You should try adding white noise inbetween each of the images on the screen.

M-o-o-nman, M-o-o-nman,
does whatever a Moonman does.
Does he live on the moon?
Well duh, it's in his name.
Look out, he is a Moonman!

I don't want to take on another project right now (unless I can make it really small). But I'll definitely think about it.

[The Sparkling Nipples]

(I think I have a thing for 4 color palettes ... can't help it)



The Sparkling Nipples

It's the 80s. You're a washed up manager trying to reunite the best all-female punk band of the decade - The Sparkling Nipples - to pay off some debt or you'll be dead in a week. You have 7 days to track down all the band members, convince them to play one last show, secure some funds, get some gear and wheels, find a place for rehearsals, organize a gig and promote the crap out of it.

The game would consist of a top-down city and you driving between different locations talking to people and solving puzzles and whatnot. Possibly. I don't know. Basically all I have is the name.

Latest version of my temple (previous versions). I think the addition of some steps makes it look less like an entrance to a sewer. I also added a bit more green to the bricks representing some moss and nature in general taking over. These structures will be in middle of forests after all.

These banners are looking good! I can see how you could go pretty wild with the designs.

Anvil Studio is free if you're interested in doing MIDI music. I used to many years ago and it was okay, I guess.

This looks like bad image quality to me, a crappy screenshot from one of those game database sites. If it actually looks like this then it must be rather high-res and antialiased.

[v3]

Some sort of ruins / ruined temple for Pioneers. I consider v3 to be the final thing, at least for tonight. All of these could be used for variation I guess.

v3


v2


v1

I'm considering taking part with a couple of guys at work. It'll be a team-work / weekend jam test (for better preparation in the future) more than anything but I hope it's fun. Haven't decided on the quote yet.

Loving it! Jumping and moving is a bit floaty but that is to be expected from a cloud. While the background song is awesome, the vocals might get a bit annoying / repetive after a while, no? That "pa-ram-pa-tu-tuu" thing is already haunting me relentlessly ...

Could you add an ability to "jump" a little when floating. Like an huffing and puffing animation to blow himself higher or something?

I buy game, good price, make more game

Would the clone mimic player's movement right when it's happening or do you basically want to record the whole motion and then play it back at any given moment? In first case I would just send player's input to the clone with a certain delay. So if I press LEFT and start moving, the clone gets the input 500ms later (or after a certain distance between the characters's been exceeded). If your physics system is deterministic you get the exact same motion.

jmptable is right. I would imagine you want more than two people trying this out, right? If so, lose the registration. Why are you obscuring it in the first place?

[One cloud.]

[read in a movie trailer voice]

* slow strings in the background *
One cloud.
* Inceptionesque music que *
* fastcut *
One face.
* Inceptionesque music que *
* fastcut *
One mission.
* Inceptionesque music que *
* fastcut *
Kamikaze cats.
* Inceptionesque music que *
* fastcut *
A smile * fastcut * you won't forget.
* fastcut *
They call him ..
* slow fade *
* music buildup into a filthy dubstep drop *
.. CLOUDFACE!
* gratuitous gameplay footage with lots of explosions and fast cuts *
* end of tape *

So I just scripted your first trailer. No problem.

[viewport]

Another option is to have a viewport (or camera). Viewport has a top-left origin, width and height (in pixels or in tiles, you pick). When moving the viewport you check which tiles lay inside the viewport bounds and only use those for drawing.

Cloudface is a fallen ange .. err .. cloud trying to find his way back to the heav .. uhm .. sky to rejoin his girlfriend, Cloudfacette. Along the way he must perform such actions as tooting along to a children's song and collecting pictures of naked carrots.

Btw, was http://eigen.pri.ee/pioneers/crap/storybits.png made all by hand? If yes, then man-you`ve got some skills!

This was just a test. Here's what I did in Paint Shop Pro: the linework was done with a small "diamonds" styled line, tried dashed and dotted line as well, then I eroded the lines to get a bit more width in places and applied a little motion blur. The layer's blend mode was set to Dissolve to get a more dithered look. I haven't decided wether I'll just use one color or fill in some of the areas with a slightly darker background color. Looks fine either way.


Yesterday a Youtuber called krutcheshobb posted his first two episodes in his Pioneers Let's Play series. Here's the playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptVan3WQO74&list=PLnG0dzoOc4AW4U-GA7KgaJYnrN7hOl_Ew&feature=mh_lolz

That intro video is so silly and funny, definitely check it out

It still weirds me out seeing other people play the game but it's really useful feedback.

[(WIP)]

Thanks guys

(T)aunt bear sounds like a very foolish idea.

Oh, yes. Taunting will focus all attacks from the opposite front row onto that unit in the next turn. It's like an attack magnet. If you have a strong unit and you want your other units to take it easy for a brief moment you can use that. I hope it helps to create some interesting strategies.



(WIP)

The captain of the brigantine Athena and the passengers are conversing on the upper deck. The wind is slowly picking up speed and slacked ropes clunk against the hull of the ship. "... and that's how I killed the bear rather bizarrely," says mr. Moresby as he finishes up another of his hunting stories. "Fascinating tale, Mr. Moresby. Surely you have kept a trophy of that adventurous event?" replies the captain with faint interest in discussion in hand. "Oh indeed, good sir, I carry the claw of the bear with me everywhere I travel. It has brought me nothing but good luck on my voyages." The kind spirited indigen Takoda is clearly upset upon hearing this. Not raising his voice he says, "You kill bear, spirits become angry. Bears carry eternal life of forest. Takoda thinks punish you they will". "Surely you don't believe this utter nonsense. That is quite the sort of witchcraft I travelled here to get away from". The snarky tone of mr. Moresby does not pass Takoda by but he seems unphased. During his years with living among these people he has come to accept their rudeness and sometimes unpleasant manners. Everybody quiets down for a moment. Wanting to break the silence the captain turns to you and asks, "How about you, young man? I don't believe we have yet been introduced. Who are you?"

* Character creation dialog appears *

After briefly introducing yourself the captain is clearly delighted to meet you. "Excellent, mr. LASTNAME. Glad to have a man with such notable skills on board". Having not being properly introduced Takoda says, "Yes, very good meeting you. I sense purpose in your life. May the gods bless you". Mr. Moresby seems to pay little attention to you and instead turns to the captain to ask about their voyage. "Tell us, captain, how long til we reach Marciudad? The land is close, it must be". "The wind has been generous and should it stay that way we mustn't be further than a week," he replies, "what worries me is the storm ahead. I had great confidence we could go past it but it seems to be headed straight at us". After a brief pause he adds, "... the last leg of the journey might get choppy". Mr. Moresby and yourself look ahead of the ship and see a dark stormcloud approacing in the distance. To your surprise you find the storm moving in rather quickly. Takoda has walked further back the ship and is reapeatedly saying something to himself. All of the sudden everything goes white for a brief moment and a thunderous clap can be heard not not a second from the flash. "Did you see that?!" says mr. Moresby rather excitedly as he continues, "this is unlike any storm I've ever seen ... and I've seen a few in my day!" First drops of rain can be heard bouncing against the thick cloth of the sails above their heads. The storm is closing in at an everincreasing pace and after a short while the rain becomes drowningly dense. The ship creaks violently as she moves up and down and crashes into the oncoming waves. The captain yells, "Hold on to your hats and pipes everybody!" Grabbing their hats everybody rushingly searches something to hold onto. Takoda has returned from the back of the ship to join the group. A sudden strong breeze wipes the hat off of mr. Moresby. "My hat!" he exclaims. Captain, now with a completely stern face, barely manages to hold onto the wheel. The ship is now completely under the stormcloud and the hull creaks vehemently. Bolts of lightning hit the ocean all around the ship. All of the sudden a loud crack can be heard. Several strong waves hit the ship from the side cracking the hull. The brigantine is no longer controllable. In last desperation the captain yells, "I can't keep her steady much longer, we're sinking! Abandon ship everybody!"

Looking at my commit log I would say so.

I've been fixing bugs, adding localization support, drawing bits and pieces, wrote a new tune, mockupping new screens. Speaking of which. Here's how I imagine the new combat system. Right now combat is clunky and boring. I want to bring more strategy into it.



(Fonts are all wrong and whatnot)

It'll be a lot like Highgrounds, with units attacking the unit opposite of them with a bunch of other rules. I think this would make it a lot more interesting. You probably don't want to fight each and every bear you encounter, so a "simulate result" option might be included to quickly get a result.


Another thing I've been mockupping is how to show story bits. The intro sequence is great and all but it's boring (nothing but water), very static and difficult to script and maintain. I'd much rather have something like this:



So for the intro for example, I'll be scrapping the dialog and simply narrate the happenings. Don't mind the text and the graphic, it's just to try out the style. At a distance it does have an old book look to it. I should practice some linework ...

Anyway, next I'll start implementing this stuff.