I felt that just having about a single day per week was keeping the game back… So I have decided to take a three month leave from work to fully dive into the development of Cavemen Stories. In these three months I hope to have build, tested, implemented feedback en polished the game to a stable release-worthy version. From there I can work on marketing and polishing up the rest of the game until it’s final release in February next year.

Screenshot of a battle from the first prototype

The game has come a long way since the first prototype. The goal of the prototype was to see if I could come up with a battle system that was a mix between a regular RPG and a strategy game. This means being able to make tactical decisions, while still keeping the flow and feel of a RPG game like Final Fantasy.

Screenshot of a battle from the current build

I haven’t had the time to research all the released RPG’s out there, but so far I haven’t found a game that mixes these two genres like I intend to do. In Cavemen Stories your position and facing in battle determine how well you can hit others and get hit yourself. Because of this, you are able to attack groups from different sides to try and gain the upper hand. The game page will be updated soon, detailing what you’ll be able to find in the game and the battles.

All of the main mechanics are in the game now, so the next thing to do is to fill in the blanks. Currently, I’m prototyping levels to get a feel of the pace of the game. After that i’m going to be roughing out the cut-scenes and the coming up with encounters.

Thank you for your time!

Mark your calendars for next year. GDC is one of the best places to meet new people, make friends and tell everybody about your project. Here are some of the things I learned from flying to San Francisco and showing people what I had made and what I had planned:

Socializing is a lot of hard work

It takes bravery to just step up to somebody, ask questions about their work and tell them about yours. Show genuine interest and ask them about subjects not related to gaming. All that talking left me with a sore throat for a few days, but is was worth it. Never forget that behind all those digital avatars on Twitter are actual people and meeting them in person is better than tweeting them.

Find your focus

While I was busy preparing the GDC tech-demo, my main focus was getting it playable and bug free. While showing it off to a number of people, including a group of well known pixel artists, I noticed their reaction were mostly the same: “I love where this is going!”. Besides telling people I was making the most beautiful pixel art, there wasn’t much to show yet. I had had focused on the wrong aspect of my game. People were more interested in seeing more designs and quick sketches, instead of the demo I had worked so hard on. I should have known though; The main reason I received the funding was to make a pixel art game that pushes the medium further and I hadn’t pushed enough. Make sure you know what your game is about and focus on conveying just that.

Show your work online

Something I did wrong was not fill my website and Twitter with more content. Show design sketches and make animated GIFs to show off your progress. Even small anecdotes can help sell your game and you as a person.

I hope these pointers help you out if you are ever showing/planning to show your work in public. If you have any questions, find me on Twitter!

After four years of sketches and notes, Cavemen Stories is finally in development since this January.

Funding by the Creative industries fund NL received in December 2016 has enabled me to pursue one of my lifegoals. Creating a Prehistoric RPG with a strategic twist, featuring the highest quality pixel art I can possibly make.

One of the main focuses of Cavemen Stories is to push pixel art further as a medium. Games like Owlboy, Iconoclasts and Heart Forth, Alicia have shown us that pixel art is more than just a retro aesthetic and Cavemen Stories hopes to take it to the next level. For me, there is something special about pixel art that no other digital art form has, Ron Gilbert describes it here:

“Pixel art isn’t just low-resolution art—pixel art is pixels hand-placed by an artist for a purpose.” https://t.co/EAAZW5vkr2 pic.twitter.com/FU0r63BRLu

— Ron Gilbert (bot) (@grumpygamer) February 22, 2017

Another focus is quality over quantity, Cavemen Stories will be a relatively short game. I like to compare it to a short story with around 4 hours of condensed goodness, not counting the tons of secrets that will be spread throughout the game world.

Stay tuned for more info in the upcoming weeks!