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I didn't want to take a huge break from Xeno Versa, but sometimes other tasks take priority. I am currently updating the TGB Kart Kit for iOS4, TGB 1.7.5, and iT2D 1.4. There's one final bug that I need to hammer out: something changed with iT2D 1.3.1 with respect to collision triggers. I don't know if they fixed or introduced a bug, but a feature / quirk of collisions in v1.2 can no longer be relied upon. Once I smooth things out, both Cascadia Kart and Zombie Karts will be updated simultaneously with the kit. That means Zombie Karts will get mirror mode (and possibly steering tuning) added to its features. Both games will be updated with the same steering tweak.... one that I think offers a better balance of sensitivity and control.
With Halloween looming (yes, I can say that in late July), I hope I can wrap up Xeno Versa before moving onto a holiday-themed project. I have a few in mind -- yes, several with zombies -- that I hope I can start on before September.
With Halloween looming (yes, I can say that in late July), I hope I can wrap up Xeno Versa before moving onto a holiday-themed project. I have a few in mind -- yes, several with zombies -- that I hope I can start on before September.
There's no way to sugarcoat it. The final June income numbers are in and they are awful. There are two reasons: 1- Xeno Sola has had a dramatic drop in sales.... my guess is due to the Carcassonne release; 2- the TGB Kart Kit had another weak month.
The silver lining is this: an update to the TGB Kart Kit should be out by August, and sales tend to perk up with those releases. The Racing Sound Pack is live and hopefully going to be a winner. Xeno Versa is still moving forward. And I've got a few other things going on that could prove fruitful. It was definitely a rough first half of the year. Here's aiming at a better second half!
The silver lining is this: an update to the TGB Kart Kit should be out by August, and sales tend to perk up with those releases. The Racing Sound Pack is live and hopefully going to be a winner. Xeno Versa is still moving forward. And I've got a few other things going on that could prove fruitful. It was definitely a rough first half of the year. Here's aiming at a better second half!
Here's a quick update of what we're working on and where we're at:
- Xeno Versa - Single player needs two things to be done: an easy way to make money when broke and all the single player scenarios defined and balanced.
- New Torque Content Pack - Too early to share anything, but it's an idea I haven't see done yet.
- Web updates - I'll be slowly going through this site, fixing things up. The Games and Kits pages will be first.
The Racing Sound Pack has finally zoomed into the Torque Powered Store. The idea for the pack came out of my own struggle to find quality sounds for Zombie Karts. The Internet lacked usable, royalty-free engine loops. No reasonably priced packs existed. To solve my problem, I had to pay a contractor from Mojo Audio -- a person who I luckily had his email address!
Your average indie, however, has enough to worry about with scrounging the web for sounds or crawling forums for sound artists. I happen to be a fortunate exception with talented artist Erhan Ergenekan on-board as a frequent contributor to our games. I asked if he would be interested in putting together a few motor loops into a pack and he went above-and-beyond (as per usual). The end result: 94 sounds for 5 vehicles all in quality OGG format.
Due to my big push on Xeno Versa as well as some time spent on another project, I have yet to put together a demo for the pack. I may go simple with a brief preview MP3, something fancy with full video, or something in between. Nonetheless, if you're making a racing game, I know it will fit your needs!
UPDATE: Demo now available here!
Your average indie, however, has enough to worry about with scrounging the web for sounds or crawling forums for sound artists. I happen to be a fortunate exception with talented artist Erhan Ergenekan on-board as a frequent contributor to our games. I asked if he would be interested in putting together a few motor loops into a pack and he went above-and-beyond (as per usual). The end result: 94 sounds for 5 vehicles all in quality OGG format.
Due to my big push on Xeno Versa as well as some time spent on another project, I have yet to put together a demo for the pack. I may go simple with a brief preview MP3, something fancy with full video, or something in between. Nonetheless, if you're making a racing game, I know it will fit your needs!
UPDATE: Demo now available here!
As always, I won't know the kit sales numbers for about 2-3 weeks. But since I keep track of game sales daily, I can comment on how June shaped up: a little better than April, a little worse than March. Most games sold right around their average, with exception of Zombie Karts that virtually tied with its second best month of the year. Who knew Halloween is the holiday that keeps giving? Overall I'm fairly pleased that I can go 5 months without a release and still see a decent passive income trickling in.
I continue to expand the Griz Arcade, which now contains 69 games all played and picked by me. Thus far, it seems to be doing its job of adding a hair more traffic to this blog. Though eventually I'd like to see the site stand on its own merits (ie folks visiting it to find a quality selection of flash games).
Later this year, I'll have another site ready to join this fledgling Cascadia network. StumptownSoccer.com will be dedicated to Northwest soccer fandom. I'm still brewing ideas but plan for it to be ready in advance of the Portland Timbers' first MLS season.
I continue to expand the Griz Arcade, which now contains 69 games all played and picked by me. Thus far, it seems to be doing its job of adding a hair more traffic to this blog. Though eventually I'd like to see the site stand on its own merits (ie folks visiting it to find a quality selection of flash games).
Later this year, I'll have another site ready to join this fledgling Cascadia network. StumptownSoccer.com will be dedicated to Northwest soccer fandom. I'm still brewing ideas but plan for it to be ready in advance of the Portland Timbers' first MLS season.
The first draft of the Xeno Versa campaign is about 30% complete at 9 scenarios defined. (I'm aiming for about 32.) There are, at the time of this blog post, 57 playable ships in the game comprised of nineteen unique ships with two upgrades apiece across seven different alien empires. I might pack in a few more.
Before each scenario (ie battle), your opponent will state his/her opinion and thus push the story along. It will be a sparse story and campaign but hopefully a fun one. Here are a some sample shots.
As you can see the Anime style has been ditched in favor of a more traditional sci-fi style. The characters are more distinct and realistic and the ships' color schemes have been toned down. I'll note that the interface may be tweaked a bit depending on how the buttons appear on an iPhone's screen.
Still no ETA. I can say, however, that it's likely at least a month away from release.
Before each scenario (ie battle), your opponent will state his/her opinion and thus push the story along. It will be a sparse story and campaign but hopefully a fun one. Here are a some sample shots.
As you can see the Anime style has been ditched in favor of a more traditional sci-fi style. The characters are more distinct and realistic and the ships' color schemes have been toned down. I'll note that the interface may be tweaked a bit depending on how the buttons appear on an iPhone's screen.
Still no ETA. I can say, however, that it's likely at least a month away from release.
Effective immediately, the price of Xeno Sola is $1.99. While it had an excellent Q1, its age and competition have caused it to under-perform at $2.99 during Q2. My hope is the new price will more accurately match potential buyers' expectations.
In other news, I have almost completed all campaign features of its semi-sequel, Xeno Versa. The campaign involves several scenarios across multiple maps, much like Mario visits various levels within each world. Every key feature is in (buying / scrapping ships, all battle functions, capturing enemy ships, retreating, new scenarios made available with victory, etc) with the exception of changing from one map to the next. I'm also not sure what the player will do in the event that all ships are lost and all money is gone (game over?). But all-in-all it's near feature-complete!
In other news, I have almost completed all campaign features of its semi-sequel, Xeno Versa. The campaign involves several scenarios across multiple maps, much like Mario visits various levels within each world. Every key feature is in (buying / scrapping ships, all battle functions, capturing enemy ships, retreating, new scenarios made available with victory, etc) with the exception of changing from one map to the next. I'm also not sure what the player will do in the event that all ships are lost and all money is gone (game over?). But all-in-all it's near feature-complete!
We are still cranking away on Xeno Versa. I have almost completed the code / GUI for the single player campaign. The custom character art is rolling in. And the other components are coming together nicely. It's still too early to give an ETA, but it's a good sign that no major bumps have slowed production thus far.
I can, however, give an ETA for the Racing Sound Pack, which should pop up any day now in the Torque Developer Store. At some point I need to take a break from coding and put together a demo for it!
I also am continuing my search for an acquisition. There's no news yet, but I'll be sure to post the numbers in the event that I buy something!
I can, however, give an ETA for the Racing Sound Pack, which should pop up any day now in the Torque Developer Store. At some point I need to take a break from coding and put together a demo for it!
I also am continuing my search for an acquisition. There's no news yet, but I'll be sure to post the numbers in the event that I buy something!
While game sales continued their downward slide this May, kit revenue was slightly up. As a result, total income for Cascadia Games was steady April-to-May. All games combined have made approximately the same amount of money as the kit thus far this year.
Obviously, I am looking for growth. The Racing Sound Pack and Xeno Versa are a start, and the Griz Arcade will continue to expand (with an eye on steering traffic to this blog and our products), but long-term I think there are two routes to go: contract out more work and acquire other (super) small businesses.
I'll have more on these potential routes when time permits.
Obviously, I am looking for growth. The Racing Sound Pack and Xeno Versa are a start, and the Griz Arcade will continue to expand (with an eye on steering traffic to this blog and our products), but long-term I think there are two routes to go: contract out more work and acquire other (super) small businesses.
I'll have more on these potential routes when time permits.
Xeno Versa is our upcoming SciFi RPG / TBS game for the iPhone / iPod Touch. It is the combination of several unfinished projects, including the two versions of Xeno Versus and an unannounced chess game that was delayed due to the same reason that Mini Chess was pulled.
It is a sequel to Xeno Sola. In Xeno Sola, you participated in the construction of the galaxy's first interplanetary space station, Star One. At the start of Xeno Versa, Star One has been destroyed. It is your job as the Captain to hunt down those responsible. But in order to do so, you must explore the galaxy and engage in intense starship battles.
The gameplay is light turn-based strategy. You can deploy up to three ships in any formation within the two lowest ranks of the battlefield. At any time you may recall or redeploy your ships. You may retreat if necessary. The AI is built upon a cranked-up version of the solid AI used in our chess games. It is definitely a challenge to play. There will be dozens of unique ships to use.
Currently the foundation is in place for the single player campaign. The exact scenarios and their order are in active development. Multiplayer is planned and partially working. I have yet to decide if online multiplayer will make it into the feature list. The artwork is a combination of refreshed art from Xeno Versus (1 & 2), unused art, and new creations made specifically for the game. Music is TBD.
It is still too early to estimate a release date. I'll post more details as we make progress.
It is a sequel to Xeno Sola. In Xeno Sola, you participated in the construction of the galaxy's first interplanetary space station, Star One. At the start of Xeno Versa, Star One has been destroyed. It is your job as the Captain to hunt down those responsible. But in order to do so, you must explore the galaxy and engage in intense starship battles.
The gameplay is light turn-based strategy. You can deploy up to three ships in any formation within the two lowest ranks of the battlefield. At any time you may recall or redeploy your ships. You may retreat if necessary. The AI is built upon a cranked-up version of the solid AI used in our chess games. It is definitely a challenge to play. There will be dozens of unique ships to use.
Currently the foundation is in place for the single player campaign. The exact scenarios and their order are in active development. Multiplayer is planned and partially working. I have yet to decide if online multiplayer will make it into the feature list. The artwork is a combination of refreshed art from Xeno Versus (1 & 2), unused art, and new creations made specifically for the game. Music is TBD.
It is still too early to estimate a release date. I'll post more details as we make progress.
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