Tom vs The Armies of Hell

[sburgoon]

Hey everyone,

I figured I should finally post something on the forum about my project, Tom vs the Armies of Hell, or AoH for short. It’s a isometric action adventure game with light RPG elements (or at least it WILL be) and is currently a one-man project, aside from about 6-7 props I had uved and textured by an outsourcing firm. I’m coming up on a kick-starter campaign soonish (if I ever feel it’s ready), so I’d love to get some feedback from the community on what they feel is missing (the answer is a lot, but I figure you guys might see/not see things I haven’t even thought of).

To give some background, you play Tom, a computer programmer at a giant defense conglomerate that accidentally opened a portal to hell. You lost your arm in the initial accident (it was eaten by a demon), but you were saved by Beezle, a little purple imp that is your guide through the beginning of the game. You end up using a combination of high powered weapondry and demon powers to fight your way back to earth (the office complex and secret lab below get sucked through the void and into hell itself). Most of the game takes place in a mix of hell (overworld) and a series of dungeons which are a combination of hell and parts of the office/lab scattered around hell. Gameplay-wise, think a mix of ratchet and clank and bastion.

Here’s a few videos, one that’s publicly available, and one that I’m only posting here since it just kind of randomly shows off two of the more finished weapons (most are just place holders until I rub some “cool” on them later).

Slightly out of date gameplay footage:

- YouTube

Newer Weapons:
http://vimeo.com/65191434
password: ahproto

There is more stuff on the webpage (www.armiesofhell.com) and the youtube channel if you’re interested, and some stuff I’m holding back for when the kick-starter goes up (two and a half minute 2d animated intro video, the boss monster and it’s reveal cutscene to name two), but based on what you see, what stands out as missing the most? Obviously the environment is still pretty empty and needs more debris/detailing, and the NPCs need to not be blue dummys, and there is still plenty of place-holder art in general, but anything is valid feedback. I have limited man-hours, so I’m trying to make sure I spent what precious time I do have on the right things to really make an impact.

Anyway, thanks for checking out my game, and for any feedback you guys can give. It’s been a lot of fun working on so far, but when you’re a one-man team, in addition to working yourself to death, you also have difficulty getting fresh eyes, especially experienced fresh eyes, on things

-Sean

[GeneBox]

That looks pretty cool, great job!

[dr-electro]

Nice fast paced action!

[AustinK]

I like it. I don’t think I have anything to nit-pick at though, so I’m of no use there. I just want to congratulate you on a job well done so far.

[GBCFraser]

That is some jaw dropping gameplay.

[sburgoon]

Thanks, everyone My goal right now is to get more detail added to the environment (and finish off more of it in general), and then keep working on the flow of this first level. Does anyone have any opinion on what would be more valuable to see (as far as pre-kickstarter vs post-kickstarter), more character art and powers/weapons/combat, or an example of a different environment (maybe one of the hell environments)? I know both is best, but like I said, limited man-hours

[outtoplay]

Real nice… best of luck. I’d play it/buy it for sure.

[AustinK]

Maybe split it both up? Show a few powers/weapons/combat, just not all of them. And try to update your environment or get your hell environment going. People just need to see what the game could be and where it’s headed. They don’t need to see 6 different types of powers or whatever in the kickstarter video. You can always list them all out, and show a few of them. The same goes for levels.

That’s just my 2cents.

[oysterCAKE]

This looks brilliant… can’t wait to see how the kickstarter turns out!

The only thing that struck me as worth considering is the use of damage numbers - while you say it has RPG elements, personally I’ve always found damage numbers to be a distracting layer of information in games. It may be worth while taking into account whether they aid gameplay (whether the player will be keeping track of damage dealt to the enemy) - or whether there is a more streamlined way of representing the magnitude of damage done.

Out of interest, as I’m looking into Kickstarting my own game, what are the logistics of production once you’ve launched the kickstarter, and how much are you looking to raise?

[sburgoon]

Thanks.

I agree on the damage floats… I think. I waffle a lot on that In general, I feel they are only cool if you can actually spec a character/find items with which to make the numbers huge. Otherwise its just visual noise. I’m honestly not 100% sure whether they’ll stay in, as it largely depends on how the loot/rpg elements evolve (and how in depth they are). If nothing changes (which is unlikely) I would remove them, but haven’t yet because I haven’t had a really good reason to.

As for my kick-starter plans, I’m not 100% sure on that either. I’m not looking to fund the game 100% through kick-starter, since I’m already about $60k in of my own money (maya, unity, lots of other software, as well as the whole paying my rent and whatnot… I live in the Bay Area, so that’s always fun). Most likely it will take another year post kick-starter to get the game out, although I have plans to scope up or down depending on the budget realities. I’d love to get enough together to hire someone on a long-ish contract to help out with environment art, since that’s not really one of my primary skills (the one thing I haven’t ever done professionally in games or film) and it’s what I’m least efficient at.

So, that said, I’m going to try to target an amount of money that at the very least proves the market-viability of the game, because if I can do that but I’m short on budget, filling that gap will be a lot easier. I have the blessing/curse of being able to do everything myself if I have to (since I have so far), so I can more easily scope up or down to get the game out regardless of being able to hire anyone else. For the kick-starter itself, I’m hoping to leverage the intro video to get visibility (I’m really happy with how it came out, and am holding it back for that purpose), and I’m leaning toward releasing the prototype as a playable demo, since “feel” is actually what most people who have tested it point to as the game’s strongest aspect right now, but we’ll see. Needs a few extra layers of polish if other people will be running it, and there’s a lot of things vying for the attention.

BTW, I love the visual style of your game. Will definitely be interested in seeing how yours evolves. I would say the most important thing (from what others have told me and what I’ve read) is don’t rush onto something like kick-starter. Ideas don’t get funded, working prototypes and like someone above mentioned, games that show what they can/will become very clearly , are what get funded. Unless you’re already rich/famous and could easily fund your own project out of pocket. Then people trample each other to throw money at the millionaire

-Sean

@oysterCAKE

This looks brilliant… can’t wait to see how the kickstarter turns out!

The only thing that struck me as worth considering is the use of damage numbers - while you say it has RPG elements, personally I’ve always found damage numbers to be a distracting layer of information in games. It may be worth while taking into account whether they aid gameplay (whether the player will be keeping track of damage dealt to the enemy) - or whether there is a more streamlined way of representing the magnitude of damage done.

Out of interest, as I’m looking into Kickstarting my own game, what are the logistics of production once you’ve launched the kickstarter, and how much are you looking to raise?

[sama-van]

Cool!!!

[Aiursrage2k]

Yeah looks good.

[Justei]

This look really cool well done indeed!
I would work on the trailer make it feel more fun to play, and more game elements besides shooting the face off the zombies.

Other than that, this is really well done :).

[DexRobinson]

Great video, I hope the game plays as well as it looks.

[Gnimmel]

This looks really great. I think you’ve already shown exactly what it is and how it plays. It came across as a well made fast paced fun shooter which should be enough to get people hooked. If you want to show more on your kick starter page, I would suggest more in the way of level and creature ideas, concepts etc just to show where the game is going story wise.

I’m also working on a single person project so I know how much work you’ve already put into this, and how much you’ve got left. I wish you luck and hope to be playing this in a year or 2.

[Swearsoft]

I like the style of the characters.

[0n35]

Unique guns, looks like it will be very fun