Month: March 2017

I’ll be the first person to tell you that coding is hard. I’ll also be the first person to tell you I can’t code to save my life. That’s why, of course, the lovely team here at ZeMind has introduced me into the cold and murky depths of Xcode (lucky me).

Yes, your favourite newbie has descended into the flame-broiled heart of heck itself, past the rings of Unity and into the pits of Git.

So, what am I doing here, you may ask? Turns out that while writing the script was a team based and often times humorous trip into the realms of puns and fantasy, actually entering the thing into the game has proven to have a bit of a learning curve. Those of you who follow our social media pages (which you all should be, duh) know that since I’ve begun my tenure here at the studio I’ve given Unity a try, with uh, mixed results.

That being said, I clearly had not-the-worst point collection ball game here in the studio, and the experience went well enough to say that I’d give coding a go in the future.

Fast forward to now, where thanks to our tightly knit team of developers, I’m working with an (explicitly for newbies) customized chunk of code which essentially plays as a mad-libs for entering the script and dialogue into our game. For Versus, we’ve gone with a traditional JRPG dialogue setup, that is to say we’ve got a shared dialogue box between all talking head characters on the screen.

On my end, I’ve gone about not just entering the dialogue but also selecting the talking head portraits themselves as well as filling in sound effects for dialogue (while we won’t exactly be going with english, we may change it up to have a sort of ‘Sim-Speak’ kind of tone.

It’s definitely eye-opening to see the amount of sheer, hair-raising frustration and terror that goes into coding something. Even with my custom set up, I’ve had several follicle ruining moments that have tested my patience. Not to mention all the times I thought I completely wrecked the game when pushing it.

*Shudders*

The game is now in an incomplete but playable state. We’ve got a ton of the art assets set in (which, while still being awesome, still have a few left to go) as well as the majority of dialogue and story from acts 1-3. Most of the characters are playable, save for a few that need a touch more tweaking. We’re still in the process of finalizing certain aspects of the story as well as selecting final music and additional effects, but overall this game is turning out to be a lot more fun than anticipated.

That’s all for this week, don’t forget to follow us on social media for more updates, contests and giveaways!
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With ‘Mega Fighters’ (working title of our MMA fighting card game) hopefully coming out sometime this year (we’re thinking fall-summer), the time has come to try and solve the logistic issues between getting the game made and getting the game out there.

Hold on to your butts.

With only a projected few months to go, we’re buckling down and making the most of our precious play testing time as our self-imposed deadline draws near. We’re testing. A lot. The first thing we’re hoping to do is release a starter pack containing the basics of what two people would need to play a basic game of Mega Fighters (includes an awesome introduction to the game as well as a few rare cards to get their collection going).

The second thing we hope to do is release another ‘Deluxe Edition’, complete with several more playable characters, un-lockable abilities as well as a plethora of moves you won’t find in any other card game. These extra cards will of course be available in booster packs we plan to release as well, keeping in tradition with many of your favourite childhood (or adulthood) trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering.

We’re also hoping to include a few accessories (such as dials and score cards) to keep track of certain statistics like hand size, health totals, etc. We feel like these add to the speed and overall enjoyment when included but don’t detract from the experience when playing without them.

As with any fighting game, the level itself will provide much of the flavour. What we’re aiming for is a cage-like play mat that simulates the circular ring you’d find in many MMA fights both on TV and at the amateur level. Speaking of flavour, we’re now on the prowl for local (Toronto) artists looking to get out there and design a few cards (with compensation, of course). It should be noted though, that we’re on the hunt for something along the current Marvel Comics style and that we’re looking to review portfolios in the upcoming weeks.

Got any hot tips on an artist looking to get in on a card game? Shoot them our way!

-Charlie Ze Newbie

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