kodu

Kodu is Live!

We shipped last night!

For those wondering, the Kodu team doesn't do the ship process. It left our hands when we submitted it for review, where our community reviewed it and it then went into the "ingestion" process for XBox Live Marketplace. This involves men in black suits wearing sunglasses and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember.

But here we are, after a good two and a half years from a conversation around a dinner table to Techfest, PDC 2008, CES 2009, trials in 20 countries with dozens of schools and hundreds of individuals, five million demos, a few setbacks, and some mind-blowing surprises.

Folks have already made levels far more sophisticated than anything the team has done or anticipated. I'll try to feature some particularly cool creations here on this blog in the days and months ahead.

Thanks so much to our supportive inner circle - you know who you are. And a particularly massive thanks to Lili Cheng, who kept the lights on the whole time and believed in us even through the most difficult parts.

Pick yourself up a copy! I'm buying my own today.

Posted: 07-01-2009 8:08 AM by mattmac | with 27 comment(s) |
Filed under: ,

Comments

skyline7284 said:

I'm curious if you guys are planning on doing post-release support?  (Patches, etc.).  If so then that will be awesome.  If not, you guys made a hell of a game and hope to see another cool project you guys are working on =)

# July 1, 2009 10:45 AM

Foips said:

sweet! thanks guys, bought it now. hope all is well

# July 1, 2009 10:55 AM

Agarwel said:

Kodu looks great.

But really... are you planning somehow improve sharing functions? (at least to save/load games to USB - so community can create some central storage)

Current model (both players needs to be in friedlists, be online, and have started Kodu) is going to kill htis great project. Everyboy will become tired by his own games. And until then, they will just stop palying it :-/

Pleeeease ... do somethink about it. Pleeeease

# July 1, 2009 10:57 AM

mattmac said:

Yes, we are already working on an update. We've fixed a few minor polish items - mostly we're just standing by waiting to jump on any major bug reports.

Agarwel: yes, we know this sharing model is limiting, but folks are already organizing into sharing circles. Feel free to 'friend' me on XBox (gamertag: randomWave)- I'll be collecting cool levels from the community, and others are as well.

# July 1, 2009 11:03 AM

Agarwel said:

mattmac:

Well I dont mind if it is not perfect. But the fact that both players needs Kodu running is limiting too much.

Especially for people like me - I dont want to download levels. I like to create them for others. And I feel it will be really difficult to push it for more then 10 people :-/

I believe Kodu needs some central storage - where levels can be uploaded - and then anybody can download it (no matter if creator is offline or just playing another game)

Even just the possibility to save/load via USB flash disk a uploading, donwloading, rating by PC would be huge improvement.

Yes there is community now, that is srahing between themselfs. But I believe it will die slowly (another games will be released, etc...). And even if not - for new user it will be still very difficult to Jump In.

From my point of view this is a biggest flaw. So limited function in community based game on user content - it is somethink that is making difference between great endless game full full great content / from balnk game, that most of people will put away after few days :-(

Do you think there is some possibility to change this in near future? You are from MS right? Is it so difficult for them to give you one dedicated server for sharing? Come moon ... you have a killer title like LBP in your hands. Dont kill this oportunity please :-)

# July 1, 2009 11:26 AM

matt said:

Can you support 1280x1024? I have it hooked up to my computer monitor and it's stretched out.

# July 1, 2009 11:34 AM

kodufanboy said:

Hey Mattmac, when you feature interesting creations here, you should post a short video along with it. In fact, you guys should get a YouTube channel and upload videos there. It would help bring awareness of unique creations to a lot of people.

# July 1, 2009 11:38 AM

skine99 said:

Could you publish a complete list of the different symbols and text command things? (The only one I know is <cr> to seperate lines of dialogue.)

# July 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Moco64 said:

I'll be downloading and sharing as many levels as I can and keeping my xbox on at various times just to share. Tonight at 6pm-7pm eastern I'll be hosting a sharing room under the gametag 'Kodu Gameshare' what's the limit to how many people can join a room?

# July 1, 2009 12:46 PM

guttertalk said:

I'm not going to bemoan the sharing mechanism, but here's a suggestion:

When a gamer logs into Kodu, he sees all games that his friends have published and then downloads to his Xbox.

No USB needed. Just a friends publish list. I know it's too late to add.

But that shouldn't detract from what is a great game/tool. Thanks to you and the team. Kudos!

# July 1, 2009 1:08 PM

Ringo said:

Great Job on Kodu, folks. Really pretty amazing.

After some initial time with the product, I realized that we really need some sort of central repository of information. I can get glimpses of ways to implement behind the shoulder camera logic, or how to do that lock angle camera trick for the Side Scroller example posted a week or so back. We really need a central repository for people to share good ways to do things.

Right now, theres nothing, not even a Forum on Xbox.com.

Cant wait for a guide/faq/wiki!

# July 1, 2009 1:12 PM

Clad33 said:

Congratulations on the launch, guys.

However, as I am not a 360 owner, I must ask: Is the PC version still forthcoming? We have not had any updates on this since Kodu was announced, I think...

# July 1, 2009 1:21 PM

darthuvius said:

the xbox forums are added manually, it usually takes a few days after release to get added.

I have a feeling that the best levels are going to get around, but I agree that a level server we can log onto and download levels, and perhaps rate them as well, is needed.

# July 1, 2009 1:39 PM

gamers_unite said:

when will the PC version come out?

# July 1, 2009 4:51 PM

darkrobman said:

wow i got this a few minutes after launch and it my favorite download me and my 8 year old sister love it im 13 bye the way

# July 1, 2009 6:11 PM

triptych said:

Any thoughts when the PC version will be out? Can't wait to try it out!

# July 1, 2009 6:36 PM

accel99 said:

Great job guys.Its better than I expected, and I have completely fallen in love with it.

# July 1, 2009 7:53 PM

Kowaru said:

Hello, I downloaded Kodu today and I love it so far. However I have to admit that I totally agree with Agarwel on each point.

The sharing part of the game requires a dedicated server to the community and a rating system so that players can rate the games they have played for new players to have an organized list to download.

I thought it would be like that.

In my personnal case, I know that none of my friends will get the game to create one. But I think that some of them would be interested if we were able to download others' games.

So I see the future as pessimistic as Agarwel for a community which can't really share. That's too bad because this project is way too interesting to be ignored. It should have been available with the arcade games. Unfortunately, I'm sure that more than 30% of the xbox live arcade users don't even know that there is the Indie games part.

Thanks for your amazing work and I wish you the best for your upcoming projects. And I wish us the best for the Kodu Community.

# July 1, 2009 9:12 PM

Agarwel said:

Just another question about sharig... i added some of you as a friends. But to share I need to be Gold, is it right?

# July 2, 2009 1:07 AM

muitosabao said:

Hi,

I'm in Germany and currently KODU is not available here, only in US, France, UK, and Spain!! Care to comment on why this is so?! It doesn't make any kind of sense. Any idea when we can play this? Look, i really want to buy this and i also have a bunch of friends who are frustrated not to have this available on their zones as well. So, i really don't it.

So yeah, looking forward to try this.

Also, on a diferent topic, i have to reiterate what everyone else is saying about sharing. If you don't work on a more widespread sharing scheme, this is going to dye very very fast.

I think you have a great idea which is going to be killed because:

1) It's not available in every country

2) Very difficult to share and have access to others creations

Cheers

# July 2, 2009 3:59 AM

Ben said:

Im waiting for PC version!!!

# July 2, 2009 4:13 AM

RetroGam3r said:

just picked this up and cant wait to get going.im a bit worried i wont translate my ideas very well.i wish we had a dedicated forum with chat channel so we can all help each other out.i see they have set up a wiki page for the game but it needs info added.we could share each others gamertags in a list so we can all play together.

great job tho guys!

# July 2, 2009 4:22 AM

RichieH said:

Hi MattMac,

I was having great fun playing around with this last night but noticed that when I use the Reset World it Resets the scores too even though the tile description said it wouldn't.

Can't wait for some tutorials, anyone posting any step by step guides please PM me.. I'm particularly looking for ways to get the puck object to stop

# July 2, 2009 5:16 AM

stevrosb74 said:

Let's keep it central guys!

Add tutorials and walkthroughs here (to help appeal to less affiliated people, unlike myself, you understand) as well as other interesting titbits.

koduplayground.com/index.php

# July 2, 2009 6:44 AM

blackspathi said:

Thanks for kodu XD

I spent yesterday making my homage to Gauntlet. Its got all four players (warrior, wizard, elf, valkyrie), keys n doors, potions, and food. I made a ghost generator (sputnik) and demon generator (tanks). I'll add lobbers, sorcerers, goblins and death later.

My wishlist of things to add/patch:

-Scale size in "x" settings of edit objects

I tried to make the "food" in Gaunlets with hearts, but they are soooooo tiny...I wish I could scale them up so the 'fixed offset' camera could see them. I want to spawn gigantic hearts...or gigantic tanks...

-Clone brush for ground brushes

Oh, my lord...it is going to take so much effort to make the walls not look so bland. PLEASE add a "Clone" brush so I can make colored pixel art tiles off to the side and use D-pad up to clone what the brush highlights and use A to stamp it over and over...save me soooo much time...

-Add 'when shot BY something- do...' not just 'when my shot hits something else- do...'

  I want something to change its behavior when it is shot in general, not just when its health reaches a certain point. You shot me, now I 'aggro'.

-please make DLC of more sounds and characters (Kodu robot animals as "Bots III" please)

Either way, thank you (and the team) very much for the fun hobby game!

XBLtag:  whodagoose

# July 3, 2009 12:53 PM

marcos.zy said:

Hi,

Congratulations! :)

But, why don't you disseminate the Kodu launch? I feel it was very hidden. Why not a post on Major Nelson's blog, for example?

Regards,

# July 3, 2009 6:07 PM

chiery said:

I think Kodu can be categorized as a serious fun <b><a href="http://www.sheeparcade.com">Download Games</a></b>. It doesn't have realistic graphics, huge explosion, or even a way to win. But Kodu makes creating is more challenging than consuming. I think it's one of the best and creative games ever.

# November 11, 2009 5:05 AM