The Eternal Nightmare

Okay, it's been a bit of a delay here with updates, my bad. In all fairness it's pretty good news though, I've been caught up with actually producing games. We should be announcing two new products in the near future which has me pretty excited.

I thought I should take this opportunity to step-aside from the production end of things and really introduce you all to the world of Ruby Rust. Our first episode is perhaps an unusual prologue to the story, you'll begin your adventure as our protagonist Ruby Rust while she is trapped, tormented in a nightmare. I'll admit this is an odd way for people to preview the series, an episode not set in the actual game world, but we've got a few good reasons for this.

If you're interested in game design you've probably heard the helpful advice "don't start with an RPG". Very wise words indeed, it's a mighty long and involved process for every department working on it. With an episodic game you can at least release something while you polish up the later sections of the game but you've still got to have all your details worked out pretty solid since you can't go and change things once people have been playing them.

Thankfully not a part of Ruby's Nightmare
(Rick Felski's Toulouse No-Neck from WISN-TV's Shock Theatre)

So you'd probably guess that the first episode is a bit of a cop out to produce something that we can totally ignore in terms of continuity. Sadly for us this isn't the case, the game play you experience in the first episode does tie in to all the later episodes, so we do have to polish and fuss over all the details anyways. The departure is actually integral to the story, but it does give us the opportunity to do something a little more action oriented than story driven while maintaining a consistent character and storyline.

Our first episode is actually an action game. Ruby is trapped in a nightmare and under attack. So we've got the opportunity for you to experience a fast-paced action survival game that if you do well enough starts to unlock some hints and glimpses of Ruby's real world. While the play style is different, and much more arcade-y than the real body of the work you'll be getting used to Ruby and her control scheme for when she starts adventuring in the real world. Where you'll finally be able to put together the secrets you learn in this episode.

So I hope this has whet your appetite. You'll get your introduction to Ruby and enjoy some fast-paced action, and while the story and development of the RPG might not be evident in the first release, trust me it will tie-in very neatly indeed and you'll get a unique glimpse of the world if you can earn those unlockables.

Now I'd better get back to work!

Why did I teach them to spit acid at me?

So lately I've been mostly focusing on AI, or any lack there of. Unfortunately with Ruby we've gone the hard route and wanted bad guys that are actually bad, not just lumps that wiggle or pace that hurt to touch. Nope it's time for some good old fashioned these things are trying to kill me. It's certainly a more painful route to develop for, taking a vast amount of more planning and code than the simpler style of enemies but we're going for a game that you don't get to just memorize. I may have planned out this AI, essentially teaching it everything it knows, but it doesn't mean I know exactly what it's going to do.

Pattern recognition is a standard feature for a lot of old school games, where players are able to analyze the game and reliably predict the actions of opponents to a high level. While we can certainly see a great fondness for games using this classic design method to overcome processor limitations, we like to make things a bit more of a pain in the posterior for would be game guide writers and cheats. Now we don't have the time or resources to invest in truly complex intelligence for our monsters, we do have a big improvement in processing power than the classic games and so we'll put it to use.

Coming Robot Apocalypse? We did our part!
(image found on geekologie.com)

Giving our monsters decision making abilities allows us to, I believe, improve the realism of the world, and provide a much more challenging system. Players can't just read a guide and know how to be good, our system won't generate results too predictable (or at least that's the plan), forcing the player to instead invest in the game a level of thought and care to develop their skills and character that is the heart of RPGs. This is one of the reasons we are releasing episode 0, it gives players the opportunity to learn about the protagonist of our story, and develop those skills they'll need to survive the adventure ahead.

That being said, we are still dealing with a mobile game, and a limited budget. Our creatures don't formulate chess-like strategies, and given the story of episode one, may not be the most realistic representation that players will encounter in our game. So we've struck a balance, we aren't going to settle for pre-plotted movement and blind undefended monsters that offer little more than a terrain hazard, but players aren't going to be overwhelmed by a coordinated opponent of thousands orf accurately predicting automotons. Where is the sweet-spot? I wish I knew, but when you're playtesting, you know you're resolving your AI issues when you start dying a lot. I take an awful lot of them out with me, but you can't just look away and expect them not to turn you into tonight's supper.

Episode 0 is certainly a special case and you'll get to find out why, but as you get to explore the world of Ruby Rust I think you'll find a very satisfying responsiveness and vitality to the world, and if I've done my job right, every so often get yourself right stomped.

Slow Progress is still Progress

We got a new build at the end of last week, and I gotta say we're making some big headway on the game. Feels like a real step forward. Controls are feeling good, I think we've got a great new system that folks will really like. Just like Spin Puzzle where we came up with an elegant new way to do puzzle games by removing clutter and putting touch and tilt sensing technology to use, I think Ruby Rust will manage to show a new model for action-rpgs on the iphone. It should be a step in the right direction for the industry.

Of course in the end Ruby Rust will really only be a success if it finds it's market. App marketing is perhaps one of the most competitive markets yet and we're certainly having a hard time getting that foot in the door with Spin Puzzle. We've got some ads running, but we're still in short supply of reviews, since we're not going to support the pay-for-review sites we have to lobby, wait and hope the review sites will pick us up. If anyone can, posting reviews of our Spin Puzzle game really helps us out, not just find our market, but hear what you have to say. We started this company to do what we love, but we really value your feedback, we want to know what you think and hope that whatever the product you'll let us know how we're doing and what you like or didn't like.

[spin puzzle game review captured from iTunes]

Spin Puzzle's first review - thanks Heriberto! Hopefully we can get a lot more reviews (especially from our US fans!) and get a composite rating posted in the app store very soon!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

It's now 4708 Year of the Metal Tiger. Look out for a unpredictable year full of change, hopefully a prosperous one!

Seremeres is certainly looking forward to a big year, Spin Puzzle has just launched (check it out! http://itunes.apple.com/app/spin-puzzle/id352266984?mt=8) and we're just getting started. We've started playtesting the new enemy AI for Ruby Rust Episode 0, we'll make sure its up for the task!

We've done a bit of an upgrade to the company website http://games.seremeres.com. I had plans for making some handy resources available for everybody, and in the spirit of the season I'll try to post a little something about Chinese elemental theory soon.

A picture of a traditional Chinese Lion Dance, a ceremony to scare away spirits and bad luck. (Photo by Bob Jagendorf from Manalapan, NJ, USA used under Creative Commons license.)

Spin Puzzle now available!

Seremeres is proud to present our first release: Spin Puzzle. Our great jigsaw-style puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Our first release combines proven gameplay with all-ages action of a traditional jigsaw without any of the clutter and with the added difficulty of no obvious corner or side pieces. Enjoy 25 different puzzles for just $0.99. Speed play and unlockable trophies offer challenge and replayability while the "Peek" feature helps you if you're stumped.

Spin Puzzle is available now in the App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. For more information on Spin Puzzle check out the Spin Puzzle info page.

Spin Puzzle app approved!

We've gotten our first app approved. Starting on Friday, February 12th Spin Puzzle will be available in the App Store. We hope we can count on your support for our first app, we think it's a great little app for $0.99. A jigsaw puzzle game with a unique spin, you can enjoy great art puzzles without all the clutter. The game features some of our Art Director Serena Samborski's favourite sketches. For those with a more competitive streak you can play to beat the clock and unlock trophies. We hope we'll get enough interest out their since we've got lot's of great ideas to put out once we've got the funds, including a lot of sequels for both Ruby Rust and Spin Puzzle.

We're currently doing the preliminary testing on new features for Ruby Rust Episode One. The new features should really improve the product and I think we'll have a great little appetizer for what we plan with the series. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can release it. Some of the monster animations are looking just fantastic, better than I had hoped. I can't wait to see what Ruby Rust will look like a few games into the series.

Music Video by our Composer Johnny Amore

Our composer, Johnny Amore, has released a video for his new CD, so I thought I'd share it with folks here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myz2IjXRjxA

Awesome shot of the cat climbing a leg, but the squirrel is hilarious. Ruby may end up with a flying squirrel monster because of that shot.

If you'd like to learn more Johnny's been signed with a label now, so check him out on Urban Planning Records at: http://www.urbanplanningrecords.com/johnny_amore.html