Zeboyd Games Logo |
|
| Type | 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 |
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]
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]
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]
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]