2009 December » Zeboyd Games

Molly the Were-Zompire coming soon!

Dec 082009

My next game, Molly the Were-Zompire, is in peer review right now with a little over half of the reviews necessary to pass. I’m hoping that it will go up on XBox Live sometime this week. It will sell for 80 MS points ($1 USD).

Like Epiphany in Spaaace!, Molly the Were-Zompire is an interactive novel. Whereas Epiphany focused on sci-fi cliches, Molly focuses on making fun of RPG cliches. Although I like Epiphany, I think Molly has the stronger story – it’s less concerned with parody and has more general humor in it. As for the technical aspects, Molly is using basically the same game engine, although I upgraded it slightly to support the inclusion of pictures. Scattered throughout the game are a few wonderfully hand drawn pictures to go with the written text. And by wonderful, I mean they were drawn by me. Come to think of it, maybe I would be better off claiming that my 9 year old drew them.

Although it’s coming out after Epiphany, Molly the Were-Zompire has actually been in development for a much longer time. I actually came up with the idea of Molly many years ago in a story called MaZoGiDeSto – A Magical Zombie Girl Detective Story. I never actually finished the story, but I kept messing around with the character until eventually I came up the idea of a Were-Zompire (part werewolf, part zombie, and part vampire) and she switched to that. When I found out about XBox Live Community Games, I was determined to make a game starring Molly. At first, I was going to make a traditional RPG, but when the gameplay system I created for Molly turned out to be more complicated than fun (involving matching power-ups to various battle situations), I scrapped that idea and made the game an interactive novel instead. If you were to hack into the code for Molly the Were-Zompire, you’d actually find a lot of code from that earlier form of the game for stuff like battles and character stats. You’d also discover that Umiko the pirate-ninja was a member of your party (she’s still in the current game) but the other two playable characters that join Molly – Torment (a being of pure evil) and Sleet (a washed up rock star) – are nowhere to be found. I thought about including them, but in the end, I didn’t find a good place to stick them in any of the plot threads so out they went.

In any case, I’m excited that Molly the Were-Zompire is finally going to be released. Now onto my next game idea! I think I’m going to take a break from Interactive Novels for the moment and am going to do something more gameplay oriented. Maybe a dungeon hack RPG with historical and mythical characters as party members (Mulan, Santa, and Einstein unite to fight evil!).

Chris Unarmed Interview

Interviews No Responses »

Dec 072009

Here at Zeboyd.com, we had a chance to talk to Chris Hughes about his upcoming platformer, Chris Unarmed.

1 – Tell us about yourself. Why did you decide to get into game development?

I started my career in software development, and have already tinkered with projects at home. I have a strong passion for creativity. Normally that means starting something and losing interest in a couple of weeks once I’ve exhausted the initial creative phase and the hard work has began. This year I tried something different. I created a blog (http://chris2d.blogspot.com) where I set a resolution to build and publish a game to XBLIG this year, and I sent it to all my friends to keep my accountable. It worked.

2 – The platforming genre is highly competitive. What makes Chris Unarmed stand out from all the other platformers out there?

Indie games need to do at least 1 thing really well. They rarely compete with regular titles on scale or production values, so they need a hook. For Chris Unarmed, the level design is that hook. I know that sounds strange, but when people see the trailer they’ll appreciate what I mean. Some of the moves in this game haven’t been seen before, and that is what really sets Chris Unarmed apart. It makes you think. Not so much with traditional puzzle elements, but to work out how to manouvre Chris to reach his goal.

3 – I noticed that the game has a number of coins to collect as well as a timer that keeps track of your playing time. Are there any special rewards for collecting a lot of coins or beating the game under a certain time or are these just for gamers who want an extra challenge?

Hopefully players will enjoy the feel of the game, and they’ll play through more than once. These elements are really for those players. There are 5 different endings, based on the number of coins you collect, but they don’t affect the rest of the game. The timer was initially there just to gauge the length of the game (incidentally, it should take ~3 hours for most players the first time through), and it was going to be removed until one reviewer mentioned that he enjoyed racing against the clock. If nothing else, it should keep speed runners accountable.

4 – Tell us about Chris Unarmed’s development? How long did Chris Unarmed take to make? How many people were involved? What were some of the hardest parts of making it?

The project was officially launched on 2 Jan this year, and is (pending peer review) a few days from launch now. I did everything except for the music, which was composed by a mate of mine Ryan. The technical aspects were pretty straightforward. True to form, the hardest part was staying motivated. I finished the engine in March, and then took 3 months off because the prospect of creating all the levels was so daunting. The two best things I did were to build an in-game editor and a command console. With these tools, I was able to jump from room to room in a flash, and make steady, incremental updates to rooms and test them instantly. Saved me a LOT of time!

5 – Now that Chris Unarmed is finished and soon to be released to XBox Live, what are your plans for the future?

Not quiting my day job just yet. It really depends how people respond to Chris Unarmed. There’s still a lot to explore in the platformer genre if people like my work. I’m still learning, and thankfully there’s a great XNA community to support anyone who is passionate about game development.

Expect a full review of Chris Unarmed after its official release on XBox Live Indie Games.