Thanks to everyone who voted in my last blog post! I had a secret favourite that I was rooting for, and it seems that at least a handful of people agreed with me, because that’s the one that got most votes. If I could be arsed to get around the IP + cookie check in the voting plugin I just might have cheated and added even more votes to that option, but luckily I didn’t have to.

“Okay, okay! Tell us which game won already,” I hear you exclaim. Superhero Princess Maker, that’s what!

Of course, I can’t go on calling it Superhero Princess Maker, so I thought of a more fitting name: Spandex Force: Champion Rising. And here is some concept art to boot:

So, what’s this game all about? Imagine the setting:

There’s a superhero convention in town, and the Blizzard Wizard is getting into a heated argument with Infinitorax Supreme.

Infinitorax: “Superheroes today… No skill, no power, no concept of ethics or morality!”
Blizzard: “Well, I for one blame society for that. With proper guidance every superpowered being could be a paragon of justice.”
Infinitorax: “Is that what you believe? No, dear Blizzard Wizard, a hero’s mettle is predetermined and nothing we can do changes that.”
Blizzard: “Is not!”
Infinitorax: “Is too!”
Blizzard: “Is NOT!”
Infinitorax: “Really? How about…THAT…one? That pathetic, useless, witless excuse for a hero lurking in the corner? Is that a creature destined for greatness?”
Blizzard: “Well… Yes! I truly believe that even such a miserable hero could be made great with the right guidance!”
Infinitorax: “I see… Fancy a wager, my dear Blizzard Wizard? You have one year to turn that useless pile of excrement into a fine jewel.”
Blizzard: “It’s a deal!”

The game will take place over 365 days. You guide the young hero in his/her daily routine, ensure that the stats are raised, that powers are learned, and that the proper ethics are upheld. If you fail to raise the stats, he/she will become a useless, powerless hero and you will lose the bet. If you fail to keep the ethics up, the hero will become a supervillain instead.

Throughout the year there will be everyday chores, meetings with strange heroes and villains, puzzles and many weird encounters. Most of the details are undetermined so far, and everything stated so far is just a concept…but it wouldn’t surprise me if this is similar to what the end product will be like.

But before I start working on this game I intend to release Spandex Force: Superhero U, of course!

My superhero puzzle RPG Spandex Force: Superhero U is starting to get semi-finished, so I’ve started thinking about my next game. I purchased a copy of Monkey that will enable me to develop games for Windows/Mac/Android/Flash/iPhone and/or XNA. In other words: if I play my cards right with regards to different resolutions, my next game can target a lot of different platforms and I’m thrilled about starting a new project. The problem is what to develop.

I’ve previously talked about my ideas file for different games, but I’ve revised that list and added some new and interesting prospects. I’ll go into the details soon, but first of all, here’s a nifty poll where you can decide (sorta) what game KarjaSoft should start working on:

Note: Err… It seems that my custom theme for WordPress didn’t support the polls plugin. It should be fixed now, so feel free to vote!

 Loading ...

Some brief notes about the different options:

• Daily Sudoku – a sudoku game that gives you one puzzle per day, and you match your time against all other players. You collect points depending on your time, there’s a leaderboard and all that jazz. This one is obviosuly aimed at smartphones primarily, but an online version would work well too. A very quick and easy project to try out Monkey with.
• Exploration Game with Quests – I like The Wager. The combination of exploration, upgrades and a very interesting NPC to play against makes it fun. But I want to make an exploration game with randomly generated quests that are generated from randomly generated relationships between quirky NPCs. Explore a world, talk to silly people, do quests, run into encounters and upgrade your ships.
• Superhero Princess Maker – Princess Maker 2 is completely awesome. And since I’ve already made two superhero games and have some existing characters to use, this might be very interesting. The basic concept is: you have one year to make a common loser into a superhero.
• Fantasy Parody City Builder – When I was young…er I had an idea for an RTS called Gully Dwarves that would feature reluctant subjects. They’d constantly bicker and sulk when you gave them orders. I’m thinking of expanding that idea into a city builder game instead, in a fantasy mileau, featuring tongue-in-cheek pokes at the genre.
• TV Show Producer – Not much of an idea yet, but I like the setting. Management game with minigames to create TV shows.
• Shampires – Adventure game with ridiculous vampires. I have some cool ideas for this, and most center around geeky goth wannabe vampires and a parody of Twilight.
• The Amazing Adventures of Jules Verne – Jules Verne wrote a lot of amazing books. But what no one knows is that those aren’t fiction: Verne himself went through all those adventures! I’m thinking of something like a multi-episode puzzle adventure game.
• Tigris – A city-state builder game. Start at the dawn of civilization and expand your culture, your city and your territory. Yes, I’m a Civilization geek, why do you ask?
• Futhark – Odin was a god of wisdom, and he gave humans the runes. (Futhar is the runic alphabet.) So, I’m thinking of a viking puzzle game where you’re a human trying to unravel the mystery of the runes. Solve puzzles, talk to the gods, do quests for them, and so on.

Anything that sounds like fun? Let me know by voting in the poll!

Spandex Force: Superhero U is progressing well. Very well. In fact, the first demo build has been sent off to a potential distributor and I’m waiting for a response that will determine how much I will have to focus on guerilla marketing and self-publishing.

The current version of the game is 0.3 BETA, and it’s pretty much feature-complete. You can create your own hero, there’s an Adventure Mode divided into 5 chapters, 15 different school classes to choose from, randomly composed artifacts to purchase, 27 superpowers to buy and level up, your hero collects experience points and reputation, fellow students offer a few optional side quests, and there are lots and lots of different villains, students and teachers to battle. Additionally, there are 20 achievements/trophies to unlock, a Relaxed Mode for some non-timed relaxed play, and a Battle Arena where you can battle other players’ characters. All in all, the game is starting to look rather nifty.

So, why don’t I release it already?

There are a few reasons:

• I’m waiting for feedback from the distributor
• I need to add some minor things – shield artifacts, areas on the screens to examine in order to get a few silly messages and some other small details
• And most importantly, I need to examine the difficulty and the balancing

Anyone feel like doing some beta testing to help out with the third point? Send me an e-mail at info@karjasoft.com!