PolyKhrome just got Unreal...

This is a brief but powerful update: Very soon, PolyKhrome will be an Unreal Engine 4 developer!

And we couldn't be more excited.  Stay tuned for more updates soon in Q2 2014.

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

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

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

Update: Some new screenshots and concept art

Yeah, this terrain is huge.

Hey, a brief update: Check out the Screenshots and Concept Art pages to see some new pics.  Their textures are not yet finished, so I just left them untextured for their showing just for now.  And please don't mind the funky placeholder textures of the green montane terrain and basic color of the canyon terrain--I'm still painting their textures and I don't want to show them just yet (hey, textures take time!), so I used the simple and crude in-game-engine texturing just to make it easier to see the Commander Cyka model.  More pics are on the way, and video showing my production of this is being compiled..

- 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

Update: Some development concept designs up

Next time you see me, I'mma be finished and awesome!

This will be a brief one here.  There's some development concept shots on the Concept Art page.  It's just few pieces, and again, they're in developmental stage.  They're undergoing design refinement, sculpting, retopo (making it a low-poly mesh), and texturing, and incorporated with other designs.  There are several designs being finished at one time.  I meant to post something earlier today, but I simply lost track of time (I'm one busy guy).  But there are more shots on the way, concept art, finished shots, and in-game demo shots.  Meanwhile, terrains still need more texturing, and so they are next.

-Brian

Update: Some production screenshots and delight for the UDK version of Cyka

Can't show you the textures just yet...

More development screenshots are available on the Screenshots page, down under the "Cyka Kickstarter demo (Unity version)" section.  These some screenshots are just something to give you to look at just for now.  They are just showing the wireframe models of the Unity-developed Cyka demo and using a placeholder sky texture, as the terrain model textures and sky textures are not yet finished.

But what's cool about these pictures is that they're showing one-fourth of the total map size for the playable region for the Unity-developed Cyka demo.  To give you a sense of scale, click on screenshot 03 below, look at one of the triangle faces, and place your mouse cursor within one--that's just about the size that one character will be on the terrain.  Now imagine about 50 of similarly-sized units engaged in confrontation with 50 other similarly-sized units, and you can begin to imagine the elbow room your playing field will be in this demo.

Screenshot 03

Some of this terrain map will be what actually gets left untextured and released for free use on the Unity Asset Store.  This entire map when finished textured and animated will be in the pack of three game-ready terrain maps made available for purchase for $10, provided with many prop assets to allow people to make it look like their own terrain.  We're not afraid of selling the terrain because the terrain in the final game will look better defined than the more general-purpose terrain pack and there will be so many terrains in the official game that will pale even this large terrain size in comparison.

Also in development right now for this demo:

• models of several types of trees, rocks and plants are being made
• high-resolution sky texture being created and rendered from scratch in a separate 3D program
• initial character models are being modeled (animations come next)
• concept buildings are being conceptualized in both 2D and 3D
• creature designs are being done in 2D at the moment
• textures for the terrains are being done carefully (but not yet shown here)
• game logic for both demos are being plotted out

Again, more reveals of the Unity-developed Cyka demo are coming this week.

~ ~

Progress is coming along quite well for the UDK-developed Cyka demo as well.  So far, we've tried some tests of terrain as both generated using the heightmap terrain editor and as imported modeled terrain meshes, to weight out their advantages and disadvantages for us (some as memory usage, environment destructibility, ease of assembly, etc.), and we're definitely going with the terrain editor option.

UDK makes it pretty easy to create an impressive terrain quite quickly, so the test to be sure about our approach was worth the time.  Though, UDK is such a robust engine with tons of amazing features at your disposal, some obvious and some not-so-obvious, and personally, it's still quite the learning experience for me as the chief developer (currently the sole developer, at the moment).  I am proficient in using Unity, which I've been using for years, but UDK I'm rather new at--I've only adopted it this year--and so I want to be totally up to speed with UDK when I finally hire my team of developers.  Though, it's time-consuming learning while you utilize.

It's been worth taking the extra time to learn how to best utilize the engine--and thanks to a wealth of learning resources, that's been happening with no problem.  I'm mastering this engine quickly, and I can see how even more amazing this version of Cyka is going to be.  The original Unity-developed version will already be loads of fun (cross-platform-style), but this UDK-developed version of Cyka will be very amazing to experience on Steam.  The contrast between them will be one I think gamers will thoroughly enjoy.  (Of course, Kickstarter supporters who pledge at the $50 level will get both the Unity-developed standard Cyka (four copies of this version, in fact) and the UDK-developed Cyka: Steamed Edition.)

I can't wait to show you the work I've been working on so far!  Since I'm working on more than one thing at a time, I'm working non-linearly, going between different aspects and working on them a bit at a time, so that's why I don't want to show them off just yet.  But I'm sharing the untextured examples of my Unity work just to whet your appetite a bit.

- 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

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

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.

Update: A first demo and an early look at Cyka himself!

Hey, folks!  You can download our first demo released this week here (available for Windows and Mac)!  It's just a simple development demo built to show just how big one region in Cyka is.  Keep in mind that this is a development demo, and it's kept rather barren here to showcase the terrain size itself.  This is demo "1a" because we're releasing updates to this demo soon (you can expect two more, demo 1b and demo 1c, within the next week).

Screenshot from demo

You're exploring this map in first-person view, which is unlike in the game, where characters will roam around in third-person view (by default, though they can roam in first-person view as well).  There is a "README" file that provides a few more details about this demo, but basically, this map is about 10 square miles (16 sq. km.) and it's just one of about 100 persistent-world regions you can explore in Cyka.  As a note, in this demo, you're traveling across it at a much faster rate than the actual characters will walk and run (though, even in the game, faster means of transportation will be available in the game).

This demo is a big deal because it helps convey the sheer size of one region, and gives you an idea of the scope of this game.  Each of the ten main continents in the game will each feature around 8 to 10 different regions similar to this map's size in the demo.  When you do the math, that means you'll have about 80 to 100 square miles (or about 128 to 160 sq. km.) of fully-traversable in-game terrain with the game, plus the additional continents that will be available for Cyka as downloadable content!  Yeah, for an indie game, this game is straight-up huge!  And for the kind of persistent-world gameplay Cyka will have, it has to be.

Also making news today, we have a first look at Cyka...we mean the actual character Cyka!  You've been waiting for some kind of concept of our lead character Commander Cyka for a while now, and there are several designs in development for Commander Cyka, but we thought we'd share this early concept of Cyka, to give you a basic idea of where we're going with his design.  Here you go:

Commander Cyka, in the metal!

This concept design feels cooler when you listen to it with Foo Fighter's "Bridge Burning" playing (well, maybe I'm just saying that because it's in my personal soundtrack while I work...).  Anyways, this rough concept design merely reflects the general idea of Cyka's design--by no means will the final form look exactly like this.  In fact, it's missing his royal helmet, emblem, body (obviously), and quite a lot of other details you'll see in the final design, and this design will look rather naked.  You'll see in the future released concept designs of all our characters retain a feeling of both medieval classiness with hard rock/heavy metal attitude.  There are a number of designs we're not ready to share just yet (yeah, we know--we say that a lot), but we work better not sharing our latest designs immediately.  We want good first impressions of our work.  We're putting a lot of care into designing our cybernetic steampunk alien robotic world-exploring royal commander.  Holding ourselves to a high standard, it's a quality thing with us and we're working to make sure it's worth the wait!

On to other news, if you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, then you already got this update before this blog did, and generally, those places are where we'll give our latest updates first.  If you haven't already, consider following us on Facebook or Twitter.  The first 100 people to Like our PolyKhrome Facebook page and leave the comment "I want Cyka!" (or something of that nature) will get a free copy of the game (Windows or Mac version) when its completed.  And an official Cyka Facebook fan page is also in the works.

By the way, in case you didn't know, we have a poll (right below the "Search This Blog" search box to the right of this blog), titled "What platform(s) would you play Cyka on?" and with choices and everything.  If you'd be so kind, you can help PolyKhrome out by simply choosing all the answers that apply to you (you can choose more than one answer).  Your input would help us out--a lot, in fact.

You see, we're currently experimenting with game engines, and while Unity seems to be the first choice, if Android and Linux demand just aren't high enough, we might just go with the Unreal Development Kit for Cyka instead.  And if mobile versions aren't significant enough in the poll, we might postpone the mobile version of Cyka to focus on working on the desktop version, doing the mobile only after finishing the desktop version.  But if Android and Linux versions are of noticeable demand, and/or if mobile versions are of noticeable demand, we'll carry on with the Unity Engine as we have been, to best provide the game for as many platforms as possible (something not easily done with UDK or CryEngine SDK).

And finally, you can view more new screenshots like the one pictured above here by visiting the Screenshots page.  They are screenshots of what you'll find on the simple development demo, showing a concept design of a map in Cyka to reveal just how expansive a single region is in the game.  There's also a screenshot showing you where a secret little path is on one area of the mountain (there's two subtle paths in the mountains--find them!).  Expect future screenshots of this map to blow these developmental screenshots away.

- Brian


Correction: This terrain is 100 square miles big, not 10 square miles!

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!

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