Introducing Avatar Trivia Party

I mentioned before that one of the reasons I cancelled Avatar Trivia Online was because I was planning another, better trivia game. Avatar Trivia Online was intended to be an incredibly simple project. It had no scoring system, no victories or losses, and chat-room-style multiplayer.



But now for something more substantial. I took on what little criticism ATO received in its short lifespan for my next trivia title, Avatar Trivia Party. I had a very important realisation during the planning stage. People expect a scoring system in their Trivia games, and almost every Trivia game has a simple scoring system, why not do something different? Like, say, a fully-featured board game?



Your goal is to reach the board's finish line before anyone else. Every turn, you get asked a question. If you get it right, you roll two dice. If you get it wrong, you roll one die. So make sure you polish up your trivia skills to get the best possible chance of winning!

Avatar Trivia Party is a much bigger project. Unlike ATO, ATP supports local multiplayer. Even in online multiplayer, you can take real-life friends with you on the same console. I worked really hard to make the multiplayer interface work well in all scenarios, to make sure that you can start games with your friends as quickly and easily as possible. Even if they're just drinking buddies and they don't have a 360 or a Gamertag.

So, a board game! Neat, huh? The game is almost done and will be put into review shortly.

Avatar Trivia Online Cancelled

This is a rather melancholic piece to write as I've never cancelled a game I've completed before. But I've pulled the release of Avatar Trivia Online forever.

This isn't because I had problems with the project. The game was done. Completely done. There are just factors that prevented the game from doing well at all.

- The first release of the game was while the XBLIG list was broken. There was also a crash that had slipped me by, so I pulled the game.
- I put it back up, but it got hit by XBLIG problems yet again.

In addition to this, the game I am working on now is also in the trivia department, but is significantly more featured. No point in having 2 trivia games so close to each other.

I therefore decided to remove ATO forever. If you bought ATO in the very short time it was up, and I eventually become a big name in the industry (we can all dream), you may have an Xbox 360 worth a mint! :P

Despite problems in XBLIG, I still have some faith in it. I'll just be more careful in checking the current health of XBLIG before clicking that "Publish" button. As to my next game, you'll have to wait a bit longer, but if you like trivia at all you'll LOVE this.

Avatar Trivia Online Delayed

First, apologies to everyone who wanted to play online trivia.

I found a bug in the game after I published, that was caused by a last-minute fix during some tiring crunch. I was busy with my next game and with real life, so the bug went unnoticed until the game was published.

It's triggered in long games that testers wouldn't normally try to do.

Now the game has to be delayed by at least another few weeks, depending on how long it takes to get through review.

If you ever feel like you're too lucky in life, come and be friends with me, I'm sure some of my legendarily bad luck will rub off on you.

Introducing Avatar Trivia Online

Avatar Trivia Online. I'm not surprised if you've come to conclusions already based on that title. But please let me state my case :)

Red Crest Studios, still in the one-man band phase, needs to make smaller games that can be released faster. But in doing so, I'm still going to make games I'm proud to release. The kinds of games I want to play and that aren't already available on XBLIG.

What inspired Avatar Trivia Online? Many years ago, the most popular form of online chat was called IRC. One particular channel I remember was one where a bot would ask trivia questions, and everyone in the room had to type up their answers. It was great fun, and I played it almost every day. The fact that you could chat as the game went on didn't hurt, either.

Alas, that IRC server got shut down. But I hope to replicate the experience, from what I can remember of it, into Avatar Trivia Online. That is why the game will feel like a jump-in jump-out chat room, rather than having the structure and bling of a game show like other trivia games.

Players want more online games. But online play is a very difficult thing to get right. I hope to gain experience in programming an online game. By including Avatars, I also hope to get some experience in programming in 3D. You may have noticed some rudimentary 3D in Andromium, but that code is messy.

Red Crest is known for its immense polish, and this game will be no different. Help test it and put it through review on App Hub:

http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/90560.aspx

I'll probably release ATO on a Saturday after passing review. But the one to watch is Gears of War 3, I'll have to decide whether it's worth being pitted against that 20-tonne gorilla.

Andromium Released

Finally! Now go get it!

http://marketplace.xbox.com/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855091d

I'm so happy this game is out now. It's been a long development trip. Now let's see how well it does!

Press Release
"Andromium" Rockets Onto Xbox LIVE

BRISBANE, Australia: Slicing fruit won't be the only strange Xbox game from an Australian developer this week! Red Crest Studios is proud to announce the release of Andromium, the innovative indie space adventure now available on Xbox LIVE Indie Games for 80 Microsoft Points.

Andromium is the name of a dangerous radioactive metal, that explodes when it touches anything for a short period. Armed with no weapons, and a limited shield, you must team up with a friend to safely deliver your combustible cargo to a research lab several lightyears away. Not only must you avoid all the dangerous obstacles scattered throughout space, but you must juggle the Andromium between your ship and your partner's, to ensure the Andromium remains cool and stable. Watch out for space bees, grinding gears, enemy ships, electric orbs, alien tongues, clock pendulums, blue fireballs, balance boards and giant broccoli, but for heaven's sake make sure you don't lose the Andromium when it reaches your side of the screen!

All levels in the game are procedurally generated, which not only creates a tense gameplay atmosphere but also adds replay value to a game that is already amazing value for your 80 Microsoft Points.

There are several modes to keep you hankering for more. With the regular One Player mode, you control the left ship and the AI controls the right. Avoiding the obstacles is tough enough, but make sure you collect the Andromium whenever it is launched towards you! But if even that isn't hardcore enough for you, try the outrageously hard One Player "Mastermind" mode, which requires you to control both ships through two different level streams, using one controller! Insanity may ensue, you have been warned and Red Crest Studios absolves itself of any responsibility for your mental condition after playing for too long. Finally, share the fun, by inviting a friend over to play Two Player mode and attempt to co-operatively handle the Andromium in the heat of the moment!

Speaking of sharing the fun, you can send your high score tables to any of your online friends over Xbox LIVE, while also inviting them to defeat those scores.

Don't miss out on enjoying one of the most unique gameplay designs you'll ever experience. Andromium can be downloaded now from the Xbox Marketplace at this link:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855091d

Red Crest Studios is a small independent developer in Brisbane, Australia, and the owner, Michael Ventnor, can be contacted through contact@redcreststudios.com

Just a Few More Days...

August 12 is almost here! Oooh, the anticipation...

We have a new trailer made by Ryan Donnelly of vvgtv.com fame. It is up on GiantBomb, making Andromium one of the few, if not the only XBLIG title to have a trailer put up on this particular popular gaming site!

http://www.giantbomb.com/andromium-trailer/17-4616/

The commenters love it, especially the music. Not surprising, Bonded Realities was acclaimed for its music too. I guess I have an ear for what makes a good background song! Wait until you hear the other songs in-game.

Andromium Goes Gold

... and about time too!

I just submitted Andromium into peer review. The thread for it is here (XNA Premiums only):
http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/87804.aspx

If you can review XNA games, please be my hero and do so. Now that we can decide release dates, I've decided on a release date of August 12. But in order to reach that, I have to make sure I pass review before then, so like I said, please be my hero if you can!

Now that writing the actual game is out of the way, up comes the marketing campaign. Let's see how well that goes.

UPDATE: So I failed on the first night. The game will come back to peer review on July 29, which means the review process will have to be very quick for me to make my release date. I can only hope...