It’s been very quiet on this blog for a long time. We’re getting ready to change that.

Pre-Development has begun for this upcoming PC title. The guys and I have been hammering out concepts and writing the story and events for this game. It is looking awesome at the moment and it something that we really believe that market will enjoy.

I’m not to to spill too many details as of yet, that will slowly surface. We are code naming this new piece “Project Silver Otter” as in, “it has absolutely nothing to do with that but we need something to call it for the mean time.”

This project will be utilizing the Unreal Development Kit to bring it to life. I’ve been already knocking out some of the block out for the levels and have begun developing assets to populate the world. Game mechanics and play style are currently being programmed. The writing is coming in massive chunks. The proof of concept has already been built. We are moving at a great pace thats for sure.

I wish I could show you all some of the awesome concept, models and levels that are being developed at the moment but that will have to wait a bit.

More info on this soon. Sorry no screenshot in this post.

Jarlan

Through a freak accident, an evil scientist’s littlest robot minions have been given free will and are now seeking freedom one Smini at a time. Help the Sminis navigate the evil scientist’s facilities without letting too many of them get crushed, sliced, destroyed by one of the evil scientist’s guardian robots or any of the obstacles standing in your way. Sminis is a timing and skill based game that pits you and your reflexes against carefully crafted levels full of obstacles and potential Smini destruction. Stylistic 3D environments using the Unreal Engine make each level a visual treat and allow for added depth and required strategy for each of Sminis levels. Get as many Sminis as you can to the exit on each stage to move forward and get the Sminis one step closer to freedom!

The game is a reflex and timing based action/puzzler that requires the player to press a single button that controls every Smini on the field, either stopping or moving them depending on whether or not they are currently in motion, forcing the player to pay attention to timing and level layouts in order to successfully progress throughout the game. We used the Unreal engine for Sminis and have sought to use a very unique style of visuals and gameplay, compared to most of the titles we have seen in the market, that would hopefully be received well by the gaming community.

Sminis is launching on the iPhone/iPod and iPad with 3 Zones and 30 intricate and visually appealing levels with 3 difficulty modes each. A stylish boss waits at the end of each zone to cap off the experience and add a little more uniqueness to the multi-level puzzler formula. There are secret helmets hidden throughout all 30 levels that players with a keen eye will be able to tap and pick up along the way, adding a fun cosmetic enhancement to the experience. We have an achievement system set up to increase replay value and we are already in planning for the creation of even more level packs for near future release.

Features:

★ Sminis uses the world renowned Unreal 3 Engine to bring you stunning visual effects and stylistic 3d levels!

★ Intense reflex-based puzzler, puts your multi-tasking skills to the test!

★ 30 intricate and visually appealing levels with 3 Difficulty Modes each!

★ Collect Secret Helmets!

★ Game Center Achievements!

-Important-

Sminis works with the following devices: iPhone 4 and 4S, iPod Touch 4, iPad and iPad2.

iTunes Link – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sminis/id495977005?ls=1&mt=8

The most important part of a game? In my opinion no. A great game comes with a nice balance of intuitive gameplay, fun levels, good visuals, and challenge. In the end the main reason we play games is to have fun, right? Now with SMINIS we had our fair share of challenges throughout the creation process. Being in charge of the environments I had to make sure that they portrayed the look and feel that the team decided on, a feel that just screamed SMINI!

Modeling & Texturing

The modeling and texturing for this game was a fun process because the style that was picked allowed us to be very creative though all the areas of the SMINI world. Each Zone is a new and unique location in this evil scientist’s fortress. Every area brings something new to player and this can really be seen as the game progresses. The further you go into the game the more it unravels and the more dangerous is gets. The first Zone we have is “The Dumps.” The poor SMINIS are forced to work in bad conditions for their evil master, pushing and hauling piles of junk and garbage to different areas. Not only that, there are tons of hazards that can easily crush, slice, and smash the little guys.

As you go through this zone you’ll see that it has a bit more of the darker theme in the game where light is low and hazards are very high. Now combine that with our one button play style and you’ve got yourself a pretty challenging situation on your hands. Challenging and fun.

Getting the textures right for the game was a great and fun challenge for me. The style is a somewhat of a comic/toon style but everything that shows up on the screen is made up of 3d geometry and not 2d images. The texturing had to fit this scenario to look good.

Lighting

This was probably the biggest challenge I faced during the creation of this game and was tweaked up until the very end. Lighting for mobile game is nothing like lighting for PC and Console games. Most of this is because of obvious hardware differences.

Each zone has its own unique lighting setup and colors to push the differences in the location where they are. We really wanted some items in the game to glow, glow is an element that the engine we were using ( and most for that matter) does not support for mobile platforms. We still wanted them in there so I came up with a way to somewhat fake them in and get the effect we wanted

Below are three images of levels, each from a different Zone in the game. I strongly believe that as a team we were able to come together to make a game that players will visually enjoy as well as challenge themselves all while having a great time saving these little guys.

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

One of the main unsung heroes of game design, GUI and Layout Design. Flashy? No. Glamorous? Not really. Important? I have found that to be an obvious and resounding yes. Over the course of Sminis I have learned that one of the main elements that really gives a video game that extra polish needed to look truly professional is the GUI. If everything in a game doesn’t truly come off as a polished cohesive unit it becomes noticeable instantly, this certainly includes the GUI.

Mobile games are especially tricky because a lot of the rules that apply to GUI in traditional console and PC gaming just don’t fit into a small hand held device. One of the main problems with working with something like the iPhone is simply the lack of real-estate, you have to keep the menus and controls simple enough that you don’t need many buttons. One of the first things you really have to do when designing an iPhone game is figure out how the controls work. Grabbing a random touch screen phone and placing it in your hands and pretending to control the game is a great way to try and get a feel for what will work well for your game. In terms of cluttering the screen with buttons the GTA 3 port to the iPhone -barely- manages to pull off having around 12 elements on the screen at one time, higher resolution displays help make this possible clearly, that is a ridiculous amount of elements but it is  fantastically impressive that it seems to work… mostly.

There have been tons of iPhone games up until now and most of them have, lucky for us, done a lot of the research and testing already. I’m not saying one should completely bite off of another game, but using them as reference materials for developing menu systems and an effective layout can save you a lot of time. The other reason why looking into other games menu systems and buttons will help is because if one of the future players of our game has already played something like Cut The Rope or Angry Birds a million times then they already know what happens when they press a button with an arrow on it facing right, or when they hit a button that has three dashes with dots in front of them, there is no need to explain in any kind of tutorial and that helps the player understand and get to the game faster.

Another factor that will greatly impact the type of buttons and layout of them in an iPhone game is obviously the type of game. For games that use mostly touch controls such as Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds one doesn’t need to create any actual “action” buttons. Doodle Jump simply has you tilting the screen to control the game, and  many racing games have similar controls, with Sminis we created gameplay that only required one button which made things fairly simple in that regard (and also happens to be one of the staples to our entire game play mechanic). The placement of our main action button had to be toyed with a little to where it felt just right but over all that was probably the easiest part.

The main menu screen is generally made with the thought of “get the gamer to the game as fast as possible”. In an age where mobile gaming is becoming so ridiculously popular so quickly, people are evolving their expectations of a game just as quickly. What this type of evolution means is that every popular game that has come out prior to our game has now set the bar in terms of the ease of letting the gamer pop open the app, play a level or two, and tuck it back away in between conversations or any day-to-day chore or activity. Attention spans for these types of game are limited in my experience and the GUI has to help make the action happen faster.

Keeping in mind the basic color coordination and using graphics to effectively demonstrate intent of use are another entire section or two that could be discussed, but I’m gonna leave it at that for now.

In summation… The GUI is important, do not leave it to till the last minute, the design of it can greatly affect many elements of game play and style in a game.

A lot of exciting things are happening here over at Angry Rock Studios. We’re working hard day and night polishing up Project SMINIS and getting it ready for launch. Hmm but WHEN is SMINIS launching you say? We will be launching SMINIS on [highlighted]March 1st[/highlighted]. Yep just a few weeks away. Are you guys ready? We sure hope so.

The sminis will be counting on you to help them attain their freedom from the evil clutches of the mad scientist

We will be constantly updating as usual with new goodies on the game so make sure to be on the look out for that.

Jarlan

We have a couple new screenshots here for you all. We’ve done a bit of re lighting on some of the levels.

The first screen features one our bosses smashing away at the poor sminis. The smini is also running around with one of the hidden helmets that can be found and equipped throughout the game.

The second shot is from a fun little level in the game where you are navigating your sminis from a top down angle to get them all to safety.

And last but not least is a progress shot of some helmets that you will be able to locate throughout the game. We’ll have a more finalized look very soon for you guys but we wanted to give you all a sneak peak.

Also be on the lookout for a new demo video that we will most likely be releasing within the next day. This video will feature some levels with their new and improved lighting as well a look at one of the evil smini smashing bosses.

Til next time,

Jarlan

As promised we put together a small trailer for you all to check out. The trailer shows a few things that you can expect from our upcoming title Sminis.

Help the Sminis navigate the evil scientist’s facilities without letting too many of them get crushed, sliced, or destroyed by one of the evil scientist’s guardian robots or any of the obstacles standing in your way.

I won’t keep you all waiting. Let us know what you think

Jarlan

We’ve been doing some great work and I’m sure you all will not be disappointed.

First off I went ahead and redid the site to have things a lot more organized and clean. It’s much easier to use and navigate. Make sure to check it all out and let us know what you think of all the changes.

Anyways we’ll update a bit more very soon.

Jarlan

Hi! It’s been a while since my last posting but there has been good reason for that, we have been heavily entrenched in the production of what will be our first released game, Sminis. We decided based on what our schedule would have looked like completing a game like Blast Gear that we wanted to get this game finished up first. Brad and Jarlan had a cool little action/puzzle game that had a huge chunk of programming completed for it already and we decided to make that our first release.

So what happens when a game already has most of it’s programming completed? Everything else. We have spent the last several months working on the 3D Assets, concept art, animations (though few) and all the GUI and Layout design for the game (and yes, even more programming of course).

Over the next few weeks we hope to lay out what it took to bring Sminis to life and hopefully shed some light on Independent Game Design for any and all who are interested in the process. Following posts should include:

3D Assets

Pre-Post programming

GUI

Overall Polish

Play Testing

Creating a Game through Telecommunication

Sound Design

I believe in being as transparent as possible when it comes to creating a product that I love and one that I am making for the intention of other people who love it to enjoy, one of my passions is 3D Animation and I find watching the behind-the-scenes videos to be almost more entertaining than the movie itself sometimes, so… here’s to that.

Well it might seem rather early but I wanted to make sure to highlight the fact that we have a schedule of release for some games after Blast Gear.

At this point in production of Blast Gear we’re making models and tweaking some gameplay and programming ideas in order to really start implementing more assets and getting everything nice and ready for some heavy testing. The thought that crosses our minds here now that everything on a design aspect has been set in stone with Blast Gear for a while is “What are our next games?”. The question is important because we want to be ready when Blast Gear is launched to have our next couple games lined up so we have a strategy and attack plan to be prepared to continue our productions and not slow down.

The next game is actually damn near complete, and we’ll have more information on that once we get closer to the release of Blast Gear. The game after that is a topic of discussion at the moment but we have some very cool ideas brewing and some in-team presentations are about to take place to see if we can nail it down. We here at Angry Rock want to make sure that we have a varied library of games, some more serious and some more lighthearted but all of them with the same level of quality, polish, and fun.

Keep on the look out for more screens and development journals related to Blast Gear in the coming weeks, and we hope everyone looks forward to all of the games we’ll be launching in the next year or so.