Hi everyone,

Further to my previous blog with the promo marketing stuff (i.e. crap I give away to help promote the name but didn't really expect people to buy) I've now started selling shirts/clothes.

I've just release 4 so far to gauge interested. I only make a couple of bucks per shirt but it's money for nothing and every bit helps so I thought I'd see how they go. 

Here's what I've done so far:

Shirt 1 - The C117 Games Logo

http://www.redbubble.com/people/c117games/works/10342891-c117-games-loco-pollo-logo-tee

Nothing too exciting here. This is just for me and the other staff to wear around PAX. Doubt anyone'll know who we are but hopefully the loco-pollo (chickan) catches peope's eye and makes them wonder. Better get myself to the top of the Google search engine by PAX eh?!

Shirt 2 - HIVE Playable Characters

http://www.redbubble.com/people/c117games/works/10351289-hive-4-square-characters

As the title suggests this is a shirt showing the four playable characters in HIVE. I chose to eliminate smoothing in the hope that it might appeal to the retro hipster crowd. This shirt is a sure indicator that I've done NO proper marketing research in my life... if I had there'd probably be something to indicate what the shirt related to! Oops, not even a reference to C117 or HIVE.

Shirt 3 - King Nick

http://www.redbubble.com/people/c117games/works/10351359-hive-hail-to-the-king-maybe

If any of you ever played Nick's Quest (my first "proof of concept" game) you'd be familiar with King Nick. Based on Nickosaurus-Rex from this very sight he's a perverted sort of chap who has a tinge of the stupid. He's has a cameo in HIVE too however he's been bumped back to Duke because of what happened in Nick's Quest. Anyway this is a shirt about him. 

Again... no reference to C117 Games or Nick's Quest. :S

Baby Growsuit - Future Chickan Slayer

http://www.redbubble.com/people/c117games/works/10342925-c117-games-future-chickan-slayer

Last but not least is this idea I had at 1am. Put it up for a laugh and, so far, it's been the only thing to sell. Lol. Bet these people don't even know what a chickan is! 

Just having a play with some ideas and was wondering if you guys bought video game stuff. If so would you pay

$4 for one of these?

$14 for one of these?

The image on the inside of the mug is

This game was so good it brought me out of "reviewer retirement" and made me give the first 10/10 I've given since, I think, Warcraft 3!

Read the full review at The White Dunmer or Stevivor

Guacamelee is the latest venture from Drinkbox Studios and, by far, one of the greatest 2D platformers Ive ever played. Its a metroidvania style action-platformer dipped in Mexican culture, wrapped in Easter eggs and splattered with humour. It manages to balance difficulty with skill, humour with story and style with substance to create a perfect experience from start to finish.

10 out of 10

Hi everybody!

Unfortunately HIVE's had to take the back seat at C117 over the past month or two due to some organisational restructuring.  The plus side of this is the I have the following C117 related news:

1. C117 is now called C117 Games

2. We're looking to employ (set fee per piece). If you or anyone you know are interested in the following roles then get in contact

- Sprite Artist
- Portrait Artist/Illustrator (Anime style)

3. We have a shiny new logo... much more appropriate for the nature of what we do! 

4. We have a shiny new splash screen (click it to see a low res animated version with sound!
Note : If you load and it doesn't appear to be moving it probably means your browser is caching it. Hit the refresh button and ist should run at normal speed. 

http://www.c117games.com/C117Logo/C117LogoSplash-sml.swf

I've also completed a marketing campaign/gimmick thing for when we launch the kickstarter project but you'll have to wait for that. 

From here we'll be working on finishing off the demo and getting that out there with the kickstarter link. Once that's done... it's time to knuckle down and turn the story into a game :)

Dave

Hi everybody!

It's been a while since the last HIVE update but, rest assured, we've not been resting on our laurels just playing games (a.k.a. "research") and sipping on espresso (a.k.a. "meetings"). We've been doing a lot to polish the core components of the game and, unfortunately, that doesn't give me a great deal to show you! :(

I don't want you to walk away empty handed though so here's a free wallpaper

HIVE Wallpaper1 1920x1080

There was something I wanted to get your opinion on however and that was the profession system in RPGs.

HIVE isn't going to be an overly heavy RPG when it comes to professions however I'm toying with a few different ideas based on games I've played and liked. In short a profession determines what skills you can use, armor you can equip, weapons you can use and base statistic boosters (e.g. vitality, strength). Here are my options:

1. System forced profession. Each member of your party has a profession which you can't change
2. Optional Profession #1. Player can choose a profession. Skills available are based on the player's core level.
3. Optional Profession #2. Player can choose a profession. Levels pertain to professions not the core character. For example, if you levelled up a fighter to 20 and then decided to switch to a mage you would start that profession at level 1. If you changed back to the fighter it would bring you back up to 20 agian.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to make it so that jobs apply character perks wihich span across different professions (i.e. you unlock a 10% defence booster with a warrior level 10. I wanted it so that, if you became a mage, the 10% defence boost was still in effect).That said I HAVE been able to setup another system where, at certain levels, sub professions become available. For example: You start out with a fighter class. Once fighter reaches level 10 you unlock the knight class. Once Knight reaches 15 you unlock the Paladin and Dark Knight classes. Those aren't final names btw, just examples I used to illustrate my point. I wouldn't imagine we'd have more than three levels for each of the starter professions though as I don't want people to get too bogged down in levelling and exploring... sounds silly for an RPG right? Considering that's part of what they're meant to be about! LolAnyway I'd appreciate any thoughts people have. Or even any comments relating to levelling or RPGs in general :)

Just an update for everyone regarding the development of HIVE.

We've got the initial setup portions out of the way and everything's proceeding nicely now. Our staff roster is almost full (still need a sprite/pixel artist... anyone know one?) and our website, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube channels are all up and running.

Info is scarce at the moment, of course, as we're still in the early stages of development however we hope to have something up soon plus a playable demo in a few monhts!

If you'd like to keep up to date on progress you can keep an eye on our website or follow/like us on Twitter/Facebook... or just head over for a sticky beak if you like. Any feedback is welcome :)

Links are

Web : http://www.c117.net/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/c117net
Twitter : @C117net

I can't post a blog without a little info though so here's some samples of what we're been working on

1. Bad guys

Simon has completed our first official monster. He's called the Quadrobeast! Named because he likes hanging in the quad playing handball... which he totally kicks ass at!* I love this guy so much, reminds me of something I might see in Borderlands :D

*that statement is not true**
** about the reason for the name. I'm sure Quadrabeast does kick ass at handball

2. Good guys

Arielle and Quang have loads of ideas and, whilst they're still determining the format they will use, we do have some preliminary sketches from Quang. Pretty awesome right?!

3. Music

Julian Ozuka (julianoazuke on GameSpot) is a dead set monkey genius! He's come up with a mountain of great work. I don't wanna spoil it for you but here are a few samples to let you see what I mean!

Chase Theme (in dev)

Fighty Music

Start Town Theme

3. Gameplay, Tilesets and Sound Effects

I haven't got much to show you from Michael (tile sets) or Shane (sound effects) as their stuff is very reliant on completion of maps and in game content... which I haven't done yet :)

Unfortunately there isn't much I can really link you to regarding what I have done as it's very rough... well, ok, I'll give you a glimpse of some concept videos if you like

Rosebrooke Concept Map

Trial Battle System

Keep in mind they're not final. Character artwork needs to be updated, tilesets for the maps are wrong... everything except the script and the music will probably change actually :)

Aside from that most of the work I've been doing has been on the back end; specifically:

• Challenge system (think achievements)
• Diary system (records progress in story, info about people/towns you meet and a bestiary)
• Combat System (default is FP like Dragon Quest games but I wanted my third person like the early FF games)
• Getting the game to run like a proper RPG

and, of course, just learning how to effectively script and event. The programming language is Ruby which is an OO language that seems pretty easy to learn. There's doing things and doing things well though... as I'm learning the hard way.

Anyway that's about it for now.As I mentioned at the start we'll put bits up on Facebook/Twitter as they're completed and I'll post here agin once I have a playable demo.

It's hard to explain just how exciting this is for me. I have 6 awesome minions working with me on a project and we all have loads of ideas and input.

It's super exciting!

Well here it is; my final(?) review for the Stevivor.com website :(

Equipped with improved graphics, a new control method andless cutesy visage,New Little Kings Storyis a Vita title you would be remiss to ignore. Primarily, a real time strategy game it combines RPG and life simulation elements to create a truly unique experience. It's a fantastic and addictive game but has some big flaws that cant be ignored. It looks great, sounds great and makes me happy I purchased a Vita.

It just feels like it needed that extra round of quality testing and patching prior to release. I gave it a 7.5 out of 10 however, if they fix those issues with a patch, Id consider this a 9 or 9.5 out of 10 game. Even with its flaws I had an absolute blast and am still playing it.

Full review athttp://stevivor.com/review/new-little-kings-story/

7.5 out of 10

Read the full review athttp://stevivor.com/review/deponia/

Deponiais a well presented title that falls short of its potential. Problem resolution is convoluted, the script is average, and the game was very short. There are very few likeable characters or noteworthy puzzles making for an easily forgettable experience. Its a good game if you like point and click adventures but had too many problems to be up there with the best.

6 out of 10

Well the first town in the game is now complete! The above image is the residential area first thing in the morning so the colors aren't as vibrant as they would be later in the day.

The core system is working well now with the quest system finalised and scripting implemented to allow for four different times of day (dawn, day, dusk, night).

Juliano's written us a kickass theme song for the town (julianozuca on GameSpot if you were wondering) and you can listen to it here:

http://soundcloud.com/julianozucareli/rosebrooke-theme-wake-up-final

Still yet to finalise portrait artists howver I have two people interested and submitting art so, finger's crossed, it'll work well. I should have sopme monster artwork to post soon as well which will be fun. The guy doing the monsters is really talented and he comes up with some wierd ass concepts so I'll be keen to see what emerges!

Anwyay that's just a brief update. I know no-onw asked for one but the team is working really well together and I grow more excited about the project every day! :)

One of the funniest things I've seen in a while!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRN-IrejBTw