Proxy Monsters Test Build Ver .125A

It's been awhile since I have been able to work on Proxy Monsters but here is a sneak peak into the latest test build ver .125A. As you can see there will be no more guess work as to which way to head when it comes to finding that monster you want to snag. I've also been putting together NPC merchants spawn points that will be handled on the back end. I feel that handling where the NPC merchants spawn will add more control on where they appear in your area. If for instance you would like a merchant to spawn near you then you could email me the location along with a picture if possible and as long as it doesn't land inside any business I can add it to the back end database and the next time you boot up, presto you have a merchant where you want him.

I'm beginning to add the camera functionality too and redoing the introduction to allow you to register and name your character! Cool stuff coming up.

I do apologize that I haven't been able to work much on this game, not as much as I would like to but I'm pushing myself hard to find the time to get these updates and improvements out to you all as soon as I can. Currently I'm nearing the end of finishing up on a client app and those jobs have to come first since they pay the bills but I'm not giving up and won't. Proxy Monsters is here to stay and will only get better!

So till next time, take care and feel free to message me anytime you have a question or concern. Thank you again!!!

Developer Update...

Hope you all have been doing good and I apologize for not having the update go live this week. I have yet had the chance to meet with Jonathan this week as we were supposed to and have been tied down with a lot of other things, such as finishing up an app for one client and begin the ground work for another.

Now as I've stated before we would try and push updates out as often as we can for Proxy Monsters and the amount of support we get would determine how fast we can push them out to you all. Proxy Monsters isn't going anywhere but forward! This is a work in progress game that we will always support.

I will try and have an update out for it before the end of this month and cram as much as I can into this update to make it worth the wait. When you have so much going on all at once, aside from personal events, such as my grandson Ace being born! Then prioritization is essential and can be difficult because we do want to push updates out, however we keep this studio doors open through the acquisition of client and freelance work. They pay the bills so we have to tend to them first. Until we can make enough from our game division then we have to devote most of our time to our clients.

In this next update however it will include:

Google Maps - To streamline the process of hunting monsters or NPC's.

Two NPC's - Two non-playable characters will be introduced into the game. One to progress the story and another to buy and sell items from.

Items - Items will drop from monsters, items will also be available from NPC merchants found in your area.

All stats on board - The rest of the interface will be fixed to display the appropriate stats <-- about time, right?

That's all I have time for now so please keep checking back on progress reports. Until next time, take care and thank you!

The show, will always go on!

I had read here that only one third of the video game projects on Kickstarter that do reach funding actually produce a game. After reading that article I can understand why a lot don't reach their goals, perhaps that's one reason ours isn't climbing and then again I've been asked to spruce up my video and change it, I'm not going to, it's how it is and how it's going to stay. The demo is available on the Google Play Store, the project's description I feel is very informative and we're not going to let that stop us from continuing to develop this title.

In other good news I've finally got Maps implemented and just want to test it out some more before uploading it. This is going to really streamline the process of which monster to pursue. Next will be the camera API's, yes, and that's where things will really get interesting!

Jonathan has some more monsters drawn and I'm supposed to meet up with him, Monday and perhaps I'll wait to update the game then so I can include more monsters in this update. We are still far away from it climbing out of Alpha, one bug that was brought to my attention was when it displayed distance to the monster, it goes crazy, which I can't seem to replicate on my developer device, but have seen it on someone else's phone. It's always something but that's good, we are always up for a challenge! I'll try and add a button that re-initializes all values used in the game back to their default, so if you encounter this bug you can press it in the Options menu. This will most likely only be available during Alpha, cause once we figure out why, it won't be needed.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and just wanted to keep you all posted! We're trying to push updates out and I think this next one will really show everyone how serious we are. Take care!!!

Gumroad - Proxy Monsters - Android Game - Alpha Version .101A

Gumroad Marketplace

Don't want to go through the Google Play Store or want to gift this for someone else? You can now purchase directly from us through Gumroad and all future updates will be emailed to you. 

If you have any questions please comment below, check the label, Gumroad to stay current and Thank You!

Proxy Monsters - Android Game - Alpha Version .101A

Please be aware that this game is being released in an Alpha state and this is a location based game that utilizes the GPS capabilities of your phone. Read below on how to install this game onto your Android device. Thank You!

***HOW TO INSTALL***
The .apk file will be emailed to you along with any future updates as they roll out. 

1.Please ensure that the check box stating that it's okay to install apps from unknown sources is checked. This option is usually under Settings and then Applications.

2. The email you received will contain the .apk attachment. Please download this attachment and you will be give the option to install once it has finished downloading. Please do so at the prompt. And that's it! Let us know if you have any questions, concerns or problems! We want to hear from you and thank you!!!
***END OF HOW TO INSTALL***

There are several reasons we are releasing this game in Alpha, one is to help raise support so we can work on it full time and the other reason is to help mold the game through player feedback while it is still early in development. This studio has been staying afloat with the help of a lot of people, friends, family, and clients, by making apps for individuals and small business. We want to get back to what we are passionate about, and that's making games!

Also, the first 5,000 people to purchase the Alpha build will get their names in the About / Credits section as Producers, we feel this is a good solid foundation as if we reach this number we can devote a lot more time to it and the next 5,000 people to purchase the Alpha build will get listed in the game as well, as Executive Producers. We are also laying down some ground work on the "Key Contributors" section. This will most likely be people who devote so much time in helping us improve Proxy Monsters. We can do it, but with a little help we can do it a lot faster!

Jonathan as well as myself feel strongly about this title and we hope that you will too once you play it and experience the concept. I'll include links to the developers blog, Proxy Monsters Blog, and the development road map document which details a lot on how we want production and development to play out..

The development road map document explains a lot, however the concept of the game is that it has a story that you can play out, or not, that choice is yours. It generates random locations, some nearby, some distant. You go to these locations, then when you are closer in proximity, you can engage these monsters, fight, capture, train and level them up. In the next few updates once GPS get more fine tuned, we will be including NPC's that will allow you to progress the story and merchant NPC's.to buy item from. You will have to go to these NPC's to progress the story or buy or sell to.

Have questions? Please don't hesitate to email us at: eighteendaystudios@gmail.com

Thank you!

Proxy Monsters Development Road Map: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2Ila9P2z9-tLVBJMDhoRFZkeFU

Another go around...

In July we were approved and ran a project on Kickstarter to help with funding of our next title, Proxy monsters. I went with the decision of producing an Alpha version and putting that up on the marketplace instead. There was and is from our point of view some benefits to this: One was to generate support by selling Alpha access and two, to get feedback while it was early in development. And we feel it gets the game in your hands and you can watch it evolve and grow as we continue to push updates out. The level of support we raised would determine how much time we could devote to it. Regardless we are always going to support any product we put out, it's just finding time to be able to do so. So, currently I've got another update for Proxy Monsters about finished and ready to be uploaded so stay tuned for those update announcements to see what's in it. And we also got approved for another Kickstarter project. Since the game is already out in Alpha we've changed some of the rewards for backers but it was advised by the SBTDC that we try this method again. So I'll include some links below.

I've been working with the local SBTDC and Wilmington Score as well and they've been very very helpful and have been giving me a ton of free advice. They're also helping me with putting together a business plan to help put things into perspective, which trust me it has. These past two weeks I've been working on it pretty solid and it's a lot of work making a business plan but it also makes sense when I think about it. When I started the company, I registered it as a Sole Proprietorship and dove right in, they said, that is how a lot of small businesses get started and unfortunately some fail. But we're not about failing or giving up. We are committed to seeing this company through to the very end. We are in the process though of restructuring, meaning I'm adding Jonathan Pigford as a partner, he really dove head first into this concept when I told him about it and since then he has put a lot of time and sweat into it, without hesitation. So I can't leave him out in the cold and I won't. This also includes incorporating the company and a name change along with that.

The SBTDC will help us find Angel Investors or Venture Capitalist firms but they're not going to even look at what we have until we have a solid business plan. And they explained the risk that goes along with diving into something like that and urged to try Kickstarter again or any other crowd source funding program, first.

So that about sums it up. If you have any questions at any time please don't hesitate to send us an email at: eighteendaystudios@gmail.com

Here's a link to the new Kickstarter Project:
Kickstarter - Proxy Monsters A Location / Augmented Reality Based Game

And some more links:

Proxy Monsters Demo - Google Play Store

Proxy Monsters - Google Play Store

Thank you!!!

The BIG About Proxy Monsters

A few months ago, while i was talking with my brother. I was telling him about this concept I came up with, originally, the title was going to be Proxy Fighters, and perhaps we might get around to that one day. Right now, our sights are to continue to develop and improve this title. In hope that we get enough support, so we can work on it full time and get back to what we are passionate about and that's making games. Anyways, Proxy Fighters was going to be a location based game that allowed you to build a fighter, level him up and fight against others in pre-determined matches that for most part, you wouldn't know was happening. Once you was close enough to someone who also had a copy of the game, stats would be traded and the outcome of those fights would be based on the stats. You really wouldn't have to play the game, just check into it once in awhile and see if your fighter had lost or won and how did he/she do.

But then I decided there had to be more to it. I wanted to really utilize the features of your smart phone, such as GPS and the camera. So I figured take Proxy Fighters to the next level and eventually it hit me, a location based game that send you out into the world, looking for monsters, fighting, capturing and training them, and of course collecting as many of them as you can find, and I couldn't stop with it being just a location based game either. I wanted people to be able to see these monsters through the devices camera. Currently in the state that the game is in, this Alpha version hasn't implemented any of the Camera API's. But we hope to include those soon! And through in a story, so you can progress the story if you choose, or not, and include NPC merchants that you will have to travel to when you need to restock on items, this should be in the next patch.

So we finally was able to set aside time a few weeks ago to really work on this. The basic framework from Ninjay was re-used and LBS or location based services API's were added into the fray. Testing, working with the studios lead graphic artist to produce the scenes, and monsters, I already had a lot of the scenes drawn out but my hands aren't as steady as they used to be and I really wanted to focus on the programming side of things. In about a week and a half of working on Proxy Monsters, we decided to launch an Alpha build and see if we can raise support through those means. Not only raise support but get feedback while the game was early in development.

There has since been one update that has corrected some of the GPS issues and I've tested it quite a bit and a new video displaying game play footage and explaining how it works. I'll include links to everything in this post and label it as, "About Proxy Monsters".

About Jonathan and how I came to meet up with him. He was running an ad in Craigslist offering his services as a graphic artist. It was about five in the morning and something told me to call him then and I did. Of course he was sleeping but when I explained to him what I needed and was going to do, he didn't hesitate and has since then been working with me on this game.

We want to work on this full time and we really need as much help as we can get to be able to do this. Right now we plan to push updates out as often as we can, perhaps once every few weeks, however if we can work on this full time, we could most likely push updates out once a week. The studio stays afloat from acquiring clients that need apps developed for themselves or their small business. We want to move away from this business model and get back to making and playing games! Below I'll include links to everything, everything but the kitchen sink that is. So if you get time check it all out, download and try the demo, watch the videos we made, and if you have .99 cents laying around, purchase the Alpha build. Your small investment means a lot to us and as stated in the description that is on the Google Play Store, the first 5,000 people to purchase the Alpha build will get their names listed as "Producers", the next 5,000 will get their names listed in the game as "Executive Producers".

Thank you, I appreciate your time, hope you have a good day and please never give up!

Sincerely,
Richard Forbes
Lead Developer
18 Day Studios

Proxy Monsters Demo - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eighteendaystudios.androidgames.proxymonstersdemo

Proxy Monsters  - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eighteendaystudios.androidgames.proxymonsters

Proxy Monsters Version Update - 0.101A

Just posted the update to the Google Play Store, this update corrects some of the issues of the GPS not acquiring a location. I've tested it several times and ran it on the developers phone and we re-shot the Google Play Store video to include the game play and a quick run down on how it works. I'll link that all here soon and links to the marketplace as well.

Got another update planned for next week that I've been working on that implements a compass heading to display which direction you should travel in and a NPC merchant to buy items from. By that point in Alpha all the stats should be displaying correctly, item, and monster inventory will be fixed and working as well.

Thanks for reading and take care!

Proxy Monsters: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eighteendaystudios.androidgames.proxymonsters


Proxy Monsters Demo: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eighteendaystudios.androidgames.proxymonstersdemo

New video displaying game play on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3evZnbnp4MU&feature=plcp

Original launch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Aa_q2GMv0&feature=plcp