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[deadpixelsociety]

What's up TIGers?!

So, earlier this year Hamburglar and I decided to take on a game idea he had posted about over here http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=10651.0.  After some discussion about where to take it, and some initial delays (life gets in the way of game dev too much! ), we are well on our way to making it happen.  Soooooooo, it's devlog time!

Concept

So the basic idea is to take the awesome castle levels from platformers past, and to put the player in control of the other side.  The heroes are afoot, and want your delicious princess.  So, of course, your job is to crush, burn, impale, slice, stab, drown, melt, implode, explode, and bake a cake for DESTROY them!

Gameplay

The basics are as you would expect.  Heroes emerge from the far left of the screen as they enter your castle, and proceed relentlessly to the right towards the captive princess.  Platformer physics are in full effect so heroes can jump over ledges and extended traps, fall down into pits of death, etc.  You, as the player, are in control of these traps, and must use precise timing and micro-management to eliminate all heroes before they reach your princess.  

We have a variety of heroes who will each have slightly different AI.  This means that while one hero may happily walk under a threatening Thwomp, another may decide to slow himself down to fake you out, or simply run out from under it as it is falling.  Part of the gameplay will be recognizing the emerging hero types, and forming a plan of how and when to kill them.

Each level will be divided into distinct screens with up to four traps active on each screen.  Levels can be any number of screens long, but currently we're hoving around 3-4 screens as that feels the most manageable.

Traps

We already have a variety of traps ready, and are working on more to give the player a lot of variety.  The ones we currently have:

• Bruiser (Thwomp-like)
• Spiker
• Lava Pool/Fireball
• Acid Pool/Acidball
• Bullet Bob + Launcher
• Hammer Mole
• Pipe Monster
• Flamethrower
• Saw Gun
• Fade Away Bridge
• Demon Minions w/ variety of weapons

Controls

As we are targeting the Xbox Live Indie Games Service initially the traps will be mapped to the four face buttons of the Xbox 360 controller (A, B, X, Y).  I do some pre-processing of the level to assign the face buttons to the traps, so they will always be assigned the same buttons going left to right: X, A, Y, B.  Hopefully making the physical orientation of the traps match up (roughly) with the physical orientation of the buttons will let the player be able to anticipate button/trap combos more easily.

Screen to screen transitions will happen using the thumbsticks/dpad, and the shoulder buttons will act as jumps to the beginning and end of a level for faster navigation.

Art

We're doing something completely innovative within the indie community as far as our assets go.  We're doing retro pixel art.  We're wanting to hit a lot of visual nods to games like without stepping over the line.  I think that so far we're succeeding.

All of the current art assets are at home on my computer. >.>  I'll update this later today with some examples. >.>




Videos

• Alpha Prototype:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwJ4WNxMrC4
• June 2010 (Current): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7VO5fkbbdM
• Blood Splatter Effect:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pbbapm05z8
• Pipe Monster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2IpmMcAKO4

Downloads

None, at the moment!  When we get a little bit further along I'll post some playtest builds for your awesome feedbacks!  It will require Windows + XNA redist package.  It'll be included in the d/l.

Links

• Game Page (Just a teaser page atm, due for a revamp):  http://www.youarethecastle.com
• Us:  http://www.thedeadpixelsociety.com

Comments?  Feedback?  

Thanks, guys/girl(s)!  

[Dacke]

First reaction: Wow, cool stuff!
Second reaction: Oh, Xbox. I won't ever be able to play it.

[Maxim Schoemaker]

First reaction: Wow, cool stuff!
Second reaction: Oh, Xbox. I won't ever be able to play it.

I second that, but I still think this'll be awesome ^^

[deadpixelsociety]

First reaction: Wow, cool stuff!
Second reaction: Oh, Xbox. I won't ever be able to play it.

First:  Thanks!

Second:   If all goes ok we may release a donation-based (download, then donate if you want) Windows version.  Or I may even take the opportunity to learn flash and write a port.    We DO want as many people to be able to play it as possible, but XBLIG is a really interesting platform right now so we wanted to try it first.  Plus it's what I already know. 

[Machine Saint]

First reaction: Wow, cool stuff!
Second reaction: Oh, Xbox. I won't ever be able to play it.

Exactly...

I wish you success, though. This looks to be a very snazzy game.

[Maxim Schoemaker]

First reaction: Wow, cool stuff!
Second reaction: Oh, Xbox. I won't ever be able to play it.

First:  Thanks!

Second:   If all goes ok we may release a donation-based (download, then donate if you want) Windows version.  Or I may even take the opportunity to learn flash and write a port.    We DO want as many people to be able to play it as possible, but XBLIG is a really interesting platform right now so we wanted to try it first.  Plus it's what I already know. 

If you are interested I could help you guys with the flash port, just have a look at my signature

Cheers,

Maxim

[Keyser Soze]

Expect my money over the Xbox whenever you choose to release it.

Owning one I'm actually glad about your choice to put this on a console. Seems like the kind of game that would be better enjoyed on a couch in front of a TV.

And speaking of playing on a console, have you considered throwing couch multiplayer into this? With the second player controlling the heroes? Seems like it would be fun. Especially because I get images of P1 playing as a boss and P2 playing as whatever powerful hero managed to be the only one to survive in the final room.

[deadpixelsociety]

2P hotseat is definitely a game mode we have in mind.  Whether that pans out as local only and/or Xbox Live remains to be seen.

[allen]

Ah this looks fantastic.

If you do release for PC you don't have to make it donationware, you could still sell it. I know I'd buy it! Maybe even Steam would pick it up?

I'll still play it no matter what platform it comes on though.

[deadpixelsociety]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys!  Really helps keep you motivated. 

[deadpixelsociety]

Today was a busy day for me. 

Things I did:

• Implemented cooldowns across the board for traps.
• Tightened up fireball trap movement.
• Implemented a basic mini-map.
• Added some new sprite sheets and animations I hadn't gotten to yet.
• Implemented particle effects starting with blood splatters (video in OP).
• Pipe Monster fully implemented (video in OP).
• Added some non-particle sprite-based effects for things like a hero's dust trail when he kicks off running, lava splash when a fireball lands, etc.
• Implemented a visual notification that the lava pool trap is ready to fire.  We'll probably do this for all traps one way or another.
• Agonized over more musicians I've found.  Can I keep them all?  Everyone is so damn talented.
• Some more things I probably can't think of...

So ya, good day!  Really looking forward to my upcoming 9 day vacation to really knock some large parts of the game out.  I think we may be on track for an end-of-summer release.   

[The Hamburglar]

Hi everyone, I'm drawing the pixels for this game.

Here's a recent mockup of the 'classic' style tileset:


The fireball more closely matches the colors of the lava and is a little less flat. There's also some small changes to the background tiles and the spike trap.

I have 2 more tilesets nearly completed. One is the obligatory ice world:


The other might be a spoiler so I think we're going to hold off on showing it. We're trying for around 6 or 7 tilesets in total. I'll post updates as they're completed.

There are also going to be some static background objects (candles, windows, statues, etc.) that will hopefully populate the levels.

Deadpixel Matt is shooting for an end of summer release, and he's talented enough to make it, but I don't know if I can keep up with him.

[deadpixelsociety]

Thought I would post this up here since it's pretty cool!  Our first bit of fan art from a Twitter follower:


 

Other than that, work continues.  Tyler is putting out some awesome looking tilesets while I continue to work on engine internals.  I'm working on expanding controls beyond ABXY to see if we can get some fun out of the analog controls on the gamepad. 

We have a collectible coin mechanic we're going to add that you can collect towards various unlockables.

We may not make end of summer, which isn't a big deal really.  I'd rather us take our time with little stress and put out a decent game than worry about artifical deadlines.

[Dozer]

This game shows a TON of promise and I hope that you put it up for pc also. I know that I would pay for it.

Good luck guys, hope this gets the attention that it deserves

[Paint by Numbers]

Wow, this looks great! I'll be in the PC-havers boat, though.

Please tell me you will have a mode where the heroes can learn from past mistakes!