Next game news

After some reboots and restarts we are finally on the right way.

We put a lot of efforts in enhancing our custom made game engine. During that time we made A LOT of design documents, trying to figure the right balance between gameplay richness, cool ideas and feasibility (due the very limited team size).

Now I'm happy to announce that our next game will be a 2D fast paced action shooter with RPG elements set in a dark fantasy environment.

Although we love CO-OP games, this new one will be single player only.

More details in the next weeks.

Bye!

Advanced Zima 2D Shadows November 2013 update

A new update available of the XNA Advanced Zima 2D Shadows is available

In  this new update I fixed some little and nasty problems of the MONOGAME version pointed out by Jeff from http://wanderlinggames.com/.

Thank you Jeff :)

Check it out:
 http://www.funhazard.com/xna-resources.html

Advanced Zima 2D Shadows May 2013 update

A new update available of the XNA Advanced Zima 2D Shadows is available

This new update does:
- removes the PostEffect.CircleCut, pointless and bugged
- fix PostEffect.None (now it does what CircleCut was supposed to do)
- fix minor bugs you may never encountered
- and it tries to be MONOGAME compatible (it's beta atm).

Check it out:
 http://www.funhazard.com/xna-resources.html

Inkscape SVG importer for XNA

I'm working to an Inkscape SVG importer for XNA.

The importer will help us in three ways:

• Vectorial meshes instead of raster images for most of the graphics
• Inkscape can be a great level editor
• Quick creation of collision shapes

Why InkScape? Simple: it's powerful, have handy additional tags, it's relatively easy to use and (most important) it's free.

As soon as the importer is done, I'll make it available to everyone.

The imported will let you import SVG file into flat 3D meshes and it will be provided with a ContentPipelineExtension.

At the moment I managed to parse SVGs and transform them in meshes and lines, keeping the grouping of meshes, which is cool because you can have separate parts in your SVG that can be transformed separately. For example: you can shape a car that have three groups: one for the body and two for the wheels.
Once imported in game, you can rotate only the groups containing the meshes of the wheels.

Another cool feature is the possibility to use the rotation points if Inkscape to set the joint position between groups.

Currently the import part is working fine (although Bezier curves are still not supported) and I'm working to the joints between groups.

More info about the SVG format: http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/
More info about Inkscape: http://inkscape.org/

Stay tuned for updates.

The Sugar KillerZ - Xbox price cut!

Now 80MP
buy it on XBLIG

Shadow 2D system update

The 2D shadow system has been updated!

What changed:

• Doubled the quality of the shadows without affecting performances.
• LightFX: it is now possible to print only a portion of a shadow map over a texture.

             You can get it here

The Sugar KillerZ review by Writings Of Mass Deduction

Go to The Sugar KillerZ review

“The Sugar Killerz” is an enjoyable game that again raises the question of value. Is 400 Microsoft Points a great price versus comparable 800+ MSP XBLA titles, or a bad price versus some fantastic 80 Microsoft Point? I tend to fall into the former camp, I’ve paid 400 points for indie games that blow anyway similar XBLA games that cost 2 or 3 times as much, or that are unlike anything available in XBLA at any price. So I have no problem with paying 400 points for a game I enjoy, and it certainly offers far more value to me than a 1200 point Call of Duty map pack.

“The Sugar Killerz” isn’t exactly like any game I’ve played, but I can compare elements of it to games you may be familiar with. The game controls a bit like a dual-stick shooter, but isn’t limited to an arena. It’s also not limited to scrolling either vertically or horizontally, as it does both. And it scrolls towards the backround (psuedo-3D) at times. The changing perspective reminds me of games like Metal Slug, in fact. Perhaps inspired by the shifting perspective between levels, the direction enemies come at you seems less restricted than a typical side-scrolling shoot-’em-up, which keeps you on your toes.

The premise has you destroying junk food, so it’s kind-of, sort-of got a message behind it, but one easily ignored. Graphics are appealing, with a wide selection of levels and backgrounds (including some with obstacles along the top and bottom of the screen, and others without) and a cinematic feel to the transitions between levels. Enemies are similarly varied, with some amusing touches including some enemies that appear to be holding riot shields (and act as if they’re shielded too). Your AI compatriots are excellent, dealing death very effectively. So much so, you might actually find your friends are not as good as AI teammates, though the included multiplayer offering is appreciated and suits a game like this very well. You have four weapons (selectable with the face buttons) and they feel decidedly different, which is all you can ask for.