It has been a while now since the first preview trailer for Voxatron came out. At that time it quickly became apparent that I should recklessly suspend everything in my life to make this game, and apart from a couple of months clambering out of contract work and some other minor distractions, I've been hacking away on it non-stop since then. It started as a cut-down arcade game to alleviate my long-burning desire to make something set in a virtual display cube, but is now growing back into the potentially expansive adventure game it originally came from ("Felix and the Firebird"). It looks like it will grow even larger and absorb much of the design of Felix.
I don't yet have a fixed schedule for the final release as the design is still evolving. But what I do have is a very playable alpha that will be available shortly for anyone who's keen to pre-order the game. The alpha also includes a map and voxel editor with which it is possible to make almost everything you can see in the following trailer:
There's also a bunch of new screenshots up on the game's page.
YAY i was so happy when i saw this post. Thank you for making this game and i am glad to give you my money
First of all: Awesome! I can hardly contain my excitement and I'm really glad you had time to make a new video to share with us.
Now for a few questions:
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Did you stumble onto something troublesome or complicated while coding this game for the last months? I mean, in regards to programming, specifically.
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In the editor... Is there a way to visualize the whole map at once?
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Will it have holes in which your character can fall through?
- Will anybody be able to make little animated characters within the editor? Or is it just for maps?
edit:-
Did you get married?? Congratulations!!
Yay, the game looks even more amazing and interesting now! The enemies look especially original. So many ideas! This is going to be your masterpiece :)
The editor looks really powerful too, with a timeline and lots of buttons for everything :) Great job.
Definitely preordering.
Is the chocolate just a point bonus? I'd love to see some references to Chocolate Castle and your other games :)
P.S. I did find the bearded head announcer a bit creepy. But I guess that's just me :)
Well I can officially say I'm psyched for this game, Ever since watching the first preview, I've been in love with voxel games, but there really are not that many of them, so I'm really looking forward to this game! both the Editor and the story/game-play and I love how the environment is completely destructible,
Can't wait, definitely Pre-ordering as soon as I have the money :) and it's available.
The arpeggios, oh my god! Nostalgiagasm (especially with the sine wave animation on the logo at the end).
And the Chinese dragon, holy shit!
Coolest game of the decade (though it's only 1 year old yet, but still)... :)
EDIT: The soundtrack NEEEEEDS to go on iTunes! (Or a free mp3 download.) ;)
- Did you stumble onto something troublesome or complicated while coding this game for the last months? I mean, in regards to programming, specifically.
Not really. At this point the programming is mostly grind. Although, I did take some time to prematurely optimise the renderer for fun. There is a still a lot of possible work to be in that department. The next challenging task will be generalising the monster code and collisions to allow arbitrarily designed monsters.
- In the editor... Is there a way to visualize the whole map at once?
Not currently. It would be great to add in the future, although I haven't found it a big problem so far as the rooms are only 2x2 'cubes' maximum. (256 voxels across)
- Will it have holes in which your character can fall through?
Heh... yes, the engine supports it. But for now I have a fixed ground plane that is indestructible to keep things simple. For platformy rooms that require not falling down, you can cover the floor in lava, or 100s of tiny ankle biting monsters.
- Will anybody be able to make little animated characters within the editor? Or is it just for maps?
Not yet. The editor can only be used for static props to add to the world. I'll add the ability to draw multi-frame voxel maps and animate them to go with some kind of monster designer. Although, I am considering a shorter-term hack to allow the main player to be changed just for fun.
(5.) yep, thanks!
@Gray
yes, just points. Eventually with scripting added it will be possible to implement chocolate castle in the game, and read puzzle files!
@RagnarRipper
I'll open pre-orders when the actual alpha is available
@eobet
These trailer tunes aren't actually in the game! They don't really fit for in-game music.. the most similar style is on the title screen. Actually I'm thinking of adapting them for Swarm Racer 3000. But yeah, either way I'll definitely brush them up and make a downloadable EP or something at some point.
Is this game going to be on Steam? (I like having most of my games in one place).
Btw. REALLY Great game! Looking foward to this title, almost as much I'm looking foward to Minecraft 1.10 :D (Which is a HUGE compliment from my point of view!)
Can't wait for you to take my money!
Wow, very nice. Bring on the alpha, well in 6 days when I get paid :) Been looking forward to this very much.
Looks excellent, the game itself seems amusing as hell, bit like an oldschool llamasoft romp, fun and overwhelming with buckets of personality.
That said though I think I'm more excited about the editor! What kind of madness will a tool like this cook up on the intarwebs when it's done? All kinds of stuff. Speaking of which, I know it's early days yet, but what are the chances of being able to craft some voxely, zelda style mini-adventures in the near future?
Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out mate, you've got my dollars come pre order time.
Looks very good. Keep up the good work as I'm sure this will be a success!
This is great, I got few questions for you:
- Is it going to have RPG/character progression elements?
- Is it going to have a story?
- Are you planning to implement mod support except custom maps?
- Have you thought about releasing it on Steam?
- Is there any way except donating/preordering that people could help?
- Any plans about possible multiplayer? (!!!)
- How awesome you have to be to come up with something like this?
Thanks
This game is going to be really excellent. the way the voxelized gameplay, the edit system is amazing, just truly beautiful.
It's not possible to make radically different styles of levels with the current editor, but eventually it will be possible to make something more rpg-ish and to design your own monsters etc.
- Is it going to have RPG/character progression elements?
The default game doesn't, but later on it will be possible to make such levels/worlds.
- Is it going to have a story?
Yes, but quite a minimal one. The story won't be revealed until the final release. I'm hoping some players will also make stories for their maps.
- Are you planning to implement mod support except custom maps?
Absolutely. At the very least it will be possible to design your own monsters and powerups in the finished version (much later).
- Have you thought about releasing it on Steam?
I'd like to release it on Steam later, but while it's in alpha I'm going to make everyone download and play the game the old fashioned way.
- Is there any way except donating/preordering that people could help?
Just stick around and maybe make a couple of levels when the editors out, and I will be very happy!
- Any plans about possible multiplayer? (!!!)
Not for the alpha, but I'm experimenting with same-machine coop and competitive modes. Probably nothing online in this iteration, although I've also done some work on how to efficiently synchronise voxel data and physics across a network. It really would be great to roam around in a persistent M.M. voxel world plonking down models you've made and have in your collection. But that's just a blue-sky idea for now.
- How awesome you have to be to come up with something like this?
Reasonably awesome.
Haha, reasonably awesome? You are totally awesome. Good news if you are really considering steam. I posted on the steam message boards and the people who checked out your site were very excited and really want to see it on steam. Very exciting being able to talk to the dev before you become very famous.
Nothing can cheer me up more than a new teaser for your upcoming game, loving the engine, loving the visuals and loving the editor (it has potential, from the interface looks like something easy and powerfull)
In regards of accesing a full map view you could generate thumbnails of rooms when saving them and allow an overworld map view as minecraft mappers do, it would be easy to implement and would make great content for mappers to show in blogs, forums and the internet alike :)
I'm also a hobbyst game programmer and pixel art artist (much of a real life kidnapping problem too, i'm afraid) and been toying with voxels as i feel it's like old school 8bit era games but in a new cool way, so i'm waiting for the preorder to give a good bite to the alpha and have a good time with the editor :-D
Keep up!! ;-)
I've been watching this for several months and am getting excited! Thanks for being awesome, and you probably have another pre-orderer right here!
Do you plan on releasing any more trailers of amazingness? They make me feel all sorts of happy inside. Just sayin'.
So I clicked on 'minor' in your original post and I see a little bride and groom (sorry if incorrect words for Japan)? Congratulations! (I think - or I look silly now)
I got paid - so you can put that buy button up any time (hopefully before I spend all my money again). Even if the alpha isn't ready yet - please take my money now.
@htdreams: the full map problem isn't just for viewing the whole 'world' but even just one of the rooms while you're editing it. The editor only shows a 128x128x64 box of voxels (same as the game), but the rooms can be 256x256x64.
The level file format currently has a large thumbnail or a model built into it (it's a png), but that might be a nice option -- to generate an overworld map that the designer can optionally make as the thumbnail. Of course, sometimes you want to keep the size and layout of the map a secret though.
@mitch: the next trailer's the alpha release trailer. I'm working on it right now (;
@MIK3K: thanks! yes, you were right.
@jkla11, and everyone else who's waiting:
you all rock. I don't post much (code to write), but all of this relentless encouragement is doing good things to my brain.
It will be available before the end of Autumn. So while there are still leaves left on the trees near my house. There won't be any bonuses in terms of content, but while in alpha it will be cheaper than the final release. You can only make static props in the alpha version, but characters & weapons will come along later.
CMON CMON CMON! Not knowing the release date is making me nervous :D
yo zep are there many leaves left on the tree at the end of your street?
I got the alpha via the Humble Indie Bundle, and just tried it now by playing the Arcade for 10 minutes. It's already completely amazing. My one qualm is that the mouse is used to aim, but nothing indicates where the mouse cursor is on the screen. Is there a setting I overlooked? If not, please implement this!
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