Hey all!  The Caster t-shirts have arrived!  I am very happy with how they turned out and I think you will like them.

In true Caster fashion, they are glow-in-the-dark!

I just finished packaging all of them up with your pencil drawings and I am sending them your way!

All nicely packged up in tyvek envelops.

Thanks for your patience!

Hey all!

We had about 50 orders for Caster t-shirts.  Since each shirt ships with an original hand drawn pencil sketch by yours truly, that means I did 50 of those as well.

Today I just finished the last of those and went ahead and scanned them all in and uploaded them for your viewing pleasure here:

http://www.casterthegame.com/caster_sketches/

I’ve submitted the t-shirt order and things are looking good.

It will still be a little while until the shirts are done, but I will let you all know once I’ve mailed them out.   Oh, and the shirts have a little something extra to make them true “Caster” shirts…. Any guesses what that might be?

Thanks!

Yesterday Caster was released for Mac via Steam!

Caster supports Steam Play which means you’ll be able to play it on Mac or Windows from any computer with just one purchase.

Check it out!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/29800/

Visit http://www.casterthegame.com/mods.html for more details.

We also have a special build of Caster on iPad ready to go.  Hopefully in time for the iPad launch.

Caster Episode 2 is now available for PC! (Mac Linux and iPhone updates coming soon).

You can download and install it from here:

http://www.casterthegame.com

It should copy over your existing install of Caster.  Your save files should be preserved.

New updates include:

• New playable girl Caster.
• 7 new missions.
• New game play mechanics.
• New music from Monte Emerson.
• Built in support for community mods.
• Level editor and other mod tools.
• Better controller customization.
• New art.
• Updated play balancing.
• You can now jump while sliding down hills.
• Visual effects enhancements.
• Performance improvements.

So what are you waiting for!  All updates are FREE!

And if still haven’t purchased Caster at its very affordable price of $4.99, you can do that as well!
Thanks everyone!

Brice Morrison from The Game Prodigy has done a writeup on the core experience in Caster.

It’s an interesting read.

Also, I would like to recommend his video on Play Testing.  It’s the same process I used with a lot of success on Caster.

Thanks!

Apple’s App Store opens whole new channel for publishing games in frequent, chapter-size increments

Duvall, Washington – September 21, 2009 – Independent game developer Elecorn LLC is bringing a brand new style of game delivery to the App Store with Caster, a high speed free roaming fantasy themed third-person shooter. Unlike traditional games that deliver story lines in large sequels or expansion packs, Elecorn is leveraging the power of the App Store to use an incremental publishing style that resembles Japanese manga and anime.

“With the App Store, you can quickly distribute updates and new content to every end user with a few clicks. This allows us to do something new in games.  We can make a truly episodic game that unfolds one episode at a time,” says Mike D. Smith, principal of Elecorn and Caster’s key developer.  With the debut of Chapter 2, Caster advances its brand new format of episodic releases that expands the gameplay and explores an incredible epic story.

Chapter 2 “The Lydonia Chronicles” was released September 18th 2009 and is a free update to all those who currently own the game. The game normally sells for $2.99, but to celebrate the release of Chapter 2, Elecorn is holding a 33% off sale.

ABOUT CASTER
Caster is an episodic game that presents an intense third-person action shooter experience with pulse pounding music. In the game, the player dashes across scenic locations destroying bug like creatures called the Flanx using six unique attacks that include massive terrain deformation and high speed barrages of energy blasts. All new episodes are released periodically for free.
Caster is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and iPhone at http://www.casterthegame.com

ABOUT ELECORN LLC
Elecorn LLC is a small, independent software development company operated by Michael D. Smith. Caster is the latest in a series of games developed by Elecorn, which is also known for its animation software TweenMaker (www.tweenmaker.com).  In addition to leading Elecorn, Smith also serves as a senior programmer for Hidden Path Entertainment.

That hasn’t happened yet… but it might be because it’s on the “What’s Hot” list instead!

Granted, I’m about 10 pages in for apps in general, but for games I’m on the first page.

So how have sales been on iPhone?  Eh.  Let’s just say I’m hoping they’ll pick up when I release episode 2.

However, since being featured on a prominent German new site (http://www.golem.de/0905/67071.html), sales for the Linux version have gone up significantly.  In fact, they’re starting to rival the PC and Mac sales (outside of Steam).

This was very surprising to me as I assumed that no one would ever pay for anything on Linux.  I guess there just may be some hope for games on Linux after all!

Frank Earl has just finished the build and packaging for Caster on Linux!  This is particularly interesting as Caster was initially developed under Linux and later ported to Windows, Mac, and  iPhone.

You can download it here:

www.casterthegame.com

Have fun penguins!