Green Lit

Well I can't believe it happened, but SBX: Invasion finally got Greenlit and will be on Steam on June 1st!

It's been a long time coming and it's been an awesome experience!  At first when I got the e-mail that SBX Invasion had been Greenlit, I thought it was a phishing scam, so I skeptically opened a separate tab and went to the steam page.  And then it hit me: a game I had made was going to be on Steam, a game that had sat in the Green Light process for almost 15 months.

I got excited.  And then I got to work.  I had to polish a few bugs I knew of, create new builds, get it compatible with the Steam upload system, create new art assets for the store, create a new promo video, and learn how Steamworks Builder worked.

I spent a couple weekends preparing and getting everything together and set the launch date to June 1st.  And now it's almost here.

I don't know what this will mean for SBX: Invasion, but a small part of me feels like I've succeeded, just a tiny bit.  That feels good.  

So if you haven't yet, check out the Steam Page, or check out my Youtube Promo Video

Or drop me a line on Twitter.

Cheers and hope to have some awesome things in store to share soon!

Jason C / WakeskaterX

Tamriel Underground

I've been working on a fan site lately; a home for the Thieves and Scoundrels of Elder Scrolls Online to gather and share news.

I present to you, the Tamriel Underground:

Tamriel Underground is a members only site for the Thieves of Tamriel to share tips, tricks, maps and guides.  It will be a place to post Thieving challenges and share your exploits.

Currently only the Maps Tab is active, and I've taken maps from the Rogue's Folio (by reddit users /u/anemonean -- props) and uploaded them and organized them to be refined and searched on.

You can view the maps in a list, and refine them at the top or use the search bar to refine the list down to what you are looking for.  Once you click on the map image you want, it pops up in a lightbox, letting you see the full map.

The website is in it's early phases, and there isn't a lot of content at the moment, but the plan is to create a massive collection of all of the best Thieving tips and tricks and to keep away all those pesky Guardians that will eventually be trying to steal our secrets.

Come join The Underground, where the night is your friend and stealth is your weapon.

Vacation! Life and some loose ideas for next projects.

So first things first, I ended up canning my review of ESO.  I got partway through and lately I've stopped  playing so it hindered my research into giving a good quality review of the game.  The game is good, but I've been busy and I'm honestly just looking for a more sandbox style MMO.  We'll see if EQ:Next is ballsy enough to be a true sandbox world that gives the player unparalleled freedom to be the type of player they want to.

Anyway, at the moment I'm on vacation out in the mountains of Colorado, which is giving me some time to catch up on my blog and relax a bit.  My consulting projects at work are ramping up quickly and I have 3 development projects as well so I've been extremely busy and tanked out during the week, and thus haven't spent any time working on my own projects.

I do have a few ideas I've been knocking around, first is rebuilding my website to be a more solid website and include a database of users to register with my website.  I do need to get a better version of Visual Studio on my home machine, but likely I'll rebuild the website in C#.NET ASPX pages with a couple html pages sitting on the front end.

I want to make my website a very interactive, fun place for people to go to and check out my projects.  So that's the first task I need to start working on.  The second is my next game project, which will likely be a mobile / web project.  I'm thinking of making either a traditional Tower Defense in the SBX Universe, or possibly combining Tower Defense with an RTS/MOBA style game.  When I say MOBA I mean imagine League of Legends without any champions where you build your towers and spawners and the "minions" have automated AI based on the type of ships you build.  Just a loose idea, I'd have to iterate on it a bit to get a solid working plan, and I might release a traditional TD first and then make that style of game after.

These are just some of the ideas and plans I have at the  moment.  My programming knowledge in C# .NET has been improving quite rapidly as I have 3 projects that are entirely in C# or use C# as the web application back end language, so I've had lots of opportunities to learn in that area.  Next will be using Java and Eclipse as I'm less comfortable with those compared to VStudio  and C#.

That's it for now, I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I'll likely do a 4th of July Sale on Indie Game Stand so stay tuned for that!

Auf wiedersehen,
Jace

New job, the end of my time as an Indie and , ESO out soon!

Things have been going well lately.  I'm stepping back from some of my projects to give myself some time and room, particularly because I got hired on as a Professional Services Consultant at Experian Data Quality.  My new job starts this Wed and I've been enjoying my last couple weeks relaxing, playing with my dog and redditting (a lot).

I plan to come back to my projects on the weekends eventually, but I think a good break will give me some space to think about where I want each project to go and what I want to do with them in the end.  Being an indie has been a TON of fun and opened me up to a world I'd never experienced before, but for now it's time to get a stable job and start planning for the future.

So, things have been going great and I've got an exciting career ahead of me in systems development and consulting and it's pretty exciting.  PAX East is also in a few weeks and The Elder Scrolls Online Launches next weekend.

I convinced my wife that we should play ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) together when it launches and gave her a friend key to try the beta out.  She's not much of a gamer, and has only dabbled in making characters on some other games, but she really liked ESO so we'll be playing together on the weekends as an extra hobby to do together.

I'm actually surprised at how much I've enjoyed ESO so far, I went into the beta weekends thinking:  "Eh, maybe this might be good but we'll see." and didn't have high hopes for it, but the immersion factor has really drawn me into the game as well as the freedom to create neat builds and customize your character to how I want to play.  It's kind of a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, the updates to the blog will likely be slower as I'll be working full time, but I'll keep things updated about when I continue working on my projects and other things that come up as well.

Cheers,

Jason C.

New Homepage with a Minigame - Interview!

Lately things have been coming together.  The past few days have been hell getting Git integrated on our server for Tzarr but it's finally working and we can start making progress on getting an online multiplayer version up and running.

Also, I've been teaching myself JQuery and JavaScript integration into HTML/CSS this week so I reworked the homepage on my website to include a minigame.  It uses the sprites from SBX: Invasion to create VERY basic galaga style minigame.  I'll expand on it later, but for now it has simple functionality.  Working on getting the minigame running today has been a royal pain, but I worked out all the bugs.

I probably spent a good half the day today staring at my screen thinking:  "WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING?"  and then realizing I was missing a colon or a comma or something stupid.  Half the time I had the syntax completely wrong too and spent a lot of time looking at the API.  BUT... I completely custom made a little game entirely in JQuery and custom JavaScript.  It  may not be super special, but I think it makes the home page just a little more fun.

Check out the new homepage here:  My Website Home

I also have an interview this coming up week in the Software Development Industry so that's exciting.  Having a stable job is something that seems more and more appealing as my wife and I get closer to having kids.  Not that I don't love being an indie mind you... it's just not the stablest of jobs.

I'll still continue on my projects of course, I still have a lot of ideas for EvoDash and Tzarr that I want to do.  And of course the 'next' project after Tzarr.  Hopefully there will be enough time for that one :).

Everything said and done, the past week has been pretty eventful and I've enjoyed myself.  I'm looking forward to more opportunities to learn and grow in the future as well.

Cheers!

Jason

Mid February Update - Life and Work

Well it's been a few weeks since I've posted but things have been going along well.  Business has been as usual lately.  I'm still working on Tzarr and EvoDash and working on getting some new builds out.  Also I've been learning a bit of JQuery to integrate into my website as well and build a stronger skill set for myself.

So as far as projects go, EvoDash has been coming along nicely.  Our Global Game Jam group decided we would all build our own versions of the game and then get together in the future and merge them into one combined game and take all the best ideas.

I've been reworking the way Procedural Generation works in the game and updated the UI a bit.  The movement system still needs some fine tuning as well but here's a sneak peak at the new UI and the basic Level Generation:

Also I've reorganized the way unit commands are issued in Tzarr which is getting us ready to start working on an online multiplayer build.

Things are going alright, but I've been looking for some work lately as well to supplement income while being an indie.  It's a hard balance to strike between doing what I love and planning for the future.

Also, our young dog, Max, is learning how to behave indoors and is finally becoming trustworthy unattended.  Here's a little picture of him playing in the snow (we've gotten too much of it.)  

Other than that, things keep moving on.  SBX: Invasion just had a sale on IndieGameStand for Valentine's day and we sold a few more copies there as well.

All in all things are going well lately.  Hopefully I'll have some more exciting news in the future and I should have a new build up for EvoDash in the next week or two.

That's it for now, auf Wiedersehen!

Jason

First Look at Tzarr - Global Game Jam 2014!

Good Wednesday!  I've got a video taking a look at the results of week one of production on Tzarr, including the rough basics and turn based game play.  Tzarr is coming along nicely so far, yesterday was tough, as I had a bug that baffled me for the entire day.  Finally I figured out what was wrong and fixed it and wham, everything magically worked exactly like I wanted!

The problem code snippet was this:

As you can see if you click on it, I was setting unit_grid which was the entire 9x9 grid to a shifted version of the move_grid, which was only 7x7 and contained the movement ability of each piece.

But the problem was that I was using different indices so it was rewriting over old sections of the array with 0 when I didn't want it to be.  I was already initializing the unit_grid array to 0s anyway in ClearUnitGrid(); so I just removed that line and everything worked perfectly!

But enough programmer talk, let's take a look at the video on Tzarr:

Honestly the game rules right now need to be changed a lot.  I played a game with myself and it was very easy to stalemate.  I'll be doing extensive play testing and making all sorts of builds to find a good balanced and fun rule set for Tzarr.

In other news, I'll be attending the Global Game Jam this weekend!  I'm super excited, I didn't think I would be able to get in, but because I signed up on the main site, even though they ran out of tickets, the head honcho said I was alright to come.  It's been a while since I've participated in a Jam (Since SBX: Invasion for the GMC Jam January 2013!) so I'm super stoked to get out and meet some cool people and stay up late like a youngster again.

I've been thinking of tons of ideas for all sorts of topics and my work on Tzarr has enabled me to work quickly with C# and Unity.  I think with a good team we could turn out something truly awesome!

Also, I just tried out Infinite Crisis, a MOBA by Turbine Games Inc that's still in Beta, and it's still under NDA so I won't say too much but I'll say this:  Sign up for the Beta, it's fun!

That's all for this update, I'll likely have a large update after the GGJ this weekend with the project my team has created and updates about how it went.

Cheers!

Jason C. / WakeskaterX

A Week of Greenlight - New Project - Boston Post Mortem fun.

Well it's been a week since I've put SBX: Invasion up on Greenlight and it's doing... not as bad as it could be.  For the first few days the game sat at about 20% Yes Votes which honestly isn't that bad considering how niche tower defense games are, and there isn't a very good category to put them in.

Currently the game is at 14% Yes Votes, 3% Unanswered and 83% No Votes.  I haven't managed to get much publicity out yet, and I'm going to be trying to get some info out there about the game and see if I can drum up some excitement.  Hopefully driving some customers to the Greenlight page will increase the Yes to No Ratio and get more eyes on the project.

It's been tough getting the game out there, but I think it's probably time to shelf the project for a while and move on to new stuff.  I've learned a lot about game development and grown a lot as a developer on this project.  And I have already started on my next project as well.

The next project is going to be a smaller project in Unity called Tzarr.  I'll be working with a programmer I met in the GDU skype group, Derek, who will be handling the network side of things.  We're working on Tzarr in order to see how well we work together and make something smaller in preparation for a larger project later.

Here is a screenshot of what the board set up might look like:

The game will play similar to Shogi and Chess with some key differences, and we'll be going through various rule sets to nail down one that makes sense.  

The goal at the moment is to build a powerful flexible system to create all sorts of board set ups and rule sets quickly and effectively.  We're striving for a turn based playable build by the end of January to put out for people to try.

And then finally, last night was the Boston Post Mortem!  My good buddy Ben Taylor spoke on Game Jams and going into them with the right kind of mindset.  He gave a bunch of ways to "win" at Game Jams, whether it be coming out of it with a prototype, art, money, or new work partners, you should always focus on "winning" and planning on something you specifically want to gain from them.

It was a great time meeting people and networking as well.  I was introduced to Ken Rolston, the Lead Designer of Morrowind and Oblivion, and we got to chat for a good half hour and I was able to pick his brain on all sorts of things.  That was a great experience and it was fun talking to him about his start as a designer just making pen and paper games and how he got into the industry.

Boston really has some awesome companies.  One guy I know from Turbine told me I should check out Infinite Crisis, a DC Comics MOBA and it looks pretty interesting.  If you like League of Legends or DOTA you should sign up for the Beta too!  

It's been a very fun week and I'm excited about Tzarr and prototyping out a bunch of different game modes and rule sets.  Things are starting to come together in 2014!  I might even do a talk at BPM at some point about my first year as an indie and about the launch of SBX: Invasion! 

So subscribe to the blog for the weekly updates!  Cheers and Good Day!

WakeskaterX / Jason

SBX: Invasion is now in the Greenlight Process! - Update 1.2 is out too!

Well, I finally started the Greenlight Process for SBX: Invasion.  You'll be able to vote at the link below:

Also Update 1.2 is now out at Desura, IndieGameStand and will soon be out at FireflowerGames.

What's new in Update 1.2?

Well quite a bit!

• New Movement system:  The player will no longer bounce off walls and reverse direction and the movement system feels a little more slippery like you are in space.
• Upgraded UI and Planet Graphics:  The planets look a lot nicer now, I ran a Posterization filter over them to bring them in line with the games graphical quality and then added a glow effect.
• Updated Tutorial: The tutorial is a bit longer but the game lets you go free a bit sooner.  There a little less tutorial stuff after the tutorial, but more is included at the start.
• Optional Tutorial:  The tutorial is now optional to new players as well.
• New Loading Screen: The loading screen now says "Loading" and also gives a little tip about using Ghost Mode.
• New Voice Overs! My lovely wife voiced the entire monologue by AIUA in the game.  Instead of a computer rendered voice, my wife tried to stay monotone enough that the computer filters would work.  It was a pretty fun experience and we had to stop ourselves from laughing on a few occasions.
• Minor QOL Improvements across the board:  You can now use arrow keys to move between levels in any way, before it was locked for some weird reason that I can't remember.  It's better now.

And there is ALSO a new DEMO at IndieDB that you can play to try out all the changes!

Check out the demo HERE

Over the next few weeks I'll be doing some advertising and I'm really hoping we can get Greenlit as that would be a phenomenal boost!  I'll also be working on my NEXT project a little bit this month so stay tuned.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Jason/WakeskaterX

End of year report for SBX: Invasion - Looking forward to 2014

Looking back on the year, it's been a fun ride, but difficult.  I've learned more than I ever thought was possible and through the process of learning realized how little I know about game development and design.

I've realized to be a successful solo indie you have to be an expert at Programming, Art, Game Design, Project Management, Marketing, Web Design, Sound Effect and Music Creation, Social Networking, Production, Business Planning, and Writing.  That's just the little tip of the iceberg, too.

I enjoy it but it IS exhausting.  I love learning so being an indie is incredibly fun, but it takes a continued effort to not succumb to Analysis Paralysis.  There are hundreds, even thousands of things to learn and all of them are applicable to game development, and I've noticed that unless I have a specific plan, it is easy to get overwhelmed.  I like to keep things organized with Trello, a simple interface for keeping checklists, and I highly recommend it.

So let's take a look at End of Year info, a look back at 2013 and forward to 2014.

End of Year Finances and Statistics:

So I haven't quite broke even yet.  SBX: Invasion was released November 1st, 2013 and has had 1 minor update so far.

During the first 2 months SBX: Invasion has:

• Sold 31 Copies across all portals and made $61.11 USD.
• Been the feature of 7 Youtube Videos by fans and reviewers.
• Been reviewed in 8 articles.
• Had 25 demo downloads (Demo released later on in December- derp)
• Been played in an indie game stream alongside some other great indie games.

So the game made $61.11 and between setting up the website and other minor expenses I've spent $253.34.  So that leaves me $192.32 in the hole.  Which is piddly money anyway.  

So the year wasn't financially great while an indie (I started full time in July, so I made money at a job for the first 7 months of 2013), but I have learned a ton and feel good about moving forward in 2014.

So let's look back at 2013 and I'll touch on just a few things I could have done better.  This isn't a fully fleshed out post mortem (that will come sometime later in 2014), but just some thoughts at the end of the year.

A look back at 2013:

This is my first year as a full time indie.  Jumping headfirst into the industry has been stressful at times, enjoyable at times, and a lot of work all the time.  I've had to learn to self motivate, organize and network (among many many things.)

Things I did well in 2013:

• I finished a game!  SBX: Invasion was a long process.  It started out as a terrible entry for the GMC Winter Jam in January 2013 and took a lot of love and revision to get it to a moderate state on release.
• Iteration.  The game got significantly better after release, and update 1.2 coming in January should improve the flow of the game and address some issues that people have with the game.  Feedback has been critical to the game getting better.
• The core idea.  People have enjoyed the base idea so far and feedback has been good on the games core gameplay.
• Attended all the Boston Post Mortems since I moved here.  I've met so many amazing people at the BPM (the local IGDA chapter) and it's been a phenomenal place to learn about other indies, meet local developers and aspiring devs and be a part of one of the best communities out there.  If there's a local IGDA chapter in your area, go to it!  And if not, start one!

Things I could have done better in 2013:

• An earlier demo.  I released the demo a month after release.  The feedback from Feedback Friday would have been good to get earlier before release.  
• More polish before release.  I ended up releasing the game immediately after I finished the art rework but I could have spent one or two more iterations on polish before pushing it out.  That said, there is a balance between forever polishing and putting it out too early.  I was sick of the project and burnt out when I released it, but also, the feedback post-release has been great and very useful.
• A better promotional video.  I might spend some money to get a really good promotional video made.  I had to learn video production myself in order to make the promo video, and as I AM a video production noob, the video looks like it was made by a video production noob.
• I had no advertising budget.  Something I will do moving forward is budget a specific amount of money for advertising.  The biggest problem right now is lack if visibility.
• Thinking about target market from the beginning as well as monetization.  The game falls loosely in the tower defense genre.  Well tower defense games are traditionally free flash games, so trying to find places to reach the target market has been a challenge.  If I released a free flash game or an iPhone game it'd be easier, but for a pay to play PC game, it's been a challenge.

So you can see there are lots of things I could have done better, and there are plenty more.  These are just a few things off the top of my head.

But, I do have a plan going forward.  I'm not quite done with SBX: Invasion just yet.  The game has potential and I've learned a lot and updated it a lot.  So what do I have planned for 2014?

A look forward to 2014:

First things first, I'm working on a large update to the game.  I've gotten a lot of feedback on various parts of the game and have put together quite the update.

Some new things coming out in Update 1.2 are:

• New Movement System!  No longer will you bounce off walls and turn around.  The movement is more floaty and feels a bit more like you're flying a space ship in space.
• Better Visual Feedback.  Things that aren't super clear like resources gained from enemies will now be noticeable in the GUI.
• Refined Graphics and UI.  I'm not the world's most amazing artist sent from the heavens to awe mankind with my creative genius, but I have put together some new art for the UI to make it a bit more refined and cohesive.  I've consolidated fonts, textures and am reworking a lot of the UI art.
• More compact Tutorial.  I'm going to combine a few more things into the Tutorial and open up the next few levels to be less streamlined and a bit more free form.  The result will be that the tutorial is slower and more tedious but the levels after will open up quicker and be faster paced.  I may even make the tutorial optional for new players.  
• New Voice Acting (possibly).  This one is tentative, but I'd like to redo all the voice acting with a real person and some effects run over it.  

Once the update is finished, tested and iterated on, I'm going to be moving toward getting the game Greenlit.  Steam is something I've avoided so far as a smaller, unheard of indie, but now that the game is getting a bit of steam (no pun intended) I think getting Greenlit is possible.

In addition to starting the Greenlight process after Update 1.2, I'm also going to start a targeted advertising campaign.  I've only got a few hundred bucks reserved for ad space, but hopefully I can stretch that out over a few weeks to promote the Greenlight campaign.

I'm also going to be working with another programmer on a Chess type game in preparation for a larger project (if we work well together).  But that project hasn't been started yet, so hush hush.

Anyway, 2013 has been a wonderful year.  I've made many friends since I move to Boston and have enjoyed being a part of a wonderfully creative community.  I'm looking forward to what the new year brings and excited for the future of Wakeskater Studio.

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Jason C.

SBX: Invasion Demo at IndieDB - Marketing Sucks

It's been a while since I've posted here.  2 weeks almost!  I really need to get it together and continue to post on Fridays.  Lots has been going on, from Boston Post Mortem meetings to getting Demos out to starting on new projects and project ideas, it's been a busy month so far.

So first, I've got a couple demos of SBX: Invasion available at IndieDB:

Check out the downloads page at the link below for the FREE DEMO:

Demo Version 1.2 is the latest and contains a completely reworked movement system.  No longer will players reverse direction when bouncing off walls, and it splits up the direction from the player facing vector, which were tied together before.

The new movement system won't be released until Update 1.2 but the demo will give you a taste of what is to come with the next update.

Also, marketing sucks.  It's one of those things I'm still learning about slowly and making tons of mistakes, but it's hard to get out there as a small, new indie.  I've had a few smaller sites and youtube let's players pick up SBX: Invasion, but I still haven't been picked up by any larger sites.

So, I think starting in Jan, I'm going to go for Greenlight with Update 1.2.  In addition I think spending a little bit of money on advertising once I start the greenlight process is a wise decision.  Right now there aren't enough eyes on the project.  The feedback has been good and the game has been refined to get rid of a lot of the things that bugged players or stopped them from enjoying the game to it's fullest.

Update 1.2 should clear up the movement issue which was the last really big thing that I saw from feedback as well as a few other things I have planned.

It's been a slow road, but I'm not giving up.  I'll start work on my next project soon but I'll also be spending some time each week to continue marketing and getting info about SBX: Invasion out there.

I'll be out of town for the next couple weeks spending time with various families so I'll try to get back and write another post before the end of the year.

Cheers,

Jason Carter / WakeskaterX

SBX: Invasion Update 1.1

Currently I'm working on an update for SBX: Invasion.  It's not a large update mind you, but just a small one with some polish work.


SBX: Invasion  Update 1.1 Notes:

• Reworked Title and Level Select Screens.  Reduced the amount of fonts used to make it more cohesive and thematic.
• Moved the Sell Building Key from 'S' to 'Q'.  People were having a lot of trouble with hitting the 'S' key while flying around, so 'S' now does nothing and 'Q' is used to sell buildings.  
• Added mini graphics to buttons.  Some buttons will now have a small graphic in the corner specifying the hot key.  This is implemented for Upgrade and Sell buttons currently.
• New sounds for selling and upgrading buildings.  I'm adding various sound effects to buildings when you upgrade them or sell them.  (No longer just explode).
• Improving Options UI functionality - specifically with the slider bars.  I want to add in click on bar functionality to it so you don't have to click and drag the slider every time.
• Increasing time between waves on Easy and Normal modes for Levels 1-6 and adding a Next Wave button in the last few seconds of each wave.  There wasn't enough time for newer players to rebuild and figure things out between waves, so on the early levels I increased the time between waves to give more time to explore the UI and rebuild after intense waves.  The Next Wave button will be there to speed the process up if the player gets bored.
• Improve repair drone functionality -- Repair drones tend to get stuck with path finding and use a lot of resources, so what I'm planning to do is remove path finding all together and remove collision and let them fly 'over' the fortifications to repair them.  This will make them not get stuck as often and will use less resources (they have a really complicated system for locating buildings and then checking if there is a path to anywhere within 3 radii, etc, etc it was too complicated.)

So here are some screen shots of the old vs new title screen and level select so you have an idea of the new graphical polish that's being added:

Screen Shots:

Old Title Screen:

Old Level Select:

NEW Title Screen:

NEW Level Select:

As you can see it's not a MASSIVE change, but it does bring it together a little better and makes it feel a little more retro.

Also SBX: Invasion is 50% off on Indie Game Stand for CYBER MONDAY:  Woot Woot!

Check it out here:   https://indiegamestand.com/store/675/sbx-invasion-base-defense/

Cheers!

[SBX:I] New Video for SBX: Invasion along with a refocused Marketing Effort

SBX:Inv:

Well, I'm still very new to this, but launch week hasn't really been what I thought it would.  I wasn't expecting much, but so far I have one legitimate sale outside of friends and testers from the website.  So I'm refocusing my marketing efforts and working toward getting my site out there.

So, I made a new video, created a launch page for SBX: Invasion (which I didn't have before) and tried some non-boring subject lines in my e-mails.

You know that post about How to NOT market your indie game?  Yeah, even after reading that I still kept doing dumb shit on that list.

But stuff like this comes with experience, so I'll keep trudging onward and learning as I go.

Here's the new launch page:

SBX: Invasion Launch Page

It comes with a new, very short promo video.

I still suck at these videos but here it is:

It's just a short teaser but hopefully it grabs people's attention better than my last one.  Starting an indie studio is a slow, long process, but it's fun and I'm learning more now than I would in a boring job somewhere.

The learning is exciting and I'm enjoying myself, even if I let myself get a little bit stressed out from time to time.  Keeps the blood pumping ha!

Anyway, just a little update about Launch week, stay tuned I'll be working toward making this a successful indie studio, it might just take a while ;).

Cheers,

WakeskaterX

Jason C.

[SBX:I] SBX:Invasion is available for download!

SBX:Inv:

SBX:Invasion is now released!  It's been a long wait (mostly for me) but the game is finally done and out and we'll see how it goes!

You can download the game at my website here and if you use discount code "INVASION" during the month of November you'll get 50% off.

Wakeskater Studio Website

You can also get the game at Fireflower Games and itch.io.

Finally release day is here and I'm excited to finally put my game out to the world!

Cheers!

Jason Carter

[SBX:I] Release Date: November 1st, 2013

SBX:Inv:

Hey everyone!  The official release date for SBX:Invasion is now November 1st, 2013!  That's next Friday!  Exciting stuff.  The game is completely done and I'm just putting the finishing coats of polish on the game and touching things here and there up.

I went to Boston Post Mortem yesterday and handed out a bunch of fliers and met a ton of cool developers.  Finally I'll join the crowds of people who have finished a game and released it!

So on November 1st, Look for the game at the Website, at Desura, Fireflower Games and on IndieCity!
Note:  The IndieCity Release date may be later as they're still working on coming back up.  You can also get the game at itch.io as well.

And if you buy it off my website, use code "Invasion" for a 50% discount.

Cheers!

Jason

[SBX:I] Art Rework Complete!

SBX:Inv:

Well all the game art assets have been completely reworked and the game looks much, much nicer than a month ago.  It has been a long haul and there is still more work to be done, but the art part is done for now.

Which is good.

I enjoy art and I have learned so much over the past month about pixel art, but I would rather spend my time programming and designing levels than drawing pixels.  I look forward to the day I can hire a decent pixel artist full time.  We'll see how this project goes :)

So the final big thing was the Final Boss and the UI elements that went with him so here is a nice little image of the old and new boss sprites (They're big):

The new boss art looks great in game and fits well with the other new assets.

Still left to do before release:

-  Update art on Desura, Fireflower and IndieCity

-  New Promotional Video

-  Update the Game Guide that comes with the game

-  Update Website Art

-  Few Optimization coding things in the game I want to touch up before release.

Pretty short list now, I'm super stoked to finally release SBX:Invasion!

I'll be shooting for early November so subscribe to the blog if you haven't to stay updated and get special promotions.  I'll be posting up some discount codes here on the blog at some point so keep en eye out!

Cheers everyone,

Jason

[SBX:I] Screen shots: Before and After

SBX:Inv:


Here's a few screen shots of before and after the art rework.  I'm still working on some stuff but this shows a few examples of how the art has improved.

Title Screen:

Before

&
After

Level 1:

Custom Map Mode:

Level 5:

It's coming along nicely.  Still quite a bit left to do, there are a few more enemies and a couple bosses left to do which is probably going to take the longest time out of the rest of the stuff I have left.

The final boss is going to take a while; I want to make him really look good.

Anyway, just a quick post tonight before passing out.

Cheers!

~Jason

[SBX:I] Art update - Screenshots

SBX:Inv:

Just wanted to post an update on the art revision so far:

I've got a lot of it done and wanted to share the new title screen because it's pretty cool and gives a good idea of how much has been done already.

I've completed all the turrets, generators, ship, half the enemy art, the base, and a bunch of other things as well.  There is still a lot to do but it's looking very nice so far.

Here are some before and after screen shots:

Before Art Rework:

After Art Rework:

Let me know what you guys think!  I'll be doing a little more work on the asteroids (including the Magnium Asteroids) to give a little bit more variety and depth to it.

Cheers!

Jason / WakeskaterX

[SBX:I] Enemy Art Update

SBX:Inv:

Well lots of artwork has been reworked so far and implemented in the game.  Here is a sample of the first 3 enemy art reworks:

And here are some early pieces of art for Enemy D and E:

Old Vs New Enemy D:

Old vs New Enemy E:  (Boss 1)

We're redoing ALL the artwork so here is a sample of the new Title Screen as well:

We're plodding along but it's coming out very nicely.

Subscribe to the blog for the latest updates and I would say we'll be ready to publish around mid to late October!

Cheers,

Jason

[SBX:I] Artwork Update Teaser

SBX:Inv:

So the artwork is getting an overhaul.  I'm working with another pixel artist and here is a teaser of what is to come:

The old (reworked) player ship:

And the new ship, reworked by Cody Rigby the additional artist on the project:

It looks very nice in game and adds a lot of feel to the game.  We'll be reworking every art asset over the next month.

Stay tuned for more info!

Cheers,

WakeskaterX