MADSOFT Games, inc.

An independent game development & publishing studio in Edmonton, Alberta.

[madsoft]

New Journal Series – Aikonia On Patreon

Follow The Aikonia team on Patreon: Read posts by the Aikonia team on the world's largest platform enabling a new generation of creators and artists to live out their passions!

Hey everyone!

We started posting a new Journal Series on Patreon! If you enjoyed the previous Journal Series and would like to read this new one, please consider supporting us on Patreon! We post a new page every Thursday and this new series will tie the previous era of the comic (magic school) with the current one (adventurers)!

[madsoft]

Don’t Dodge These Savings: Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sale!

Been dying to try out VRNinja, but have been holding out for a sale? Congratulations, you entrepreneurial gamer, you! For this weekend and this weekend only, get VRNinja at a discounted price when you buy it on Steam, the Humble Store, itch.io, and GreenManGaming for your Oculus Rift or HTC Vive virtual reality headset!

You’ll also save big on Aikonia merchandise like posters and stickers by using the coupon code BLACKCYBER when checking out from the online MADSOFT Games Store!

But you’ll need to hurry! These deals won’t last long!

While you’re perusing the internet for other hot deals this weekend, be sure you swing by the Steam Awards and nominate VRNinja for the “Just 5 More Minutes” award. It only takes a couple of quick clicks to nominate; just visit the VRNinja Steam page and click on “Nominate the game for an award”. Select “The “Just 5 More Minutes” Award” from the list and hit save!

Click here to get started!

[madsoft]

The latest Aikonia page is up! Go check out page 42 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/328

This page marks the end of Chapter 6. We have great things planned for Chapter 7, so stay tuned! In the meantime, we’re going to start posting the new series of journal entries exclusively on Patreon!

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is up! Go check out page 41 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/327

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

Here’s a very short video ad we created for advertising VRNinja on YouTube! It’s the kind that is short enough that YouTube makes it unskippable, so we tried to make it as fast-paced and exciting as possible.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

[madsoft]

VRNinja Out Now On Steam!

Enter your zen. Listen to the silence, the flow of your breath, the hum of an infinite universe. There is always a calm before the storm… and in VRNinja, you are the storm. VRNinja, the fast-paced, virtual reality party game from OutOfBounds Software Solutions Inc., has launched on Steam for the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift! Train to become a ninja warrior or challenge your friends and family to dodge the ninja’s deadly onslaught! The choice is yours.

Buy VRNinja Now On Steam! Only $9.99 USD.

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is up! Go check out page 40 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/326

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

VRNinja On The Oculus Store

VRNinja is a virtual reality game that challenges you to dodge and duck your way through flurries of deadly, flying projectiles to become the ultimate ninja master.

The day is here, ninja hopefuls! No longer must you put your life on the line to experience the thrill of dodging deadly weapons in your own home! No more furniture will need to be reupholstered, no more cracked televisions replaced! Never again will you be forced to smash your face into a real bowl of ramen to witness the power of slow-mo! Now you can experience what it really takes to become a ninja — but in VIRTUAL REALITY! VRNinja, the fast-paced virtual reality game from OutOfBounds Software Solutions Inc., is available to purchase RIGHT NOW on the Oculus Store for the Oculus Rift!

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is up! Go check out page 39 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/325

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

VRNinja hits Steam this September 14th!

As the summer days speed past us, we are rapidly approaching the release of VRNinja on Steam and the Oculus Store. We are now less than a month away from unleashing the art of dodge and virtual ninjutsu upon the world!

With so little time left, we’ve officially launched VRNinja’s Steam store page. Check it out here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/509170/

Now, you can add VRNinja to your wishlist on Steam, so you’ll be notified the moment the game becomes available for purchase! Remember to check out the specs and be sure you have either an HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift to play!

We also encourage you to reach out to any Youtubers, streamers, or reviewers you’d like to see cover the game. We have Steam keys available for reviewers who need them! Just send us an email at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to respond ASAP.

Finally, we’re running a Thunderclap campaign to raise awareness for the game’s launch. Support VRNinja by joining the campaign with the social media account of your choosing to send out a tweet or post on September 14th! Every bit of support helps!

The countdown to dodge begins in 3… 2… 1…

WATCH OUT!

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is up! Go check out page 38 of chapter 6 on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/324

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is finally up! Go check out page 37 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/323

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

Animethon 23 Post-Event Summary

This past weekend, our team at MADSOFT Games had the opportunity to co-host the Super Indie Games room at Animethon 23! Along with the local game developers group GameCamp Edmonton, we helped display some upcoming local indie games, allowing smaller companies and development teams the opportunity to gather feedback and promote their work.

Over the course of the weekend, we displayed ten different indie games being developed right here in Edmonton. From MADSOFT Games and the MADSOFT Games Publishing Program, we had demos of Me And My Dinosaur, Little Hellions, Semi Conductor, Bound Against Time, and the soon-to-be-released VRNinja. Joining us in the room were Chris Cooke with his mobile game Flappy Fetus, PolyHobby Studios with a prototype of their game Project Cuddlefish, Christopher White with his epic DOS game Canageddon, and Kyle & Tom Gooding with a demo of their upcoming game, Plane Bomber.

Unlike in past years, the game’s room was pretty far removed from the majority of the convention. Up in an isolated hallway on the second floor, the room didn’t have the foot traffic to bring in substantial numbers of people to try out the games. Nevertheless, those convention-goers who managed to find us were immensely helpful with their insight and many of them seemed to be genuinely excited to have discovered our little gaming oasis. We owe a huge “thank you” to everyone who dropped by!

One interesting thing we noticed was the distinct difference between players at K-Days and those we saw at Animethon. For instance, some puzzles and platforming sections in Me And My Dinosaur proved too difficult for many non-gamers at K-Days; they simply lacked the fundamental trial-and-error mentality shared by many gamers. But at Animethon, those same puzzles that stumped the general public were deemed “just the right difficulty” by Animethon players. By examining these two groups of players, it allowed us to narrow our target audience and identify truly problematic areas of the game.

In any case, we had a lot of fun at Animethon this year, even with the difficulties of our room placement. We hope to bring back the Super Indie Games room again for Animethon 24 — bigger and better than ever! Be sure to subscribe to the MADSOFT Games newsletter and follow us on social media to hear about upcoming convention and demo days for our upcoming games!

[madsoft]

This week’s Aikonia page is finally up! Go check out page 36 of chapter 6 right now on the Aikonia website: http://aikoniacomic.com/page/322

If you enjoy the comic, you can support us on Patreon!

[madsoft]

VRNinja Has Been Greenlit!

After spending close to a month on Steam Greenlight, we are pleased to announce that VRNinja, the upcoming virtual reality game developed by OutOfBounds Software Solutions, has been greenlit!

We always knew it would be a struggle to pass a VR game through the Greenlight vetting process. After all, the vast majority of Steam users do not own a VR headset and since Steam Greenlight asks voters whether they would buy the game (and not whether they like the game or think it’s worthy of being of Steam), this puts VR games at an obvious disadvantage. We realize that many VR games choose to bypass Steam Greenlight entirely and submit directly through the current HTC Vive game, but we felt confident in VRNinja and wanted to use the Greenlight campaign to raise awareness about its upcoming release. Fortunately, that gamble paid off!

So let’s take a quick look at the final stats at the 29 day mark:

As with our experience greenlighting Me And My Dinosaur, VRNinja had not cracked the top 100 (the apparent benchmark for getting your game greenlit) before getting the go-ahead from Steam. The yes/no ratio was actually quite impressive considering the low vote count and the natural skew caused by the VR headset requirement. We aren’t entirely sure what pushed over the edge, but it may have been the slight uptick in votes we garnered during K-Days when we demoed the game to the general public. One thing is for certain: we are incredibly grateful for everyone who showed their support during the campaign. We couldn’t have done it without you and we cannot wait to get VRNinja into your heads (and in front of your eyes).

If you want to try out VRNinja for yourself before its official release, be sure to stop by Animethon at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton this weekend! We’ll be demoing the game alongside other upcoming MADSOFT Games Publishing Program titles in the Indie Game Room on the second floor!

Make sure you subscribe to the MADSOFT Games newsletter to stay up-to-date on VRNinja and its development! We have some really big announcements in the coming weeks!

[madsoft]

K-Days 2016 Post-Event Summary

From July 22nd until the 31st, we had the pleasure of cohosting the Indie Games booth at K-Days in their TechLife pavilion. Along with Walkthrough Entertainment and GDX Edmonton, we were able to showcase a bunch of really fantastic upcoming games from Alberta-based game developers.

The Indie Games Booth was separated into two main areas: the developers table and the featured game booth. The developers table showcased games still in development, student projects, and some game jam titles, while the featured game booth provided games closer to release a chance to advertise and check in with potential players.

In addition to helping other local companies show off their games, we also demoed a few upcoming MADSOFT Games titles including Me And My Dinosaur and three of our MADSOFT Games Publishing Program games: Bound Against Time, Semi Conductor, and VRNinja, all three of which spent some time in the featured game booth.

Over the course of the week we received some valuable feedback from gamers, developers, and non-gamers alike. It is always a privilege to see other people play your game and learn what works and what needs some attention. It was fantastic to meet our fellow Edmontonians and tell them a little bit about what we do at MADSOFT Games and the current trajectory of game development in Alberta. A big shoutout to the wonderful people at Northlands for making the Indie Games booth possible!

Now, we’ve got to rest up for the weekend as we prepare for yet another amazing local event: Animethon! We hope to see you there!

[madsoft]

MADSOFT Games Publisher Update #3: Unique Challenges In Design & Development

It’s time once again for the biweekly MADSOFT Games Publisher Update, where we check in with the developers and artists behind games making their way through the MADSOFT Games Publishing Program. This week, we asked the teams to discuss a unique challenge they faced when developing or designing their respective games.

VRNinja

Virtual reality games run into some interesting challenges when it comes to integrating user interfaces (UI), particularly when it comes to designing interfaces and menu systems that feel natural to players. We caught up with developer Alex Rossol this week to discuss the changing landscape of UI and how the removal of divide between players and their avatars affects how we approach designing UI.

Read the full VRNinja update here →

Semi Conductor

Minimalism and video game design often seem as though they are in direct conflict with one another. How can we explain difficult or challenging mechanics using a minimalistic approach? In this blog post, we sat down to chat with developer and designer Jordan Ranson to discuss how he approached designing the ultra-minimalistic and slick puzzle game Semi Conductor.

Read the full Semi Conductor update here →

Bound Against Time

Physics are one of the trickier things to nail down when building a puzzle-platforming game, and finding the right balance is only made more difficult when you introduce time mechanics. In this week's post, we asked developer Jeremy Burns to discuss his process when developing the reverse-time mechanics for Bound Against Time and where he encountered difficulties while creating the engine.

Read the full Bound Against Time update here →

Little Hellions

People often assume that pixel art is a style and that when a game uses pixel art, the developer is necessarily aiming to evoke a “retro” vibe in their work. This week, we talked with artist and developer Jace Boechler about his thoughts on pixel art as medium and how pixel artists can interpret player feedback to refine the art direction of their projects.

Read the full Little Hellions update here →