The Lost Caves of Kroz Order Thread

[+intvsteve]

I've been one of the fortunate ones beta testing Kroz for quite awhile now. Happily, we can say that it's done!

 

Finished fully playtesting through the entire game on cart, both on NTSC and PAL platforms. Looking forward to seeing this game reach a wider audience.

 

Let the burning of the ROMs begin!

Edited November 10, 2014 by intvsteve

[+intvsteve]

On-cart testing started back in June, with a dedicated crew of testers. Bugs were found, bugs were fixed, and as it always is with software, sometimes fixing one bug made 1.2 bugs in return. But of course, that only happens for a little while, and eventually all the bugs that can be found get squashed.

 

Playing a game intensely with the goal of finding bugs and breaking the game changes the way you play, so this final gauntlet was actually more fun than I'd expected. We were confident that this was "The One," so, speaking for myself, the attitude going in was "Be Good... Or else!"

 

A brief rundown:

• The game world is large. There are a total of 32 areas to conquer, some of which are actually multi-part.
• Game flow is somewhat linear, in that you unlock "areas", but 3/4 of each "area" can be completed in any order you wish. There are also optional areas to explore, some of which can change how you solve the 'main' puzzle.
• You can select three levels of challenge: Thief, Rogue, or Assassin - Easy, Medium, Hard.
• There are three save game slots for you to use as you wish. At game startup, you select the game you wish to resume.
• Kroz is large enough that, even if you've mastered the game, you probably need to take a break, so the save game is a huge boon.
• If you 've mastered "Easy", move to the next level! But you're not going to master it in a day.
• When you complete a challenge, your progress is automatically recorded.
• The variety and difficulty of puzzles is broad - some will seem easy, some inscrutable.

The Intellivision community will cooperatively work on solving some of the challenges -- that's exactly how it played out during beta testing.

 

This game is unlike anything I've played on the Intellivision before. Sometimes, that kind of thing puts people off, so those looking for a "fresh take" on an old familiar game are in for a shock -- this is different! And for Intellivision, that's entirely apropos - it's one of the defining characteristics of the platform.

 

This may also be the largest Intellivision game to date!

 

Many people put in a great deal of effort to bring this game to market. It'll be interesting to see how "fresh" eyes see the game. That day will be soon!

 

All that said, I realize that there is an entire Kroz lore and franchise out there. I'm not familiar with it, so I didn't have expectations in that regard. It will be interesting to see what those familiar with it think.

Edited November 10, 2014 by intvsteve

[mojotv67]

The Intellivision community will cooperatively work on solving some of the challenges -- that's exactly how it played out during beta testing.

 

This game is unlike anything I've played on the Intellivision before. Sometimes, that kind of thing puts people off, so those looking for a "fresh take" on an old familiar game are in for a shock -- this is different! And for Intellivision, that's entirely apropos - it's one of the defining characteristics of the platform.

 

This may also be the largest Intellivision game to date!

 

Many people put in a great deal of effort to bring this game to market. It'll be interesting to see how "fresh" eyes see the game. That day will be soon!

 

All that said, I realize that there is an entire Kroz lore and franchise out there. I'm not familiar with it, so I didn't have expectations in that regard. It will be interesting to see what those familiar with it think.

Excellent rundown and analysis of what makes this game different, intvsteve! I for one am looking forward to this experience.

[+SoulBuster]

A word from William

 

The Lost Caves of Kroz has completed testing and will be shipping this month! I'd like to thank everyone on the Kroz team for all of their efforts to get this game out!

 

William M. Moeller

Producer

The Lost Caves of Kroz

[First Spear]

[snip]

All that said, I realize that there is an entire Kroz lore and franchise out there. I'm not familiar with it, so I didn't have expectations in that regard. It will be interesting to see what those familiar with it think.

 

Time to beat the dead horse... Please sell every cart you can by doing some Paid Search on Google and Bing. The ROI should be huge (ie for maybe $15 in monthly spend you will sell another 2-3 carts). On top of that,you can advertise for keywords of people that don't normally do Intellivision but do do Kroz. I can imagine hardcore Krozzers saying "they made that for Intellivison? I'll try it out". Or something like that.

 

If no one clicks on your ads, it costs you nothing.

 

Please make more money doing this! I want you to make more stuff (btw my Kroz is pre-ordered).

[wolfy62]

A word from William

 

The Lost Caves of Kroz has completed testing and will be shipping this month! I'd like to thank everyone on the Kroz team for all of their efforts to get this game out!

 

William M. Moeller

Producer

The Lost Caves of Kroz

Thank you guys, I am looking forward to playing this!

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Update:

 

The game boards are being programmed this weekend and should be on their way to California early next week. I suspect that next weekend Kroz copies will be manufactured and start shipping the last week of the month.

 

I'd like to thank everyone on the Kroz team for working so hard on this game.

[+SoulBuster]

I want to thank all of the pre-order customers for their patience. It has allowed us to squash all bugs for a better release.

[AtariBuff]

This game is actually a "INTV homebrew of the year" contender.

[atari5200dude82]

That's great news. Looking for to having this in my collection and playing them. Thanks for the update and the hard work, that every one was involved in

[Ignorama]

Yeah, I am excited to play this game!

[mdoerty]

This is looking good.

I can't wait to play it.

[KnechtRuprecht]

Update:

 

The game boards are being programmed this weekend and should be on their way to California early next week. I suspect that next weekend Kroz copies will be manufactured and start shipping the last week of the month.

 

I'd like to thank everyone on the Kroz team for working so hard on this game.

 

I second that.

 

This game would never have seen the light of day if not for Elektronite, the testers, the save-the-day coders and every-one else who took part in making this game. It started out as a side-project a few years ago and, under Elekronite's guidance, morphed into something way beyond its original expectations.

 

The game is a true collective effort and I'd like to think that everyone -- from the main testers, Dave Frost, Lawrence Popa, Steve Orth and Dave Jolly, to the coders, Joe Z, Steve again and me, to the administration, Tim Naber, Valter Prette and William Moeller -- have a right to call this their game. And, of those people, there are a few who deserve way, way, way (waaaay) more credit than that appearing in the manual or the in-game credits. Without these guys, the player movement and controls, the speed, the polish and the depth would not exist.

 

Personally, I only really want to take credit for the concept, which admittedly is unlike any other Intellivision game ever made. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? For me, it's a good thing. It's a game certainly not for everyone. There are tedious elements to some of the levels, and walking into what appears to be a room with randomly strewn meaningless graphics may seem overwhelming. But, when I first started designing the game, I really was making it only for myself and my kids. It has a bit of action, but it’s mostly puzzle-based. It’s about cause and effect, the process of elimination, memory and experimentation and sometimes dumb luck.

 

For those who don’t know what to do, I suggest start by running into something. Or hit it with the action button. Something may happen. Eventually, one thing does lead to another and the solution will come. The game requires creative thinking and much patience. Thankfully, the puzzles are finite. There's the save option, too. Sorry in advance if Level 7 seems just too ridiculous. Let that level forever be known as the David Frost level.

 

I want to clear up one thing: The game title brings up a reference to Kroz, the old ascii series by Apogee, but the truth is, the original Kroz series (and the similar but different ZZT) exist in this game more as inspiration than as lifted game-play elements. Those looking for an exact Kroz experience won't find it. The player character doesn’t have a whip, for one thing. I had my kids in mind when I started drafting the concept of this game and wanted to keep it 'aggression' free. That being said, I’m thinking an all-out carnage-based blood-letting dungeon crawl might be something next I can put together with the same engine.

 

There are several other inspirations: Zelda and many early computer games, including a VIC20 basic game of my own I made in the 80s. The Lost Caves of Kroz probably resembles that long lost game the most. In fact, the lava pit in Level 31 is a direct homage to that game.

I still feel it is a suitable descendant of the Kroz series and worthy of having the name in its title. Anyhow, I hope your guys like it. It’s a peculiar game. It’s big. I hope it’s fun.

[+SoulBuster]

I just received notification that The Lost Caves of Kroz carts have been shipped to me priority 2-day. A few more days and I will begin shipping out to those that have pre-paid. They should be here Friday.

 

If you have not paid for your reservation, please do so now and yours will ship at the same times as the pre-paids. You can pay at naberhood.com, just select The Lost Caves of Kroz pre-order. Be sure to 'pay for goods' so I get your address. In addition add the serial number you are paying for so I do not think it is a new order.

Edited November 25, 2014 by SoulBuster

[mr_intv]

Fantastic news! ?

[intvnut]

I just received notification that The Lost Caves of Kroz carts have been shipped to me priority 2-day. A few more days and I will begin shipping out to those that have pre-paid. They should be here Friday.

 

If you have not paid for your reservation, please do so now and yours will ship at the same times as the pre-paids. You can pay at naberhood.com, just select The Lost Caves of Kroz pre-order. Be sure to 'pay for goods' so I get your address. In addition add the serial number you are paying for so I do not think it is a new order.

 

BTW, I want to thank everyone for their patience while I got all the boards programmed. While I took this week off, last week was hectic getting everything buttoned up so I could do so. But, everything is in the mail now (finally), and Tim should have these soon.

 

EDIT: Now to clean up the big mess I made unwrapping and programming all those boards, and packing up all those shells. LOL. Dinner first, though.

 

Edited November 26, 2014 by intvnut

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Thanks for all the hard work, Joe!

[mr_intv]

Yes thank you very much. We all appreciate it.?

[wolfy62]

Thank you to the entire team for putting this together, looking forward to playing this!

[+SoulBuster]

Materials have arrived. Shipping begins.

[InfraMan]

Materials have arrived. Shipping begins.

 

YAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

[+BBWW]

I hear my mailman…but alas, not today. :-)

[+SoulBuster]

Dropped the first 50 at the post office today. Next drop on Monday.

Edited November 29, 2014 by SoulBuster

[wolfy62]

 

YAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

I second this spazmic the frog post, very exciting!

[IntellivisionDude]

Got my copy today.