Hi there My last game BlibBlob has been submitted to the store. It was only a 7 day challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed sharing its progress and getting feedback. For my next game, I will not challenge myself to a time limit, but I will update my progress regularly. Here are a couple of screenshots so far: It will be a turn based strategy game. I am a big fan of this type of game. My favourite game of all time is Laser Squad. I played it when I was young, on Specturm and Amiga. I also really love games like Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, but they are just so sluggish. For this game I hope to make a snappy controls so that player turns are fast and fluid. There will be teams of different types of monsters. Here is the start of the zombie team. I know the store is saturated with zombie games, but a) I just can't help loving zombies, and b) zombies will just be a part of the game. Other teams might be werewolves, vampires, lovecraftian fishy things, etc. I am really not sure how it will turn out. It's just prototyping time. I have always had compliments on my speed of development (at least in the beginning when programming is fun ). I hope I can make good progress with this one too. I am always happy to recieve criticism, suggestions, ideas. If you are interested in playtesting when the time comes, perhaps you would like to look at this thread. Thanks for reading
Update: My wife asked me why there was no blood and no eyeballs hanging out. *GASP* GIVE ME A CHANCE WOMAN!
I thought people might like to see my articulated character tool in action. It is very rough, and the interface is awful, but it gets the job done.
Those zombies are are risk of looking too casual cute alienating possible audience. I'd advise for going towards something darker and more mature.
This is a good point and one I want to discuss. I will of course make the zombie look more zombieish But just how dark do you think a game like this should go? What is good level to aim at? I guess I am asking the age old question "mass appeal vs. niche" What is your opinion?
I'd advise being as detailed as possible with graphics; maybe it's more a question of specifics rather than tone. For turn based strategy games I think you're already shooting at a niche market attracted to more thoughtful and difficult material (the genre is not for short attention span twitch button pushers). Jelly Bean Quest is an example of a TBS game that tried generic cutesy graphics and in my opinion suffered for it. Other games like Hunters: Episode 1, Tactical Soldier: Undead Rising, and Knighturn have been darker in tone and I feel have lead to a more immersive environment. Character development and heroes alone are part of what makes Highborn humorous and shining. With zombies detailed graphics and specific details mean a darker more graphic tone (a la Resident Evil). However, consider the devil's advocate point that Zombieville has cutesy styled zombies and has been successful (but I'd argue with torn jackets and creepy blank eyes they remain menacing and detailed). Great Little War Game is probably the most notorious TBS on the App Store at this point with "930,000 addicted players" so TBS games can be successful. GLWG does have some cutesy graphics but the key in this case is attention to detail. Additionally Trouble in Tin Town has a casual toybox theme but the amount of character development and specificity along with referential humor is important in it's success.
Thanks for the detailed input. You make some good points. I really want to play Hunters, but I can't with my ipod touch I will do an overhaul of graphics at some point, and I think I will go for a much darker style, but not particularly realistic. I do like zombieville visuals. Does anyone else have an opinion on this topic?
Great Little War Game just seems to get more review coverage and downloads among turn based strategy games; in my opinion.
Yeah, GLWG had lots of publicity when released! It has a ton of downloads! But, I agree with what undeadcow said about the graphics. I would go towards something along the lines of Zombieville/Tactical Soldier/Hunters-ish graphics mixed into one. Well not really Hunters as that game is really high polished because some of the people from EA worked on Hunters... But the dark mood and graphics of Tactical Soldier and Hunters is what could make this game more interesting!
