Shelled preview on GameTunnel!

Always fun to do random surfing and come upon your game by surprise... especially when it's linked on the front page of a game site. Guess my trip to E3/LA paid off.

Currently linked on the front page of GameTunnel under Previews, posted this month:

http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=487

I have a mixed reaction - on one hand it's an amazing feeling to feel like, dang, somebody cares! And it should only pick up once it's released! On the other hand the version previewed is a few versions old. And on top of normal dev changes, the next version will be so different that much of the review's comments are rendered obsolete. AND the positive comments almost make me second-guess the decision to so radically change the gameplay from here... ALMOST. On the other-other hand, so much has been polished even further yet since this review that further reviews should only get better.

Utterly shameless self-promotion re-posting of selected quotes:

Here's "the money" quote:

Aside from the weapons, the battlefields were well designed, with moving clouds and well textured terrain. The music that played during the bouts matched the colorful environments and jolly looking tanks. Overall the destructible terrain, the amazing graphics and the colorful visual schemes produced by Red Thumb Games makes for a great presentation. Players can look forward to 20 battlefields, free battles on-line, and enough game options and death-matching fun to last for quite some time. Shelled is definitely shaping up to be a sure smash-hit.

I couldn't have written the ad copy better myself.

Other quotes:

Scorched Earth fans may have a new "mother of all games".

Red Thumb Games' high-quality take on the classic genre that made action strategy games popular.

The actual game itself is fairly easy to get the hang of.

The environments are lush ... the destructible terrain is cool.

...there was a bevy selection of goodies to arm my turtle-tank with.

Nuke: One of the coolest weapons on the game.

High-Five: This is a kick-butt weapon...

Rocket: This was one of the baddest, most destructive weapons...

Positive comments aside, there were a few noteworthy errors/revisions:

"This is all about the on-screen action that takes place among the eight turtle-shelled tanks."

Actually it was six in the ver he played, not eight, but the funny thing is we JUST upgraded to 8.

"If you've ever played a game like Scorched Earth, then you already know about charging up the power meter that determines the firing distance."

Error. This feature was never in Scorched Earth - it's a feature taken from mini-golf/bowling style games. Traditional SE games allow input of a power, rather than a charge-up. In fact, this is one of the things that makes Shelled! unique compared to games like Scorched Earth/clones, so I'm sorry to see the opposite erroneously pointed out.

"In the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, there's an aerial, 3D rotating view of the player's selected tank. This view is important because while aiming or flying, due to the game being in real-time, players are easily susceptible to an attack from any of the seven other competitors. The 3D view helps the player spot incoming attacks and gives an added measure of strategy to the overall gameplay."

This feature was removed a few internal versions ago :)

"With the release set for the third quarter of 2006..."

Hahahaha... no comment.

Anyway, stoked to see the game's first "real" publicity, especially given the positive nature of it. Still, it's a preview, not an actual review, though it was played and reviewed. A little nervous to see how the review/preview/whatever will change once the game moves to a much more Scorched-based mentality and feel... but no saying we can't go back if that doesn't click.

The next version of Shelled! (beta 2) is slated for mid-October (hmmm, right around IGC time) - be sure to sign up for the RTG Newsletter at redthumbgames.com to help out with the beta test! Fully working online games + a dedicated game server will be major changes compared to beta 1 (along with said Scorch-feel changes).

Also, naturally, big thanks to the Shelled! team for getting us this far. The positive comments above belong as much to them as anyone. Canon's art, Gary's tireless coding and design help, and Stephen Zepp's terrain deform code are especially visible in the review and you should all be proud. Also, big thank you to the reviewer for not mentioning the ugly crashes (ha), and thanks to GT for mentioning our game and taking the time to check it out at all in the first place.

If anyone's unfamiliar with the Shelled story, well it's no success yet, but (pointing to review) SEEEE? It can be done, even with minimal sized team and budget, and Torque will get you there. Just keep at it - we are!

Josh