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[SunnyKatt]

click to view not cut off!


It costs 7.99 USD. Thanks to all those that support me!  



//topic before I edited it.
You guys are probably thinking "geez, why did this guy not make a devlog until now, when he's 80% done!". Granted, I should have really announced this here sometime before now, but... I didn't.

It's been in progress for about a year now.

I plan on selling it in May; wish me luck! Feel free to ask any questions; I love you guys.  

So, what's it about?

It's a procedurally generated ACTIONFEST.

To describe what I mean, I have an image:



...and a VIDEO.

Trailer:



Screenshots: (click the links to view them not-cut-off.

http://sunnykatt.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/december_updates_screens-1.png


http://sunnykatt.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/december_updates_screens-2.png


http://sunnykatt.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/december_updates_screens-7.png


So... what do you do?
Each round of the game you are sent out to venture into the procedurally generated caves below to destroy all of the phantom crystals. After they are all destroyed, you win! The problem is that the crystals slowly grow and multiply over time and they are creating phantoms the entire time. These phantoms lead attacks on your base on the surface and (obviously) try to kill you along the way. You can buy and upgrade units to take with you or to have guard your base, and unlock new weapons and other upgrades during rounds to help you out.

Anyhow; all I need to do before the game is completed is the campaign mode. The campaign mode is going to basically be a map and interface that you travel between battles with; upgrading units and items along the way. Like everything I make, this map will be procedurally generated. (you can never have enough of that...)

This game is the work of a one man team; I did all the programming, graphics, art (not to be confused with the graphics of the game; this included logos and promo materials), sound effects, design, marketing and PR (this!), and website (even though it's just a modified wordpress theme). The only thing I didn't do was the music, I have a separate guy I go to for that; my music abilities are rather... nonexistent. I wanted to challenge my game development skills and so I made this game. Most of you haven't heard of me before; this is both because my previous work wasn't very good and that I have stayed pretty quiet in the past.

Anyway I've been reading that I'm supposed to start up this whole marketing ramp thing 3 months or so before the release of the game; which is around now! So if you own or write for an indie game blog at all, please please contact me (post here, PM, email([email protected])) and I'll see about getting you a special preview build if you want one.

I'm going off to college next year (technically this year); and I really hope I can use the funds earned from this to buy me food! Thanks for your time guys, respond away! :D

I'll post updates to the development process here too, tell me what you think!*

*yeah, I know "medal" is spelled wrong in the trailer. It's fixed now (in the game).

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: sunnykatt.com

[Bones]

I remember seeing the gameplay video for this a few months ago on youtube.
It looked fairly awesome shiny explosions.

Also love when you have to go back to retrieve your body with like four other turret robots.

Lovely presentation in a nice smooth yet still minimalistic style.
Best of luck in sales.

[Inanimate]

Oh my god this game is absolutely gorgeous and it's a near one-man team I ENVY YOU SO HARD

[Jared C]

This looks awesome, Sunnkatt!
The colors and effects all work really well.  There is so much cool atmosphere going on here.  Best of luck with this. 

[PsySal]

I fourth this, looks awesome! I love that the character(s)? seem to move really fast, just such a great style. You should drop an email to the indiegames blog (and other similar websites) with your trailer if you haven't already..

[saint11]

Great effects and lights! It's really beautiful!
When will we have a playable demo? :D

[SunnyKatt]

Thanks so much everyone for the kind words. I've put a heck of a lot of work into it.  

@ PsySal -

I will be sending out videos/emails to various gaming blogs soon when I have the time. It would be really awesome if I got a feature on a major blog.


@saint11 -

Too much of the content is dynamic to really make an effective demo. Either I end up giving too much or too little content away; so I don't think there will be a demo. Instead there will just be the full game to buy; but hopefully it won't be over $10.00.


-Sk

[BlueSweatshirt]

You could always create a single level for a demo.

That is, generate one beforehand, hard code it into the game, and distribute that as the demo.

[SunnyKatt]

The tutorial level is hard-coded, but I know what you're saying. My only concern is that the procedural generation is so important to the gameplay that when people play the demo they might miss the point of the game.

[SunnyKatt]

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP FEATURED ON INDIEGAMES.COM: http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2011/01/trailer_koya_rift_sunnykatt.html

THIS DAY IS SO, SO GOOD. 

[Konidias]

My comments are pretty much the same that were posted on indiegames.com. (that the effects are so huge they are covering all of the play area to where you can't see what you're shooting at anymore)

But you commented that it's a screen resolution thing... which I guess that's understandable... But it's probably not good to be showing the game in a state that people aren't going to see it in when they play. (the giant flashy explosion graphics that cover the screen)

It's looking really fun though. I hope the procedurally generated content doesn't mean that the level(s) feels dis-conjoined.

[BlueSweatshirt]

The tutorial level is hard-coded, but I know what you're saying. My only concern is that the procedural generation is so important to the gameplay that when people play the demo they might miss the point of the game.

Well,
think of it this way:
The things that your generator CREATES is what is important about the game right?

So if you give them one set of things your generator creates, people will get a taste of it.

[SunnyKatt]

@Jakman - That does sound like a good idea... hmmm....

@Konidias -
The crazy explosion effects you were referring to are only one type of weapon, that has an area-of-effect fire explosion (hence the massive obnoxious flash!). The effects of the other weapons are much more mild, and they are zoomed farther out (like I said, and you just mentioned now). But I get what you are saying; believe it or not this is the toned down version of what I had testers play a few months ago; they said the same thing (and looking back I agree I was a bit too wild with the effects and particles then). According to them it is just right now; but if I do end up making a demo using the methods said by Jakman4242, hopefully you will be able to see what I mean.
But I think you make very valid points - in the settings.ini that comes in the game directory you can modify the zoom ratio of the screen (so you can zoom it out more and see more stuff) and also the shakiness of the view if it is too intense for you, so hopefully those will help that think it's a little crazy.

I really should have zoomed the video out more so it appeared more normal; but at the time I made it I wanted the 720p size to have a 1:1 aspect to the gameplay. But inside of the video dimensions this is too small, but it's too late to change now!

[SunnyKatt]

Publicity updates:

INTERVIEW with wormintheworks.com: http://blog.wormintheworks.com/#post112

GameMaker Blog article: http://gamemakerblog.com/2011/01/27/upcoming-game-koya-rift/

[Pocketninja]

Wow man I am in love with the concept. I really do hope it delivers this wonderful promise =]

I can't wait!

[SunnyKatt]

@Pocketninja - Thanks, I liked your write up.

Yesterday I started working on a map generation algorithm for the campaign. I didn't want it to look too earth-like, and I wanted it to end up stylized looking. Here is the sample output so far for one run:


This is going to be drawn with an additive blend mode and mapped over a gradient to give it more of a glassy look (hopefully) and then the notable locations and notes will be drawn on top of that.

This is also one of the only times I chose recursion over iteration in an algorithm!

Campaign file system structuring and saving / loading are for today.
-Sk

[SunnyKatt]

Getting closer... just have to do the boss and a few story things here and there, some translations, and then the business junk required to sell the thing. Exciting times!

[sporling]

I can't wait to get my hands on this!

[SunnyKatt]

Thanks for the support man!

Basically all that has be done yet is the translations and a bunch of marketing materials. Random new screenshot!

[SunnyKatt]

Alright, all ready to release May 24. It's a shame I didn't take the time to market it better.

New Trailer!



May 24 sale announcement: http://sunnykatt.com/2011/05/18/koya-rift-gets-release-date-new-trailer/

Mark your calenders please and support me. I love you guys.