Below are some more song demos from James Arenas. My personal favorite has to be Battle 2.
Intro music:
http://queenbirdface.com/GW-Intro-01-demo.mp3
Battle music:
http://queenbirdface.com/GW-Battle-02-demo.mp3
http://queenbirdface.com/GW-Battle-03-demo.mp3
- Deathtojohnny
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Gems
Possibly the backbone of the game's design-- the gems. The gems were created to keep the action constantly in flux by having your strengths and weaknesses changing at every turn.
Gems also give you a chance to perform an effect on enemies. Effects leave your enemies in vunerable situations. Your chances of causing effects vary by which Weapon Arm uses the attack.
EARTH GEM
The green gem endows you with the power of earth. Earth is strong against electric, but weak against fire.
Pitfall (effect): A small hole in the ground opens up and leaves you trapped until you can struggle out of it.
FIRE GEM
The red gem endows you with the power of fire. Fire is strong against earth, but weak against water.
Burn (effect): When burned, your health quickly depletes.
ELECTRIC GEM
The yellow gem endows you with the power of electricity. Electricity is strong against water, but weak against earth.
Paralysis (effect): When paralyzed, you are stuck in a position until you can shake it off.
WATER GEM
The blue gem endows you with the power of water. Water is strong against fire, but weak against electric.
Bubble (effect): If you get hit by a water attack, you have a chance of being trapped in a bubble, which opposing forces can then push you into danger or finish you off.
Gems also give you a chance to perform an effect on enemies. Effects leave your enemies in vunerable situations. Your chances of causing effects vary by which Weapon Arm uses the attack.
EARTH GEM
The green gem endows you with the power of earth. Earth is strong against electric, but weak against fire.
Pitfall (effect): A small hole in the ground opens up and leaves you trapped until you can struggle out of it.
FIRE GEM
The red gem endows you with the power of fire. Fire is strong against earth, but weak against water.
Burn (effect): When burned, your health quickly depletes.
ELECTRIC GEM
The yellow gem endows you with the power of electricity. Electricity is strong against water, but weak against earth.
Paralysis (effect): When paralyzed, you are stuck in a position until you can shake it off.
WATER GEM
The blue gem endows you with the power of water. Water is strong against fire, but weak against electric.
Bubble (effect): If you get hit by a water attack, you have a chance of being trapped in a bubble, which opposing forces can then push you into danger or finish you off.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Weapon Arms
There are multiple Weapon Arms your Jiblet's can replace for their regular arms:
BEAM
A charge-able attack that has a high chance of causing an effect (more on this in a future post).
BARRAGE
A shot-range, high-impact attack akin to a shotgun.
BALL
Drops a ball of energy. The buoyancy of ball all depends on element.
GEM TOSS
This arm allows you to toss out your gem or switch with another player's.
This arm allows you to toss out your gem or switch with another player's.
SPIKE
Unleashes a rapid-fire attack.
Unleashes a rapid-fire attack.
BEAM
A charge-able attack that has a high chance of causing an effect (more on this in a future post).
BARRAGE
A shot-range, high-impact attack akin to a shotgun.
BALL
Drops a ball of energy. The buoyancy of ball all depends on element.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Our Gears are Turning...
... quite literally.
Major has dropped this hot piece on my lap:
http://www.queenbirdface.com/gear_transcoded.avi
It is a gear from the Factory level that Fenix is preparing.
Major has dropped this hot piece on my lap:
http://www.queenbirdface.com/gear_transcoded.avi
It is a gear from the Factory level that Fenix is preparing.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Jiblets Re-designed
Because of Michie's impressive concept art, we have decided to bring her onboard to re-design the characters and animate them for the game.
She will be drawing them at a larger resolution than the actual game sprites, which we will then resize them, ala Street Fighter HD, to produce a higher quality picture.
Check out her first draft for a death animation:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v300/MichieEve/base2.gif
- Deathtojohnny
She will be drawing them at a larger resolution than the actual game sprites, which we will then resize them, ala Street Fighter HD, to produce a higher quality picture.
Check out her first draft for a death animation:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v300/MichieEve/base2.gif
- Deathtojohnny
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Concept Art
We have commissioned Michie Eve, the artist and co-creator of the children's book, Jonathan Fishfeet, to prepare us some concept art for the game. Below is her first piece.
I think it perfectly captures the necessity of having gems in the game.
I think it perfectly captures the necessity of having gems in the game.
It is definitely a vast improvement over my draft...
- Deathtojohnny
Monday, April 27, 2009
Soundtrack
Working with me on developing the soundtrack for Gem Wars is James Arenas, frontman of Miles Fink. Here is a demo of one of the background songs set to apear in the game. The actual version will be synthed so that we can add a more video gamey feel to it.
- Deathtojohnny
Friday, April 24, 2009
Our heroes-- Jiblets!
Jiblets, the specie of characters in Gem Wars. They began as simplistic shapes (triangles and circles) to form big-headed, Anime-influenced characters. Their primary purpose for existing was simply that my drawing abilities were never too impressive. I developed my own style so that I can actually draw my own video game characters.
Since this is is a fast-paced deathmatch game, there was never any intention to make a storyline or a centralized hero character. Jiblets serve as avatars. There will be all kinds of Jiblets-- a Ninja, a Bug, a Demon, a Fairy, a Bear... hopefully one that will be best suit your personality. There were plans for a Create-A-Jiblet option, but it is being dropped for this version of the game.
Eventually, the thought of having these animated bits of shapes explode and fall apart, led to the idea that they should remain as detached parts like Rayman. Death animations to me, as morbid as it sounds, have always been the most exciting part of being killed in deathmatch. Even if it was you that just exploded, it always leads to that "Aw, did you see that?" reaction. In Doom-- being shot to death with the pistols never really had the same impact as being shot at point-blank with the double-barrelled shotgun and having your corpse splatter half across the room. My big plan for Gem Wars is to have the Jiblets have all sorts of deaths, depending on how they were finished off. And we are still aiming for a G rating! After all, they are just floating bits of pieces there were never attached anyways...
Having the segmented bodies also allows for the idea of picking up gems and replacing the circle that represented the body with the actual gem. Gimmicky? Maybe. But its our gimmick, so back off!
- Deathtojohnny
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Introduction to Gem Wars
Greetings and welcome to the Gem Wars blog! Or is it Gem Wars' blog? No matter...
This is a developers' blog for an indie game known as... you guessed it, GEM WARS. I (Deathtojohnny) will constantly be updating this blog as we continue through development. This is a relatively small game, but we're aiming for the highest quality with absolutely no budget.
HIGH CONCEPT
To sum up the game, I guess you can say its a 2D Quake III Arena with elements from Worms, Bomberman and Smash Bros. More generally, we're aiming for Gem Wars to be a fast-paced, action/shooter multiplayer mayhem that is enveloped with a goofy, quirky charm.
THE GAME
You have four elements (earth, fire, water, electricity) which you can channel by picking up colored gems. Once you are endowed with the power of the element, you are stronger than another element, but also weaker to a third.
So the point is to choose the strongest gem around, destroy those who wield the weaker element, and run away from those who have the stronger.
Sounds confusing, right? But switching elements all becomes second nature and you are constantly in a cat and mouse game.
Imagine if you will, different attacks that can be picked up, like the Ball attack. Without any gem, your Ball attack just bounces off the walls and ceilings. But when you become endowed with the Fire gem, it becomes a Fireball akin to that of Super Mario Bros. Each gem mods the Attacks, so there is a learning curve for each element. Skilled players will be using these Attacks and learning how to use their element-mods effectively.
The levels of the game are basically giant deathmatch arenas-- most frags wins. Targeted to accept 16 players into each server, the levels are built with strategic positioning in mind. The Trap item will be strewn around the level. Set up a Trap somewhere around the level, blast open a nearby hidden location, and watch for someone to fall in for a free frag.
DEV MEMBERS
Working alongside me as co-designer is Fenix (a.k.a. StealthNinja025). Fenix is also lead coder, and has previously worked with me on co-developing other games.
Our client/server programmer is Giobueno. I met him in Brazil on a business trip and we both had a lot in common, esp. regarding our aspirations as game developers.
Finally, we have Majoroesch. Major has worked with Fenix on a few other projects. He will be working on backgrounds for GW (get used to the acronyms).
As of right now, we're keeping the team rather smallish, but we have plans for expansion when the time comes to start polishing the game.
- Deathtojohnny
This is a developers' blog for an indie game known as... you guessed it, GEM WARS. I (Deathtojohnny) will constantly be updating this blog as we continue through development. This is a relatively small game, but we're aiming for the highest quality with absolutely no budget.
HIGH CONCEPT
To sum up the game, I guess you can say its a 2D Quake III Arena with elements from Worms, Bomberman and Smash Bros. More generally, we're aiming for Gem Wars to be a fast-paced, action/shooter multiplayer mayhem that is enveloped with a goofy, quirky charm.
THE GAME
You have four elements (earth, fire, water, electricity) which you can channel by picking up colored gems. Once you are endowed with the power of the element, you are stronger than another element, but also weaker to a third.
So the point is to choose the strongest gem around, destroy those who wield the weaker element, and run away from those who have the stronger.
Sounds confusing, right? But switching elements all becomes second nature and you are constantly in a cat and mouse game.
Imagine if you will, different attacks that can be picked up, like the Ball attack. Without any gem, your Ball attack just bounces off the walls and ceilings. But when you become endowed with the Fire gem, it becomes a Fireball akin to that of Super Mario Bros. Each gem mods the Attacks, so there is a learning curve for each element. Skilled players will be using these Attacks and learning how to use their element-mods effectively.
The levels of the game are basically giant deathmatch arenas-- most frags wins. Targeted to accept 16 players into each server, the levels are built with strategic positioning in mind. The Trap item will be strewn around the level. Set up a Trap somewhere around the level, blast open a nearby hidden location, and watch for someone to fall in for a free frag.
DEV MEMBERS
Working alongside me as co-designer is Fenix (a.k.a. StealthNinja025). Fenix is also lead coder, and has previously worked with me on co-developing other games.
Our client/server programmer is Giobueno. I met him in Brazil on a business trip and we both had a lot in common, esp. regarding our aspirations as game developers.
Finally, we have Majoroesch. Major has worked with Fenix on a few other projects. He will be working on backgrounds for GW (get used to the acronyms).
As of right now, we're keeping the team rather smallish, but we have plans for expansion when the time comes to start polishing the game.
- Deathtojohnny
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