Posts in Insanity’s Blade

The Game is Complete! Demos now Available!

August 25th, 2014 Posted by Games, Insanity's Blade No Comment yet

Finally – the game is ready. It will be going on sale Sept 1st/2nd. We will post details here about where you can buy it. For now, here are the usual  flavours of the demo. Please report any bugs to info@causalbitgames.com, Thanks!

WINDOWS
OSX
LINUX32
LINUX64

Minimum PC Specs:
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8.1+
Processor: 2.66 Ghz 64-bit
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: Direct X 10+ Capable GPU
DirectX: Version 10
Hard Drive: 1 GB available free space
Sound Card: Direct X Compatible Sound Card
Additional Notes: New GPU (at least NVIDIA GeForce 9800gt)

It has been a long road for a couple of guys working on a game in our spare time to make a game that plays how we want it to play. It came a long way from what it began as before the Kickstarter took off. Many ideas were discarded and some have made a return. Levels have been rebuilt several times. Graphics completely redrawn… two versions of the sound track available in game… It ended up being a much bigger game then what was intended.

For a seasoned gamer it should take 2-3 hours to complete. For the average gamer, you will die a bit until you learn that the game is meant to be not so forgiving like modern games are. Many enemies will need timed attacks, you can’t just rush forward in certain situations. Tree men for example can not be thrown, they are too heavy. And their punch packs a death sentence. Some bosses have moves that can take away all your hit points in one shot. Watch for warning signs of attacks to avoid being hit. Taking your time in some places is the key to completing a stage.

It’s a hard game and that’s what it’s meant to be – a challenge! It’s a real retro game. You will not float when you jump, you will die when you fall into a pit of spikes. And you don’t have unlimited continues! But like a modern game we have an automatic save as every level is completed. So you can take a break and come back later and pick it up again!

We will also be doing a few big updates to the game. The promised arena modes and zombie surfing bonus games will be added in! As well as bug fixes as they pop up!

We hope you enjoy the game!
Chris and Daven

16-bit/Arcade Game it is!

January 10th, 2014 Posted by Insanity's Blade, News No Comment yet

Aside of a few people here asking to keep the 8-bit as an option, 16-bit+ has gone over extremely well on all fronts! So we will continue along as Insanity’s Blade: The Arcade Experience!

I’ve already made many more changes to art and we are currently rethinking the HUD. We’ve also added in a very early wide screen support which will need a lot of things worked out for it but overall, it’s working great already. For the beginning of some stages there is an empty space to the left as it was build to show a 4:3 amount of gfx only, So it should only be a matter of adding extra background bits to cover up that empty space!

Thurstan has had another palette change as I’ve found him to be a little too orange! As far as the 8-bit goes, it’s only myself doing the graphics in my spare time. We will try to put an 8-bit mode in since the graphics are 75% done in NES format already. It would be a shame to waste them. We will probably do that as an update after release so we don’t miss our April release date!

I’ll be adding more little effects to the levels now too, like the falling platforms in stage 1’s house area will catch on fire as you walk over them before they fall. Possibly some smoke FX, etc etc. I want to capture the atmosphere as much as possible and that was something that wasn’t really doable in 8-bit with such a limited palette.

Anyhow a big thank you for the comments and pm’s! Your support means a lot, every bit of feed back counted! Stay tuned for the full stage 2 update, we’re nearly there – bosses and all!

Chris

Insanity’s Blade the “Arcade” Experience?

January 8th, 2014 Posted by Games, Insanity's Blade, News No Comment yet

You read that right! We’ve put about 18+ hours into updating the graphics in the demo (separate set of working files) over the weekend and updated all of the graphics to full color in the game. So technically it’s no longer the 8-bit experience if we go down this route.

So before I pull the trigger, We wanted to show you all a video of the game in full color. Also we have made other changes along the way that were part of the 8-bit update as well. The main character has a new upper body animation for walking. No one liked my super Robocop pose 😉 So we caved and changed it. Title screen is now animated – this is my favorite new update! End of first stage house is partially rebuilt as well as a bit of the underground to make it a bit easier for co-op. Tweaked camera here too. Intro bits have subtle animations in them. And I can’t remember what else we have done. It basically looks like a new game!

The gameplay itself will remain the same as well as the music and sound. Only the graphics would be changing.

The reason behind this update
 mostly because we wanted to bring you a better experience – and with the limited 8-bit NES palette there was a lot of color blending going on between the action and the background. This not only fixes that issue but also brings a new level of excitement and playability to the game!

New demo links posted below video!!

This update is not the beta update that we’ve been working on with the shooter stage/cart boss fight etc. If the new graphic update gets a yes votes then we will have to recolor everything we’ve done since the Kickstarter ended – will take a few days 🙂

Anyhow enjoy the video and we look forward to your feedback and votes. We will check the votes as of Friday Dec 10th at 12am my time and let everyone know which direction the graphics will go in!

Here is the Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHDAf9Pnoxw

Demo Links:

WINDOWS
MAC
LINUX32
LINUX64

Chris & Daven

Happy Holidays

December 24th, 2013 Posted by Games, Insanity's Blade No Comment yet

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Causal Bit Games! It’s been a busy few days since the Kickstarter campaign successfully ended! We’ve been hard at work on some new bits!

Announcing the shooter stages!!

We decided that platforming, zombie surfing and mini games were not giving us the full game feeling we wanted, so we’ve replaced a few of the regular platforming stages with shooter stages! In single player or co-op climb aboard a rotting dragon and fly it through the skies, defeating the airborne undead!

Massive stage 7 updates!!

Although the map and boss for the decaying church stage have been close to completed for some time, there were no enemies and the boss fight wasn’t completed (no death animation). Well it is now! We’ve added 4 new enemy types just for this stage. Priest zombies, Puking Nun Zombies, Purple Eye Snot, and Fade – a giant clump of ectoplasm that sucks your energy away! Also added collapsing floors to the mix.

And again! Happy Holidays from the gang at Causal Bit Games!!

Chris