Just a quick update: we are officially listed on IndieDB which is probably the best game database for indie games on the web today. Also both Mnemons and Semblante have their own pages.

In other news, we are wrapping things up here and both Mnemons and Semblante will have their final (for now) builds. We are preparing a series of posts for both games, detailing aspects of their brief development (both were developed in a 3 week time-frame). Expect the final builds to be released by the end of the week and the posts following soon thereafter.

So, what have the Adugans been doing these past 3 weeks? We’ve been working on the brand new version of Mnemons. After the Global Game Jam 2011 we striped down the prototype, identified it’s core mechanics, essential features, pros and cons, and redefined it as a Synchronous Platforming Adventure. Today we are submitting it to the South By Southwest Festival Screenburn Independent Propeller Awards by IndiePub (so I heard indies like big names).

The game is now in Alpha, which means it’s core is running healthily, the mechanics and most of the assets are there, but it has only 13 of the 28 planned levels, and you’ll be able to play with Moe and Jimmie, but not with Debbie and Andy. We’ll feed you with more news about the Festival ASAP, and hope you enjoy playing the Alpha with your friends!

You can download the game here or you can check the brand new game page instead.

And here it is: Semblante 2.0, the IGF version. It’s a full revamp of the previous version, as we ported the game to the Construct Game Creator.

As it is a full port and a redesign, pretty much everything is changed between visuals, mechanical tweaks, level design etc. We will improve this version as the time goes by as since we had more than 48 hour to develop Semblante 2.0 the code and all the production pipeline is much simpler, which makes improvements, bugfixing and asset implementation way easier than what we could achieve on the Game Maker version.

And yes, Semblante is one of the 391 games competing at the 13th Independent Games Festival. We submitted it for all the tiny bits of publicity we can get and to receive feedback from the judges and peers.

To download the latest version of Semblante click here. Or you can go grab it on the game’s main page.

See you.

Hello everyone!

I’m very glad to announce that Tsar Project is now officially  in production!

The next Tsar Update Bruno will lay more details in every department’s work, but for now I’ll give you a shot from the studio and some information on my work:

In the background our beautiful 64sq ft pinning board, full of references and WIPs, including beta versions of the game’s map, sound design equalization and chord maps, plot drafts and else. It is a greatly useful feature for a creative studio, indeed.

Those in the foreground are little models I’ve done recently of two types of guards we’ll have in the Kremlin, they’re made of platicine, and still WIP, but are already useful in finding the right angle for their sprites.

Behind them you can (NOT) see three models of our protagonist, in whom my work is focused now, primarily in doing his basic movements animations and sprites.

Last but not least there is the Tsar Project logo!!! We have decided to use the same principle of the studio’s visual ID in our in development projects, so the typography is the same Cedilha Script and the logo in a brush stroke monogram of Tsar (actually, Царь).

Type to you later, and have a nice week!

Semblante posted on Play This Thing!

Even though our priority is the Tsar Project, we didn’t left Semblante behind. We’re sitll working on it to improve the gameplay and sharpen the game concept, looking forward to achieve a more complet experience on what’s been proposed for the game.
We just got extra motivation! =)

We are finally back from the Global Game Jam and we’d like to produdly present the result of our 48 hour effort: Semblante.

Before I start, a brief clarification. “Semblante” is a portuguese word that means “visage”. A good reason for the choice of this particular name was because it is a phonetically pleasing word (when spoken in native portuguese at least) the other reasons are pretty much subjective and we leave to each one his own to think about it or not.

The game is still a little incomplete as of now, even if it has a beginning and an end, as we need to work out some of the mechanics, asset implementations and general level design. Semblante is also quite simple, you control Jung inside its own mind as it searches for its own identity (represented as a mask) while avoiding the shadows that lurks within. The metaphor is obvious and I will not linger on it anymore.

The mechanics are pretty simple. Jung has 4 mechanics. It can move, jump, shine and scream. To shine, the character needs to stay in light spots to charge its body. Jung glows for a limited amount of time and while it is glowing, shadows are repelled by it. Jung can also use its remaining glow to scream and attract shadows to itself. We have a lot of bugs to work out still but the core mechanics are all there.

The guys at PUCPR jam site (we are at the right, with “uniforms”)

Aside from the game itself and talking about the Jam itself. It was a pleasing (and exhausting) experience to participate on a Global Game Jam. The extra hands were crucial for the game to come into fruition. In the name of the team I’d like to thank, Flor, Santo, Paulo and Rossato for their effort and dedication during the Jam. We also want to thank Bruno Campagnolo for organizing the Jam Site and the free sodas and sfihas. We’d like to do it again next year!