Overview
I always liked the idea of making a fantasy-card game, so I started to outline the basic idea on a piece of paper. Yes, planning was essential in this kind of game, I knew it from the start (and luckily I did it).
I decided to base everything on Celtic mythology, so I first started to do some research both at the local library and also on the internet. I learned about Celtic runes and thought to assign to each one of them a spell or a summoned avatar in the game. I divided the runes into four elements; air, water, fire, and earth, though I realize that their original meaning was a bit different. But hey, it’s just a game!
After sketching out the general features, statistics, skills, creatures, background story of the game, I put all those numbers together in a spreadsheet page. Next, I had to solve a big problem — how to make the graphics of such a game? The solution was Poser, a great 3D character modeler and animator. I purchased several ready-made 3D models, and after several weeks spent on various renderings, I had the basic 48 avatars ready — 20 avatars for the four elements plus many neutral/evil ones.
I added a role-playing element to the game, so that in addition to your “card deck” you also had an in-game alter-ego, with an inventory of items that could affect your power and a set of basic skills that would influence the game in general.
Tools Used
I used Xcode and a very simple but really powerful 2D programming API called PTK marketed by Phelios. I had previously licensed this SDK for earlier titles with great success. PTK is a multi-platform 2D game engine with 3D capabilities built around OpenGL, that just requires a very basic knowledge of C++.
As mentioned previously, the graphics were mostly created with the help of Poser 5. For example, the monsters, characters, and Photoshop was utilized for designing the user interface of the game. Music was acquired through the purchase of a royalty-free online source.
What Went Right
Since its launch, the game has had a good group of loyal followers. This might be connected to the release of a “bonus pack” (expansion pack) following the initial 1.0 release. This was a challenging move since once the pack was announced, I couldn’t change my mind. However it was a also a smart move because it helped greatly improved customer loyalty and is keeping my game always “in the news” — thanks to those frequent updates — usually about every 2-3 months.
An attractive point about niche games like RPG is that most developers have abandone this genre — competition is at an all-time low. Larger game publishers are focused on MMORPG and true classic single-player CRPG aren’t produced anymore — there’s a big market opportunity here! My game didn’t need much marketing at all to become popular with RPG fans.
What Went Wrong
Despite having planned everything, as always happens in this sort of game, you’ll need to perform some serious testing. When you make a simple match three game, bugs are typically easy to find as the game mechanics are always the same. With RPGs, I had many bugs in the initial version because I didn’t take the time to test it properly as I was too eager to release it — a mistake I will never repeat in any future games!
Conclusion
I can say that it was both a very rewarding experience and feedback was very positive from gamers, through the process of creating a RPG was also very stressing. The day after initial release was golden, I spent 10 straight hours a day fixing bugs and working on the first expansion pack. This pack, “The Bone Lord”, was released in time for Christmas 2005 — only three short months after the initial 1.0 game release.
Keeping the game updated has proved to be a challenge since there is always a greater need to add more content such as art, SFX, and new gameplay elements. Overall, I like this game genre so I was able to place a great deal of passion into its production — an important factor in completing the project.
- Title: Magic Stones
- Genre: Fantasy / RPG
- Developer: Winter Wolves
- Team size: 1
- Released date: October 17, 2005
- Project length: About 5 months for initial release, then about another 3 months more for the various updates and expansion packs.
- Development hardware: Power Mac G4 1.2 GHz
- Critical applications: Xcode, Poser 5, Photoshop
