Adventures Ahead – Lama News & Tips #1

by | Apr 29, 2021 | Lama News | 0 comments

Welcome to our very first Swinging Lama Blog! Down below awaits you plenty of Lama News, tips for game developer & exciting new Indie Games and much more!

This monthly blog is packed with bunch of infos about our personal adventure of developing games but also tips and tricks for your own adventures, as well as news about the indie game world. Every month you will find this special mix of news in your email inbox. 
We plan to give you a variety of content. From insides by our programmers our our art team to important and exciting new tools for developing games! 
This month we features among other things our top 3 picks for relaxing indie games and also the amazing tool Campfire to start your journey of developing your first game or writing your stories! Let’s get started! 

We hope you are enjoying all the tips and news we prepared for you! If you are every curious about a certain topic or have suggestions for the indie games we should cover, let us know!

#1 Game Dev Tip

Make sure you spend time with your team of work and use it for playing games or chatting! We do this every Wednesday and Friday to exchange fun stories and simply to relax!

#2 Game Dev Tip

Giving your different depart-ments funny names  is  the best way to create motivation! Our art department calls themselves A-Team for example! And they are just as adventurous!

#3 Game Dev Tip

Communication is key! No matter if you need help or simply want to share an idea with your team! Helping each other out is an amazing way to make the often times stressy job of developing games much easier!

Game Development Log #1

Trailer ahead!

Much work went into our very first trailer for our new game Blaloon Blalympia and after the successful release of the trailer we asked us – Why stop now?

Our art team created a wonderful and cute Trailer for our upcoming game and each second is full of fun and lovely details! The original music by our sound designer adds the finishing touch and creates something that shows the unique and creative world of our game.  We decided to feature 3 of our 4 minigames and each comes with a special environment and characters! We can’t wait to visit all these places in the game!

With this trailer we welcome you on the colorful blanet Blaloonia and the Blas are keen to show you around! The Blalympiade is the greatest sports event on the planet and each discipline demands all your skills at hand! There are already more trailers in the works so stay tuned! Check it out for yourself! 

Tooltip! Write your stories at a campfire!

Campfire is a neat and complex but easy to use tool to develop your own stories and games. It was created with Dungeon & Dragons fans in mind and features a bunch of amazing tools to create whole worlds with characters, magical systems and even story arcs! It also has room for your scrips and plot points!

Campfire has a free version and the option to expand the features you need in a monthly, annual or even permanent way! But what are those features?

Campfire Blaze is build of a variety of moduls, like characteristics for each of your characters, the timeline or the plot of your story or game, just to name a few. It doesn’t matter if you choose the free or paid version, you will always have access to your content over the cloud and you are even able to work collaboratively on your projects!  And as mentioned before you only need to pay for the features you need to expand. For example the free version features place for 5 unique characters and you can pick that exact modul for your payment plans.

The software is browser based and designed with appealing visual features. Getting used to the software is a matter of minutes and you can jump right into creating and writing! Connecting the different modules for example for showing the relationships of characters is also possible and you can link them to your plot and locations as well. The Arcs module is perfect for that kind of stuff!

The mission of Campfire is easy to define: Help writers with creating and planning their stories with a powerful but accessible software. And already over 100k writers are using Campfire for their stories and if you ever need help or support, the creators are even hosting a discord server to connect with other creative people. The software is also still updated with new features and bug fixes! In our opinions it’s definitely worth checking out, no matter if you are a pen & paper fan, writer or game developer!

Let us know if you plan to use Campfire and for what kind of purpose! We would love to know!

Link to the website of Campfire Blaze

Our Indie Game Top Tips!

Amber Isle

Studio: Ambertail Games | RPG Dinosaur Farm Simulation
Release Date: Coming Soon on Steam
Did you ever wish to to open your own shop on a tropical isle filled with cute prehistoric animals who are eager to befriend you? You reach this colorful place, named Amber Isle with the goal in mind to open your own cozy shop and befriend the cute Paleofolk in your village. Not only are you able to explore to your hearts content but also craft the unique items you are selling! Did you every imagined to craft  a toothbrush for a sabre-toothed cat? Now this dream becomes reality! From painting, to lumbering and making friends, Amber Isle awaits you with many adventures on your prehistoric path! 

Pine

Studio: Twirlbound | Open World Action Adventure
Released: Nintendo Switch

This game impresses right from the start with an amazing and captivating storyline in the massive and complex world of Albamar. This world is ever changing and depending on your decisions as the young human Hue you are also contribute to its fate. Explore different and vast biomes, fight and craft your way through your adventure while either form an alliance or wage war against the many intelligent species of this world. All while trying to find a new home for your people in this dangerous but wonderful land.  → On Nintendo eStore

Megaquarium

Studio: Twice Circled | Zoo Management Simulator
Released: Steam & Nintendo Switch + DLC

This charming aquatic park management game is a refreshing take on zoo tycoons! With over 100 aquatic animals, form sharks to jellyfish to even our beloved guppies, they will find a beautiful home in your aquarium. This game amazes with a cute comic look but still portraits the animals in a realistic and fun way! Next to the management of your staff you are also responsible for the well being of your animals. Decorating the tanks with the perfect enrichment and also making sure every fish in the tank is a friend and not a foe are only a small part of what awaits you in Megaquarium!