopefully, Apple will have upgraded our developer account from individual to company in time for our release.
Above are some screens which are deemed mysterious enough for public showing. The 1st one is the initials screen for the scoreboard (the last one). The 2nd screen is for the credits screen wherein every Cavalcade Games’ people who are involved are enumerated (I want to give full credit so that they can use our apps should they need it for any reason) and the 3rd one is for the 2-player vs mode.
We hope to have our app ready for beta testing in the near future, it feels and plays good but we won’t know for sure unless we put it in fresh testers’ hands. Two more weeks…
Posted on June 11, 2009 - by Eric
RPL begets RPM, RPW
Not quite revealed
We are trying an experiment with a number of our Iphone apps lined up for 2009. What started out as one meaty app based around a spin on a very well-known game is now split into a trio of separate projects. The splitting was first necessitated by the fact that we had little experience in more complex game development environment. We severely underestimated the time it took to learn the Unity environment, the marketplace, the workflows, the best practices, etc. As a result, we cut down MODE#3 and soldiered on.
Posted on May 28, 2009 - by Eric
3 weeks and a teaser
We are now over 3 weeks in building our 1st app and we are slowly but surely getting there. At this rate, I would peg the release on the 2nd – 3rd week of June. We are trying to finish the main mode this weekend. We originally had that scheduled last weekend but had to move the deadline to this weekend due to personal reasons on both sides. After that, we will tackle the secondary mode (1 week tops), and a smaller third mode(2 days), then tie up all the little things such as 2nd level UI elements, sound, performance, file size optimizations, and bug testing(1 week).
As a teaser here is our main menu, with the title blurred away (it will give too much if revealed);
snazzy!
Do you like it? I am personally excited to test the build after the milestone, in which I am hoping to capture that “fun” factor. It has been glimpsed and grazed by in the current build but if I am correct it will be fully felt when we make a few more adjustments. I am raring to share more but all in good time. Hope you stick around!
Posted on May 19, 2009 - by Eric
RPL (App #1) now in Alpha
the hands are in
We are now testing a very early build of App #1 codename RPL. Although it took us longer than we initially anticipated, the app can now be felt and the final form can now be clearly visualized.
I am now constantly testing the app and writing tickets (task list items that can be tracked) based on what I think it needs for the next milestone. Basically, my guiding light would be 3 F…. the ‘feel’ , the ‘fun’ and the ‘functionality’, of which I will elaborate more in my next post.
The prototype is just the core mechanic and none of the spices that will make it fun but even at this stage. I think we have a solid foundation and we can move more confidently forward.
There is one thing that bugs me is the ‘made with Unity’ splash screen that is played at the start. The 1st image you see when you open an app and it really does create a strong association with the app itself. Sadly, we have to spend upwards of $2000 just to get that feature in Unity Pro/Iphone Advanced. An alternative would be purchasing stinkbot’s Unity Pack to have OUR logo right after theirs and mitigate the brand disconnection. But its early days for these concerns. Let’s cross the bridge when we get there..
Posted on May 18, 2009 - by Eric
App #1 Status Report
The Iphone apps marketplace is wrought with GOTCHAs! and mysteries that releasing something feels like a videogame all in itself. Do something wrong and your app will go down hurtling to the depths of obscurity and its GAME OVER for your awesome (at least you thought so) app.
That is why all the publicly shared sales stats and strategies are very much appreciated and have even give the whole community a sense of comradeship. After reading countless articles and forum posts on countless websites. We have realized that even with our TopTop5 and iLuc (project name) being smaller scoped than most of our app design doc, we need to go smaller.This has to do with Iphone dev being a really really new environment for us and also to minimize risk while we learn to navigate the market.
As a result, both of those apps are now pushed down the pipeline and 4 smaller, newly designed apps are put ahead. These apps are designed with the following points in mind;
- the concept has strong ties to a real world object (so its instantly recognizable and inviting)
- its a wholesome affair (don’t want to restrict ourselves to male demographics) BUT has to have a certain edge to it (we generally don’t like toothless games, they are easy to forget)
- the app’s ELEVATOR PITCH should be strictly communicable in ONE SENTENCE.
These apps while smaller in scope are still built to be fun and are no way something that buyers will feel cheated in terms of value. As a preview, here is the title screen.
behind a frosted glass
Its been that “Ideas are a dime a dozen, good execution is the most important thing”, however, seeing that these apps are pretty easy to clone (and we are still noobs). You can’t blame us for being over protective. Anyway, I hope you stick around. As we are already running prototypes on our devices and there may be more to report on in the coming weeks