Here is a sneak peek at the concept art for Crazy Old Me – introducing Felix, the phase-shifting, platform-jumping hero of our story. More to come soon!
Tag Archives: Crazy Old Me
Quick Development Update
Since the release of the flash prototype, I have been working hard at getting a game engine up and running in C++. I wont go into much details about how this engine works, but I will say that it is seeing some great progress thanks to some open source projects such as SFML and box2d. Here is a small video preview of what the engine is capable of so far. In it you will see some boxes being created and interacting with each other. Yay! Physics!
Before too long I will have some gameplay to show off, but there is still a long ways to go for a playable game.
Prototype Shipped
The prototype for Crazy Old Me has been published to two flash game sites, Newgrounds and Kongregate. Yay!
The prototype is getting reasonable ratings and reviews. The general consensus is that the core mechanic is good but the execution could have been better. This is good news considering that the focus of the prototype was on the core mechanic, phase shifting, and only mild effort was put into the other fronts.
Now that I have confirmed my suspicions that phase shifting has potential, it is time to stretch the core mechanics and expand on them as well. I will divulge some information once we have narrowed down what we want to do.
A New Challenger Appears
Immediately after putting Crea on hold, I began to look at what my next game project would be. I was not looking for a rebound relationship. I knew that it had to be absolutely feasible. So I began to brainstorm with my brother Aaron and my wife Kelley.
We came up with a few different ideas but I was uncertain about the feasibility. Eventually we came up with something that we liked and was achievable in a 9~ month timeframe. Over the past month we have been working on a flash prototype to get a feel for what the game and development would be like. The flash game is nearly done with only a week left of bake time before putting it only some major flash sites such as Newgrounds and Kongragate.
The working title of this new game is Crazy Old Me. It is about Felix, a young scientist, and Pickles, his pet cat. One day Felix is going about his normal life when he is abducted by his future self, who infuses Felix with ME (Me Enhancing) technology in order to complete a deranged quest. Felix is forced to go through insanely intensive training in order to prepare for a future event in which Pickles is stuck in a tree.
The gameplay in Crazy Old Me is a traditional 2D platformer at heart with some serious modifications. Several of these modifications are inspired by games such as Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV and I Wanna Be The Guy. If you know anything about these games then you know that this roughly translates to DEATH. Lots of death! Death every few seconds. Death from lava, death from heat-seeking missiles, death from pointy things. In other words, the game will be made up of many small levels that range from moderately challenging to insanely challenging. Only those with quick reflexes, good muscle memory, and determination will be able to make it through the most challenging levels.
In order to achieve unique gameplay a new concept to the genre was mixed in – phase shifting. There are two different ‘phases’ that the player can go between. Objects typically exist in only one phase or the other, which means the player must phase shift in order to avoid objects and much more. Have no doubt that we will be having fun with this concept.
I will be providing more information next week with the release of the prototype. Check back here then. Oh and here is the title screen for the prototype that Kelley did.
