EARL’s Warehouse is a game that just kind of happened on me. I really wanted to get a game out the door this year, and I knew that there was no way Dungeon’s Fortune would be ready, so one fine evening in August, I started messing around with a couple of ideas I had, using existing technologies I had created for Dungeon’s Fortune. The next thing I knew I had a workable prototype. I have been working ever since to refine and polish the concept.
EARL’s Warehouse casts you in the role of a robot that has mysteriously awakened in an abandoned, but recently active warehouse facility. Using boxes scattered throughout each warehouse, EARL must solve puzzles in order to fulfill orders and unlock the exit. The mystery of the abandoned warehouse deepens as EARL copes with memory corruption and encounters dangerous electrical gremlins.
The main game mechanic consists of picking of a box, and then placing it elsewhere in the puzzle in order to advance. Only one box can be carried at a time, however. Some boxes provide special powers when standing on them, and some boxes can serve as batteries to power devices such as puzzle-altering cannons. The game will feel somewhat familiar to players of Minecraft, as the puzzles and the boxes within them are voxel-based. Being a fan of Notch’s work, I could not resist the temptation to create a Minecraft tribute level. It will be an unlockable bonus level in the initial release of the game.
A couple of iterations of the game have been demoed at recent COGG meetups, and it has been very well received. I look forward to demoing it again this weekend. As of now, the game engine is feature complete, and 23 puzzles are complete. I am working on designing more puzzles, fleshing out the story, testing, and fixing bugs.
The initial release is expected to contain 30 puzzles, and if the game does well, I will definitely be interested in adding more. As for any potential for players to create puzzles, I’m not sure that my puzzle creation tools are ready for mass use. They were created by me, for me, and are not very user-friendly at all, but I could be convinced to release them if interest exists there.
I’m proud to announce that the 3D models for the robots are being created by a fellow COGG member. More details to come about this mysterious artist once I have permission to release them. I am very excited to be bringing outside artistic talent to bear on my game visions. It is certainly looking to be an exciting time for Smiling Cat, and I hope to collaborate with more members of the COGG in the future.
As for a release date, I do not have one set in stone as of yet. It will probably take me a couple more weeks to finish the story and remaining puzzles, and then a couple of weeks beyond that to tie up all loose ends. Mix those together, and a half-cup of Thanksgiving holiday and a full can of Christmas, and it looks like it might be a recipe for a squeaker for the end of the year. If it comes to it, I will push the release into 2013 rather than release an unfinished product.
Work on Dungeon’s Fortune will resume once EARL’s Warehouse is released. I have had several months to lay out my ideas for the next steps to be taken on that project, and am looking forward to returning to it. Actually, several of the problems facing me in Dungeon’s Fortune have been solved by developing EARL’s Warehouse, a big win in my book.
Did I forget anything? Oh yes, screenies! Of course! Please keep in mind that the character models are just placeholders while the real models are being worked on. More screenies, and hopefully a video (not as over-produced as the Thrust or Bust trailer, I promise) to follow once some character models are integrated. That should happen soon.
I look forward to seeing everyone on Kongregate, playing EARL’s Warehouse!