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

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.

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!