- Zeboyd Games
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Zeboyd Games
Zeboyd Games LogoType Private Industry Interactive entertainment Founded 2009 Founder(s) Robert Boyd Headquarters Lake Arrowhead, California, United States Key people Robert Boyd (CEO), William "Bill" Stiernberg (Lead Artist), Gordon McNeil (Composer) Products Epiphany in Spaaace!, Molly the Were-Zompire, Breath of Death VII, Cthulhu Saves the World Employees 3 Website Zeboyd Games Zeboyd Games is a developer of 8-bit and 16-bit-style 2D role-playing games that was created by Robert Boyd. It is most known for its two recent 2D role-playing games, Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves the World.
Contents
Interactive Novels
Epiphany in Spaaace!
Epiphany In Spaaace! is an interactive novel[1] released on October 20, 2009 on Xbox Live Indie Games[2] parodying sci-fi through the ongoing travails of Philemon K. Bort (possible Captain of the U.S.S. Epiphany, one of the latest additions to the Universal Galactic Space Corps fleet).[3] It has sold about 500-700 copies.[4]
Molly the Were-Zompire
The interactive novel Molly the Were-Zompire was released on Xbox Live Indie Games on December 10, 2009.[5] It's the story of Molly Desper, who is turned into a were-zombie-vampire[6] It sold about 500-700 copies.[4]
2D RPGs
Breath of Death VII: The Beginning
Co-created by William Stiernberg, Breath of Death VII: The Beginning was released on April 22, 2010, on Xbox Live Indie Games.[7] A retro-style comedy RPG, Dem the Skeleton Knight, Sara the Ghost Historian, Lita the Vampire Techie, and Erik the Zombie Prince are customized via a branching ability tree.[8] Robert felt that most turn-based RPGs were too slow, so Breath of Death VII battles employ a combo system based on player character choices with non-player characters receiving a strength bonus based on how many turns the fight has gone, giving the battles a pseudo time limit.[9] Additionally, the number of encounters in an area are limited.[10] With more than 40,000 sales, Breath of Death VII has a 2/3 conversion rate from the trial.[9]
Cthulhu Saves the World
Co-created with William Stiernberg, Cthulhu Saves the World was released on December 30, 2010 on Xbox Live.[11] Cthulhu, the squid-faced, winged god created by H. P. Lovecraft emerges from the sea after centuries of slumber only to find his dark powers immediately sealed away by a mysterious holy wizard. A narrator then informs the player that the only way to break the curse is to become a true hero. Quickly breaking the fourth wall, Cthulhu informs the narrator that he was eavesdropping and now knows how to break the curse.[12] Like Breath of Death VII, Cthulhu Saves the World has a branching level-up system and caps random encounters in an area (there is an option where the player can choose from the menu to have additional encounters).[13] The "Hey There, Cthulhu" music video was produced by Nakatomi HMC[14] using the parody song written and recorded by Eben Brooks.[15] All in-game music was composed and recorded by Gordon McNeil.[16]
Zeboyd Games began a Kickstarter fundraiser towards development of an enhanced version of the game for PC and Xbox 360 platforms; it was more than successfully funded on February 16, 2011, garnering over twice the fundraiser's goal. The new version was officially announced on March 14, 2011, retitling the game as "Cthulhu Saves the World: Super Hyper Enhanced Championship Edition Alpha Diamond DX Plus Alpha FES HD - Premium Enhanced Game of the Year Collector's Edition (without Avatars!)". The PC version was released on July 13, 2011 together with Breath of Death VII on Valve's Steam service. The Steam version was a financial success, making more revenue in its first week of release than in a year and a half on the Xbox 360.[17]
References
- ^ "Epiphany in Spaaace! Review". Go!GamingGiant. 28 Oct 2009. http://www.gogaminggiant.com/2009/10/28/epiphany-spaaace-review/. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Full Game - Epiphany in Spaaace!". Xbox Live. 20 Oct 2010. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Epiphany-in-Spaaace/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855033d. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Epiphany in Spaaace!". Metacritic. 20 Oct 2009. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/epiphany-in-spaaace. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ a b "RPGamer Feature - Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Interview". RPGamer. Apr 2010. http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/xbox2/bod7/bod7int.html. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Full Game - Molly the Were-Zompire". Xbox Live. 10 Dec 2009. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Molly-the-Were-Zompire/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585503ab. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Review: Molly the Were-Zompire". http://www.indiegameblog.net/2010/01/11/review-molly-the-were-zompire/. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Full Game - Breath of Death VII". Xbox Live. 22 Apr 2010. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Breath-of-Death-VII/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585504bd. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Breath of Death VII Released For XBLA:This retro parody RPG is dying for your support.". RPGFan.com. 29 Apr 2010. http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2010/148.html. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ a b "Interview: Zeboyd Games Creator Shares 3 Secrets of Good RPG Design". bitmob.com. 06 Jul 2010. http://www.bitmob.com/articles/interview-with-creator-of-zeboyd-games-the-3-secret-ingredients-to-making-a-good-role-playing-game. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Hidden Xbox Games You Need To Know About". Kotaku. 31 May 2010. http://kotaku.com/5550463/xbox-games-you-need-to-know-about. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Full Game - Cthulhu Saves the World". Xbox Live. 30 Dec 2010. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Cthulhu-Saves-the-World/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550756?cid=search. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Xbox Live Indie Gems: Cthulhu Saves the World". Joystiq. 06 Jan 2011. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/06/xbox-live-indie-gems-cthulhu-saves-the-world/. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Cthulhu Saves the World Review". Eurogamer. 11 Jan 2011. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-11-cthulhu-saves-the-world-review. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Nakatomi HMC Videos". http://vimeo.com/nakatomihmc. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Hey There, Cthulhu Music Video is Brilliant". dualshockers.com. 30 Dec 2010. http://dualshockers.com/2010/12/30/hey-there-cthulu-music-video-is-brilliant/. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Indie Developer Pow-Wow - Cthulhu Saves the World Interview". rpgamer.com. http://www.rpgamer.com/features/2010/indiepowow/cthulhuint.html. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ "Zeboyd Games revenue from Steam exceeds 1yr+ XBLIG revenue". 18 July 2011. http://zeboyd.com/2011/07/18/zeboyd-games-revenue-from-steam-exceeds-1yr-xblig-revenue/. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
External links
Categories:- Companies established in 2009
- Companies based in Lake Arrowhead, California
- Video game companies of the United States
- Video game developers
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