Footage and testing

Well, I got that video done that I was talking about! Here you go.



I was going to start a new round of testing today, but then I got a bunch of feedback! If you're still waiting to test then I'm sorry, but it's going to be a few more days. On the bright side, you'll have a better version of the game to play.

Marketing Prep

Well, after a bit of a false start with the beta testing (bad installer) We're finally beta testing! They haven't given me any feedback yet, so I'm looking for other things to keep me occupied. For instance, gameplay footage! I was hoping to have a video for you guys to watch today, but I ended up finding out that the free version of Fraps puts a watermark and only allows 30 seconds of video at a time. So I bought it.I"ll have some videos next time :)


As for Siphon Spirit, since things are a little quiet while I wait for feedback I will probably jump back in there to add another 40-50 levels using the advanced spells.

Time for some beta!

Okay, so I've finally got everything together except for a good working installer. I'm just going to put the requirements in as a forced install rather than checking to see if you already have stuff installed. Sorry, I'll try to fix it in the next wave.

As for how the beta is going to work, I'm going to choose a few people to be the first wave, then fix things according to suggestions. Then I'll put out a new build for testing and add more people into the group. If you don't get the beta link right away don't worry, I will get to you. Unless of course we talked about getting you in the beta a while ago and I forgot to write it down. In which case, I am already sorry :(

Also, we had Indie Game Night last night! Jay at Rampant Games gave a nice little write up on March to the Moon which I'm going to copy below.

I ended up spending way too much time hogging up Curtis Mirci‘s March to the Moon game, which I’ve played and enjoyed before. It’s a goofy little action game with RPG elements, and I mean goofy. Programmer art, and completely over-the-top, and exactly the kind of fun I was looking for. Good ol-fashioned shoot-em-upiness with absolutely no taking of itself seriously.

It's true! I had to ask him to let someone else take a turn. He had a great suggestion that I'm going to implement. I was a bit surprised at how much people were laughing at the humor in the game. I was talking to someone about an idea they had to help indie developers get art, and I kept getting distracted when everyone around me would burst out laughing in reaction to what was happening in the game.

Well, I'd better finish that installer so I can finally let other people test this thing!

Making Progress!

Okay, so I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I saved a few hundred dollars. The bad news is that's what I was going to pay for the music. The problem is that the musician has gotten burned out and just can't seem to get back into it. This is something that I totally understand so I was equal parts wondering what I'm going to do for music and hoping that he'd be able to get through it. I didn't post yesterday because I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do.

And today, I managed to make a song. Not a long, complicated or beautiful song, but I think it will work for March to the Moon. With any luck I'll have a beta version ready for testing at the beginning of next week. If you're interested in beta testing March to the Moon but haven't talked to me about it yet send me an email (califer at califergames.com) and I'll get you something to test :)

As for Siphon Spirit, I cleaned up the loading screens and it looks much better now. There is also a stylus option to let those who play on tablets play the game. I also got Siphon Spirit to work well with an XBox controller, so I'm pretty darn happy with what I've got finished there.

But wait, there's more! I am also coding up the vertical slice (getting the most basic things to work) for our next joint game. It's going to be a fun and cute game that's good for having friends over. I hope to be able to show it at indie game night next week, but since I'm making music now I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough time to finish it up.

But wait some more, there's even more! In my spare time I've been working out details for the sequel to March to the Moon. I've been having a lot of fun with it. It carries directly on after the full story of March to the Moon. Note: beating MttM on Normal mode does NOT give you the full story. You get the rest of the story by beating the entire game. Anyways, back to the sequel to March to the Moon (which will not be titled March to the Moon 2). I've planned out the main character and all the outfits that you can unlock. I've also planning out all the enemies (though not all of their moves yet) as well as all the locations that you can visit.

Last of all, sorry for the late post. I was trying to figure out what was going to happen.

Finally better!

Wish it didn't take me an entire week to get better, but that's what happened. This morning I managed to clear out the issues with the controls and now I'm...well I'm still waiting for the audio before making the beta to be tested. Guess while I'm waiting I can do some art for xbox stuff, like the boxart and the jpg icon they want. There are also a few changes to Siphon Spirit that we want to add, such as fixing up the loading screens for the rest of the game. I also learned more about xbox controllers when writing up the controls scheme for March to the Moon so I'm going to take another crack at getting Siphon Spirit on the Xbox. I won't bother with a controller version for the PC because no matter what I do, the mouse is going to be the superior option for this game.

Lastly, I want to get Siphon Spirit to work with a stylus in full screen.

And as I neared the finish line...

By all rights, I should have the installer for the pre-demo done today. (Waiting on music before I make it the final demo.) Then I got sick and didn't do anything. Going back to bed now.

Take that, Alien Champion!

In my process of balancing things out I was regularly defeated by my own creations. The worst of the bunch was the Terror Mode Alien Champion. I ended up taking a break from balancing (for one day) and instead worked on fixing and adding a few things. The major thing that needed to be added was the ability to reallocate your points. I've had the complaint more than once that people really wanted to remove points from an ability that they didn't like too much, but I figured it would be fine. It's only a dollar game and there are 108 abilities and 96 levels. That's TONS for a $1 game, I feel. But in the end I caved in to the imagined annoyance from reviewers and gamers and put it in. I was going to take a screen shot of it, but the version on this computer doesn't have it yet. Instead here is a Paladin starting his journey.



I'm getting so close that I can taste it. I told a friend that I would have it ready for beta testing within three weeks. He let me know that that wasn't the first time he'd heard something like that from me and made me feel the shame. But I'm serious! Okay, so I was serious the other times too. Whatever. All I need to do is balance the last act of the last difficulty, clean some bugs, balance a few abilities and add button mapping support for PC builds.

Oh, and remember this game?



Peter's been working hard on the story. He says he's 60% of the way along now, and when he's done he's going to have one of his designer friends look it over and give advice. I can't wait until it's finished so I can start recording some demon voices! The image above is the new map screen. Active levels are animated. The skeletons walk and the demons loom menacingly. The two white skeletons are levels that have been beaten. They don't move around. And I cheated to get that screen. Levels that you haven't unlocked will appear as nodes to show what levels there are, but you won't know if it's a boss level coming up next or not. And we've decided that the LOADING... text was a pretty bad loading screen. Here's the new loading screen!