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A Quiver of Crows – Progress Update #30

October 14, 2016 – 1:47 pm

Hi All!

October 19th! Our twin-stick shmup A Quiver of Crows is launching October 19th! Here’s what we’ve been up to as we prepare for the game’s launch:

October 19th

Have we mentioned the game launches October 19th? Go wishlist it now!

Featuring a Song by Laura Shigihara

Laura Shigihara is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for Plants vs Zombies, as the composer/lyricist/singer for To The Moon’s “Everything’s Alright”, and as the voice for the Singing Sunflower pet in World of Warcraft. We love Laura’s music and we’re super happy she contributed a song to our game! It’s called “Better Days” – check out the music video below!

Behind the Scenes – Programming

For you programmers (or aspiring ones) out there, here’s a run down of the development environment we’ve used and modified to create A Quiver of Crows: Developing a 2D Game for Windows, Mac, & Linux with Cocos2d-x. In the post, lead developer Chad highlights the languages and frameworks we use as well as the modifications we have made to overcome certain implementation challenges.

Prepping and Testing

The past month has mostly comprised of testing and prepping for launch. With all this testing, we’re getting really good at the game! Which is good because we’ve also had to test the leaderboards a bunch too!

Press Previews

If you’re part of the press and would like to preview the game, please email us at crows@sheado.net.
We’re starting to get more and more preview and review videos. Here’s one of the latest YouTuber gameplay videos:

Launching October 19th!

That’s it for this progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows

A Quiver of Crows Will Feature a Song by Laura Shigihara

October 11, 2016 – 4:03 pm

Laura Shigihara is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for Plants vs Zombies, as the composer/lyricist/singer for To The Moon’s “Everything’s Alright”, and as the voice for the Singing Sunflower pet in World of Warcraft. She is currently working on her own game: Rakuen.

“It’s called ‘Better Days’ and it’s about overcoming dark times in your life and growing from it,” explained Shigihara. “I hope it can bring you some sense of relaxation or peace if you’re also going through difficult times.”

“Better Days” by Laura Shigihara

Release Information

On October 19th, 2016, the game will be launching for Windows, Mac, & Linux on Steam. It will be priced at $14.99 / 14,99€ / ¥1,480 and there will be a 10% discount during the first week of launch. So make sure to wishlist now and get the game during launch week!

Press Reviews

If you’re part of the press and would like to review the game, please email us at crows@sheado.net.

Stay Tuned!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By Alice | Posted in A Quiver of Crows

Launching October 19th!

September 20, 2016 – 1:03 pm

Save the date!

October 19th! After two and half years of hard work our small team of 3 is nearly done developing our twin-stick shmup: A Quiver of Crows!

The game will be launching for Windows, Mac, & Linux on Steam. It will be priced at $14.99 / 14,99€ / ¥1,480 and there will be a 10% discount during the first week of launch. So make sure to wishlist now and get the game during launch week!

Press Reviews

If you’re part of the press and would like to review the game, please email us at crows@sheado.net.

Stay Tuned!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows

A Quiver of Crows – Progress Update #29

August 23, 2016 – 7:12 pm

Hi Peoples!

We’re getting close to completing development on our twin-stick shmup A Quiver of Crows! Here’s a status update:

Music

Alice has been working hard writing more music (while also polishing up some level designs). Here’s the latest track she’s created. Listen to it! It’s awesome!

Bugs & Beta

The game is now entering its final beta. The team has been chipping away at testing while also fixing bugs and design issues as they arise. We’re not doing a let’s play video this month so that we can focus on these final tasks.

Animation vlog

Danny’s been uploading some short animation behind the scenes videos. In each video Danny shows an animated asset and explains which Spine (animation tool) features he used for creating some of the effects. We added a bunch of these videos to our Game Development playlist on YouTube – check them out if you’re interested in animation:

T-Shirt

We designed a t-shirt! Actually, we wore these during MomoCon while we were exhibiting the game a few months ago. Buy one and represent your corvid spirit!

A Quiver of Crows T-Shirt

Press Previews

If you’re part of the press and would like to preview the game, please email us at crows@sheado.net.

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for this progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows, Development

A Quiver of Crows – Progress Update #28

July 5, 2016 – 7:40 pm

Hi everyone!

Here are some updates to our twin-stick shmup A Quiver of Crows. We are finished with the gameplay aspects of the game – all 26 stages are done. We are now working on the details of the game that make it more polished such as achievements, sound, music, Steam controller, etc.

Developer Speed Run Let’s Play Video

Here we show off the Japanese localization, the settings menu, and speed run through a stage.

New Monsters

  • Evil Eye Winged Creatures – There are currently three variations of these winged evil eye monsters in game. Their inclusion gives the game a very old-school shmup-y feel of bullet hell dodging.
  • Chained monster – no screenshot of this monster yet. They are like vicious chained guard dogs.

Weapon Upgrade Level 4

This means all 4 different types of weapons now have a level 4 version. Plasma weapon has 5 simultaneous plasma bullets, the laser is now screen-length, etc.

Settings Menu

Want to play the game in windowed mode, without music, and with half the sound volume? Now you can! Controller customization is also available.

Localization


The game will be localized to Korean, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

Press Previews

If you’re part of the press and would like to preview the game, please email us at crows@sheado.net.

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for this 28th progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By Alice | Posted in A Quiver of Crows, Development

MomoCon 2016

June 1, 2016 – 7:05 pm

Hey Peoples!

We just got back from MomoCon where we were showing our corvid-based twin-stick shmup: A Quiver of Crows.

MomoCon

A couple of months ago A Quiver of Crows was selected as a MomoCon 2016 Indie Award Showcase Finalist! So last week we found ourselves in the lovely city of Atlanta, Georgia where we got to show the game all 4 days of the convention.

IMG_1909

Gamers competing to complete a difficult stage.

IMG_6080

The 3 of us excitedly watching the action!

MomoCon was a great experience for us. We met tons of awesome people who were not afraid to show their love for gaming, anime, cosplay, and all things art. Our booth constantly had somebody playing the game from the time we set up on Thursday until the last moment of the event on Sunday. We even had people competing to beat the most difficult stages as well as speed running others. The 3 of us were kept really busy at the booth, but from time to time we were able to slip away to check out a few of the other indie games that were at the show. Of the games we got to try our favorite was Fossil Echo – if you’re looking for a fun platformer with beautiful artwork, you should really check out this game:

We also really enjoyed Shu, Dragon Fin Soup, and Ellipsis, just to name a few. You can check out the full list of MomoCon Indie Award Showcase finalists and winners here.

Stay Tuned!

Hopefully we’ll have another progress update for you in a few weeks. If you’re part of the press and would like to preview the game, please request your key via Keymailer.co or contact us at crows@sheado.net. Got questions? Please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows

Progress Update #27

April 24, 2016 – 2:39 pm

Howdy!

Time for another progress update on our upcoming twin-stick shoot’em up: A Quiver of Crows.

New Trailer

We have a new trailer! It’s been a while since our Greenlight trailer, so we figured it would be good to have a fresh trailer full of all the latest stages and weapons in the game.

Co-op Developer Let’s Play Video

We finally polished the co-op gameplay functionality – check out our first co-op let’s play! It also features a Sunset stage, new sound effects, toucans, beetles, and the latest weapons.

Award Finalist

A Quiver of Crows is a MomoCon 2016 Indie Award Showcase Finalist! We’re also going to be showing the game at MomoCon in Atlanta, Georgia. Come by and play the game if you’re attending the convention.

Latest Additions

We’re adding more content into the game all the time now. The latest enemies we’ve added are the:

  • Toucan

    • This enemy can become ghostly from time to time during which it doesn’t take any damage. Pro tip: if you use the laser beam, you can hit this enemy when it’s in a ghostly state.

  • Beetle

    • Don’t be fooled by this thing’s sluggishness. Let it get close enough and it will dart at you, horns first!

We’ve also got some new upgrades:

  • Weapon Level 3

    • With this upgrade, each of the weapons gains an additional spread or feature. For example, the plasma weapon now shoots 3 simultaneous plasma bullets.

  • Shield

    • Pick this up and your crow is protected by up to three enemy attacks.

Last, but not least, we’ve been getting the Sunset level into the game. People seem to really like the pink colors in this one:

Press Previews

More press previews are being put up on YouTube and Twitch. If you’re part of the press and would like to preview the game, please request your key via Keymailer.co

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for this 27th progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows, Development

Progress Update #26

February 29, 2016 – 3:00 pm

Hey All!

It’s time for another progress update on our upcoming twin-stick shoot’em up: A Quiver of Crows.

Developer Let’s Play Video

Check out the latest developer let’s play we recorded – sine waves, skulls, and more weapon upgrades!

Press Previews

Last month we finally got around to completing and sending out the press preview build. A whole bunch of press and let’s players streamed the game on Twitch and YouTube. It was really fun to watch their reactions, especially how different gamers handled enemy swarms when they happened. Here’s a couple of our favorites:

Sine Wave

We’ve been balancing and fine tuning the sine wave weapon. This is the fastest weapon in the game, but it’s the lightest. It’s good for taking out fast moving enemies like the wasps, but the light weight of these bullets makes them ineffective at moving heavy enemy corpses.

Shield

The stages are getting more and more difficult. Health upgrades already exist in the game, but for the later stages we’re also throwing in shields to help players get through the really tough areas.

More Stages

A good chunk of development time over the past couple months has been spent on stage design and building. The Dawn, Morning, and Noon stages are complete now and we are now focused on the Sunset and Night stages. Check out this lovely work in progress screenshot of one of the Sunset stages:

Stay Tuned!

So that’s it for this progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows, Development

Progress Update #25

January 13, 2016 – 3:56 pm

Hey!
Happy New Year!

Here’s the latest progress update on our upcoming twin-stick shoot’em up: A Quiver of Crows.

Developer Let’s Play Video

For the tl;dr in you:

Dynamic Camera

After getting a bunch of beta feedback we noticed a common issue in some of the comments: offscreen enemies sneak up on you way too quickly. We believe part of the reason for this is that the camera used to always be centered on our heroic crow. As a result, you could only see half a screen’s view ahead of you when flying in any direction. To remedy this, we introduced a dynamic camera that pans ahead relative to the crow’s speed and direction in order to allow you to look ahead as much as possible. So far, we’re finding that this new camera functionality has helped significantly reduce sneak attacks by offscreen enemies while also allowing players to fly their crow more quickly into unknown territory.

More Music

Another month, another track. Enjoy!

Artwork

More art assets are being churned out every day. The Dawn and Morning stages are finished. The Noon stages are nearly complete (check out the screenshot below) and the Sunset and Evening stages are still in the works.

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for this progress update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows, Development

November Progress Update

November 29, 2015 – 7:49 pm

Hey Peoples!

Here’s another progress update on our upcoming twin-stick shoot’em up: A Quiver of Crows.

Developer Let’s Play Video

Watch our latest developer let’s play video showcasing one of the latest stages as well as some newly completed weapons:

More Enemies!

Over the past few weeks Danny and Chad spent a lot of time adding new enemies. Our goal is to introduce a new enemy every 2-3 stages. Among the latest enemies is a darting beetle, a floating urchin that shoots spikes all around, and a demonic flying eyeball that shoots a triple spread of bullets.

New Weapon Upgrade Level

A Quiver of Crows is heavily influenced by traditional shmups that feature weapon upgrade pickups. We have just finished developing the 3rd level upgrade pickup, which causes the purple bullets to spread 5 ways, the plasma weapon to fire 3 parallel bullets, and the laser beam to reach further. With the level 3 upgrade the game has really started to feel even more chaotic as the screen fills with colorful bullets and piles of enemies.

More Music!

Enjoy the latest track, courtesy of Alice:

More Stages!

Alice has been working hard creating stages. She’s nearly 40% done with all of our planned stages, and we hope to have another beta and press preview build ready soon. If you’re a member of the press and would like a preview build, please contact us at crows@sheado.net.

IndieCade

Last month we got to show our game at IndieCade’s IndieXchange Gametasting. It was awesome to have lots of other developers play the game and give us feedback – much of which has already influenced the latest build of the game. The showing went great and the game was even selected as part of the Gametasting Spotlight!

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for this month’s update! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at crows@sheado.net or start a discussion in our Steam community hub. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @AQuiverOfCrows for more frequent updates!

By sheado | Posted in A Quiver of Crows