Update May 11th, 2012: Thanks for all the help so far, I've taken down the alpha test temporarily to ease the integration of features needed for beta.


Click to join the alpha test!

Sky Riders is a platform racing, online multiplayer game. Strap on your rocket-powered skates, take to the skies and blast to the finish line as fast as you can. Collect gear, earn credit, and form clans to compete with your friends.

As this is an alpha test, the game is not complete. You may notice missing visuals and audio, find menu options that don't work yet, or experience crashing. You'll also probably not find tons of people to play with (since it's not on the Armor Games frontpage yet) but there are the solo Daily Challenge races you can try.

Please report any bugs you do find in the comments below or to evan@pixelante.com
General feedback is welcome too!

I've decided to open the testing up to all Armor Games accounts as I really need the extra eyes on this. If you've already taken the time to sign up manually, I'll make sure you get a special bonus when the game is done, as thanks.

Minor update 0.5.4 (may need to refresh or clear cache to receive the update)

• Fixed a crash when entering a race lobby while NPC menus were visible.
  
• Fixed stats in shops showing debug values at first.
  
• Fixed a bunch of behind-the-scenes craziness with clan members and databases and tigers oh my!
  
• Clans can now declare a rivalry towards another clan, and earn extra exp/credit when beating rival riders.
  
• Base amount of exp rewarded from live races raised by 100.
  
  • I guess you could say there was... too much grind.
    
    • Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhh!!!!

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Hey everyone, just posting a quick update.

I fell very ill right after the Fowl Space launch and am only just starting to get out of it, so things have been moving slowly around here.

Eddy and Drew have worked on a Fowl Space demo, and are waiting on me to get it set up and running. I'm more focused on getting back into Sky Riders but I'll find time for it soon (as well as getting the Mac & Linux versions up for sale).

Overall the Steam launch went really smoothly with few complaints, but framerates are pretty rough all around. Honestly, it's always been a tough game to run and always will be. We pushed Flash to its limits and the reality is it's going to lag now and then. I feel bad about that, but it is what it is.

Sky Riders should get an update in the new few days fixing most of the reported bugs. Not much in the way of new features yet, but like I said, I've been very sick :(

New stuff will come in time; April should be a big month for the game.

Well folks, I don't know what to say. It's been a long, hard road but we've finally made it. Fowl Space is done! IT'S DONE. I thought it would never happen.

Buy Fowl Space on Steam
If you had told me years ago that I would make it to Steam with a game about penis jokes where an astronaut rooster fights vikings in the sun, I'd have told you to do less drugs.

But now you can feel like you're on drugs, by playing Fowl Space. Do it! Do it now!

Yeah, basically. Work is work even when it's cool work.

Re-wrote a bunch of the rendering engine in Sky Riders, but I can't really tell if it's going to run faster on old cards or not. Will have to just upload it when its done and let people test.

Once I'm done with that, on to tackling all the reported bugs.

Pixel Legions (Deluxe) has made it's way from the Playbook to the Nook Color.

Get it now in the Barnes & Noble app store!

Thanks to FGL and Difference Games for all their hard work in making this happen!

Making a multiplayer platform racing game is pretty tough when you don't have any players! Now that Sky Riders is in a playable state, it's time to open the floodgates a wee little bit and starting letting people in to break everything and make me miserable make sure it works!

So if you're interested in helping out and getting a sneak peak at the game (albeit, in a very unfinished state) post your Armor Games account name in the comments below or email it to me at evan@pixelante.com

If you don't have an Armor Games account... sign up for one!

Keep in mind this is ALPHA testing, not beta. That means the game is VERY ROUGH AND INCOMPLETE.

Testing will start some time next week, and we'll be setting specific times of day to meet up and race. More details coming soon!

That’s what I said when I announced Sky Riders and there’s been considerable interest in what it actually means. I’ve been itching to reveal the details, so today I’ll start with social gaming and walled-gardens.

Social gaming is broken
The current trend of ‘social games’ is to create anti-social experiences. People play single-player games and then spam their friends to extort items from. They pressure each other to sink more time into the game out of a selfish desire to progress faster by literally using one another as tools.

Single-player games? Notification spam? Peer pressure? Using people like tools?

Anti-social.

MMOs make up another genre plagued with anti-social design practices. Developers are so scared of griefing they’ve all but eliminated multiplayer from their ‘massively multiplayer’ games altogether. Instancing prevents people from even seeing one another. Party systems and match-making have been marginalized, often relegated to the ‘end-game’, or are not even implemented in the first place.

This is ‘social gaming’. This is ‘massively multiplayer’.

This is broken.

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Click for full image
I've been bad and haven't blogged for a while now. With a project this ridiculous in scope -- and such a short development cycle -- I'm finding myself either buried in work or very burned out.

But things are moving along at a brisk pace and I played with some environment art today. This is another behind-the-scenes look at what the game's level editing looks like.

Needs some work, but it's getting there!

Click for full image

I needed to whip together a tool for artists to see how their sprites will look on the in-game character. It's simple and ugly, but it gets the job done and you can bulk import a whole texture set (or swap in individual pieces) and see various animations

I'm looking forward to being able to show something nicer than my silly placeholder crash test dummy!

UPDATE: Positions have been filled. My thanks goes out to everyone who applied.


Original post:
I'm looking to fill a bunch of freelancee contract positions for concept, logo, 2D environment and 2D character artists for Sky Riders, a multiplayer platform racing game developed for Armor Games.
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