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The Arkedo Series Official Thread of 240MSPoints Down a Month

G

Gowans

Member
Arkedo Studio are currently running an experiment creating & releasing a Xbox 360 Indie Game every month for 240 points.

I have having a huge amount of fun with them so thought I would start a Official Thread to house some discussion of these little gems.

A member of Arkedo is GAF member Pharoah.




Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP! - Marketplace Link

xboxboxart.jpg


Genre: Puzzle Platformer
Price: 240 MS points

Press Release:
Today, we are trying a little experiment, by introducing the Arkedo Series. The concept is very simple (hey, we're French): we want to make a new game each month.
This will allow us to experiment quite a lot and focus on bite-sized gaming, which is basically heaven to us.

The first game of the series is already there, called "Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP!". It is available on XBL Indie, and was done by 2 guys in 35 days. We start simple (hey, we're French) with a good old platformer. The good news is that is is already well ranked: #1 in France and #4 in the US, after 6 days on the platform.
Click to expand...

Screens:
screen2_Web.jpg
screen1_Web.jpg
screen3_Web.jpg
screen4_Web.jpg


Video:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-jump/57936






Arkedo Series - 02 SWAP! - Marketplace Link

xboxboxart.jpg


Genre: Dual Stick Action Puzzle
Price: 240 MS points

Press Release:
Overview:

Arkedo Series - 02 SWAP! is our first Dual-Stick Action Puzzle. The concept is easy : you just swap pairs of blocks, horizontally or vertically. And have fun.

Arkedo Labs has carefully selected the best genes of the dominant "color-match" type, then crossed them with a very rare but powerful "Dual Stick" genotype. The result, after quite some trials and errors, is a very stable and combo-based hybrid, which should easily find its nest on any living room, and stay there forever.

Features:

• Help King Kat get his Castle back! Introducing the first Arkedo game with a story. Honestly, it was worth the wait.

• 3 modes: Castle Mode (a 5-level story mode which will slowly introduce basic and advanced features), Arcade Mode (high scores and rare combos skills, here you come!) and Challenge Mode (finish the game and think you are good, enter the Challenge Mode and reevaluate your assumption).

• Dual Stick and vertical freedom allow for total eradication of 99,7% of all organic boredom. Traces of awesome may be found.

• Powered by our heavily-patented "Know why you Score®" technology. Simply put, our "Know why you Score®" feature allows you to be good at the game for a reason, and not just watch random combos explode everywhere for no apparent purpose apart from keeping your reptilian cortex fit.
Click to expand...

Screens:
screen2_Web.jpg
screen3_Web.jpg
screen4_Web.jpg
screen1_Web.jpg



Video:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-arkedo-series/58198





Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL! - Marketplace Link

xboxboxart.jpg


Genre: Platformer
Price: 240 MS points

Press Release:
Overview:
Click to expand...

Screens:
screen1_Web.jpg
screen2_Web.jpg
screen3_Web.jpg
screen4_Web.jpg



Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdrag9lynQ&fmt=18





TO COME:

I'll share consolidated numbers after the 4th game (Arkedo Series - 04 SLASH!, which will be a cross between Zelda and Geowars) will be out for a month or so, in order to give hopefully valuable data to the community.

In the meantime, I'll just say that we may have great news soon, which could come as a surprise :)
Click to expand...
 
G

Gowans

Member
I have been meaning to put this thread together since Jump, the art style of that game really hits me, so much fun to play.

Still got a long way to go in it tho, also just picked up swap and digging it too, indie games really are picking up and as long as these guys are pumping out stuff of this quality I'll be grabbing them.

Enjoying playing these between the bug releases and can't wait to get some discussion going (already been some good stuff in the Indie Games thread).

Can't wait to see what's coming too.

If you haven't already checked out the trails and you have an Xbox do I can't recommend them enough.
 
D

Danneee

Member
Jump! was very nice, sweet mix between 80s arkade style gameplay and neo retro (?) graphics. That puzzle game wasn't my cup of tea though, but i'm not a huge fan of puzzle games either so..
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Banned
Fuck Microsoft and their bullshit region restrictions. Why can I not buy Indie games? Why are the people in the UK not restricted?
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Big Bang Mini and Nervous Brickdown on the DS fucking rocked.
Thanks for creating this thread and reminding me that I need to buy these.
 
L

lyre

Member
Mejilan said:
Big Bang Mini and Nervous Brickdown on the DS fucking rocked.
Thanks for creating this thread and reminding me that I need to buy these.
Click to expand...
Same here.

Love Arkedo games; hate taking my 360 online. This is quite a dilema since the box has to be tethered to play community games.
 
PopfulMail

PopfulMail

Member
Much love to the gang at Arkedo for their Indie Game efforts. I've snagged both Jump and Swap without hesitation and I'm really looking forward to their next release.
 
G

gururoji

Member
Just bought and then beat the Adventure mode of Jump! It was totally great, looking forward to the Challenges. Totally worth $3.

Swap! was a less obvious "must-buy" from the demo, but I liked it pretty well, I'll probably buy it now based on how great Jump! was.

Keep up the good work!
 
S

soqquatto

Member
I must say that while I did not enjoy Big Bang Mini at all as a game I found it extremely well executed. I'll try Jump just because these things need to be supported, if it's fun consider me sold on the concept.
 
G

Gowans

Member
Jump is my personal fave, but both of these really boil down to really well executed and fun gameplay at it's core.

The visuals and polish just push it to another level for me, the art style in Jump is just amazing.
 
G

Grecco

Member
Just wanted to say Jump is amazing. It doesnt even feel like an indie game. I kind of wish it was an XBLA title for achievements and hopefully they could get more recognition for it cause its really really fantastic.
 
R

Red

Member
Grecco said:
Just wanted to say Jump is amazing. It doesnt even feel like an indie game. I kind of wish it was an XBLA title for achievements and hopefully they could get more recognition for it cause its really really fantastic.
Click to expand...
I'd love to see a system for indie game achievements implemented, even if it were separate from standard achievements.
 
J

JEKKI

Member
Tekken 6 is an awesome game!!

but it lags!

it LAGS!!

so next time I turn on my xbox, Ima buy one of these games instead!!

since it's obviously a lot better than playing laggy tekken...

I already played thru JUMP, it was awesome!!

unlike the lag in tekken 6!!

I needa get the 2nd game now...
 
T

Torhthelm Tídwald

Member
Big Bang Mini is probably my game of the year. Really wish I had a 360.

How long is it? If you can beat it in a couple hours, I could play it on my little brother's 360.
 
L

lobdale

3 ft, coiled to the sky
I played Swap for a while but the sticks just kill me when it comes to precise control, especially picking one piece on the other side of the board. I just can't get my cursor there in time. I wish you could move the whole row ala Yoshi's Cookie but I know that would change the combo mechanics. FUH
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Jump is pretty cool. I wish it was longer though =/

The challenge mode is basically the campaign except you gotta collect everything...which is kind of what I did during the campaign.

Still a fun ride.
 
P

Pharoah

Member
Thanks guys :D

Ok, we're late. We know it. This one is a co-production with another studio (they came with the original idea and the gfx, we provided the dev*) so we'll just put the blame on them**. OK, check.

The other studio is called Pastagames, we share offices with them and usually beat the crap out of them on the ping-pong table, or on our SF IV cabinets. They just released "Maestro Jumpin' Music" for the DS in Europe. Decent neighbors, no? :lol

As you may remember, the idea of the Arkedo Series is to do a game under constraints, and see what happens (hint: tired eyes and lousy jokes). So each Serie must be done by only 2 people, and in a month. Roughly. Veeeery roughly, if we look at this one.

Because this time, we decided to go Flower Power and Winter of Love and all, by giving more time. The project had really grown into something slightly bigger than what was intended first. It was worth it in our view, so Pastagames and Arkedo decided to allow the extra time and budget.

So please wait another week or so, and do not take the size of this #03 as the new rule for the Series: we are back to normal with #04 (which is done by the alternate team right now, the ones who did JUMP!). So back to 100% Arkedo for #04, but it's really interesting to work with other studios.

More news next Wednesday, then hopefully we submit for peer review by end of week.

* a devette, actually: this time it's Maïwenn. She has coded SWAP! last month. She looks tired.
** that's not true.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Pharoah said:
The other studio is called Pastagames, we share offices with them and usually beat the crap out of them on the ping-pong table, or on our SF IV cabinets. They just released "Maestro Jumpin' Music" for the DS in Europe. Decent neighbors, no? :lol
Click to expand...

Can you please ask them if they're shopping the DS game out to various US publishers?
 
R

RadarScope1

Member
*shakes fist* Damn you, Uber-hard Robots Stage!!

Pixel looking good. Jump is fantastic, though short. Swap is good for what it is, but I'm not that into puzzle games. I do like how you can swap in any direction, which basically turns it into dexterity race with some strategy, too. These guys are a cut above nearly all other XBLI games in terms of polish.

Release window?
 
B

BitchTits

Member
Nice. Didn't know it was a series, I bought Jump! a while back, it's fun and it seems the other games look just as nice visually, will definately check these out :)
 
R

rostocker

Member
@Pharoah

I just bought Jump and played it with my gf, lovely game! I would also buy Swap, but we are both really bad with these types of puzzlegames :)
 
O

Odrion

Banned
Damn, these look great! I hope they take all these games and flesh them out for XBLA or something. They look like they have no place in the indie game section.
 
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