Hey everyone! Just wanted to post a quick update about the work we've been doing and talk about publishing to Steam. We've been continuing to grind out work on the game in anticipation of release, and we've set our release date as April 26, 2016. We've gotten all of the requisite materials done for publication (screenshots, video, business side things, etc), and so now we're just working to polish the game in anticipation of the release. We currently have three levels, but we'll have to see if that needs to be cut down to two ... it might be worthwhile to publish two complete levels that look really amazing and give up on the idea of having a third level that emphasizes some different aspects of gameplay. Below is a shot from the tutorial level. As you play, different aspects of the game are unlocked. The tutorial starts with simply driving, giving the player the opportunity to get a feel for the car's handling. Next, track placement is unlocked: the player gets to place four track pieces without worrying about hotzones or crystal collection. Those two aspects unlock in series after that, and then the player must navigate to the end of the level after collecting at least four crystals and placing track in four hotzones. You can see a little slice of level three below. Level three features a lot more driving "off-road" ... a significant portion of the level takes place off of the tracks. The player isn't required, per se, to take those off-road paths, but it's definitely exciting. The third level also features a lot more of the civilization architecture, which looks pretty good. Feel free to share your thoughts on some of this new material! We have officially been Greenlit! Many thanks to everyone who voted for Skyreach and made this possible. It took us exactly two weeks to get Greenlit, which feels pretty great.
On a related note, there are still a couple of games that are looking for Greenlight votes: Reload 360 and Maui. If you haven't already, please go vote for them and help them get published! Hey everyone!
We recently pushed our game to Steam Greenlight, please take a look and vote for us! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=642286823 Thanks! Here's the link to the recently recorded radio session:
http://www.kuteradio.org/2016/02/26/the-geekwave-episode-25-skyreach/ Hope you enjoy listening! Hey everyone,
We have a radio spot coming up later this week in which we'll be talking about the game and the development progress we've gone through thus far. It should be a lot of fun. We're recording Thursday at 1:00 pm! Throughout every metamorphosis our game has undergone, at least one thing has been the same: we love us some vehicles. While the mechanics of the game and refinement of that vehicular experience has changed dramatically, it has been one thing that is consistent. Let's start at the beginning: Jams. Now, to be fair, a lot of these pieces were just taken from the Unity store, but there were a few custom pieces done. The limo, for instance, was created by Jack, one of the artists on the prototype team. The game was originally about traffic control and potentially escorting important vehicles through the gridlock. Here you can see a couple of those concept cars in isolation from the scene. The next iteration on our concept of cars features models that were a little different. These scenes were definitely designed to have a cartoon feel. The cars themselves honestly look a little bit like keyboard mice, looking back at it now. Funny stuff. Anyway, the second example here features the cars with textures in place, which again were meant to be simple because the player actually created those cars so that they could crash into each other. Up to this point, in fact, the player didn't have any direct control of the vehicles. They had a programmed behavior and the game was built around that experience. Can I also say that I love the gas station that's named "Gas Station"? Who needs Conoco or Sinclair? These pics are from the first semester of projects. Over the summer, we altered our mechanics to focus on driving instead. During this time, we used various cars, such as the Edy's Physics car and a chicken (not pictured, but delightful). But we needed something new. Here are some concept pieces! Our next real vehicle was much more of a racer than a standard sedan. Check out the hot wheels on that ride. As we developed, we decided to focus on a candy theme, and so the artwork and the vehicles changed to match that. We retextured the piece seen above, and we added in a second vehicle that moved more slowly but that could plow through obstacles. But candy is dumb. This isn't just me saying that; it's something that we decided collectively, as a team. So, we changed our theme to something more like Avatar meets Southern Utah (our home state!). Here's a look at that. And so, finally, we reach the point that we're at now. Here is the final concept model ... Thanks for taking the time to go on this journey in a few minutes. It took us several months. Let us know what you think of ... any of it. We've officially settled on a name for our game that is reflective of the artistic and style changes that we've implemented. The new name: Skyreach.
Let us know what you think! We've been making steady progress on the game, with a new build released to our website last week (here's a link to the direct download: http://rainbowgoats.com/builds/Sweet%20Ride%20v1.5.3.zip).
In general, we've definitely anchored down the majority of the mechanics, and the focus is now on artwork and level design. We have the week of March 3 targeted for a soft launch of the game, and so we're hoping to have essentially all of our assets in place by that point. Looking forward from that, we are anticipating launching the game on Steam Greenlight at the beginning of April, meaning that we will have some time to polish and improve the game a little bit more after that initial launch. Be sure to visit the website to see the latest build and screenshots! To be honest, going into EAE Day, the team wasn't expecting an enormous showing for the presentation of the games. It was scheduled 2:00 - 5:00 pm on a week day, and, you know, people have jobs and big kid responsibilities. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to see such a great showing! The game looked really great up on the big screens, and we had plenty of people coming by just to watch others as they played. There were also a couple surprises that we didn't expect. Younger kids did really well playing the game and were able to overcome the challenges presented in each level. They played the game most closely to the way that we hoped it would be played, building the track just barely ahead of the car as they careened down the track. Anyway, we got a bunch of great feedback and direction for the game moving into the new (and final) semester. Huzzah! |
Author: Rainbow GoatsRainbow Goats is a game development team at the University of Utah Entertainment Arts & Engineering Master's program. Archives
April 2016
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