Godus: Kickstarter updates

Update 2 - 26/11/2012



Designing GODUS Update #1

Hello everyone,

To start the week we have an update on GODUS! This is the first of five videos that we will be releasing this week, the 22cans Design team revisit the previous games in Peter Molyneux’s career that have inspired Project GODUS. From the land manipulation and power of Populous, to the digging and expansion of Dungeon Keeper and onto the tactile interaction with a living world on the vast scale of Black&White. Peter and Jack share with you how the past will form the future.



We also wanted to share with you the design of our teeshirt (let us know in the comments what you think) which we hope to make available in two colour options; white and pale blue. There'll be also another update on teeshirts where we show off a detail of the motif and give you an idea of what's on the back.

We also want to show you the GODUS pendant. This piece of exclusive Titanium jewellery is lovingly hand-made and hand-engraved (something which very few people in the world know how to do). It is also beset with one sparkling, real diamond and as you know, diamonds are forever! On top of that you will also receive a silver plated necklace to hang the pendant from.





We are now nearly at 34% of reaching our goal, the next big milestone for us is £150,000 and we are holding our breath (perhaps we should take it in turns).. The £15 reward tier for the first 5,000 EARLY-BIRD backers has nearly sold out. When that happens the next reward tiers we will introduce will be £15 for a digital downloadable copy only and the current £15 reward tier with all the extra's will be re-introduced at £20.

Thank you for all your support and lovely messages so far, we really enjoy reading all of your comments and tweets. Speak to you all tomorrow.

Take care,
22cans

Update 4 - 28/11/2012



Designing GODUS Update #3

Hello everyone,

Wednesday is here and we finally get to answer some of your most burning questions. In todays video we clarify some details about yesterday's discussion, discuss the idea of possessing followers in first person mode, spill the beans on the exciting reality of the mobile addition to the GODUS experience and how it compares to the PC (Windows) version. Then we move onto today's main design point: GOD POWERS!



The EARLY BIRD SUPPORTER tier has now completely sold out and we've introduced two new reward tiers; one at £15 and another limited tier at £20. On top of that there's currently only one GOD OF GODS reward tier left, once they're gone, they're gone. We really really want to thank everyone who has backed us so far, we cannot make GODUS without your help and we are making good progress but there is still a lot of ground to cover before we reach our goal.

Today's update is a little smaller than normal, tomorrow we will be back with new GODUS images showing off the god powers that Jack and Peter talk about in today's video.

Take care,
22cans

Update 6 - 30/11/2012



Designing GODUS Update #5

Hey everyone.

It's Friday so here's our fifth "Designing GODUS with Peter & Jack" video.

DESIGN INFORMATION

After clarifying some of the good/evil concepts we mentioned yesterday, plus the characters of the world, Peter and Jack discuss the lighter side of your GOD POWERS and how you can use them. They then discuss the role of the in-game familiar, before rounding off the week with an overview of the game structure.



In the design update Peter and Jack delivered on Thursday, the topic was GOD POWERS. We've given you a teaser image of the Tornado GOD POWER and today we're following up with an annotated version which will hopefully clarify how this is going to work. Remember that the SPIRAL gesture to increase the power of the Tornado can be done with either your finger or a mouse.



Throughout the week Peter and Jack have been discussing some of the design features of GODUS in a series of videos. This document summarises the features raised in the videos (please direct any spelling or grammar mistakes to @jakamofo). A full game design document will be released with the game to backers who pledged in the applicable tiers.

HOW WILL YOU DISTRIBUTE GODUS?

So far we've been keeping on top of all the feedback, suggestions and ideas. There's a lot of it! People have also asked us how GODUS will be made available through digital distribution, so we wanted to give you an update on this.
We absolutely love multi-device play at 22cans, however the distribution model of GODUS isn't 100% in our hands, a lot of it depends on you, our audience. And it also depends on what the digital distribution landscape will look like in a little under a year from now. Currently we are discussing all options with potential partners such as STEAM and DRM-free. We love STEAM but we also love the model that Minecraft uses.

PRESS COVERAGE

Finally we wanted to give you an overview of some of the interviews Peter Molyneux has given the last few days. The people from thesixthaxis spoke with Peter about 'GODUS, Kickstarter and Managing Expectations'. CNET on the other hand looks at 'Curiosity: Behind the amazing success' (and disaster) of a mobile gaming hit - but the closing paragraph focuses on GODUS. The kind people from VG247 sit down and talk about how 'Molyneux is returning to his roots'.

All the best,
22cans

Update 8 - 04/12/2012



Update, add-ons and meet the team

Hi from 22cans.

Firstly let's meet the team! There are 20 people who make up 22cans and we want to feature them all. First up are Tim and Sara;



Tim Meredith

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: I am the Character Animator here at 22cans. I am responsible for animating your little followers in the world of GODUS.

Q: What things are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: Too many to mention, each completed animation is a mini-triumph in itself. Probably adding all the reactions to the various cataclysms that plague your followers will be the most fun.

Q: What are you working on today?

A: Some meat-and-potatoes movement animations for the prototype. Turning, walking, reacting. Something for the programmers to work with.

Q: What’s the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: Everyone here is totally focused on the game, and the collective expertise in the room is immense. It’s a great feeling to contribute to that and to raise my own bar because of it.

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: Tron 2.0 - everything else is just a footnote surely? Seriously… Portal, Black & White, Fable II, Medieval II and the Mass Effect/Assassin’s Creed series.

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: Hm. The dog in Fable II is up there. Also games that allow interference with other player activities…like Little Big Planet 2 or the online ‘shared world’ approach to Red Dead Redemption.

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: The most dangerous animal found in the Surrey Hills, stuffed with the second most dangerous…served Panini style. A slice of cake and a cup of tea afterwards.



Sara Calzada

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: I do the concept art, with Paul McLaughlin as my spiritual leader. Most of the time I'm working on the characters, doing sketches and thinking about actions in which I imagine them moving or acting. I also sketch some assets, look for art references etc...

Q: What work are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: I love doing character design, but also modeling, editing video...So everything will be fun!

Q: What are you working on today?

A: Today I'm working on an armageddon scene. There are about 200 characters fighting with each other. It's mental.

Q: What’s the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: The environment. I think that all of us here love our work, so we are very passionate about this project. I remember those days in my previous companies were the boss didn't care about what the company was doing, or even didn't know how to do his job...Thank goodness I'm here now.

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: In general I enjoy playing fight games, pressing all the buttons randomly and cursing at my opponent. But the last game that really absorbed me was Bioshock. I was like "What lighting! What ambience!" I really enjoyed playing that game.

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: I love when you are able to make decisions about the story which really affect the plot of the game.

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: When I have the time, I cook Spanish food. When not, some cheap prepared meal from the supermarket.



Secondly we're starting to introduce add-ons by popular demand. These allow you to pick and choose your own reward tiers and all the suggestions made on our comments page will be considered. So keep them coming!

Digital Add-Ons:

• Digital Download Gift Pack. Receive an acorn that you can plant in your home-world, and over time a tree will grow. You will also get to reserve a name for your own clan and you'll get your own world flag for your Homeworld! +£7 (approximately $11)
• Digital Soundtrack +£10 (approximately $16)
• Extra GODUS beta access +£10 (approximately $16)

Physical Add-Ons (Requires the base pledge to be at the £5 tier or above. Any pledge that ends up including a physical reward will require £10 for international shipping, unless it has already been included in the base pledge (e.g. £60+). You will only have to pay shipping once.

• 22cans tee-shirt +£16 (approximately $26)
• GODUS tee-shirt +£16 (approximately $26)
• Printed, exclusive GODUS artwork +£20 (approximately $32)

To add an add-on to your pledge, follow these steps:

Please click on the 'Manage Your Pledge' button on this page. If you have not pledged yet it will say 'Back this Project'.
Increase your pledge in the 'Pledge Amount' by the total of the add-ons you want.
You do not need to change the tier you are currently pledging for. If you want to do so, you will then need to add the total of your add-ons onto the amount of the new tier you have chosen.

We will send all our backers a survey at the end of our Kickstarter campaign that will ask you which add-ons you want.

Finally, let's give you an update on GODUS the game. This is a new description about the game which we have added to our front page;

As a god your destiny is to spread your influence throughout the world. But you are only as powerful as your following. Using your ability to sculpt the land, you can create a habitable environment that will allow a population of believers to flourish. In your crafted utopia you can grow as a god in the face of various challenges that affect the population. You can watch hundreds of individual followers live out their lives with dynamic and captivating behaviour. If you choose to spread out and conquer more lands however, you will confront other gods with their own civilizations of followers. But ultimately there is only room for one god, so prepare to guide your worshippers into battle by altering the world around them with your god powers, then watch your followers reign victorious across the world.

Half a living sandbox world, and half a strategy game, players can choose to explore the power of the almighty however they wish. Whether it’s granting the power of life and blossoming the world around your believers, or using godly powers to wreak havoc via natural disasters to defeat the armies of other gods, prepare for the Ultimate God Game: Single Player, Multiplayer, Cross-Platform gameplay, sandbox worlds, strategic battles, living populations, and the power to create, change, and destroy the very structure of the world.

That's it for today! Tomorrow we're back with a video.

All the best,
22cans

Update 10 - 06/12/2012



Prototype Update, Curiosity and meet the team

Hello everyone.

Today has been a busy day at 22cans. Most of the programmers, designers and our producer have been talking through the prototype that we showed yesterday and deciding which features we want to develop further for our next update. We are looking at all your comments and feedback as well - we plan to show you an update next week so if you've submitted an idea, you may well see it!

In todays video Peter and Jack briefly touch on some concerns of the backers such as building on flat land, mobile, and monetisation. After this they leave the realms of design to touch base with one of 22cans' talented artists, Tim Meredith. You can see the video on this link;



(watch the video to the end to find out why Peter and Jack won't be able to do a video tomorrow).

We have also started adding the names of all our backers (starting at the ACOLYTE level) to the cube in Curiosity! This is only the first run, if and when we've had a successful Kickstarter campaign and we reached our goal of £450,000 we will send out a survey asking you for your details so we can put all your names on the cube again.





People have also been enquiring about the student tier which we introduced yesterday. Rest assured that this £10 tier is available to any student, not just students of game design and / or development. A lot of the members of the 22cans team have different backgrounds that don't necessarily relate to video games.





Richard Fabian

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: I convert ideas into something you can play. I'm one of the two engine programmers at 22cans, but we're not large enough a company to make that my only role. For example, I was responsible for most of the server side data manipulation on Curiosity, and I have been doing all sorts of stuff on the GODUS prototype.

Q: What work are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: That's such a hard question for me because this is the first original game title I've worked on in many years. I'm fired up about pretty much all of it, from the land sculpting and AI, to the rendering effects and sound, but if I had to choose one thing, it's probably going to be the network gameplay. That's an area of code that is a dark art, and from my experience it' one of the most difficult but rewarding areas of game development.

Q: What are you working on today?

A: I'm working on a god power demo for the GODUS prototype. With it we will demonstrate the effect you can have on the world. This is the last one going into the prototype for now, and once that's done I'm going to begin rewriting the fundamental landscape engine as we ramp up towards full development in anticipation of a successful campaign.

Q: What's the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: The innovation. I don't feel surrounded by people playing it safe. Curiosity had so many inventions to get around the problems we could think of, and when we had to come up with a quick solution last month, the office was abuzz with that same spirit of invention. GODUS is no different: there's gameplay elements harkening back to the original games, but when you add innovations under and over that recognisable and approachable core, you allow yourself to try out things no-one would have even thought was possible.

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: Sorry Peter, but even though I loved Populous and Black & White, I still prefer my racing games and all the lovely games coming out in each of the HumbleBundles. I'm always looking out for new things to play, which is why I love the indie games, as they are consistently providing something relatively easy to play and there's always something a little different. Recently though I fell in love with a game from thatgamecompany. Journey stands out for me because it has the polish of a triple A product, but the emotional involvement of the most thoughtful of indie title.

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: Cube destruction and placement in Minecraft. It's something so trivial, and yet no-one else managed to bring it to the masses like Markus Persson. It's magical stupid little things that make me love this industry. We overlook things for years and then one person brings out a shining example and you get all these other people climbing over each other to emulate it. I think that's something that Peter still has, the ability to find something small, obvious, but that no-one else has done. And once he's done it, other people want to emulate it, which is a very gratifying form of flattery.

Q: What pledge tier would you recommend people pledge at?

A: It's got to be BENEFACTOR. How else are you going to play multiplayer unless you have more than one copy of the game? Seriously though, the multiplayer is one of the features I'm looking forward to. I used to play Populous multiplayer with my brother and though he always beat me, I loved it. I'm looking forward to lunchtime battles in the office, for testing purposes of course.

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: Everything. I'm a big eater and usually have a packed lunch with three sandwiches, a couple of cakes, and a piece of fruit, but sometimes I'll go to the shops after lunch if I get a bit peckish, and grab something else, like a rack of ribs.



Mattia Nelli

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: I'm currently working with the other artists on the game 3d landscape concepts, mostly lighting and rendering. We are defining the game visual style.

Q: What work are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: I'm looking forward to working with the game engine, adding all the details and things that will make this world look alive.

Q: What are you working on today?

A: I'm working on a battle scene concept rendering. It's a fight between followers of 2 different players.

Q: What's the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: I love being part of a small team, where everybody is actively involved in the game creation. There's a very good creative mood here.

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: Psychonauts, Jet Set Radio Future, and Left for Dead to name a few.

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: This is a very specific question... I could say the portal gun in Portal.

Q: What pledge tier would you recommend people pledge at?

A: I would recommend people to pledge as much as they can afford. They'll get more benefits that way. But do pledge! Every little helps.

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: Well, sometimes I have the sandwich lady's sandwhiches, sometimes I bring my own food from home.



Finally let's get some stats together!

• 70% of our funding so far has come from spreading the word! (so please keep helping us by spreading the word).
• The video has been watched over 200,000 times
• Average pledge amount = £27.91
• Average amount of backers per day = 506
• Current trend of final backers to the project = 15200
• Currently trending towards finishing amount = £424,232.00 (based on averages)
• Currently we are trending £25,768 short of our goal...

Kindest regards,
22cans

Update 12 - 09/12/2012



Team Comedy Video on a Sunday

12 days to go before the end of our Kickstarter campaign for GODUS.

It's Sunday again! Videogames are meant to be fun, not misery. While making games is hard work, we also love it so much and are very passionate about it. Last week more people on the 22cans team moved onto the development of GODUS. Sam, our in-house video maker pulled everyone in front of a camera to ask them a few off-the-cuff questions. Taking Renato Carosone's 'Tu Vuò Fa' L'Americano' for inspiration, he made a comical 'meet the team' video. Seeing the team be realistic, have a brain-freeze or just the way that it's edited, this is meant to be a fun video. Something that makes you happy just listening to it. Sam wanted to tell a story but also reward viewers for watching each consecutive shot, have stuff to discover. Renato Carosone's video clip does this as well; from someone playing with their teeth to someone playing two saxophones simultaneously. If you want to see GODUS running on a big TV then be sure to watch it to the end and please enjoy it.



The art team also made several images to show the add-ons that you can add to your pledge.





Finally some of our recent press coverage;

- PCGAMER: GODUS interview: 22cans’ Dictator of Art on designing worlds and working with Molyneux
- ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN: Firstus GODUS Videous Footageus
- IGN: Interview: Can Molyneux Reinvent The God Game?
- Joystiq: Interview: Molyneux has 'hope' for downloadable Godus prototype by Christmas

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, we'll be back with an update on Monday.

22cans

Update 14 - 11/12/2012



Avatars, meet the team and Yogscast

Hello everyone.

Today we are taking our lead from our backers. Some people have been creating their own avatars to demonstrate the support they have given to Godus. Paul and the art team at 22cans loved this idea so much that they've put together their own selection of images for you to choose from. We have 30 in total but here are the first 4, the rest we will make available to backers only tomorrow.









We're also extremely excited to reach the £250,000 mark!



To help out YOGSCAST and their charity fundraiser Honeydew's Honey Drive we organised an Ebay auction around the GODUS exclusive pendant and necklace. The auction raised £500 for the bees and Oxfam, so well done to the active bidders! We're absolutely delighted to be able to help the guys out.





Tim Rance

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: CTO, review technical designs, evaluation technical solutions, leading dev work on Curiosity at the moment.

Q: What work are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: Anything multiplayer

Q: What are you working on today?

A: How curiosity will finish

Q: What’s the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: The great super-bright and enthusiastic crowd

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: Portal, Osmos

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: Portal gun

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: Cheese Roll



Gary Leach

Q: Can you tell us what you do at 22cans?

A: I'm the lead game engineer - I spend most of my time coding and the rest looking after the other programmers, making sure everything is running efficiently. And generally doling out abuse. Don't worry, they deserve it

Q: What work are you most looking forward to doing on GODUS?

A: Probably the special effects work - there's going to be a lot of this in GODUS, and finding creative and efficient ways to make this stuff jaw-dropping is something I'm really looking forward to.

Q: What are you working on today?

A: Various elements of the GODUS demo including some optimisation work and bits of visual polish.

Q: What’s the best thing about working at 22cans?

A: I have always preferred working with small teams; people often talk about the flexibility of small teams but another element is the chance to work on a large number of different areas.
On the other hand, smalls teams normally have small exposure. With 22cans we really get the best of both worlds, since -lack- of exposure is not a problem we face!

Q: What are your favourite games?

A: I'm an RPG fan - Alternate Reality from the 8-bit era is still hard to beat, Ultima Underworld with its enormous amounts of atmosphere and jaw-dropping graphics (for the time!), most of the Zelda series and of course Fable!

Q: What is the best feature you have ever seen in a game?

A: For me, the time rewind system in Majora's Mask - the perfect mix of familiar with new, it totally captivated me. I always enjoyed revisiting previous areas in games that allowed this (excellently re-enforced in games that fly you past the characters and levels you played previously once the game is finished) but this made that idea a central game mechanic. Exploring the story elements piece by piece worked superbly.

Q: What do you have for lunch?

A: Cheese'n'pickle sandwich. Can't really go wrong.

That's it for today folks, today's update is a little shorter but rest assured everyone is working diligently on the Godus prototype.

Take care,

22cans

Update 16 - 13/12/2012



Avatars for you

Dear backer,

Thanks you so much for being part of the making of Godus, earlier tonight we said we'd be sharing avatars with you and here they are. You can click on this link to download them as a zip file.



If anyone has any problems with the file let us know in the comments and we'll find a way to get you all the images. Again we want to express our heartfelt thanks, we're on target to show you all a gameplay video by the end of the week.

All the best,

22cans

Update 18 - 15/12/2012



Technology Update on Godus

Hello everyone!

Today we are giving you an update on our prototype. We wanted to release a gameplay montage but the prototype wasn't quite ready yet (as you will learn in the video) so we've taken a slightly different approach.



22Cans is a relatively new startup so we haven’t yet had the opportunity to invest hundreds of man-years in a cool engine and tool technology. We’re not afraid to experiment though. Our first ‘experiment’ – the super massively multiplayer Curiosity was built on a mixture of different technologies including 8 different programming languages, the Unity game engine, Amazon cloud servers and of course Apple and Android devices. While some may see it as a drawback not having a welter of technology at our beck and call, the benefit for GODUS is that we’ve been agile and able to home in rapidly on exactly the pure uncluttered art style and game simulation that Peter is so passionate about.

While we’ve been looking to see if some of the existing engines such as Unity could speed up the prototype or later development phases for GODUS, it’s also the case that with the right team simply going back to basics can yield extraordinary dividends in a remarkable short space of time. Those basics initially were a scripting language called Python and a low-level graphics library. We are fortunate in having a passionate and talented development team lead by the superb, experienced Senior Engineer Gary Leach. The wide skill-base in the team has quickly allowed us to concentrate on the implementation of the delightful art style. Concept art for this was first put forward by our Head of ArtPaul McLaughlin and his team about 5 weeks ago. I’ll hand over to Gary to dive into just how our prototype came together.

Story so far

We started developing the prototype in order to test out various ideas for the look and feel of the game we were describing.

Our design process is extremely fluid, with constant testing and feedback being central to our flow, so the programming team wanted to give design a first stab at something to flesh out the ideas.

Work started when Paul Mac presented the terraced terrain visualisation. We instantly knew that this was something a bit different from terrain systems we had seen and worked on previously, but it was an intriguing idea which we wanted to test out.



Our programmer Fabs produced the initial demo over the course of a weekend, written in Python. This gave us the proof-of-concept and he continued to flesh this out while the rest of the team were working on Curiosity updates.

By the time we were ready to move other people into the project Fabs had added various features, including basic people movement, and had done an initial port to C to get the speed up.

At this point we put together an feature list and assigned tasks to people – Pavle was to manage people movement including house building, Paul headed up land sculpting and Fabs and I managed tech including porting to other platforms. This code doesn't run on a third-party engine, it's written directly in the OpenGL graphics language and C++ which keeps us as flexible as possible, but it does have downsides – we had to knock together a complete asset pipeline (we based this on Autodesk's Fbx libraries for graphics)



The time-line for getting the demo together was aggressive to say the least, but we feel we now have something that at least gives a flavour of the game to come.

We still have a lot that we'd like to do to the demo before production starts in full, and hopefully your feedback will continue to help us define the game, but we think it's come a long way in a short time! Thanks for your support and ideas! Keep them coming.

Tim Rance CTO, Gary Leach Lead Engineer

We are very happy to see we now have over 10,000 people backing Godus for a total of £300,000 of our £450,000 goal. With only 6 days left the pressure is really on, but we'll keep updating all of you and showing our prototype.



Take care,

22cans