The lights are on
So, accuse me of a cheap plug all you want, but it's part of the game, so to speak. It's all about promotion and spreading the word, because frankly, if you don't advertise, you don't exist, right?
Anyway, I am part of a small indie development team called From Nothing Game Studios. We're making a puzzle game--actually, it's almost finished, just needs bugs ironed out and final graphics. Our game is called GravBlocks and is a variation on the classic "falling block, match-three" puzzle game--where changing gravity is a signature part of the gameplay.
There are five of us in the team and our project is up on Kickstarter. A demo of the game has been submitted to Steam and we're waiting anxiously for a positive response.
The game:
Quick run-down: The core element of GravBlocks are new blocks--the aforementioned Gravity Blocks, which, when aligned during gameplay, change the gravity of the play area. Changing gravity increases score multipliers. There are, however, hazards in the walls that will nullify Multipliers if blocks fall into them, so a Wild Block exists, to be used strategically, as it closes the hazards.
So, the idea of our puzzle game is to eschew classic combo building in favor of strategic gravity manipulation. In this, we've built four gameplay modes, one being a classic falling block Challenge mode with increasing levels based on time (1-5 minutes, player's choice), and thirty total levels (and infinite increasing difficulty past 30). Destruction Mode inspires players to destroy blocks and clear the screen as fast as possible in any of the 30 difficulty levels. Zen mode is like Challenge mode, except the difficulty never changes, just play as long as you want or can last. Puzzle mode has 100 levels with blocks stacked in them that must be cleared in a set number of moves.
We are also including 60 Achievements, Leaderboards, and extensive stats screens, as well as player profiles. The game is being built in the Unity engine and we are targeting PC and Mac through Steam, and beyond that, the Android marketplace and maybe iOS.
Here's our Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1265375819/gravblocks
Here's our website: http://fromnothinggamestudios.com/ (it's a very early build).
And we're on Facebook and Twitter as From Nothing Game Studios.
Everyone who donates at least $10 gets a free copy of the game, hopefully on Steam (we've submitted a functional demo to them last week).
What is the money for, you ask? Software. Plain and simple. Software licenses so that we can publish and work without limits or barriers. Licenses for 3D Studio Max, Adobe CS5.5, and for the SunBurn engine, which is what we're going to be working on next since we now feel Unity is too limiting (and we have one good license for it).
Thanks for your support and please spread the word!
Will do. Good luck. :)
"I don't want the world... just your half!"
Thanks, we appreciate any help, feedback, or support we can find. I've made and handed out over a hundred business cards to various people and places.
Plus, we must be doing something right--the addictive nature of the game often means testing "one small thing" leads to several lengthy minutes of gameplay. We've had score one-up-manship for the duration of development.
...also, I don't remember making this thread a question. That's odd...
That's OK - not like my reply was much of an answer. :P
I have updated our Facebook page with the intro logos in their final forms. We've only got two weeks left on our Kickstarter. The logos are for the team/company and for our game.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Nothing-Game-Studios/280564122030403
The Kickstarter again:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1265375819/gravblocks?ref=live