Ada and her robot are smart enough to know that there is a time for fight and a time for flight ⛈️🛩️
Between the thunderstorm shader, the screenshake, and the text-typing chat dialog, there are a lot of core game systems being used to add polish to this scene. The text typer is free and open source (for Unity) and just got an overhaul by @StoicHamster to support stylized animation. https://github.com/casimps1/unity-text-typer
Did Ada survive the storm? Scroll down for a not too obvious spoiler...
Timbert is one of the Baron's foreman, protecting a mysterious vault door. He's responsible for having chopped down much of the Golden Woods to help fuel the Baron's ruinous mining company. Taking him out will do a lot of good for the people of Sparklite.
He's the main boss in our show demo so everyone who plays at tradeshows will get a chance to play him. Making him was a ton of fun and one of our most collaborative between programming, art, and design. Here's a tiny gif that Rafael Françoi (@rathaelos) did while brainstorming. We used a lot of little gifs like these to sync up as a team. Rafael really deserves most of the credit for the concept behind this character. The whole team fell in love with the sketches he made and everything just kind of fell into place.
Keep up to date by joining our Discord Server and following #sparklite
This creepy Catersplitter splits into two when you take out the weak node. Creating it involved looking at a lot of horrifying reference images that we can't unsee.
The really fun thing about the worms we referenced is they are native to where we live in North Carolina. In fact, I actually did have a bunch of these green tobacco worms in my garden here in Durham. I think prying them off the plant was as traumatic for me as it was for them.
It actually took quite a lot to get this enemy working, including some path following which uses this nifty tool open source https://github.com/SebLague/Path-Creator.
Keep up to date by joining our Discord Server and following #sparklite
The standing ranged enemy here is one of my favorites. It's a mutant plant inspired by the big fruit vines in the Vinelands. It uses a simple point and shoot mechanic that creates surprisingly tough situations. We spent a lot of time getting the art just right so that players can easily pick up the enemy visually and immediately have an idea of how to destroy it.
Evolution of standing ranged enemies
Keep up to date by joining our Discord Server and following #sparklite
When someone says the word roguelike , the first thing that s likely to pop into your brain is a crushingly hard button twiddler like Spelunky, The Binding Of Isaac or Risk Of Rain. Sparklite, however, wants to do things a bit differently.
This upcoming brawler adventure game, from North Carolina outfit Red Blue Games, will be joining the roguelike ranks when it comes to PC later this autumn, but the studio s twin brother co-founders Lucas and Edward Rowe, would really rather it wasn't called a roguelike at all.
Get hands-on with Sparklite at PAX East and meet the team!
If you're heading out to Boston, MA to attend PAX East (March 28th-31st) then be sure to visit us on booth #20043 where you'll be able to get hands on with Sparklite. We're got a purpose built demo to challenge your gaming prowess. Have you got what it takes to find, face and defeat the first of the Baron's bosses? Stop by the booth and find out.
Better still, come and meet Edward, Lucas and Kevin from the development team, Red Blue Games. They'll be on hand to answer questions and tell you exactly why Sparklite will be the "must have" adventure this fall.
Sparklite in the Microsoft spotlight at GDC2019
Sparklite looks great right? Of course, we would say that... But what if we got noticed by someone who really knows, like Microsoft, for instance?
GDC (that's the Game Developers Conference in case you didn't know) is happening in San Francisco next week. It's were the game development community, press and publishers all meet up and discuss the one thing we all love - video games. Microsoft have been quietly looking for the latest and greatest indie games to show off at GDC. Out of hundreds of new games Merge has had two of its titles selected (Sparklite and Buildings Have Feelings Too!) to be showcased in a bakers dozen of titles to be highlighted in the ID@Xbox Developer Showcase (don't worry they look ofter PC titles too). We're super proud that Sparklite has been selected. Be sure to keep an eye on your favourite media sites to see what they think too.
Have a read of the article on Xbox Wire to find out more.
Did you play Sparklite at PAX West 2018?
Just wanted to say a big "thank you" to everyone who visited the Merge stand at PAX West this year and took the time to play Sparklite.
Although the game was an early build (heck, we're still about a year away from launch!), it was great to receive so many positive comments. Our intention was to offer visitors a vertical slice of the game so they could get a "feel" for what we are trying to achieve with Sparklite.
The pick up and play nature of the game and the familiarity of the genre meant that the demo stations were always full with playtimes being between twenty minutes and half an hour.
If you experienced Sparklite then let us know what you thought, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Welcome to Sparklite
Welcome intrepid Steam user,
Please let us take this opportunity to welcome you to the world of Sparklite - We are Red Blue Games, a small indie studio based out of North Carolina. We plan to post regular updates to this Steam community hub so bookmark us and stay in touch. To begin with here’s a little background info about our team; Ed, Lucas and Kevin.
Co-founders Edward and Lucas began making games to share with one another. From Mario levels drawn on spools of printer paper to Lego-based RPGs, their many experiments instilled a love of game making from an early age. Similarly, Kevin developed his passion for game making when he was young, drawing alternative Zelda screens when bored in school, and replaying the tune of his favourite game tracks on his toy piano at home. Together, they've now turned their passion for game creation into Red Blue Games, where they make game experiences to share with the world, Sparklite being the first.
