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Introducing our latest project!
3.9.2008 By Simon
The ones that have visited our old site from time to time know that a
while back I let it slip that we've had a secret project in the works
along side Project Rhapsody. If you haven't heard about it at all, it's
not surprising. We've been keeping very quiet about this project for a
while now because we were unsure how this would end up.
While working on Project Rhapsody I was experimenting with one of my private ideas, one of them being roughly about pressing a button rapidly to fly and communicating with the people you meet in the sky using only expressions. Blake was trying out the XNA tools at the time, and we decided to try and make a little game using it. As we worked on it, it became clear that it had big potential and we started to focus on it more seriously.
The game, tentively called Owlboy, is about Otus who is under training by his mentor Asio. With his wing cape, you can explore the flying islands and the people that inhabit them. Otus can't talk, so he can only commuticate with his emotions. The game will feature freeroaming areas as well as several dungeons.
The main focus in the game is on the ability to fly and using it to progress. You'll be able to carry and use objects as you fly and most of the time, you'll bring with you a gunner. The gunners are people that agree to help you and will all provide different forms of firepower. To get new gunners, you'll have to use your expressions and talents to win them over. The better the gunner, the trickyer he\she\it is to win over.
The game is still in it's starting phase, but work on the first dungeon is just about to start with the first area nearly complete. We've uploaded some screenshots for you to view for now, but check back here regularly as we'll keep you posted on any new developments as they occur.
While working on Project Rhapsody I was experimenting with one of my private ideas, one of them being roughly about pressing a button rapidly to fly and communicating with the people you meet in the sky using only expressions. Blake was trying out the XNA tools at the time, and we decided to try and make a little game using it. As we worked on it, it became clear that it had big potential and we started to focus on it more seriously.
The game, tentively called Owlboy, is about Otus who is under training by his mentor Asio. With his wing cape, you can explore the flying islands and the people that inhabit them. Otus can't talk, so he can only commuticate with his emotions. The game will feature freeroaming areas as well as several dungeons.
The main focus in the game is on the ability to fly and using it to progress. You'll be able to carry and use objects as you fly and most of the time, you'll bring with you a gunner. The gunners are people that agree to help you and will all provide different forms of firepower. To get new gunners, you'll have to use your expressions and talents to win them over. The better the gunner, the trickyer he\she\it is to win over.
The game is still in it's starting phase, but work on the first dungeon is just about to start with the first area nearly complete. We've uploaded some screenshots for you to view for now, but check back here regularly as we'll keep you posted on any new developments as they occur.
Related: Owlboy
Comments
The art looks amazing, but I'm an Apple user with a Nintendo DS + Wii for gaming. Any chance of ports to these systems?
Drutten
Drutten: I'd love to make this game available on Wiiware or other consoles, but getting dev. kits for Wii (as well as PSN) is still pretty tricky for indies, and retail development for handhelds like DS or PSP is very pricy because of cartridge production and distribution. Even if we did have the tools we needed, rewriting the code from scratch again is a tremendous ammount of work. It's frustratig for me that we can't make it happen (I play the Wii myself,) but for now, we'll just have to wait and see what options become available to us.
Simon
And how about the price? How much will the game cost? Or it'll be free?
Zepp
Well, we're not sure exactly on the pricing, but they don't allow free games on Xbox Live Commmunity games. Rest assured though, the price on the game will be really reasonable (definitely under $10, probably more like $5.)- which is less than a cheeseburger at most places. There will be a free demo of the game on XBox live, and I hope it'll help with determining whether the game is worth purchasing.
We haven't considered pricing on the PC version yet though.
We haven't considered pricing on the PC version yet though.
Blake
The screenshots looks great! How is the engine coming along?
Mark
This game looks awesome. Big fan of the art style. There's a lot of style that many of today's games lack. I'll be sure to buy it when it comes out on PC. I hope you guys get the change to put it on PSN and wii ware!
Charles
I sincerely congratulate you on your work it's really amazing, I can't wait to play your games, is there any way to suscribe for updates on your project? if so my mail is fenian_12@yahoo.com
Fenian
Hey mate. Can't wait for the game looks nice. I even posted on my blog about it to help promote it. I love platform games. Can I just ask you. Will you have to keep pressing the jump (or I guess fly) button to make him go higher? Cause it was really tireing in sonic 3 on the mega drive so I think it's a mistake you should avoid. You should make flight smooth and fun
Quaro
yeah this game looks pretty good. Hopefully you guys get this game out for the PC first. I would totally pick up this game.
Shin212
I'm definitely interested in the game! I'll be getting it for the PC :)
Saulo
Great idea! Brilliant and vivid art style. Can't wait.
Von
@Mark: The engine is pretty much complete, we're just building new maps and adding new dialogs.
@Fenian: We'll probably make some sort of rss feed for all of our news pages, but keep watching this website for all updates!
@Quaro: Oh yeah, we definitely avoided that trap! Flying should be completely effortless. The control scheme is a huge part of this game, and I'm sure we'll post more details about it later.
@Fenian: We'll probably make some sort of rss feed for all of our news pages, but keep watching this website for all updates!
@Quaro: Oh yeah, we definitely avoided that trap! Flying should be completely effortless. The control scheme is a huge part of this game, and I'm sure we'll post more details about it later.
Blake
will do
Fenian