Author: Ian

The critics love the Soulcaster II soundtrack!

My roots are in video game music.  It’s how I got into game development.  It’s always been the majority of my music collection.  (It’s also how I met my wife, but that’s another story.)  So I’m really proud that the soundtrack for this game has connected with players and critics to the point where they make special mention of it in their reviews.

“Outside of the graphics, the music stands out. Way out. It’s not nearly as retro as the rest of the aesthetic, but it is excellent all-round. High-quality audio and catchy melodies reminiscent equally of Amiga SID tracker tunes and classic NES titles.”

– DIYGamer

“The soundtrack delivers even better than it did in the first one, sounding like the love-child of Castlevania and Chrono Trigger.  Fans of the shopkeeper’s epic metal theme from the first game will not be disappointed.”

– IndieNerds.com

“… the music is fantastic.”

– Signed In Podcast (Soulcaster II discussed around 4:50)

“As a metal fan, I about fell out of my chair when I heard the opening theme, which happens to be one of the coolest epic metal songs I’ve ever heard. All of the music in Soulcaster II is incredibly well crafted, and seems to always be level appropriate.”

– Spawn Kill

If you feel the same way, purchase the soundtrack!

First SCII Reviews from the Interwebs

Though it’s only been out a few days, some critics have already bagged and tagged Soulcaster II.  Here’s what I’ve found so far:

“The game is hard, but not unfair, so you never want to throw your controller at the screen.”

– The XNA Roundup

“The soundtrack takes no prisoners.” (Google translated this one for me.) 12/12!

– Inside-360.de Indie Games (German)

“It’s a rare game that doesn’t allow me to say that it’s exactly like any other game at this point, and Soulcaster II is exactly that sort of game.”

– OMGJeremy.com

“MagicalTimeBean did well to return to the original, brush up what was lagging behind the gameplay, and present a more well-rounded and polished package in Soulcaster II. If you loved the first game, just go buy the sequel now. And if you have never played the game before, you’ll be rewarded with some of the most innovative gameplay around, with wondrous aesthetics and a great value at 240 MS points.”

– TechnologoDoom on GameSpot Player Reviews

“All of the technical aspects feel authentic and make give the impression that you’re playing an exquisitely crafted SNES game rather than a next-gen title that is trying to be retro.”

– Jonathan Maltz on pnosker.com

RELEASED!

Soulcaster II has passed through the gauntlet of peer reviewers and arrived to the sanctuary of the XBOX Live Marketplace!

Not much more to say right now, except check out the demo!

Tremendous thanks go out to everyone who’s supported me through this review and release process. My close friends can now sleep safe knowing I won’t hound them to do a 2-hour playthrough on a random Tuesday night.

Delayed.

As many of you know, Soulcaster II was in peer review this week. (This is XNA’s central quality control, where other developers test your game and give it their stamp of approval if they can’t find any objectionable content or crash the game.)

Last night I pulled the game from review after discovering a controller lockup bug, the Evil Guitar Bug that has claimed many lives so far. I thought I had tested for everything, but I missed this. Basically, if you have a guitar controller connected when you start a new game, if you use a player number higher than the guitar’s player number, the game won’t be controllable. This is because the guitar is constantly sending non-neutral signals to the XBOX, and the game thinks the guitar has taken control and locks control to the guitar. The most common solution to this is a “Press Start” screen. If you’ve ever wondered why so many games have this screen, now you know one of the reasons!

There is a one week grace period before I can submit the game again for review, plus two days for it to be passed minimum, so the game is not going to make the first week deadline unfortunately. Nevertheless, I have the next week not only to fix this bug, but make improvements to the game in terms of balance and polish. I lost a lot of sleep scrambling to get things done by December 2nd, so maybe in my daze there were other issues lurking in the shadows that would mar the experience. Now I have time to find them and iron them out.

So, it’ll be another nine days. Bear with me and thanks for your patience!