Special price!
Only a few more days until our special Caveman Craig: Special Edition coupon code expires.
Enter the code; GROK in checkout to receive 40% off.
Direct link to checkout HERE.
Work begins for alternative platforms
Tonight I began work on the mobile version of Caveman Craig 2. We hope for the mobile version to cover iPad, iPhone/iPod (retina only, sorry guys), and Android.
In both marketing and actual gameplay, there will be some large differences between Caveman Craig 2 for desktop platforms (Win/Mac) and Mobile (iOS/Android). The mobile version of Caveman Craig will focus on the survival style of CC: Classic, offering two main gametypes – one pushes you to grow your tribe as fast as you can to survive against increasingly difficult waves of dinosaurs, and the other is a slower paced, growth gametype in which you need to grow your tribe as large as you can. The enemy leaders that Tim has been introducing you to over the past months will be present in the mobile version.
There are quite a number of technical differences to consider too between mobile platforms (and to a smaller degree, the desktop platforms). Most prominent is the resolution and DPI differences. The iPad is the easiest to consider – it has a 1024×768 resolution, which is our target resolution for the desktop version too (the desktop version can dynamically increase the width for widescreen). If it weren’t for the control and gameplay differences, we could almost do a direct port to iPad with the desktop version!
It gets more difficult with the retina display – at first glance, the 960×640 resolution doesn’t sound so difficult to adapt to, as it’s not that much smaller than the iPad resolution. But with such a humungous DPI, at native scaling, Craig is absolutely tiny on the retina display! Too much screen real estate will be taken up by sky and sun, which is just silly. So for retina, we will be upscaling the game to 150% – there will be very little sacrifice of visual quality with this.
Android gets even harder to work out, and we’re still working out final details. Android runs on so many different devices that there’s no 1 good setting. We have been advised a ‘one size fits all’ resolution of 850×480 (from memory), and at this point we’re going with that. Android also runs on both slow and fast devices, so CC will have a very different experience and frame-rate based on the device you play it on.
So, yes, there’s a lot to work out before the mobile version really comes together!
The desktop version is of course making progress, too. We are just finishing up the last dinosaurs and tweaking their behaviour. They’re all quite unique from each other and some can be a lot of fun to try and take down! Tim did a great job with the animation. I’ve been spending some time working on the extensibility of Caveman Craig 2 – this is mostly for our benefit (allowing us to distribute patches and updates without you having to redownload the entire game), but there’s some potential for modding / customisation on your end, too. We are trying to make it very easy to add custom content, including:
-> Scenery (backgrounds & terrain)
-> Dinosaurs
-> Custom Player Skins
-> Rewards/Bonuses
Unfortunately, the dinosaurs and rewards/bonuses would require some GML knowledge and understanding of how the game engine is coded. We may however offer ‘template dinosaurs’ for you to make your own. We’ll also likely release official content.
Ricky has begun work on the main theme music for the game, although I’m yet to hear anything.. so stay tuned!
-Rhys
Special Offer for Caveman Craig: Special Edition!
Hey guys!
To celebrate the soon to arrive Caveman Craig 2, for June ONLY we are offering 40% off the normal $4.99 (US dollars) price for Caveman Craig: Special Edition.
To get this frankly over-generous deal, enter the coupon code GROK when purchasing. So if you STILL haven’t bought the special edition, highly acclaimed as an essential improvement for CC fans, OR if your friends still haven’t purchased a copy for themselves, now is the time!
Tim posted an exciting progress report for Caveman Craig 2, which you can see here: http://cavemancraig.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/things-to-look-forward-to/
-Rhys
Things to look forward to…
There is plenty to get excited about as we continue to develop Caveman Craig 2!
I have almost completed all the animation for the vast array of dinosaurs in the game. There will be over 12 different prehistoric beasts, including this huge Stegosaurus (shown in the pic). The original Caveman Craig had about 4 dinosaurs (and the special edition includes the Dilophosaurus). Some dinosaurs will be seen more frequently than the others, but one thing we know is that the T-Rex will be more terrifying than in the original game!
Another thing to be excited about is the new website, which is currently in development too. There will be a tonne of info, pics and other exciting news to come with it. No date is set for this yet, but stay tuned.
Rhys and I have also been talking about other games we can develop after CC2 hits the (virtual) streets. We’ll always keep you informed on this blog as to what exciting Parabox games will be coming out.
In the meantime, if you haven’t already got it, Caveman Craig: Special Edition is still available in our store at www.cavemancraig.com – This is tonnes better and smoother than the free version we have on YoYo Games, and has a heap of extra features.
