I'm one of those people who LOVES 2D, Pixel and Cartoony/Stylized graphics. Ofc, I still have certain standards, but the point is, I don't need a game to look like RDR2 in order to love it. And I am always open to new horse games, especially single player ones! Definitely keeping my eye on this one.
i totally agree with you re: realism in horse games. I think so many people get caught up in 'realism' that they forget why people gravitate towards horses in the first place. People ride because we want to build a bond with these amazing animals, and borrow just a piece of their strength and magesty. not because we love mucking stalls and picking hooves. Games should focus on selling the *fantasy* of horses, instead of getting bogged down in the tedium of reality
I want to chime in with some insight as I am working in a small game studio that mostly develops small 2D games for children. I've looked at the Kickstarter and the funding they ask for is more than reasonable. It's on the very very low end of what you would charge for a game like this if you sat full-time devs on the project. We would never do it for that little, but I can imagine customers to suggest it 😅. Now the fact that 50% is supposed to be spent on a soundtrack is puzzling to me. Maybe it's a good decision, music and sound design can make or break a game just as much, but then the remaining funds are abysmal for the project. But as its a passion project and the devs probably work in it in their free time it's okay. One has to keep in mind then, that the funds don't support them working full-time so in turn we can not expect the development to go much faster. From what I can scramble in my head the game could be done in a few months by a very small dev team. But again, speaking full-time here. So one year of development on the side doesn't sound wrong for the progress they made. I have to say though, it feels like they are making it all harder on themselves than it has to be. The animations, how ever cute I think they are. Look like actual redrawn pictures, which is a sweet style but for a game, especially where they plan on different coats it is tedious and could be avoided by doing animations with a program like spine, that bends and translates 2D images just like you would in 3D. That would open the possibility to just copy animations onto other horse models in an instant as long as the images are similar in shape, which they would be as they are all horses with similar anatomy. I am not saying that they should add more horse breeds but this workflow would also help a lot with different coats or finetuning animations later on without the hussle of redrawing image by image. A lot of 2D TV series are done that way because it's just faster and easier. All in all I am very curious what the future brings for the project.
1 of us is the programmer, 1 of us is the artist, we will have to commision someone for the music, The average rate for a custom soundtrack is $200 a minute.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time write up such and awesome breakdown! I have no idea what the cost is of music, but I understand it can be a bit pricy. But this was a cool comment! Thanks for giving your input! It's always awesome to hear from other developers and their insights. Gives a completely different perspective on how these games are made! EDIT: And I just realised the dev had already replied. Sorry! ♥
@@pixelhorizongames wow i didnt expect the devs to answer haha. I don't have that much insight in soundproduction so i can't really say much about all that. As we often are on a very tight budget we resort to using stock music or hire students very often, thats why i was confused at first by the chart. But its real awesome to see devs with passion for their project going the high quality route, games can really benefit from custom made music imo.
What's awesome is even if they don't hit the kickstarter, they're still making the game. I hope they reach their goal, though. It's really a cute little game.
Wooo! Rattle uploaded!!! I like that you give (unkown/in-development) games with a little platform more exposure. I rlly like the ideas and the execution of the game so far and it rlly feels like the creator/s care and that's so good to hear While it's not for me i rlly hope this reaches the right audience and this game will give a lot of enjoyment to those people in the future! :D
I hope they make it, too! And it's always a treat to put a spotlight on these smaller games. I always feel like they are making something a bit more special than the bigger ones. There's always a charm to them ^^
@@YTRattle I completely agree! This certain spark that individual creators carry with them to turn it into something that they wanna see exist and put their heart and effort into is always a wonderful thing. As an artist I know that carrying this spark through an entire project can be difficult, though, so I rlly hope this game can succeed in the best way and get the recognition it deserves. :D I wish the creator all the perseverance that (they may or may not haha) need and a nice supportive fanbase. Because while somebody *makes* a game, we all know that the fans and community help shape it
i NEED a pixel horse game, like stardew valley but focused solely on horses. i love pixel games sm and it would be a adorable comforting game! imagine you could also play co-op
EQUIPMENT WITH STATS I think having no effects on equipment is still the BEST option for any games. I have yet to find even ONE game that makes complete sets, which do NOT look tacky, and have the best effects. You ALWAYS need to mix and match set parts to get the best advantages. Even in Alicia Online it's like that, even in Diablo it was like that and right about any other game i remember. Either make them not have effects OR make it possible to alter the item's looks as you, as the player, wish. That way one person can have their sparkly, pukey pink unicorn armor set, while I can pick a realistic Australian rancher set while we both can have the same benefits. STYLE & GENETICS I for one am VERY excited since this reminds me of the old Gameboy pokemon games / gamemaker games people create. It's simply, but fun and it usually means the story is the main focus instead of lots of graphics, items and whatnot. Which always makes me happy. I'm curious how they'll handle colours and breeding, as per usual, since genetics have never been a thing for games. Tho if you keep it subtle, maybe they can manage something decent. Island populations of animals usually do not have a wide range of genetics anyway. So maybe focusing more on random Minimal White would be key to this. OR, better yet: mutltiple stages and varieties of ONE white complex marking (Sabino, I'm looking at you, you monstreous abomination of beauty~). This would be natural and realistic and not require too much genetics to be done! THINGS I LIKE THEY CHOSE TO DO Anyway, I do very much love the one-type looks idea. Games focus too much on people pleasing nowadays and try to implement dozens of breeds instead of focusing on ONE breed with a history and it's own charm. Same with the no chores idea they had: I LOVE it. As mentioned, it's nice for a newcomer but it turns into an annoying chore VERY quickly and just takes away from me wanting to spent time on the game. 3D CAMERA THOUGHTS I do believe the game would have looked amazing if they went with a 3d camera, but I understand the struggle. Tho I have to say it would have made the game stand out vastly compared to most others if they went with the extra load of work to do it. Just as pixel games do with detailed shading and highlights (which I think would ALSO have been a great idea for this game to make it look impressive). I'm perfectly fine with simple 2D looks tho. Maybe it could look even better with shaded/coloured lineart to ease the contrast of things a bit, but it looks really nice as is already. Especially the effort they put into the horse itself I find makes me want to play it already. REALISM VS STYLES The thing mentioned about styles and realism is something I can side with both parties with. I'm a graphics wh0re for sure and dream of the day I can witness a 100% realistically animated horse to gallop through the fields with (referably AS the horse) but I also adore the mentioned freedom and possibilities a stylized game gives you. Some things you just cannot do so easily with a realistic looking character whereas as a cartoon figure you can make it look outstandingly amazing despite it not being achievable if it was realistic. Let's think MLP:FiM with this. The style was VERY unrealistic, but it was beautiful and left options for many amazing effects, expressions that were impactful and movements that looked gorgeous when animated. Maybe someday someone will find a middle man option and go for a 3D realistic looking model with more unrealistic/stylized shape and 3D Hollywood movie expressions on the animal to make it less weird. That would also be nice. Some creatures might not be as good a pick for this, but I think there should be plenty options. Or maybe, MAYBE, people can finally dare to make their own creatures who happen to look similar to some we know and use that to their advantage to excuse not-hyper-realistic anatomy and movements. A game about a Kirin (dragon, horse hybrid basically) would come to mind first. You have LOTS of options to excuse anatomy and movement differences if you do it right. Or make creatures that are simply not even bound to physical form, like a shapeshifting, illusion-using blob that can take any shape and appearance it wants: Scalely horse, furred and feathered dragon, a spectral fox or a slimey, vaguely human-shaped figure. Anything is possible and that goes for 2D and 3D with this concept. (I hope giving my half-essay titles helps keep track and not get lost.)
For the tack with stats: Instead, be able to have gem slots on tack so that adds stats, but not the tack itself. You can move over your favorite stats to your favorite tack that way
Ahh! That's so awesome! I really love the aesthetic for this game! It really stands out! And if you do become a horse gamer, lemme know and I'll send you your very own 'horse gamer nerd' badge. Which is completely invisible so that you can't be bulled for enjoying these games!
Omg I just found out about your channel through your latest video and I just want to say that I absolutely adore your videos and especially your voice! And now I'm going to be bingewatching your channel while I draw
I think it should be okay! The devs are already working on another game, and its development is going at a steady pace! So, they do have experience in developing and updating the game.
I'm actually really glad there's only one horse type. I go a little nutty when there's 50+ different breeds because then everyone wants representation and the topic of the game gets lost. >_
Yes! I hate it when games place so much focus on breeds. Focus on gameplay, world, experience, and story. These are the parts that really matter, not just how many breeds can you own :\
hey, Rattle, hope you feel better. I've been fighting a virus myself. It's got my sleep schedule so jacked up I don't know if I can fix it. Also, can't wait to see your next video! Get better soon!
Great video! :)) and hey, when are you going to livestream again? I've missed the previous ones, and want to be apart of the next ones. Also, get well soon, Rattle!
rattle, could you find a way to reach the Wild Horse Islands (Roblox) creators? there is no way to report bugs anymore after they suddenly shut down their discord. i tried to find ways to report bugs via roblox itself, nothing. and i had a pretty big bug to report. i haven't tried pestering them on their inactive social media yet.
Be sure to support this game! ♥
Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixelhorizongames/canter-crossing?ref=discovery
Discord: discord.gg/F9Yh9MJQ
This game looks so CUTE OH MY GOODNESS
I KNOW RIGHT???!!!
I'm one of those people who LOVES 2D, Pixel and Cartoony/Stylized graphics. Ofc, I still have certain standards, but the point is, I don't need a game to look like RDR2 in order to love it. And I am always open to new horse games, especially single player ones! Definitely keeping my eye on this one.
Ooo! Same! I love pixel/2D games!
Same tbh. Hate it when people judge a game based off of its style. Just because it's not RDR2 doesn't mean it's bad/stupid.
It looks so cosy, i definitely will be purchasing the game when it comes out. Hopefully it escapes the horse game curse
i totally agree with you re: realism in horse games. I think so many people get caught up in 'realism' that they forget why people gravitate towards horses in the first place. People ride because we want to build a bond with these amazing animals, and borrow just a piece of their strength and magesty. not because we love mucking stalls and picking hooves. Games should focus on selling the *fantasy* of horses, instead of getting bogged down in the tedium of reality
That looks like it will be so much easier on my laptop than a 3D game
True! It shouldn't be a spec buster!
Oh to be a bald horse prancing around a landscape of massive Lego Duplo blocks
When we get a demo up in the future, you can!
I want to chime in with some insight as I am working in a small game studio that mostly develops small 2D games for children. I've looked at the Kickstarter and the funding they ask for is more than reasonable. It's on the very very low end of what you would charge for a game like this if you sat full-time devs on the project. We would never do it for that little, but I can imagine customers to suggest it 😅. Now the fact that 50% is supposed to be spent on a soundtrack is puzzling to me. Maybe it's a good decision, music and sound design can make or break a game just as much, but then the remaining funds are abysmal for the project. But as its a passion project and the devs probably work in it in their free time it's okay. One has to keep in mind then, that the funds don't support them working full-time so in turn we can not expect the development to go much faster. From what I can scramble in my head the game could be done in a few months by a very small dev team. But again, speaking full-time here. So one year of development on the side doesn't sound wrong for the progress they made. I have to say though, it feels like they are making it all harder on themselves than it has to be. The animations, how ever cute I think they are. Look like actual redrawn pictures, which is a sweet style but for a game, especially where they plan on different coats it is tedious and could be avoided by doing animations with a program like spine, that bends and translates 2D images just like you would in 3D. That would open the possibility to just copy animations onto other horse models in an instant as long as the images are similar in shape, which they would be as they are all horses with similar anatomy. I am not saying that they should add more horse breeds but this workflow would also help a lot with different coats or finetuning animations later on without the hussle of redrawing image by image. A lot of 2D TV series are done that way because it's just faster and easier. All in all I am very curious what the future brings for the project.
1 of us is the programmer, 1 of us is the artist, we will have to commision someone for the music, The average rate for a custom soundtrack is $200 a minute.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time write up such and awesome breakdown! I have no idea what the cost is of music, but I understand it can be a bit pricy. But this was a cool comment! Thanks for giving your input! It's always awesome to hear from other developers and their insights. Gives a completely different perspective on how these games are made!
EDIT: And I just realised the dev had already replied. Sorry! ♥
@@pixelhorizongames wow i didnt expect the devs to answer haha. I don't have that much insight in soundproduction so i can't really say much about all that. As we often are on a very tight budget we resort to using stock music or hire students very often, thats why i was confused at first by the chart. But its real awesome to see devs with passion for their project going the high quality route, games can really benefit from custom made music imo.
this looks like a simple game that i could relax in for hours. I will keep my fingers crossed!
What's awesome is even if they don't hit the kickstarter, they're still making the game. I hope they reach their goal, though. It's really a cute little game.
Reminds me of HI2!! I cant wait for this!
Wooo! Rattle uploaded!!!
I like that you give (unkown/in-development) games with a little platform more exposure. I rlly like the ideas and the execution of the game so far and it rlly feels like the creator/s care and that's so good to hear
While it's not for me i rlly hope this reaches the right audience and this game will give a lot of enjoyment to those people in the future! :D
I hope they make it, too! And it's always a treat to put a spotlight on these smaller games. I always feel like they are making something a bit more special than the bigger ones. There's always a charm to them ^^
@@YTRattle I completely agree! This certain spark that individual creators carry with them to turn it into something that they wanna see exist and put their heart and effort into is always a wonderful thing.
As an artist I know that carrying this spark through an entire project can be difficult, though, so I rlly hope this game can succeed in the best way and get the recognition it deserves. :D
I wish the creator all the perseverance that (they may or may not haha) need and a nice supportive fanbase. Because while somebody *makes* a game, we all know that the fans and community help shape it
Ahhhhh!! This is so well said! I absolutely love it, thank you anjo! ♥♥
i NEED a pixel horse game, like stardew valley but focused solely on horses. i love pixel games sm and it would be a adorable comforting game! imagine you could also play co-op
EQUIPMENT WITH STATS
I think having no effects on equipment is still the BEST option for any games.
I have yet to find even ONE game that makes complete sets, which do NOT look tacky, and have the best effects. You ALWAYS need to mix and match set parts to get the best advantages. Even in Alicia Online it's like that, even in Diablo it was like that and right about any other game i remember.
Either make them not have effects OR make it possible to alter the item's looks as you, as the player, wish. That way one person can have their sparkly, pukey pink unicorn armor set, while I can pick a realistic Australian rancher set while we both can have the same benefits.
STYLE & GENETICS
I for one am VERY excited since this reminds me of the old Gameboy pokemon games / gamemaker games people create. It's simply, but fun and it usually means the story is the main focus instead of lots of graphics, items and whatnot. Which always makes me happy.
I'm curious how they'll handle colours and breeding, as per usual, since genetics have never been a thing for games. Tho if you keep it subtle, maybe they can manage something decent. Island populations of animals usually do not have a wide range of genetics anyway. So maybe focusing more on random Minimal White would be key to this. OR, better yet: mutltiple stages and varieties of ONE white complex marking (Sabino, I'm looking at you, you monstreous abomination of beauty~). This would be natural and realistic and not require too much genetics to be done!
THINGS I LIKE THEY CHOSE TO DO
Anyway, I do very much love the one-type looks idea. Games focus too much on people pleasing nowadays and try to implement dozens of breeds instead of focusing on ONE breed with a history and it's own charm.
Same with the no chores idea they had: I LOVE it.
As mentioned, it's nice for a newcomer but it turns into an annoying chore VERY quickly and just takes away from me wanting to spent time on the game.
3D CAMERA THOUGHTS
I do believe the game would have looked amazing if they went with a 3d camera, but I understand the struggle. Tho I have to say it would have made the game stand out vastly compared to most others if they went with the extra load of work to do it. Just as pixel games do with detailed shading and highlights (which I think would ALSO have been a great idea for this game to make it look impressive).
I'm perfectly fine with simple 2D looks tho. Maybe it could look even better with shaded/coloured lineart to ease the contrast of things a bit, but it looks really nice as is already. Especially the effort they put into the horse itself I find makes me want to play it already.
REALISM VS STYLES
The thing mentioned about styles and realism is something I can side with both parties with.
I'm a graphics wh0re for sure and dream of the day I can witness a 100% realistically animated horse to gallop through the fields with (referably AS the horse) but I also adore the mentioned freedom and possibilities a stylized game gives you. Some things you just cannot do so easily with a realistic looking character whereas as a cartoon figure you can make it look outstandingly amazing despite it not being achievable if it was realistic.
Let's think MLP:FiM with this. The style was VERY unrealistic, but it was beautiful and left options for many amazing effects, expressions that were impactful and movements that looked gorgeous when animated.
Maybe someday someone will find a middle man option and go for a 3D realistic looking model with more unrealistic/stylized shape and 3D Hollywood movie expressions on the animal to make it less weird. That would also be nice. Some creatures might not be as good a pick for this, but I think there should be plenty options. Or maybe, MAYBE, people can finally dare to make their own creatures who happen to look similar to some we know and use that to their advantage to excuse not-hyper-realistic anatomy and movements. A game about a Kirin (dragon, horse hybrid basically) would come to mind first. You have LOTS of options to excuse anatomy and movement differences if you do it right. Or make creatures that are simply not even bound to physical form, like a shapeshifting, illusion-using blob that can take any shape and appearance it wants: Scalely horse, furred and feathered dragon, a spectral fox or a slimey, vaguely human-shaped figure. Anything is possible and that goes for 2D and 3D with this concept.
(I hope giving my half-essay titles helps keep track and not get lost.)
Thanks for your feedback!
HOT DAMN! This is an awesome comment! Thank you for writing this out! :D
For the tack with stats:
Instead, be able to have gem slots on tack so that adds stats, but not the tack itself. You can move over your favorite stats to your favorite tack that way
im not a horse person but GOD canter crossing might just make me one i love how it looks
Ahh! That's so awesome! I really love the aesthetic for this game! It really stands out! And if you do become a horse gamer, lemme know and I'll send you your very own 'horse gamer nerd' badge. Which is completely invisible so that you can't be bulled for enjoying these games!
LOVE All these graphics, I am very excited to see how far this goes, I'd heard of it but never actually taken a look at their content
Yay! I love the style too! It's really awesome!
Omg I just found out about your channel through your latest video and I just want to say that I absolutely adore your videos and especially your voice!
And now I'm going to be bingewatching your channel while I draw
Ahhh! Thank you! ♥♥♥ Enjoy your art ^^ (so jealous, I can't draw LOL)
This is cute as heck looking! Love stylized horse games and the pokemon vibe
Get well soon rattle, my sister is currently also sick, I wish you well :)
Excited for this one!
if the curse dosent occur.. perhaps..
I think it should be okay! The devs are already working on another game, and its development is going at a steady pace! So, they do have experience in developing and updating the game.
I'm actually really glad there's only one horse type. I go a little nutty when there's 50+ different breeds because then everyone wants representation and the topic of the game gets lost. >_
Yes! I hate it when games place so much focus on breeds. Focus on gameplay, world, experience, and story. These are the parts that really matter, not just how many breeds can you own :\
I have a feeling this game they mentioned getting bored of was sso. 😂
LOL Poor SSO! XD
I'm excited to see this game's future!
hey, Rattle, hope you feel better. I've been fighting a virus myself. It's got my sleep schedule so jacked up I don't know if I can fix it.
Also, can't wait to see your next video! Get better soon!
This game's style reminds me of the animated horseshow "Thowra" wich is available here on yt :) So its a big pluss for me :D
Definitely looks different!
Isometric horses!! Isometric horses!!
Great video! :)) and hey, when are you going to livestream again? I've missed the previous ones, and want to be apart of the next ones. Also, get well soon, Rattle!
I will be doing another one at the end of the month! :D And thanks for checking out the video! I had a lot of fun making this one ^^ ♥
@@YTRattleThank you so much for responding!! And alright, I'm looking foward to it :)
It reminds me of Cattails by Falcon Development
The horse is really pretty but the world itself looks a bit.. IDK. I hope its just a placeholder XD
It's still in early in development! It could still change a bit! The discord does let people give suggestions, if you want to give your two bits!
i think it looks pretty nice, maybe some smoother transitional tiles could help
rattle, could you find a way to reach the Wild Horse Islands (Roblox) creators? there is no way to report bugs anymore after they suddenly shut down their discord. i tried to find ways to report bugs via roblox itself, nothing. and i had a pretty big bug to report. i haven't tried pestering them on their inactive social media yet.
this looks cute!
*sees the game. runs to their kickstarter. starts putting in details. Looks at bank acc and realises she's poor.*
"MUUUUUUUUUM"
LOLLLOLOL!!!
Squeak!
4:25 that art is most definitely AI
I doubt it! The creator is a very talented artist, but if you're curious you can ask them on the discord! ♥
nuh it doesnt look AI.