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[Ninja Dodo]

Working on infinitely scrolling levels at the moment, so it's really like you're going all the way around the vase... I've got the looping itself sorted with the camera panning along nicely and I'm working on improving the placement of objects around the player at the switch (ie. if you move an object and loop around, it should still be in the same place). I'll do new video later.

I still need to recreate the edge shading effect, since it was just part of the background before, which I guess means reading up on blend modes first.

After this I think I'll try and refine the attacks and maybe prepare some stuff for adding a second player. Also trying to figure out why passable platforms behave like ceilings when you try to jump past them from below (but not when the player is already half intersecting the object). Specifically I had to remove the platform for now on the second pillar from the left so you could jump up there.

I'm wondering, by the way: should I write in more detail about the things I'm adding as I go and keep doing the videos or should there be less talk, more progress?

[agersant]

I think the silent majority likes the talk and the videos. Well, at least there's me enjoying it 

[unsilentwill]

Pretty progress makes us happy. But it's probably the proper time to complete some design goals so it's not total feature creep.

The rotation vase thing could be pretty cool, reminds me of the awesome Goht battle in Majora's Mask.

~watching closely forever

[Franklin's Ghost]

Have to agree with agersant, I like all the talk. Nice to know all the steps you're taking and how you're approaching everything.

[Happy Shabby Games]

I let out a little "Ha ha!" on the last bit of the newish gameplay video when you picked up the block . Visuals look excellent.


Concerning the jump thru platforms-

If you're using place_meeting(x,y,obj_jumpthru) that will return true if you are intersecting with it. Try having the collision happen only when:

(EDIT)vspd>=0(falling or stopped)

place_meeting(x,y+1,obj_jumpthru)(above it)

!place_meeting(x,y,obj_jumpthru)(not inside of it).

Hope that helps.

[saint11]

Man, the game not only looks great, but it also feels great to play it! Good job!

You mentioned multiplayer, will it be online?  Because, I never knew if that's possible in Game Maker.

[gimymblert]

 

[Ninja Dodo]

OK, more talk and videos then.

@unsilentwill: Myeah my prototyping method tends to be a bit "Ooh, what if I add this?". For this game though I was thinking about it for quite some time before I sat down and started building anything so I do have some goals in mind:

Goals 1 & 2: Prototype satisfying movement and test the viability of the vase art direction. Goal #1 I think is coming along and I'm pretty much satisfied that the visual style is going to work. So: goal #2.

Next: combat (against enemy AI and 2-player versus)

More broadly my goal is to test if hero vs hero combat can work, or if co-op vs monsters is more fun. If both work, both stay.

Once I expand upon the god-powers I aim to test different configurations of god + hero co-op, hero vs god, hero + hero vs god, etcetera... and possibly more story-based stuff like Odysseus + Athena vs Poseidon.

I'll probably refrain from discarding any ideas until I have the powers fully working because this may change a lot of things.

@Seasons: I'm doing something roughly like that (it works on the short pillar in the gallery level and the movable blocks), but I think there's something else interfering with it.

@saint11: Thanks! You've got a pretty sweet looking game yourself!

Online multiplayer is possible in GM as far as I know, but for now I'm only aiming for local same screen... It would be interesting though.

[Ninja Dodo]

More video:

[Ninja Dodo]

Now they are two:



Download: http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/hellas/hellas_v05.zip

I've finished up version 5 with the scrolling level I showed earlier. I've improved object placement a bit (remembered more accurately when looping) and managed to fix the passable platforms bug so now you can both stand on and jump through the top of that pillar.

I also made the player code a bit more self-contained to allow for re-use in other characters... which brings me to the main addition since the last video:

You can now add a second player by pressing ENTER anywhere in the level. Player 2 is controlled with WASD + B. To accomodate same keyboard multiplay I've added CTRL as an alternative attack key for player 1 and changed the level cycle button to / (previously SPACE) to prevent accidental level changes.

The camera follows player 1. Once I've implemented enemies I'll probably make it so cam switches to player 2 if 1 dies. For versus multiplayer I may have to consider split-screen, though there's a risk of this clashing rather badly with the vase aesthetic. Will see.

[PompiPompi]

Looking good. I tried the two players, and then I tried to make the second player to make a circle while the first player wait. So I basically pressed left and jump every short while.
At first it seemed to work, the second player reappeared from the other side. Although I thought it appeared aburtly and not from the edge of the screen. The second time I tried to do this, the second player seem to have vanished. I couldn't find him with the first player.
Pressing Enter again didn't spawn the second player(after he dissappeared).
Aprt from that, looks like this game is going to be fun.

[rek]

You can now add a second player by pressing ENTER

What happens when Player 1 runs left and Player 2 runs right, or just stays put? Methinks you're going to need split screen mode.

[Ninja Dodo]

@PompiPompi: Yeah, that's a bug. It works perfectly if you are not at the edge where the level wraps, but I need to figure out a good way to have the 2nd player wrap with an offset if player 1 is within view of the invisible edge. I could cheat and have the player not appear at the actual place he's wrapping from, but just off-screen instead... though maybe that would cause other problems.

The second thing, what seems to have happened is the player went beyond the border but did not get wrapped back to the right place at the start and since player 2 still exists somewhere you can't add a new player. I put some things in to check for that but I guess they're not a 100% yet.

@rek: I'm thinking for co-op I will probably make it like Little Big Planet where if you stay off-screen too long, you die automatically... except that one player always leads the camera (until they die). For versus I will have to either go split-screen or make single screen arenas only. The latter could be limiting.

[Ninja Dodo]

I did a bunch of animation thumbnails in August and a few more since, exploring ideas for moves:




I've basically been putting them in as and when I need them, leaving purely cosmetic stuff for later (mostly). Some I've discarded, many are already in. Right now I'm working on getting spears integrated:



The plan is for the spear to be a high-damage throwing weapon, which can be picked up in the level (but NOT kept in an inventory). I'm undecided whether to put the shield away or not. Having the shield is more iconic and historically appropriate, but it also means you should be able to block while holding the spear and I'm leaning towards making the player vulnerable to balance out the power of the weapon.

On the other hand, not being able to block while aiming may be enough to balance that out. I'll know once I put in some enemies, or versus.

Not having the shield makes more sense for throwing though and it may be useful to clearly differentiate the throwing and melee state.

A lot of pros and cons in short.

[Ishi]

Love the art style for this. Always been a fan of blocks and pillars too (ever since Lemmings). Keep up the good work!

[Ninja Dodo]

Thanks! The finished game will probably have a greater variety of environments than this, but blocks and pillars will continue to feature prominently.

[moonmagic]

Love the look of this! Excited to see it develop further.

[Ninja Dodo]

@moonmagic: Thanks.

After a brief detour on an older project, I'm back to working on this.

I've read up on blend modes a little and managed to find something that does what I want... basically a "Multiply" filter so I can add the edge shading on scrolling levels. Turns out this does the trick: draw_set_blend_mode_ext(bm_dest_color, bm_inv_src_alpha)

I've made it a bit more subtle than before though:




I've added spears as well... but I still need to make it so player characters can pick them up and throw them.

[Ninja Dodo]

I mentioned before how I wasn't sure split-screen would fit, but I think I've found a layout that would work for Versus. Here's a mockup:



Player names would be done similarly to how names were painted onto vases to clarify who was who (since attributes were not always enough to recognize people). I might fade these out after a few seconds, or I could keep them visible at all times. Not sure yet.

This will make wrapping levels a lot more complicated, but I'll worry about that when I get to it.

[Ninja Dodo]

Still need to fix a few things before version 6 is ready to go, but here's a new video with some progress: