Long days, lots of work, satisfaction!!!

Wow.. It's been a while i last visited my blog. The reason is Hero Siege. What I've done for the past month, I've been just watching the screen and programming/drawing like a crazy person.

But now after hard work and lots of Energy Drinks, the game is finally DONE! We are spending the last remaining days before the deadline just  adding new conten like; Items, Enemies, Achievements etc.

This has been a long and bumpy ride, and I'm so happy that the result is so awesome!



We actually got some media coverage from:


SuperGameDroid: http://www.supergamedroid.com/2013/11/19/crazy-awesome-rogue-like-hero-siege-coming-soon/

PocketGamer: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Hero+Siege/news.asp?c=55345&srch=hero+siege

AppSpy: http://www.appspy.com/news/7939/see-a-giant-floating-skull-bleed-in-the-first-trailer-for-hero-siege

Also we put up a Trailer if you haven't seen it yet, then please go watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrW32k-fTE8

Aaaaand here is a list of screenshots from the game :)

 

We also have a nice treat coming up! We will host a private game jam on the 6th of December 2013. Me (Elias), Jussi and Aleksi will make a game in 48 hours! Check out more info here: http://www.autoseries.net/teamjam2/

Keep your eyes open in the stream, because we are handing out free copies of the Hero Siege Retail box!!!

And last but not least, if you want the Retail for PC you can buy it here: http://panicartstudios.com/shop.php

I will be keeping you guys up to date as we go! Have a really nice day everyone!!!

-Elias

Making games should make you happy

Making games is art. You should always keep this in mind, the less you have to be involved with business, the more art your game is. Try and make games that make you happy and feel good, make it as your own reflection, make it bring up all the things you love about games!

This quote from Tommy would be the best one I've ever heard!

"The game comes out and people dont like it and people just trash it and it has a metacritic score of like 20.. and everyone thinks just its awful.. and its like, it really doesnt make a difference because, even tho its a game people are supposed to buy.. Its not a game that i made for people, i made it for myself. I made it as a reflection of myself. If people wanna buy modernwarfare or hero, its fine because i think those games are shit. If its those games they want, they prolly wont like my games cause i dont make shit games"

I agree 100%. I dont think games like Halo or Modernwarfare are any good, but hey thats just my opinion not an absolute fact. Everyone is free to think how they want! For me good games are the ones that come close to the artstyle and gameplay of my childhood games in video-game arcades :)

Peace out! :)

Phew time is ticking tick tock tick tock

Today has been a hectic and fast day. I've been programming and spriting for like 12 hours. Hero Siege is really progressing well!

Today i've managed to add:

- All the items from the list and setup the variables, even implemented about 60% of them to actually work now.
- Moved the player health bar to the top left hud, was a really good idea.
- Added charging ability for the skeleton rares (still need some sound to spice them up ^^)
- A lots of small optimization and smoothing on the engine and drawing functions etc...

So yeah today has been sick productive! Aleksi Kujala also made an AWESOME little jingle for the item pickup which reminds me of binding of isaac in a good way ^_^!!!

Anyway here is a picture for you guys to check out (picking up items):



So till tomorrow guys! More blog text n material.. I'm so tired now.. got to go sleep :D (maybe play a bit of binding of isaac in bed and try to beat the devil this time! :))

Devotion, Love and Passion for games!

My blog today will be about making games on a personal level and a bit about Hero Siege's progress too.

In the last couple of weeks i have realized some things about myself which i probably didnt have a clue about before. I recently watched "Indie Game The Movie". This movie pretty much changed something inside my brain. The whole movie it was like watching into a mirror, i saw myself in all of those guys.

I never had an idea of how to describe the way I work, but now I have the words for it. I am an indie developer, I will always be. Making games is about expressing myself, my game projects are very personal. For me its not about making money or getting fame. For me making games is art, its the process of making something out of my head into reality.

"I want the game to be like this, I want the game to be about this thing that i felt in my childhood" Would be the best sentence describing why I make games.

This week something was released inside me. I feel like what im doing now is the only single thing i want to do in this lifetime. There is nothing else that would make me feel so connected with what i love to do. There is no way im ever going to work a regular job in my life. I'd rather just go live under a bridge and be a bumm if I couldnt make games for a living :)

Hero Siege Devlog

Yesterday I worked for 16 hours. I optimized lots of stuff and also implemented some features like picking up items etc. I animated the classes for item pickup and made so many sprites including a portal which takes you to the next area.



So what i decided to do with the game was to make the player advance into new areas in the game. Every "arena" lasts for 10 waves. After you kill the boss, it will drop you an item and create a portal on top of the pentagram. Hop into the portal and advance in the next area! I've designed a few "Acts" which consist of 5 arenas with their own theme and look.

I also implemented random weather effects such as "flying leaves", "Light Rain", "Snow flakes" etc. Prolly going to add thunder+rain and more different effects which really gives the game a big boost in overall "feeling".



What I did, I added "Labels" for the arenas which tells the name of the current arena. I also optimized the "Odin's Wrath" ability which pushes all enemies back and kills them. Its like a barbarian taunt from Diablo 2! :)

Anyway there is still alot to do! I will write again soon!

-Elias

Allnighter, lots of progress!

I invited Jussi to my place yesterday and we made a 12 hour work day and streamed in twitch. It was a REALLY productive day as we got lots of the flaws and problems fixed like name input etc. We also got a load of important things done like the new spawning system and arrays for new enemies.

I my self to like 20 items sprited and lots of effects and hud elements! Jussi got all the talents working for every class, and now the talent points are also saveable.



We are now waiting for response from Pelit-lehti's Editor (finnish game magazine) and we cross our fingers that we get featured somewhere which would really help our Greenlight and incoming mobile expoisure for Hero Siege. We also got featured in "Invisioncommunity.co.uk" which you can check out here: http://www.invisioncommunity.co.uk/review/interview-panic-art-studio-game-hero-siege/

Anyway all the expoisure and advertising help is welcome!

Share this link on your social media, and go vote yes on the greenlight if you want to support our work and way of life! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=182280302

Peace out! -Elias

Greenlight

Sorry for the radio silence, but we have been REALLY busy working on Hero Siege this week. In fact, we managed to get the game on Greenlight along with Zombie Kill of the Week and they're both doing great!

You can vote for Hero Siege here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=182280302
And Zombie Kill of the Week here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=182745584

Managing the Greenlight campaign and coding Hero Siege have been our first priorities lately. We will do our best to push out a game in December that's polished, full of content and what's going to be the best hack'n'slash experience you have ever played! Stay tuned for more updates about Hero Siege and other projects of Panic Art Studios. :)

- Jussi "Terralus" Kukkonen

26.9.2013 devlog

26.9.2013 - Devlog

So yesterday (25.9) we released Zombie Kill of the Week for iOS.. And again with my sick luck, we got problems after publishing the game. Humh... So we had a perfectly functioning version for Testflight, bugfree and all. Now when the game ended up in AppStore, there is a "TEST" banner ad on the top middle of the screen for no reason. As you guys now, we only use fullscreen ads every now and then these days.



Then i checked our code, and it seems that the faulth is either on YoYoGames or MoPub so ive contacted both of them and trying to fix this. But for now there is a retarded banner ad blocking the view and destroying the mood for all players, Sorry for this...

Anyway the game is now out, ingame there is no ad and you can still perfectly enjoy the game for free.

Hero Siege

So Jussi came to my place today, and we had some fun developing Hero Siege, which kinda made my day and took me off of the stress caused by ZKW's release.

I managed to make 3 new enemies and a Boss for the game, and jussi managed to set up the 2 player co-op along with some features for rare/elite monsters. We are also planning to make destroyable debris spawn in the map which will drop gold etc when destroyed.

Here you can see the sprites ive done today :)










I also caught up in drawing to an actual paper for the first time in a loooooooong time




I'm also thinking and planning the crowdfunding campaign and greenlight for Hero Siege... Not sure how to go with it yet mmh.

This game is going to be so god damn awesome in every way... Anyway, i guess i have nothing more to say for today. Till next time :)

-Elias

What is this? Who am I?

Harro!!! Welcome to my big bad blog about game development and my company Panic Art Studios!

My name is Elias Viglione. I am the CEO & Founder of Panic Art  Studios. I also do pretty much all the graphics and sound effects for the games we make. Some games i have even programmed my self like Didi's Adventure and eXtermination :)

I'm also working alone on the Beat-Em-Up "NES-Retku".

But hey who am i? Well as stated my name is Elias. I live in Tampere, Finland with my wife and 2 dogs. I am 24-years-old, and i make my living with games and freelancing my art skills.

I enjoy thai boxing on my free time, and playing Diablo 3 etc.

I have 2 guys working for my company: REllU (Santeri Relander) and (Terralus) Jussi Kukkonen.

You probably know REllU from the game Zombie Kill of the Week. He is the Programming Lead on the project, and obviously i am the artst and we both share our loads of designing.

Jussi Kukkone has programmed "Rum Isle" and is now programming "Hero Siege" with me. We often come to my place after school and just develop our projects. I have 2 PC's next to each other, so we can really make the best results possible!

This Blog will pretty much be about me and Jussi making Hero Siege, as its my most intensive project, and a daily routine!

(The game below...)


So what to come with this blog? I will be posting concept art, pixel art, guides and tips about pixels etc! Lots and lots of awesome stuff to stare at! So please press the subscribe button and get an e-mail every time i publish a new devlog!

Till next time! Peace out!

-Elias