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Illusive Dreams is a 2D platformer being developed in FlashPunk. It is based around a guy attempting to make it to wonderful looking land he sees in the distance, only to find it was an illusion. The game's challenge is primarily about avoiding obstacles and other various forms of death; puzzles may also have a part in it. There are three environments so far, forest, mountains, and hell (which isn't done yet).

Latest Test Build (http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/test/)

Twitter (http://twitter.com/BlackBulletIV)
My Blog (http://nova-fusion.com/blog) - Specifically, the Illusive Dreams tag (http://nova-fusion.com/tags/illusive-dreams/)

Video Log 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-i0C9jkGWg)
Video Log 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3a_uSOiNCs)
Video Log 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkal47LEqMk)
Video Log 4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWt05dPEwEg)

(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-1.png)
(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-2.png)
(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-3.png)
(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-4.png)

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Currently I'm working on making the sound effects and music, which isn't coming along too well. I also need to make the content for the hell environment. If you're wondering, I've been working on the game for nearly two months.

If you need music and sfx hit me up!

www.jackmenhorn.com/audio

Thanks. :) I've sent you a PM.

Well, I've started on the Hell environment today. Four basic obsidian tiles, and a basic implementation of lava.

(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-5.png)

I think I may not do the hell environment, it's too much work I think (this is a free game after all).

Anyway, I'm currently making the levels, with three already done. Sometime soon I plan to work on the way the story is conveyed (pictures in a cutscene format, text, something like that).

Well, I've been working on the levels as usual. Here's the next video log (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWt05dPEwEg) showing the first five levels as they are now.

Today I made two more levels, 6 and 7. I think they're alright in terms of difficulty.

By the way, if anyone wants to test the game out just give me a yell; I'd really appreciate it.

I think I've mostly finished the "cutscene" system. The system is only based around images and text, but it'll do just fine.

(http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/dev-log/screen-6.png)

Yay Mac compatible! I'll totally help you test the game.

Thanks. Well it's made in Flash, so theoretically it should work on all three major operating systems.

But yeah, I'll let you know when I've got a test build ready (should be ready very soon).

Well I've finished level 8 and the first three cutscenes. I've also removed stuff that was in the game related to hell environment, as I'm not doing that anymore. I'm going to work on releasing the first test build soon.

Finally, I may have a rather large web development job coming up soon, and if so then Illusive Dreams will have to take a back seat while I work on that.

I've released the first test build, which you can find on my website (http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/test/). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. :)

Today I made levels 9 and 10, although I'm worried that 10 might be too hard for its place in the game (yet again). Also, Jeremiah Pena (http://jeremiahpena.com/site/) is composing the music.

The sounds seemed quite loud, but that might have been my volume. Wait until others confirm/deny before acting on that.

I like the mechanic used at the end with toggling between light/dark. It would possibly be more interesting if the light had obstacles that the dark does not. That doesn't really fit in with the narrative, but would make for much more interesting puzzle possibilities.

The stage with the pillars that you have to jump onto was much harder than the others. Not insurmountable by any means, but felt like the difficulty curve was broken there.

The jump height is HUGE compared to other games, but it never annoyed me in this particular game.

Yeah the sound is pretty loud, but remember, it's only temporary 8-bit stuff.

That's an interesting idea, I might give it some thought. However, as you said, it wouldn't fit with the storyline/narrative.

Yeah I've had the same feedback with level 4, it's a lot easier now (in my personal build of course). I guess I kind of got used to precision jumping a while ago.

The jump height is huge? It is pretty big, but I didn't think it was that big. As a comparison, Mario can jump 5 times his body height, while the guy in this game can jump around 3 times his body height. Anyway, whatever, at least it wasn't annoying.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

I don't play a lot of old school games. Perhaps that's where my idea that it's huge comes from. I mean, I played Mario back in the day like everyone else, but not in a long long time. Modern 3d mario can't jump 5x his height, for sure.

Again, it wasn't annoying. I was expecting with that high of a jump height (watching the videos) that it'd make it harder to control, but I didn't have any such problems, so good job. Just thought I'd mention my first impression of jump height as feedback. After playing it a little longer I'm sure I wouldn't even notice anymore, and people who play mostly older and/or classic-inspired games may not notice even at a first glance.

Ah ok, good stuff then. And yeah, modern mario definitely can't jump 5x.

The main thing I did today is make level 11. I recorded the entire process, and have already uploaded the first two parts (here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTADbjD322Y) and here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPsjQbYOpp8l)) to YouTube.

I also experimented with making the clouds automatically generated and able to move, but that didn't go so well.

I just released the second test build (http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/test/) for the game. The changes are listed on the page.

Once again, any feedback/suggestions would be most appreciated. ;D

Since I was getting feedback that the last three levels are too hard for their position, I'm creating new, easier ones to fill their place. As usual, I'll be using the previous levels 12, 13, and 14 in some other part of the game.

Today I created the levels 12 and 13. Another night music track was completed as well.

Today I created level 14, and re-used the old level 12 for level 15 (it may not stay there, but we'll see). I started on chapter two, by creating level 16.

Also, since YouTube has now enabled me to upload videos of over 15 minutes (which I'm pretty happy about), I've uploaded part 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBj8CJFpAGs) and part 4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLAmxoNFFPQ) of me making level 11.

Today I created levels 17 and 20, and re-used three shelved levels for 18, 19, and 21; quite a good day indeed.

A new test build should be released soon, probably tomorrow.

I've just released the third test build (http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/test/) for the game. Other than all the other changes I've already mentioned, I've re-used an old shelved level for level 22.

Did you tweak the jump height? Now it feels like it's much smaller than it was. I tried to finish your new levels to have the best possible feedback but... I failed. As the levels got harder, it felt less and less like the failure was my fault and more and more like the levels were just encouraging me to spam lives at them. Really you probably need a better-suited tester than me, but I didn't want to fail to test it since I was the only person that commented last round.

Also, I managed to get out of the level Mario World-Select style several times. Never did it give me anything cool. I was disappointed.

Nope, I haven't tweaked the jump height.

Well, it is inspired by Super Meat Boy quite a bit, so yeah. I will say however, that the last level in the build is definitely too hard for its place.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying about the chapter selection; I'm guessing you don't like it?

Also, don't worry, I have other people testing it from Twitter and the like.

The music is AMAZING! I wanted to play just to listen to the music.
However, the game is way too dark, at least after the tutorial. I can't play it this way. It strains my eyes.
Also, I think the story isn't clear or doesn't convey to well from the gameplay and cutscenes. I wasn't sure what exactly happened. I think it's an interesting idea but seems a bit bland without properly telling it. My humble opinion since I am not really a writer.

I didn't mean your level selector, sorry, let me explain. In Super Mario Brothers for the NES there was a few places where you could get "on top of" the level. You were walking on the very top block, off screen. This let you skip large parts of the level or, in at least on place, go to a special area where you got to skip entire levels by going through warp pipes.

I got on top of your levels various times. Every time it was just a dead end, not a hidden secret. It's my opinion that you should either put secrets there, or make it where you can't get out of the level. I thought I had found a secret every time, and was disappointed when it was just a dead end. Unless it IS a secret and I just didn't get past the first challenge to get there...

PompiPompi:

Glad to hear it. :)

Really? It could be because you have a much darker screen than I do. I don't really want to make it brighter as that would make it even less realistic than it already is. Night in other games seems to be as dark or even darker than it is here. Also, take note that you don't only play in the dark, you play in the light sometimes too.

How do you think it could be better conveyed? Text in-game maybe? Also, you won't really know what happens until later levels, it's revealed slowly.

negativeview:

Oh I see. I think I might know a way to get around Ogmo Editor so I can make that happen. Thanks.

I am not sure, maybe choose a different pallete for when it's dark? Like, more blue colors?
A dark game, even if it's only part of the game, can be a game killer. Maybe for some it will be ok, but for many others it won't.
Also, you can make it so it's brighter around the character and gets darker further away, I can live with that. :)
Maybe others should advise as well though.

Well I've experimented with making the foreground a lot and it seems to actually work alright, as long as the background is still dark the atmosphere is maintained for the most part. I'll experiment around and see what I can do.

I've been working on getting in-game text, in place of cutscenes, working. I've just got a bit more of it to do and it should be complete.

Just played it, and I think its great so far!  I had to stop when i got the yellow crystal because the screen just showed a white-gray circle gradient, but the music continued, and i could here the footsteps when i moved.  I assume that image was meant to be blended with the screen, but failed to blend.

The only suggestion I'd have is about the floor spike/poles, but you can ignore it safely.  I kept getting killed on the first one of each grouping because my natural tendency is to get a running start for maximum distance and then jump over, but the first pole goes full-height and killed me. I found that i needed to jump up and then hold over to pass, but it feels unnatural ( I was still getting comfortable with the sensitivity of the controls).  My small suggestion would be to have half-height spike-poles too, and maybe start with them and then add longer ones. Or have a shorter one for the first pole.

Keep it up!

Argh, you're yet another person with that issue. I can't reproduce it my Mac, but after some testing on a much slower one I think I might be closer to figuring it out. A few questions:

1. Was is the first yellow crystal you came across?
2. Did it start flashing then go to the white screen, or just immediately go to the white screen?
3. What level was it on? From your description I'm guessing 8.
4. Is your framerate below 60 (you can open up the console by pressing Q; it'll show you the FPS)? If so, what is it on average?

If you could answer those that'd be great, as you've given me the most detailed description of this bug so far.

As for your idea about the pikes (that's their official name), that might work well. I'll get some more feedback on that idea. And yeah, in this game you reach max speed in, at most, 7 or 8 pixels.

Thanks again for your feedback!

I did not get the blending bug. If you need another non-bugged mac person to give any relevant info, I can do it.

In the past few days I've completed the implementation of in-game text, made a new level 22, and levels 23-26.

Today I made level 27. I think I might wait until chapter two is done before I release the fourth test build (which means 3 more levels, since there are 15 levels per chapter).

Well after a few days of procrastination and working on a test game before Ludum Dare 22, today I made levels 28 and 29.

I've reused a level for level 30, and completed the in-game text for chapter two. I'm starting to feel a bit more positive of this project.

Anyway, the fourth test build should be released tomorrow.

I've released the fourth test build (http://nova-fusion.com/games/illusive-dreams/test/). More info on the page.

Just dropping by to say that this looks great. The simple pixel-art style is super cool, and I like the particle effects. My only criticisms are that the jumping feels a bit tense and that the player blends in with the background and scenery too much, but other than that, great job.  ;)

Also, for some weird reason, the sound effects are out of sync with my keyboard input.

Thanks. Yeah, I guess you're right with the player blending in; he does have dark clothes, probably because I'm the type who favours dark clothes. I'll have to experiment with some lighter ones.

The physics are purposely a lot tighter/tenser than most games; that's how I like it. I don't really feel like messing around with gravity and jump force right now, as I've based level design quite heavily on the jump height.

As for the sound effects, none of them so far respond directly to keyboard input. It's either footsteps, landing from a jump, arrows hitting, or arrows firing. Are any of these mistimed?

Yeah, it's been a while since I've updated this log, though not a terrible amount has happened. Jeremiah's been working on some sound effects, and I've started on chapter three's levels today, with three levels added in.

Also, if anyone has any trouble with sound effects being out of sync, please let me know (and try to give as much info as possible). Thanks. :)