Introduction

Cloud Guardian is an immersive single-player 3D casual game in which the player has to shape Astro Orb to match the shapes of the holes in the clouds in order to fix them. The closer the match, the more points you get. It is targeted for casual players of all ages looking to have fun while being challenged. Any player who likes puzzles and possesses both quick thinking and good hand-eye coordination will find the game appealing.

The unique selling points of this game include:

• Unique immersive gameplay of shaping the orb to fit hole shapes
• Usage of soft body Physics for visually appealing motions
• Ability to blow and speak into the microphone to control the orb

The title screen of Cloud Guardian

Gameplay recording of Cloud Guardian

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Story

Cloudizens of the Sky Kingdom used to live happily and in harmony.  One day, human beings in the City below started building factories and plants, which produce big, dark fumes.  The fumes fly up in the Sky Kingdom and gnaw at the Clouds, leaving many of the Cloudizens sick and diseased with holes. 

The story screen in the game

From her castle high up above the clouds, the Cloud Princess sees the situation of her Kingdom but she is clueless as to how she can help her Cloudizens. 

Having set your sights on winning the heart of the Princess, you offer your help to try to cure the sick Cloudizens. The Princess assigns Astro Orb, a bubbly magical Orb to guide and help you on your journey. 

Will you cure the Clouds, and be the Cloud Guardian of the Princess and of the Sky Kingdom?

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Missions

There are currently two missions in the game.

Mission selection screen

Blue Sky Mission
The sky is clear and sunny, with nothing to hinder your journey. Use Astro Orb to fix the cloud holes as best as you can. Cloud difficulty ranges from easy to moderate.

Shaping Astro Orb in the Blue Sky mission

Passing through a cloud hole in Spike mode with a perfect match!

Thunderstorm Mission
There are dark clouds, heavy rain and lightning in this mission to distract you. Mutant bats will appear and try to attack your Orb! You have to quickly inflate two spikes anywhere on the Orb to scare away the bats. Cloud difficulty ranges from moderate to hard.

Shaping Astro Orb in the Thunderstorm mission

Trying to scare away mutant bats by inflating two spikes

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Gameplay

Shaping
For each mission, you are presented with 6 clouds with holes. You will have to shape the Orb into the correct shape and size of the holes. You can either inflate/deflate the whole Orb, or any of the 6 regions located near the edge of the Orb in a hexagonal format.

If you are using the mouse, you will be using the left mouse button to inflate and right mouse button to deflate.

If you are using the microphone to play, you will be blowing into the microphone to inflate and issuing commands for other actions, such as “Poke” to deflate.

Spike Mode
The Orb can get into a special mode called Spike mode. In this mode, parts of the Orb can be shaped into a longer spike shape in order to fit into some of the more difficult cloud hole shapes. However, the Orb uses up its spike power over time and will return to the normal mode once the spike power is used up. Bonus points are given if the Orb passes through cloud holes in Spike mode.

Spikes can be created in the special Spike mode

Spike mode is also needed to scare away the mutant bats in the Thunderstorm mission. Two spikes have to be inflated anywhere on the Orb to scare the bats away.

Lives
You are given 3 Orbs (lives) for each mission to complete that mission. Currently the Orb can only be destroyed when mutant bats attack it. Each Orb left at the end of the mission adds to the total score.

The mission complete screen showing the score and rank

The game over screen

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Download

Download Cloud Guardian [not available yet]

For the best playing experience, we recommend a machine that has a comparable specifications as below:

Intel Core 2 Duo 1,8GHz
2.0GB RAM
GeForce 7000 series and above
Microsoft Windows XP SP2 / Microsoft Vista
PC microphone

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Credits

Skeel Lee: Game concept, game engine, screen art & design, softbody physics, orb deformation & controls, microphone integration, effects (visual), bat model & animation, game logic, UI touchup, assets integration

Sharon Lynn Chu Yew Yee: Game design, story, documentation, QA testing, sound sourcing

Le Vinh: Collision detection with Octree, game logic, effects (programming), level loading, audio integration

Tan Chee Boon: UI design & integration, clouds generation & integration, orb facial expressions, flash prototypes

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