Unicorn Quest Concept Art

     Concept art is a good place to start when explaining Unicorn Quest because it's all I have done at this point in development as far as "showable" things go. I have the basic idea of the game and it's mechanics in a word document, but I'm trying to do this organically and just add things as I go. My goal for the first few weeks is getting some basic art going. I want to have base sprites for everything I'd need to make a vertical slice demonstration.

     The first thing I did for this project was design the main character. After that I experimented with art styles until I came up with what was shown yesterday. Find the full story of how these pixels came to be beyond the page break.

Next Project: Unicorn Quest (Top-Down Shooter RPG)

Concept Art / Mock-up for Unicorn Quest

     This is the game I always wanted to make. I couldn't picture it before, but now I have something to go by. Adventures in Equica: Unicorn Quest is a game that takes the sense of adventure from Zelda and mixes it with a top-down shooter combat system that's unlike anything I've seen before. You solve puzzles, roam gigantic maps filled with secrets, and battle enemies in randomized arenas. The game uses a pop-out pixel-art style that enables me to draw sprites that look great as apposed to vector drawings that may be lackluster. The combat features complex enemy behaviors, spell combinations, and makes players utilize fast reflexes and pattern recognition. It's the kind of game I never could have managed two years ago and am eager to try now.

Find out more about this passion project beyond the page break.

DragCore is Finally Done...

      I finally managed to finish DragCore, but not without a bunch of scars. In short, a lot of things were cut. Nothing gameplay wise but things that required plugins (purchasing, ads, game center, etc.) don't work at all on iOS and Game Services don't work at all on Android. To top it all off my old Macbook is officially too old. It's unable to run OSX 10.8 or higher and thus can't publish apps to iTunes anymore. That means my games are Android exclusive until I can afford a new Mac. So not for a very long time. I'm also debating if I should let my developer license disappear on that platform. My games are not selling well enough to pick up the $100 a year.

     All these things should spell crushing defeat for me, but they don't. It's a new day for me. It's time I finally be true to myself. It's time I make something for me. I've been trying too hard. Chasing the idea of what a successful app should be instead of making the best game possible. That's what I'm going to do now. No more features and gimmicks that I don't believe in. No more outside advice. My next game is coming from the heart and I'll see how that goes for me.

Status Report #25

     My last weekend with DragCore. Seriously this time. Part of me is willing to forget about getting Game Services to work on the android version just so I can move on. The other part wants to figure this out so my next games can have it. The promotion opportunities are really useful too. I haven't tried using the iOS version yet and I'll be doing that this afternoon. If anything else, I can at least submit that to Apple and start their review process. With Google Play DragCore can be put up any day I want.

     Yesterday was Valentine's day so I took the day off for obvious reasons. Today it's back to work. Check out what got done last week below.