Keatz : The Lonely Bird - Devlog 2016-2017

Game Under Development: Keatz : The Lonely Bird
Date Started: 1st November, 2016
Date Ended: --
Game Development Progress: 50% [Beta]
Interested in this game: Follow Me on Twitter @AmaxangGames

Devlog:

19th September, 2017:
Water Turret needs to be destroyed! Read about the Water Turret post here: CLICK HERE!

16th September, 2017:
A new detailed blog post on Parallax motion effect published here: CLICK HERE!

15th September, 2017:
Many features have been added withing a whole month. Parallax effect is now present in the levels as well!
NOTE: I will post the new topics over the same game development progress and they will be more informative. All the links will be provided from this page only.

14th August, 2017:
Introducing a new companion of Keatz called Avalon. She is one and only best friend of Keatz who promised to support him to fight against the corruption. Here is a gif:

More updates to be provided very soon!

23rd July, 2017:
Introducing Laser Firing mode for the weapon of Keatz. The cave looks pretty scary. Right? Here are some robot who are installed here by Heavens's army in order to keep away Keatz for proceeding with his mission.
Once you kill them, you will receive yellow gems which is one of the rare gems available in Heavens.

via GIPHY

More updates coming soon!

20th July, 2017:
Hello everyone,
I have started working on cave levels and I would like to present some screenshots here.

8th July, 2017:
Today, I am going to add some screenshots only(no gifs) for the cave level of Keatz The Lonely Bird. I will launch a crowdfunding campaign for Keatz The Lonely Bird very soon on Indiegogo. I hope it goes well. Stay tuned for more updates!

1st July, 2017:
Today, I am going to present the very first Boss level of Keatz game. There is a giant enemy which uses a rocket launcher weapon to kill the main character. This is by far the most important and dangerous battle for Keatz against enemies. Here is a gif image showing the part of the Boss battle. #screenshotsaturday

29th June, 2017:
Today I am working on assets for the upcoming levels of Keatz - The lonely bird game. I am trying my best to improve the artwork. Here is the latest pixel art I am working on:

Stay tuned for more future updates!

28th June, 2017:
Today I have worked on Achievement system where the player can see all the items or features he/she owned till that moment. There are 5 different items available in the whole game which will be required at a later stage. Here is screenshot of the achievement screen given below:

  

25th June, 2017:
I have worked on 7th level which is one of the boss's level where the player needs to defeat the boss in order to get some special items and to move on to the next level. There is a great surprise waiting for you guys in the end. 
Features added or improved for Alpha V0.0.6:
- Improved enemy AI and adding line of sight feature which enables enemies to see the player through a distance and act accordingly.
- Added and improved graphics quality.
- Improving level design for the forest level. 
After finishing the forest level, I will start working on the mysterious Heavens's cave where the player have to explore many secret items, unlocking or hacking security system and move on anyway. More features to be implemented soon! 
Here are some gifs and screenshots of the progress (V0.0.6 Alpha):

17th June, 2017:
Today, I have introduced rocket launcher mode for Keatz - The Lonely Bird game. I have decided to introduce more firing modes like laser mode and also spinner blades which are capable of killing multiple enemies at once! Stay tuned for more updates! With the next update, Laser mode will be introduced.

7th June, 2017:
I have been making progresses by creating assets for the village levels. Here is a tree on which I am currently working. I am trying to make it as good as possible. Keatz The Lonely Bird will be having a better graphics in terms of quality and should attract more players for this game. We have a plan to launch this game at the end of 2017. 
Here is the image:

 
28th May, 2017:
Today, I have released a new short teaser gameplay video for this game. Please take a look here: 

 

 More updates are coming soon! Stay tuned guys!

13th April, 2017:
After a long silence for about a month, the game is slowly being developed. However, the cover image is now up! You can see the different locations in only one cover image of Keatz The lonely bird. 

 
More updates coming soon! Stay tuned! and Follow me on Twitter for updates!

3rd February, 2017:
I am now working on the cut scenes after the Dream world level. Dream world level will be demonstrated in the next update. Meanwhile, I will discuss about the cut-scenes for Heavens Forest Level. 

The parallax motion provides more depth to the visuals. It seems as if the motion is in 3D but actually it is in 2D. This presents a more or less realistic effect in the game. I will experiment more on this effect and making visual effects better.  

 
The trees and the distant objects are in parallax motion. Please note that the animation below is in 10 frames/second and hence it is lagged. Such motion is shown in the gif image below:

   
More updates - coming soon! 

21st January, 2017:
I am currently adding more stuffs in levels and working on level design. Today I want to show a few screenshots of the game. Next week, I will upload a short gameplay video of the third level. I will start working on Dream world levels. Dream levels are unique small levels which is pale in color and has quite different mechanics than other normal levels. These levels are associated with storyline and cut scenes.
More updates will be provided next week! Stay tuned guys!
Here are two screenshots of third level:

15th January, 2017:
I have finally changed the name of the game from Kiwix to Keatz : The Lonely Bird. This will be the final name of this game and it will not be changed again in the future if it's not necessary. I will keep providing updates from time to time.
 
14th January, 2017:
Today, I have added some new traps like rotating blades, and more turret. Here is a short gameplay showing the second level of Kiwix. I will start designing the third level after I finish this one. 
Features added:
- Some new bots and bots which through plasma along with deadly missile.
- A new rotating ground blade which is pretty dangerous.
- Some woods fitted inside the walls used for jumping at a greater height than usual.
- A new enemy(Red feathers) which has a greater firing rate.
- Death animation + Screen shake effect.
- More features to be added in the following update.
Here is the gif:

31st December, 2016:
Today is the final day of the year of 2016 but it's not the final post. I had uploaded a post on Facebook with the previous update and got some valuable feedback to improve the gameplay and particle effects. Today, I have worked all day long to introduce blood/gore effect, and other particle effects. This has changed the look of the game, Kiwix. 
Future plans of Kiwix project:
- Introducing more enemy characters,
- Water system.
- More traps.
- More levels to be added.
- There will be three difficulty modes including, Easy, Medium and Hard.
Here is the gameplay from today's work:

30th December, 2016:
Kiwix is currently under active development. As a one-man studio, this is very difficult to keep up with everything. It takes much time to introduce new game mechanics. However, I have already made some progress in development. Please take a look at the gif given below which shows small gameplay of the game. 
Features added:
-Some soldier birds.
-Turrets.
-Health and other GUI.
-Some equipment like health, ammo, etc.    
More features are coming soon with every update. Current version is Alpha V0.0.1.

 

14th November, 2016:

Hello everyone, I am the developer of Kiwix and I have initiated this project on 1st November, 2016 officially and since then, I have been working on this title slowly and steadily. Kiwix is an upcoming side-scrolling platform action game based on the story of the bird called Kiwi who have been looked down upon by all the other birds in the world. This was due to the inability of Kiwi to fly like other birds can. Everyone left her alone in the dark forest and there was no one beside her to comfort her and they did not even care about her anymore. One day, she would find a bird, who was also flightless and they would become the best friends ever. Her name was Tiwi. Although she promised her not to leave her side again like others did, Kiwi had to face an inevitably tragic incident. 
The full story will be exposed when the game is at least 50% done.

As you can see, this game will be very very small and is based on a cute short story. It has been primarily targeted for PC platform and will most probably be available on Steam someday. However, I will try my best to keep you updated with details about the development based on how far the progress have been made. I have started working on some major game mechanics, working on some graphics, programming and all sorts of things. 

Thanks for reading! If you are interested in this game and want to keep the track of development progress, please feel free to subscribe or bookmark the page. Thanks!

NightmareZ A 2D side-scrolling platformer is now on Steam!

I have created this blog in order to provide the latest updates about the releases, news and various other things related to the development of my future projects. I have found Blogging to be the best way of communicating with my fans and followers who are interested to play new great games. 

I am really glad to say that after struggling for about 2 months on Steam Greenlight, NightmareZ has been successfully accepted on Steam store, that means, NightmareZ will get a greater visibility all around the world. I have poured my heart and soul into making NightmareZ, which was in development for more than a year. This game is a part of my life and moreover, this is a game which I had once dreamed about and finally managed to convert my dream into the reality. 

NightmareZ has got a very few attention from Press sites and YouTubers. It is obvious because my game is pretty new to the Game industry and I had never thought of putting this game in front of millions of gamers.  However, it needs more attention and it deserves it. 

Wanna check out the game on Steam?
Here you go: http://store.steampowered.com/app/509930

About The Game:
NightmareZ is a side-scrolling platform action game with lots of fancy features, multiple enemies and retro visuals. This is a retro styled platform and action game which will immerse you in a unique world full of good and evil demons and there are also different scenarios to pass through including Mountain cave, The Land of Flora, The Land of the Hell, The Core of the Hell, The land of Snow, The Dark City and The Cave of The Hell with deadly traps, formidable enemies, power ups, and secrets. 

 If you like 2D platform retro games, you can watch the trailer below.

Conclusion: 

NightmareZ is finally on Steam store, the largest PC gaming platform in the world. If you have been waiting for a long time for its release or if you did not know about this game, now is the time to take a look at this new indie game on Steam. You might enjoy this game. Who knows? I will keep you updated with new upcoming posts! Please subscribe to my blog for latest updates if you are interested to keep in touch with me. Feel free to ask me in comments. 

NightmareZ 2D Platform Action Retro Indie Game - Screenshotsaturday

NightmareZ is a side-scrolling platform action game with lots of fancy features, multiple enemies and retro visuals.

You can get NightmareZ game here:
1. Buy on my site(Direct through my site) = http://www.amaxang-games.com/nightmarez.html

2. Buy on Itchio( A indie game store) = https://amaxang-games.itch.io/nightmarez 

Screenshot Saturdays:

Saturday Post - 15th October, 2016:
This is the first #screenshotsaturday post of NightmareZ game.

"Multiple mode of the Player"
Description: The gif given below shows the multiple firing mode of the player named as Razor in NightmareZ indie game. The player kills multiple enemies at once but it requires the enemy positions to be accurate. Otherwise, the bullets will be useless. It is quite effective against Bosses and other formidable enemies.

via GIPHY


Saturday Post - 8th October, 2016:
This is the first #screenshotsaturday post of NightmareZ game.

"Single Firing mode of the Player"
Description: The gif given below shows the single firing mode of the player named as Razor in NightmareZ indie game. The player kills the enemies one after another. However, the player can use other firing modes to kill Bosses and multiple enemies at once!

via GIPHY

    

A New Plan For Spreading The Word Out for My Indie Game!

In today's game market, it has become really challenging as well as very difficult for small indie game developers to promote their indie games. From my personal experience of game development and promotion, it's really really hard to get noticed since many indie games are released on the market every day! Naturally, your game gets buried under several new titles. But the marketing process is completely different. Some games get more exposure and some won't get at all. However, if you already have a fan base, then, there is a chance of selling your game to many gamer. But unfortunately for smaller developers(I am also in the list of small developer), it's really hard to get noticed with limited budgets and marketing strategy. Most of the developers don't know how to market their game. 

Most of the developers often ask: "How can I promote my game?"

There  are many ways by which you can promote your game. First of all, there is a market already present on Youtube. Youtubers starts making let's plays and attract players. In the same way if you have one or more games developed already. You need to show the people what you are making and why are you making. 

I have decided to give this idea a try as a developer and if I can get a few subscribers and more views that would be a great achievement. Some developers stream games on Twitch. That's might be a good place for promotion too. 

So, what's the plan? [PLEASE NOTE THAT, THIS IS NOT FOR LET'S PLAYERS AND IT IS ONLY FOR DEVELOPERS WHO WANT TO PROMOTE THEIR GAMES ON YOUTUBE AND HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL]

Step 1: I will make a Preview of the game I am working on. Try to show the main parts of the game during the preview of game. You are showing the story, gameplay and some main features of the game which might appear attractive and appealing. After making the video, you can also show this video on subreddits.

Step 2: Try to make short game play videos for example: NightmareZ - An Indie Game Little Walkthrough #1 , #2 , #3..... and so on. What's the point on doing this? I can't say that it will work. But it might be helpful for the new users who have not tried out the game or is willing to try out the game. Try to keep the length of the video not more than 3 minutes. Keep it short and precise. There is no need to give so many texts in the video. Just give a short introduction and Thank you at the last part of the video. Don't forget to provide Twitter and Website link at the end. 

Step 3: After uploading the gaming video, don't forget to privide the link of the game page where they can try out the game. It's better if you have a Demo. This will also help you to promote your website since you can get direct traffic from Youtube!

Step 4: Try to explain why your game is unique from others. Always try to make the videos as unique as possible.

Step 5: For better SEO results, use some Tags in the description of the video like indie games, indiedev and more tags as you like.

Please note that, I have not tried out the method yet. But I will soon try to do it as soon as possible. If I have any success with this, I will provide a new update here.

DEVELOPERS DON'T GIVE UP AND ALWAYS TRY TO PROMOTE YOUR NEW AS WELL AS OLD GAMES. LEARN FROM MISTAKES AND IMPLEMENT NEW TECHNIQUES!

Best Regards,
Anamik
AMAXANG GAMES 

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmaxangGames 

Boon Boon - The Indie Platform Game for PC Windows

Hi everyone,

I am here with a new game which I am gonna release on 25th July, 2015. This is called Boon Boon.

This is a game based on the romance genre. That means it generally symbolizes love between Boon Boon and his girl friend, Luna. The interesting part is that both of them have different personalities. Such as, Boon Boon is a free minded person who can speak freely to anyone to express his feelings. Whereas, Luna has a different personality. She has never openly expressed that she had fallen in love with Boon Boon. Moreover, she denies the fact of having feelings for him. But Boon Boon knew that she love candy. So, he had started collecting candy from the places under heavy guard. There are monsters who protect candy from getting stolen.

The mission of the player is to collect all candy and bring them to her girl friend, Luna. How will you do, this is up to you?

GAME DETAILS:
Size: 15.69MB Type: Platformer Ratings: 90 out of 100 Release Date: 25th July, 2015 Version: COMMERCIAL Compatibility: Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 8.1 or Higher Progress: Complete.

Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1
At least 128MB of video memory
1GB RAM Recommended!
Keyboard and Mouse

Screenshots:

Game Trailer:

Buy This Game:

Price: $3.00
Version: 1.0.0.0
 
Link coming soon!
 

 

NightmareZ Game Added To IndieVideoGames Listing!

Finally, my game, NightmareZ has been added to Indie Video Games listing. This is a new gaming platform where many gamers search for new exciting indie games which they have heard elsewhere. I am trying to spread awareness around the world in many possible ways.

You can also find the listing on IndieVideoGames.com : http://indievideogames.com/nightmarez/ 

This is the great news for this weekend and I guess I will soon have NightmareZ get reviewed by Youtubers. 

Want to purchase NightmareZ game? Look nowhere, get it here: http://anamikmakesgames.blogspot.com/2015/05/nightmarez-platformer-indie-game-for-pc.html   
 
If you think the game is good or if you like the game, you can follow the facebook page AMAXANG GAMES: CLICK HERE!

Steam Refund Policy of 2015 Is a Huge Blow To Smaller Indie Games

NOTE: I am writing this article mainly for developers who have already published their games on Steam and also for giving this little piece of information to all the indie developers who seems to be unhappy with the recent change in refund policy of Steam and it could be a huge blow to the game industry especially for smaller indie games and their developers.

Recently, I have noticed some developers who have recently released their games on Steam, the largest marketplace for AAA and Indie titles. But their recent refund policy are unacceptable by many developers who are scared of getting many refund requests than they used to get. 

The thing which the developers fear the most is that the gamers are free to purchase smaller indie titles and they can play them for 2 hours or less. If they are not satisfied or for ANY reason they can ask for refunds. They can ask for refund within the 2 weeks from the date of purchase. 

This system has made a way for the gamers to use it as a weapon. The gamers can purchase the game, play it for 2 hours and they will ask for refund. But the main problem is that most of the DRM -Free Indie games are shorter in length(approximately one hour). This system has caused a great problem for indie game developers especially who create small indie games and they are vulnerable to the scams. 

There is no doubt that the gamers can purchase the games and can download them to their hard drive. They can even copy the main game and paste it in their USB drive in no time. Finally, they can ask for refund. If it happens, they can easily get the Commercial games for free without spending money for it. 

From the gamer's point of view, this refunding policy is good and Steam should have a refund policy in case of wrong game purchase and accidental purchases. But from game developer's point of view, this has caused a big problem as they can be scammed easily. 
I have no idea how Steam can protect Small Developers from these scams but this is clear that it is unacceptable by larger groups of developers.

Many game developers and game reviewers have presented their own opinion regarding the Steam refund policy.

I have just found a post in reddit where this system is being abused. The players are very happy playing a game for 3 hours or 5 hours or even 100 hours and then they get a refund. How awful? If this continues then, no one is going to spend money on buying games rather they play the game for free. Click Here to see the reddit post. 

This same piece of information I wrote here is found in comments section: 
7th Comment:

"Its not the f*****g same. A digital copy can be copied against an unlimited amount of time with a marginal cost of 0 and can't be consumed or even deteriorate.
It would be more like eating a steak that always reverts to it's original state and can be duplicated for free any time."

[This is true that piracy of games can't be stopped if you even try to.]

RPS' John Walker(From RockPaperShotgun) said,
“Games that have opted not to use Steam’s DRM, which of course is usually perceived as a customer-friendly decision, can now be purchased, copied over into a different directory, and then a refund requested. With the new no-quibble policy, they’ll get their money back, and have a working copy of the game remaining on their hard drive. It is, essentially, the same shady antics that were possible when brick-n-shelving game stores would provide refunds on DRM-free boxed PC games. It was, in fact, a huge reason why boxed PC games had DRM.”

He also noted that Steam trading cards unlocked within the first couple hours of a game’s runtime can still be sold for profit, meaning that people could get both free games and (mostly) free money out of the deal.

It is clear that this new Refund Policy of Steam is going to hurt some small very personal Indie Game Developers who had worked so hard for years on making their games. This is a great problem for them which must be solved quickly. But I don't know whether the Steam cares for smaller games anyway. If they care about them a little, then, this problem can be solved. 

Note to Developers: I have presented here this important information to all of you to let you know about the problems arose due to the new refund policy of Steam. This is no way a criticism but a note to developers as they have worked hard on their games overnight and if they fall in such a trap then, it would be worse. This article contains the people's opinion regarding the system on Steam which I found to be discussed in forums and Game Developer's Communities.