Step up and place your votes!

Out of the blue today I got some good news; The Adventure Apes and the Mayan Mystery has made it to a list of the Best Indie Platformer of 2012 at jayisgames! It was pretty awesome to see this pop up, because after seeing some reviews of the game, I had doubts that it would ever see the light of day again. Sure it's cliché, to to even make it on the list is an honour!

Looking at the list though, I'd say the odds are stacked against the Apes, but you never know, right? Actually, that's where you can help Mitch and Otis (and me!) out.

Jayisgames lets people vote once per day for the duration of the event (it ends on January 23rd). So if you played the game and liked it, or haven't played it, but like voting for the underdog, or even if you just think that poor ScaryPotato schmuck could use a sympathy vote, then make your way over to the jayisgames website and cast your vote. Over and over, and over again!

Don't think of it as me telling you to vote for the Adventure Apes so much as suggesting it, subtly.  You might notice once you are there, that the Adventure Apes is at the top of the list. Alphabetical order aside, it must mean something that it is at the top of the list ! :P

TL;DR
If you click this link, vote Adventure Apes!
Best of 2012 Indie Platformer List

Closing Out 2012

It was a pretty big year this time around! With the Mayan Mystery finally completed, I was fortunate enough to have it hosted on some websites, as well as have it part of a recent Indie Royale bundle, and (will also be) part of IndieGameStand and their excellent promotions! The game has also been entered in the 2013 Indie Game Festival. It might be a bit of a long shot to win anything, but you never know unless you try, right?

Of all the things I learned while creating the Mayan Mystery (and the list is very long!), probably the most important thing is to not shoot for the stars on your very first attempt. I wanted to go all out with the Mayan Mystery, and while being ambitious is fine, setting goals really high when you're just starting out can be murder! What I'm planning on doing in the next game, is to tone it back a little bit. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest is that I really want to keep making games, and starting a project that is too much above one's skills will generally end in disaster.

So, what's next?

If you've followed the blog, you'll see that in the beginning, the focus was on an illustrated story more than a video game. The story was intended to be a series that follows Mitch and Otis as they try and track down Horatio Hawk before he can steal any more priceless or magical items. I'm not going back to the storybook, but I am going to follow the same overall concept. That means that there will be a continuation to the Mayan Mystery...and am currently working on a little game that takes place during the Mayan Mystery.
If you recall, Mitch and Otis were called into Dr.A's study with urgent news, but Otis hit his head and was forced to recover, while Mitch went off on the Mayan Mystery. Otis' recovery didn't take too terribly long (mostly due to the fact that his brain is tiny, and head trauma doesn't affect him like it does the rest of us), and was soon sent on a mission of his own!

For this particular game, I've decided to change things up and use hand drawn graphics instead of the retro-pixelated graphics in the Mayan Mystery. I love drawing, and if I can incorporate more of it into my games, that's what I'll do:) Anyhow, here is a recent screenshot of the upcoming game...




I'm thinking of redoing the HUD to something a little easier to understand, as it is rather cryptic right now...

Adventure Apes and the Mayan Mystery is Released!

A little over four years ago, I had the idea to make a video game that would follow along a series of illustrated stories. Each story would have its own theme, but the main plot line would remain the same: The Adventure Apes try to stop Horatio Hawk from stealing various treasures/magical/mythical items from different eras and locations. Soon after I began, the reaction to the video game was stronger than that of the story, so I switched gears to focus on the game, during which time the goal of the game changed a few times. It was just last winter when I began this latest (and final) version of the Mayan Mystery, using all I had learned along the way to make what I hope is an entertaining game! It has been a very long time getting here, but I can finally say that the Mayan Mystery is complete and ready to be played! The past month or so has been a hectic time. Although the game was done, I needed to set up a way of selling the game, as well as try to make some inroads with people who work in the (indie)gaming scene to get a little exposure. It is most definitely a learning experience, but so far the reaction has been pretty positive, and am hoping that what other exposure there is will help build a decent base of people who enjoy the project. Right now, I have the game available through three sites:

The Adventure Apes website

 Indivania

IndieCity




The hope is to have the game land on a few other sites, as well as get bundled up in packages for a little extra exposure! I hope that you've enjoyed watching this project progress over the years, and am sure that like me, you're ready to see something new in the works. I'll be starting the next game soon, so keep your eyes peeled (double potato reference intended) for what's next!

Instruction Booklet Doodles!

I thought that a new instruction booklet was in order. There previously was one with super detailed drawings of each item and bad guy, but it didn't quite jive with the overall theme of the current iteration of the video game. This time around, I went for large, colourful and cartoony drawings with a nice simple presentation that I hope will prove easy on the eyes :) The majority of the images are what you see below, and the instruction booklet even includes little maps of each level to help players out a little. If you want to see how the finished product turned out, feel free to download a copy here!

FINALLY, it's done! (Well, sort of...)

After years of toil and trouble, the Mayan Mystery Demo is finally complete!

Full of colourful illustrations and graphics, a funky Latin inspired soundtrack, and 60+ rooms to explore, this game is sure to bring a smile to the face of any fan of the metroidvania genre!

The Mayan Mystery Demo is available from the Adventure Apes website (of course), as well as at these sites:

Adventure Apes ...
Added: 5 May 2012
By: ScaryPotato

And after all that, there are still two more levels to be polished off, along with the end poem/illustrations. This is one heck of a big step in the right direction though!!

A Riddle...What is Smokey, Hot, and Jewel Encrusted?

Level five of the Mayan Mystery, that's what! And you won't find it in the demo version of the game. This is just a quick little teaser video to pique your interest...

Mayan Mystery Trailer Released!

With the demo version getting closer and closer to being complete, I thought it'd be a good idea to put together a little trailer to show the levels and bosses found in the game. So, without further delay, here it is:




As always, the most up-to-date version of the game is waiting for you at the Adventure Apes website, just click the link below for your copy!
Direct Download Here

Adventure Apes: Jetpack Justice Mockup

This is an ultra-early sneak peek at what's next for the Adventure Apes, once the Mayan Mystery is done! Everything is still in the concept stage, but it's planned to be a fast-paced sidescrolling game set in space (picking up where the Mayan Mystery leaves off)

Stay tuned for more!

Happy Valentine's Day!

As mentioned way back at the beginning of the month, I was bustin' my butt to try and get a demo version of the Mayan Mystery ready for everyone to try out by the 14th. Well, after many trials and tribulations with this project, it is finally ready to play!

Yeah sure, it's a beta version, so it's not 100% perfect. What it IS though, is four of the six levels in the game, complete with tons of enemies and freakish bosses!

You can get yourself a copy of the game on the Adventure Apes website, but if you're feeling lazy, you can download it directly here. When it's extracted, the file should be about 5mb.

Okay, so now you know where to get the game, but you are probably curious what it looks like! It has been completely redesigned from the original PC version (this is essentially the version the was originally to me made into DSiWare), and is full of twists and turns...I made a little compilations to show the levels in the demo file, and here it is!



Feedback is always welcome, so if you have any suggestions or comments, make yourself known!:)

A super sneak peek at the game!

Take a look at this...it is the Level 5 boss of the Mayan Mystery in hot pursuit of Mitch! Magmatoro is 50% magma, 50% toro, and 100% raging inferno! In other words, he's one bad dude.

There are a bunch more screenshots at the Adventure Apes' facebook page, so make sure you check it out. Like it, if you dare :) Everything is just getting started up, and more content will be coming soon, quite possibly some new videos of the game in action....keep your eyes peeled!

Progress Updates...

LOTS of items have been crossed off the list since Christmas, and it's a really good feeling to see how things are starting to take shape!

The biggest piece of the puzzle (that being the video game itself) has all the levels in place, and the enemies and bosses are all there waiting, except the dreaded final boss. There is still a lot of fine-tuning to do with the game, so I've not updated the downloadable file, but am confident that something resembling a playtest version will be made available on the website before Valentine's Day, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Several functions won't be available in the playtest version, such as the "T for Tips" system, but it won't by any means make the game unbeatable, just more difficult. I am also planning on adding some cutscenes and things of that nature to help tell the Adventure Apes story, rather than plunging the player straight into the action without knowing which way is up. Anyhow, the game is very, VERY close!

Another big update (and what I've been spending the last week and a half on) is the Adventure Apes website. The current one looks really cool with the big logo taking the top 75% of the page, but it is almost completely lacking in functionality. All the good stuff is crammed down at the bottom, and really doesn't display anything other than a few lines of text at any one time. The web hosting company I'm using provides free templates, so I looked through them, but decided in the end to try and come up with something that fits what I want exactly. The only trick is that I've got to take bits and pieces of code and patch them together...time consuming when you don't know anything about html !:P It is coming along though. My concept is to have something that is really clear and easy to navigate, and clean in a visual sense. Just to make it unique and more personal looking, I'm making all the images/buttons etc etc. It's a frustrating undertaking, but in the end, I thik it will really tie everything related to the Adventure Apes together, having a common scheme (being somewhat cartoony looking). Here are a couple screen captures of what I've got so far, enjoy!

Blurry Pixmas! (Or, Merry Christmas!)

Seeing as how it's Christmas morning, I thought I'd play the role of Santa and sneak a little gift under the tree for everyone...a blurred-out overview of the entire Adventure Apes game!
Now, you're probably scratching your head and asking yourself, "Why the heck can't he give us a nice clear, crisp HD version of the map?!", and I'll tell you why. It goes a little something like this...

Way back when I was a little kid, home computers didn't exist, and the internet wasn't even a word anyone would recognize. My brother and I would go to video stores and rent cartidges for our NES, and what we rented was largely based on two things; playing the games at a friend's house, or seeing the game in Nintendo Power. Nintendo Power was great, because you'd get reviews of current games, as well as the occasional preview of unreleased games. To me, that was the most exciting part, because there would be a couple blurbs about what the game was going to be about, and if you were really lucky, there would be some pictures taken of the game itself! Those pictures would often be TINY and BLURRY, but it didn't matter, because my imagination would fill in the rest...and to this day, I think it was because those pictures were so blurry and cryptic that anticipation for the next game would be so high.
So, in the spirit of Christmas, and the spirit of the blurry photograph, I present to you the full-blown world map for the Adventure Apes. Ho ho ho!

Gingerbread Apes

Just a quick post to wish everyone a merry Christmas! Don't forget to leave some cookies out for Santa...(and maybe a carrot or two for those hard working reindeer of his). See you all in the new year!

Adventure Apes Gameplay Videos Back Online!

One of the things that we did a while back was remove links to the old gameplay videos for the game in order to not cause any potential issues with the development of the game for Nintendo. Now that it's no longer an issue, they've been re-uploaded the videos for anyone to watch!

Here they are, in no particular order (but they would seem to go from newest to oldest):

Wallpaper Mania!!

So yeah, the last little while has been spent not doing as much art as I would have liked, but I did manage to push out these wallpapers for each of the characters in the Adventure Apes universe. In order from top to bottom, they are:
Mitch (Do-gooder)
Otis (Do-gooder)
Dr. A (Do-gooder)
Mr. E (Evil schemer)
Horatio (Evil schemer)

My intention was to let the personality of each character come through:
Mitch is upbeat and eager to take on new challenges
Otis is a big goofball
Dr. A is old and kind of beat up from a long life of adventurin' and crime fightin'
Mr. E is a very old creeper
and Horatio clearly thinks very highly of himself!

The resolution for these files is huge, so if you can scale them down to the right size, good. If not, you should be able to 'fit' the wallpapers on any 4:3 ratio monitor (I think). If you have a widescreen monitor, just set the background color to black beforehand, and you should be good to go!

New Adventure Apes Website!!!

Whew! It was a bit of a whirlwind lesson in html, along with what NOT to do when making a website, but I've got something set up now. Looks pretty good too:) It is little more than a shell of a website at the moment as there isn't much content, but it's a good start. As things progress with the game here and there, you can expect to find more and more things added to the site. If you just can't wait and need to get a sneak peek at the shape of things to come, by all means, feel free to have a look! Clicking on the image should take you to the site:)

 

Adventure Apes + Game Porting= Happy Day!

If you've been wondering recently why there hasn't been too much in terms of updates for the game related stuff recently, the answer is quite simple...I was recently approached to port the game over to a handheld system! For a complete newcomer to the whole game making biz, it came as a complete shock, as well as a dream come true to have my little monkey crew made available to large base of people, and if a little money comes in as a result, all the better :)
Everything is in the very, VERY beginning stages at this point, and I'm sure as the project progresses, changes will be made to many aspects of the game in order to make it a top notch product. Perhaps the greatest advantage with an undertaking like this is that I won't be working alone on it. Reduced individual workload and greater brainstorming capacity will be very much welcome!
I look at this as a once in a lifetime opportunity, where if it gets done right, could lead the way to bigger and better things for the Adventure Apes, happy day indeed!!

Level 3-2 Mockup

Here's the second portion of level 3, the lava caves! It's going to have the same sort of concept as level 3-1 with the seamless tiles for floors and walls. I think that there are possibilities for some fun problem-solving in this level as my intent is to have switches to raise/lower the magma levels in order to gain access to items and doors. Add to that the red laser weapon from level 2 to unblock restricted areas, and the Ghost Vision ability (which will let the player see objects and enemies hidden from normal view) in level 3-3, and the game should end up with a pretty good mix of puzzles! Fingers crossed.... :)

Level 3-1 Mockup

I decided to try something a little different this time around. Typically, I've done sketches of the layout and rooms on grid paper to figure out placement of blocks/items/enemies. It works great for the design of the level, but not the atmosphere. So, I decided to put together a quick sketch to see how this part of the game might look. It will be different from the first two levels in that there are no individual/carved blocks for the floors and walls, instead I'm going to try coming up with a randomly generated seamless tile. There were a few elements in level two that were generated randomly (blocks and plants specifically), and I think the result was kind of fun, so I'll continue that trend here and see how it goes!

Squidephant Wallpaper!

I needed to do something to get my head out of game-code mode for a little while, and I thought that a perfect way to do that would be to make a couple new wallpapers for the site! After going back and forth on a few different style directions, I figured that the most suitable thing to do would be to make things that look like Mayan jewelry to represent the bosses in the game. Sure, I started out of order with the second boss, but he (and his level in the game) have been ingrained into my mind for the past six months, so cut me some slack already! Next will be the Skull Demon :)

Here's a link to the full-size wallpaper