Tag «Tri»

TRI – preparing cut scenes and new levels

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Now that most of the levels are made (but not yet finished), Jana is preparing foxes for the cutscenes. They will tell the story of friendship and why the monk wants you to go to the "magic world" and use the triangles.

1. Everything starts with a story board

Before Jana began to animate the scenes, she was sketching the plot sequences of the back story. You won't see this story in one go, which means she needed to decide how to cut the backstory into small pieces of mini stories. The way the foxes and the monk are displayed in the pictures will be important for later news articles.
We will not tell you the story now. But maybe you come up with your own interpretation! :D

s_tri_story

2. Fleshing out the foxes

After these fast sketches Jana took every pose of the monk and the foxes and drew them in detail. The dynamic of every pose is very important for later use.

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3. Testing animatics

First she colorized the sketches to test how they would look animated and which parts of the fox, like ears or tails, have to be in separate pieces to be animated. Jana did the animation in 3dsMax, so we don't need to render videos, but use real-time animation instead.

Watch here!

4. The final art style

The final pieces of graphics necessary to animate the characters are done in Illustrator. Jana is using the sketches a basis for the colored cel shading art.

Foxes_sequence

5. Real time animation

This is how the foxes are animated in the finished style. At the moment we are looking for a voice actor to read the story, so that it will feel like a fable or fairy tale.

Watch here!

6. Leveldesign

Friedrich recently finished one of the last levels. Just have a look at the screenshots (the scene doesn't have an art style yet, so it's all test-textures). Sadly, we are not sure yet when the next update with the new levels will be released. It needs to be tested and polished a bit. Bit hey, it has portals and trees.

131125_level_02 131125_level_01

And a very small and quick sneak peek on the last level of TRI. You gain the ability to reflect solid rays there and walk on them:

131125_lastlevel

(Of course, this is very alpha right now.)

We hope you enjoyed this news article, and don't forget to vote for us on Greenlight. ;-)

TRI – MagicalMonk update is out! + Greenlight


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Good morning everybody,

we recently released the brand-new and shiny update for TRI. As the value, i.e the content and quality, were increased significantly we also increased the price.

Those of you who already bought the game: just head to your client (Desura) OR mail-account. We sent those who bought the game via our shop an eMail. Because this shop got a bit messy to update, we switched over to the Humble Store. There you can directly download the game for PC/MAC/Linux, and also get it on Desura via an individual key.

If you want to get TRI now be aware that we have two editions prepared!

monkedition

foxedition

So, TRI can now be purchased via Humble Store (see above), Desura and IndieGameStand.

The update contains:
~ 12 completely playable levels
~ Fox and Monk
~ gameplay and level design improvements
~ nicer textures and decorations

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Reviews:

„It‘s during these moments of precursor and reflection - teased by the level‘s close-knit and smart design - that a strange pleasure rises up in me.“
Chris Priestman, Indie Statik

„The German developers seem to have done a great job crafting levels where our ability to create triangular platforms (and deform them in real time) will be put to the test, especially when we decide to dissect every room facilities until we find all secrets.“
Flavio Soldani, IdealsoftBlog.it

„I initially thought - Great, another wandering around artsy game, meh. But the level design, the art and use of color, and the triangle mechanic = fantastic game.“
mik3k, Desura

„Brain-bending. Tri challenges my spatial awareness with creative level design and versatile tools. When I finish a level, I feel proud of my solution--a quality many puzzle games lack.“
31, Desura

tri_screen_01 tri_screen_02 tri_screen_03 tri_screen_04

 

And if you only buy games on Steam: we finally put TRI on Greenlight - help us getting on Steam by voting for us!

IndieGameStand Sale – Pitman and TRI

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IndieGameStand is a cool platform where every four days another indie game is presented to you, with a drastly reduced price. As a developer you have the total control of the content presented on this sale page. The main game is Pay-What-You-Want, while players get extra content for beating the average prize. And if you spend  $10 you can even get the last, current and next game!

From July, 19th - 22nd you can get Pitman and TRI!

1. PAY WHAT YOU WANT - Pitman

Pitman is a boardgame-style rogue-like. Initially made for the "Seven Day Roguelike Challenge" the game got a complete overhaul. Pitman will let you die a thousand deaths ... and make your survival especially satisfying!

Features:

  • RPG - create the hero you want, like a dwarven sorcerer or a powerful warrior
  • turnbased - for a tactical course of action
  • 3D boardgame style - build the world while playing
  • randombased - no game will be like the one before

Reviews:

"Great! - An overlooked game with great feel and atmosphere. Very replayable too."
- Scarfoo, App Store Slovenia

"Good music, new concept of dungeon generation, good atmosphere. Definitely recommend to any fans of rogue-likes."
- raensi, Desura

"There is enormous potential here. I spent half the night playing Pitman when I should been sleeping."
- funambolist, Touch Arcade

"Get this Game!I know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple weeks..."
- Fools08, App Store US

2. BEAT THE AVERAGE - Pitman Android + TRI + Rat King Soundtrack


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Features of TRI:

  • freeform 3D platformer with an emphasis on atmosphere and exploration
  • build triangles to overcome abysses, reach unknown places, and walk on the walls and the ceiling
  • control light rays and destroy obstacles with dangerous lasers
  • explore the strange worlds of TRI, collect treasures and solve puzzles

Reviews:

"You could just make your own platforms and climb up, and I feared the game would lose the sentiment – that feeling – that the first level really nailed for me. Luckily, it did actually manage to keep hold of it, and by the time I got around to Level 5, Labyrinths I believe it’s called, I was sitting right back in my seat with my brain just baking in the pleasure the intricate level design and mysterious criss-crossing architecture was pumping out at me."
- Chris Priestman, Indiestatik
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Like every indie sale, this one does have the charity aspect as well. In the first place we chose a local historic building we visit quite often in our free time, called the Peißnitzhaus. The people there try to restore it and also have a very family-friendly beer garden running.  Unfortunately they were badly affected by the flood in June, and thus need additional money.
But to have a known and more important NGO, we chose to have Greenpeace instead. We are glad to support an organization like Greenpeace that taught us the importance to fight Monsanto, save whales and dolphins or their current campaign to save the arctic from oil exploitation. We are super-happy and proud to pledge parts of the money that we raise - with your help, of course, to Greenpeace via IndieGameStand.

PS: Buy our games!

PPS: Update! 900 people bought our games and paid $1,939.21 - i.e., $2.15 average! Awesome!

Status Update: Flood, TRI, Android

We neglected to write about TRI and us for a bit too long time now – with a reason. Perhaps you heard about it, but there recently was severe high-water in many places of Germany and other countries. As there were record water levels in a lot of rivers this time, and as we live right between two arms of the Saale, water came to our house pretty determined. Luckily the flood didn't reach our own door, but half a meter more and we probably would have needed to wipe disgusting dirty stains from the floor and our furniture.

Flood

Flood

As we couldn't reach our home for several days and also didn't have any electricity and warm water for over two weeks, we had to pause all development for a while and do some imposed vacation. Some other not so positive things happened, too, but those I don't want to explain further – I guess it suffices to say that health problems are bad, everywhere and always.

This all leads to sad news: the upcoming update for TRI probably needs some more time, again. Money will be running dry in the near future, and we have again once to do paid assignments (by the way, if you happen to know anyone who wants to have a game or 3D characters made, send them our way ;-)).

The following screenshots show one of the level that will be in the next update of TRI, introducing the actual reflection of light rays:

Light Rays Level

But on the happier side of this status update, TRI is now also available on GamersGate. Just so you know we're still eager to finish this game!

TRI on GamersGate!

Additionally, some time ago we got the Android plugin for Unity3D and in the last days I finally came around to actually port some of our games. To be exact, the apps we already made for iOS, the role-playing game Pitman and the puzzle game Tumblox, are playable now on your Android device, as well two of my jam games, Double Rogue and HATESNAKE3D. The latter one is also free to play for everyone on Kongregate!

So if you need your fix of rogue-like, puzzle or insane arcade action on a mobile device, we might have something up our sleeves. :-)

Our Android Games

TRI – The AMAZE-ing update released

TRI 0.2.1 update

We are pleased to announce that the new update 0.2.1 for TRI is live and can be downloaded now. As already said before, this will be the last version with the low price of $4.99 only. We currently scheduled version 0.3 (the STORY update) for end of May, and that one will come with a price increase!

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Now, for the AMAZE-ing update we have some new stuff, especially worth mentioning two new levels. The first one let's you walk on walls and ceilings a lot, and has windmills and a glimpse on the floating ghosts (the Kami). The second one re-introduces light rays and acid pits. If you already owned and played the TRI alpha, for your convience you can play the new levels directly - but don't miss the enhancements in the other levels! For example, we added the monk in the tutorial level, mainly for demonstration purposes (as he doesn't talk much right now).

The monk appears

And you can finally run now. This was the feature requested by most people so far. :-P Unfortunately, this changed the balance of the gameplay a bit where it wasn't wanted. On the bright side, if you have to walk up a long wall you will need far less triangles now, as you can run quite a while on the wall after leaving a triangle until you fall down again. (Just try it!)

The complete changelist for the AMAZE-ing update:

  • Fixed NullReference in output_log.txt regarding save files
  • Fixed the feedback functionality (via F11), should work always now
  • Added possibility to use/activate/pick stuff with Left Click
  • Fixed rotating box in level 7 ("Reluctance")
  • Changed savestate fileformat, saves from 0.2.0a and before not usable anymore
  • Removed GUI key statues in the top right corner for the first level
  • Added possibility to sprint via Left Shift key
  • Improved visuals/gameplay of some of the levels, changed tutorial a bit
  • Added option (in tab "Performance") to disable fullscreen antialiasing
  • Fixed a glitch with climbing on slopes
  • Fixed the minor issue of antiwalls playing sounds even when not activated
  • Added two levels, introducing (again) light rays, acid and autosave
  • Added an NPC with simple behaviour for demonstration purposes

You may wonder why we call this update the AMAZE-ing update. From April, 24th to 27th we will be in Berlin, visiting the AMAZE IndieConnect! We will meet other indie developers and give a talk about why and how to limit your game in a healthy way. So, if you want to talk to us in person, this might be your chance. :-)

And now for some more screenshots of the new TRI levels:

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