Archive for the ‘Guild of Dungeoneering’ Category

Creating the Scribble Effect in Guild of Dungeoneering

Published on 6th January 2015 by Owen | Comments Off

One of the big draws of Guild of Dungeoneering is the distinctive art style created by Fred;  it really evokes that feeling of playing a paper and pencil style RPG, where you are sketching out your own dungeon maps. However we felt we weren’t doing that art justice in the transitions between picking a room card and it appearing on the page. Rooms simply faded in to a static image. We also weren’t really happy with the way the game was highlighting possible placement positions for new rooms, showing just question marks in valid locations when in the middle of the placement sequence, which was confusing for some players.

the finished Scribble Effect

the finished Scribble Effect in action

So when I joined the team one of my tasks was to try and implement solutions to these issues, eventually coming up with what I call the Scribble Effect.

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New Gameplay Video & Tentative Release Date

Published on 5th November 2014 by Colm | 2 Comments

Just wanted to share a couple of new things about Guild of Dungeoneering. First of all here's a new video showing the latest alpha gameplay with commentary that I recorded as part of submitting the game to the IGF awards. It's about 5 minutes long and will tell you everything you need to know about Guild of Dungeoneering. Check it out!

Secondly I now have a tentative release date for PC & Mac (including Steam) of April 2015. This isn't 100% locked in at all, but it's at least what I'm aiming for right now based on our current momentum, and for once I feel this is achievable!

Finally don't forget if you want to keep up with all the interesting behind-the-scenes details of development then you should look no further than our amazing TIGSource devlog thread. Many have said they feel 20% smarter and sexier just by posting their comments in that thread. Incroyable!

As a final bonus have this lovely animated gif!

SMASH!

SMASH!

Some Announcements: Trailer, Greenlight & Fulltime Indie

Published on 16th April 2014 by Colm | Comments Off

The last week has been an important one for me. I've given up my job and become a fulltime indie game developer, I've released the first trailer for Guild of Dungeoneering and launched the game on Steam Greenlight.

Independent of being paid, that is!

Independent of being paid, that is!

Indie can be hard to define and is definitely a bit too overloaded these days, but it explains quite well what I'm trying to do. I'll be mostly working by myself making games. I like to compare myself to a writer who has decided to give up the day job and focus entirely on finishing that first novel.

A wild TRAILER appeared!

So this has been in the works for a couple of months. Fred (who is doing all the art for Guild of Dungeoneering) came up with the script, the jokes, did all the animation, picked the music and even did the voiceover for it!! Talented fellow! Have a look yourself:

We released this last Wednesday at the same time as a big press blitz I coordinated which has led to quite a few people writing about us, which is fantastic! I'll write up a longer post about the experience later on.

For Your Consideration

We also launched on Steam Greenlight at the same time, to try and maximise any press exposure we got for the trailer and convert as much of it as possible into Greenlight votes and attention.

Have YOU voted yet?

So far this is going well, though not quite the rocketship to the top I was hoping for. As of this writing we are 42% of the way to the top 100 with 2,910 yes votes. Sadly a massive proportion of visits to the page has been from within Greenlight itself, so despite getting some big numbers to the main game page in the last few days they haven't quite translated into Greenlight traffic. That said, I'm sure anyone who's looking at the game page and clicks through to greenlight is pretty likely to throw down a yes vote.

I do have some more ideas to get extra traffic onto greenlight so more on that when it's ready. I'll also write up a much longer post on the whole experience once we're through. Oh and if you've voted for the game - Thanks! It's really appreciated!

The Art of Dungeoneering

Published on 1st December 2013 by Colm | 2 Comments

I'm used to working by myself when it comes to game making. And one area where I am sadly challenged is in the realm of art. I tend to use free game art, or hack together my own programmer art, and in general I was happy with what I could produce. But I now realise I was completely wrong.

I've recently started collaborating with a super artist called Fred Mangan for Guild of Dungeoneering and he has produced some absolutely beautiful work that blows what I had put together right out of the water. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to work on a game with my own nasty art again!

Did you spot the little pencils?

Did you spot the little pencils?

That's the new logo for Guild of Dungeoneering. Lets compare it with what I had made..

Font + icon in two colours. Pretty much the limit of my abilities!

Font + icon in two colours. Pretty much the limit of my abilities!

I think we can all agree that's a pretty big difference in quality! Read on to see a whole load more of Fred's art for Guild of Dungeoneering.

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Guild of Dungeoneering – now available for pre-order!

Published on 31st October 2013 by Colm | 2 Comments

dungeoneering_banner

"Recruit adventurers to explore dungeons for the glory of your Guild. Build the dungeon room by room, fill it with monsters, traps and treasure .. and hope your dungeoneers have what it takes to return victorious!"

[A dungeon crawler where you don't get to control the adventurer. Instead you lay out the dungeon one room at a time (including treasure & monsters) and he proceeds according to his AI. You want him to explore, level up, find treasures and ultimately survive - but you don't get to directly control him.]

 

Playable Alpha & pre-orders now available here:

http://gambrinous.com/games/dungeoneering/

 

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Guild of Dungeoneering, now under construction..

Published on 19th October 2013 by Colm | One Comment

Guild of Dungeoneering: "Recruit adventurers to explore dungeons for the glory of your Guild. Build the dungeon room by room, fill it with monsters, traps and treasure .. and hope your dungeoneers have what it takes to return victorious!"

Dungeoneering, a perfectly cromulent word.

Dungeoneering, a perfectly cromulent word.

[A dungeon crawler where you don't get to control the adventurer. Instead you lay out the dungeon one room at a time (including treasure & monsters) and he proceeds according to his AI. You want him to explore, level up, find treasures and ultimately survive - but you don't get to directly control him.]

This is a game I'm creating this month for the Ludum Dare October Challenge. I'm taking a 1GAM game I made called Dungeon Delver and making it fun and replayable, and hopefully by the end of the month I have something good enough to sell a copy of.

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