Sunday, February 7, 2010

Shifting Gears


As those of you who follow this blog may have noticed, there's not been a new entry for over a month. I have shifted all of my efforts and focus over to the game that my brother and I are developing for XBox Live/Community Games. Our tentative release date is summer of 2012, but we will expedite the development process as much as we can.

It is titled, Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages. The plot will be discussed in further detail in a dev blog I will be maintaining for the game. It will act as a prequel to a novel I am writing, which I hope to finish around the same time this game is released -- the novel will be entitled, Ring Runner: Derelict Dreams.

This is by far the most ambitious project my brother and I have ever undertaken and will involve building a 2.5D game engine, composing original sounds and music, designing over 50 unique vessels, hundreds of skills, and creating a rich and unique Sci Fi universe for players and readers to explore.

Although I will only be starting the blog now, we are already over a year into development. Many of the ships, hundreds of sounds, the plot, and the graphical engine -- featuring a very sophisticated particle system -- are all but finished.

The next major obstacle we'll be tackling will be creating net code that will allow for the sort of gameplay we've envisioned for the game. Ultimately the goal is to create a game that will play similarly to a game of DotA (LoL, HoN), but with persistent progression and greater customization. However, Ring Runner: FotS players will not be controlling a hero rummaging through a forest. They will be piloting a ship through space, introducing a wide variety of arcade-like elements and shmup-based twitch skill. Despite the introduction of this new dimension of difficulty, we are committed to making the game accessible to enthusiasts of both the RPG and arcade/shmup genres.

If all goes to plan, the game will include:

- A story-driven single-player campaign with an engaging storyline, full of intrigue, comedy, and fantastical happenings,

- A coop mode in which players can explore the outer rings of the universe together encountering a practically inexhaustible variety of procedurally generated content, and

- A variety of PVP modes between the two factions: the CIR and the Runners; including death matches, duels, base VS base battles, and capture-the-flag-like competitions

If you think you might be interested in Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages, be sure to keep an eye out for the coming developer's blog at: http://ringrunnergame.blogspot.com/