Bomberman-meets-Zelda online battler Grand Class Melee 2 crowdfunding campaign

[Drixxel]

My friends and I at Gigatross Games just launched an Indiegogo campaign to help in funding development of the much expanded sequel to Grand Class Melee, our XBLIG multiplayer brawler that hit the scene last October. There's been a flood of Kickstarter and other crowdfunding threads in recent weeks, so I understand if this gets swept under the rug because of it, but our campaign video might give you a chuckle.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yX5Bh3-mzI

We're excited by the propect of taking this game to its full potential, this is a big project and we've discovered that our fans want exactly what we want as far as improvements and additions go (online multiplayer and development of a PC version being the two biggies).

Here's our Indiegogo campaign page: http://www.indiegogo.com/gcm2
..and the Gigatross Games homepage, featuring production art and other good stuff: http://www.gigatross.com/

Your interest is most appreciated, DP. Questions and comments are definitely welcome!

[jcalder8]

Looks like it could be interesting. Is there online multiplayer too?

I'll probably pick it up at that price... and I do love Canadian content.

[Drixxel]

Thanks for taking a look! While we haven't implemented online multiplayer for this release, it is something we'd love to bring in as the game could definitely work in that environment. For now, though, we're focusing on that four-players-around-a-TV experience.

[jcalder8]

If its an rpg, how are you going to make the teams fair?

[Drixxel]

We've taken a great deal of time in playtesting to balance the classes against each other with the goal of creating abilities that have interesting interplay, both alongside and against each other. You won't find anything gamebreaking, and if you do, your skill and creativity is awesome.

As it stands, Grand Class Melee isn't an RPG, at least not in the conventional sense. It's more a multiplayer battle game with the added depth of a class system to determine your primary and secondary ability. While you are developing your character by accumulating abilities, your actual progress isn't based on experience and you aren't buying your way to a higher state. After each of the game's 8 rounds, you move on to another class regardless of whether you won or lost. Thusly, with each round you gain another ability unique to this new class and then choose any other ability from your previously-played-through classes to use in the current round. The eventual victor of a game is decided through a test of 8 rounds and the resulting score, one point to a player for every round won.

I hope that clears things up a tad!

[Drixxel]

We've finished up development of Grand Class Melee and, in preparation for its release, we've assembled another gameplay trailer highlighting the final build.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRWOHaEcZWI

Expect to see Grand Class Melee on the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace soon! As always, any and all feedback is appreciated. Thank you!

[Drixxel]

Gaming website MP1st (http://mp1st.com) just posted an interview they were kind enough to conduct with us at Gigatross Games about Grand Class Melee and indie games development. It's the first part of a series where they'll be covering multiplayer indie gaming. Below are a couple choice snippers, but check out the full article here: http://mp1st.com/2011/10/17/mp1st-interview-gigatross-games-dishes-on-indie-development-grand-class-melee/

MP1st: When the three of you teamed up to form Gigatross Games, did you set out to specifically create a multiplayer game?

Well, the concept of this game has a history. Being that the dev team grew up together, we played many, many games together. When we got bored of the ones we had, we invented new games and borrowed the best ideas from the ones we liked. The best players will be able to see many different influences from older games in Grand Class Melee. But at the very beginning, GCM was played with pool noodles in our backyard. Over the years it became this Frankenstein that somehow worked as an indie game. Naturally, it’s multiplayer because that was our situation growing up, playing games together. We believe games are at their best when they bring people together, especially into the same room.

MP1st: What were the most difficult aspects of developing a multiplayer title in this sort of context (indie team, downloadable, etc.)?

The ‘indie’ part was probably the most challenging aspect of it. Moments such as telling our friends and parents what we were doing; foregoing well-paying jobs just to have more time to work on this project might seem quite risky to many people, and it is. We know it can be difficult to chase a dream, but we’re prepared to fight for it.
Another obvious challenge for us was balancing the many classes in the game. You never really know how an idea will play until you implement it and test it for yourself. Almost every class in the game went through at least one redesign. But, this was still a fun process for us.

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Grand Class Melee is making its way through peer review and should be out on XBLIG in a few days. Thanks for your interest!

[Drixxel]

We at Gigatross Games are thrilled to release Grand Class Melee, out now on Xbox Live Indie Games! If you're in the mood for some good ol' fashioned sword-'n'-sworcery multiplayer brawling, we would love for you to give the trial a spin. Take a look at our Xbox profile here: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Grand-Class-Melee/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509a7

Any questions and comments are welcome!

[Drixxel]

We're introducing a system of fan-driven class balancing into Grand Class Melee! If anyone has any feedback to provide on the relative strength or weakness of a class or classes, our website (gigatross.com) now features an easy-to-navigate class list with a feedback submission form available for each class.

We're ramping up production on a full blown sequel to Grand Class Melee for PC and XBLIG that will include better everything, and more of it (online play, double the classes, new gameplay modes, deeper combat, redrawn graphics, etc.). Official details on GCM 2 will be emerging shortly, but for now, we'd love to hear your class balancing suggestions as they relate to GCM 1.

Thanks for any interest, DP!

[Drixxel]

Gigatross Games has just launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund development of Grand Class Melee 2. See the original post for details!