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[PTibz]

So I've been absent from TIGSource for a while and figured I should start keeping everyone informed through here as to how we're doing on Octodad 2 development. This is a better place to converse than the commenting section of our site and we could really use everyone's feedback on what we've been doing.

If you happened to miss out on what the original Octodad was you can see the trailer here:




You can also download the first game for FREE here:
http://www.octodadgame.com

We started Octodad 2 development back around May of 2011 and have been building up to production since then. There were a lot of bugs and problems with our old technology that we really didn't have the time to fix for the first game because we were trying to hit the IGF deadline for the Student Competition, but this time around we're all about polish/pzazz. We've been looking into making suspicion a much more integral part of the gameplay and also polishing the controls to a point where they still have their desired affect of being frustrating, but don't cause people to quit. We really want them to be something you can master.

More of a controlled chaos instead of just plain chaos is what we're really going for. We've also changed the look of the game to be a bit more cohesive while still trying to hold onto our zaniness. It's interesting because this is the first time we will have any sort of existing audience while creating a project. (No matter how small it may be.)

Old Octodad:


New Octodad:


I'll come back with some more tomorrow on what's actually going on right now. Here are some past articles that will get you up to speed (Chronological order down):

Launched our Kickstarter for Octodad 2 - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/07/11/kickstarter-and-all-things-young-horses/
Let loose some of the early Octodad concept art - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/07/17/once-upon-an-octodad/
Got an "Office" - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/08/01/what-indie-dreams-are-made-of/
Bonus Octodad 1 Levels and Successful Kickstarter - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/08/10/kickstarter-campaign-successful-new-version-of-octodad-1-with-bonus-levels-and-the-future/

Editor and Tech Fixes - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/09/03/we-can-rebuild-him-we-have-the-technology/
Fan Art! - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/09/07/oh-the-places-youll-blub/
Short Time Line of Octodad 1 Development - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/09/16/octodad-through-time/
Mac Release for New Levels and Game - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/09/18/octodad-with-2-new-levels-v1-5-for-mac-released-with-os-x-lion-support/

Fantastic Arcade Recap - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/09/30/fantastic-arcade-recap/
Lead Designer of Octodad 2 Kevin Zuhn Made Another Game ISTBAR - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/10/19/i-seem-to-be-a-rock-2/
Devon Paints - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/10/23/painting-miss-daisy/
We Went to MineCon - http://www.octodadgame.com/2011/11/28/the-post-minecon-post-octodad-2-in-the-wild/

Until next time,
<3 Phil

[Danmark]

How are you going to make this one appeal to existing fans of the game and nubs alike? Which audience is more important? To what extent is this a compromise?

[Player 3]

Oh dear, yet another devlog on a popular game? Someone's always bringing the user count higher and higher. Looking forward to this after the first Octodad.

[Derek]

Cool!

To be honest, though, I prefer the old octodad. The new one is a little too cutesy/ready-for-merchandising for my taste. I think the biggest problem is the eyes... the way the old eyes were positioned at the top of the head made him much more awkward/odd-looking (and therefore more interesting, not to mention fitting with the theme of the game).

The best example Andy and I came up with is the direction that Looney Tunes has gone, from



to



Another way I can put it is that the new octodad is too "self-aware", like "HEEEEEEY BOYS AND GIRLS, I'M OCTODAD, THE ZANIEST DAD AROUND!" Whereas the old one looks kinda spaced-out, which I thought was really funny.

The new rendering/modeling/coloring looks much better... just don't polish out the charm that made the original so great.

[jkd]

Octodad is the funniest game I've ever played. And the funny emerges from your game system, which I think is just awesome. I'm looking forward to this.

[KevinZ]

Hello all, I'm Kevin Zuhn from the Octodad team!

Phil plans to maintain a majority of the responses, but he asked me to help out on matters of art, character, and story. (Ideally we'd have Chris, our lead artist in here, too).

Derek,

I understand your point about the old vs. new Octodad models, and it's true that he loses some of his zoned-out oddball look. But the old dad lacks expressive range, and we want Octodad to be more multidimensional than 'awkward octopus in a suit'. At the same time the brighter, more colorful art style of the game is really incongruous with a dim and somewhat creepy dad.

Anyway, still images don't do new dad justice (and I think his pose may be related to the inflated sense of zaniness). In motion, he's ten times the wobbling limbs and big, staring eyes that the old dad is.

And honestly, we all know that wasn't the worst turn in Looney Tunes character design...

[moi]

it all comes from the eyes. The new one almost has pixar eyes

[Derek]

Hey, Kevin!

Well, bringing up Loonatics is a grievous insult worthy of a knife duel, so I didn't want to go there. The new octodad isn't bad at all, either - on a technical level it's much improved, and it's not like you gave him eyebrows or made him do the "Dreamworks Face". I guess I just prefer "dim and somewhat creepy" octopus dad to "light-hearted and zany" octopus dad. The latter strikes me as more typical of children's cartoons (especially the newer ones, which I like less).

Anyway, I couldn't help doing a quick edit on it, just to see what it looks like:



I prefer that, and I don't feel like it limits his freedom of expression. But then again, it's a single concept image and I think I've said enough about it without seeing more.

[Derek]

P.S. I know exactly what it's like to do a "professional" version of a game people already enjoy and have grown accustomed to, and realize what a difficult balancing act it is.

EDIT: That pun was unintentional.

[HernanZh]

From the perspective of someone who hasnt played octodad before, the new one looks completely fine to me.

[jotapeh]

I see what Derek's saying. The oval eyes do look very "whoa zany".

I never got to play Octodad 1 but I went in for the kickstarter of 2 and I'm excited to see what evolves

[J. R. Hill]

Ok the lighting, colors, rendering, etc. on the new octodad is perfect.  Although I was wondering why the name for the game?  If I remember right, he only had two kids.  Anyway, he is looking as normal and dad-like as ever.  Can't wait to see what you guys show off next!

[PTibz]

How are you going to make this one appeal to existing fans of the game and nubs alike? Which audience is more important? To what extent is this a compromise?

We spent a lot of our initial time trying to figure out exactly what it was that people enjoyed about the first game and what the things that were holding the game back were. A lot of what we came to realize is that we needed to lower the barrier of entry so that players could focus mostly on wrangling the controls of the game to their will instead of having issues with feedback, bugs, and poorly designed challenges. What I mean by this is that there were a good amount of bugs both through design and tech that sometimes held people back from really having fun the way we might have wanted them to. Most of this comes from only having about 3 months of production to hit our IGF deadline, but we're also getting better at what we do every day by talking to players and other developers.

Frustration is a big part of the game, but we also only want it to be frustrating when it's intentional. In Octodad 1 a lot of his movements were chaotic like we wanted, but they were also completely unpredictable as far as knowing if he would get stuck in a wall or something like that. We spent tons of time at the beginning trying to get rid of any show stopping or annoying bugs that tended to push people over the line of what they could stand. Our goal is to have people ride the line between frustration and fun. I guess that kind of describes game development in general, but our oomph comes from people loving Octodad himself even though he's purposefully difficult to control.

This time around we've smoothed things out a bit to make his movement slightly more predictable. We've been doing A HUGE amount of testing as far as this goes with players of the first game to make sure that we aren't getting rid of the feeling they got playing Octodad 1 and I think we're really close to hitting the mark as far as Octodad himself goes.

We don't consider one audience more important than the other, but we are definitely trying to pull new players in. Making it easier for people to put up with and focus on the core of the game is a big goal. There were times in the first game where we would be watching someone play and an important item would end up somehow falling through the floor. This alone would generally cause someone to quit the game and not bother picking it up again. We're trying to create a more enjoyable experience for all players, but once you get past the tutorial level the difficulty will definitely begin to ramp up further than it did even in the first game.

I personally think that a big part of the reason people had such a hard time with the first game, besides what I've already mentioned, is that we did a poor job of teaching players how to play the game. Our tutorial for the first game was a bit of a joke and so we've put focus this time around in making the tutorial a big priority. Teaching players the movements they'll need to play the game one by one and not letting them get by unless they actually succeed in doing so has really helped new players get up to speed before reaching such daunting tasks as PUTTING ON YOUR TIE. We're also trying to give more feedback to your movements so you know exactly which foot your currently controlling and you know what direction you're lowering/raising the arm. In the same way that the team meat guys give you no reason to blame anyone but yourself for failing in SMB we want to do just that for Octodad. Our game just has a lot more to do with believing you ARE Octodad and that's the reason you move the way you do.

Thanks for the really good questions Veracity. Trying to get some screenshots together soon for what I mean by feedback, but I have to head off to my day job soon.

[PTibz]

By the way thank you everyone for all the kind words of encouragement! Feel free to keep the questions coming. Derek I'm really glad you were willing to come out against us on some things because those are the kinds of things we need to hear/consider! Thanks.   

[PTibz]

Ok the lighting, colors, rendering, etc. on the new octodad is perfect.  Although I was wondering why the name for the game?  If I remember right, he only had two kids.  Anyway, he is looking as normal and dad-like as ever.  Can't wait to see what you guys show off next!

Yeah Octodad only has two kids Tommy and Stacy. Octodad 2 is actually NOT the final name of the new game. We're in the process of figuring out what we want the actual name to be right now. We're shooting to have a final name in a few months at the latest and that's when we'll hopefully release the first real teaser'ish trailer.

[McMutton]

Although I was wondering why the name for the game?  If I remember right, he only had two kids.

I bet it's because he's a dad. Who's an octopus.

[PTibz]

Although I was wondering why the name for the game?  If I remember right, he only had two kids.

I bet it's because he's a dad. Who's an octopus.

I think J. R. Hill was trying to make a joke about him having two kids instead of eight. I didn't get it at first either.

[Inanimate]

Although I was wondering why the name for the game?  If I remember right, he only had two kids.

I bet it's because he's a dad. Who's an octopus.

Wait... he's an OCTOPUS?

Holy crap!

[Netsu]

No way! He has a normal family, a house and a job, he can't be an octopus.

[Ashkin]

An octopus? That's silly, what kind of octopus has that awesome fashion sense?