Introducing Overlive, a post zombie apocalypse CYOA/RPG

FireRabbit

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January 10, 2014
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Hey folks.

I'm an indie RPG developer from Canada, which works well because I'm snowed in half the year. Playing and creating games is my passion, and I've been eating up RPGs since I was a kid (M&M, GoldBox, Wizardry, Baldur's Gate, everrrything). So it made sense to make an RPG.

I'm new to marketing, but I feel lucky to have been reviewed and given 4/5 by TouchArcade, which helped sales. There's over 150 user reviews on the various markets with an average of 4.5/5 right now.


PREMISE

overlive_screenshot_splash2.jpg


The game is called Overlive, it's a zombie survival RPG that is a pain to label. The premise is your standard "survive the zombie apocalypse and escape the city" but the gameplay is a unique mix of RPG, non-linear Choose Your Own Adventure game/storybooks, and time management/strategy.


GAMEPLAY

encounter.jpg


You have a set amount of days to escape the city, and you choose to train your skills, rest, or explore each day. You have 9 skills, including combat (melee, ranged, explosives, grappling) and non-combat (engineering, computers, lockpicking, perception, stealth). You increase your skills through training or practicing them, and tackle the gamebook style exploration challenges using your skills. Much like Deus Ex (the original good one) you can get through the game using non-combat skills, although some combat is unavoidable.

2combat.jpg


There's 8 different ways to escape/win, lots of random play, and no way to explore everything or uncover the entire plot in one play. You can find upgrades/improvements for your home that increase your resting benefits, and unlock new training opportunities for skill increases.


WHERE TO FIND IT

If you're interested, you can find the landing page here: http://www.firerabbit.com/portal/landingpage/overlive/

Or directly on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/overlive-zombie-survival/id779829033

Or directly on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.firerabbit.games.overlive.unlocked


home.jpg


I'd LOVE to hear your feedback/impressions on the game. The game is priced at $1.99 and doesn't contain any IAP (in app purchases), limited time/moves, or any other bullshit you find in mobile games. If people are interested I can post a few promo codes to download the game for free on iOS, or I can refund a few people on Android if they want to post impressions of the game.

Happy to answer any questions about the game, indie dev, or gaming in general :)

ending.jpg
 
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Jan 10, 2014
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It looks great, very professional FireRabbit.

I'm trying to get my head around the interface/world view. Can you move around freely? Or is it more a "choose your location" and then you see a static background and animating undead? Are the undead 3d models in-game, or did you pre-render the animations for mobile device performance?

Also, I know you've finished, but do you have any info I how long this took to complete and the tools you used?
 
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The pictures do not tell me much on how the gameplay is. Do you have a video up anywhere?
 
The pictures do not tell me much on how the gameplay is. Do you have a video up anywhere?

You choose your own actions for each day by tapping a choice, and then when in a location you can choose things to do.

In combat you tap to shoot or hit with a bludgeon, slash to slash with melee weapons.

It really is a pretty fun game, enjoying it so far!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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It looks great, very professional FireRabbit.

I'm trying to get my head around the interface/world view. Can you move around freely? Or is it more a "choose your location" and then you see a static background and animating undead? Are the undead 3d models in-game, or did you pre-render the animations for mobile device performance?

Also, I know you've finished, but do you have any info I how long this took to complete and the tools you used?

txa1265 answered your gameplay questions pretty well :)

The art is all 2d, the backgrounds are 2d paintings and the zombie art is hand drawn in a comic book style. I think they turned out pretty well:

image_monster_fatzombie.png


It took about 1.2 years of work, done in the evenings, weekends, and vacation days (!!). There were a lot of weeks off though. I wrote the game in the Corona SDK engine, which uses Lua for programming and lets you export the game when it's done to all major mobile marketplaces (iOS, Android).

It's a lot of work, but people really seem to like it :)

The pictures do not tell me much on how the gameplay is. Do you have a video up anywhere?

A trailer is something I never did, and something I will certainly not skip again. I think the lack of trailer hurt the number of mainstream reviews I got, although the TouchArcade review was huge.

Someone recorded themselves playing the game, though the skip through a lot. The cut the audio quality a lot too, which sucks because the music is diverse and pretty good. You can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFSmIH1P7n8

You choose your own actions for each day by tapping a choice, and then when in a location you can choose things to do.

In combat you tap to shoot or hit with a bludgeon, slash to slash with melee weapons.

It really is a pretty fun game, enjoying it so far!

Thanks for the impression :) Glad you're enjoying it! There's a big update coming soon that will introduce some new game difficulties, and allow you to skip/accelerate the early game once you've completed it once.
 
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