Ask Twitter: Placeholder art, scoring my own games, XNA, the leap to procedural

With today’s work on Soulcaster mostly being behind-the-scenes stuff involving the new slotting equipment/inventory system, I figured I didn’t have much to say on that topic today. I decided to poll my Twitter list for topic ideas, and got several I could answer lightning-round style. Here goes.

blog topic idea - vgm

On my own games, I get to pick whatever style I want, and have final approval. This does not necessarily make things any easier. Lack of constraints can be paralyzing for me, so I usually set up some artificial constraints before starting the score. On all four of my games so far, I’ve gone for something of a 90’s era redbook audio vibe. Soulcaster used Lagoon (SNES) as its main inspiration, Soulcaster II used Labyrinth (the movie), Escape Goat used Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and Escape Goat 2 drew a bit from Bayonetta. All of the instrument sets were restricted to software versions of hardware that was available in the 80’s and 90’s.

Escape Goat Owners: How to Claim Your Steam Key

Escape Goat is in beta on Steam right now, and I’ve been distributing keys to the various marketplaces and bundles that have sold Escape Goat over the past year and a half. (Crazy that it’s been that long, and it’s just now coming to Steam–it’s like a launch all over again in some ways.)

If you haven’t claimed your Steam key yet, here’s the status based on where you bought the game:

  • Humble Store (bought on this website) – You should have received a link via email
  • IGN Game of the month (also distributed with Humble Store keys) – Contact me
  • Desura – Keys available if you log in (see instructions below)
  • Indie Gala – Use the Desura key you got with the bundle
  • IndieGameStand – Log in to IGS and claim your key
  • Indie Royale – See Desura instructions below
  • Indie Gala – See Desura instructions below
  • Green Light Bundle – Keys will be available in about 2 weeks
  • Others – Contact me

How to claim your Steam key from Desura

  1. Open the Desura client
  2. Click on the blue button at the top left
  3. Click on History>Gifts History
  4. Click on the “your collection” link in blue
  5. Click on “Keys” next to Escape Goat

(Thanks to fluffnugget on the Steam forums for this)

Achievements and Beta Progress:

If you want to go for the achievements in the game, here’s a list of them.  They won’t appear in the client until the game is on the marketplace.

The game should launch within a week or so if all goes according to plan. Let me know if you have any questions or if you have trouble claiming your keys.