Today began the IndieDB Best Indie Game of 2020 Competition. Last year my game was selected among the top 100 Indie Games of 2019. Now I need your help to make my game be among the Top 10 of 2020, and below I explain why.
A great Indie Games Publisher showed too much interest on my game, and I am now working on an updated and revamped build of my game to send them, and If they approve, and everything goes well, be sure my game will be a worlwide success, Insha Allah (God's Willing)!
I am sure that whenever any publisher sees that players are loving my game, that players selected my game as one of the best from 2020, this will encourage ANY publisher to get my game, and releasing my game through a Publisher will mean it will reach a MUCH BIGGER audience (than releasing myself), and this means you will be able to play game on PS4, Xbox One and maybe even on PS5 and Xbox Series X! So EVERYONE wins.
Another imporant news, is that my father (the greatest inspiration for my game), decided to help me in this project (after he has seen the HUGE sucess my game is making arround the web. He is helping by providing important informations about Palestinian Guerrilla and the Israel x Palestine Conflict in general, Classic Palestinian Nasheeds (musics), helping me with Arabic Localization, he made some slight changes on the game narrative (to make it more realistic and historical accurate), as he lived this conflict (he fought for the freedom of Palestine). Now the game has a more Palestinian Revolution Feeling, more Nationalist and less Religious, and the game on its actual state is much more polished, balanced and better to play than the 2 previous demos I released.
I learned from my father to don't wait things come to me, I must make things happen. So I submitted my game to as many indie games festivals I could, and one of these festivals invited me to a business meeting with some publishers, and this publisher was there.
They told me my game is exactly the kind of game they are looking for, a lot of bullets, blood and explosions
. They asked me to send them a pitching document with all informations about my game, also they sent me many forms to fill (like my budget, my post launch plan,...) and off course a playable build of my game. So I asked them sometime to polish my game better and send them an almost finished version of the game (the more complete the game more chances for them accepting it). And now I am working like crazy to finish this build of my game.
Hello friends! Here follows some Screenshots of Mossad Office, the 3rd Campaign Mission of #FursanAqsaGame, with better lighting, new shaders, textures and Mission Objectives.
Fursan al-Aqsa - Official History Trailer - Ahmad al-Falastini
In this article I showcase a brand new trailer for my game, the Official History Trailer which tells the history of the game's protagonist, Ahmad al-Falastini, a peaceful student who became a ferocious warrior thirsty for revenge.
This trailer tells the history of Ahmad al-Falastini, the protagonist of Fursan al-Aqsa, how he turned from a peaceful student whose dream was to protect lives, into a ferocious warrior thirsty for revenge and blood.
This is one of the best trailers I ever made for my game, it was a lot of work (10 days and almost 14 hours of rendering the animation in After Effects). I think this trailer gives to the player a better understanding about the protagonist's motivations to wage war against Israel. Even tough this is a fictional history, however it is based on real facts and depicts the reality of this conflict. Be sure that there in Palestine you will find very similar histories of young people who had their dreams and their lives destroyed by a Genocidal Military State which does not respect any law or human rights.
Here follows the trailer. Please watch it with attention and I am sure Ahmad's history will touch your heart:
Also I want to share here the interview I gave to BostonFIG, which was showcased last saturday on their channel. Please watch it for understanding better my personal motivations for making this game and other insights on the game's development process:
Last, but no least, many people to whom I talked at BostonFIG, asked me the meaning of the game's title screen music. I explained to them and now I want to explain here also.
This is the Palestinian National Anthem. It talks about the Palestinian Fedayeen Warriors and their struggle for liberation of Palestine. Fedayeen (plural of Fedaye) was the name given to the palestinian guerrillas who fought for the Freedom of Palestine (the word Fedaye means martyr, i.e those who sacrify their lives for a noble cause).
They had a lot of popular support to such an extent that they were considered kinda super heroes among Palestinian People, they inspired a generation of Resistant Fighters and other Islamic Military Groups. The dream of any children was to become a Fedaye, the dream of any woman on that time was to marry a Fedaye (by the way there were even Palestinian Women as Female Fedayeen Fighters), the dream of any mother and father was that their son become a Fedaye. My father voluntereed as a Fedaye for almost 12 years before coming to Brazil.
So below follows the music's translation. Cheers and until next update!
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my land, the land of the ancestors
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my people, people of eternity
With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my vendetta
With the longing in my blood for my land and my home
I have climbed the mountains and fought the wars
I have conquered the impossible, and crossed the frontiers
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my land, the land of the ancestors
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my people, people of eternity
With the resolve of the winds and the fire of the weapons
And the determination of my nation in the land of struggle
Palestine is my home, and the path of my triumphal
(Palestine is my home, Palestine is my fire,)
Palestine is my vendetta and the land of withstanding
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my land, the land of the ancestors
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my people, people of eternity
By the oath under the shade of the flag
By my land and nation, and the fire of pain
I will live as a warrior, I will remain a warrior,
I will die as a warrior - until my country returns
On this article I showcase the finished map of Jerusalem, which will be the 4th Mission of Fursan al-Aqsa's Campaign Mode, alongside some new progress on my game.
It's time to protect the Holy Land, the Land of the Prophets and Messengers, the Land of our Ancestors. Zionist Forces are preparing a big strike against the Old City of Jerusalem, so it is up to you, Fidae, to protect it with your blood and soul. And if you die in this mission, Paradise will be your eternal bliss. Allah Akbar!
After almost 20 days of extensive working, I finished the Map of Jerusalem, which is the 4th Campaign Mission of Fursan al-Aqsa. This is one of the biggest maps of my game, it's not a 1:1 replica of the real city, but I tried my best to make it look similar. I even found a way to convert Google Street View Panorama Images to Skybox Textures, to use them as a backdrop for the maps. The final results are good, as these custom skyboxes add a depth to the maps.
Another Milestone for this project is that my game was selected for the Independent Games Festival this year, a long life dream which I finally achieved. Even though my game doesn't be selected as a finalist, but the fact of participating on the biggest event for Indie Games is for sure a milestone for any game dev out there! I thank Allah (God) for this and also thank you all who are following my game, those who are supporting me here and elsewhere. Jazakom Allah Khayr (May God give you all the best).
Another very important achivement for me is that my game got noticed by the legendary Martin Hollis, the main programmer and director of the original Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64! My game, despite having a completely different story, plot and thematics, but, on it's heart, it is a love letter for Goldeneye 007. Martin Hollis noticed this and praised my game:
Also, as I am close to finish the development of #FursanAqsaGame, I decided to replay the classics #Goldeneye007 and #PerfectDark (my greatest inspirations) on a #N64 #Emulator for #Android to get more ideas for mission objectives to make my game a trully
Love Letter to Goldeneye007
!
As I am playing these masterpieces, some cool ideas pop up into my mind, like destroying security cameras, sabotaging some israeli equipment, finding secret documents, planting bombs, invading Israeli bases, disguising yourself, murdering a specific enemy, rescuing Palestinians, and so on.
And here follows some screenshots of Jerusalem Map, I hope you like it. Next step I will be making a small gameplay teaser for this map, as I have done with the previous 3 maps.
Fursan al-Aqsa Map Showcase - Battle of Shuja'iyya
In this article I showcase the map of Gaza Strip, which will be the 5th Mission of the Campaign, alongise some exciting new updates for my game.
Hello friends.
After a looooong time, I finished the Gaza Strip Map, which will be the 5th Mission of the Campaign. This will be indeed one of the best missions of my game. The gameplay will be a bit different from the previous missions, as the main objective here will be to rescue some civilians and take them to the ambulance.
Also the player will have to survive an intense air bombing while he is playing the mission. And the Boss Battle will be epic, as you drive the Humvee vehicle equiped with the Grenade Launcher and fight against an Harrier Airplane! In the end of this article you can see some screenshots.
Something very AMAZING happened to my game is that it was selected to compete on the Rookie Awards 2021, one of the most important events of the Creative Media, sponsored by big names like Autodesk, Nvidia, EPIC Games, Adobe and others. I even earned an Excellence Award for my entry:
I even gave an interview to a Gamespot Journalist about my game and my opinion regarding the game Six Days in Fallujah, which ressurrected recently, and wants to tell the history of the American Heroes who sacrified their lives on the War against 'Terrorism'. This interview will be published soon.
And after my game is becoming well known in the web, and because google even created a custom panel with informations about my game, and a Content Topic Channel on youtube, just like the big games out there, I decided to make my new channel public:
There you can watch all my game's trailers at 1080p.
And here follows the Screenshots of Gaza Map.
Zionist Forces are bombarding Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, in Gaza Strip. Your mission, Fidae, is to rescue the civilians, take down the Israeli Jet Fighters and protect the City at all costs.
And if you die in this mission, Paradise will be your eternal bliss.
In this article I showcase the Gameplay Teaser for the 5th Mission of Fursan al-Aqsa, and other new updates for my game Fursan al-Aqsa - The Knights of al-Aqsa
After exactly 2 months of intense work, finally I finished the Gaza Strip Mission. It was, until now, the hardest mission to make. This mission introduces some brand new mechanics, like the Air Bombing, Civilians Rescue, and others.
I am very proud of the final results, and I am sure you all will enjoy playing this mission on the final game.
Here is the original MP4 video in HD 1080p High Quality:
This is a very important update about the PS3 Version of Fursan al-Aqsa:
After #Sony came back on their decision to close the #PS3 Store, thanks to millions of players worldwide, I decided to apply to become an Official Playstation Developer and release #FursanAqsaGame officially on Playstation 3, instead of a homebrew. They accepted my game and now it will be an Official PS3 Game, instead of a homebrew.
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And here is the first Press Quote for my game, written by a professional gaming journalist. I provided him a closed beta of Fursan al-Aqsa with 50% of the game finished:
"Fursan al-Aqsa immediately harkens back to classic shooters - it always feels dangerous and tense. I'm really impressed with the quality of the animation - Ahmad's actions all look amazingly fluid and natural, even with the game's throwback vibe. This is a seriously terrific piece of work as well as an important perspective that we have never seen in a shooter before."
Ian Boudreau, freelancer writer for IGN Website
Personal Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/iboudreau
So that's all folks. My next step is to make an updated demo of the game, the final demo with all the improvements I implemented on the game, alongside some new maps,
@Tom Sloper Yeah my friend. I am too much happy because of it. Whenever a big gaming company like SONY gives official authorization for my game be released on Playstation Platform it trully helps to remove that tag of ‘terrorist propaganda’ some people label my game, because it's political content. This will help people to look at my game as a work of art and not a propaganda of any kind.
After almost giving up the PS3 version of my game Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, because I could not get the all maps to run on it, I tried one last thing, after all the optimization I have done (compressing textures, reducing lightmaps...): I changed the PS3 video output resolution to 480p.
Now the game runs smoothly, at 60fps almost all time, except on Gaza mission, because there is a lot of stuff running on the screen. It seems that running the game at 720p or 1080p will use much more of the extreme limited video memory of the PlayStation 3 (256 MB).
I personally liked the image quality, even though it is not crispy as on the PC version. The image looks a bit pixelated and there is absolutely no AA (anti-aliasing), which made the image look like there is kinda PS1 image style filter applied over it. I simply loved it.
The PS3 version is exactly the same as the PC, just graphically inferior (some lower resolution textures). But I personally found the PlayStation 3 version more fun to play, because of the dual shock controller. Each gun triggers a different vibration style, which is very cool.
Here is the original MP4 video in HD 1080p High Quality:
I am coming to you, my enemy, from every house, district and street! With my gun and my trust in Allah, I am coming to you!
This is a sneak peek of what awaits you on this updated demo of #FursanAqsaGame, Training Ops, which is coming soon to #Steam
#gamedev #indiegame #indie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-LRJ2a7Ck
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This is the trailer I submitted to PAX EAST ONLINE, this year, in the hope that my game be selected for the showcase, so maybe I can get some media coverage for it. Let's see.