Continue reading »]]> Hi there everybody,
This is just a quick shout out to all the CB fans out there who may e have a console and play a variety of games. Last year we posted a tech test of a couple of control approaches we were considering. Well this time around we’re revisiting that discussion as we start to lock down features of the game.
We want your input on what style of control you like, tell us what stands out about your favorite control style ( giving the name of an example game) and why,including how the camera works and shows the action to you, ie 1st person, 3rd etc. As you know Codebearers is going to be an action adventure so please keep the choices to that genre. It doesn’t matter what platform your favorite game is on just let us know in the comments section of this thread and we’ll add it to our review list.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Continue reading »]]> Breaking the silence,
Well it’s long overdue and we are profoundly sorry for the quiet stillness that has surrounded this project.  So it is very much time that we gave you all a little bit of an update on where things are as regards Project Codebearers…..

It was not without a great deal of consideration that we approached the idea of building an action adventure game based on this award winning work of The Miller Brothers, and we talked long and hard about the demands it would put on the team here at Kaio.  The delays & hiccups we have experienced were something we had hoped we had accounted for in our projections, unfortunately there were one or two which caught us by surprise.  Alas there are always going to be unexpected bumps in the road with a project such as this and this is a lesson we have learned the hard way.

We are as determined as ever to make this project a success, and to that end we have had to overcome a number of challenges of producing a quality game with limited budget and a small team.  We even had to take an unforeseen hiatus from working on the game while a number of practical issues such as office space and staffing were worked out.  But rest assured we are determined to make this a great and engaging game that compliments the stories which The Miller Brothers have in their collective consciousness.

Although we may not be releasing the regular weekly updates the way we wanted to, we are working feverishly to craft a game that you, the fans, will want to play.
We know that certain timescales have slipped (we had hoped to time our release with that of the great new console the Ouya however there is just too much to get ready for that) and others may still slip, but we are committed to only releasing the game when it’s ready for you, the fans, to enjoy to its fullest.

In more encouraging news, our tests with the new ouya console have gone well (some of the technical delays have been related to re-working control paradigms to fit with console controllers as well and not just touch interfaces) and we are now seeing Solandria in all its glory on this great console, this also paves the way for us to develop Codebearers for other new hardware platforms which are beginning to join the marketplace (Gamestick & Nvidia Shield to name only 2).

We also decided to make the game episodic in its nature, this was in part due to the operating agreements in place with the ouya console.  However it also allows us to release the initial stage of the game as a free to play/download version, with subsequent episodes brought at a much lower price point than we had envisioned for the completed game (or even proportionally).

We hope to have more news to post soon, but rest assured we are passionate about great games with great stories to tell, and we want to make sure that this is one of them.

Continue reading »]]> Well, we’ve taken stock of our goals, and as we move closer to the final straight we’re sad to say that we’ll be holding back on our dev updates here.
Frankly it’s getting harder to find snippets of information we can release without spoiling the game for everyone. With an action adventure game a lot of the fun is to be had by exploring and finding out more about the story, with that in mind it makes it difficult to even release some of the stunning artwork we’ve got from the game without giving too much away.
So we are at the stage where we have to ask our loyal fans to be patient, and rest assured that work is continuing on this great game.
We’ve also heard some chatter about some aspects of the project so here follows a few Q&A about the game.

Q)What is Kaio’s involvement with the Ouya console to be released next year?
A) We have explored a number of options to bring Codebearers to the console market ranging from the kickstarter pitch at the beginning of the year to clandestine talks with industry insiders high up in some of the established console producers.  When we heard about the Ouya which will leverage technology which we are already very familiar with we couldn’t resist it and so we have signed on with them to be a ‘Founder Developer’.
This does not mean we are involved in the development process of the actual console.  What it does mean is that Codebearers Continuum will be a Launch Title for the Ouya console when it comes out in spring (In addition to the existing targeted platforms of Windows,Mac,IOS & Droid and possibly a few others)

Q)What kind of game will it be?
A)Codebearers Continuum will be an Action Adventure game, which will take the player through many environments which have been crafted closely with The Miller brothers input.  Through playing the game there will be interaction points between the Game & the Book which Chris & Allan are working on.

Q) Will it be released earlier on platforms other than the Ouya?
A) The release date for all the platforms will be as close together as possible, more details on this when the Ouya dates are firmed up  at present we are looking at a March or thereabouts launch.

Q)Who will we be playing?
A) Stretch will the main player character, although there will be opportunity to play certain parts of the game as one of the supporting cast, but we won’t say who just yet as that would be giving too much away.

Q)Who else will we see in the game?
A)It would be wrong not to take advantage of the opportunity to bring some of the favorites of the books to live in the game, so we’ll be seeing the likes of Hope, Sam, Boojum along with some others. And of course some totally new characters which Chris & Allan are coming up with for the new stories.

Q)When will the Beta be out?
A)We will be announcing the beta launch most likely 1 or 2 months prior to the final version going gold.

Thats all we can say for the time being, other than rest assured we are working feverishly to being this great title to you .

Continue reading »]]> We wanted to post a quick update on the Ultra sneak peek which we had planned for the other week, unfortunately due to a couple of outside influences beyond our control the best layed plans of our team of mice & men were derailed and delayed, and so we had to prioritize a couple of game engine pieces of work ahead of the peek.

However the good news is we have turned our attention back to getting this fun behind the scenes piece of news out to you and it should be with you all soon.

Also while we’re on the subject of delays, we have heard a number of comments and a lot of speculation regarding the release date for the game.
While we were disappointed that we couldn’t make the Kickstarter goal at the beginning of the year which would’ve got us onto some of the Consoles which many of you have, we are still dedicated to giving you the best Codebearers experience that we can, and to do this, as well as naturally working on the game itself we are continually looking at building our team out and doing whatever we can to bring this great game to market. As well as the actual hard costs involved in producing a game of this calibre there is the time element involved.Because we want to do the best we can we are committed to not economizing on either of those aspects if it can be avoided, our current development schedule gives us a completion date estimate of 1st Quarter 2013 for the whole game, in part this is due to the adoption of the new console platform of the Oyua.  We are working hard on holding to that timeline and are working closely with The Miller Brothers to ensure we are co-ordinated as best that we can with the Book release.

Continue reading »]]> Kaio Interactive mentioned.

Sneaky Sneak Sneak here….

Well theres an upside to every cloud, and not achieving our kickstarter goals earlier this year was certainly a cloud in our lovely blue sky.
But on the flip side of that is that although it did knock our development schedule and meant that we couldn’t complete Codebearers Continuum in the timely manner we had hoped, it did allow us time to take stock on what we have done, how far we had come and our options on getting CC into as many hands as possible.

It also meant that we would see the announcement of one of the biggest sensations in the console marketplace for years.

On July 10th Ouya (pronounced Booyah without the B) was announced on kickstarter.
If you want to go have a look at the details its over at Ouya on Kickstarter, but in summary its a sub $100 console which will be launching early next year with a similar approach to pricing and delivery to that of the mobile market.
And the great news is we’ll be one of the founder developers.
Now the implications of this are that we may not be able to bring CC to your platform of choice (Currently PC,Mac,iOS,Android & now Ouya) until Launch of the Ouya, but it also means that we can make sure the gameplay works well on a consoles controller paradigm and the game plays as well as it can on every platform we’re targeting.

Also stay tuned next week for an ULTRA sneak peak.
 

Continue reading »]]> Big thanks to Miguel for putting together this 3 pager on how to use facial motion capture from the great new software from Brekel.

Attached to this post is a PDF file detailing how to implement facial motion capture obtained from the incredible Brekel Kinect Pro Face motion capture software.
Newly released this incredible tool allows you to record realistic motion capture to easily add lip-sync and expressions to your in-game characters.

We decided to share how we were able to integrate the output from Brekel into our 3dsmax rigged models without the use of Maya or Motion Builder.

We’ve also included by an example file of our choice of bones file which you would save in step 5, this is only an example as everyone may have different requirements as to which bones are needed in their final animation/rig.

Please note we are using 3dsMax 2012, other versions may vary

And here is our example Bones file Max Version Brekel Example 1

And here is our example of the same file in FBX format Brekel Example 2

We’ll be posting some example output from this in the next week or so.
So check back soon for more info.

The PDF Guide is shown below…

Here is our PDF guide Brekel_to_3dsmax

If you find any better ways or tips & tweaks to the process drop us a comment below and we’ll add it to this guide.
Once again Big Big Shout out to Brekel for an amazing tool.

Continue reading »]]> Presenting something a little different, Shiny Survey (not quite a game, but still very useful)

We would like to announce the launch of Shiny Survey, the new iPad app designed and built for convention exhibitors everywhere.
Allowing you to build your contact & lead database without having a LIVE internet connection and so saving on exhibitor costs.

Click here to purchase from the iOS App Store.

How often have you wanted to collect the names & addresses or any other data from the visitors to your booth and had to rely on traditional pen & paper methods rather than using the reliability and functionality that having a tablet devices provide? Not only that but when you have access to the internet and that nice sign up form you paid for on your website, you have to rely on the often painfully slow, overcrowded and overpriced internet connections provided by the show venue, and when it goes down you must have that pen & paper at the ready!

Many of todays exhibitors have many forms of media presentation which lend themselves to showcasing their products or vision, most of which can be easily converted to movie files, these are too valuable an asset to have only available on a website or power-point/keynote presentation.

This is where we felt Shiny Survey could step in and bring a better sign up experience to your booth visitors.

With Shiny Survey you can display a rolling video of any length, providing that all important product information to the passer by and with a simple tap of the screen the rolling video shrinks to give space to your sign up form in the top left corner of the screen. When your visitor has entered the required data the video re-sizes back to full screen and your visitors’ details are securely locked away ready for you to import into whatever system you choose.

Use ANY movie file you have already stored on your device as the rolling video, and any of the supplied template forms to gather your visitors’ all-important data.

Even better than this though, is how Shiny Survey allows you to gather ANY data you want from your new lead.
Using simple HTML you can tweak or even create from fresh new forms to present to your visitors which gather that little bit more info about your market. The only constraints you have to work within are the overall dimension of the form (to visibly fit on-screen) and a few defined elements to control the submission & user interaction.

You can even view the raw data on the device before sending it to your email for processing into your leads database or mail system such as http://www.mailchimp.com

And of course all administration and access to data can be controlled via a password only you know.
For further information or enquiries click here to go to our contact page