Tenshi-Oni: Menu Title Art

Ok, I think it's about time I give a little update about my game, Tenshi-Oni.  As game design goes, sometimes you think, "I'll be able to get this out in x months"...but it then turns out to be x+13 months.  For us indie game designers, this tends to be the case even more than the big studios.  Yet, I want to assure people waiting that I'm indeed working on the game and with some personal matters that got exponentially worse thanks to Hurricane Sandy last month now out of the way, it's time to get back on the track running.  Above you will see this interesting title art I made yesterday.  In addition to the programming aspect of games that I tend to focus on, it's also time I sharpen my actual design skills too.  Some of you might have seen the rough After Effects splash intro that I edited...so it's a bit evident that I'm trying to get back to the editing, design and art I once was not too bad with years ago.  The image above is the first look at what will be on the opening menu screen for the player.  Been getting used to using GlyphDesigner and having some fun with the customizations that can be done relatively easily for not only text in games but for websites and art.

Below is some of the text I'm working on to go in the game since, well, (as my game design friend also pointed out) the text needs more styling.  One issue some indie games have is a bland/monotone HUD.  Being that I've been been very programming-heavy with my design (maybe more on that in a future post), sometimes artistic style takes a hit.  Now that the overall core dynamics of the game are set...it's time to polish this thing up.

So what's next to do for the game?  Well, still a bunch and once my main artist, Kenneos gets back some free time during the holiday season...more art will come in...but I think it's in both our interest that I give a helping hand in the art department a little ^_^

Here's a list of what's up next in the development:

• Cocos2D source code bugs (almost all fixed ^_^)
• Updated to latest iOS (done)
• Combo bug fixes
• memory leak fixes
• updated sword animation
• more sprite animations
• more enemies
• more bosses
• better enemy AI (set up now for bosses)
• updated opening menu (image above is part of that)
• iPad Mini compatibility (got a friend helping out with that)

Hope to show some more goodies from Tenshi-Oni.  I wanted the game out earlier but I think it's best that I make it right the first time and build it from there.  Again though, the goal is for a FREE version (with minor ads ^^;) and a paid version will all the bells and whiles and no ads.  With I have DLC?  Well, I'm an old school gamer and my idea of DLC is to have true add-ons, not Capcom-like DLC.  When you order spaghetti for example, you get the spaghetti with the sauce...some companies make it where the "sauce" is DLC when it should be part of the purchased deal.  DLC should be the appetizer dessert or extra course to the said "meal" and for Tensh-Oni, the goal is a full game for the paid version.