Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion
đź‘‹ Goodbye planet Olkarion!
It has been an epic journey for us as an indie game studio: two years ago we won the Universal GameDev Challenge to create a game around the wonderful world of «Voltron: Legendary Defender». We still are speechless to be able to work with a world-renowned IP that has been known since the 80s and had an exciting reboot on Netflix.
We thank everyone who has contributed to the game, has given us feedback, ideas and for playing epic cube matches with us. It was a journey we will never forget and we are thankful we could be part of it!
We would be thankful if you join us for our future games.
Goodbye, Paladins!
The Gbanga team
Let’s celebrate some Achievements
Join us in the celebration and share your favorite element of the game «Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion» online on social media and mention us.
- Mention our Twitter handle @CubesOfOlkarion
- Mention our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/VoltronCubesOfOlkarion/
- Mention our Instagram account @voltroncubesofolkarion
Achievements preview
Here's a preview of some of the new achievements:
Complete the first 6 tutorial scenarios.
Win 'Space Warfare' and destroy at least 3 enemy Cubes by over-freezing them.
Destroy a total of 100 enemy cubes.
We’re back with updates!
Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion is an action-packed one-on-one real-time-strategy game with fighting elements and tactical combinations, perfect for couch gaming sessions and online battles. Solve all levels in the new single-player arcade mode and get ready for the next multiplayer fight.
Single-player arcade mode
Are you up for the new single player mode and take all challenges in the brand new arcade mode? In a first blast, we added 18 missions to prove your skills!
Improved training deck
New to the game or want to improve your skills? Coran has uploaded some new chapters to the training deck to teach you all you ever wanted to know about mastering the cubes of Olkarion.
Intro story
Speaking of Coran: We have added an intro story in the his classic explainer video style – where do the cubes come from and how did the Cubewars start?
Mac version
A new Mac version lets you battle your friends from the alternate reality of operating systems.
See you in the game, Paladins!
New Update
1. Poured even more love into the game
2. Optimized performance in several areas
3. Fixed a bug where hitting ESC on main menu would not open the exit popup.
4. Fixed a bug where canceling the exit popup on the main menu would result in not being able to do anything.
5. Adjusted hitbox size of back button in settings screen
6. Adjusted default menu sensitivity
7. Added missing localisation key
8. Fixed a bug where game would sometimes freeze after playing a local match
9. Made font more readable in certain areas
10. Improved loading of resources when starting up the game
Gameplay
1. Fixed a bug with the interaction of fireball and Airblaster cube
2. Adjusted timings in tutorial for smoother flow
3. Minor text fixes in tutorial
4. Fixed an error with the animation in the Airblaster cube
5. Fixed bug where Fireballs would sometimes not get pushed up by the Airblast cube
6. Reduced poly count for Fireballs
7. Reduced poly count for the «frozen» effect
8. Fixed a bug where cursor would stop reacting in certain situation
9. Fixed a bug where the Drone Drill would not rotate correctly
Online Play
1. Created smoother networking experience
2. Reduced amount of data sent when playing online
3. Reduced amound of data recieved when playing online
4. Reduced lag when playing online
5. Shortened time to enter online queue
6. Reduced script execution time for ranking
7. Fixed a bug where you could sometimes not cancel online queue if it was canceled before
Music and Sound
1. Polished 32 sound effects
2. Added new sound effects
3. Adjusted volumes of sound effects
4. Made the Drone sound effect loop correctly
5. Fixed sound effects ending too early
6. Made sure music clips were always played
7. Added missing music track when going into matchmaking after finishing a match
8. Added missing music in one tutorial chapter
9. Fixed a bug where the wrong sound would be played when using a fireball above the Anti Gravity generator
How Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion came to life
But how did we, as a small indie studio from a small country, partner up with Universal, one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet, to create a game? It all started with the Universal Game Dev Challenge in March 2018, when Universal Games and Digital Platforms, together with Unity, Intel, and Microsoft called for studios worldwide to create a PC game concept for one of Universal’s iconic brands. In the competition, six finalists would be selected to create a Vertical Slice – and the winner could win $150,000. Competing with the whole world seemed like a long shot at the time, but we were excited for the possibility and took the challenge. Voltron: Legendary Defender was our favorite choice.
Our first step was (re-)watching all episodes of the DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender series on Netflix, and reading through episode recaps, forums, and wikis looking for interesting elements of the Voltron world. In parallel, we went through existing game ideas and prototypes we had created. After some days, we discovered a certain object in the series that intrigued us. An object so simple in shape but so powerful at the same time, we couldn't resist building a game story around it – the Olkari Cubes.
Image: Just like Pidge, we are fascinated by Olkari Cubes!
Olkari Cubes appear in an episode from season two for the first time, in which Olkari people are forced to build a single gigantic cube super-weapon to try to destroy Voltron. Our game imagines emperor Zarkon taking another shot at the idea saying “Why build one cube when you can build millions?”. We thought of a spin-off for the game that we internally call the “Cubewars,” a time during Zarkon’s rule where he mass-produces the titular cubes by enslaving the Olkari. The Voltron coalition, which the Olkari are part of, build cubes for self-defense.
The first step in the Universal Game Dev Challenge was to submit a game design document. It was fun to think and write about how an iconic world like Voltron would work from a perspective of game mechanics – to make sure the game is fun and and incorporates the rich Voltron universe. After sending all of the required materials, we waited, happy to have submitted what we thought was an appealing and unconventional way of creating a game for a known brand.
Image of the Game Design Document submitted to the Universal Game Dev Challenge in 2018: Competing players build single Olkari Cubes with various attack and defense capabilities and stack them to towers in the middle.
After some weeks the message finally arrived: we were among the six finalists chosen from more than 500 submissions worldwide! We were excited to say the least. But we were also laser-focused and ready to deliver because we knew we had to start working on a vertical slice over the summer months of 2018.
And that’s what we did. As a team of 15, we all had our battle stations: creating a cube wars storyline, recreating the wonderful world of the Olkari planet from the series in a game, creating cubes with various capabilities that allow strategic depth. The result was a vertical slice in which you could experience battles in local 2-player mode. And it was fun! After three months of work we delivered a game on time to be reviewed by a jury.
Again, after waiting some weeks, the message arrived. After the jury reviewed all six games, our submission Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion was the winner of the challenge! It was an unreal moment, filled with excitement and also moments where we had to reassure each other that we actually did it. An eventful time followed with Andreas and Yury appearing on stage to receive the trophy at Unite Los Angeles and Matthias and Robin participating in a workshop with Universal, the judges, and brand experts to get feedback on how to plan next steps.
Photo: Andreas and Yury on stage at Unite LA 2018
Flash forward to today, August 29, 2019. After nine months of creating a scaling online multiplayer mode, polishing the world to get the Voltron feel right, and pushing the game forward in close partnership with Universal, the game is now available as Early Access on Steam.
To go for an Early Access title is an important choice: we want to hear from the fans and the game community alike what you love about the current state and what you would love to see in the future. We have created a roadmap and FAQs as a starting point and hope you have as much fun with the game as we have!
See you in the game, Paladins!
We hope you have fun with the Olkari Cubes!