Return All Robots Post Mortem
- 2. EPIC TRAILER
- 3. Objectives Make an Original Game With mechanics that have not been used before Find Out If We Can Work Together Have Fun!
- 4. Development Timeline October 2009: Philly Game Jam Thanksgiving 2009: Switch to XNA December 2009: Playable Alpha March 2010: Dream-Build-Play July 2010: Betascape October 2010: Release? December 22nd, 2010: BAD.
- 6. Scale Shitload of levels Thought the game was going to be a 3-6 month Good mechanics project. Difficulty curve Didn't define the other mechanics soon enough "Bit off more than we could chew, but we fucking Tools didn't support other chewed it" mechanics Existing levels were affected by new mechanics Art was ahead of features
- 7. Level Editor/Tools In-game Interface wasn't very usable Easy-to-use Some features weren't Powerful supported in the editor 1-day learning curve Content builder that generated Mix-and-match behaviors assets and representations View Collision Boundaries
- 8. Programming Complimentary skillsets Communications/System Design issues XNA: Simple things were good XNA: Lots of gotchas Review system, later in the process Easy Deploy to Xbox and PC
- 9. Communication Communication in a Virtual Environment Email communication = annoying Online PM Tools Skype communication Ticket Review System Team Morale Double edged sword
- 10. Audio It was pretty good...
- 11. Art Goals Team Shortcomings Accomplishments
- 12. Art: Goals Visual Style 80s Theme, Saturation Scale & Perspective 60x60pixel grid squares Preserving detail at 60x60 Characters Straight-On vs. Background Angle Mesh Raster & Vector Vector Characters on Raster Background Minimize Levels of Shading in both Visually Distinguish Interactive Elements
- 13. Art: Goals Style Challenges Top-Down View Bright Characters Dull Backgrounds 60x60pix Grid Consistent Shadows Original Wall Perspective Conflicted with Assets
- 14. Art: Team Zach Brooks Character and Asset Concepts and Designs Direct Consistency between art created Alan Kordas Background Assets, Story Panels, Title Art Steve Nathanson Character Creation / Animation (Intern) Kevin Appel Background Assets, Animations Steve Macintyre Character Vectorization / Animation Jordan Santell Visual FX, Animations, UI, Modulation
- 15. Art: Shortcomings Inconsistency So many different artists Fluxuating Team Some bailed, Some came back Underestimation Manpower # of Assets Time for design, production, and animation Lost our animator Animations / Assets / Characters Animations slowed everything down could've been done with code Some art never used Tons of concepts Assets and Game World could have been less repetitive
- 16. Art: Shortcomings So many artists, lots of tweeking to fit style
- 17. Art: Accomplishments Raster / Vector Meshed Took Some heat in reviews Story Panels People enjoyed the separate styles Style Fresh Funny Modulation Saved time Added some consistency Cyberturtle Everyone Loves him Started as a joke
- 18. Reviews " If you like a good laugh with your puzzle games, then Return All Robots will keep you playing for hours." - GayGamer "Gorgeous little puzzler" - Thisisfakediy "Overwhelmingly I enjoyed Return All Robots! for what it was: a simple, yet challenging, puzzle game that offered a high level of polish that I’m not entirely accustomed to in Xbox Live Indie Games. As such, I’d easily recommend this game to anybody out there looking for a unique, robot-inspired puzzler." - DIYGamer "This is definitely not a puzzle game you want to miss." - CrushFragDestroy One of The 8 Best Xbox Live Games of 2010 - GameBits
- 19. How Has it Been Selling? XBox: 105 PC: 28
- 22. Whaaaaa? Planned on local connections and social network starting a viral, wider response...didn't happen Didn't advertise much before launch, waited until post-launch before major PR push
- 23. Questions ? Comment