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[AndrewFM]

Yeah, part of the problem is I think I had the volume cranked too high on the recorder. So the sounds got that nasty ear-raping effect that happens when a sound exceeds the volume threshold, and starts to clip.

But I definitely agree with a few of the sounds needing tweaking. Mainly the energy balls, the one that occurs when you get knocked into the ground heavily, and possibly the dialog.

[deadeye]

I love the style of the sound effects you've got going. I hope you don't change it too much.

Yeah, the style is fine.  8bit sound is cool beans and all, I was just commenting on the harshness.  There's a fine line between bleep bloop and screek scronk.

[cosec]

bleep bloop and screek scronk.

I like you.

[AndrewFM]

I haven't posted any updates in a while, not because I haven't been working on the game, but because most the updates weren't very interesting to share (aka, things that can't be illustrated in screenshots)

However, I got enough new things done now to throw off a couple highlights:

-Xbox Controller Support (I plan to add standard gamepad support too... I just don't currently own one)
-Key Configuration
-Local Multiplayer support (I have some ideas for a possible multiplayer campaign mode)
-Minimap
-Fixed the culprits of the ear-rapey sounds

I've been planning out the layout of the game world, and yesterday I started work on creating some non-test maps for the game. So map building, among a couple other things, will probably be my main focus for a while.

[SundownKid]

True identity of white dude?

Fighting looks cool. You can never have too many giant lasers in combat. I liked the dialog sounds but hated the "pew-pew" energy shot.

[AndrewFM]

A TALE OF OVERAMBITION



In the process of designing the map environments, I quickly began to get carried away with stuff. That windmill backdrop up there took about a week to make, and it's still not completely finished. In fact, I even wanted to animate it and stuff.

So yeah, I'm going to take a step back here, and rethink my plans in tackling these maps. I planned to have ~70 maps in the game, and if I'm going to spend this much time on all of them, I'll be working on this game for years.

Ideally, I'd like to spend no longer than a single year on this project, so I'll have to cut back on the details a bit. I need to think of a way to make the maps interesting and unique, while not having to make a lot of graphical assets... (or at least, not gigantic animated ones )

[paste]

I'm really enjoying the visual and audio aspects of this, especially the dialogue sound effects    Looking forward to trying it out.

[dumbmanex]

Combat looks sweet in action, like those newer DBZ games in 2d.  Are the characters going to stay that single color?  If so you might have to put a shadow out line on one side of them to keep them visible in front of some colors, in the video the white baddie wasn't very visible in front of the moon.
 

[AndrewFM]

Combat looks sweet in action, like those newer DBZ games in 2d.  Are the characters going to stay that single color?  If so you might have to put a shadow out line on one side of them to keep them visible in front of some colors, in the video the white baddie wasn't very visible in front of the moon.
 

Yeah, was going to keep them single-colored silhouettes. That's a good idea... I was struggling to think of a way to make them visible against a similar-colored background. I didn't want to add an outline around them, because nothing else in the game has one. But adding some shading on them of a second color probably wouldn't look out of place

Thanks for the tip.

[wilbefast]

Well done with the aesthetic: being nicely recognizable is a must  What technology are you using by the way? You say "after a couple of weeks" and I start doing this  Already looks rather spiffy if you ask me
So: will it be a exploration game with fighting or a fighting game with exploration 

[AndrewFM]

Thanks!

I'm using Game Maker to make this. The reason I was able to throw the engine together so fast is mostly because of code reuse. I've been using Game Maker for a pretty long time, and I've accumulated quite a lot of code snippets over the span of all my projects. The big time consumer in this game is going to be the content.

While I'm trying to create a nice balance between exploration and fighting, I'm going to say it's probably more of a fighting game with exploration

By the way, maps are about 15-20% complete now, and the Blue & White characters are fully animated.

[wilbefast]

I know what you mean: I'm hoping -really hoping- that when I've made as many games in C++ as I had using GML I'll be as quick as I used to be There's absolutely nothing wrong with Gamemaker by the way: I'm just a Linux-nut  

I like the dialogue  too: good to have a bit of a sense of humour for the early demos (you also avoid getting submerged in cretins telling you that X should be Y)  

[ANtY]

I'm always trying to start new project in c++ but it's a lot faster with GM :/

Waiting for this game, I like fighting

[AndrewFM]

I'm still working on this, though I've been in a bit of an unproductive mood lately, because I realized that I'm really clueless as to how to tackle the storyline side of this project.

Based purely on the gameplay, in the game:

• Progression is completely freeform; it can be played in any order, and there is no logical progression between events.
• All characters fight each other (I may be able to make some exceptions to this). It's just a mishmosh of people randomly fighting to the death.
• As a result of the above, a character usually is killed off right after being first introduced.

With those things in mind, I have absolutely no idea how to make a good storyline that wraps around those. It's important for the character relationships to be engaging (this is really the main part that boggles my mind ), and I want the storyline to be something that can be taken seriously (I'm not planning for this to be a comedic or parody game). However, I don't see how those things are possible in such an environment.

I'll probably make a topic in the Writing subforum about this eventually, but for now, I wanted to at least update the DevLog to let you guys know what I'm having problems with.

[Gabriel Verdon]

I'm still working on this, though I've been in a bit of an unproductive mood lately, because I realized that I'm really clueless as to how to tackle the storyline side of this project.

Based purely on the gameplay, in the game:

• Progression is completely freeform; it can be played in any order, and there is no logical progression between events.
• All characters fight each other (I may be able to make some exceptions to this). It's just a mishmosh of people randomly fighting to the death.
• As a result of the above, a character usually is killed off right after being first introduced.

With those things in mind, I have absolutely no idea how to make a good storyline that wraps around those. It's important for the character relationships to be engaging (this is really the main part that boggles my mind ), and I want the storyline to be something that can be taken seriously (I'm not planning for this to be a comedic or parody game). However, I don't see how those things are possible in such an environment.

I'll probably make a topic in the Writing subforum about this eventually, but for now, I wanted to at least update the DevLog to let you guys know what I'm having problems with.

I hear you. As I make progess on my current project I'm realizing more and more that the most difficult part is the not the tech or the art, but the story and overall design.

I don't have any specific ideas for you, but I recommend keeping yourself occupied with the boring stuff like menus and whatnot while you work out the design.

Keep it up!