Soulcaster I Behind the Scenes

This post is about Soulcaster I, and how it evolved from the first stages.  This was the first project I designed and built from scratch, and my philosophy has been to keep the design as minimal as possible.  Rather than write a lengthy design document and try to detail all the enemies, their behaviors, the items, etc., I just jotted down some rough ideas and used it as a starting point.  To be extra careful, I didn’t even use Word, I just did plain text in Notepad, and didn’t bother with formatting–or even capitalization.  This was not intended to be a blueprint I would refer to throughout the project.

Join me

Are you an artist/designer with a game idea, looking for a way to bring it to life?

While I work on Escape Goat, my Soulcaster engine is collecting dust. Let’s put it to use. I’m looking for a skilled designer to make a complete, original game using the awesome technology I’ve developed for Soulcaster I & II. Here are some of the capabilities already built in:

  • Behavior based AI including dynamic pathfinding
  • 2D tile based maps, with animation and parallax layers
  • Versatile and blazing fast level editor in Windows
  • Sprite and actor handling, including collision detection, particle systems
  • Creature-based controller input abstraction
  • Multiplayer support (a by-product of an experiment during the production of Soulcaster II)
  • Menus, animating text, tooltips and other UI goodie

See the game engine in action.

Your game probably has some mechanics not currently in the engine.  For example, you may want pixel-based movement instead of smooth grid-based movement.  That shouldn’t be too hard to add in.  In other words, I’m willing to make small modifications to fit the game design.  So long as you want to make a top-view, 2D sprite based game, where all entities are no larger than the tile size of 16×16,  it should be workable.  If your idea is an RPG that requires a separate battle mode, it’s not going to work–a whole new system is too much for me to add.

Collaboration terms are negotiable, such as sharing of revenue and ownership of IP.

Interested?  Have a design that is just too awesome to be sitting around?  Use the contact form and get in touch.   Link me to any game design or art you have online, and tell me about your background in game design. 

Recent Press for Soulcaster

Even 6+ months after its release, we’re still getting some attention from blogs dedicated to indie games.

“The first 240 point game that I’ve reviewed for this little experiment, Soulcaster is one of the best games on the entire marketplace. The game offers moderate length for the price (the game is about an hour and a half long, and has a second “hard mode”), has a fantastic style complemented by the fantasy setting, graphics, and music, and is a refreshing take on tower defense. This is one game that is well worth the 240 price tag it carries.”

StarFoxA/GiantBomb

“Games like Soulcaster are perfect examples of why the Indie marketplace is so important as an avenue for ushering in fresh blood into the game scene.”

Digital Download GameWorld

“Soulcaster is brilliant and will leave any player clamoring more, always the mark of excellent entertainment. ★★★★★”

Kobun’s XBOX Indies

“I don´t know if it´s an RPG, a TowerDefense game or something new entirely – what i do know is that it´s fun! And the retro style rocks.”

IndieNerds.com

Huge thanks to you guys for taking the time to play the game and promote it!

Planet Xbox 360 ranks Soulcaster #1!

Gerry Holt writes in Top 10 Xbox LIVE Indie Games You Have to Play:

“This has to be my favorite indie game. It is an old school styled RPG where you play as a wizard who has stumbled onto a land of monsters. It reminds me a lot of NES style graphics with the innovation in a lot of RPGs seen in the SNES era. The wizard happens upon a statue of an archer that speaks to him and offers him a soul orb. This soul orb allows him to summon the archer to fight for the defenseless wizard. Enemies spawn from random orbs on the map. Once the last enemy from that orb is killed, the orb explodes and allows passage to the next section of the dungeon. Along the way, you meet more warrior statues that join you through soul orbs; a knight with melee attacks and a thief who throw Molotov cocktails over walls. Using the extra soul orbs, you are able to summon one of each warrior or multiple images of the same one. You can recall warriors one at a time to replace them using the Y button. This system gives it a tower defense meets dungeon crawler feel. The game features a password saving system similar to Metroid. While you are at that screen just try inputting Justin Bailey, you know you want to. According to the creator this is one of 6 hidden passwords that will activate special things within the game. Soulcaster is an excellent RPG hybrid that only 240 MS points.”