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Monday, January 18, 2016

DevDiary – January 2016 MatchYS and... the sense of life

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Hi everybody, this is Alessandro (and Francesca by the way :D) from CRYsoft Development and this month I would tell to you what's in the Schrodinger's box of our next year.
In the last few months we speak very little on these pages about WHAT we are really doing. Some of you could had read about our next project throught our Facebook Twitter accounts but this time i wouldn't speak only about MatchYS or development at all.

Many things have happened since this July, some of them have literally changed our way of being, well, US ..
I don't wanna to annoy all of you speaking about the "why" (it'll be too long and it doesn't concern our work itself, but the way we do it), but this speech is about the "what" is changed. First of all we changed our approch to development starting from how we think to it because, although we're all indies and this is really exciting, we have other jobs in our lives. No, this isn't our main job. We do it with all the love we can infuse into it cause we love it much more than our main jobs, but we need "real money" into "real life" to pay food, monthly bills and any other needs. We basked a little in the illusion of being able to disrupt our lives overnightbut now we're back with our feet on the groundWe are ready to make a difference, a realistic one.
Second, we changed our team a little. We met an incredible 3D digital artist on the road and together we'll realize our next step into development: we'll deliver to you new incredible, fun overload and visual jaw dropping games! Yeah, we have just started to brainstorm some really cool games we're going to develop into 2016.
Last but not least we changed our way to think at games themselves. Don't worry, we don't want to destroy the concept and ideas that many of you like. We speak about the general experience that you will have with our next games. It started with Skiddy, we created an essential interface, a fast pacing control system and a much more immersive gameplay without adding unnecessary buttons or complex instructions. You start the game and you enjoy yourself drifting with karts in just few taps. So be yet!
I will not bore you further then i give the floor to my young and eclectic padwan Francesca who will speak to you of our next project to come: MatchYS and maybe something more...
 Logo-SS

Hi! This is Francesca, now it's my turn to take the floor and introduce you the design of our new project. Indeed Alessandro made an excellent overview of what have been our most important changes within the team, especially of our new gamedev philosophy and I'm happy to intervene to tell you about our project, a pressure puzzle game set in Pauly's bedroom (Pauly is the little star of the game), who will have to tidying up his toys scattered all around, before his Mom come back! It will not be a simple game of pairs or aligning of objects in order to completing the levels; there will be surprises to make the gameplay more attactive and entertaining, with situations and characters which will bring confusion during the game. But about this we'll speak in a more detailed way later.
For now, I will focus on the graphics, which is also my area of ​​expertise, starting by the style made in CRYsoft 100%. We thought of a very colorful graphics as it is our custom by now, very simple minimal and vintage inspired, from the logo design (which refers to the old game of wooden cubes with imprinted letters that helps children compose the first words), to the characters as Pauly for which I took inspiration by old advertising 50's style.

Pauly

This time we handled the interface, according not only with aesthetics but mainly according with logistic issues, making it completely modular and subdivided in such a way that the elements are manageable on any type of device (although we cannot vouch for the thousands of types of screens and resolutions offered by Android devices :P).





As I mentioned earlier, there will be elements that will bring havoc throughout the game, to enliven it and make it less repetitive and fun, tien we've created the characters that will interact with the player during the game. So Terence, Pauly's little brother, won't wait anything other than entering the room and put it in a mess! If this happens and Loretta comes in for an "inspection", there will be trouble!

Terence

Loretta-interfaccia

As in other pressure puzzle games, time will be important to complete the levels and the "distracting elements" will help to vary the gameplay with their bonuses or maluses. The toys are the protagonists, with various categories from the type, by the colors and the materials they are made of. Recognize them in the heap won't be easy, but with a trained eye, the fun will be assured. Below there are examples that explain how to recognize objects based on their categories.

Tutorial
interfaccia-area-gioco

All of the toys at first sight are extremely colorful and chaotic as you can see in the image, and they are defined so as to have a wide range of objects to play with. We choose the primariy and secondary colours so as to have the main ones and their complementaries exalting each other. The variety of the objects is such that you will have many combinations and difficulties, thanks to the categories of the materials they are made of! We trust that MatchYS will be different from other Pressure Puzzle Games for its spirit and its setting; the mood is always what you would expect from CRYsoft: colorful and light-hearted, just as its members. There have been many changes during the year that has just ended, and lots are the projects that will keep us busy, while MatchYS is in the expert hands of our heroes Aymen and Alessandro. This year will be LITERALLY a bestial for us... from the feathered ones to the most mischievous, not to mention a certain "dirty dozen" that will involve you in a dirty work... but I do not want spoil the pleasure to discover more... I assure you there's lots of things to talk about, but not just yet!
We achieve our dreams, step by step among new and old friends and talking about old friends: there will be surprises for our little Johnny Marble and his gang!
So stay tuned and may the fun be with you ๐Ÿ––๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ–– (sorry... I couldn't help it)!
Francesca and Alessandro out