GoldenTricycle

CLARK’s OUYA Developer Video

grafikzeug — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:56:23 +0000

Hey guys, here’s a video of us presenting Clark. It not only features Mat, Jens and me trying to speak in front of a camera but also first moving pictures of the outdoor theme of the second chapter!

Trash Cannon

GoldenTricycle — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:57:59 +0000

Now, after having sent out the first playable build of CLARK to the world of journalists and game bloggers, we are still not relaxing nor enjoying sun. Firstly there’s just no sunshine to enjoy, secondly there are still two chapters waiting for us to be finished. We are discussing new puzzles and concepts for the leveldesign of the second chapter which will be the first that takes place outdoors, i.e on the surface of Mars!CLARK is divided into three chapters, the first one contains 10 levels and we have now released 9 of them in order to let journalists have a look at our game and to give them the opportunity to play CLARK and get to know our little robot and his chaotic world. We’ve already got some awesome reviews on our first press release of CLARK. Pixabyte did a review via youtube, you can watch HERE. And Indiestatik wrote a comprehensive article: “(…) If we’re to base the strength of a puzzle game on its ability to present ideas to the player, and to then have them implement them in order to chase progression, CLARK scores high marks on my scale. There’s nothing that feels obtuse or out of place, and there’s a complexity that’s gradually built up upon when combining each component of its puzzle design together. I’m not sure whether it was the game’s accompanying narration or balanced gameplay (probably both) that kept me going, but at no point did I ever feel like I outstayed my welcome in any of the game’s areas, and I still felt like the game was testing me enough to ensure it felt like I was earning my way forward (…).” (Chris Priestman, indiestatik.com) Read MORE.

We now have to finish level 10, the last level of chapter one. It serves as an interface between the first and the second chapter. Clark will fail to rescue his girlfriend Clara, a nuclear missile, which is transported to a trash cannon and shot to the wasteland. Clark needs to escape the evil guardians and has to follow her. This is the beginning of chapter 2.Working on the second chapter is not like inventing a whole new game but still it somehow feels like starting over new. We will introduce some new characters and reveal more of the plot. New game elements (additional box types, moving laser beams, transportation systems) will add new twists to our puzzles and new enemies will appear on the scene. To sum it up.. we are not even close to the final version of CLARK but we’re really happy being able to share this process with you.

First Preview Review

GoldenTricycle — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:11:03 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa_dCJgeccY]

Music is in the air.. !

GoldenTricycle — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:33:45 +0000

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/88602336″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Hey there! I’m Jonathan from Münster and have the honour to follow in the steps of Phillip, the former audio guy of CLARK, and take care of CLARK’s music department and it’s audiovisual world! I’ve just finished school and am happy to spend my newly acquired free time to work on a soundtrack, as music has always been a big passion in my life. I learned keyboard and piano and played bass in several bands and have been composing music for a couple of small indiegames over the last year.

I really like Phillip’s idea of the ‘singing factory’ and try to tie on to it. I’ve since spend my days hitting a wide range of inanimate objects with sticks, pens and spoons to find the right sound for CLARK. Because I try to capture the droning and rattling factory that CLARK takes place in, a lot of my work on the music is sound design-related.

To create the sounds I’m looking for I’m recording all kinds of things that rattle, chink or clatter and modify them with several plugins, for example by only boosting specific frequencies in the sound and deleting all the rest, to make them sound digital and mechanic , while still maintaining the organic feel of the actual recordings.

To keep the sound of CLARK moving and changing I approach the soundtrack in layers. I build one ambient layer that is omnipresent in the level and then add several different stems that can fade in and out at different times and in different locations. By doing this I hope to reinforce the different scenes you get to see in CLARK and also make the soundtrack more intriguing and interesting, because you can interactively control what you hear and the sounds changes with where you move.

The Enemy Strikes Back

GoldenTricycle — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:44:07 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMJXKJplvv4]

First Enemy Encounter: !SPOILER ALERT! This gameplay video is showing how to survive the first enemy encounter in level 6. MOTHER has just arrived on Mars and is sending her minions to disassemble Clark’s friends and home. As Clark has no weapon and no fighting routine, his only option is to run for his life. The main objective in this action loaded puzzle is to dodge the deadly beams shot by the hostile Tankbot. You will have to play hide and seek for the (long) time that your friend the Fuse-Drone needs to reach the switch opening the exit door. Unfortunately the drone gets stuck halfway for her way is blocked by a barrier. So while escaping the enemy you will have to move on a switch opening that barrier and allowing the Drone to continue. If you are skilled the Tankbot will do the job for you and move on the switch himself.

Story: MOTHER is a supercomputer embeded in a gigantic spaceship. Howering above Clark’s factory she launches landing capsules for her robotic army. On arrival the Tankbots immediately start the recycling routine. They will search and destroy any “disfunctional” (in other words: partying”) Workerbots.

Tactics: The Tankbots move very fast and and will often use their laser beams to shoot orthogonal to their movement direction. We designed them like chess tower pieces: They are moving on one grid axis and kill everything on the other axis using their beams like a moving line of destruction. Fortunately they need more time to rotate their heavy chains. Therefore they are not able to change their movement direction very quickly. If you keep that in mind and hide behind corners it is much easier to outmaneuveur them.

The diagram above shows that the position Clark is currently standing on is not secure: The enemy will instantly move to position A and shoot. However, if Clark moves to position B and hides behind the obstacle the Tankbot has to rotate his chains first before moving on to position C. This pause will give you enough time to race around the corner and hide again. So the fun is to keep an eye on the enemy and his base rotation and choose your hiding spots accordingly. That’s how you survive until your friend, the Drone, has opened the exit. So even the action scenes in CLARK are tactical puzzles – puzzles on speed that is.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZK_Y4wL7Ak&list=UUqw5PNlXSHg-hlkm5IOdBWw]

Time to strike back: Despite of having no weapon Clark will find ways to defend himself. The laser beams of the Tankbots work like all beams in the game. They are an energy source that Clark can use and manipulate by positioning beam-bending boxes. We have developed puzzles where you need the enemy’s laser energy to open doors or trigger other mechanisms. The task is how to convince him of working for you. In level 8 we designed a situation where Clark can bend the attaking beam in such a way that the Tankbot actually kills himself. Clark has no aggressive behaviour modes but can’t prevent enemies from comitting suicide, right?