Friday, March 28, 2014

Deadline & Wrapping Up

Time is ticking away and that means only one thing : Imagine Cup is coming!

Our game has finally came to a "wrap-up" phase where we will now scatter around the code of the game, play it countless times, and identify all bugs. Then we will incinerate them.

Of course that would be the start because then we would scatter again, and play again, until we find more bugs to burn down. We will try break the game, we will try to make it tough, create complex pathways through the house, while keeping an eye on the framerate of the game as well.

We will try to make it bug, break, crush and cause all sorts of troubles. Imagine us holding a warhammer and bashing as hard as we can in order to make it break. If it does, we will patch it up, mold it even better, and start over.

April is almost here, around 15th we must submit our game for the Greek Finals. At the same moment, we have been preparing the deliverables that the world semifinals need (should we win in Greece), because we have only 7 days after winning to submit them all to ImagineCup.com.

So, as you can guess, these days you can see us re-writing our business model, writing the Instruction Manual of the game, and creating a final draft of our Imagine Cup presentation. Depending on the setup of the Greek Finals we will either show a quick gameplay trailer or showcase our game, letting the Rat King shine and wait for the judges' approval!

The tasks are getting pretty devastating though. It's like we destroyed the big ones first and now a swarm of the little ones are zerging our base. But we can do it! Deadlines may be pushing our limits but we can do it!

Stand by for more, as this month is hot for us.
Experience the curse...

Friday, March 21, 2014

The Edge of Insanity

The night draws near. The days are passing by like the sharpnel of Sanders' Handgun pierces through the Dire Rats' feeble bodies.

It's getting closer. I can feel it. Everyone here can. Imagine the whole Blackthorn Manor, and now imagine us inside it. It's a complete and utter chaos. Everyone runs around the house, having 10 goals that have to be done yesterday and simultaneously.

It feels as if we are puppets on a string, played by a force unknown. Half of us are wielding code guns and they shoot limitless lines and lines and lines of code to glue everything together. Our project is as unstable as a newly brewed potion. It does have improvements day by day though. Noticable improvements.

The others strive with writting, designing every missing aspect of the game, puting target dummies around the house, so the code gunners can bring it down. Once the target is being set, we unleash the code beasts and they nuke it until it's down.

Talk to other people. Make the game. Build a presentation. Run around aimlessly at times. Scream with agony. Feel the pressure swirling you inside a dark void, ready to consume you. But you will succeed won't you? You will beat the darkness.

Everyone is on the edge of insanity. Developers rejoice, for the time is getting closer..!

That would sum up the environment and feelings of Genesis at the moment, while we are preparing for Imagine Cup. We got less than a month to submit our game (!!!) and we are exhausted and excited at the same time. We hope we can make it! Ohhhh we sure can!

To the updates it is, then! The bots are much more clever now. It's insane! They run around, open doors, steal from other characters, attack them, and even hunt them down to destroy them, they have specific goals in their minds and they just can't get them off their mind. Our characters also have little light bulbs over them, as the AI *THINKS* the next optimal move, based on the current state, the scenario and the user.

We love how smart they can be, thanks to our CodeSquad, we feel that if all the holes of the game are filled and de-bugged to the end, our game will finally be playable..! :D

We'll now leave you with a screenshot of what the user will experience when someone is becoming a traitor:

The Curse of the Rat King - "BOW TO ME MY FOLLOWERS! THE VERMIN SHALL INFEST THIS LAND"
Till next time, more updates coming soon!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

It's all about A.I. - And showing off rooms!

Finally! The game now properly locks to one character, and we control him only now! The rest of the explorers now have a very very very BASIC form of AI.

They can think for themselves! They can open rooms, steal from others and even attack them at will based on predetermined design guidelines. They know what's good for them, as such when you complete your turn with your character, you can FINALLY see all the others doing stuff at will. Mostly navigating into other rooms.

But what else you'd expect when the curse has not broken and the scenario has yet to be revealed? Their only goal after all IS ACTUALLY to open up all the rooms discover as much of the house as possible!

The AI to handle the post-curse effects is yet to be written, since we focus on polishing the pre-curse thinking patterns of the characters.

The rooms have also been optimized. Some messy models were thrown away, some others just got dessimated, just enough to keep the poly count low. We have also given the players the ability to tinker with the Video Quality Settings : Low (Without any shadows emitting light) , High (Which really takes the game to another level, if you can handle the FPS cost).

Currently we are focusing on making the game playable by one player. We believe we will reach our goal easily by the week, so we can start wrapping up and adding spice to the game itself the time remaining until the Imagine Cup Greek National Finals.

We are very excited and we hope that every sacrifice we've made so far won't be in vain. We will take this to the very end..!

We don't like not showing you what we are preparing, so here is a quick view of the Ritual Chamber, where the Rat King will perform his Wicked Rat Ritual..!

The Ritual Chamber - Perfect for Spellcasting, Rituals and other Demonic Sacrifices...!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Presentation, Progress and Awesomeness

Today's Thursday and we are around a month and a half until the Greek Imagine Cup finals.

The whole team is giving its' best self to overcome the difficulties we are facing every day with our code. Traversal is finally fully functional, you can see the characters ascending and descending staircases, falling into deathtraps and sliding gracefully into the dark corners of the manor.

All the work is focused around the Scenario at the very moment. Such tasks include:

  • Spawning the Rats around the Manor.
  • Perfectly Positioning them in their respective nodes.
  • Correctly fitting the Rats into the Turn Flow.
  • Getting the Rat King into the Ritual Chamber.
  • Punching in the Winning Conditions of each side.
  • Watching how wicked the Rat Ritual is!

Coming right up after this, we will focus on creating the Single Player aspects of the game, meaning that the User Interface will only draw our selected Character on Screen, and all other characters (Not Controlled by the Player) will be controlled by the CPU. This is our last stand, our final obstacle between us, and a game ready for the judges : The AI.

Meanwhile, we are working hard on the presentation for the Greek Imagine Cup Finals. Here is a quick view of the first slide : 

Team Genesis - Imagine Cup 2014 Greek Finals

The presentation itself will require ultimate overview of who we are, what we are doing, why we are doing it and trying to take a deep dive through all the aspects of our game, such as Concept, Gameplay, Goals etc.

Further into the idea, we must discuss about ourselves, how we met, why did we decide to do this for Imagine Cup, how did we work at this project and what's the whole business idea behind it.

We are relaxed taking on Business again, as we believe we can punch in a couple of slides that perfectly explain our competition, our customers, our financial management as well as how is the game going to be distributed and monetized through various platforms, as we have already received an honourable mention at the project Blueprint Challenge and the feedback from the judges has been far more than just valuable.

So, here we are, trying to glue everything together.
Oh boy, what a month April is gonna be...

Till next time, Rat King says "Hello!"

Monday, March 10, 2014

The Curse of the Rat King

Hello people and have a great week!

It's Monday and it's about time we gave you an exclusive update for Dementia : The First Scenario to be implemented in the Game for our Imagine Cup version of the game..!

Story :

" It's been 10 years since anyone has set foot in the Bloodthirsty Manor. Spectral Remains of tortured people roam about. All the explorers shake hands at the entrance and they hope they do find what they seek in this God forsaken place.

Cracks on the floor, Chains can be heard from far away and nearby, a sound that no human ear can easily discern, strange light from unknown sources is filling our hearts with hope, as we venture deeper and deeper into the house.

We can hear the rusty gears of the machinery room every now and then, yet there is no power in the house. Only candles to show us the way, it feels as if the kind spirits of those who seek revenge from the evil ones, guide us to find their dirty little secret. You can feel there is darkness lurking in every corner of the house, under every sheet, or blanket, all you think you'll find is blood.

Everywhere. 

The whole house itself may be acting against us, but we know our true purpose here. And we hope our minds can bear with what tricks it will play us. Our sanity is the only veil that covers our terrified soul from the aparitions of this damned place. Dark Clouds gather and cover our footsteps. 

We feel like there is no way out. Most of our comrades seem to have lost their minds, they all have grevious wounds made by either cursed objects, animated furniture, or even themselves. Everyone is on the verge of insanity. Especially this shady man, with which we entered the house. But who is that man really?

You can hear his screaming. You can hear his pain. You cannot feel anything less than empathy for that poor soul. He seems completely ruined and drained. Yet here comes the skittering sound. Noises of low-pitched squeaks now roam in the house. You can feel that the house is infested.

Suddenly, the noise gets louder and louder. Every time. Things only get worse, as we have met up with our friends at the Entrance Hall. Except this one man. We know something has got to be happening. His screaming has now reached a climax. We can feel his tears on his face. He is not screaming because he saw something. He is crying out loud. He knows he has met his demise, or will probably do so soon.

Loud Skittering sounds are getting louder every second. We hold hands with our friends. We curse the moment we decided to enter that pesky manor. Why bother? Why leave that hot cup of tea and our favorite books lying in our rooms, yet to be finished, just to come here for "our greater purpose"? 

When we took the courage to walk forward, we saw him. He was not the same as before. He had a skull on his head, his body was hairy and pale gray. He had a long tail and his hands held a staff. Our friend became a were-rat. He were frozen in fear when we saw him. He completely ignored us, rushing towards the basement. We knew that such abominations should not live in our world. He was not our friend anymore. He was a demon.


"The Rat King Himself - One shall be deemed worthy enough
to command the army of Rats. That night, he is the chosen."

As we ventured towards the basement ourselves we were attacked by his vermin followers. Rats! Rats everywhere! It was a bloodbath. So we took matters in our hands and keep moving towards the basement. He heard wicked words out of the WereRat's mouth. He was their king. And even more Rats appeared out of thin air. 

We knew our final, true purpose. We HAD to destroy them all..."


The Curse of the Rat King - Scenario #1

We took the liberty of giving you out our first Scenario this way.
But what will you be at the end? The shady man who turns out to be a wererat? Or the fellow companions who must battle their way through the maze of Rats?

Most of all... Who do you think emerged victorious?

Friday, March 7, 2014

Leaking one of the Rooms of the game and Promotion across the Internet!

It's about time Dementia got some publicity! We had our time on the project and we decided to do some sharing around the internet so even more eyes can see our game!

We want to create the community around Dementia : ToBM, we want people to start talking about our game, to anticipate it coming, we want to go to Imagine Cup Greek Finals and win.

So, for all those guys that managed to get to our blog, we have one huge question:
Do you know someone or have a friend who likes Board Games? Show him this blog!
Do you have anyone who likes online action with a bunch of friends online? Show him this blog!
Does your dog like ghosts? Show him this blog!
Do you know a bunch of people who enjoy horror stories around campfire at midnight ? Show them this blog!

Everyone who likes board games or video games should check us out!


We can't stress it out more - We believe that word of mouth can help spread this idea even further, and generate the amount of audience required for Imagine Cup and success for this game. We believe in our idea, now it's your turn to believe in us :P

We look forward to talking to each and every one of you, to hear out your ideas for the game, and to share as much as we can by the time of development of the game.

Anyway, back to the usual stuff!

We got our monkey programmers on site to create fantastic traversal experiences at the moment! Interestingly enough, the house itself is made of 3 floors (as you already know) - The Ground Floor, where all the ordinary rooms can be found, such as the Kitchen, the Dining Room, the Abandoned Room, the Altar and/or the Hallowed Organ Room.

Then there is the Upper Floor, which is a bit creepier if someone is fond of heights... You never know where you might end up to! Such rooms are the Attic, the Collapsed Room, the Office and the Master Bedroom.

Last but not least, we have the most dark place of the game: The Basement Floor! The Basement has all those creepy rooms that may give more spice to your horror stories, and all those horrible stuff happen there. Rooms of ultimate darkness include the Ritual Chamber, the Incinerator, the Machinery and the Crypt.

Now, what were those "traversal" experiences that we mentioned before? Our explorers can reach the upper floor by ascending the Grand Staircase, found right at the start of the game. Then, through the Collapsed Room, they can fall down to the basement. Their only escape is the Staircase to Foyer which leads to a Ground Floor Tile. Finally, they can find themselves in the Basement after discovering "The Leap Of Doom", a semi-collapsed room found in the Ground Floor that leads directly to the basement. One way!

Currently we are making sure that they reach their destination as requested from the in-game GUI.

Now, for the highlight of the post I would like to share a Leak of 1 Room with you - just to get an idea of what the house will evolve into:

Behold: The Main Entrance Hall, Including Foyer and Grand Staircase Room Tiles !!!


Welcome to the Blackthorn Manor. Dare to Open the Doors?


And with this... I shall leave you :)
Experience the Curse!


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Cards! Cards Everywhere!

Hello everyone! We entered March, and our Imagine Cup project must be finished as fast as possible, there is a lot of promotion to be done, a lot of UX interviews to be taken at board game houses and in general, we gotta run a lot.

Thus, Genesis Game Studios are going IMAGINE CUP MODE! From now on, until the Greek Finals and why not even further, we will be informing you about our latest Imagine Cup endeavors. We will be posting more frequently, keeping you up to date with the latest of our Games Competition Entry.



Day by day, the house is getting bigger. That thorny manor is creeping everyone out. Do you have the guts to enter it? What will you do?

By this time writing this post, we have created most of the Items, Events and Seals that will make it into the Imagine Cup version of the game, that the judges will test.

So. Why Cards? Dementia : Tales of Blackthorn Manor is heavily inspired by Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Mansions of Madness and Arkham Horror board games..!

So, we have 3 decks of cards: Item Deck, Seal Deck and Event Deck. Each Deck has a number of cards. Each card represents either an Item, an Event or a Seal, depending on the deck drawn from.

The whole idea : Item Cards add Items in your inventory. Items are supportive objects that either aid in your progression or impede the progression of others. They can be the usual weapon that helps in combat, or the supportive item that either absorbs damage, reduces damage, or increases your defences in general.
The Lantern - "Don't worry, I will protect you"
Examples of Items are : The Shotgun, which can shoot your foes when they are far, The Lantern, which contains a friendly spirit that absorbs damage by destorying the Lantern, and The Everlasting Candle, which assists in your rolling against events by increasing your roll values.

The Shotgun - "Get ready to blow some heads!"

Event Cards represent Happenings that occur in the different rooms of the house. Events can be of many kinds: Positive Events, Negative Events, and Neutral Events. Such events test your might, wit and will. Should you fail, you lose stats, or even take damage. Should you succeed, you gain stats or healing. Some events just make you feel better. Some are random! Some events even create objects that are interractable in the room! 

The Red Night - "In a world full of terrors and horror...
Everything takes the color of blood"


Examples of Events are : The Whisper, which if heard correctly, may lead to a lost item. Contagion, which tests your will to resist a deadly plague. Blaze, which throws a burning man running at you, and Infestation, which spawns a horde of insects under your feet. Can you see them, or are they just your imagination?

The Whisper - "Caaaan you heeeeaaar meeee???"

Finally, Seal Cards represent demonic seals, which are essentially items, that when held, trigger the seals to break. When a Seal is broken, there is a chance that a greater demonic evil will spawn on the world. In other words, a Curse is Triggered and an explorer is forced to make a Dementia Roll (These rolls determine whether the seal broken contained an evil curse). Not all seals contain curses though. And you don't know which seal contains which curse. Every time a Seal Room is discovered, a seal is broken. A Curse is triggered anytime, when an explorer fails his Dementia Roll.

Examples of Seals are : The Plush Toy, a cute looking child's stuffed toy, but you never know what horrors that toy has witnessed in this house, thus declared demonic. The Holy Blade, an ancient weapon once held by angels who fought in the battle of Good versus Evil. The wielder gains angelic powers to fight off any curse. The Ancient Mask, which was looted from Ancient Aztec Ruins, which is said to grant the wielder great mental strength at the cost of his spirit, until he takes it off.

The Holy Blade - "By the power of light... I entrust you my blade.
With it, you may slice the Void and put an end to the Corruption of the world."
The Ancient Mask - "Dare to wear me, and I'll grant you infinite knowledge,
Dare to take me off, and the knowledge shall be taken along with me."


We are very glad to have made the addition of Items, Events and Seals to the game, because they just take gameplay to another level. You never know what you may find in each room... or what may find you.

Until next time ;)

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Another weekend of burnout for Genesis Game Studios

It's a sweet Saturday evening, first day of March (Happy new month!) and we haven't blogged for this week for neither game. The latest updates:

HexCraft has been announced "App of the month" at the Official "Windows Apps Made in Greece" group on Facebook. And it was also featured in MSCorner! Check it out!

Thank you admins!

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Blackthorn Manor has been going under great pressure this time.
Everyone went into rage mode and programming has been going well!

We have been working on basic systems such as Combat System, Stealing System, Movement System, and set up basic AI functionality such as A*-ish pathfinding inside the house.

At the same time, we have been reviewing the final list of items, seals and events that will make it into the game, and have been designing rooms at the same time. You can see the walls are built up, doors opening when explorers pass through them, Intriguing Combat Cameras with Zooming Effects and dice rolls, and excellent pathfinding inside the creepy corridors of the blackthorn manor, ranging from the bone-chilling Mirror Room to the breathtaking Incineration Chamber that lies in the basement.



We are clearly seeing that the house is evolving quicker than before, now that Imagine Cup Greek finals are on their way, the team is clearly going for the finish line!

There still are systems left to be done though, such as the Item Effects when they are used, Flipping effects, binding unique Sound Effects to the Cards when they appear, graphical representations of the dice rolls, then again, there is the Scenario, and of course the Core AI that will support the game in a training / demo session that Imagine Cup judges will play!

Did you know that Imagine Cup this year is split into National Finals, World Semifinals and World Finals? The first two will be done online, just like Project Blueprint Challenge (Honourable mention, yay!).

It will be a very difficult project to build, since deadlines are approaching like vile serpents, but the expectations are going pretty high, should we manage to complete it, at least that demo version that we want to showcase.

We won't leak any images from the Project at its' current state *YET* but we promise that it's going to be worth waiting for. We are doing our best, and just like we never broke a promise, we promise you, you will like what you are going to see :)

Till next time!