RobotWarz Preview Video With Final Graphics
September 12, 2010 Posted by Tyler CruzIt’s been 2 months since my last update on RobotWarz.
At that time, the website had just been finished and I hired a new programming company. It took a while for development to begin since I actually had to write an extremely detailed project description of how the entire game functioned, being as verbose as possible. You can try this to see how the game was which I developed.
Even though I tried to be descriptive yet keep the project description as simple as possible, it ended up being 30 pages long. This took me a few days to do since I had to be sure to include every aspect and feature of the game in it.
I had made a rougher, simpler version of a project description for the original programmer, but the game evolved and expanded so much since its original state and I had discussed this evolution with the first programmer through many e-mails and instant messages that the original project description was out of date.
It then took a week or so for the new game developers to look over my project, the existing code, and create a project plan.
After we finally got settled into a rhythm using Mantis for development discussion (after previously using Excel and then Google Docs), progress finally started to develop.
The first 2 modules are now complete with the 3rd half done.
The video below shows a sneak peak as to the current stage of the game’s development:
(Note: You may need to visit the post directly at TylerCruz.com if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS in order to see it.)
The “Bay Screen” is currently half done, and we re-tweaked the user interface for it after the video was made, so that needs to be completed.
After the Bay module is completed, work will commence on the Store module and then the Credits module.
There are still a lot more modules to do, and to be honest, we’ve only completed 2.5 out of a total of 21 modules, but 5-6 of those modules are really just extra features and aren’t necessary in order to actually launch the game. Also, a lot of the hard work is done, such as just getting into a development-feedback rhythm with the developer, having the project description and project plan done, the developer understanding the game, and the foundation of the game in place.
I think that the progress of development should quicken its pace now, and that we’ll see a lot of progress over the next few weeks.
Below are 3 screenshots from the game:
In my next update on RobotWarz, I hope to show you a video of the game where development has progressed all the way to the Arena. The Arena is where the actual battles take place, and will (in my opinion) require the most amount of programming.
So, what do you think? Progress has been slow overall, for sure, but I think we’ve finally cleared through all the rubble to where we can pave our way to the finish line.
Do you think that RobotWarz, as a game, will take off? Does it look fun? Is it too archaic? Share your thoughts please!
30 Responses to “RobotWarz Preview Video With Final Graphics”
When are you opening up the Alpha or Beta testing?
Honestly, probably January 1st, 2011. It’s a ways away, but there is still a lot to do.
The good news is that the Beta stage probably won’t last too long as it is just to help spot any lingering bugs and provide balance fixes before the game officially launches. I expect the Beta period to only last about a month.
Having a `soft` launch is probably a good idea, you dont want to have too many players on day one in case something unforeseen crops up.
I Think that a it is too late for a standalone webgame! I Think it must be connected with Facebook. Or what dó you think? 🙂
But i look fun, but thr text is a little bit hard to read!
Hello Tyler,
the project is going very good and sincerlly i dont think that its taking much time. Its taking the necessary time to be good, and has any game or project its will be updates for shure.
Kevin,
did you look the video? In the end of the video it says that it will have integration with facebook, and more.
Best regards
Soares
Tyler, in my opinion the fact that the game is “archaic” doesn’t really matter, what’s going to make or break it for RobotWarz is the fun factor, and the game play. If its a fun and addicting game to play, then it will be a big hit! Gotta hope that it goes viral too!
Till then,
Jean
Doesn’t look fun, its kinda ugly to stare at and if thats the music thats in the game then yeah the music doesn’t match at all.
its kinda obvious where you got this idea from. Mybrute. That thing was a viral hit but its something someone only plays once and never really plays it again. I think you tried too hard to be like mybrute with this game and thats where it will fail I think. At least fail to go viral.
Going viral can be a curse if its not ready, i would say run the game for a few months, get the bugs out and then promote it
Really, you need to do a lot more pre-promotion for this game and not just here. Join game communities like neogaf.com and others.
http://www.minecraft.net did this brilliantly. A single developer, game is not even out yet, and he’s already earned more than 600,000 euros… Of course it’s not a free game like yours but the same principle applies. Let people pre-register their nicknames or whatever, if the robot designs are final, let people already choose and customize their robot. Get them in to it..
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1096322756/working-on-a-friday-update-crying-over-paypal
Also, perhaps you already have this, but I think you need some sort of (private) alpha/beta as well. Feedback from actual gamers will make the game that much better.
I was actually thinking about offering a pre-register service, letting people sign up and create their robots and then notify them once the game goes live. I was also thinking of offering a special type of pre-credit purchase deal, where users could purchase credits in the game for a fraction of the cost as when the game is released.
However, the fact is that the game just isn’t far enough yet to set these things up.
As far as promotion, the reason I don’t want to spend the time and effort on this yet is because we’re still early into the development and I don’t want to hype people up and spend money and time on getting the word out, only to have people wait until next year for the game to finally come out.
I plan on doing a fair bit of promotion once the game is finished, but right now it’s too premature in my opinion…
Maybe if you market it as being old school game play, you might have a chance of it taking off. Otherwise, you need to start thinking about hooking it into Facebook. Chances are slim, my friend.
Study Zynga games on Facebook. They really know how to spam the heck out of people. Hahaha! Is that the music?
Its looking better and better. Looks like its far away from launch, it better be good 😀 (sure it is)
Looks like its going ahead quickly actually, not too far away at all 🙂
How much money are you investing in this? It looks great… I’m just intrigued. This must be your priciest development to date, right?
Not the priciest yet, but starting to get there. I’ve probably spent more development TIME on it than any other project though.
Looking forward to see the first revenue reports already 🙂
Tyler, good luck with the game. Don’t take the critics too seriously. You have a vision that they don’t have and you have the balls to take the risk.
Hey Tyler, The game looks really great so far. Like Kevin said above if you can somehow tie it into Facebook or even have a smaller version on the iphone/android you may have something there. None the less the “archaic” part isn’t much of problem, look at MyBrute – it’s similar and took off. Make a referral system to gain followers(which makes you stronger somehow) and it will go viral in no time. Good Luck!
Facebook and Referral system are already in the works….
Smart thinking 🙂
I would make/release a dumbed-down version for Facebook and iPhones etc but have all the features only in the main game. That way you can start building subscribers/players *WHILST* you complete all of the other modules. The Facebook version should be your hook, like leaving out a “super BOT/GUN” taht can be won on Facebook, but redeemed (via code) on the website.
Lou
Does the battle happen without user input, or is it turn based where you give commands based on what you are seeing happen?
Hey awesome stuff, love these little novelty web games keep it up.
It’s looking pretty good. It’ll be nice to have an interesting game for once on Facebook instead of tending to cows and horses. 🙂 Strive for fun and addictive gameplay and it will be a huge success. Many companies try to make their games look pretty but if the gameplay isn’t up to par, people lose interest soon.
Wow, it looks really awesome already! LOL@ Car Battery: I couldn’t agree more with ya! Farmville is really addicting though but I am ready for a new game. It looks really fun and I think it’s cool you can build your own robot, too.
Hery Tyler,
The game looks great, games in my opinion are the hardest things to develop, on mouse over do this, on click do that, very finicky and time consuming but if you can do it and do it well, there is a huge market for it!
Congrats!
Wow, nice looking game. I haven’t read a ton on what your plans are, but I’m assuming it is going to have graphics that will show the attacks. Most robot games I have seen are fully text based, but they still seem to do pretty well on the internet. Had you released this game back when the popular tv show “Robot Wars” was going strong, it probably would do any better. Still though, a fun game is a fun game.
You going to try to convert this over into an iPhone platform? I’d get it!
So you finally got it finished! that is awesome. I remember you saying the last designer didn’t work out then you switched and ti moved along nicely. Can’t wait till you release it.
[…] If you are looking for a great way to spend an afternoon, evening or weekend with your family or friends, then you will want to check out the fruit machine rental companies that are available in your area. There are many different types of machine for rent in various states and regions of the country. Some are so unique that you are only able to find them at specific locations, while others are in many areas. When you get involved with the fruit machine rental companies, you have more options that what you would have if you rented the machine yourself.Click to Get More Information […]