Hello again readers! This is Ana (the producer) from FluffyLogic. We’re the developer of Eat Them!. We’re here every couple of weeks to chat about the development of the game in our developer diary. If you missed the first part of the diary then click here for part one.

So where are we? Well we have obviously done a fair amount of the game, since we demoed it at E3. Prior to this point we had spent a lot of time getting the basic structures of the game in place. We use Sony’s 3D engine PhyreEngine as the basis – it’s a great engine and it gives us the important nuts and bolts of a game system, which frees us up to focus on making special graphical effects and gameplay. One of these is the cartoon -shader effect which we have spent a fair amount of time developing and refining. We are using it to create the game’s distinctive visual style. This was a time consuming process that involved our main graphics programmer and a couple of artists working together, trying to get the art tools into the PlayStation 3 and looking good. The basic system takes the 3D models of the landscape and the monsters and draws a black line around them, as if they are flat on the page like a comic drawing. What makes it a complex process is that it’s not a flat drawing, it’s a 3D world that moves constantly, so our graphics tools have to draw this look on the fly.

Thankfully, we’ve managed to get this just as we wanted it – it’s got a great comic style, but still keeps a sense of 3D movement, it’s fun looking, but still powerful enough to render out the action we want to happen. We’ve also been busy building editors that allow designers to add and tweak things like monster body-parts and missions. In Eat Them! the player can build their own monster, so each pair of legs, the torso, head, backpack, left arm and right arm are created as separate objects, each with their own stats, graphics and sound effects (if needed). It’s much better from a development point of view if the designers can add and edit this sort of information without needing to get a programmer involved each time. We don’t like to let them out of their cages too much as it’s hard work getting them back in by nightfall.

That, and it also frees up their time to work on other stuff. Here’s what that looks like:

Eat Them! Level Editor

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Hello readers! This is Ana, a producer from FluffyLogic, in Bristol, UK. We’re the developer of the Savage Moon series of games for PlayStation 3 and PSP. We’re here to blog about our new title every two weeks, with a developer diary charting progress of the game from now until you’re sick of hearing from us

You may or may not know that we demoed our new exclusive PlayStation 3 game for the PlayStation Network, ‘Eat Them!’ at E3 in June. In Eat Them! the player gets to create their own giant monster which they then use to smash, crash and munch their way though the city. The monster is people-powered – so eating folk is a prerequisite of keeping it in full-on destruction mode. The game features eye-catching ‘comic-style’ graphics, fully customisable monster creation and lots and lots of smashing things. The player has the option of single-player, split-screen multiplayer, head-to-head and co-operative missions. Eat Them! promises action, mayhem, destruction, humour and, did I mention?… eating people! The game is scheduled for release this winter. Here’s what it looks like:

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Hi again, I’m Ana, the producer of Savage Moon here at FluffyLogic in Bristol, UK. Just wanted to keep you all informed about the latest news on Savage Moon. I’m pleased to say that Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign will be released via PSN on December 22nd. We’re really excited by the PSP version of the game and myself and the rest of the development team have spent the last few months pouring our energy into the game and were very pleased with the result – and we hope you will be too!

If you’ve not played Savage Moon before; it’s a real-time, tower defense game pitting you (the humans) against hordes of hitinous, carnivorous, bug-like creatures called Insectocytes who are the immune system of living planets – called Imoons – the the humans are trying to mine. The Hera campaign is the third project we’ve done – following on from the PS3 release and the extra levels on PS3 of Waldgeist.

Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign (named after the Aegophagus or goat eating aspect of the Greek goddess of the same name) is set within a huge gathering of Imoons, the Hera Cluster, that drifted into human space. Preliminary intelligence suggests that it consists of, at least, 20 Imoons populated by a rich variety of Insectocyte forms, some of which we have encountered before and some of which are new. We are extremely excited to have Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign available for the PSP, which in fact is not a port but specifically designed for the PSP. It also includes 2 new species, a new interface and the ability to unlock vengeance mode for each Imoon. You can also unlock alternative, specially commissioned soundtracks too.

To support the upcoming release you can find the latest trailer which showcases some of the gameplay that you can expect to experience. Also, keep and eye on our Support Page as we’ll be posting links to hints, tips and help with the game. The game is set to release on the 22nd December and will be priced at £6.29/€7.99 – enjoy!

Thanks!
Ana

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Hello – this is Ana (the producer)  from FluffyLogic again (you can read my last blog-post’s for Sony here & here).

We would like to tell you about the latest developments in the Savage Moon universe: the Insectocytes have invaded the PSP!! For the last few months FluffyLogic personnel have been toiling away in an underground bunker to produce the mobile incarnation of the game: Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign – featuring new weapons, new bugs, news maps and new gameplay.

For those new to the game, Savage Moon is a tower defence strategy game which launched on PS3 last winter. The game pits the player (humans), who is trying to mine valuable minerals from sentient asteroids or Imoons, against massive chitinous, armoured bugs called ‘Insectocytes’. As the humans burrow into the ground, the Imoon produces its own auto-immune response in much the same way that the human body produces white-blood cells in response to an infection; this is when the killing starts!

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Hello again readers! This is Ana (the producer) and Tomas (the designer) from FluffyLogic, in Bristol, UK. (On an aside, it is interesting to note that Bristol is once more the centre of global cultural attention with the opening of a new exhibition by graffiti artist Banksy. We note this as our development studio is just hundred or-so meters from his famous ‘Mild Mild West‘ mural.)

If you are new to Savage Moon, then start here; if not, then welcome! We wanted to say a big thanks to those of you who have taken the trouble to email us with feedback, ideas and suggestions.

Where possible we have incorporated some of your ideas into the new update of the game, launching today. Amongst other things, the update includes;

• Re-balancing of the stats, including an upgraded Amp Tower with stats more similar to the first release of the game. Other tweaks to the stats make level 4 a bit more forgiving.
• A new ‘Training Mode’ that allows all the levels to be played as before, but the overall gameplay is a bit easier (but you can’t save these scores to the high-score table).
• We have added custom soundtrack support, so you can blast Insectocytes to the tunes of your choice.

We would also like to tell you a bit more about the new expansion for Savage Moon – Waldgeist. If you are wondering, the name is German and translates as woodland spirit and in pagan times Waldgeists (is that the plural?) were believed to be the custodians of the forest. As the new levels in the expansion are set in more biological forested Imoons, we felt the name suited the vibe of the new gameplay perfectly.

So what is in the new game? We are happy to say, ‘loads’. We got a bit carried away during development and so the final version of Waldgeist will have:

• 6 new levels that bring a riot of new colours and environments into the game.
• 2 new evolutions of the Insectocytes; the aptly named Death Blossom – a frightening new adaptation that when it reaches a concentration of towers, explodes launching a payload of deadly guided missiles in a single barrage of devastation to all within it’s range. There is also the ‘Invisibugs’ adaptation; a new photochromatic skin pigment in some Insectocytes that render them invisible to normal attack towers.
• 2 new tower types; fortunately the human techies have also been busy. They have developed a counter to the ‘Invisibugs’ in the form of a sensor tower that allows all other towers within it’s range to target them. They have also developed the Arclight tower which is our personal favourite, a lightning-firing attack tower that zaps Insectocytes en masse!
• 12 new versions of the existing levels; In the expansion you can re-play Agamemnon to Lotan all-over with different waves and bugs that the normal versions.
• Vengeance Mode; All combined, there is now more vengeance than Dirty Harry in Waldgeist. There are vengeance modes for the 6 new levels AND for the 12 new Waldgeist variations of Agamemnon to Lotan AND for the training mode version of all of the above.
• 7 New Trophies; Yes indeed! A whole host of new challenges for Commanders to show their superior grasp of tactics, examples of which are; the Insectocyte Juggler Award (keep an Insectocyte alive for 5 minutes) and the Luddite Trophy (complete any 5 levels using only Machine Gun Towers and without any damage to the base)
• New Music; Thanks to Parasite, our sound producer and musician, we also have new music in the new levels AND bonus hidden remix tracks that unlock including exclusive tracks by Subliminal System, Monk3ylogic and of course, Parasite.

We’re really pleased with Waldgeist and feel it builds upon the strongest aspects of Savage Moon; we hope you think so too!

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