Rhythos RPG Builder Launched!

Yesterday, we launched our first Kickstarter campaign! Rhythos RPG Builder will be a free, open source game builder that will feature the awesome art, music and battle system of Rhythos Arcade BETA, David's April "One Game a Month"! It will also have a lot of other cool features and be really easy to use and flexible.

My involvement with the project has been fairly small since it mainly requires programming work, which I am useless at. However, I did have a really good time designing the Rhythos magician mascot and logo!

My initial sketch/idea:

I knew I wanted an action-filled pose that would be exciting, as well as an open book to indicate the "open source" nature of the project. We also wanted to somehow show the rhythm/music side of the project since Rhythos Arcade is a music-based battle system. Since we knew the character was a magician, we thought a staff would fit, and decided to do a subtle visual pun by making her staff into a "treble staff" :P

Here's the final character:

A close-up because that image is huge:

Aaand, the full logo:

I was fairly pleased with how this came out, although the character's right foot (the one on the ground) continues to boggle me and look weird, despite many re-dos and fixes. However, I am glad I was able to get a more motion-filled pose happening with decent success, since I'm usually drawing more static characters.

Here's another image I put together for the campaign - it's a collection of sprites from the LPC graphics the Rhythos editor uses. I modified one to create the cute little pixel mascot in the front! ^_^

So, please check out the Kickstarter if you have a minute, and share/like/back it if it looks interesting to you!! I really hope this project will be a success - I think it will be an amazing, super accessible tool for the game development community, allowing even a non-programmer (like me!) to create complete games! And that's pretty darn exciting!

"Trip Through Time" Released!

Trip Through Time, our March "One Game a Month" game has finally been released!!! Please check it out on Newgrounds: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/617393.

Trip Through Time is a runner game where you play as a time traveling robot and run through 7 eras of human history, in order to determine the true nature of humanity. To avoid paradoxes, you must phase shift through all obstacles you encounter - including historical figures and iconic objects.

The game was completed at the end of March, but during April we were considering several different release options, and so delayed releasing it publicly until now, when those options fell through/didn't make sense anymore.

I created 100% of the art and animations for TTT, going with a style that is somewhere between my "natural" semi-realistic style (as in Havencall), and a simpler/messier speed sketch style. The game required a lot of art and animations, so March was a constant guessing game for me. Several questions kept running through my head over and over: mainly: "Can I do this?" and also: "Am I going to make the deadline???" and often: "What do I need to do first? What is most important?" The whole month was a pretty intense crunch for me, as I'm naturally a fairly slow artist with perfectionist tendencies.

Happily, I was able to ignore my perfectionist side while making this game, because I knew it had to be done by the end of the month, and I wasn't going to make it if I worried over every little thing. I just needed to get it done! And I did! I finished the art with just a few days to spare in the month for final tweaks and testing!

Trip Through Time was the first game I completed using our animation toolkit, VIDE! Havencall uses VIDE as well, so I'm really glad I got the chance to get a lot of practice with it while making TTT. I really enjoyed learning to use VIDE better, and while I still have much to learn about animation (I've just started trying my hand at animations this year!), I feel I've come a long way already.

One interesting tidbit: TTT originated from a Twitter conversation in which @indiepetey challenged @DavidMaletz to make a game based solely upon a song he (Petey) wrote! David accepted the challenge, and when Pete sent him the music, he immediately felt as though it sounded like a trip through time, starting off slow and primitive and becoming more technological and crazier. Thus, the idea for the game was born!

Final fun fact: I am horrible at runner games, and couldn't believe we were making one at first! However, I warmed up to the idea when David explained the movement through time side of things, which sounded like great fun for me as an artist! I mean, I got to draw robots, medieval knights, Darwin, Einstein, hippies, and futuristic soldiers with laser guns, all for the same game. It was pretty amazing!

Please check out the game and rate/review! We want to know what you think! ^_^