Today Marco Martinez of GameSpot did a playthrough of my Axiom Verge IndieCade/DreamBuildPlay build. If you're on my Twitter (@AxiomVerge) you may have been there, but if not, the whole thing is recorded on Twitch. If you want to see over a half hour of play time in a genuine, non-trailer format, follow the link!
For the past month I've been getting Axiom Verge ready for Dream Build Play (or Dream.Build.Play as Microsoft wants us to call it), and for the month before that I was getting it ready for IndieCade. So FINALLY I get to work on something other than making it all super polished for the judges. It's like I've finished final exams or something (appropriate for this time of year!)
I'm not sure where I want to focus next. More areas? The automap screen? The dialogue feed? More expressions for the character portraits? The sense of freedom is exhilerating.
And now I can play other video games without feeling guilty. Analogue: A Hate Story and Xenoblade Chronicles, I'm looking at you!
Evidently players aren't that excited about images or video of UI -they just assume it's there, somewhere, and that it works. They don't really care much about it beyond that. So my feelings won't be hurt if this post isn't that interesting to you.
But us developers can't get enough of UI - which you've probably noticed if you've ever watched a game trailer put together by a dev. We love a good menu screen with text justification and tiled window borders and stuff. So this goes out to all those UI-loving devs out there: The Axiom Verge save game load screen! This is an actual in-game screenshot of actual saves from me playing!
(The middle one was saved before I'd implemented the elapsed play time feature, hence all the 0's).
Yep, it's up to this guy to save the day.
I'm admittedly somewhat trepidatious when it comes to the story of Axiom Verge. You see, as anyone who's played video games is aware, game designers love embellishing their interactive entertainment with weighty dialogue - even when they're not especially good at it, or when it's not appropriate for the particular game. Oftentimes, both. How am I to know I'm not one of them?
If you still haven't been to IndieGamerChick.com, you ought to check it out - provided you can handle a little (OK, a lot of) sarcasm. She specializes in some of the most hilarious scathings I've ever read. Seriously, she makes Jim Sterling of Destructoid look like Mother Theresa.
Anyway, she included Axiom Verge in her latest trailer roundup, Indies in Due Time:
http://indiegamerchick.com/2012/05/19/indies-in-due-time-may-19-2012-i-love-the-polish-edition/
And, impossibly, she liked it:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the greatest Xbox Live Indie Game trailer of all time.
I'm almost disappointed; I mean, I was kind of looking forward to reading about how far up my ass my head was, in meters, or about how the game reminded her of something she saw at a porta-potty, but, I'll take what I can get.
Because, you know, she'll eventually play the finished game, and those are never as good as the trailers ;-)
My work boss, Greg Hjelstrom, and his 13 year-old son, Brandon, are featured in Popular Mechanics for their Kinect-enabled robot:
Greg and Brandon are also indie develoeprs for XBLIG, Windows Phone, and iPhone: http://berzerkergames.com/
I owe Greg a big thanks for lending me the code to his sprite sheet packer - which I promptly dismantled and re-assembled into a complete sprite layout tool, for my own evil ends. I hope to repay him with my Anime Studio exporter.
Daav Valentaten of Gamesta did a nice Preview of Axiom Verge:
http://www.gamesta.com/axiom-verge-brings-the-classic-metroidvania/
The man is currently creating oldschool gold with Axiom Verge; a Metroidvania game straight out of the 16bit era. He’s singlehandedly creating this title that just screams nostalgia; complete with gritty, obscure graphics and tons of exploration.
I also like this one:
there’s also a slight connotation with bizarre title Mystic Defender on Mega Drive
Anyone remember that game? It was one of the earliest releases, possibly a launch title. I always like the destruction effect for the creatures, a kind of glowing orb of incineration that goes left to right with the direction of your attack. Some of the explosions in Orn were based off of that effect.
So I've begun work on my IndieCade / Dream Build Play build in earnest. I've found that the one thing major game magazines want when they contact you is a playable build: this will also be their build. Of course, I am nervous to show such an early version of it - there's one major mechanic in particular, a Secret Feature, if you will - that isn't implemented yet, but which is so . . . awesome? . . . that I'm afraid that without it, Axiom Verge could be received as "just another retro game".
I won't have the Secret Feature ready in three weeks. But I'm moving it forward in my schedule so that I can show it sooner than later. And at some point - before or after, I'm not sure - a Kickstarter page will appear.
Axiom Verge will be made with or without Kickstarter contributions, but with them, it could be made much faster.
So, the Plan:
In other news, my bud Max and I just went on a good hike with my friend Mike Amerson and his dog, Zeus. We have the same dream of being able to create something that people will want because it's intrinsically good, and not because of trickery or dishonest manipulation. The end result? We can spend more time with our dogs. So here's a shout out to him, his dogs, and his own mobile indie games, My Virtual Girlfriend and My Virtual Boyfriend, which will not drain your wallet. And lucky guy that he is, his wife is also a game developer; she recently released Persian Recipies, featuring the titular delicious dishes of the middle east.
And now I'm back to work. This is a good thing!
-Tom
I was on both in the past couple of days.
Throughout the trailer, the gameplay reminded us of multiple old-school games, such as Contra, Metroid, and Castlevania, but with an updated flare.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/axiom-verge/1223427p1.html
As far as I'm concerned, 2013 can't get here fast enough.
I adore the art direction here, which calls to mind Life Force and R-Type while very clearly drawing a ton of inspiration from Metroid. Also listed as an inspiration is one of my favorite games ever, Rygar, so Happ is clearly speaking my language.
his is the Axiom Verge site description. Hooray!
Copyright 2014 Thomas Happ Games LLC
