Posts Tagged ‘Indie Game Release’
From Sweden MS WP7 conference…with love
Alright, i’m officially pumped right now. Simon, our master developer and international genius went to the MS WP7 conference today, and got some amazing feedback on our current development. Without giving away too much (before he posts), I can easily say he was extremely effective. I guess being international can certainly have its advantages 
To say the least, we have MS themselves looking at our game–Kinect and Mobile–interested in what we’re doing.
Big, big UPS to Simon for going out and getting it. I couldnt help myself and had to give a precursor here. Pics and much, much more info to come soon. Oh yeah, The Hearts of Men: Throne of Deceit is in peer review, so if you are on it, please test for us so we can release for the Holiday 2011!
The Hearts of Men PC Release now LIVE!!! And 1/2 off Price!
Today, we’re excited to release our first game onto the PC with “The Hearts of Men: Throne of Deceit”, and in celebration we’re offering 1/2 off for the PC release. The game, which received 5 stars and XBox Indie Game of the Week during it’s alpha review, has been completely revamped, offering players all new strategies and game modes, including Story, Arcade, and Multiplayer modes.
We’re still waiting on approval from Xbox Live, but soon will also be on the marketplace. If you just can’t wait, it’s time to jump into this Holidays biggest indie title release for a portion of the price on PC. Just click the banner above to go directly to the purchase page!
PC The Hearts of Men Demo Coming
We’re doing some final adjustments but the game, on both Xbox 360 and PC is 100% complete! Done. Nailed it. I need a freaking week off!
To begin the game kickoff, we’re doing a few things, one is gonna be reaching as many people as we can. We’re also offering a bit of incentive for fans, gamers, game devs, and anybody else to follow us on twitter and Facebook. As it stands, our marketing and PR is pretty atrocious, but we want to correct this with our first official, final release of a game we’ve become quite proud of over the last few months.
With the pc demo coming THIS WEEK and going into XNA submissions, we’re going to do a promo where anybody that likes us on Facebook will get the demo early!
We’re also getting ready to announce our post mortem, and hoping this will take–we’re doing it LIVE!!! Yes, this is kind of new, but its the only way I’ve ever enjoyed a post mortem is with immediate feedback. We are planning on doing this through Google+ Hangouts, so we’ll be doing some tests to see what can actually be handled in such a format. Could turn out pretty cool.
And, we have other big announcement coming, but we’ll save those for later 
Once again tho…After 1.5 years developing this game, we’re DONE! Submitted to Steam and a few other notable Digital Distributors, now waiting on approvals. OH!! The game is going to be purchasable directly from our website too!!! Paypal, credit card…I’m even considering food stamps folks
Kickstart The Heart!
COLTRAN Studios is proud to launch their funding initiative through Kickstarter.com—Help Us Succeed!
Chicago, July 6th, 2011 – Come one, come all, and be part of a star being born. COLTRAN Studios is gearing up to launch their first game, “The Hearts of Men: Throne of Deceit”, in August of 2011. In just a month, gamers with a pc or Xbox 360 will be able to play through this amazing tale, playing with or against each other in a number of game modes. As the game nears completion and is set for launch, we need everybody we know to support our funding initiative, to ensure we can market the game properly, and continue our developments onto our next project. With the help of family and friends, and spreading the word, we can achieve our goals. We also have some great, one of a kind gifts for donators that fans and supporters will not want to miss out on.
Visit the Kickstarter page to view gifts and donate:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coltranstudios/the-hearts-of-men-the-dream-begins
“The Hearts of Men” will launch will a full set of features, game modes, and art to satisfy gamers of all ages. The game is a top down game, where players use a combination of attacks to defeat a horde of enemies, and defeat the castles bosses to succeed the evil overlord on the throne. Players can choose to play the story mode alone, or with 3 other players to help them along the way. There is also an arcade mode, that is also 4 player co-op and sees players pitted against a nonstop mass of enemies to gain the highest score and survive the longest. Another noteworthy addition that gamers will welcome is 8 player online multiplayer matches. Players can choose from classic gameplay modes such as Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag, or try all new challenging modes like Onslaught, and the explosive Bomb Run.
The game has been in development for almost 1.5 years now, and over the course of time has evolved. After a great alpha release, and gathering of feedback, the game has been revamped to better suit todays gamer. The inclusion of weapon and health upgrades, a dash/teleportation move, and superb artificial intelligence which will keep players on the edge of their seats for hours. Also, the User Interface has seen a significant upgrade, allowing more flow into the user experience, while using the comic graphics for backgrounds. The sound effects and soundtrack have also been updated to lend a more energetic pacing to the game. And finally, the story has been completely included, with 30 pages of comic art to tell the story of the characters and the outcome of the journey.
Check out more The Hearts of Men developments:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/COLTRAN-Studios/245333015480385?sk=wall
Webpage: http://coltranstudios.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/COLTRAN
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3xiFx-JBs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3Jwjy34HU&feature=related
***We can do this but we need YOUR support!***
With the Kickstarter initiative, we’re looking for a small donation from anybody that can, and would be willing to help us. We’ve set the amounts low with great rewards for donations, including getting your name in the game, receiving art from the game, tshirts, and even a first series, one of a kind comic book, signed by the artist. If we reach our goal, we will be able to market this game and gain new equipment necessary for our continued development. We’re asking for 2 things, one is any donation, the lowest is $1. The second thing we need, is for you to spread the word and forward this announcement, Like us on Facebook, retweet us on Twitter, and in general, support our initiative!!! In return we’re giving everything we can, and you can even show your credits in the game to friends and family!
Jason Zielinski
COLTRAN Studios
jz@coltranstudios.com
“The Hearts of Men” first review in! Check it out
Our first review is in, thank you very much to Mr Deeke of the indieverse. Because I can’t help myself, below are a few choice quotes, but first the full review HERE . To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement
Four Player Co-Op! This title contains all the elements needed for a great bout of co-op action, especially with four-players. A fantastic title to play when friends are over and you need a game to enjoy on the spot. It’s fast-paced and doesn’t take a while to start up–you’re right in the action after a quick load-up, ready to hack and slash enemies with your team.
It’s Fun! The Hearts of Men is a classic Xbox Indie that is at the heart of retro with it’s blast-from-the-past dynamics of hack-and-slash* games. It incorporates several aspects gamers will be familiar with, and it’s a sure way to enjoy an 80 MSP purchase, especially if you’re a gamer that usually plays with friends.
Great Visuals and Soundtrack! As far as Xbox Indies go, this game has a great soundtrack that flows with the game and the sound effects are very accurate as well–overall the music and the effects combine to deliver what gamers expect from the medieval age. The visuals are astounding, and the comic-inspired graphics are something that is kind of rare in the Xbox Indie scene, especially since they are of exceptional quality. The in-game visual effects are great, too–whether you’re using a Special Attack or reviving a player, the visuals are fluid and are very fitting.
Needless to say, much thanks and appreciation to Mr. Deeke…and btw, those bugs are fixed and we’re going to resubmit the update for patch soon:D Thanks again for the great feedback and helping us craft the experience better.
Contest Results! Congrats @slyprid for winning a free game!
Congratulations twitter’er @slyprid, who won Monday’s free key giveaway!!!
We have more, so we’re doing it again. Just email me here for tuesday’s free key contest
3 FREE Game Keys for The Hearts of Men, Available NOW!!!!
This post is for Monday, March 7th, 2011–We’ll be doing this each day this week to get some folks pumped up about the game, so sign up by emailing me here, and tell your friends as well. Just say “Free Key” in your email, and we’ll do the drawing and post the results the following day (in this case, tomorrow!!!) around 11am CST. Get your emails in, we’ll accept the last email for this contest tonight at 12am CST!
EDIT***1 hour left, CST!!!
Once again, email here
NOW AVAILABLE!! The Hearts of Men on Xbox Live Indie Games!!! 80 MSP!
And finally, COLTRAN Studios is proud to present our first game, “The Hearts of Men”, available on Xbox Live Indie Games for 80 MSp ($1).
To commemorate this achievement, we present the final box art, along with the Official contest thread on our forums, so get there and sign up for your chance at some great prizes, and to give us feedback on the game! We’ll be updating the forums this weekend, so pardon the construction at this time
And the beat goes on…
BAM! Here we are again. Game, didn’t pass. Not great, but what can you do. It seems, In Russia, games play you!!
Anyways, we have to rewrite the whole game now. Simon the master developer is on it–this dude is a beast. Already, rendering, UI, and post efx are rewritten for the update, I must say well done. Still have to do some audio and other stuff, but seems like we may be ready to resubmit within the 7 day minimum time period–not bad at all (because that means we lost nothing more than we normally would have, even though we rewrote XXX amount of lines of code in the process).
After much discussion today, I asked Simon if we could squeeze in more art, and I believe the answer was yes! That’s a good thing. Granted, this once again detracts from my overall schedule (and I don’t like that), but if it makes the game better, can I really deny that??? Not if I’m making games because I love making games. So, more art there shall be, along with more time lapse videos, I’ve had fun creating those. For anybody interested, I think I’ll create 4 new images, each for when you defeat a boss in the game–seems like a decent reward (better than nothing . Until then, go watch (and “like”) some of our other stuff on youtube
The Hearts of Men Comic Art – Final
And the finale to this tale of art, I’m calling this one finished. Yes, I could spend another 4 hours painting, but I like where this is at, plus I have so much more to draw for this series. Do you like it?? Then click the “Like” button and tell your friends to like it too so we can build up to release!!! You’ll be able to get the full story in the game, which we are planning on submitting for the final peer review today, and hopefully we’ll pass with flying colors and be working hard on a press release tomorrow! So get your 80 MSP and thumbs ready for “The Hearts of Men”
