- Summary - History - Evolution - Transition -

We're coming out of an interminable dark tunnel at long last. After 10 full-time years of content development on my part and 5 years full-time (5 years part-time) of tech, programming, animation etc. on Dean's part, over several Krabbit games we are going into hobby dev mode. No longer are we hardcore, full-time, heads down sacrificial, slaves in 24/7 crunch mode. Farewell pasty-faced cave dwelling self! Gym and sunshine, here I come!

Wearing all the hats, we two journeyed through several ambitious projects, learning as we went, and effectively completed a worthy game, though not entirely what was hoped it would become. We had, after all, as my Mom would have said, “chosen the hardest row to hoe” in making the game we wanted to play.

With too much time invested extending hobby engines and the real ones out of reach, we've finally made the leap to build our own. No longer shall we be held hostage by network or performance limitations or inaccessible source code! Thus the birth of iCauldron3D.

Depleted resources and bridled visibility for KWO have forced our hand but it's a good thing. No more isolation, new opportunities and a more healthy balanced life await. Fitness, friends and family will reclaim their proper place! Future Krabbit content will be released at a pace more relaxing for two people in their spare time. In Engrish: we're getting day jobs and all the benefits that come with! Hobby dev mode, here we come! :)



KRABBIT PREVIOUS PROJECTS LIST:

KrabbitWorld
2D multiplayer Krabbit RPG for MacOSX and Windows abandoned in 2000 for 3D, partly ported to Java for web in 2010 now online

KrabbitWorld Labyrinth
3D Peer2Peer multiplayer game for MacOSX, Windows and Linux released in 2006 with incomplete tutorial, now free to download from our web site

Krabbit Fighter
3D high poly Krabbit Fighter Game, content began development in 2007, never released
Krabbits, terrain and multiplay networking deployed to Xbox 360 and PSP

KrabbitOnline
3D online multiplayer Krabbit game partly developed in 2008 for MacOSX and Windows featuring our Attitude System now offline

KrabbitWorld Origins
Single player Action Adventure RPG for MacOSX and Windows featuring streaming content and our own DRM released in 2009 with updates



CONTENT IN DEVELOPMENT (never released)

Karrellica, the Floating Island
Heightmap used to create 3D mesh of the Floating Island. Object done. Texturing in progress. Can be used as a level and for screens and video clips.






 

KRABBIT RACETRACK

Heightmap used to create 3D mesh of the Ferret Head mountains and racetrack.
 

THE AQUAVIAN (air/land/sea vehicle)

Design doc for gameplay as a level complete. Blueprints done. Initial 3D object complete.
 

MORE KRABBIT CHARACTERS (profiles, attitudes, portraits and concepts developed)

Lord Varmint, Empress Turbo, Fivinus, Maudib, Belladonna, Lord Kindarel, Sarafina



VEHICLES AND FAUNA

Ferret, spiders, hoverboard and jetbike.

KRABBITWORLD ORIGINS STATUS

Multiplay delayed until port to suitable engine. DLC delayed until process in place.

 

iCauldron3D OPEN SOURCE GAME ENGINE

OpenGL/OpenGLES based engine in C in development for multiple platforms starting with iPhone/iPad and MacOSX

iKrabbit - BREAKING OUT THE STORY AND MOVING FORWARD

To showcase our own 3D Game Engine we are using the years of previously developed content and game mechanics to build an iPhone game. iKrabbit is an epic single player adventure RPG iPhone game featuring the 8 Realms and all the characters and story not yet released in previous Krabbit games.


Over the years of developing the Krabbit IP a passionate and dramatic story was written during our 'business meetings by walking around the block' (virtually our only time afk other than eating, sleeping or watching movies). Bits of the story have been released in our videos, demos and ingame Tomes, but only now with 'breaking out the story' in iKrabbit will the true depth be revealed. And that is my task which is well underway.



MINI KRABBIT GAMES FOR iPhone/iPad

Since iKrabbit will take some time to complete we'd like to release free or budget priced mini iPhone/iPad games along the way. They will feature content and gameplay already developed and broken out from the previous more complex Krabbit games and from iKrabbit itself. Compare this list to what's previously been achieved. So much is already done!


1)   iKandi – cute female Krabbit starring in a simple Krabbit dress-up game featuring our own colour engine
2)   Krabbit Sez – simple musical puzzle game featuring the colourful Ka–Ra SpellForge
3)   ayeKrabbit – aerial pirate combat game featuring the Aquavian and floating island Karrellica
4)   iShadow – survival horror Krabbit Game to scare your pants off, featuring the Old Academy
5)   Krabbit Racer – simple Krabbit racing game featuring the Ferret Head Mountain Racetrack, Turbo's Hoverboard and OGRE's Jetbike.



CONCLUSION

Is it the current economic climate that has effected our change? Yes and No.
We have our own particular roadblocks in the way of financial independence and success in video game development for the PC.

•   Neither of us is interested in the business side (we're a programmer and an artist)
•   We lost enough time looking for funding in the early years
•   We do not meet the requirements for Telefilm or the Canada Media Fund
•   As self-taught devs we lack the experience and connections
•   We have no marketing budget to make us visible on the bigger distribution channels
•   Our IP is misunderstood by some channels who view our game as a kid's game
•   Our project is too ambitious for indie love for that special visibility boost
•   Our project needs more polish and content to appeal to the more discriminating gamer
•   Our gameplay is hardcore and much too complex for the casual gamer
•   The search for a good supporting technology failed resulting in compromise



SOLUTION

Our solution is to deploy to a platform that does not present a moving target and to build our own technology. With PC dev one has to allow for multiple configurations, various operating systems and versions, graphics cards etc. The iPhone and iPad have far less complications to deal with. We have a ton of content to reuse and our own new engine. The playing field for visibility on the App Store is more equal for all. We may have a chance in this new direction to compete in hobby mode!

The question has been asked on our new KrabbitWorld Origins Forums:

Do you guys still have plans to make an MMO?

-------------------------------------------------------

This is a really good question as with our string of game attempts it's easy to see how there could be some confusion.

Back in 2000 we did a small 2D MMO called KrabbitWorld.
3D was just starting to become popular and look good so we shut it down and changed our path. MMO was the kind of game we wanted to make since way back then. 3D became our permanent direction.

In 2006 we released KrabbitWorld Labyrinth, our first attempt at a 3D game.
The multiplay never evolved past an irc peer to peer version. The engine wasn't up to supporting our vision so we were unable to continue to support the game and now give it away for free.

Between 2006 - 2008 we experimented with building our own engine
(based on an open source renderer) to support KrabbitOnline, another attempt at a 3D MMO. Looking ahead at the time it would take to build all the assets, maps and technology that players would expect it would have taken us years as we are a small team of two.

In 2008 we found an affordable engine that could
with some additions support our vision to the degree that KrabbitWorld Origins requires. The goal became to make a completed quality 3D game with story and content that could stand on it's own without even needing to be multiplay. KrabbitWorld Origins is that game, currently only singleplay with multiplay just around the corner.

To more specifically answer your question:
KrabbitWorld Origins is the only game on our list of games to make, but we do have plans to build it out. There is an Open World Mode which is lightly defined in the manual where players can have random encounters and form teams to play in zoned areas. We've decided on a Hybrid game that encompasses our favourite things in games while being an attainable project for two ambitious people.
 

So no, there are no specific plans to make an MMO as is defined by the masses.
The reasons are that MMO's generally are 'click n' pick' yer nose kind of gameplay which we don't find engaging enough. Hard core combat has always been our preferred mode of gameplay. Thus the Hybrid KrabbitWorld Origins. Also the content required to make a decent sized MMO is pretty near impossible for two people to create.. at least good quality detailed content.

We are now using a well known and regarded 3rd party networking tool.
The developers of this tool do vigourous QA. We'll be making an announcement about it soon and will being calling out for beta testers when our new multiplay goes live.

That all being said, KrabbitWorld Origins is a growing game.
It is a Hybrid game that will have much in common with MMO's as they have properties we like alot, such as the opportunity to randomly encounter people from all over the world and join up to play. Also the character building and customization, mounted and swappable gear, etc....

Currently KWO has only one playable continent, Karrellica.
You can see on the main krabbitonline web page the entire world map; there is much more to come. So you could say that it may grow into an MMO similar to that of Guild Wars type releasing games that can stand on their own, or hook together, creating one massive world of play but with our own specialized combat and not depending on huge detailed quest strings. We do plan to bring in such features as grabs and throws and climbing and grappling, features not present in MMO's.

KrabbitWorld Origins=Hybrid (combining genres)

I've wanted to blog this, my very first, article since I wrote it on September 4th. Being first an artist and game developer, I don't pretend to be a writer, in fact writing is purely out of necessity. As an Indie company we wear all the hats on our own two heads. It's too preview/hype/press release-ish to qualify as a feature yet it pretty well defines our product and journey in a nutshell. This seemed like the right place to share it.

Since this 'article' the game has grown to include multiplay and many game modes appealing to fierce pwnage types, the next update to be available in October. These coming features are being implemented true to the organic evolutionary path.

By Teri Thom

September 4th, 2009


From quaint 2D MMORPG to primitive 3D Peer to Peer Action RPG to a more sophisticated 3D Action RPG,
steered by the confines of limited resources and wanting technology, the Krabbits have finally found their feet in KrabbitWorld Origins.
“This is the game we’ve always wanted to make” said Dean Wadsworth, co-founder and project leader of KrabbitSoft. “We could continue to polish it for 2 more years but that wouldn’t alter the fact we’ve overcome many niggling technical issues producers of even triple AAA games have neglected.”

A Gothic Fantasy 3D Action RPG, KrabbitWorld Origins, has been defined by it’s viewers as having the charm of a wonderland and the bizarre quality of a nightmare where others have referred to it as a great psychedelic gothic romp.

 

KrabbitSoft defies the rules by putting all one’s eggs into the risky untested IP basket. Curiously, time has ultimately aligned the ingredients for effective production. Putting all focus on developing ‘the game we always wanted to make’ might well have guided this eventual alignment of elements.

Presentations for funding and applications for grants could have resulted in loss of ownership and integrity of the IP and original game idea. Separating distractions from focusing on the main goal was of key importance.

With the quality of life being such a big issue in the game development industry one might ask “Was it worth putting in 2.5 man years each into the last 8 months?” “Yes!” I say. Success at best, gained knowledge and experience at worst, and in my honest opinion, that’s never a loss”.

In breaking out the Organic Game Design by Evolution reference, three examples come to mind. Where externally funded games have to follow a set plan, we as independents can flow like water around rock.

For instance, we came up against a technological brick wall with regards to our text/quest system so we implemented our own new solution of dynamically streaming quest content from the web to the game, thereby eliminating the necessity of a new build for an added quest.

This and our online authentication/anti-piracy feature further substantiate our choice of krabbitonline.com as our supporting domain.

The other two examples of Organic Evolution are our combo hud/combat execution and camera/character controls which both started out inspired by games we love and evolved into our own signature style. We use a 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) camera and allow our Krabbits with their exaggerated animations and up to 400 bones per character and up to 30 mount points, extreme freedom of movement.

Actually a 4th example comes to mind with our innovative implementation of the 3D inventory and paper doll system. It was born out of the need to save time. We didn’t have the time to create a 2D icon for every item so we opened another camera viewport instead of using ‘render to texture’ which is an expensive technique. The inventory itself was automatically created from the model’s separate surfaces. The player can mouse over items to rotate them in the inventory window. This way our inventory can benefit from toon shaders. We use this technique for our avatar hud,
drag n’ drop inventory, navigational map and camera fly through scenes.


Why the title “KrabbitWorld Origins”?

“KrabbitWorld” was our first game. (a quaint little 2D MMO back in 2000 with a modest following) With the rising popularity of 3D, neither Dean nor I could settle for 2D.



“KrabbitWorld Labyrinth” was our first venture into 3D. (a valiant attempt but a bit of a train wreck and fairly reviewed with numbers from both ends of the scale back in 2006).

Now with the features of the Unity Technologies engine we’re able to combine our experience and technology
to go back to developing our ‘Original’ game idea. Plus our characters, the Krabbits, all come from a different
Realm of Origin.

What’s the game about? What are the mechanics? What is special about it?





The gist of it:

First off, the Krabbits, a giant humanoid species, are inspired by the lovable bandity faces and flexible forms of ferrets and the huge ears and feet and tremendous speed and jumping ability of rabbits. Their adversaries, the Necrotechs, resulted from a vindictively motivated combining of technology and magic with Krabbits.

Moving on; … KrabbitWorld, lush and fertile, is home to Krabbits from eight different Realms. Following the Great Guardian War, the vile Necrotechs from the Realm of Contrivance invade the Krystal Kaverns and strive to breach the Gateway of the Land of The Dead. You must protect the Celestial Shard and stop the Necrotechs from bringing Chaos to the land.

Deeper plot twists include the emotional tension and drama between the reluctant Hero Guardian Kria and her, unbeknownst to her sister, Teella whom, a villain by circumstance is now a living dead, Fallen Priestess and Kria’s arch nemesis.

The linear gameplay reveals the lore through quests. However a kool feature is the ability to play sandbox style once you’ve completed the first scene. Currently there are 6 playable Krabbits. The depth of character customization and building extends the linear gameplay as far as the player wants to take it as the level cap is set to 99 while the powers can continue to be built to 999.

Other features include exploring many levels, and a uniquely engaging hack n' slash combat employing a combo hud. The combo hud allows players to increase damage based on timing and accuracy. Camera and character controls allow the player 6 degrees of freedom and movement abilities akin to superheroes.

At game end of Scene One players upon defeating the end boss are gifted with special loot. Updates with more characters, quests and levels are currently in development.



KrabbitWorld Origins web site:
http://www.krabbitonline.com

A free demo is available in Mac OSX and Windows for download at:
http://www.krabbitonline.com/node/83

An informative and fun interactive game features page can be played with at:
http://www.krabbitonline.com/node/88

KrabbitWorld Origins has entered the UA 2009 competition: aka 2009 Unity Awards
http://unity3d.com/contest
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=30651&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=42






 



Teri Thom is the co-founder, president/CEO and artist of KrabbitSoft Studios Inc.
She has over 20 years experience working in the graphics industry.

KrabbitSoft Studios is a 100% Canadian owned independent
game development company comprised of two people
based in Surrey, BC, Canada.