Reporting on the games made in Canada and the creators behind them
The summer releases keep on coming, and now we have Planet Of The Eyes from Cococummber which launched on Steam today. You can check out the launch trailer below:
Launch discount available! http://store.steampowered.com/app/350970 Website : http://www.planetoftheeyes.com Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/cococucumberco
Make sure to check out the Steam page here, the game has a 20% discount right now as well so make sure to get it while it's hot! Planet Of The Eyes is also planned for Xbox One in 2016.
The Castle Game, which was recently released on PlayStation 4, is now trying to get voted onto Steam and developer Neptune Interactive needs your help.
The Castle Game is a 3D tower-defence game in which you take on waves of enemies, using archers, traps, magic and more to defeat them, I have even admitted my love for the game on our latest podcast. Check out the trailer below:
Vote on Greenlight: http://goo.gl/iepC4V Build your own Castle and defend the Kingdom in this medieval fantasy 3D tower defense game. Create impenetrable fortresses and elaborate mazes, and defend them with hidden traps, brave knights, sharp-eyed archers, long-ranged catapults, clever engineers, and more! Use your unbridled creativity to construct your perfect defense.
Make sure to vote for the game on Steam here, and help The Castle Game get approved. Neptune Interactive recently told me they were planning to release the game on PC, Xbox One, and Wii U.
PSN is currently having a Flash sale, where a bunch of games are under 8 dollars. Rogue Legacy from Cellar Door Games, and Guacamelee from DrinkBox Studios is part of the sale. The links below are to the PlayStation store.
You can check out the other games on the sale by heading to the PlayStation Blog.
With all the releases that are happening from Toronto Game Developers, it's no surprises that we have another one! Knight & Damsel from MK-Ultra Games will be releasing for Ouya and PC on August 20th. The game will launch for $9.99, but enjoy a two week 20% discount.
"It’s an “un-cooperative” couch multiplayer game that we hope is subversive fun, as two players compete to rescue the other on a papercraft stage, warping the fourth wall between the 2D screen and world space. It’s got four settings, a quick campaign mode and full customisable arcade mode—and with levels created from random selections of designed screens, every match is different. We see Knight & Damsel as a competitive twist on the Damsel in Distress trope, fun for all ages, and we hope you like it."
Knight & Damsel is a two-player "uncooperative" couch multiplayer game coming for OUYA and PC on Steam and Humble Store in 2015. Steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/361680 http://www.knightanddamsel.com http://mkultragames.com http://playouya.com
ake sure to follow MK-Ultra on Twitter, and pick up Knight & Damsel when it drops in a few days.
With the announcement today of Lovers From A Dangerous Spacetime being released September 9th, we figured it was a good time to have a summary news post to go over all the recent and upcoming releases, since there have been so many. So here they are! If I have missed one, make sure to let me know!
Released
N++ - PS4 - July 28th - Buy it here!
the Castle Game - PS4 - August 4th - Buy it here!
Actual Sunlight - PSVita - August 11th - But it here!
Upcoming
Gastrobots - iOS - August 20th
Knight & Damsel - Steam, Ouya - August 20th
Planet of the Eyes - PC - August 24th
Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients - PC - August 25th
Runbow - Wii U - August 27th
Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime - Xbox One/PC/Mac - September 9th - Preorder It Here!
Fate Tectonics - PC/Mac - September 9th
StarSeed - iOS - Mid-September
Lots of great stuff coming out of Toronto! Congratulations to all the developers, and stay tuned to TorontoGameDevs.com for the latest!
Developer Astroid Base has announced their multiplayer shooter Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime is set to release September 9th for Xbox One and PC. Check out the release trailer below!
Launching on Xbox One and Steam on September 9, 2015! Pre-order now at http://LoversInADangerousSpacetime.com Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a frantic 1- or 2-player couch co-op action game. Explore a colourful galaxy in a massive neon battleship that you control together by manning turrets, lasers, shields and thrusters.
"Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a frantic 1- or 2-player couch co-op action space shooter set in a massive neon battleship. Only through teamwork can you triumph over the evil forces of Anti-Love, rescue kidnapped space-bunnies, and avoid a vacuumy demise. Deep space is a dangerous place, but you don’t have to face it alone!"
Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime is the latest in a long line of recent releases or upcoming releases including Runbow, Fate Tectonics, and Planet of the Eyes. Looks like the Toronto game developer scene is alive and healthy :)
You can preorder the game on PC or Mac here, but make sure to pick it up on either Xbox One or PC when this drops September 9th.
Ayngaran Vamatheva from Neptune Interactive was kind enough to answer a few questions about their latest game the Castle Game, as well as developing games in Toronto. You can purchase Castle Game on PS4 right now in North America, and the game launches in Europe on August 19th.
TorontoGameDevs: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and Neptune Interactive? How big are you guys, where did you get your start?
Ayngaran: My name is Ayngaran Vamatheva, though I usually go by Seelan so most people know me by that. Neptune Interactive Inc. is my company which I started back in March 2009 after making the first game we ever released, called 7 Cities TD. It was a tower defense game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, back when there weren't too many of those. The cool thing about it was that it had RPG-like stats and experience levels, which were not found in any other tower defense games at the time. The game was featured by Apple and a lot of people seemed to really liked it. I developed the game with a couple of artist friends on the side, while working at a film production studio on a feature film as a software developer. I been wanting to develop and release games for a long time, with doing mods for Unreal, Starcraft, my own game engines, and even worked at triple A studios before the film gig. After the surprising success of 7 Cities TD, we released another game called Tap-Fu, again for iPhone, which was inspired Karateka. The cool thing about Tap-Fu was the gesture-based fighting using touch controls. I also developed and released few more mobile games, all of which were made on the side while I worked as a software developer at bigger firms. For a long time now, I been wanting to dive into making games full-time and finally had a chance to do so with the Castle Game. We partnered with Clapfoot Inc., another indie studio, got some funding from OMDC, and decided to go at it. There were 2 core folks on the development (myself and an artist). We brought in few more folks, all from the Toronto area, to help out with various parts of the game.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What's the elevator pitch for The Castle Game? What has you most excited about it?
The Castle Game has always been about building your castle and defending it. Now that can be understood in many ways, especially with the barrage of Clash of Clans clones out there. But it is at the core, a tower defense game with some unique elements. I've been a long-time fan of strategy and tower defense games, so I wanted to make something that is simple, fun to play, and throws a few curveballs. This idea of taking something and adding some unique elements has been my design philosophy for all my games. The most exciting part about the Castle Game is the many variety of ways to beat each level. All 15 levels are different in terms of layout and available defenses so each level can be beaten in different ways. From watching people play, streaming, YouTube videos, I have seen some interesting and sometimes really clever ways to beat the levels. This has been our goal from the start, to add in a Minecraft-like open playing style. I hope we get to see some more crazy and clever defensive setups in the future.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What made you decide to do The Castle Game as your first console game?
Yes it is our first console game from Neptune, though I do have some experience working on consoles before at other studios. While I respect the mobile gaming scene, I see console game development to be more focused and liberating at the same time. You really only need to worry about 2 or 3 similar hardware specs (if supporting multi-platform), and you can try to aim for higher quality than say mobile or PC with its variety of machines. And what I mean by liberating is that you can aim to put more into the game knowing that the console gamers expect more. Coming from a mobile background, it felt good to think that this game can sell for more than a dollar or doesn't have to be made free in hopes of ads or IAP revenue. So we felt that we should add more content and a higher level of polish than our previous games. Also personally, I felt that it would be a great challenge to take a genre that is typically easier to play on PC and mobile touch screens, and get it working well on a console with a gamepad. It was tough but I think we did a great job with the controls.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What made you decide to release on PS4?
Sony and the PS4. Amazing folks to work with. They been super helpful. Also I love developing for the PS4. This is coming from someone who has so far developed for an Xbox 1 (original), Xbox 360, iPod/iPhone/Android, PSP, and a Wii U. PS4 is my favorite console to develop for. Sony has done a great job of creating an awesome toolset and workflow.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Is a Wii U version still in the works? How is that coming along?
Yes it is. We've put a pause on it in order to get the PS4 version out. We'll probably get back to it to release for next year. It is a fun console, especially with the second screen. I'd love to take advantage of it for our game, but it is not as straightforward as it might seem.
Besides the Wii U, we are planning to release on Steam and Xbox One as well. Our hope is get on to these platforms within an year.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What were your motivations for The Castle Game? It looks pretty similar to Rampart, have you guys played it?
One of the motivations was to create another great tower defense game, as a spiritual successor to our first game. I really liked the open building of Minecraft and wanted a little bit of that in a tower defense game. Strategy games are my favourite type so it felt natural to create something in that space. Yes, Rampart has been one of the inspirations. The original idea for the Castle game had ships fighting against castles built on islands, very similar to Rampart. We changed it to be land-based instead as it opened up more possibilities for defense building and mazing, as well as enemy and defender designs.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What has it been like creating a game in Toronto? Was it difficult to find funding/talent/help? What's the game developer scene like in your view?
Toronto is probably one of the best places to be an indie developer. There are lots of talented folks around. Lots of support from the government through grants and tax credits. I think it will only get better over time. Though, I'd like to see a few more medium sized companies, just for stability and for newcomers to get experience from seniors and working on bigger titles. Trying to be an indie developer without experience at bigger studios can be very tough.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Any final thoughts you have or want to share with our readers?
Yes. What you're doing at Toronto Game Devs is great, and I hope you continue on with more success and support from developers and gamers in GTA. Neptune is pretty small and unknown, so having an outlet like this is great. Thanks.
A big thank you to Ayngaran for answering these questions during a busy time in their release of the Castle Game! You can download the game today on Playstation 4. Make sure to follow the developer on Twitter, and stay tuned to TorontoGameDevs.com for the latest!
Independent iOS developer Shane McCafferty has released a new trailer for his upcoming retro shoot'em up Star Seed. The game is also being published by Crescent Moon Games.
First trailer for the iPhone game Starseed.
Make sure to follow the developer on Twitter, and check out Shane's other games on iOS. The game is planned for release in mid-September. He's also available for game developing as a freelancer, so if you make sure to contact him!
The developer behind Pug Puncher announced they released the game on Game Jolt.
If you haven't tried out #PugPuncher yet, here's the link: http://t.co/nFDpICfPVZ Let us know what you think. #gamedev #indiedev
— Pug Puncher (@PugPuncher) August 17, 2015
"Pug Puncher is a fast paced, hilarious and hard hitting 2.5D action adventure. Pug Puncher is a fast paced brawler with a strong focus on combat and combos, with a light hearted and snappy narrative delivering nonstop one liners and tons of laid out pugs. As a brawler, the meat of the game will be combat oriented through melee combos and various weapon mechanics making up roughly eighty percent of game play."
Make sure to follow the developer on Twitter and let them know what you think of Pug Puncher!
Developer Allied Games released a trailer and launched a Steam Greenlight page for their upcoming RTS game Shadow Heroes. You can check out screenshots and trailer below:
"Discover the mystery of a broken land. Shadow Heroes is an online game where players from around the world compete in epic battles with hundreds of units using weapons, magic and tactics. Hire new units and customize their load-outs with items you have collected. Combine items together to make them stronger and give yourself an edge in combat. Can you find the enemy's weak spot and exploit it? Are you able to react accordingly to counter your opponent's strategy?"
Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498644779 Allied Games: http://www.alliedgames.co/ Shadow Heroes: http://www.shadowheroes.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlliedGamesInc.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/alliedgames IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/shadow-heroes-vengeance-in-flames
Make sure to check out the Steam Greenlight page here so you can vote, as well as the website for the game itself. We'll have more on the game as time goes on.
Developer Golden Gear Games and publisher Toy Temp have announced a release date for Fate Tectonics, their world building puzzel game where you have to keep the God-like Fates happy. You'll be able to download the game from Steam on September 9th 2015.
"Build up a world piece-by-piece using the power of the god-like Fates, while keeping them happy enough to avoid world-shattering temper tantrums!"
Features:
Coming to Steam on September 9th 2015 for PC/Mac Fate Tectonics is a world-building puzzle game that asks the player to carefully consider the placement of tiles, each lovingly rendered via pixels that are reminiscent of the 16-bit era.
Make sure to follow the developer and game on Twitter. You can check out the Steam page here, and mark sure to mark your calendar for September 9th!
The other night I found about Flat Thumb Interactive, a local developer who released Aerobatic on the iOS and Google Play Store. In the game you play as a bat, in a endless runner (flyer?) collecting power ups:
"Break your friend's records in the growing world of Aerobatic! Use unique powers to collect greens, avoid obstacles, and fly as far as you can!"
Aerobatic Launch Trailer! Available for free! Twitter Follow us @flatthumb iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/app/id926052300 Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flatthumb.aerobatic Website http://www.aerobatic.ca
You can download the game for free from Google here, and from iOS here. Make sure to also follow the studio on Twitter.
The first game I ever wrote about was Planet of the Eyes on tumblr. Back then the game was trying to get greenlight, now the game has a launch date and launch trailer.
You can download Planet of the Eyes on August 24th on Steam, make sure to check out their steam page here. There is also a brand spanking new launch trailer:
Planet of the Eyes is coming to Steam for PC on the 24th August 2015! http://store.steampowered.com/app/350970 Website : http://www.planetoftheeyes.com Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/cococucumberco
Make sure to follow the developer on Twitter, and stayed tuned to TorontoGameDevs.com for the latest on the game.
13AM Games is really killing it lately. They've announced some more indie characters in Runbow, as well as a release date for the game.
Moving right along, IGN released a video that details the hardest mode in Runbow, Bowhemouth, which is a gauntlet mode that must be beaten in one sitting.
Learn all about what makes the adorable, beautiful Runbow's new mode tick.
Runbow lunches on Wii U August 27th. Make sure to follow them on Twitter and stay tuned to TorontoGameDevs.com for the latest.
Drew Parker over at Mark Media was kind enough to answer a few questions about Mark Media and Shuyan the Kung Fu Princess. This interview was provided to our patreons early, and now available on the main site. Check it out below!
TorontoGameDevs.com: Tell me a little bit about yourself, and Mark Media. The history of the studio, when it was formed, how big are you guys? How long has Drew been in the video game/tech industry?
Drew: Mark Media started in 2009 originally as a TV animation company called Mark Animation. In 2011 we evolved into games, and in 2015 we now also do TV documentaries and films. We're currently at around 50+ people. We have two core gaming properties right now, Shuyan the Kung Fu Princess, which is targeted at the mid-core market, and Miaomiao, which is for preschoolers.
As for me, I started as a game programmer over 12 years ago, worked up to a Technical Director position at Mark Media, then transitioned to my current role as Creative Director on Shuyan the Kung Fu Princess.
TorontoGameDevs.com: What's it like to work for a tech company in Canada, specifically Toronto?
Drew: There is a lot of funding support and incentives for game and tech companies in Ontario, like from the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), so that is a huge benefit for companies working on digital properties.
And in Toronto there are all kinds of game companies, from Ubisoft to Phantom Compass, so being here is great for networking around games, both on the business and personal fronts.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Shuyan is a game about finding the essence of kung fu through self-restraint. What kind of challenges did this present while designing an action/fighting game?
Drew: A bunch. But one of the biggest challenges was trying to design a combat game that feels like a combat game, and yet isn't a combat game.
And what does that mean? The real essence of kung fu is to not fight. The Chinese character for kung fu literally means "to stop the fighting." With Shuyan we are trying to get to the essence of kung fu instead of the cliche. And while the cliche of smashing a room full of enemies is fun, and we still want that action and excitement, we want to hit that deeper meaning of finding self-restraint through kung fu training, and using your power to give mercy to others more often than destroy everything.
But the goal and mechanics of practically every single melee game, and even every combat game, is to obliterate the opponent with as much force as possible. So how do you make a combat game about not doing that?
So more specifically the design challenge becomes following enough genre conventions to give the right emotions and experience, but breaking enough conventions to provide a new and unique experience. And what's the unique experience we're going after? Feeling like a kung fu master who effortlessly flows around opponents deflecting their attacks, and spares them by throwing or disabling them instead of crushing them. So we have a system for that, the soft kung fu system.
But if you only flow around enemies and deflect attacks, that is pretty counter-intuitive for players based on every single game they've played. And it's the same with kung fu training, people start off thinking kung fu is only about fighting. So we discovered through playtesting that we actually have to have a hard kung fu system, lead with that to match player expectation, and then gradually introduce the soft kung fu mechanics - then people get it.
TorontoGameDevs.com: How does the gameplay design reflect this core idea? How do players respond to the philosophy?
Drew: The game design reflects the core idea of self-restraint and kung fu philosophy in a number of ways.
In the fighting system, you can choose at any time how much force you want to use -- how much to punish your opponents. And you choose between using hard kung fu, which has more explosive attacks and kicks, and the soft kung fu, which has more throws, arm locks, and deflective type movements.
In the narrative, when other characters take advantage of you or attack your self-interest, you decide how far to push the line when dealing with them. Also, the combat and narrative systems interact, so for some characters how much punishment you give them in the arena will affect how they respond in the narrative.
And finally, of course all characters remember how you treat them, so the smaller altercations start to add up.
So through all these systems, the player can choose how to express themselves and treat the other characters, while trying to achieve their goals. They choose whether to follow self-restraint or not. But the kung fu master is constantly teaching them this philosophy and way of life, and isn't always obvious or apparent how exactly to follow that philosophy, and that philosophy may even be in opposition to the player's self-interest and goals.
In terms of player response, we find players are very open to the concepts of kung fu philosophy, as long as we don't confuse players by not letting them punch people first. In other words, we let them get a bunch of enemy smashing out of their system first before we introduce the philosophy.
We find players are very interested in the unique premise of a "merciful" kung fu battle, and they enjoy the quick weaving back and forth of narrative and combat. But we're still building, testing and refining the broader strokes of the narrative with the kung fu progression as we try to nail the best experience possible.
TorontoGameDevs.com: The game utilizes manga/comic elements in the narrative. How important was crafting the story along with the gameplay, and who was the team that worked on the script?
Drew: The story is very important to the experience we want to create. The gameplay revolves around this idea of journeying towards being an authentic kung fu hero, which at its core includes absorbing and utilizing the kung fu philosophy through kung fu training.
But to be truly tested on whether the player chooses to follow that kung fu philosophy or not, they must be presented with a number of dilemmas and contexts which compel them to do otherwise.
Kung fu is actually a way of life -- when I took kung fu my teacher said even professional fighters spend less than 1% of their lives fighting, so you've got to get something else out of it -- which primarily is this philosophy. But then your understanding of that philosophy is tested in life's decisions, and so we have a branching narrative to test the player's understanding of the values at the center of kung fu.
We brought onto the team three amazing writers who worked on games such as Mass Effect 2, Batman: Arkham Aslyum, and Star Wars: The Old Republic to help us craft a powerful branching story to achieve these goals.
Our Senior Game Designer, who previously worked on the Thief series, met constantly with the writers. In a narrative game the story design, game design and level design are all very tightly linked. So the writers and designers work very closely together to ensure all the relevant game and story elements present were in sync and reinforcing each other.
TorontoGameDevs.com: Anything else you want to share about Shuyan? What has you most excited about the game? When can we expect it to come out? Where can gamers keep up to date with the game?
Of course for me everything about the game excites me! But I think I'm most excited about how the game is trying to capture an authentic kung fu spirit. How it features true kung fu movements, true kung fu philosophical teachings, and a true kung fu approach to dealing with aggression -- using something that can melt aggression... not fighting force with force, but something more powerful, which is empty, free of intention, and mysterious.
Kung Fu is closely tied to the Tao, and the founder of Taoism Lao Tzu said, "He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still."
So capturing the kung fu spirit in the game... that's what I'm most excited about.
In terms of release date, unfortunately I can't give any official word on that. But a good site to keep an eye out for updates on the game is here: http://www.gamerkungfu.com/
Thanks again to Drew for answering our questions, and Julia at Mark Media for setting everything up. We'll have more on Mark Media as time goes on, but keep in mind that they are hiring at the moment. Make sure to stay tuned to TorontoGameDevs.com for the latest on Mark Media and all other game developers in the Toronto area.
