Awem Studio Blog

I know you find it interesting to hear about some of the behind-the-scenes decisions that can be involved in creating Letters from Nowhere 2 (affectionately known as "LFN2" around here) from the beginning to the end, and I'm happy to share the experience.



Making a Sequel

Listening to the feedback, people really enjoyed the original Letters from Nowhere and look forward to the sequel. Just one thing seemed to be upsetting some players: the ending. Initially, we planned Letters from Nowhere as a series, but apparently it might have been too much of a cliff-hanger. In any case, the sequel will continue right where Letters from Nowhere leaves off.

The Story So Far...

First a quick review of the story...

Letters from Nowhere began when Audrey found a letter supposedly written by her husband who disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. Where is her husband, and who, or what, is sending her these letters? As she follows the trail to get information, she discovers the disappearance is much more entwined than imagined. The game concludes with the spirit of the dead postman who promises to lead her to Patrick.



Where is the Postman?


Letters from Nowhere 2 will pick up where this one left off, with even more mysteries and conclusive evidence of evil spirits, and some hints of a troubling history from the past. Why people disappear without a trace? Is Patrick alive? What is the source of the magic?

Audrey must find lost pages of the secret diary in order to get rid of the evil spirits and save Patrick. The spirit of the dead postman from the first installment will help her in this new mysterious adventure. His soul wants to find peace too.

New Features

With every new title in each of our franchises, we strive to produce new features and technical advancements. Letters from Nowhere 2 is no exception – our fans will see many exciting new elements. First, we are adding some features that have been widely requested by our players.

1. We are expanding the story line



Apart from intro comics and diary pages with short messages, which scare and help at the same time, now the player can interact with other townspeople before entering a location and within the game. It makes the game more immersive without breaking the main concept of the game.


2. New game mode – Puzzle Mode

Traditionally, all Awem games have a large trophy room with the ability to submit all your trophies and achievements to your profile on awem.com. On our forums some players wrote that in the original LFN you had to replay the game in order to win a certain trophy given for mini-games. (I write it here because we read your comments and we take notes!)

That’s why we added a new game mode. You have to catch 25 black cats to open the Puzzle Mode. This mode gives access to all mini-games after completing the main mode.


3. Black Cat

The pet of the lead designer became the prototype for the black cat in the game.

Finding black cats is fun, hopefully engaging, but never mandatory! You can look for them in every location or catch from time to time.

One of the testers wrote: 'The menacing black cat on each location reminds that someone is watching the character.' Apart from this, cats give you extra points, which can be spent for purchasing extra bonuses.

4. New types of mini-games – Chalk Puzzle and Spot the Difference



5. Interactive areas on the locations

Some locations contain interactive areas. For example, point your cursor over the lamp in the Police to switch it on or see the ghost appearing in the library window.

We have already implemented changes that address each of those issues. And if you are inspired, feel free to tell us in the comments below what else you would like to see changed/added in the next hidden object game by Awem.

Stay tuned!

We are happy to announce the release of Star Defender 3 HD App for the iPad!

Star Defender 3™ is the first adaptation for the iPad platform, which allows us to show off the great features and functionality of our popular space shooter tuned specifically for this device.

Get ready to fight through hoards of alien beasts in more than 100 breathtaking levels! Star Defender 3™ is localized into 6 languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.



What's more... There is a LITE version of Star Defender 3™, which is available now via the Apple App Store.




Star Defender 4™ & Golden Trails: The New Western Rush™ will be introduced for iPad touch later this year.

Yesterday we’ve finished the beta testing of Letters from Nowhere 2 and we are pretty happy with the results. For the past 7 days we received great feedback from our beta testers which shows us - we are on the right track! Of course, on such early stage of the development there are always some stumbling things or confusing elements and beta testing gives us the possibility to give the game a fresh look.

Some of our users are experienced testers and have a critical eye. Sometimes a tester can notice an obvious thing hardly noticed by people involved in the development process for many months. Many great suggestions have come from the players and we hear their experiences with the game. We are thrilled to know that changes we make in the game are exactly what our fans wanted.

Again, thanks for your great feedback and all the kind words you gave us. I decided to quote some of you here, in this post:


"This is the lovable classic seek and find game with an extra added advantage of multiple games within, making it more interesting to play and challenging. I'd definitely put this on my list of must have's."




"I really love AWEM's hidden object games. They are fun and you can tell that a lot of time and effort goes into them. The imagination of those who create them is wonderful. This game does not disappoint. I look forward to its release. Thank you for including me in the beta program."




"Just want to say that I was really excited to see the beta test e-mail. I downloaded and played right away. There's just something about these games - must be the story. There are certainly lots of games that are harder, or more interactive, but this series to me is an almost perfect blend of interactive, HO, and mini-games. Add in the absorbing story, the original bonuses, the trophies, and unlimited mode and you have a winner. It is also a very good thing that this game is coming out so soon after LFN1 (it will be soon, I hope!). The first game will be fresh in people's minds and they will want to play this. The graphics and music are beautiful as well, makes me want to stop and just enjoy every scene. I even noticed that on the pages between episodes there are very faint postal marks - just more attention to detail. Two thumbs up, Awem!"




"Letters from Nowhere 2 promises to be a worthy successor to the first game, with new trophies to collect, the addition of black cats to find and a puzzle mode to unlock."




"I think the graphics are beautiful. I play games every evening to relax, so I'm very picky about what I like. I really like this series and hope you continue it for a long time."




"I can truthfully say, when I see a game that is made by Awem, I purchase it and have not been disappointed in any of them. Kudos and keep up the good work."




"I'm watching our web pages daily to see if there is something new out. You keep up great work and I'm a fan of yours forever."



You are the best testers ever and we appreciate your feedback so much.


Meanwhile, we’re already gearing up for our next milestone and soon we’ll officially announce the release of Letters from Nowhere 2. Stay tuned!

On behalf of everyone at Awem, we’d like to thank you for being with us. Your love for games drives us to create remarkable titles.

2010 was another booming year for Awem. It is particularly heartening that this year we launched four new games, including the sequel to the most successful puzzle game ever Cradle of Rome 2. We see tremendous blasting of Online Trophy Room. We're very excited about new Awem.com look and hope you liked it too. The above achievements are only just getting started and we are excited to continue in 2011. We can’t wait to share with you cool updates and all new discount program.

Thank you again for your support of Awem and best wishes for the coming year.


Sincerely,
The Awem team.

Information for Awem Beta Testers:

Recently we cleaned our base and removed e-mails of beta testers who never sent us a feedback form since they entered the program.

We had our computer calculate the number of surveys each of you took part in. It doesn’t matter if you got all our betas or only one. The condition is the following: at least one submitted form. If you subscribed to our beta test program but since that time we didn’t hold any – you are in.

Important:
If you used one e-mail during the registration but entered another e-mail in the survey form, your e-mail has been removed from our base too. In this case you can contact our support service at support at awem.com and ask to resend you the letter. To avoid any inconveniences we recommend you to use only one e-mail on our site.

This action isn’t a random solution. Our program has a limited number of testers. From time to time we will clean our base so that people who are really interested in testing can take part in it and provide helpful feedback.

Thank you for your understanding.

It’s a great feeling when you get compliments of your work. Especially if you worked with all your heart spending a lot of time drawing the graphics you see in our games. So, when Letters from Nowhere launched, we were excited to get tons of messages about game graphics:

"As usual the graphics were so clear and beautiful, Awem games always has the best graphics, IMHO. A talented Artist, for sure!"

"The artwork is really what stands out in this game. It's all very well done with tons of detail and tiny little animations here and there."

"Who can speak badly of Awem's graphics? Not me, IMO they have the best graphics on all of the games I've played and own."

"First impression was that it was a very nicely made game, great graphics and quite difficult HO scenes."

Now I’d like to share some early concept artworks of Letters from Nowhere with you.

• City

At the initial stage of the development process we thought of the "City" as the main map for the game. Our artists spent a lot of time creating buildings that will suit the setting, rendering the main map and replacing objects on it.



Along with the artists game designers draw their own vision of the main map and buildings on it. This is an early sketch made by a junior designer that also entered the game.



The primary aim when we started Letters from Nowhere was to give our players more locations. Here we faced a little problem: our city was too small to include all of them. Going deep into the location would impose on navigation and backtracking. And we didn’t want to complicate the interface and make it heavy. After testing the game, we decided to put locations on the main screen in the form of old Polaroid pictures.

• Locations

Working on Letters from Nowhere, all of the 25 scenes went through many changes on the way to the final artwork you see in the game. To make a rough sketch come alive, it needs a lot of work.

Apartment

The early scenes of the game also went through a lot of iteration in the beginning of the project. Below is rough sketch of the apartment and the final version you can see in the game.


Island

Below is an early mockup of the island scene, and the final painted concept.

• Character concept

We spent a lot of time working on the main heroine’s appearance. On the one hand, we wanted to show her sorrow; on the other hand, she must be sympathetic to the player. The first Audrey looked a bit depressed. So we tried again and again and got this:


In process and final version of the main heroine.

Hope you enjoyed Letters from Nowhere artwork. Of course, I can’t get into the specifics of each sketch but for those who have completed the game, these sketches will give you some insight into how our artists developed the look and feel of the game.

You've likely seen Letters from Nowhere trailer. If not, here is where you'll find the Official Letters from Nowhere trailer video.

The countdown begins! Letters from Nowhere is almost here.

As an average hidden object player becomes more sophisticated in his gaming tastes, we hope that Letters from Nowhere will be appealing to such player without being too simplistic.

Now have a look what awaits you in our latest hidden object game.

• Mini-Games

Mini-games help to diversify the game. That’s true. But it’s important they are connected with the game plot and not standing alone as we can see in many hidden object games nowadays. Our designers tried hard not to lose this connection. On solving a mini-game the player uncovers a particular thing – clue, which will be very useful at the end of the game.


In Letters from Nowhere there will eight different types of mini-games including popular memory game, pairs, jigsaw puzzle; as well as some innovative mini-games created especially for this game.

• Gameplay & Bonuses

Our intention was to make a classic hidden object game. Classic doesn’t necessary mean randomized objects on your list. In our case the game will include finding objects by their tricky descriptions that really makes you think. You have to solve the clue in order to look for the item.

Players always enjoy an extra puzzle thrown into the game, so on the latest stages of the development we decided to introduce interactive or combined items. Thus, looking for a loaded gun, you’ll have to find a gun first, than bullets and piece them together.


Along with hints we decided to add more incentives in the game. We thought of trading relationships as we have in Romance of Rome with one exception: we offer the player to buy extra bonuses instead of upgrading your hero. Thus, we thought of adding a 'Shop' where you could buy four different bonuses and later upgrade them. Having thrashed the matter out, we have completely refused the idea of upgrades. It would make the interface heavy and more complicated. It took us a lot of work to rearrange the windows and buttons but we managed to make the selector 'simple'.


Having tried numerous variants of the interface, we have stopped on bonus panel at the bottom of the screen. As soon as you buy a bonus it will be available on every location within the episode.

• Art & Animations

Creating a new game requires a great deal of work by Awem studio’s artists. They spend much time drawing, painting, and rendering the graphics you see in our releases.

We used a variety of colorful backgrounds and interior locations to help with scenery variation. They help the player better understand the overall feeling of the game and create a special atmosphere of the splendid 80’s.

You'll work your way through 30 intuitively hand drawn locations, including a wine cellar, a run-down smuggler warehouse, and even a tropical island, all while searching for the mysterious letters.


Police office. From a rough sketch to the final version you can see in the game.

Our 3D modelers also put in extra effort to make the environments come alive. They are busy adding amazing little animations here and there which will vivify the game and make the player sense life in the scene. The main goal here is not to distract the player from the main gameplay but add natural, at times subtle movement of some elements. One of the beta testers mentioned: “Beautifully created locations with subtle animations like birds chirping, insects crawling, etc. were fun to watch.”


Attic: dust particles sparkling in the sun, flashlight flickering... Creepy.


Read Letters from Nowhere Developer’s Diary. Part I

As we are quickly approaching to the next milestone of Letters from Nowhere we decided to give you a heads up about the game and its development process.

• The idea came from…

Primarily, Letters from Nowhere is our third hidden object game after Romance of Rome and Golden Trails: The New Western Rush. So you can see that this genre of games isn’t a new territory for Awem.

The idea of creating Letters from Nowhere sprung when our designer watched P.S. I love You, a drama based on novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. He thought what if we could use letters as guidance for the player to discover the truth. After the initial concept was approved, we went on infusing captivating story with mysterious letters into a hidden object game. We wanted our game to be more detective rather than its dramatic inspirer and therefore staked on letters which would send the player on a new adventure.

Late 80’s as the game’s setting was carried unanimously by our development team. We wanted to touch the feelings of the primary audience that loves to play casual games. We think that older generation will have interest in the "good old days" when everybody used paper letters with postage stamps on them.


The first variant of the Main Menu was good but it didn’t plunge the player into the game’s mood and theme, so we changed it to more postal and mystic.

• Less story – more gameplay

When we started to craft the final story it took much iteration. Initially, we wanted the main character to keep a diary. We wanted the player to have an attachment to the main character. What happened to her would be a driving motivation for the player.

On the one hand, some of the players like to get immersed within a new game world. On the other hand, some of them skip past the entire story and want to focus on the gameplay.

After some discussions we fixed on the following: the story is not dialogues the player reads before entering a location and within the game but what he DOES in the game. That’s why we gave up the idea of in-game dialogues and additional characters.

We haven’t refused from the game story totally. We have it in the intro comics and brief letters on finding which the player uncovers some information and important clues on where to move further.


Letters were a great idea to keep the plot unfolding without revealing too much.

• Game modes

“I’ve worn out the beta version. Can’t wait for the full game,” – we read in a letter from one of our beta testers. “I’ve finished Cradle of Rome three times,” – said one of our fans on the forums. Yes, this takes place when the game has only one mode or, as it happened with Letters From Nowhere, when the beta was over and the player was anxious to see where all the clues led to.

Additional game modes increase the replayability and therefore add more fun and challenge to the player. We know it and we want you to enjoy the game as much as you can.

Alongside the main casual mode, where the player solves the clues in order to look for the items and moves on seeing new types of locations to explore, you can also unlock Unlimited Mode that will put you to the test even further.

• In search of atmosphere

We set out to create a detective hidden object game. Originally, we wanted to make a game based on investigation. Weird disappearance of one of the heroes would be the standpoint of the game. As we proceed, however, we realized that the game lost its continuity. We had over 33 locations and a game interface on hand but they hardly suited the mood and the style we wanted to create in our game. Fortunately we were at the beginning of the development so it wasn’t too late to make changes. So, the detective atmosphere gave way to mystic; all game locations were reviewed and ruthless thrown away those that didn’t fit the game’s mood.


Hunter’s house - location that didn’t enter the game.


Style has a lot to do here too. Initial locations were drawn by several artists and they lacked some unity. So the lead designer entrusted one artist with refining the whole locations.

In the next part of my diary I’ll tell more about the development process, describe the challenges we had with the game interface and bonuses. Stay tuned.

Read Letters from Nowhere Developer’s Diary. Part II

The long-awaited release of Golden Trails: The New Western Rush is the brightest event of this summer in our company. This game has become the most qualitative and expensive project ever created in Awem studio. The most important thing is that the entire team worked hard on the game and believed in its success.

We hope you’ll enjoy our new hidden object game full of adventure and romance. Golden Trails: The New Western Rush is now available for you to try or buy exclusively on our site.

Who robbed the bank?*

*Based on a true game. All characters and events in this party aren’t coincidental.


Following the tradition developed in our company we organized a Golden Trails party. From the very first minutes we felt Wild West atmosphere. The revived characters from the game met us near the hotel. Now we became true Sunnyvale inhabitants.


According to the latest news the local bank was robbed last night and we had to solve this impertinent crime. Four teams started its independent investigation. It takes a special talent to go from “Golden Trails: The New Western Rush developers” to “Golden Trails: The New Western Rush sheriffs” but our team seems to be going through the transition with ease.


It was fun to get a map with real locations to explore (same as in the game but with real criminals and money ) You’ve already played Golden Trails: The New Western Rush and think you might know who the criminal is? I think you will be surprised with the final result!

Going back to Re-examination

• Charlotte
  

The best location at the party was Saloon with Charlotte as a bartender. By the way, the resemblance of the two Charlottes is incredible!


The dance-hall girl didn’t hurry to reveal her secrets to us. After a couple of shots and a wild dance, however, we got to know about suspicious strangers who arrived to the city.

• Mary

Our next destination was Hotel. Waiting for her one and only Mary is whiling away her time asking riddles to the visitors.


With the help of our honest Mary now we knew the ringleader and one of his assistants.

• Tribe Chief

The tribe chief was not glad at all about our violation of sacred Indian lands but the ritual dancing around the wigwam definitely improved the situation.

• Sheriff Jack

Sheriff Jack was in charge of this investigation too. He shared his conclusions which helped us to figure out the whole band.


The case is solved! The criminals are identified. Take a good look at these people as they responsible for all what has happened in Wild West settlement. Thanks to this team thousands of players all over the world face fabulous adventures in Golden Trails: The New Western Rush game.

P.S. According to the received information this band contrives a new plan. Let’s wait for them to show up.

P.P.S. In the end, I think all of the hours of hard work have paid off and we're excited to see your great comments!

P.P.P.S. Let us know what setting you would like to see in the next installment of Golden Trails in the comments below!

More pictures...

More and more Awem fans get engaged with social networking such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is commonly used and has become a fast and efficient way for people to stay in touch and share information about their favorite games.




Do you know Awem studio is on Facebook? Our Facebook community is rapidly growing and this post is for those users who haven’t still become our fan. Connect with us by becoming a fan on Facebook.

• Meet new people and make new friends who also love playing games
  
  
• Share your own thoughts on the games you're playing
  
  
• Keep up-to-date on Awem games,
  
  
• Get behind-the-scenes
  
  
• Scoop on important company news
  
  
• Get special tips and hints
  
  
• Beta test upcoming games, and
  
  
• Give your feedback.

Visit the Awem studio Facebook page and join the fun!





Find us on Twitter where we share information on company news and promotions, and other content that you'll surely love!



We are looking forward to interacting with you and share what’s new at Awem.

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us and we want to wish all our fans a happy and safe holiday!

What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Are you going to join parades, wearing something green or celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Irish music, food, drink, and activities for kids such as coloring and games? Go ahead! As St. Patrick's Day is the day to revel in all things Irish and green.

As for me, I’ve discovered some St. Patrick’s "green" games to play and have fun that day.

Discover a beautiful island, called Isola, where lost villagers made their home in the latest installment of the Virtual Villagers game saga - Virtual Villagers: The Tree of Life.

Everything that can be colored green you’ll find in Mishap: An Accidental Haunting. It’s a catching hidden object game stuffed with thrilling story, eccentric characters, hilarious dialogues and droll situations.


         
       

One more conference for casual game developers has passed. It has become a tradition to hold an annual winter Casual Connect Conference in Hamburg, Germany. The three day show brought together the leading game developers, publishers and key speakers from all over the world. All the halls of the Congress Center were full of people buzzing about new concepts, upcoming and released titles, new opportunities, sharing invaluable experience to their colleagues. This year the conference attended over 3000 people from 24 countries.


    Hamburg

Awem studio was one of the sponsors at the Casual Connect Europe 2010. One of the most fascinating elements of the conference is the possibility to meet a variety of new and acquainted partners, share information about our current games as well as showcase upcoming projects for all-comers.


    Promo stuff

We entered the show with a clear intent of introducing our three new titles coming this year. It wasn’t difficult to find Awem among trestle of tables and booths as our plasma panel kept working giving the possibility to the attendees to stop by and discover news firsthand. Over the next three days we’ve given away tons of Awem’s booklets, notebooks, sticky notes, pens and badges.


   Awem table

One of the games we brought to the conference was Golden Trails: The New Western Rush, a hidden object game with a wild west theme and a bank robbery investigation. Right after the conference we’ve launched a beta testing and received many positive responses.

Cradle of Rome 2, a sequel to the hit puzzle game Cradle of Rome which still reaches number one on some portals and was one of the top 20 games during the last three years (2007-2009).

We were very excited to first show our pilot project - The Island: Castaway, the game we suspect we're going to be busy for several months to come as the team is new to this genre and way of thought. It’s an action-adventure game where the characters, events and story are tied very closely to the island.

        Showcased games

Now we are back at our decks making improvements, creating new features, researching game audience in a word, working hard to release high quality and absorbing games.

In order to entertain the players and add some challenging features to our games Awem studio includes in the games special awards – Trophies. Starting with Romance of Rome each new Awem game will have its unique trophies which you can post online to your profile.

How can I submit Trophies to Awem?

1. First, you should download or buy the game from awem.com. All other web sites have the version without game trophies.

2. Having completed the tasks from the citizens of Rome and progressing through the game you’ll earn various trophies. You can see your trophies at anytime by clicking on the Status bar in the upper right corner. The Imperial relics you found are also displayed here.





3. On the bottom of the Status menu there is a "Submit" button. In order to submit trophies click on the "Submit" button and enter your Awem login and password in the respective fields.







In order to submit trophies click on the "Submit" button and enter your Awem login and password in the respective fields.















If you do not have an account, click the Registration button and create it. It's easy!












4. Your trophies will be submitted automatically to your personal page in the Awards tab.





Why don’t I have all Trophies?

To win the game you do not have to earn every trophy. Having completed the game you may miss some of them. But you can replay the game if you want to get every one.

See Romance of Rome list of trophies with a short instruction how to win them.

Awem has been working on a new game. You’ve already known the name. It’s Golden Trails: The New Western Rush– a hidden object shoot-out. Feel the spirit of adventure, search intricate scenes in the rush of gunslingers, sleuth 25 Wild West locations and meet dozens of iconic characters. In the game you take the role of a local sheriff who investigates an impertinent bank robbery.

Here are part of Springwood and the Sheriff's office.




Some alert game players could make an objection: “What about Romance Of Rome and Cradle Of Rome 2? Are you making three games at the same time?”

Well, not really. We are making five casual games. Remember Letters from Nowhere and Dream Big: Reverie Manor.

Awem’s development division has been working hard for the last year to make happy all its devoted fans. All the games will be unique with their own atmosphere and peculiarities.

Today I had the chance to play the first few levels of Golden Trails. All I can say is – the game is highly addictive!!! I couldn’t put it away and re-played it over and over roaming about Springwood city, collecting evidences near the bank, in the hotel and at stable and questioning came across people. Our sheriff is a clever dog. He can keep secrets and will expose the truth.

It’s only a sneak peek of but I’m sure the game will surpass all my and your expectations. Can’t wait to play the full version!





P.S. Special thanks to all of you who sent us variants of the game title. They inspired us to think of Golden Trails: The New Western Rush.

Romance of Rome took much time in the making, but the game is nearly ready! Just a couple of weeks left to tidy things up. I'm so excited abot that!

Now I want to give you a heads up about the game Awem is going to release.

So, what we have in Romance of Rome?

• A fine, familiar and everyone’s favorite setting – Rome. You’ll be able to travel through the legendary Roman Empire and visit all its remote corners.
  
  
• The coolest combination of hidden object and quests. Move around the scenes, find skillfully hidden items, solve puzzles, and reveal hidden locations to complete everything. Some items are very hard to find!

• Trading relationships and market. In Romance of Rome we not simply find abstract subjects which are necessary only for appearances' sake, but obtain material reward, which could be spent at the market. All the stuff is displayed on the hero’s screen.
  
  
• Cute heroes with unique recognized characters. In the game you’ll meet merchant Titus, senator Quint, wise Octavio and his agile grandson Lucius, the Emperor and his daughter. Everything is represented in bright and stylish comics.
  
  
• The hand-drawn graphics creates wonderful atmosphere.
  
  
• And, of course, a love story.
  

So when it comes out grab it, play it, enjoy it!

Romance of Rome coming out very soon. The expected release date is September, 2009. Dear beta testers, be ready! In a week or so it'll be that time to play and tell us your opinions!

Kitty221 is the User of June.

This month Kitty221 left 119 posts and earned 937 awem coins.

Our congratulations! As a prize you may chose any Awem game, released or coming soon. Thank you for participation in the Awem game forums.

Please, make your choice and let us know. See Awem Games here

I have a strong feeling that Awem Community is filled with the most objective and nicest casual gamers. You are real pros in rating and appraising games.

“The User of May” goes to Silver.

Thank you again for all your support in helping to make Awem Community.

P.S. It has become natural that the winners ask for the upcoming Awem games. No problem, all the more we have a wide range of them.