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.

Click here for the demo

- Deathtojohnny

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

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