We got greenlit !

Hey everyone. You probably already guessed what I'll talk about with the title of this page but yeah...

The game is finally greenlit \o/ 

Whooo !

Thanks to all of you !

I'll try to publish the game as soon as possible but I want to finish the content update first. This update will break savegames so it would be an absolute non-sense to publish the non-updated game and then, release the update two weeks later^^.

The update is basically finished... Except it needs to be tested, tested, and tested... Also tested...
I can't say a date yet but it should be less than a month.

It will enter closed beta very soon.

Be patient, the game will be in the Steam store in no time :)

Thanks again !

You're awesome, yep, all of you.

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Myrne : The Comic

Hey guys !

Just a little post to tell you I started drawing some crappy things some times ago^^'

I try to train my drawing skill (I know, there's a lot of work :D) to eventually be able to add some cutscenes in my latter games.

Full size here (imgur)

I plan to draw more of those comics (actually I did one other but I still need to translate it in english).

I'm also working on cool things for What Lies Beneath but I guess it will be for another post since I'm really tired today :S

I'll probably write a big post one of these days since I noticed I didn't keep you guys in touch for a long  time. I'm really sorry about that :S

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"Late August Bundle" by LazyGuysBundle

Hey guys !

What Lies Beneath appears in a new bundle !

And this time it's really reallly great, the other games are very cool (like Knytt or Yury).

Anyway, you can grab it...

...Right here !

Have fun ;)

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Greenlight progress

Hey guys !

A little post to announce you that What Lies Beneath is now at 75% on the way to the Greenlight top 100.

It's awesome !

Useless graphic to seem pro

Once in the top 100, the game will not necessarily be greenlight right away, but it will have great odds to be at every Steam's batch.

Don't hesitate to speak about the game to your relatives and friends, and of course tell them to vote ;)

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New trailer

Hey guys !

Rafeu (the biggest fan of the game ever^^) made a new shiny trailer for What Lies Beneath. What do we say to Rafeu ?

Thaaaaannnkss Rafeuuuu !

Here's the trailer :



I hope you'll like it as much as I do.

Oh, and I take this opportunity to tell you that What Lies Beneath is now at 65% of the way to the Greenlight top 100.

We're sloooowly getting there, that's awesome !

Also, you still have a week to get the game for really, really cheap in a pay what you want bundle.

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What Lies Beneath: IndieGala bundle

Hello guys !

What Lies Beneath is now available in the last IndieGala bundle.

It's a Greenlight bundle, so I hope we'll get a big push in the GL top :)

Get it here

See you next time :)

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Another Mages Story: update (new map, movement change)

Hop !

Already an update for MAMS.

• There's now a map in the game. It should make it way, way, way more enjoyable

• The way the player move is now more "classic". The player moves smoothly, step by step instead of "jumping" from position A to position B

Conclusion

I also made some bugfixes and adjustments (more XP when you're low level, yay !).

As always you'll find the game here

Don't worry if it freeze your browser for a few seconds, it's not crashed, just loading the game. I'll try to fix this in a next update.

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Another Mages Story: alpha version

Hello everyone !

I just released a demo/alpha of my newest game "Myrne: Another Mages Story". It's some kind of minimalist RPG (but still very ambitious).

Try it and learn more about it here

I'll work on it from time to time but as always, my priority is still Song of the Myrne so this one is yet another one of my many side projects that progress very slowly ;)

Let me know what you think of it by answering the few questions you'll find under the game.

Enjoy ;)

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What Lies Beneath for a dollar (Groupees bundle)

Hey everyone !

What Lies Beneath is available on the newest Groupees bundle for a minimum of one dollar.

This is boosting my Greenlight campaign... a lot ! Yay !

We are now at 28% of the path to the top 100.

Have fun ;)

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My games: some random news

Hey everyone !

Here's some of the things I worked on the past few... let's see... month. For the last month. There's much to cover^^

Under the Myrne

First of all I started a new project. Don't worry, it's a "little" side project so I don't work a lot on it to avoid taking too much delay on Song of the Myrne. I decided to work on it only the last week of each month.

Also keep in mind that I might never finish this one and/or that it could (and will !) change a lot through the development. So don't get too excited about it ;)

In summary it's a mix between Castlevania, Dark Souls and Terraria. I know, that's cool^^.

You'll start in this castle, completely free to go wherever you want, with NPCs telling you the very basic of what you should know

• You'll be able to visit different areas, not like in Terraria but more like in a Metroidvania fashion, I think the perfect exemple of what I want to do with the open-world is Guacamelee (awesome stuff, you should play it !)

• As in Dark Souls, you'll be droped in the world without a lot of explanations of what you're suppose to do exactly. I really want to give you that discovery and exploration feel that most of recent games lack (thanks Obama !) because they tend to give you too much hints (when it's not a fracking glowing line in the middle of the road :/)

• Like in Terraria you'll be able to mine blocks, build your own house, craft a lot of items, etc...

I'm not sure I'll keep the Terraria thing though. You'll probably be able to build a house and other things but maybe not everywhere, I don't really know yet.

The level will not be randomly generated, the whole world will be crafted by hand.

Anyway here's how it looks right now :

Song of the Myrne / What Lies Beneath

• SotM - I started working on quests and dialogs for Song of the Myrne again. There still have a looooooot to do.

• SotM & WLB - I reworked some interface textures, I know a lot of you guys don't like the way I mixed different resolutions and art styles, I'm getting a little more skilled at drawing so why not.

Sorry for the french text, it's late and I'm too tired to take new screenshots^^'. Writing blog posts in english is exhausting ><

• SotM - I reworked the Mage Academy. It was one of the oldest map of the game and was very outdated

Click to see it full size

• SotM & WLB - Added new sounds (thanks a lot to Bigbreakfast for most of them)

• SotM & WLB - Added a new Score the Cube map

• SotM & WLB - I'm actually working on the shields

Basically, blocking makes you lose energy instead of health. And with a good timing you can even throw back attacks.

Conclusion

I should try to write more often here I think :D

What a wall of informations ;)

For more up to dates news, you can follow me on Twitter @Beldarak.

If you like my stuff, don't hesitate to support What Lies Beneath on Steam Greenlight.

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What Lies Beneath: new update (1.6)

Hello everyone !

A lot of good news today, let's have a look :

Game updated to 1.6

It's mostly a multiplayer update but it also fixes some singleplayer issues. 

• The village's fountain is easier to use (to fill your bottles for alchemy)

• I added a very small amount of content in the village to prepare the next update (which should add a lot of content and some side quests)

As for the mutiplayer, the update adds new Deathmatch levels, a new game mode called "Score the Cube".

Of course a lot of balancing has been done and the knight has now three skills like everyone else.

I still have to upload everything on Desura but IndieGameStand DRM-free versions are already up-to-date.

Demo updated to 1.6

The multiplayer is fully implemented in the demo too !

As usual you can find the latest version of the demo here.

The multiplayer OST is ready to download

And best of all, this one is totally free, you don't even need to own the game to get it.

You can download it here.

Last word

Of course I'll still add multiplayer levels and even new modes as time passes.

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Song of the Myrne: "Score the Cube" multiplayer mode

Hey guys !

As you may or may not know, I'm actually working on the multiplayer mode (local split-screen) of Song of the Myrne (and What Lies Beneath).

Today I want to show you the Score the Cube mode.

It's some kind of football mode, except it's far less serious and way more deadly than true football (yes, shooting your enemies to death or create a giant ice rink on the terrain is totally allowed^^).

Today I worked on the ice cube (the ball). It's now bouncing everywhere, slides everywhere... and can be pushed when you hit it.

Here's how the mode looks like for the moment.

Click to see it full size

"Et voilà".

It's not yet in the game. I need to create one or two other deathmatch maps and finish this Score the Cube mode. Then I'll update What Lies Beneath and the demo of Song of the Myrne.

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Song of the Myrne: What Lies Beneath for a dollar with other games

Hey everyone !

My game "Song of the Myrne: What Lies Beneath" is in the newest bundle of Bundle Bandits with 4 other games.

I didn't play to the other games yet, but they look cool :

• Stardrone

Some mix between an action game and a pinball one. You'd better watch the trailer, it's hard to explain what it is :D

It looks weird and really fun.

• Box Out !

A plateformer with pretty pixel-art graphics

• Bad Smell

A top-down shooter with an adventure mode and an arcade one

• Dreams+

An action-plateformer, with pretty pixel-art too

• Song of the Myrne: What Lies Beneath

My own game. More infos and a playable demo here.

Last word

This bundle is here for a little time. So don't hesitate too long^^.

As always, a part of the revenues are given to charity.

You can get it here

Have fun ;)

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Improvements I'd like to see on Desura

Hey everyone !

I'm uploading a new patch for my game "Song of the Myrne: What Lies Beneath" and as usual it's a pain in the neck.

I first update the IndieGameStand version, it is an easy, quick and smooth experience... But then, there's Desura [insert dramatic "TA TA TAA" here].

Desura get me most of my sales so I don't want to look like some angry internet troll that rants at anything. I kinda like Desura and they did provide good advices when I started selling my game. But I really think Desura could smooth the process of uploading updates and make some improvements here and there. I truly think it would benefit everyone.

So let's rant !

Updating a game

I have two main concerns with this one. Let's start with the minor one.

First of all, the uploading process. Since Desura offers two ways to get a game you bought (standalone version and a version installed by the Desura's client) you have to upload everything two times...

If you have a shitty connexion like I have and that your game is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, it simply takes forever to upload any update.

I think it could be avoided.

The version you upload for the Desura client si simply an installation of the game... And what's the standalone version ? An installation of the game... in a zip archive. So why would I have to upload two times the same thing when the installation folder could simply be archived on Desura's side ?

You also have to re-write the changelog for each upload, and finish one upload to start the next one. You can't just launch all your uploads and leave your home or go to sleep like you would do with IndieGameStand for exemple.

And then there's my second concern :

On Desura, everything takes forever...

Here's what happen when you upload an update on IndieGameStand :

• Players can now download the game and even choose which version they want to get

And that's all... Now, let's get back to Desura :

• You have to wait for a staff member to authorize your new version

While I can understand this verification the first time you upload a game, I don't see why it should be audited at each update. Do they think I'll upload a virus or something ? Only to wreck my own reputation and game ?

• Then you try to post a news about the update because there's this new cool feature that you think deserves more than a quick sentence in a changelog

And then you have to wait for a member of the staff to validate your news... What ?!

I can understand why they want to check which news will get on the homepage but while the news is waiting for approval (which can take more than 24 hours), players can't read it, even on your game page.

You can't expect to keep in touch with your players with such delays.

All in all it gives me the feeling that Desura doesn't trust indie developers and it's very disturbing since we're his associates.

Miscellaneous

I have two final thoughts about what could be improved.

Steam Greenlight visibility

I know Steam is a competitor of Desura, but let's face it. Selling indie games without getting on Steam is hard, like really hard. And I think Desura is aware of that.

One think I like about IndieGameStand is that they have a special Greenlight URL field in your game details and put the Greenlight logo well in evidence on your game's store page. I think Desura should do the same.

I posted a news about my Greenlight launch on Desura and IndieDB. It simply didn't get authorized without any explanation.

Desura, IndieDB, etc...

These websites are mostly the same one but doesn't act like this.

If I post a news on one site, I'll probably want to post it on the other ones too... But I can't, I have to copy/paste my news on each website and wait different times for the approvals.

I think they should add some check boxes to also post on the other websites when you post a news. Player reviews should also be shared between the sites.

Conclusion

That's all folks ! Thanks for reading all this.

I might seem angry or against Desura in this wall of ranting, but I assure you I'm not.

I like Desura but each update is such a burden that I try to delay them as much as possible and make one big update from time to time while I'd rather post minor updates more often. It would be easier for me and better for the players so I hope Desura will improve all these points.

Let me think what you think of it, if you agree with me or if you don't (and why) in the comments.

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What Lies Beneath: Update 1.5

Hey everyone !

The 1.5 version of What Lies Beneath is here, with a little surprise I decided to add on the last minute.

here's the changelog (I probably forgot some things. The surprise is in bold text)

• Big framerate optimization. There was a little issue with the creatures AI that took ressources for nothing

• I changed the interface a little to harmonize it (avoiding to use different resolutions and graphical styles). I changed the skill icons and the experience bar

• Multiplayer mode

It's really a work in progress. It's still a little buggy, lacks a lot of content and most of all it's really badly balanced... but it's working. I wasn't sure I wanted to put it in the game at this stage but I thought you guys would want to see how it looks. It will get better and more complete over time.

• Misc. bugfixes

• Some other little things like a better management of arrows and quivers

The Desura versions aren't updated yet, the upload is running.

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What Lies Beneath on Greenlight

Hey guys !

I just submitted What Lies Beneath on Steam Greenlight.

Steam Greenlight is a service used by developers to get their games on Steam.

A little "Yes" doesn't cost you anything and will help me a lot, so get your mouse ready and go on the Greenlight page :

Of course, if the game gets on Steam but you already have bought it from another plateform, don't worry, you'll get a Steam key.

See you next time !

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I got interviewed by TruePCGaming

Hey everyone !

A very quick update to tell you... well... everything's in the title: "I got interviewed by TruePCGaming"

You can read the interview here.

Also, I just noticed the game got a Metacritic page now. So feel free to go there and say what you think about it to the world ;)

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Song of the Myrne (and What Lies Beneath !): multiplayer

Hey everyone !

I started working on a multiplayer mode for Song of the Myrne and What Lies Beneath this weekend (basically because I was sick and unable to work on quests or anything that needs a functional brain^^).

Here's a little summary on the things I posted on the french version of the blog.

First of all, keep in mind that the multiplayer will work a little differently than the solo of the game, but it doesn't affect the singleplayer at all. So the controls, hotbar, interface, etc will stay unchanged on the solo.

• It will be local split-screen multiplayer

The gameplay will be similar to the one of my other game, Myrne 6312. You will be able to play up to four players in split-screen.

You will not be able to control your character with the mouse because that would be totally unbalanced if one player can do that and the others can't.

So there will not be interractions like crafting, inventory, levels up,... The multiplayer will definitely be turned toward action.

• Class based

Your class will affect which skills you have (probably 2 per class) and your stuff. I think you will still be able to choose your weapon but your stats will depend on your class.

Here's the first classes I'll be working on. I'll probably add more later.

Knight, mage, thief and archer

The hotbar will be shorter and locked (you can't change the items in it, they will depend on your class)

• Game modes ?

To begin, I'll only add basic Deathmatch. But I'll probably want to add more modes later. Some mini-scenarii in coop would be super awesome too.

Here's the first map I created.

• Available in SotM and WLB

The multiplayer mode will be available in Song of the Myrne once I'll finish it. But also on What Lies Beneath, for no extra charge of course.

It will also be playable on the demo of Song of the Myrne but with some limitations: less maps, no advanced classes, etc...

• Any release date ?

As usual, when it's done ;)

It's a lot of work but I'm making good progress and I should come up with a playable version soon. I don't want to give any date but maybe in one month or two. Don't trust me on this !

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What Lies Beneath: hotfix

Hey everyone !

I discovered a very nasty bug that prevent all of you to go further after you defeat the lich.

I worked on a hotfix and on some other changes: item stacking in the inventory, rebuild of the archery system,...

I'm uploading all the updated versions, it will probably take a while.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.

[Edit: Apparently it only occurs if you click on the stairs in the crypt, near the lich boss. Avoid clicking on it if you play before the patch is released.]

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What Lies Beneath: The release date

Hey everyone !

This time I finally have a true release date for my little game: What Lies Beneath.

Again, I'm really sorry for all the "issues" I got (I didn't think it takes so much time to release a game, so it's totally my fault to tell you too soon :S)

But it's okay now. Still a very big week and you''l be able to wander in the Namok's dungeon.

You can already pre-order the game if it's your thing.


Don't hesitate to tell your friends about it !

And if you read all this and still have no idea of what SotM: What Lies Beneath is about, you'd better check out this trailer^^ :


See you next time ! Thanks for reading.

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What Lies Beneath: soon...

Hey everyone !

I'm sure you're getting sick of reading that over and over again but the game will be released very soon, I promise.

I uploaded everything, I set a price and, well... everything is okay on my side I think. We'll just have to wait for Desura to make it available (a big thanks to them by the way, they really helped me a lot with the process of putting the game online).

Well... I'm happy for you and I'll let you finish... but, you said you set a price ?!

Yeah, unfortunately that's one thing that didn't go as intended, at all. The Pay What You Want formula isn't supported by Desura (someone on Reddit told me it was but apparently he was mistaken). PYW is not so perfect because of all the fees that come with payment (Paypal, credit cards,...). I guess the world isn't totally ready to use that awesome system for everything...

So I set the price at the minimum possible (1.99 euros) and it should be 2.49 dollars, more or less depending on where you live.

For the price of two beers you''l get the game and its OST ;)

I'm planning to make What Lies Beneath available in bundles to make the game affordable by as many people as possible.

And that's all for today, I'm heading to bed now, good day/night !

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What Lies Beneath: Quick update on the situation and the trailer

Hey everyone !

I kinda fixed my connection issues (actually not at all, I made my uploads from another one :S) and could update the game. And.... surprise ! I even made a trailer for it.


With a working build and a video showing the game put online I was finally able to engage the discussion with Desura (I should probably have done that sooner, will keep that in mind for my next game release^^').

So the only thing to do now is to wait. You'll be able to play the game pretty soon I hope.

Oh ! As you can see I also made myself a logo. For those who are not familiar with Song of the Myrne (the big one, not WLB) this animal is called a boarlion.

Let me know what you think of that trailer and, if you like it, don't hesitate to share. It helps a lot.

Bye !

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What Lies Beneath: Connection problems and release

Hey everyone !

What Lies Beneath is still planned to be released today but really I can't promise antything since my internet connection hates me.

My upload bandwith is really slooooooooow for an unknow reason since yesterday and it's really hard to upload anything.

Sorry for that :'(

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Song of the Myrne: Introducing What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath is an action-RPG in which you'll explore the island of Namok and its deadly dungeon in hope to avenge your... hem... your wife.
Fight evil (and less evil) creatures, loot everything you find, pretend you care while villagers tell you everything about their lives, and improve your character as you like in an epic (well... not really actually) quest for revenge! The adventure awaits! And the final boss too...

Main features

• Not class-based : will you be a valiant knight throwing fireballs everywhere? A fearless mage under two tons of armor? Or an archer that doesn't hesitate before transforming his foes into frogs?

• Content (story, quests, levels) crafted by hand for an unique feel

• Fun and original universe with silly characters to speak to

• Part of a serie : Myrne (you don't need to have played the other games to understand what's going on)

• Complete crafting system: create potions, armors, etc... mine some ores, pick up some shrooms,...

• Challenge your friends in the local splitscreen multiplayer mode in deathmatch or in a Score the Cube game (a football match except with swords, arrows, fireballs... trust me, it's way more fun this way)

• Play the campaign with a friend in local co-op

• (Re-)discover the tiny story "The Sorcerer" alone or with a friend

• I made the musics myself for this game, using Magix Music Maker. You get the OST with the game for no extra charge.

Here's a foretaste =)

You convinced me! Where can I buy it?

Some (very outdated) reviews, Let's Play, etc...

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