The Kobo II Tech Preview is now available for download! Long overdue release – short announcement! ;-)
The 32 bit Windows build can be found on the official site, kobo2.net; direct download here.
From the included README:
Kobo II Tech Preview 1 Release Note
===================================
Kobo II (working title) is a top-down scrolling 2D
shooter, developed completely as a one-man endeavor
by the creator of Kobo Deluxe.
Unlike Kobo Deluxe, Kobo II is physics based, and is
intended to be played with dual analog sticks. (As in,
a modern game pad.) Although aiming to be a bit more
accessible and less unforgiving and frustrating than
Kobo Deluxe, Kobo II is in no way intended to become
a low resistance casual shooter.
As you may know, Kobo Deluxe is not an original game,
but rather a new engine and new media for the game
logic from Akira Higuchi’s XKobo. As such, Kobo II is
actually a new game by a different designer, more
than a true sequel.
It may in fact turn into something rather different
over time – and this is where You come in, aspiring
fighter pilot! This game is for You, me and all others
who loved XKobo/Kobo Deluxe, and want to see that
concept upgraded to modern standards. I want Your
ideas and feedback, to iteratively develop Kobo II to
its fullest potential.
David
Nice website you've got there... o_O
Back on topic: Hmm, this actually looks pretty cool. And now that there's a pre-tech demo think I'll have a look-see as soon as I have time to spear. Let me just update my Wine first..... :P
By the way, I'm curious: Are you including this game in Desura's Alpha-funding program?
Thanks! I hope it's not "too much" or anything; just wanted it to look a bit like the GUI toolkit in the game, while adding some classic style arcade/action feel.
I hope it will be, at least! Not much content yet, as I wanted to get most of the machinery, GUI and all that down first. However, it should be enough to get some idea of the general gameplay and feel I'm going for. Kobo Deluxe might give some further hints, though I intend to go quite a bit beyond that.
As to Wine, I intend to release native 32 and 64 bit Linux binaries, but despite Linux being my development platform, that might actually be more complicated than Win32 deployment. That, if nothing else, is a good reason to open source the engine...
I'm only selling licenses directly from my site at this point, though I'm considering all alternatives. I got the impression that much more content is needed to enter that program, but well, that will soon be less of an issue. :-)
Oh, speaking of deployment, I just found out about another interesting option: Code.google.com
Native code deployment to any x86 platform that runs Google Chrome! I will definitely be looking into this.