The Sound of AI Vendetta

Hi!

Welcome back to another blog!
Today we would like to share a little bit about the music that makes AI Vendetta sound the way it does. And not just that, there is a bunch of sounds and effects that together make the world come alive. Because we love sharing, we put all the songs from the soundtrack (those that have been announced) here on our website for you to listen to! Of course you can also visit our YouTube channel for the soundtrack and other videos or find them here on our website using this link.

For those interested, there is also a short story on our experience with creating the soundtrack of AI Vendetta below. If you liked this article or any the work we do, please leave us a comment. You can also play the AI Vendetta alpha demo using the link in the menu bar. Of course we would love any feedback you may have on the game and we would very much like to get into contact so leave us a message or follow us on your favourite social media!

Making the sound of AI Vendetta

So how did we get to creating the soundtrack and what inspired us in the process? That can be best explained in the words of our very own Rens van der Meijs, who works on the project as programmer, but is in charge of anything music related in the project as well!
For this project we really had to sit down and define what it was that AI Vendetta is; What mood and setting do we have, what message are we trying to get across, what is the story of AI Vendetta? A lot of the immersion in a game comes from sound because besides being very visually oriented, we as humans are also tuned into hearing a response from the actions that we take and from events that happen in the world. The best sounds are often those you cannot hear or notice. They are the subtle noises that make the world come alive and sound natural. Think about footsteps, the wind, the sound of a passing car. You know they are there even though you don't always conscientiously perceive them.

With AI Vendetta we are also spending a lot time just adding sounds and effects to everything, not to make them stand out, but to make them fit in. It is really important to do this because otherwise nothing would feel real. Something really interesting to do, is to play a game and turn off the music. Just listen to all the sounds that are happening. Suddenly it becomes apparent that there is such a rich soundscape in many games, sounds that you didn't notice before but would really lack if they weren't there. A good example of this is to play an open world game such as the Witcher 3 or the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

The story of AI Vendetta and also the general mood is very dark and gloomy, almost desperate. But it is also a story about adventure, exploration and bravery. We also have the robotical theme going on throughout the game which needed to be present in the soundtrack. So we took a lot of inspiration from existing games and movies to get to know what feels right in which situation. For example, we really like the soundtrack of Portal 2 because it had the experimental and adventurous theming to it, but also was set in a more futuristic setting (with robots!). For us most of the time it really comes down to what message we want to get across and we try to fit the music to that specific setting, thus every song was tailor made for a specific usage and message. You may also notice that the music changes slightly throughout the game as the story progresses to better translate the underlying thematics.

The soundtrack of AIVendetta, with more to come.

If there is one thing that we want you to take away from this story, it's that music and sound effects are really important to any game experience. Don't underestimate the power of sound when it comes down to creating an immersive experience. We are very lucky to have such an amazing in-house musician to help us create the game experience that we want to bring to you and we would very much advise any gamedevs out there to invest into their game audio as well. During our process of creating AI Vendetta we also met a great musician, Ninichi, who actually creates game music on commission. So we would definitely recommend to check out her blog for some of her music as well as other gamedev interests if you are looking for someone to help you with your game audio!

That's all for now! If you'd like to know more about the game, please feel free to leave us a message or give us a shout on social media. We always love to get into contact and would certainly like to help out any other gamedevs as well!

And with that I "wave" goodbye to you all! See you next time!

~Thom, CatbyteGames

Meet the cast

Have you met the cast of AI Vendetta yet?
In this you game play as proto, a robot with the power to transform and utilize different game modes and mechanics. You can play as Combat-, Stealth- and Utility mode. Each with their own unique game experience and possibilities in the game. Can you combine their powers to save humanity from certain doom?

Combat Mode

Use your rockets to blast a way through enemy defences. With decent shielding and average speed you are perfect for taking on any challenge. Place traps to outwit your enemies.

Stealth Mode

Combine your low signature movement and four wheel drive to sneak past enemy defences and dismantle traps. Use small corridors to avert danger. Use your charged focus optics to form a small but powerful laser beam.

Utility Mode

With reinforced plating nothing can get to you, use your magnetic powers to manipulate the environment and breach through defences. Use your seismic shock ability to further demolish anything that crosses your path.

STEALTH

COMBAT

UTILITY

Seasons Greetings, Goodbye 2016

Hi!

Wishing you all warm and happy holidays in the next few weeks
and all the best for the coming year!

Let's make this a year to never forget!

~The Catbyte Team

Like a boss: AI-Vendetta fully leveled.

Hi!

Today we are very glad to announce that we finally have built all of the levels,
including ALL boss fights, that we are going to feature in the game!

With this we are getting closer to reaching a beta stage product! All that still needs to be done feature wise is an overhaul for our UI and Menu (with full controller support) and an all new unlockables system. At the same time we are also working on transforming the game visually, we can't just keep those grey boxes there!
And of course we will also be fixing and tuning the game till we think it's really great!

As you may notice, there is still a LOT to be done before we are going onto the market with our game. Until that point we would love to keep in contact with you, especially if you are interested in trying out the demo (link below) because your feedback really matters! And of course, after the launch we still like to hear from you and we will be there to make sure your game experience is the best possible.

So what can you expect from us in the near future?
For starters, we will keep up our social media presence, especially on twitter with weekly screenshots.
Major announcements such as the, to be expected, beta stage announcement will of course still be primarily done through our blog, but we will keep you posted through social media as well of course!

~The CatByte Team

Playable exclusively in one of the following browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari & Opera.
Requires installation of the Unity Webplayer plugin.

AI Vendetta: The gamedev story

Hi!

Some of you that follow us on Twitter or Facebook may have already seen it, but today we are very pleased to share a lovely story on the development of AI Vendetta here as well! A while ago we were very happy to speak with Ninichi, a talented game music composer and marketing consultant. She made a very cool article about our game and we are so thrilled and honoured by all of her support!

She has been doing these articles for many other indie games as well and has been showing such amazing love and support for the indiegame community, so please check out her website or follow her on twitter for more cool indiegame development news!

P.S. Stay tuned for some more exciting news later this week as well!


You can find the article on her website by clicking the link below:

"introducing the game AI-Vendetta" by Ninichi

Status Update

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while since our last update. A thing I've been saying a lot, but don't worry!
We are still alive and very active in the production of AI Vendetta.

So where are we currently and what do we still need to do?

Currently, we have a whitebox version of 23 out of the planned 25 levels. This means they are fully functional, but are created with a minimum amount of visuals so we can focus purely on creating, validating and tuning the levels. Doing so makes it easier for us to guarantee quality- and bug-free (as far as that is possible) gameplay. This also ensures that we don't get distracted by the aesthetics of the game and instead focus on its quality. Another advantage of whiteboxing levels is that it allows you to do functional playtesting and easily tweak and alter levels. Something I would absolutely recommend to other developers!
Once this process is fully done, we can start decorating the levels and writing character dialogs. Next to the initial 25 levels, we are also working on 5 Boss fights of which we currently have 3 fully functional.

Because nearly all levels have been created, content wise the game is nearing completion! Which is something we are really proud off, especially after such a long journey. However, this doesn't mean we are nearly done!

Even after these levels have been whiteboxed, they still need to be decorated. This requires art assets to be made and hand-placed in every level to create a unique feeling for the game. The crafting of this feeling also goes hand-in-hand with the soundtrack and sound-effects, as created by Rens. Besides that, most of the characters and enemies will require some modelling work.
So yeah, there is a LOT of artwork that needs to be done.
This is something that we can do ourselves, but it will take a lot of time as we are primarily trained as programmers and designers. So we may also be interested in taking on a new member in the team, buying art assets or delegating it to an external service.

Here's a few of the recent (art) updates we made:

Some Official/Unofficial programmer (placeholder) art by Thom

Lots and lots of whiteboxes!

Rounding up:

OK, so we still need to make the game look nice, then what?
Well, to make sure our players get the best experience possible we need to do a lot of testing and bug fixing. Creating a game not only about creating a fun experience, it's also about making it work good. And it is our mission to make it so! And to do so, we can use anyone's help! In fact, we absolutely need it. When creating a game or experience, you only know what you like about it and what you want to get from it in the end. But this is an experience we are sharing with the world, and we are not making it just for ourselves, so your opinion really counts!
Not only that, we also need your support. We are doing our very best in posting regular updates on several social media, mostly on Twitter and Facebook. We also do an occasional twitch session where we show a bit of the process we go through in creating the game. Simply sharing or following our process as we do this would mean to world to us. So please feel free to check out our social media or play the demo!

Discover us on

(Demo playable exclusively in the following browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari & Opera
requires the Unity Webplayer plugin to work)

Behind the scenes #2: Making the Rules

Hello!

Today we present a first mini-blog in a range of upcoming blogs to show you the second episode in the How it’s made video series: Making the Rules. Our colleague Rens is making these videos and we hope that they help give you more of an idea and insight into how we work and also show you a little of the work itself!

So what is this video about? It actually goes more in-depth on a previous topic where we discussed how we come up with features and prototype them before actually adding them to the game. To do this we make use of a feature matrix (remember it from a few blogs back? Image below the video). Using this matrix we can recombine existing features and combine them into new topics for mechanics or puzzle designs. We can also use this matrix to test out new idea proposals to see if they actually match with the existing content, of course you don’t want a new feature that completely breaks the balance of the game!

AI Vendetta Dev Video #2: Making the Rules

As you’ll see in the video, we usually start of brainstorming together to generate ideas. Our designer then further develops these in a concept and at the same time also validates them with the existing game content using the feature matrix (image below), among other tools. After the concept has been developed and an official design is made, the idea is then prototyped in a safe testing environment where it can be tested in various situations. Finally, when it has been completed and approved by all parties involved it can be polished and added to the game.

[ FEATURE MATRIX ]

This concludes our mini-blog. We hope you enjoyed the video and if you’d like to play the game for yourself, you can do so by clicking on the following LINK. Remember that the web demo is playable in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera after installing the Unity web plugin. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on the video and the game! We’d also love to stay in touch if you have any questions or suggestions, especially with our fellow developers from all around the world!

See you all next time!

~Thom de Moor, CatByte Games

If you are interested in following our progress, follow us on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ as well as our individual members on Google+, Twitter and Indie Gamer.