Incoming!

Hey, folks.  A mess load of updates are coming.  The past couple of months have been quiet, but it hasn't been because work has slowed down with me.  On the contrary, I've been working on more than I can handle over the past couple of months.  I just haven't taken much time out for updates, and some things I simply didn't want to share yet.  But now, it's about time I shared some of it.

Development on Cyka is still coming along.  I'm making a new Indie DB page for Cyka, which will feature most of my increasing development news.  I find that it's easier maintaining an Indie DB page than a blog, and plus it puts me right where my audience is.  I have so much about it I want to reveal, and I'm confident about the success of my planned Kickstarter (which I'm holding off on, just until more development is done).  This thing is growing bigger in development than I originally had in mind, and it's turned into such an involved development, I only want to debut much of it on my Indie DB page.  Impression is powerful, after all.

An example terrain scene for the smaller project, SeVer (WIP)

In addition to my Indie DB page for Cyka, I'm also working on one for another smaller project I've been working on, called Se\/er.  This title is a short-story RPG title which is like a 3D cross between Super Metroid and Final Fantasy and blends platforming exploration with action role-playing journey.  It will play as a nice contrast to Cyka, which is a large-scale game that is a new kind of blend between RTS and MMORPG.

In fact, this smaller project Se\/er has been what I paused a while on Cyka to work on, since it is what will help fuel my Cyka development.  While I've been doing this, I've been working on everything myself (concept, programming, writing, assets creation, music--the works), so my blog suffered a bit as a priority,  My blog site's in need of a much-needed redesign as well, which I've been putting off a while.  But when I get enough development done, a site redesign be my top priority.

On another note, I'm finishing a tutorial series I started, which I plan to use series to bring interest to my game development.  And I've opened a new YouTube channel called PolyKrafter for a set of videos called the PolyKraft series, dedicated to showing the kind of workflow behind PolyKhrome productions.  It's a series of videos designed to help developers with some solutions towards AAA indie game development. When I'm done with some production on it, I'll share more about it.

I want to add that I'm doing some freelance work, which naturally cuts into my dev time.  So I've had my hands full with a lot of stuff.  I'm looking to support myself with development of Se\/er and Cyka full-time and the sales of my game-ready assets, but until then, I've got to freelance along side my developments.

That's all for the moment.  Thanks for visiting this blog!

- Brian

Updates In A Nutshell

It's been far too long since my last update, but never fear--I haven't stopped a thing about my production with this game.  It's been an interesting few past months for me personally, to say the least.  I didn't intend to stay away from my blog and development for so long, but hey, some things in life just can't be helped.

Anyways, here's a briefing of updates, since I don't want to spend a whole lot of time with the updates here:

• I'm working on a three-part series tutorial on creating a canyon with Blender and World Machine 2.  I've completed the first video.  (I'll post the video here after this post.)
• Cyka is still in active production, but due to being such a big project and until I get a reliable dev team assembled, it's taken a back seat to a smaller project.  Now my main focus is a small indie game called Se\/er.
• I didn't make the 2013 IGF deadline this time, but I'm sure aiming for 2014 IGF.
• From now on, I'm going with a "underpromise, overdeliver" philosophy with my updates.  Simple and short.

See you next time.

- Brian

Working to enter demo into 2013 IGF

Processing...

The title's pretty self-explanatory--I'm working on the Cyka demo to enter it in the upcoming 2013 Indie Games Festival.  That's actually why I've been kinda silent lately--I've haven't had time to update my blog like I should.  I've got a lot of work ahead to do in just a comparatively short time to meet the IGF deadline, but I've got a lot of work done, too.  I don't have time to make snapshots or comfortable enough producing a half-working demo just yet.  I still plan to release one as soon as I can, though.  My plans keep changing (well, life keeps changing them for me), but hey, life goes on.  Later.

- Brian

Update: Good progress (with one setback), Linux and OUYA

Powerhouse is almost finished!

Hey, folks.  It's been a while, but it's been quite a busy while for PolyKhrome.  I've got a lot of assets created for the Cyka demo, some development video of me making these assets almost ready to share, and I've got some of the basic framework for the gameplay up and going, and I will show them...as soon as I can remove the vicious malware that's plaguing my computer.  -__-" {Of course!}

Yep, my PC's sick.  I'm writing this post with my netbook, which thankfully I still have, and all of my files seems to be okay on my infected computer (that is, when I can log in long enough to see them before the computer totally freezes up).  I'm running every reliable malware scanner I can find.  As I've got over 800 GB worth of occupied hard drive to deep-scan through, and my computer begins to freeze up after about 30 minutes or so, it's taking a while to do this via a series of smaller custom scans.  Anyways, when this minor setback is over, I'll compile my work done so far and post up a preview demo of, well, my demo.  Demo of a demo.  Funny.

But that's not all I've been doing all month of July--I've also been working on the Powerhouse Game Assets website, which is relocating and almost ready for business.  The picture above is from my tiny netbook, so it's truncated a bit there.  Selling game assets will greatly help with Cyka development (some people make up to $100K a year selling assets!), so it's been a top priority for me, as well as this demo.

Some other good news is that since Steam will be supporting Linux pretty soon, expect Cyka: Steamed Edition for Linux as well as Windows and Mac.  Also, I'm involved in a couple other side projects, including a Community Game project being lead by Peripheral Games (my iOS game idea won the contest they were holding), working on the development of a game clothes creator program, as well as producing a fan-created animation for my previous engagement of Operation Moogle--all of which I'm using to bring more attention to Cyka.

Cyka will come to OUYA.

And finally, I thought about it for a while, and I finally decided that PolyKhrome will put Cyka on the Android-based OUYA when the game is finished by next year, even with some exclusive content.  It's a risky console to support, but it's something I think might be worth the chance (and for $99, the price of that chance isn't too bad at all).  I still have some questions about OUYA, like how are they going to promote creative quality games away from an inevitable sea of mediocre unambitious games and shovelware.  But, in any case, Linux fans are really growing in buying indie games right now, over 43,000 OUYA owners will be looking for games next year, and PolyKhrome really can't afford to miss this sweet opportunity, as risky as it might be.  In fact, I am confident Cyka can be a big hit on OUYA--if it lives up to its potential.

Anyways, just wanted to check back here, just to let you all know that the game's development is still alive and well.  So stay with me, folks--we're progressing.  ;-)  (And I do mean a "we" pretty soon--I've got some prospect developers for Team PolyKhrome.)

- Brian

Update: What I'm doing right now?

Right now, I'm working on a larger demo that will feature three distinct terrain maps, with each one to specifically-tailored to showcase three of the most distinct and important aspects of the game.

Just for this demo, they run like different stages to select, though in the game, they'll be traversable seamlessly across one continuous world of terrains.  Each map in the final game will represent only a single region on a single continent.  For the demo, one map will specifically showcase the battle engine aspect, one will showcase the environment exploration aspect, and the last will show the resource-collecting/stronghold building aspect of the game.

Each of these will be important aspects that are stressed about this game, as this game will not only be a preview to those interested in seeing the biggest aspects of this game in action, but also as my biggest accompaniment to our Kickstarter (I feel that a mere video for this game is simply not enough--you need a good demo).

So far, I'd say it's about the demo is about 40% done, and I'm looking to get about 60 to 70% done by this time next week. Most of everything is not textured yet (I leave texturing last). Production will pick up in the next two weeks, as I work hard towards a checkpoint and as I'll be recruiting helpers pretty soon.

I'll confess that, though I have good experience in making games, everyday I grow from this process. This is indeed a learning process, as well as time to explore. Some things are second nature to me, while some other things are a whole new experience for me. Some things I'm finding I need to invent, as they're simply not out there, such as developing my blue grid in the game to conform to the form of the uneven terrain--that takes some problem-solving to think out.

I'm also preparing to employ my other service Powerhouse Game Assets next week. This is good, as I really want to get that rolling, too. If assets are sold, they'll be that much more help towards the production of Cyka.

It's not easy to be the director, the designer, the artist, the developer, the producer, all while striving to be the financier, being my own teacher about new things and being the promoter all at the same time, but it sure is one interesting experience, though one I'd be glad to share with other future PolyKhrome developers.

I have more to share later, but that's it for now.

- Brian

Unity 4 is bringing changes to Unity and Cyka development

This is epic...

Unity 4 is coming out soon, and it's looking to be a real game-changer for Unity-developed games (such as Cyka).  Basically, thanks to Unity 4, not only will have characters in Cyka move a lot better in the game thanks to a new Mecanim feature, but now PolyKhrome can offer Linux gamers a standalone desktop version of Cyka (though, a platform-independent web browser version of the game is still planned), we can offer some optional DirectX 11 features for the PC version of Cyka, and we can provide some better shadow effects to the mobile versions of the game.

Jake "virt"Kaufman

I can even complete this game by myself now, if need be, thanks to the time-saving Mecanim feature and the further-improved updates to Unity, which is already the most streamlined workflow of any game engine around.  Though, I'd still love and plan to hire at least an animator, an environment artist, a character/prop artist, and another programmer, not to mention hopefully manage to gain Jake Kaufman for the music and assistance with sounds.

(By the way, if you've never heard of Jake Kaufman's work and don't know why I'm excited that I'll be inquiring him later on his soundtrack services, check his demo reel out and then please check this work out.  I'm a huge fan of his work, and I know that if I can get him (and he does seems to be pretty accessible), he'd definitely help bring out this game's awesomeness.  No guarantees, but we'll have to wait and see, and first get the game more together.)

Even though UDK is still technically more powerful than the Unity Engine, this next Unity release is going to be huge, and make Unity Engine even more a strong contender for indie game developers.  They own the Mecanim technology (they bought the small company who developed it for them) and it comes standard with Unity 4, which is something unlike anything other game engines really have right now (not even UDK, even with its robust animation system, has something quite like this).

Unity's parkour dude, running with Mecanim

Mecanim is a feature that allows you to use one animation you create for one model to be adjusted to other sorts of animated models, and have that animation adjust to the model and adjust smoothly between other animations.  It's just a fantastic feature and it's one that I've been watching them develop for a while.

It not only makes the characters look incredibly fluid with more natural motions in action, but it runs incredibly well on platforms without a heavy memory and processing cost (it runs even with mobile devices!), and most of time, it saves developers time.  Go here to watch a video to see Mecanim in effect.

There are so many goodies that Unity 4 now brings to the table that I will postpone the Cyka: Steamed Edition demo for Steam (developed with UDK) just to focus on fully utilizing Unity 4 for the standard non-Steam DRM-free cross-platform edition of Cyka (which would also save me from giving a whopping 25% of my Kickstarter funds just to Epic Games alone, just to use UDK at first).  I'm still making Cyka: Steamed Edition, because I still want a Steam-powered version for both PC and Mac.  But right now, Unity 4 really came at a great time, and I really want to give the main cross-platform desktop and mobile versions of Cyka my full attention with Unity 4.

- Brian

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

A new Games page added!

Check out our new Games page.  It shows the lineup of games we have coming from PolyKhrome (though, not in chronological order).  These games are why PolyKhrome was born.  These are titles we think will make PolyKhrome truly one of the best indie game developers around.  And a number of them, we'd like to have featured on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, in addition to the currently-supported platforms that we are developing towards (PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and OnLive).  See any games that interest you?  After the completion of Cyka, the first episode of Deuces Wild! called Deuces Wild!: Jacks Are Better is our next game.  As PolyKhrome grows, so does our games.  We've got some nice games coming, if I do say so myself.  Of course, though, one game at a time!

- 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 available and concept art is next

Our first podcast!

The first PolyKhrome podcast is now available in the Behind The Scenes page.  This is the first one from me as the chief developer, and here I talk about things such as a overview description of the game, the plot and theme of the story in the game, a little on the visual design aspects of the game, and some development in plan for the game, as well as some brief mentioning about the upcoming Cyka Kickstarter soon (which awaits my demos).  You can expect more podcasts in the future and from more developers, and you can expect them to come maybe once or twice a month.

This podcast is about 1 hour and 53 minutes, as in this one in particular I'm explaining a lot for the first time, so I recommend that you listen to it when you have some time and are doing something menial, like surfing the web or something.  I am considering breaking up this particular podcast into 3 or 4 parts, but for now, this podcast is available as is on two links (just in case one of them should ever stop working for some reason).  The format of the audio file is MPEG-4, and the folder is zipped.

I think I did alright and I think I got a lot said how I wanted, though, I'll work on my flow a bit in speaking (better pace, less stuttering).  The audio is pretty good quality, though I must apologize about the few instances of audio compression artifacts (little glitches) present in this podcast's audio occurring every now and then.  I'll choose better recording settings next time.  If you have any questions concerning something mentioned in the podcast, I'll take them here in the comments or you can e-mail me at polykhrome@gmail.com.

Also, today you should see some new concept art posted today.  If for some reason it's not today, then surely expect them Sunday (Saturdays are my only days off).  But I'm personally rather picky of what concept art I reveal and when, and I try to release a load of pictures at one time, but that's just me.  I don't expect this of my expected team members soon.  And speaking of that, I'm writing the post calling for collaborators at this page right now.  I'll post an update when the page is up, and if you're a game developer (currently and specifically, a game artist), you can check it out then.

If I'm not able to return here today, have a good weekend, folks!

- Brian

Update: Screenshots coming, building our team, Cyka details, and E3 excitement

The two demos are coming along well, and we'll post some development screenshots up as soon as we reach a good point we're comfortable with sharing them.  Also on the way are some more concept art, our first video for the PolyKhrome YouTube channel, a podcast, and those terrain maps for the Unity Asset Store that we're working on.  Expect most of that coming this week.

~ ~

Next on our announcements here, PolyKhrome be looking to expand our team soon.  The development team of PolyKhrome will be kept deliberately small, where we can be a tight-knit powerhouse.  We will have four positions available pretty soon.

• 3D assets artist
• 2D assets artist
• Game/network programmer
• Sound designer

After the release of our demos and the start of our Kickstarter, we'll be looking to fill those positions.  We also plan to seek dedicated music production from one of my personal favorite game music composer, Jake Kaufman, if we reach our goal with the Kickstarter.  This will put Cyka development into overdrive, but for right now, we're focusing on establishing Cyka with a solid foundation these demos currently in development will provide.

~ ~

As for some more details about the game, because some have been curious of how Cyka plays in terms of perspective, the game's battle aspects play out in a third-person overhead (isometric) view similarly used in games like Starcraft II and Torchlight II, but we aim to improve on the usage than most games, as Cyka allows for a range of rotation with the camera, as well as allow players to experience the battlefield in third-person ground-level view, and first-person perspective for certain units with scoping available with their range projectiles.

You can quickly switch between overhead view and ground-level third-person view.  The overhead view is particularly useful for turn-based actioning, while the ground-level view is useful for real-time fighter action.  Though, you can use the ground-level view during turn-based actioning when you're taking cover and you want to snipe at an dead-as-a-duck open target who might have retaliating sniper units covering them.

The game's exploration aspects play out in third-person ground-level view, but players will have the option to traverse the lands in overhead view and to survey the land in first-person view.  You'll have a sense of freedom of exploring the fully-explorable continents of Rhye, as you traverse by foot, by mountable beasts (if which you'll have to catch and tame for your army), and by other means of transportation we don't want to give away just yet (but we'll hint this much: the sky's the limit).  Again, we're making the kind of game we wish would exist.

~ ~

As we develop the demos, we're going to post Cyka up in the IndieDB database of games, and I think our game will get quite the coverage in news there.  We expect this game will get the attention of a lot of folks, so if you want to be among the first 100 to receive a free desktop copy of the game (PC or Mac), visit our Facebook page, Like us if you do, and let us know how Cyka sounds to you so far, and we'll send keep you listed as one of the 100 people to send the game to upon completion.  We say this because we expect quite a lot of attention to flood in when the playable demos are complete and word gets out in indie game news sites.

~ ~

Finally, I just can't leave this update without talking about E3 2012!  I'm personally excited about this year's E3, in particularly due to the Wii U from Nintendo.  I'm looking forward to seeing more about the Wii U, though I'll be posting up some thoughts of the E3 presentations of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.  I've been following the Wii U's development from day one along with multiple sources (like Wii U Blog, Nintendo Everything, and Wii U Go), and as both a gamer (esp. a Nintendo fan) and a game developer, I'm ecstatic about the possibilities the Wii U's sweet controller and better online features provides.  I can say that PolyKhrome definitely has aims for developing for the Wii U, and I would definitely make sure we take full advantage of the features of the Wii U.  But one step at a time--become established developers first!

Anyways, that's all for now.  Though, I'd like to say thanks to visitors for our 500+ views of this blog so far--PolyKhrome really appreciates your checking us out.  A lot of hard work is going into this game, and I'm sure in saying that these demos will not disappoint you.

- 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

Update: Change of plans (and what it means)

I've tried.  I've really tried.  But for this game Cyka, the Unity Engine's just not working out.  Simply said, PolyKhrome just needs a better game engine for this game.  We need a better toolset with more options like better texturing options, tessellation and advanced lighting features and a far more memory-efficient terrain system.  We like the Unity Engine and really would like to use it, but PolyKhrome would rather have a successful game than an abandoned project due to us wasting time trying to find ways past Unity's technical limitations.  So now Cyka is being developed with the Unreal Development Kit, and really, we probably should've gone with this from the beginning.

Ah, the relief!

Now, with this change does come some changes in our plans as well.  The immediate change is that the targeted platform is reduced, because UDK currently only supports development for PC, Mac, and iOS.  So Cyka development will focus on those platforms.  The iOS version will still play cross-platform with the PC and Mac version.  We're losing a couple platforms here, but we're going with what's going to help make this project successful with completion, and that's UDK.

Another change with this switch, though for the better, is that Cyka is going to get a major graphical boost now--something closer to the original vision for Cyka, in fact.  In fact, thanks to UDK's memory-efficient terrain system, we can make the world of Rhye in the game feel bigger and livelier than ever.  In fact, that's largely part of why we're switching.

The biggest reason why we're switching is simple: Unity currently makes it quite difficult to create a game of Cyka's scale for both desktop and mobile platforms.  While we could just make the 100+ explorable regions in Cyka as meshes, the process would take just way too long to do, and we want to get something playable pretty soon.  Trying to work around the technical limitations of Unity's terrain system would cost us too much time and effort, and we've got a goal to meet.

As usual, this effects our plans with our upcoming Kickstarter soon, as well (which has been in planning for about three months now).  It takes time to set up a Kickstarter, because you have to do a lot of planning (and re-planning).  Believe it or not, we'd only see about 50% of any Kickstarter funds going towards the actual game development, due to various costs.  Kickstarter wants 5% and Amazon would take 3-5% for credit card processing fees, and then there's applicable taxes, pledge offering production costs, shipping costs, 5% going towards KickItForward, and now a 20% royalty to give to Epic Games to figure into the costs (they consider such efforts as Kickstarter as applicable for royalties).  But we'll get to that pretty soon.  In fact, we really need to get our Kickstarter started by this month.

Before we can start talking about Kickstarter and go through with raising financial support, we have to show them something with promise, and UDK's definitely going to help us there.  I want people to totally love this game as much as I love it.  We have to sell this game just right.  We want to make sure that perfect is what folks will get.  UDK will help PolyKhrome do this.

- Brian

By the way, this effectively ends our platform poll.  Thanks to those who participated.

Heads Up: A new Facebook page and new Cyka details!

We've completed setting up the PolyKhrome Facebook page for the most part.  There's still much we will do to it, but for now, it's up and running.  Follow us on our Facebook page, where you can follow us for news and screenshots there as well as here and just say "Hi" to us (we answer your questions and reply to comments). In addition to the official Cyka website in development, we'll also use our Facebook page as a means to announce official Cyka online competitions and events at gaming conventions.

Now, you might be wondering, "Well, what exactly IS Cyka before I go Liking it?"

Well, here's a good inside look at Cyka:

Genre-wise, Cyka is a science-fiction game that takes the best of action, adventure, shooter, real-time strategy, tower-defense, turn-based strategy, and role-playing games, and blends them seamlessly to create a whole new kind of game.  We call this game in particular a "dynamic-turn action" game, due to its being an action game that plays on dynamically turning between real-time strategy and turn-based strategy elements.

What is the world of Cyka like?  In a nutshell, steampunk alien droids in a medieval-styled world with hints of cybernetic technology, on a large planet where continents are suddenly drifting around on the oceans and nobody knows why.  Imagine that.

Cyka has three main modes: Story, Versus, and Conquest.

In Story mode, you explore the world of the Raants race through the eyes of a Raant named Cyka.  King Cyka Auren, king and commander of the Knight faction of his Aurenda kingdom on the continent Zera, must lead his people through facing their world in crisis.  His vast planet, Rhye, is undergoing a mysterious shifting of the continents, new continents seem to appear near his and other known continents from the mists.  An even more mysterious continent has been floating in the clouds, to Cyka's wonder.  And furthermore, other factions from other known continents have begun warring over the presence of a normally rare metallic substance called gellium, which naturally occurs thousands of feet underground, now occurring in a rare abundance.  Gellium has several unique properties that have the potential to power the normally steam-powered Raant perpetually, and to replace their rust-capable Raant armor-like bodies.

Commander Cyka is a thoughtful and poised individual, left in charge as king by his father, the late king Samra Auren.  He's known for his notable skills in strategy and desire for peace, which comes in useful with leading his people through the various conflicts arising during this time the Raants have called the Gellium Wars.  While the world is in conflict, Cyka is in conflict with himself, wanting to bring end to the warring, and wanting to find a solution to the strange occurrences undergoing with his planet.  He has a theory, along with a few others (as he later finds), that the sudden abundance of gellium is related to the reason for the strange shifting of the continents.  As he leads his army in expedition to find out answers about their world, Cyka will learn of the mystery of continent in the clouds, which fascinates him.  He'll learn much about his world, which has stood in mystery for ages due to its rather inexplorable vast size, but what he'll need to find out the most is a solution to ending the Gellium Wars.

Story mode is about 20 hours long (which is long for a real-time strategy game) and will have extended replayability due to alternative perspectives (play as another commander of another faction) available as downloadable content.  The game's visual style is somewhere between realistic and illustrative, and the plot is rather dramatic but with touches of humor.  And while the action gets intense, the action never gets graphic.  In addition to an engaging single-player story mode, there are online multiplayer modes.

Versus mode is where players can play against each other online in set matches in a variety of ways.  Battle your fully-controllable army in two ways:

• Player vs. Player (PvP) Battle: Lead your army of up to 100 units against up to 5 friends and other players around the world, in customized or randomly-picked battles, with optional objectives.
• Team vs. Team (TvT) Battle: Join a battle as a unit of your choice with a team of up to 31 other players joined together as one team playing against another team of up to 32 other joined players to complete one of several objectives to gain your team victory.

Rule the leaderboards, unlock downloadable content, and engage in periodic official Cyka competitions for prizes.

Conquest mode is an online persistent-world mode where this game shines its brightest.  Explore the many continents of Rhye, secure new lands, build your faction army, collect resources necessary for building strongholds, create strategically-placed strongholds, capture neutral sites, and maintain your strongholds.  This is a persistent world, meaning that when you leave the game online, the game still goes on online, and your strongholds can therefore be affected.

You can leave the world for the day being on top of a continent, and come back to find your strongholds decimated.  Of course, there are ways to better ensure your protection with measures to try to hold your position while you're gone (such as strategic unit set-ups for your strongholds and employing tactics such as insuring key units with resurrections during battle and using single-use stat boosters), but no one is safe from a good strategy.  A good strategy can take down even the most secured stronghold.  You can be that unstoppable force on the field and totally rule your map one day, and come back the next to find you've been completely torn down, and you'll have to find a new place to set up and regrow your destroyed conquest.  No one proves immortal in this game--unless your just that good.

You can also seek neutral or abandoned castles, offer truces with other computer-controlled factions, and build powerful alliances with other player-controlled teams.  Or attack other castles, steal sites on behalf of your kingdom, and decimate other teams.  What you build in conquest, you keep.  It's totally up to you how you play.

The basic gameplay is synonymous in all three modes in Cyka--control a faction to accomplish your objective, be it to overtake the opponent or to seize their stronghold.  A faction is a style of army in the game.  You have five general factions to choose from, each bearing their own look, specialties and fighting style.  Play as one of five factions available in the game: Knight, Ninja, Tribal, Brawler, and Gunner. (Additional faction packs and costume packs will be released as downloadable content.)

• The Knight-styled faction (Cyka's style of faction) are well-rounded and are the most balanced of any faction.  They feature medium-ranged light shooter types, medium-strength brawlers types, medium-strength swordsman types, and medium-strength heavy artilery types.  They have good offense and good defense, and have the fastest fort-infiltration time.
• The Ninja-styled faction are masters of stealth combat.  They can briefly go invisible and have the fastest travel rate of all factions, but the trade-off is that during stealth combat their team coordination significantly drops and their defense is low during turn-based actioning.
• The Tribal-styled faction are masters of terrain advantage combat and health regeneration.  They excel in team coordination attacks during turn-based actioning, but feature poor defense.
• The Brawler-styled faction are masters of hard-hitting close-range combat.  They feature the most powerful attacks of all units and high defense, but they're the slowest units of all faction, vulnerable to long-ranged attacks, and the lowest repair rate.
• The Gunner-styled faction are masters of all forms of gunnery.  Everyone uses a projectile weapon of some form and they all have the quickest reloads, but the trade-off is that in relying exclusively on munitions, they have to skillfully manage stronger ammunition in battle or else its back to the weaker ammunition.

There are several unit types available for each faction, including fighter units, defender units, shooter units, heavy artillery units, and of course, the commander unit.  Typical units in a faction include:

• battlers (balanced fighters, including swordsmen)
• defenders (powerful close-range fighters)
• siege engine units
• riflemen
• snipers
• medics
• cannoneers
• commander unit (there's only one main commander per team)

There are several kinds of strongholds you can build and defend, and each are fully destructible.  The active playing fields are fully physics-bound and many objects are fully destructible.  Use fallen debris from destroyed strongholds, rocks, trees, and even your comrades (such as defender units) as cover.

The varying terrain heights of the active playing field also plays into effect, as short-ranged attacks from higher regions typically cause higher damage, though it leaves attackers in a more vulnerable position, which can instead give some defending units the advantage.  Long-ranged attacks from higher regions give greater protection and greater range of attack on lower enemy units, but these attacks' accuracy and strength reduce with distance.

Cyka will likely be rated Teen, as the gameplay is better suited for older gamers.  This game will be available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, and for Linux through a browser version, and will play cross-platform across each.  Matchmaking will be in accordance to an account and not platform-dependent, so PC Cyka players can play free against iOS players, Mac players against Android, and Android players against iOS, so on.  Owners of both a desktop version and a mobile version of Cyka will be able to play the game on one platform and continue it on the other via persistent cloud-based storage of game saves.

This game will seek support through Kickstarter.  The Kickstarter supporters will received their digital copies of the finished game (both a desktop and mobile versions, DRM-free) straight from us here at PolyKhrome, and others gamers will be able to buy Cyka from the PolyKhrome Store (coming soon).  They'll also be able to buy the PC or Mac version of Cyka from Indievania and a web-browser version from Chrome Web Store, where Linux gamers can buy and play the web-browser version of Cyka.  The iOS or Android mobile version of Cyka will be available from the App Store and Google Play respectively.  There will be available a special edition of Cyka called Cyka: Cloud Quest Edition, which features a special Cloud Quest mode where you can finally explore that mysterious continent in the clouds and solve its mystery.

Steam will have its own special version of Cyka called Cyka: Steamed Edition.  Steam users will be able to utilize Steam's matchmaking, Steam Achievements, Steam Leaderboards, and Steam Cloud save service.  As the Steam version of Cyka will only be able to use Steamworks, the Steamed Edition game will include the Cloud Quest mode, a special Steam-inspired Commander Cyka model, and free exclusive downloadable content.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg!  There's a lot in the works for Cyka, and PolyKhrome is going into overdrive with its development.  Screenshots are on the way, and will be posted on here and on Facebook.  Be sure to follow us on our Facebook page.

Oh, and the first 100 people to Like our Facebook page and leave the comment "I want Cyka!" will receive a FREE PC or Mac copy of Cyka upon its completion.  Readysetgo!

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!

Our debut is called...Cyka.

We're announcing development of our first game, a unique game called Cyka.  For the time being, we're going to be a bit sparse on the details (the game's mechanics are so unique, we want to be the first to create the first of its kind), but we will share this much with you:

In Story mode, you play as a steampunk robotic being named Cyka who is a commander of a medieval-style alien steampunk robot army of knights on an antique-style alien world.  As Cyka, you're in charge of defending your homeland against invading neighboring cities by leading an army of up to 200 units (in Story).  There are also two other modes: Versus mode and Conquest mode, both of which are multiplayer online, and though single-player Story mode will be top-notch (and extendable with downloadable content), the online multiplayer modes are where this game really shines.

The target period for completing development of this game is around December 2012, though the game is estimated to take about 7 months of full-time development (subject to change, and depends on how well the game can be supported and how much the company can get done). Cyka will be released for PC and Mac, and I plan for an iOS/Android tablet co-release and possibly Linux (depending how much support we can get for such).

I've already got a game design document near completion, and so far, it's about 15 pages.  I'll post the entire Cyka game document here soon.  Stay tuned for more details.

- Brian