Life happens Life goes on.

Running a little behind on managing so many things at once.  But they're still going on.  Very much so.

Life just happens, and unbelievably-precise obstacles get in your way sometimes.  I've just have been having one problem after another, everything from a stupid computer issues to a cracked tooth, not to mention some truly personal issues, but I'm not here to list them.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm refining my demos, videos and assets some more, since there's more I can do with them.  I don't like to make schedules or guarantees, but yeah, my announced stuff will surface soon enough.  I'm working hard on them and I won't relax until it's all done and delivered well.

- Brian

Meh...Okay, here's some more about the Fantastic Five

Why not?  You guys are small enough rate of visitors to share it with.  ;)

In short:

• Project Coalescence is a full-featured true remeshing toolkit, designed to allow functions such as
• merging objects together with seamless topology
• Grease Pencil guide lines for guided remeshing
• a polygon grouping feature
• rapidly remeshing surfaces with even distribution of quads
• Blender's unique answer to "Dynamesh" (though, a Blender-unique solution that works very differently than ZBrush's Dynamesh but achieves a very similar result)
  
  
• Project Plasma is a full-featured rapid retopology toolkit, designed to allow functions such as
• auto-retopologizing meshes, with optional Grease Pencil control lines
• ghosted topology flow suggestions for manual retopology
• optional auto-bridging of disconnected edge loops
• organized tools for streamlined manual retopologizing
• all rapid retopology tools being available during Sculpt Mode (allows for less retopo work when some of it is already done during the sculpting phase)
  
  
• Project Threads is a full-featured clothing creation toolkit, designed to allow functions such as
• sewing clothes with real-time physics
• organized tools for applying effects to clothing such as destructive (burns, tears, etc.) and additive (stains, wrinkling, etc.) effects
• clothes sculpting tools (allows quick creation of clothes on models using Sculpt tools and readies the creation for manipulation with the clothing toolset)
• a fastener creator, to aid with creating zippers and other fasteners
• a pocket stitching tool
• a customizable clothing library of buttons, zippers, cuffs, collars and pre-made base clothing
• a mannequin creation setup assistant
  
  
• Project Kilauea is a full-featured terrain generation toolkit, designed to allow something functions such as
• real-time generation of terrain with presets
• organized tools for painting and export heightmaps
• automatic heightmap-from-mesh extraction and editing
• organized tools for ecosystem generation
• a terrain sculpting toolset
• terrain texturing with mask support
• adjustable erosion filters
• sculpting terrain with weight paint limits
• hopefully, vector displacement map support to allow erosion on overhanging and concave regions of the terrain
  
  
• Project Fluxus is a full-featured motion graphics toolkit, designed to allow functions such as
• a rich set of interactive and non-destructive motion effectors
• ready presets for dynamic particles that react to rigid-body and soft-body dynamics in real-time
• an animation director that allows you to edit their animations curves while they're running independently from each other--without need of directly touching the keyframes
• animated "dynamorphing" text effects that automatically remeshes the topology of distorting/morphing text objects with every animated frame as needed (to minimize stretching artifacts)
• full Cycles support, complete with presets for materials, lighting, node-based special effects and more

Now, again, this development is early, it isn't my primary development, but it is high on my list and I've already started with developing them.  The sooner I can have these tools for myself, the better.  Hopefully, I can get support with full-time development, so that these scripts will see production put in fast-forward.

But again, let me not get ahead of myself.  Now you know some of just what I'm doing during those quiet moments here.

- Brian

Not just developing games...

I just want to break some of the silence of what I'm doing behind-the-scenes in my developer life.  I'm not just developing a couple of games.  I'm also working on improving the tools I use for such game development everyday.

This is an early announcement, but I'm currently working on a set of five addons scripts for Blender.  Here's a rough summary of what I'm calling the Fantastic Five:

• Project Coalescence, a full-featured true remeshing toolkit.
  
• Project Plasma, a full-featured rapid retopology toolkit.
  
• Project Threads, a full-featured clothing creation toolkit.
  
• Project Kilauea, a full-featured terrain generation toolkit.
  
• Project Fluxus, a full-featured motion graphics toolkit.

They are as exciting as they sound.  I'm working on a set of scripts that will utilize all the latest advances of Blender 2.6, integrate them to work together as seamlessly as possible, and push them farther than they've ever been as tools, as well as feature plenty of original innovations.

I'm personally developing the tools I myself have longed need for streamlining game development.  I have heavy games I'm developing and I need heavy tools.  Even though I do own use other tools to complement Blender, having a streamlined one-stop shop for most of my work will prove most invaluable.

When I'm done with it, Blender will be a tool highly-optimized for streamline game development and animation   I'll outline my Fantastic Five in more detail in another post later.  I might even produce a design document to invite other developers to aid my development.

Naturally, as I do have several other projects I'm working on all at once, this will take some time to do.  Right now, SeVer is my top priority.  But if demand proves high enough, I can set it higher as a priority (even though it's already pretty high as a priority).

But I'm getting ahead of myself here.  One step at a time.  Today, an introduction.  These are what I'm working on, in addition to my games.

- Brian

I just fixed my Wacom!

Succeeeeess!

Don't know how or why it worked, but I fooled around with my Wacom tablet some more and tried someone's "whodathunk" suggestion for getting it to work again and I got it working again.  I don't know if the fix will last or not, but I don't really care--it's working for now, and now I can paint my textures easier again!  This fix saves about $200-$300 for a new one.  Anyways, back to full speed with production!

Sorry about the absence, folks!

My past two weeks in a nutshell...

Sorry for the long pause there (it's been almost two full weeks since I've last posted something here), but I've had to deal with some stuff.  Yeah, just stuff.  I've had to work with major Internet issues lately (like my Internet being off for almost a whole week and experiencing absolutely frustrating dropped signals when it's on), my Wacom graphics tablet is damaged and out of commission (I'll need to get a new one), and my computer's been strangely freezing and crashing a few times lately for no reason I can find (all to my greatest frustration).

But there's also been some good things that have caused a delay lately, chiefly with the news of Unity 4 coming soon, promising some features I've been waiting a long time for and that causes me to readjust plans (again).  Also, I'm finishing up the game design document (which was supposed to be finished like two months ago, I'll admit, but got pushed aside to production work), which will be provided to those who would be interested in joining Team PolyKhrome when I start recruiting.  And finally, besides just some more character models I'm working on, the demo itself really just needs some character animations, some more textures to complete the terrain, and enough game logic to present the basic gameplay mechanics, and it'll be done enough to display on Indie DB and polished enough provide for our Kickstarter (if all goes well with no more delays) sometime next month.

I'm preparing to upload some shots of stuff I've been working on for the time throughout the past two weeks.  And even though my graphics tablet is out of commission, I'm taking advantage of some other techniques to get as much of the job done as I can until I get another tablet as soon as possible.  But hopefully, aside from texturing, hopefully I won't need it too much for the completion of the demo.  I still want to get my Kickstarter going next month.  I never meant to be late with starting the Kickstarter for Cyka, but so unexpected delays have come my way, all I can do is adapt to them.  But some things have made the delays worth the wait, such as the news of the upcoming Unity 4, which I'll be talking about more in a separate post.

Anyways, that's all for this post.  I've got several more posts to do today, so I'll keep this one brief.  Thanks for checking back over the last two weeks, and sorry to keep you waiting.  But hopefully, from what I've got to show soon, you'll think it was well worth the wait.

- Brian

For Developers: PolyKhrome introduces Powerhouse

If you're not an indie or hobbyist game developer, then you're not going to care about this one too much.  But if you are, then this might be of some interest to you.

We're opening a new page devoted to our game assets for sale.  It's going to be through a division called Powerhouse Game Assets (or simply Powerhouse).  This is just so we can focus our attention on our games here at PolyKhrome, and on our coming assets at Powerhouse.

The assets from Powerhouse will be developed with the indie game developer in mind, and as indie game developer, PolyKhrome knows a lot of those needs personally.  We make what we need (such as the clothes-modeling program I've been organizing, for instance) and we know that others will appreciate what we are and will be producing.

The assets will range from everything such as 3D models, environments, music, textures, scripts, detailed content packages and even full basic game starter packs.  And we're providing assets for many kinds of game engines, including Unity, UDK, CryEngine 3 SDK, and Spring RTS Engine.  2D game engines will be later supported.  The assets will be variously available in a number of asset marketplaces, such as the Unity Asset Store, Envato, TurboSquid, and 3DExport.

The majority of the content will be game-ready, and the prices for our assets will be priced with the indie developer in mind.  We'll even offer a royalty-based plan option that will be available when we begin with showcasing assets, because we know that sometimes you've got to start with nothing to make something.

The money we make from assets will go towards our own game development, and even some of the game assets from our own games will be made available as assets to use, typically provided with alternative textures in addition to the original textures.

As for the name, I like the name Powerhouse because it describes our we're going to be with our assets production.  I already have the kind of logo in mind for it.  And I think I just have a thing for ten-letter words that begin with P, has an H in the middle, and ends with E.

We're looking to have our first assets put up this week.  If you visit the site, please excuse the mess--we're building something here.

- Brian

Thanks for 600 views (and without even trying!)

We've reached over 600 views so far, and whether you're a repeating visitor or a new visitor, thank you!  This is a rather nice number of views considering that PolyKhrome hasn't even began to broadcast our game Cyka yet.  We plan to put the Cyka game and register PolyKhrome on Indie DB as soon as the playable demos are almost finished, and we suspect there will be a significant jump in attention from that.

But just the fact that you all who contributed to the 600+ views thus far, just on word-of-mouth or curiosity alone, it still pretty cool.  Having 600 views is not a lot in terms visitors of most bigger blogs, but for an upstarting indie game developer working on their currently unheard-of game, it does mean that at least 600 times, we've piqued someone's interest to come here.  We'll take it.

- Brian

Update: Podcast is recorded and a few other updates

The first PolyKhrome podcast has been recorded and will be a podcast available sometime tomorrow.  The chief developer (um, me) talks about the details of the game, including descriptions of the gameplay, the plot of the story in Story mode, some of the visual style of the game, as well as some as a little details about some development planned for the game.  The podcast is being edited and will be available by noon tomorrow.

There will also be some new concept art posted tomorrow, some as 2D illustrations and some as 3D.  There's a whole lot of concept art and screenshots coming pretty soon, as PolyKhrome goes into overdrive in development of these two demos.  More development screenshots will be posted as well.

Starting tomorrow, PolyKhrome will be posting up available two positions on Unity forums for developers.  For the time being, the positions will be for an additional game artist for 3D assets, as well as concept designer for 2D designs.  An additional programmer will be sought later.

Finally, our first video is currently in production and will be available on our YouTube Channel very soon (which will be getting a face lift as well).  This video will be showing the development of one of our models for the demos.  This marks the start of an exciting time for PolyKhrome, as we will be using YouTube extensively in following the development of this game.

- Brian

Introducing the Leap (and perhaps the start of a beautiful friendship)

PolyKhrome is interested in this technology!  The developers of the Leap are providing free software developer kits to registered and qualified developers, to have more software utilize this revolutionary device (which, by the way, is planned to be priced at a mere $70).  This strongly interests me as a developer, and immediately brings to mind some great uses for our next games.

For instance, Deuces Wild! is a secret agent game where you'll get to play around with all sorts of gadgets at your disposal developed by A>C<E, where gamers will be able to use Wacom Bamboo tablets, touchscreen tablets and microphones as input devices--the Leap goes right down the alley of a game like that!  I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, though.  In our upcoming game Dis_connected, players will be controlling their mech units from within at times, switching to the perspective of operating the machine as a mech pilot in the real-time battle encounters.  You can start to see the sheer potential this technology has for gaming.  Even indie games.  At the Leap's planned price and availability of the SDK, I'd say this is something every indie game developer should seriously consider.

Not to mention, you can just imagine how useful the Leap would be in the actual game development process itself--the technology was born out of a need to make working with 3D modeling programs work easier.  The Leap is more intuitive than the keyboard, more accurate than a mouse, and more sensitive than a touchscreen.  (You can see it more in action here.)  This is easily the most revolutionary step in user interface for computer technology to come along since the invention of the mouse.  And while I personally don't think it'll completely replace the keyboard and mouse, I think it'll certainly be an addition we simply won't live without (it's certainly a small enough device to accompany the keyboard and mouse)!

I can personally say that this company will be strongly considering becoming a developer for the Leap down the line, especially since this company will be developing its own game engine and other game development-related software soon.  We like using game engines, but we'd like to use a customized solution.  But in any case, expect to hear more about this technology in the media--and our concept usages of it for games on this blog--later down the road.  For now, you can visit their website for more information and to pre-order the Leap.

- Brian

An early look at the Kickstarter pledge offerings

Soon.  Very soon...

Here's just an early look at just what supporters of this game can expect to get in return for supporting development of Cyka.  We're also using this article as the main reference to the Kickstarter offerings to use with our Kickstarter page (because this list is too long to put on the Kickstarter page, so we'll refer readers to this list).  Please keep in mind that many of these are still works in progress and that their expected delivery dates will be announced on our Kickstarter page (which is being finished up):

• At the $1 level, supporters will get a Cyka wallpaper, with or without the logo, for their computer desktop and mobile device, as our thanks.  Also, they'll receive their name placed on the interactive Hall of Legends on the official Cyka website (which is an explorable museum-like tribute correlating to the game).  (All pledge level supporters will receive this.)
• At the $10 level, supporters will get the desktop version and the mobile version of the Cyka (digital DRM-free copy directly from PolyKhrome).  I'll even give them them my personal gamer tag, just so they can play against me, the creator of Cyka, online--and this goes for all levels supported above this one.
• At the $15 level, supporters will get the desktop and mobile versions of Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition, which is the special edition of Cyka that features Cloud Quest mode, allowing exploration of the mysterious floating continent in the game (digital DRM-free copy directly from PolyKhrome).
• At the $25 level, supporters will get the aforementioned desktop and mobile versions of Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition, plus a Kickstarter-exclusive gold-edition Commander Cyka option in each game (you can switch between a gold-color Cyka and the standard bronze-color Cyka), along with the official Cyka soundtrack.
• At the $50 level, supporters will get everything mentioned before, plus the Cyka: Steamed Edition to enjoy on Steam, plus a signed poster print of a scene of the almighty blue grid falling on the battling units on the field (a picture will be provided).  We'll also send three of the supporter's friends a copy of Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition (non-Steam PC or Mac desktop version), to enjoy Cyka with each other online.
• At the $100 level, supporters will get everything mentioned before, plus we'll customize the commander unit in the supporter's copy of the game after their request (to use with any faction).  They'll be the only one in the world with that model.  They'll also receive all purchasable downloadable content that ever comes for Cyka of any version, including Steamed Edition (more info on the DLC will be later provided).  They'll also receive the Cyka: Steamed Edition 4-Pack package for Steam, with one copy for themselves and three copies give to away and to enjoy with three friends on Steam.
• At the $500 level, supporters will get everything mentioned before, plus we'll customize any one already-existing faction in the game of their choice completely tailored to their request.  These supporters will be the only one in the world with their specialized army.  We'll also send them a limited-edition highly-detailed stainless steel miniature figurine of Commander Cyka (their choice of 1 of 3 designs), with a glossy antique bronze finish to truly make the commander shine in true steampunk fashion.
• At the $1000 level, well, we'll need to really step it up here.  Supporters will get everything mentioned before, plus we'll create an entire new downloadable continent in their honor (which they'll receive).  They can name it whatever they want, tell us what geographical features they want with it, and tell us what style of music they want for it.  And in addition to already creating their one-of-a-kind customized army from the previous pledge level, we'll create an entirely new faction of units after their request to go along with their new continent.  We'll help them design it well, because we'll create a small website and webstore just for them to sell their faction and continent as purchasable downloadable content and they'll keep 100% of those profits.  They can play with pride as other gamers explore the world and use the brand-new faction in Cyka they designed.  Supporters will also receive an exclusive collection of stainless steel miniature figurines of Commander Cyka (their choice of 1 of 3 designs) and four other figurines of the 4 types of units in Cyka's Knight faction: archer, brawler, swordsman, and heavy artillery.  They can let their miniature figurines shine in their glorious glossy gold-plated finish, presented on a beautiful plaque (beautifully-etched copper surface on a glass board) of our appreciation.
• At the $5000 level (a limited reward - 10 available), supporters will get everything mentioned before, plus they'll get 50 copies of Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition bundles that each include 5 downloadable content packages and a royal outfit for Commander Cyka exclusive to those copies (valued at about $25 each bundle) to do whatever you want with them--sell them, give them away, or keep them (if you want).  They'll receive a copy of everything PolyKhrome ever produces (all our games, our purchasable downloadable content, our game soundtracks, and even our non-game stuff such as our animated feature of Cyka--everything!).  If they're another indie company/small business, we'll place their company logo and website in the end credits of the game, and give a special shout-out to their company website in the interactive Hall of Legends on the official Cyka website.  We'll give each of these supporters a special character cameo as special agents in our next game Deuces Wild!, with the character made after their image and their name listed in the ending credits.
• At the $10,000 level (an exclusive reward - 1 available) the supporter at this point can almost have one of my kidneys.  They'll get everything mentioned before, plus access to the full assets to the entire Cyka game (their choice of the Unity assets or the UDK assets) in order to develop their own company's edition of downloadable content for Cyka to release commercially (royalty-free) to contribute to the franchise.  We'll also include their company logo with a special thanks in the opening credits of the official Cyka game from PolyKhrome.  They'll also receive a giant memorial in the Hall of Legends on the Cyka website, with their logo created in the form of a crest and their contribution told in the form of an ancient historical account of how they helped found the land of King Cyka's people centuries ago.  Also, as many members of the PolyKhrome as possible will plan with the supporter a day to visit them and we'll have lunch, chat about future projects of PolyKhrome, and, of course, play a few some rounds of Cyka together.

As you can see, we have quite a lot lined up for supporters who will help make this game reach its fullest potential.  We're not ready to disclose our fund goal just yet, because we wish to first show our work before we ask for anything.  PolyKhrome is working to create a good example showing just what supporters will get and providing some foresight as to just where their support will take this game.  I personally want this game to play myself, and so PolyKhrome is expecting nothing less than the best for this game.  Stay tuned for more frequent updates about the upcoming playable demos and the Kickstarter campaign pretty soon.

- Brian


[5/26/2012] Update: About the customization at the $100 level, supporters will have many available choices for customization for their commander units shown for them.  The commander units will be truly unique, nonetheless.  We have to point that out here because there's simply no way we could completely customized from the ground up for hundreds of people, which is most likely to get far more support than the higher levels.  The customization the of models at the levels higher than the $100 level, however, are completely customization to their models, as they are expected to have fewer supporters.

I also wish to make clear here that these customized models are just aesthetic customizations only--they will by no means operate differently than other models in the games and for the sake of the game, we will not make any units more powerful than the others.  The only exception somewhat, though, will be for any supporters at the $1000 level, where we'll help them define the attacks and movement styles of their newly-created faction for their newly-created continent in the game.  But again, there will be no major advantages given to these models over other units in the game, for the fairness of the game.

Update: EVERYONE will be able to play Cyka

Cutting straight to the chase, we're making two versions of Cyka so that anyone on any preferred platform can enjoy the game.  Excuse me.  [Writer does a little dance.]


One game, two experiences


One version of Cyka will allow gamers on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android to play together online cross-platform, and now, we've already began creating a version of Cyka that will be exclusive to Steam called Cyka: Steamed Edition.

We've said earlier today that we're working on two different playable demos for Cyka.  Well, this is why we're doing such--to provide a playable example of each version of Cyka, to show our supporters a good taste of what they'll be supporting soon.  And really, this came to us just as a great solution.

Cyka: Steamed Edition


As we've mentioned before, Cyka: Steamed Edition will be a special version of the game built just for Steam to best take advantage of Steam's features.  One problem we were having in making Cyka available for Steam was that it wouldn't be able to play cross-platform with other non-Steam versions of the game, namely the mobile versions, and so we wanted to make a special version for Cyka that would justify being available only just for Steam.

But what's new about the development of this Steam version of the game is that now it will be a very different experience from the original non-Steam version.  While the two versions of the game will play the exact same way in terms of gameplay, the major noticeable difference about Cyka: Steamed Edition will be that it is created using the Unreal Development Kit, and so it will have visuals in a league of its own compared to the standard Cyka game for non-Steam versions built with the Unity Engine (which will still be one beautiful game).  The environments will be noticeably more destructible and interactive as well.  It will feel like its own game because basically it is--it's a version of Cyka built uniquely with UDK from the ground up.

In addition to the visual upgrade, Cyka: Steamed Edition will be able to utilize Steam's matchmaking service, Steam Achievements, Steam Leaderboards, Steam Cloud save service, co-op multiplayer and in-game chat (though some of these features will be on the non-Steam versions, too).  As the Steam version of Cyka will only be able to use Steam's platform Steamworks, the game will cost lower than the non-Steam desktop version of Cyka, it will include the Cloud Quest mode, and there will be free exclusive content for this version as well.

Pick your store soon...

...now soon including Steam!

Recap


So, let's recap just a bit at what we're looking at here:

• Cyka (standard desktop version) (PC or Mac standalone; Linux supported via web browser version)
• Cyka (standard mobile version) (iOS or Android)
• Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition (PC or Mac standalone; Linux supported via web browser version)
• Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition (iOS or Android)
• Cyka: Steamed Edition (exclusive Steam edition for PC and Mac)

Phew!  And then you can also include the free browser-based game, Cyka Free (a scaled-down single-player single-mode version of Cyka with four playable maps and is totally free to play), but that's merely to a scaled version to whet gamers' appetite for the one of the richer multiplayer version of Cyka.

But how?!


But you might be wondering, "How are you now able to do this now?  Weren't you having problems with using the Unity game engine before?"

Well, we're able to do this now because after many hours of searching, we finally found a solution to the problem we were facing before in dealing with Unity's terrain system (two simple little scripts that solved our problem were sitting in the back of a Unity forum, waiting).  But now with Unity back as an option, while we sure didn't want to abandon using Unity (in order to keep Cyka truly cross-platform), we also didn't want to abandon this new version of Cyka we started developing on UDK--which before our solution we were looking at being the only version of Cyka to develop then.

But then we remembered that we were looking for a way to justify having our game on Steam, which wouldn't have allowed cross-platform gaming to non-Steam games (such as a mobile version of Cyka).  We had already had this idea of a "Steamed Edition" on the backburner of our ideas for quite a while now, but we recently just put the two situations together here.  We wanted to do this version of Cyka using the UDK that we started making and we always wanted to have the Cyka experience available on Steam.  So, in light of just recently finding a way around our problem with Unity Engine, we asked ourselves, "Why not make make this UDK-developed Cyka be our Steam-exclusive version of the game?"

So these two ideas just came together so beautifully and just in time for our Kickstarter crowd-funding effort!  Cyka: Steamed Edition finally gives us a way to justify both building a UDK-developed version of Cyka and providing an exclusive version of the game for Steam as well.   It fits in well with our development planning, and though it's taking a little readjustment to our Kickstarter plans (again), we think it'll be well worth it.  (Plus, we also really didn't want to give up that rather clever title--I mean, "Steamed Edition," for a special edition of a steampunk-themed game that'll be exclusive on Steam?  There's no way we're letting that one go!)

Supporters can get them all!


Many of our Kickstarter supporters can receive both the non-Steam and the Steam version of Cyka.  But we're making this so that any supporter both during and after our Kickstarter campaign receiving any version of the game can fully enjoy the rich experience that is Cyka--and you'll get to taste that experience very soon.  No matter which version you pick up, you'll enjoy the game, and no matter which version you'll have, you will have thousands of gamers to play with.  We will explain just what offerings we have in mind for our Kickstarter supporters on the next upcoming article.  Stay tuned!

- Brian

We're working on two demos to present with our Kickstarter

The title says it all.  We're working on two different playable demos to present as the example of Cyka that we'll be seeking some support with through Kickstarter.  This is something we've been planning for almost four long months now, and really, we want to kick our Kickstarter into final production pretty soon.  More details about the Kickstarter while be revealed soon (some later today, in fact), and we've got some great offerings in store for supporters (we're talking just plain awesome stuff), but we just have to say that the demos comes first.  Without these demos, we feel there's no selling the game with support through Kickstarter, so we've been taking our time and extra care on developing these demos.

- Brian

Some new details about Cyka

Here's some new details about PolyKhrome's debut game Cyka:

• This game defines a new sub-genre of real-time strategy games, quite unlike anything out there.
• Though this game is genre-defining, it will strongly appeal to those who like online RTSes and RPGs.  If you like such games as StarCraft II, the Fire Emblem series or Fallout 3, you'll love this game.
• The game is a high-end indie game ("AAA indie game") featuring a highly-stylized realistic style, to be beautifully rendered by the Unity Engine.
• The single-player Story mode is about 20 hours long (which is impressive for an RTS game).
• In Conquest mode, the game goes on while you're offline and your stats are affected.
• The game comes with a PC/Mac standalone version of the game, along with an additional iOS/Android version of the game.  This will allow players cross-platform gaming on the road to play others online regardless of platform and access their Conquest mode game stats online from their mobile devices.  (A Linux computer version of the game would be supported via Chrome Native Client version of the game.)
• This game will be made to look beautiful no matter what you play it on.  Whether you play it on your high-end computer or your smartphone or tablet.  It will feature special consideration for controls and graphical capabilities for netbooks and ultrabooks.
• This game will feature a stellar soundtrack that truly make the atmosphere of Cyka as fantastic as the game plays.
• This game will be DRM-free.
• There will eventually be online tournaments and hosted events at indie gaming conventions around the U.S. and Canada (similar in the vein of StarCraft tournaments).
• PolyKhrome will enter the 15th Annual Independent Games Festival in 2013.  (Even though this game won't be 100% finished by time for submission in Autumn 2012, there will still be enough of the game finished to showcase it.  We are confident our game will win the grand prize.)
• The commercial release for Cyka is targeted at Autumn 2013.  (This is about 6 months more than originally planned, but the game is pushed back due to a new larger scope of the game planned.)
• The expected price of the game is about $9.99.
• This game will be supported by a Kickstarter fundraiser (which is currently being organized).  Early supporters of Cyka will receive special editions of the game earlier in Summer 2013 than the regular release targeted at Autumn 2013, which features exclusive special edition characters (exclusive to early supporters' special edition copy of Cyka) and a special edition Conquest mode (which will be available commercially).
• The special edition Conquest mode (called Cloud Quest mode) features an entirely new continent in the clouds (yes, a continent in the sky, which Cyka gazes at in the cinematics in Story mode) to explore and conquer, and we'll give it to the supporters, as our thanks.  We will let you know when the Kickstarter will be available soon, and will be offering special editions of the game to early supporters.
• Early supporters through Kickstarter will exclusively receive monthly development release versions of the game, as well as some of our latest concept art and a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of Cyka, all the way up to the game's final release.
• Early supporters will also receive a sneak peak into our next two games lined up.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.  We have so many things planned for this franchise, and early followers are in for a treat.  Stay tuned for more updates on the development of Cyka!

PolyKhrome Games™ is now PolyKhrome™

Hi!  Just a brief update here.

First of all, we're simplifying our name from "PolyKhrome Games" to just "PolyKhrome."

Two reasons: One, we think it sounds better.  Two, it'll make our logo a lot easier to create (which is coming pretty soon).

We've been quite busy preparing some of the projects we're undergoing, and we'll keep you informed pretty soon.  And this blog is still in early development, as we're also working on an official website (coming soon).

- Brian Lockett, founder and chief developer of PolyKhrome

Hi folks! Welcome to our blog!

Welcome!  This is the official PolyKhrome Games blog.  Here, you can catch up on our company's game development and business-related news, updates, behind-the-scenes, and concept art posts, among a few other things.  The company is up-and-starting, but we're confident in our growth and passion as a company.  We are currently working on our company's official website, but this blog site will serve as our friendly inside-look within PolyKhrome Games™.

Who are we?

Well, our short and personally-preferred answer is "Awesomeness in human form," but we suppose that's not a sufficient or professional enough answer for most.  {writer chuckles alone in self-satisfaction}

We're an indie game company unlike any other.  We develop games for ourselves, but we also develop games for hire as a freelance indie game developer, because we have a strong passion for creating games and delivering experiences unlike anything out there in the world of indie games.  We are talented concept designers, game artists, programmers, and marketers, thorough and professional yet friendly and imaginative, and we just love what we do.  We do the best job, in the best time, with the best people.  We want to make games that we'd HOPE someone would make for us.  And we know how you, a potential person with a great game idea, feel about having a dream of delivering a game to the world but not having everything or everyone you need to do it.

What's in a name?

Our name "PolyKhrome," an alternate spelling of "polychrome," a word from Greek origin meaning "with many colors."  That actually describes the vision of this company's goal in a word.  We're out to develop a wide range of great games of every color of the gaming rainbow (bending and blending genres in imaginative, captivating ways), and we're here to provide a wide variety of game creators with the services necessary to bring their visions to life, people with all kinds of ideas and all kinds of interests.  We have "many colors" here at PolyKhrome Games, developing own our games to our hearts' delight and delivering practically any kind of game for our clients, and doing an excellent job at it, working from all over the world and all walks of life.  When we're developing games for ourselves, we work diligently to create the greatest games from our passion, and when we're hired to develop or co-develop games, we work diligently with the client to bring their games into stunning life, one asset at a time.  We're Jacks of all trades when it comes to indie game development, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

If you hang with us, you'll get to see all sorts of neat things over time, like watching us make our games, watching us grow as a company, and even learn some of the things from our growth, possibly to start your own indie game company (or possibly even join ours!).  We're a fun bunch of people, and we hope you'll enjoy the fun games we aim to create, or that you'll enjoy our service in helping you create fun games.

- Brian Lockett, founder and chief developer of PolyKhrome Games