Update

Well Infans Solaris has now been released on PC and is available over at GamerGate.com and Direct2Drive.com as well as ImpulseDriven.com within the next few weeks. The Xbox Live version of the game is due out within the next 2 weeks. The Xbox port of the game has a few bugs that the XNA reviewer community seems to deem as unacceptable, bugs such as player 4 being unable to quit the game over screen. However the majority of these issues have now been taken care of and one last thing remains; upon purchasing the game from the trial version, the game crashes. This is a weird one since the purchase prompt is a simulated one since the game isn't actually available on the XBLA market place yet, so this issue could actually not appear when the game is fully release, none the less we're in the process of rectifying this anyway so the game will pass submission.

As this is getting done the rest of the studio have been working on the next game title that we've nicknamed "Freegun" as it will using free-running style controls similar to those used in N+ and Super Meat Boy but will focus on gun combat, ultimately playing out much like the PlayStation Network title, Crash Commando. However to mix this up a bit we're implementing RPG elements to the game, allowing players to select from a variety of different classes. These classes can also be leveled, enabling players to distribute points within the classes' "Spec Tree" that will in turn unlock new perks and abilities for that class much like trees in MMORPG's.

Digital Distrubution

We've just received confirmation through IGN that www.Direct2Drive.com what to sell Infans Solaris when it's released in hopefully just under 2 weeks from now once we've re-submitted the latest, bug-free build of the game.

Because the confirmation was through IGN it's likely that other websites that sell games via digital distribution will be interested in selling it as well which is awesome news! At the moment Steam are still reviewing the game and we will hopefully hear back from them soon as to whether they would be interested in selling I.S. on there.

Another 'minor' set back

Well, we've had some feedback from an XNA reviewer, Richard Williams (Developmental Games), on Infans Solaris' latest build, and in his opinion the game, as it is at the moment, would fail submission. Certain things like having the game crash when pulling a memory unit out of the console whenever the player is promoted to select a storage device is cause for a fail and so the coders are already fixing these bugs, nothing we can't easily solve though thankfully.
The game title may also have to undergo a change as Latin isn't allowed within a XBLA Indie Games' title, this seems to be a bit of a hit or miss affair though and 'could' be alright in the end without the change, we'll have to wait and see.

These bugs aside all the reviewers so far on the App Hub site have enjoyed the game's different modes, variety of weapons, looks and it's overall gameplay. Thanks to everyone for their feedback as well as anyone else that's reviewed the game so far.

Already we've learned a lot about what to do and what not to do for when "Other World" is due for release. Despite the hiccups, this has still be an awesome way for us all to learn what to look out for and how to better prioritise what we need to fix before sending a game off to it's final review, hopefully it'll be a bit smoother next time :D

At very worst this is likely to delay the release of "Infans Solaris" by another week so we'll keep you posted on when the game will be out.

First Review

Got our first XNA reviewer look at the game before they put it on sale. Good news, no major problems that causes the submission to fail so that's a good sign, still a few things the guy recommended changing, thankfully all of them were things we were all aware of and intent to alter in the game's first patch.

Just have to wait for a few more of the XNA reviewers to look at the game and then it'll go on the marketplace :D

Price drop

Just done some compression and had a word with Microsoft and they'll let us sell Infans Solaris whilst being over the limit a little but they will need it for up to another week, it's all good though at least it's coming out soon.

So Infans Solaris will only 80MS points when it comes out, bargain at that price :D

Off it goes....

Just sent Infans Solaris off to be reviewed my Xbla's "Evil Checklist" and game reviewers. Hoping all goes well it should be put up on the indie games list to be bought for 240 Microsoft Points.

Good job guys putting this together and let's hope it does well :D

Delays

Well Infans Solaris is very nearly done now, just a few very small things to do/fix, meaning we should have our gold build of the game by this Wednesday. However, we've realised that we have to allow up to a week after the game has been submitted to XBLA/Steam before it'll go on sell (provided it doesn't fail on any of the stuff on their checklist, which it shouldn't now), so the game's official release will have to be pushed back by a week. So with luck the game should be available on Xbox Live Arcade and Steam around the 6th of April with the mobile release being very soon after if not released on the same day as well.


There should be another, more recent, video of the Infans Solaris going live in the next couple of days showing off the updates to multiplayer, defense mode, sound and a few of the new weapons, so keep an eye out :D

Infans Solaris Progress and The Studio's Origins

Time to write about some actual studio goings-on I guess.

Scitalis Games roughly started out in July 2010 by the banding of a few graduate game designers and programmers aiming to create and release games to be enjoyed by the gaming public. Initially starting on "Project: Other World", work was underway in creating an open-world 2D adventure, however this project clearly became a little too over-ambitious for a starting out studio and so ideas for an easier to develop and some-what more casual game began to arise whilst work on Other World continued.

After a few prototypes for other game concepts were built, an idea on an 'Asteroid'-based game stood out as the most likely game to be released as a debut title, this was Solaris (Later changed to 'Infans Solaris' [Latin: Sun Child] due to potential copyright issues). With a stable studio team established, work on both titles were carried out by different members of the studio team at the same time, with the coders working mostly on 'Infans Solaris' and the world environment and other aspects of 'Other World' being created by the artists, with both teams working opposite projects when needed.

With help from Venture Wales, the studio has also been confirmed for a number of grants from the Welsh Assembly Government provided the studio is based in Wales, with this Scitalis soon hope to move into an office space and have an official base from which the team can work from.

Work on Infans Solaris is currently close to completion and will hopefully be out around the start of April for xbox 360, PC and Windows 7 mobiles. The game will feature gravity based weaponry, allowing up 4 players to manipulate blackholes causing belts of asteroids to be pulled from their currently trajectory and forced to gather and be broken down at the heart of a blackhole. However, the more a blackhole breaks down the greater it's gravitational pull will be, possibly becoming great enough to drag players towards the hole itself. This is a good way to boost scores but can also potentially cause the player to take a great deal of damage if they're not careful. I.S. (Infans Solaris) will also feature a number of other weapons used to break down or manipulate asteroids in other ways in order for players to stay alive, protect the Earth in Defense mode or destroy other players within the game's Verses mode.

An alpha build of Infans Solaris' gameplay can be viewed in 720p here

After 'I.S.' is out the door 'Other World' will be the focus of the entire team for a while, with the possibility of another casual game or a UDK project being on the back burner

ALIVE!

A wild "Scitalis" appeared!