My XBLA RPG (work in progress, XNA, C#)

I decided to make a blog about the RPG game i am making for XBLA and share some info and progress.

I have the old videos from 1.5 year back and new art (which is actually what will be used in the game, since it is a 2D one), latest updates will go up in the page, i plan to later post this blog in the official website of the game, when i create one.

I would love to get opinions and suggestions of course :)

The game is a RPG, with real time combat like Caste Crashers and many powers/spells/armor etc, a proper story line, completly non inear with complete freedom, party members to reqruit and summon in combat, interactive objects for the adventure part, NPCs with dialogs and quests, a strategic part (which i cant describe right now, but it is fully programmed and taking shape, it is very complicated though) and many more.

----------------UPDATE 27 January 2011------------------------

I tested fraps and works wonders for taking HD movies !!!! Big thanks to AC-Revolution, i can now post a proper video when i have a final combat scene to show, which is not that far away :)

Cant wait to play my RPG on an actual phone device too, the emulator is nice and runs great, but on the real thing is another matter

This is how it would look in real phone, looks about same in the emulator right now, but graphics need adjustment from XBLA version to phone

http://img502.imageshack.us...

I also want to test the virtual stick in real device

I have finally programmed the few top level systems i was missing, like actors that will leave or enter screen properly, NPCs that can follow the hero and proper dialog system for them all in all screens and in presence of multiple other NPCs and some more presentation stuff and now i am looking at the overworld map, planning new quests, combats, bosses and link them to story and quests etc

----------UPDATE January 2011------------

I have ported the game to Windows 7 Phone and runs fine on the emulator (have not tested on real device) and ram usuage is very low, well below the 90MB limit. I have also finished a basic controls system so i can test the game. Of course now i will resume the 360 development.

Unfortunatly none of the custom effect shaders like the bloom, particles and lights i had in 360 work on the phone, so i will have to remake them later

---------UPDADE 28 December 2010-----------

I finally took the huge decision to move my code to XNA 4.0, mainly because i have finished coding all main systems (controls, quests, real time combat, AI, inventory, save/load, interactive items, strategic art etc) and i am in the stage of polishing visuals, adding special effects and polishing/adding to the story/quests/NPCs and testing

All went well, the game is now fully working on XNA4.0, all shader/lighting effects have been remade for the new shader implementations, particles have been fixed too.

The best part is that the new system allows easy dynamic shader use for each sprite, something extremely complicated and hard before in XNA3.

Also for some reason graphics look a lot crisper, i can see the full detail of the art i have created, in game, while in XNA3 i got a slightly more blurry result, for whatever reason.

Another perk is Windows 7 Phone support, which means i could potentially consider a port to phones after the XBLA release.

PS3 OR 360 OR BOTH Part 1

Its a question that gets asked on this site pretty much every day "which console is the best" and to be honest in my opinion its to close to call. On one hand you have the PS3 which is clearly the more powerful console, it has a great roster of games exclusive and multiplat and it has a blu-ray drive which is a huge bonus. On the other hand you have the 360 which also has a great roster of games exclusive and multiplat but doesnt have a blu-ray drive. But the 360 does have xbox live and in my opinion its superiour to Playstation Network in most areas.

Ok so lets do the games first, exclusives wise the PS3 is the console to go with if you thats what decides your purchase. It has some truly stunning games including Uncharted 2, God of War 3, Killzone 2, Heavy Rain and countless others. The 360 on the other hand has exclusives but know where near as much unless you count kinect games which im not because this is about core gaming and which console offers the better service. Yes the 360 has some great exclusives including Halo Reach, forza 3, gears of war, fable, splinter cell, alan wake and a few others that are worth mentioning, the problem is that compared to the ps3 list of exclusives the 360 list looks a little thin. The problem I have is that why would you want to miss out on any of them games, I havnt. I purchased a 360 and ps3, I couldnt resist the temptation either console offers. Its brilliant that ps3 owners get to play there exclusives but why miss out on gears or halo. Alot of them will tell you "there rubbish" but the simple fact is halo is one hell of a game as is gears. So in this area even though the ps3 clearly has the better exclusives I vote both due to the fact that there are great games on both systems not to mention the multi plats like crysis 2, dead space 2 etc.

Another advantage of owning both consoles is that when a multiplat releases you can choose which system you want to play it on for exsample Red dead redemption. The console top play that on was the 360, it was the superiour version where as final fantacy you went with the ps3. With owning both consoles your always playing the best version of the games you like. Surely ps3 owners would have prefered to play the 360 version of the orange box and 360 owners would have preferd to play final fantacy on the ps3. Why settle for second best. Another thing I like about owning both is the fact that there never seems to be a game drought, theres always something new to play.

Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!

Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!