Go, Go, Go

"In the pipe, five by five."

We're Back on the Road Again...

Well, not quite, but Dreams of Witchtown should be available to Creators Club members for review around midnight tonight. It would be a festivus miracle if it got approved for Christmas! 

Bullet Proof

Please try to break Dreams of Witchtown! Playtest now!

Screen Shot (Part 5)

Level UP!

Try { 2 + 2 = 8 } catch { "duh" }

Although we're a bit disappointed Dreams failed peer review because we didn't handle a corrupt memory unit we shall press on. Didn't we all learn with NES that you shouldn't go pulling your game cartridge out of the system while it's on? ... Duh! 


As it turns out the suggested fix for everything is to wrap everything up in a try/catch block and give a "prettier" crash. So... while we take a week to add a few lines of code (literally) we'll be enjoying ICY THE SNOWMAN shaped sugar cookies! (maybe I'll post a picture later)

Dreams is Ready for Review!

Thanks to those (friends and members of the Creator's Club) who took the time to playtest Dreams of Witcthtown. After over a week of playtest we have made the following improvements to the game making it ready for peer review!

• Easier leveling at lower levels
• Warning signs added before boss fights
• Fixed an issue with visiting one of the shops while running by
• Solved a problem with menu sound in the title and story screens

In the weeks prior to the official playtest we implemented several things while doing our own internal playtesting including the pause functionality, the trial save system, controller and memory card management and a few other things. This was all in an effort to make the game ready for review. You can review the game here!

Screen Shot (Part 4)

Eh...what's up, doc?

Playtest Me!

Currently there are quite a few games up for both playtest and peer review. Dreams has been up for playtest since Sunday however we haven't had quite the feedback we were hoping for to ensure that all things are top notch. If you're reading this and you have the ability to playtest - please check Dreams out here!

Screen Shot (Part 3)

It's the Trojan Badger!?!? Crap!

Almost Finished Box Art

Chris hasn't given me the final box art but this is pretty close. I think all he added was the gift logo in the bottom right.

Dreams Is Up for Playtest

After a week of internal playtesting and going over the evil checklist Dreams of Witchtown was posted this morning for peer playtest! So, if you're a creators club member, please check it out!

SFX360 Preview!

We would like to thank the team at SFX360 for posting a preview of Dreams! Go check it out here!

The Little Things

Our team spent a lot of time yesterday doing some harsh play testing and going through the evil checklist. I use the word harsh because we had to do things like rip the memory card out of the Xbox while the game was trying to save, unplug the controller, try to play with the 4th controller instead of controller number one, etc. The good news is we passed on most things however there are a couple things we need to polish up in the next two days before submitting to peer play testing.

ICY THE SNOWMAN

Meet The Enemy (Part 3)

Late Night!

Our team was up throughout the night trying to finish up some odds and ends before pushing the game out to peer review. One of the kinks we had to work out was some game save functionality. As it stood, players were able to save and load their saved games while in trial mode, essentially allowing a player to beat the entire game 8 minutes at a time (seriously, who would do that?). We took care of the issue and if you try to load a save you will be prompted to purchase the game - nice of us to make that convenient for you isn't it?

Check It Out - XBLARATINGS.COM Preview

We would like to thank the folks at XBLA & XBLIG Ratings (xblaratings.com) for taking the time to post a preview of Dreams of Witchtown. Here's the first bit of the article: 


"Xbox Live Indie Games has over 600 titles availble currently, but only 6 of those are Role Playing Games. So, when I stumbled across Dreams of Witchtown I was excited to see an action fantasy RPG being made."


Check out the complete preview!

Screen Shot (Part 2)

I really enjoy the winter levels in the game, and kicking ICY THE SNOWMAN's butt is a rewarding experience!

Screen Shots (Part 1)

Well, it's about that time - we've started the process of getting some screenshots together for the games launch! Here's one I sort of liked.

Somebody Set Us Up The Bomb!

Feel our presence on GiantBomb.Com

View Page Here

A WASP

Meet The Enemy (Part 2)

Story Art (Part 2)

We couldn't resist posting another concept story art piece. Our idea for using stained glass to introduce the story comes from a favorite animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Hope you enjoy!

Wikipedia Page!

Check out the Wikipedia Page

Trailer 2 Posted

Check it out here: View Trailer 2!
Meet a few of the enemies in Dreams of Witchtown the action RPG for XBox 360 Live Indie Games. As you defeat bosses throughout the game you will gain additional magical abilities and spells that allow you to overcome the final challenge! Just in time for the holidays and Christmas, Dreams has a beautiful winter environment where you will meet Icy The Snowman!

Meet Reed

Reed Lupin - Reed hasn't had a formal introduction until now. He has the job most kids dream about if they don't get to make video games. He manages a video game store! He loves his job, and has always had the gift of perspective. He's helping out with the concept and story art.

Concept Art for the Story

The team discussed several ways of presenting the story in the game. Here are some of the early concepts - you'll have to play the game to find out how it's actually presented!

MUSHINGTON

Meet The Enemy (Part 1)

Look forward to meeting more enemies in the coming weeks!

Submitted Video to XBoxHornet's Video Vault

We just submitted the first trailer to The X Tube - XBoxHornet's video vault. We will continue to post our videos there since it is a great source for Xbox specific videos.

Meet the Team!

Isn't it every kids dream to "make video games?" Unfortunately for most it's a stable career that prevents it from ever happening (hmm... or fortunately?). Let me introduce you to the team:

Chris - The driving force behind Dreams. He found himself unemployed in the Spring of 2009 and he has been working his butt off ever since. He did some schooling at the Art Institute of Seattle. However, that career thing got in the way for a few years. He is the artist, and his animation skills improved greatly with a lot of hard work and dedication.

Barry - He loves video games, but most on this board do right? Seriously though, he's hardcore and has a knack for ignoring reviewers and just playing what he enjoys. This is his first shot at level design and music and I like it.

Josh - Me, well, I went to school and got a CIS (Computer Information Systems) degree and work for software company supporting a couple database servers. The company is awesome to work for. I love programming - lets just say this is my hobby.

Couple other people - We also have a couple people working on concept/story art, and a couple "casual" gamers doing play testing.

Dreams of Witchtown - To be honest this is the first game - so it was a learning experience. It was made with Indie Game Builder. We have big plans for our next title (yet to be announced) and have already started programming the Torque X "engine" however he's starving and needs to get Dreams out asap! The story and characters are enjoyable, the gameplay is fun and addictive!

Announcing Dreams of Witchtown for Xbox 360 Indie Games

Introduction of a new fantasy gaming series featuring new exciting characters and unique visual and audio design coming in December from Gift

Gift is pleased to announce Dreams of Witchtown, a new fantasy action RPG for Xbox Live Indie Games. Staring Aurora, the magically gifted descendant of Witchtown, the game takes place in a beautiful 2d world and allows the player to build on experience to defeat progressively challenging enemies. The first trailer is up now showing a glimpse of the actual gameplay:

View Video Here