The KS money wasn't to cover development costs – those were pushed to near zero due to aggressive asset recycling – but to pay Vogel's salary. Suggesting he spent a third of that on graphics is suggesting he gives up a third of his income from this gig.
Geneforge 1 - Mutagen May Update!
It’s time for the Geneforge 1 - Mutagen progress report for May! Happily, we’ve gotten a lot done in the last month. Being under quarantine has made it difficult to concentrate, but we’ve managed. We know we absolutely owe you a game, and that helps us not be too distracted.
Here is what we’ve done, and we have more ways you can help to shape the game!
Progress Report
We have now finished a tenth of the game world, or 8 out of 80 sections. Now we are playing through the early sections as all three character classes. It’s a new game system, and we need to make sure the balance is fair, the game plays properly, and things are fun. We are getting lots of great art from our freelancers and programming in big chunks of the game engine. Having the game be playable by humans is a big step forward, and it’s really exciting.
We have spent a lot of time improving the original game text and then adding to it. We’re adding lore, quests, and bits of conversation that round out the story. People who already played Geneforge will find a lot to surprise them.
We are getting closer to the full-on world-building grind, where the engine is done and we are focused purely on making the game world, a section a day.
The New Creation!
We got many cool suggestions for the new creation. The second most popular suggestion was sort of virus, which, well, we decided not to do that. The most popular suggestion was some sort of bird, and that is indeed something missing.
The new creation is going to be a cockatrice. It is a large bird,with brightly-colored rainbow plumage. It is a powerful, volatile creation. It has both magical attacks and attacks that daze or stun foes, but its abilities might have a chance of rebounding on nearby allies.
That is where we currently are. We would love suggestions for the sort of actual abilities the cockatrice would have. If you’d like a chance for your suggestion to get into the game, send it to geneforgegame@gmail.com before June 16.
Backers Who Contribute To the Game
A little over a month ago, we sent our information packs to backers who get to contribute names, items, characters, etc. to the game. We’ve gotten a ton of great responses and ideas. Thank you for that! A lot of really exciting stuff!
If you haven’t made contact with us yet, it is a great idea to consider doing that. We haven’t heard anything from most of the backers who are contributing names or quests. If you never received the info packet we sent out, send us a Kickstarter message and we’ll resend it.
And now it is back to game balancing! Below is more of the great character art we’ve been getting. Hope you like it, and you’ll hear from us soon!
- Jeff Vogel
The thahd is the basic battle creation. Dumb and sturdy, it is cheap cannon fodder. Let it run up and punch your enemies.
The clawbug is a more advanced battle creation. It comes with nasty venom and quality natural armor.
Probably so he can reuse the art for Nephilims in another exile remake.
Oh noes, this totally ruins the game, totally.Original sprite look Neanderthal-like, this is a big difference from furryOh yes. The original sprite was so much better and un-furry like... oh, wait.
But I liked the butt naked troglodytes.
Just the non furry one.
Will enough green juice turn your dick into neovagina?
Geneforge 1 - Mutagen June Update!
We are entering the time of uninteresting Geneforge 1 - Mutagen updates. The engine is mostly done. Now we are grinding out sections, with 14 sections finished.
This is only a small improvement over last month. This is partly because we had to rework a bunch of iPad games to make Apple happy, and partly because we took an actual vacation. In the next month, there will be a lot of movement forward.
We are concentrating on keeping the game system as faithful to the original as possible, with the occasional rough edge rounded off. We are making sure, at least on easier difficulty levels, that it is really hard to make a character build which makes it painful to proceed. (Don’t worry. Hard difficulties will still be hard.)
Happily, the sections we’ve done have all been played with all three characters. Lots of bugs are being fixed, lots of rebalancing is happening, and the game is still fun. We’re still on track for a release early next year.
The Cockatrice!
Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions for the abilities for the new creation, the cockatrice. There were a lot of great ideas, and we picked some of the craziest ones.
It will be a unique creation different from anything in Geneforge, and we think people will find it to be pretty fun. Now it’s time to actually design it and get the art made. Thanks for the help, and we hope everyone who took part enjoyed it!
Backers Who Contribute To the Game
The quest and character and item designers have come up with a lot of terrific ideas. Most of them are from longtime fans of the Geneforge series, and they had great ideas for how to flesh out the world of Geneforge and fix plot holes from the first game.
I’ve put in a lot of time figuring out how to weave the new material in to make a richer, more complex world, and I’m super-happy with how it’s turning out. There will be a two new factions, many new quest lines, and lots of cool lore.
If your supporter level lets you contribute sometime to the game, and you haven’t, please contact me at geneforgegame@gmail.com.
Cool art keeps coming in, and I’ve attached more creation art below. See you next month!
- Jeff Vogel
The artila, the first of the magical creations. A powerful cannon, but very fragile.
The floaty, creepy vlish. It is a controller creation, which blesses your characters and curses and dazes the enemy.
