The journey from sketches to a real game

In the beginning of January 2013 we were six noobs, who didn't know each other and had nearly zero experience of making a game. Tonight, on the last day of July, we have played the game called Cube Horizon, which is completely our own piece of art. We made it! We have pulled together the final version for the Assembly 2013 Game Development competition.

Here are some pictures and memorable moments from our awesome 7-month-long journey. Enjoy!

The first sketches our graphic designer Mikko made in January 2013:

(c) Mikko Jakonen

(c) Mikko Jakonen

In the beginning of the process, I loved the feeling that I am doing something totally new to me. I still sometimes have to pinch myself: have I really designed and made these levels? Have I really learned to add lights, sounds and texts? I felt excited like a child every time we got something to work, every time the process went forward just a little step. Yay, I can move the character! I can turn the world! Hey, this music sounds cool! Oh wow, we have background and textures!

The development of the player-character "little girl":

In one meeting, we discussed and voted about the looks of the character
based on this sketch by Mikko Jakonen.

(c) Mikko Jakonen

First version of the character's 3D-model.

The character in July 2013.

Character in Cube Horizon. Screenshot 31st of July.

 The development of the levels & their graphics:

This is how our game looked like early in April 2013.
The mechanics worked pretty well already, even if the game was not that pretty :D 

Early draft of one level in February by Katariina Pesonen,
and the finished level below, captured in July.

One of the most important moments for me was the game testing day in Yläkaupungin yö -festival. People came and volunteered to try out our bugged beta-version, which had 5 levels. It was touching to see people play, hear their comments and feedback and talk about our game and its development process with people.

Our testers found many bugs we didn't know about. It's sometimes hard to find the bugs, because we usually play Cube Horizon "too correctly". We touch the buttons only in the order you are "supposed to", don't panic-press them at the same time and easily become blind to what is easy and what is difficult. All the people, who tested our game in Yläkaupungin yö or elsewhere, thanks to you Cube Horizon has become much better!!

This is what it looks like now:

Screenshot of level 3, captured 31st of July

Screenshot of level 4, captured 31st of July

Screenshot of level 7, captured 31st of July

Now that I have played the final version today, I mostly feel amazed. Did we really do this? We, the six noobs? I also feel so damn proud.

---

Katariina
Game designer, level designer & writer of Kaamos Games

P.S  Check out our page in Facebook and Like us if you like us :)

Towards Assembly

After a short summer vacation, we're back to work. Our first project phase ended in May along the Game Project Course held by the University of Jyväskylä. We scored the highest points possible (a five) for our game prototype and team work, so I guess we have something to be proud of.

Some changes have happened since then. Our game designer Eetu left the project, since he will be spending the next year in other country. Our work routine isn't as hectic than it was before, because during the summer some of us live quite far from others. We haven't access to Pekan paja (a place where we used to meet and develop the game) either, since the course has ended. So we have had to do some adjustments.

We had planned to publish our prototype for testing purposes in May as well, but we decided to postpone the date. After the presentation and testing events in Yläkaupungin yö and JKL Expa, our next step is to participate to a game development competition held by Assembly Summer 2013. Because of the competition rules we couldn't publish our game just yet. It also had a massive bug (and quite a few smaller ones) that we really wanted to fix before sharing. All the competition entries will be playable via Assembly website quite soon. You can also vote! We'll post details later on.

Me, Mikko and Kata will be participating to the Assembly event on 1st-4th August, so we're available for conversation and stuff. :) The competition day is on Sunday the 4th, and that's when we'll have the estrade once again. The version currently uploaded to the competition management system is yet quite buggy and unfinished. There's three more update possibilities though, so at the moment we're busy fixing things up.

Time flows again, and I'm excited.

---

Kai
Producer of Kaamos Games