Yes, I find it strange that someone so intelligent can be so obtuse.
Yes, I find it strange that someone so intelligent can be so obtuse.
kickstarter.com/projects/bischoff/stasis-2d-isometric-scifi-horror-adventure-game/posts/1415652Update #35
STASIS 2016 - Rewards & CAYNE
Hey Kickstarter backers!
We have some awesome news: shipwire.com has confirmed that they have started shipping out the backer rewards to you good folks. You should receive an email once it has been dispatched from the warehouse.
We did it. We released a game! STASIS hit the digital shelves in late 2015. The culmination of thousands of hours, sleepless nights, copious amounts of coffee, and more than a few good old emotional breakdowns. After its release, it felt like a weight was lifted from one of my shoulders and then promptly shifted onto the other!
Patches, user support, interviews, marketing, and then more patches – in a way it felt when the game was complete the real work could start. And start it did! Nic and Kristal did masterful jobs at keeping everything afloat while I attempted some sort of emotional recovery from the 2 years of crunch time I’d just gone through.
I’ve heard people say ‘never read internet comments‘ and I ignored them. I can tell you that I obsessively googled STASIS for weeks after the launch and still find myself doing searches now. It’s hard not to.
We made STASIS for people to play and for people to enjoy. To publish it and then move onto something else instantly just seemed so…heartless. Thankfully, players loved it.
The feedback we got was excellent and I took it all in, both good and bad. I’ve read every Steam comment, thousands of forum replies, and hundreds of reviews. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube Let’s Plays and Twitch steams (even those in languages I don’t understand). I’ve consumed the feedback from STASIS like a dying man who finds an oasis, and it’s been thirst-quenching, even with the occasional mouthful of dirt.
STASIS is a game that we’re incredibly proud of. I personally grew more as an artist in the last 2 years of solid development, than I have in the previous 10 years of doing it professionally. And after all of that, what did we decide to do? Yep, we decided to do it all again.
CAYNE pushing STASIS graphics to HD and beyond.
The Brotherhood is now running as a full time development studio. We can officially call ourselves game developers with a straight face and an enormous sense of pride! We asked ourselves, “where to from here?” as we’d already completed much of the graphic content for the Cayne chapter so that was the most logical thing to tackle… but we aren’t people who take the easy route for anything. So we made the difficult decision to build Cayne from the ground up, and apply all of the lessons we’d learned from STASIS to create the best experience we can.
While STASIS provided a foundation for our future projects, Cayne will most certainly be providing the brick and mortar. We’re going to use Cayne to test out new ideas, technologies, and a new workflow that has both Nic and I working full time.
Our future games will be created around this core, and what we have coming up is going to astound, disgust, and amaze you.
The new PDA screen.
WHAT ARE WE DOING DIFFERENTLY?
STASIS started off as a hobby project, and during production much time was spent trying to get things working. While I wouldn’t consider this time wasted (I discovered a lot of ways how NOT to do things), we’re going into this new chapter with a better knowledge of how our future games need to be put together.
The interface, for example, appears simple, but it took countless iterations to get the workings and feel we wanted. We can now take that R&D time and funnel it into other aspects.
While the 2D characters in STASIS were wonderful, we want our next games to use a 2.5D system with 2D pre-rendered backgrounds and 3D characters. This allows us to have smooth transition animations and an unlimited number of directions for the character. More importantly, it eliminates a step that was needed when getting the characters into the game.
A very pregnant HADLEY - she will be 3D while the scenes will be rendered in 2D.
In STASIS, I needed to animate everything, render it out, set it up in a scene, tweak it, re-adjust if necessary, re-render, tweak… This process took an enormous amount of time with the results sometimes being less than satisfactory. By using 3D characters that are rigged with bones, I can animate and import them directly into the game and see what adjustments need to be made.
I can’t explain how satisfying it is to see something in-engine a few seconds after I’ve finished the animation. Less time spent with the technicalities of importing into the engine means more time spent on getting the movement and animation flawless.
Lighting was a challenge in STASIS because it required more planning for even the most basic ‘special’ lighting. A scene had to be constructed in After Effects before it got added into the engine which allowed for almost no iterative design adjustment when it was in. How it came out in render was how it looked in the game.
In CAYNE, we’re using Normal Maps and other techniques to get more dynamic lighting. Shader systems allow us to tint the scenes and adjust the mood of the rooms in real time, again allowing a more fluid nature to the games creation. Seeing adjustments to the game as you play it is both satisfying and helpful from a design standpoint. ‘The freedom to experiment’ is SO important in art, and using new systems allows us flexibility, especially where we can overlap the technical expertise with the artistic vision.
I want to push the design of CAYNE into new directions. CAYNE will portray more of Nic and my personal game styles – in all aspects, from the story to characters and environments. We want to bring in something slightly different to STASIS universe to challenge ourselves. But CAYNE is set in the same universe, so we aren’t going to stray too far from our 80s roots.
The work we’re doing will hopefully blow your minds, because the passion is palpable and the excitement we have for the future is tangible. It’s going to be a wild ride!
Oh, did we mention that the Kickstarter backers of STASIS get the CAYNE chapter for free?
If you want to follow development, head over to our blog: http://thebrotherhoodgames.com/blog/
Follow me on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/StasisGame
CHRIS
PS.
inXile, who also love and appreciate isometric games, have released the Early Access version of Torment: Tides of Numenera. It is the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment and is being developed by the same awesome Planetscape crew (Chris Avellone, Colin McComb and Mark Morgan). These guys have been a massive help on STASIS and we cannot ever thank them enough.
gog.com/news/preorder_day_of_the_tentacle_remasteredPre-order: Day of the Tentacle Remastered
What possible harm can one crazy, mutant tentacle do?
Day of the Tentacle, the grand return of the grandest adventure of all, is available for pre-order now, only on GOG.com with a 10% discount for the first two weeks!
A crazy mutant tentacle is on the loose, plotting to take over the world. How you ask? That's not important right now! We need to be thinking about the how, just how are we going to fix this? Super simply, by going back to yesterday!
Alongside Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, and Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle sits without question among the legendary golden-era adventures. Now, straight from the early '90s, Day of the Tentacle arrives in our dystopian future of 2016 — back for a blast from the past for those who missed it, and a shot of nostalgia for those who just miss it.
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is all the adventure you may remember with an optional layer of sweet improvements on top. You can mix and match between the unmistakably 1990s pixely art and a fresh high-res coat of paint, remastered audio, and an all new interface. There are extra goodies in the Remastered release as well, including in-game developer commentary and a fully playable version of the original Maniac Mansion. Your pre-order also comes with three exclusive Day of the Tentacle wallpapers, available right away to fuel your anticipation.
But don't take our word for it. Take it from the guy behind it all:
Welcome back to the Day of the Tentacle, available for pre-order now, exclusively on GOG.com! The pre-order discount will last for two weeks, until March 22, 8:59 PM GMT.
Tim Schafer showcasing first live gameplay — on Twitch.tv/GOGcom
Tim Schafer, one half of the mastermind behind Day of the Tentacle will be joining us on Twitch.tv/GOGcom to show the first ever bit of live gameplay in the remastered edition!
Join Tim Schafer and our very own Outstar this Tuesday, March 8, at 7 PM GMT / 2 PM EST / 20:00 CET / 11 AM PST.
dukope.comReturn of the Obra Dinn
In 1802, the merchant ship "Obra Dinn" set out from London for the Orient with over 200 tons of trade goods. Six months later it hadn't met its rendezvous point at the Cape of Good Hope and was declared lost at sea.
Early this morning of October 14th, 1807, the Obra Dinn drifted into port with sails damaged and no visible crew. As insurance adjustor for the East India Company's London Office, find means to board the ship and recover the Crew Muster Roll book for assessment.
1-bit rendering. "Obra" rhymes with "Cobra". Many thanks to itch.io for the hosting.
GDC Demo Build 0.1.23 Download
This is a slightly tweaked and optimized version of the
build shown at GDC 2016. It's not meant to be a proper
demo of the final product but it's probably safe to
extrapolate from here.
Barely tested and possibly full of bugs. Progress is
not saved.
Join the devlog or find me on twitter for comments and
suggestions.
---------------------------
Controls
Move................WASD
Look................Mouse
Use.................Space, Left Mouse Button
Menu................Escape
Take Screenshot.....P (Saved to ./Captures/Screenshots)
Toggle Fullscreen...ALT-ENTER (Windows), Command-F (Mac)
---------------------------
Development Log
Time-lapse of creating the player's in-game hand
Made with Unity 3D
Guys, there is a Kickstarter for a very cool Lucas Arts style adventure game that combines Lovecraftian cosmic horror with Lucas Arts humor. There is a free demo which I have played and been very impressed by. It's made by a team from my small Romanian town. This game has serious potential and might even put my country and town on the gaming map. ATM They have raised about one third of the funds but they still need more. Even if you don't pledge I urge you to at least share the link.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/777841902/gibbous-a-cthulhu-adventure
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/777841902/gibbous-a-cthulhu-adventure
Last edited:
Looks promising. Downloading Linux demo to test it 
---------- Updated at 04:42 PM ----------
Demo launched nicely without crashes and nasty bugs. Backing the project
---------- Updated at 04:42 PM ----------
Demo launched nicely without crashes and nasty bugs. Backing the project
Yep, same guy.
Took the demo for a spin earlier, and yeah... it's certainly something different compared to Papers, Please.
Not sure about the novelty of having to reconstruct each crew member's and passenger's fate through some sort of flashback mechanic but the '1-bit rendering' is definitely something else.
Looks promising indeed, hope they make it.Guys, there is a Kickstarter for a very cool Lucas Arts style adventure game that combines Lovecraftian cosmic horror with Lucas Arts humor. There is a free demo which I have played and been very impressed by. It's made by a team from my small Romanian town. This game has serious potential and might even put my country and town on the gaming map. ATM They have raised about one third of the funds but they still need more. Even if you don't pledge I urge you to at least share the link.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/777841902/gibbous-a-cthulhu-adventure
twitter.com/StasisGame/status/719876978069909504New screenshot from CAYNE - a Stasis story.
I'll download the demo this weekend but the Trailer already looks very promising. I mean - it has a cat in it. Everything is better with cats xD
The campaign is not doing so well. It's stuck at 15,5k out of 39k with 20 days to go. Is there anything I could do to promote these guys?
Lately I've been playing this 2010 game called Lost Horizon. Pretty good. Entertaining characters, lots of action, frequent comedy. The only downside is that it fully embraces moon logic. At one point you use ketchup, a doorknob, and a camera flier to make a sign banning photography (which you put up using a sticky used lollipop, because of course you do), and things just get weirder and weirder from there.
Especially smoothies. Mmm.
Kickstarter is becoming a tough sell these days, especially with drama like is happening around Nekro right now becoming so common. Still, tweeting Tim Schafer about it might be helpful, if only because his fans are clearly willing (to a fault) to fork out cash for that kind of game. Or something else to get the attention of his fans. Maybe the Double Fine forums?
I was wondering the same. I've shared the link in a German adventure forum; another has already shared it and is doing an interview with the developers soon. I've decided that I'll back even without having played the demo. I like the style, and I've been waiting for a Lovecraftian adventure for a while now. This one looks very promising.
Do you guys know any prominent YouTubers that play lots of adventure games?
Guys, I really want Gibbous to succeed, it means a lot to me. Do you have any ideas how I might promote them? According to Kicktraq they need to make 1100$ a day to succeed. They are making half of that sum per day, which is not enough.
Crowdfunding campaigns usually have high contribution level at the start, then they plummet, and then pick up towards the end again if they managed to generate enough interest. It's a very common pattern. So I wouldn't worry yet, but surely if you know more ways to spread the word - do it.
Post on all adventure games sites that you can think of. Some examples:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=17
http://www.infamous-quests.com/forum/
Post on all adventure games sites that you can think of. Some examples:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=17
http://www.infamous-quests.com/forum/
Gibbous is funded, with 3 days left to reach their stretch goals!
Vote for them to come to GOG!
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/gibbous_a_cthulhu_adventure
Vote for them to come to GOG!
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/gibbous_a_cthulhu_adventure