A Long Way Home - jonmulcahy's newest game

jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
edited November -1 in Announce Your Game!
After 8 mths of development and many false starts, I'm FINALLY ready to take the wraps off a game I've been working on since last August. It's called A Long Way Home. In this game you play as an astronaut who is stranded out in space. By collecting Dark Matter, you can open portals that warp you closer to home. You can only jump 1 light year at a time, and you're 100 light years from earth. So, you guessed it. There are 100 levels in this game.

In the video below, you can see the main menu system: selecting control schemes, toggling gamecenter / music and the level select system. This entire menu system is in a single scene, so it's all very fluid and instant.

The levels are laid out in stages. Each stage is a 'galaxy' of 10 levels. Each new stage introduces a new hazard you need to get around. Some are easy, some are very hard.

If all goes well I'll be submitting this game June 1st. I designed this game with the MacApp store in mind as well, so if all goes well, it will be launching simultaneously in both stores. That's all that is left to tweak. Part of my marketing plan is to release GameCenter updates to 5 older games with a link to this game, and make them free.

For some reason YouTube kills the colors of this game, I don't know if I'm encoding it wrong or what, but the colors are more vibrant, and the fade at the beginning is smooth.

Anyways, hope you enjoy it!
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Comments

  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    That's pretty sweet looking, jon. Gameplay looks real smooth. I can't wait.
  • GamersRejoiceGamersRejoice Member Posts: 817
    That is so cool! I can't wait to... well first get an iPad and THEN play this game! Looks awesome
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    w00t!

    Finally :D

    I had the privilege of beta testing this one (sorry I couldn't do more Jon - got snowed under) and I have to say, from the get go, it's just absolutely *lovely*.

    Graphics are beautiful. Presentation is superb. Music sets the ambience just right. And the gameplay is simple, but addictive.

    I really wish you the best for this one, Jon - I did come up with the name after all ;)

    QS :D

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • calvin9403calvin9403 Member Posts: 3,186
    SlickZero said:
    That's pretty sweet looking, jon. Gameplay looks real smooth. I can't wait.

    +1
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    quantumsheep said:
    w00t!

    Finally :D

    I had the privilege of beta testing this one (sorry I couldn't do more Jon - got snowed under) and I have to say, from the get go, it's just absolutely *lovely*.

    Graphics are beautiful. Presentation is superb. Music sets the ambience just right. And the gameplay is simple, but addictive.

    I really wish you the best for this one, Jon - I did come up with the name after all ;)

    QS :D

    yes you did!
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    I have to say the Concept, Graphics, Game Play and even the music is all dead on for this Game. I loved testing it. Matter of fact i'm still "testing" it. when I can get a few minutes. I wish you good luck with this one man. it's really fun.
  • DreamLabDreamLab Member Posts: 2,127
    The game honestly looks stunning. I love the little astronaut! I think you will do great with this game! And if you don't, at least you have a great game to be proud.
  • JohnPapiomitisJohnPapiomitis Member Posts: 6,256
    wow thats awesome jon

    i loveeee the music and everything else for that matter

    great job!
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Wow..... Superb work Jon!

    I REALLY love the look, feel, ambience of this game, and will purchase as soon as it hits stores! LOVE LOVE LOVE the music!
  • steeler0038steeler0038 Member Posts: 153
    This game looks SWEET! I can't wait to buy it!
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    steeler0038 said:
    This game looks SWEET! I can't wait to buy it!

    It's certainly been worth the wait!

    I've long thought Jon's one of the best devs on here, up there with tshirt and some others. The thing is, Jon makes the kind of games I wish I could make. And the care and attention to detail is right there on the screen for all to see.

    More power to you, sir!

    QS :D

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    thanks everyone! It's been a long long ride with this game. Ian did a bunch of the graphics for the game, the planets / asteroids / spaceships / Portal and more. I made the backgrounds and I had to hire someone from elance to re-create the main character after a gameplay design change during Ian's new addition. All the sound effects & title track are from http://soundsnap.com, the gameplay music is from http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=037&Search=Search

    It's nice to get some good feedback on this game. especially after keeping it in the dark for so long. I've been dying to show this since feb when I finished laying out level 100 :) At this point I'm hoping for a fix to the gamecenter orientation issue on the iPad before I submit the game. And the submission and approval of the updates for my older games.

    Thank's QS, the feeling is mututal! I loved the Kracken & Air Supply.
  • BarrytheBarrythe Member Posts: 82
    Looks really good, first time i watched this was in silence as my girlfriend was still asleep, and I've just re-watched it with the sound on and it makes a huge difference, that gameplay music is very tranquil, almost hypnotic. Wait, must...buy...game... OhOH.
  • MarkOnTheIronMarkOnTheIron Member Posts: 1,447
    That's a really nice looking game!

    I love how you decided to make the gameplay slow, with that great track from Incompetech it really has a relaxing feeling.
  • HoneyTribeStudiosHoneyTribeStudios Member Posts: 1,792
    Liking the tranquil atmosphere of it.

    Maybe have a different sound effect for instruction screens popping out during the game - something that fits the music better? Maybe 2 pitches - one for when it comes from the left and one for the right.
  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    Jon, this is one of the best looking games made with GS! I just love the artstyle and gameplay! Instant buy!
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    shaz said:
    Liking the tranquil atmosphere of it.

    Maybe have a different sound effect for instruction screens popping out during the game - something that fits the music better? Maybe 2 pitches - one for when it comes from the left and one for the right.

    I'm still tweaking sound effects. I bought $30 of credits from soundsnap and only downloaded 3 things so far :) Thats a good idea. This will be my most polished game to date

    my next game is going to be so simple :)
  • debugdesigndebugdesign Member Posts: 886
    Looks awesome mate! Thanks for the mention... Hope it does well for ya!
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    wow! stunning. can't wait to pick this up.
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    Hey jon just wanted to let you know I sent you an email. Please let me know if you don't get it. (not sure I have your email right). It's important. tenrdrmer(at)yahoo.com
  • AsymptoteellAsymptoteell Member Posts: 1,362
    Looks wonderful! Good luck with sales on this one.
  • JPickardJPickard Member Posts: 477
    Delightful. Can't wait.
  • mzxmzx Member Posts: 151
    wow, looks cool!
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    tenrdrmer said:
    Hey jon just wanted to let you know I sent you an email. Please let me know if you don't get it. (not sure I have your email right). It's important. tenrdrmer(at)yahoo.com

    Got it, the videos were perfect, I can fix that issue,
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    thanks everyone! It was 8mths of 1-2 hours of work a day. I completely redesigned the gameplay twice, and the entire menu system three times, but i think it was for the better. I hope it goes over well.
  • steve86steve86 Member Posts: 806
    Hey jon...

    that was amazing, this is an instant buy for sure... Love the graphics and the gameplay.

    One little thing you should be aware. Be careful with that gamecenter logo on the bottom left side corner of your options scene. My game got rejected for having that exact same logo stating it was apple's property.

    Anyway congratulations it looks simply amazing.

    Regards

    Steve.
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    Steve, did you just have the icon or use the icon from the GS template? It seems many games have gotten approved with just the icon, but if they use it in a slide to unlock type method it got rejected.
  • ktfrightktfright Member Posts: 964
    Great job Jon! It looks awesome!
  • steve86steve86 Member Posts: 806
    jonmulcahy said:
    Steve, did you just have the icon or use the icon from the GS template? It seems many games have gotten approved with just the icon, but if they use it in a slide to unlock type method it got rejected.

    This is what I had and it got rejected:

    http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=23817

    I'm almost positive that you are okey thou.. The only concern might be that your gamecenter icon kinda lights up when its on. So i dont know if apple would like that. But I'm almost sure you are okey.. I think my problem was that I made a button out of it.
  • NexusGameStudioNexusGameStudio Member Posts: 265
    Looks fantastic, really enjoying the music from the game. Top notch title =D
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