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[Linx]

Embers of Fate

Daily Devlog- This baby is meant to be updated daily, and if not I will notify beforehand as to my reason of absence  

Embers of Fate is a platformer being created by yours truly, and CubinJ (programmer).

This game is meant to have a very flowy feel, with combat that actually challenges the player.  How may I achieve this you ask?

I'd like to know too ._., but that's what development is all about.
  
The storyline is meant to have a deep effect on the game, so I probably wont reveal much about it, though I'll probably give off some of the basics of it.  

And yeah.........  

The game is currently being made in Game Maker.

Note: Inspired by The Archer Devlog

Day 001: I'll just post the main character, and one of the concepts that has been made by my good friend Drake Dollison
Main character sprite

Concept of Default townspeople look~

Note- Tell me if the concepts im posting are too big and i'll scale them down

[DGH94]

Looks good. Size wise too ( atleast from my iPhone ). Can't wait to see some ingame mockups!

[Linx]

Day 002:

• Started taking some design notes
• Fleshing out the storyline/characters a bit more

Going into this project, i realized i hadn't planned out too much.  This project is an old project of mine, and either I hadn't thought it out too much back then, or I forgot everything I thought out originally.
With that in mind, ive been thinking about how exactly I want things to go, and i'll probably go into this more in-depth in the next few days or on the weekend.

Pictures for you~ 
Design Notes

Beginning area scenery where the character starts out

Shopkeeper concept


Some of the concepts ill be uploading such as the shop keeper im not completely happy with, but I rushed them for a project a bit ago. I'll probably end up redoing some of the concepts you see here overtime.

@DGH94- Thanks for the support man 
 

[DGH94]

Those are some really gnarly sketches. Ever think of doing a narrative/detective type game with those? It would be a hit solely on the unique art style. Maybe add some color and use them ( or the heads) as portraits in dialog or an overview of an area?

Keep up the work, I'll definitely be following this.

[Linx]

Day 003:

• More Design Notes
• Started animations for the character
• Talked with Cubin about the movement engine, pretty sure we're gonna start that this weekend

This is actually keeping me motivated to work on my game everyday  
@DGH94-I probably wouldn't do a narrative/detective type of game since those don't interest me too much, though I might have to tell Drake about it .  Thanks for the support though, i appreciate it.

[Linx]

Day 004:

• Started fleshing out how i want the combat system to work
• Even more character animation
• Discussed with Cubin how the transitions to areas are going to work out
• CubinJ: Started basics of the movement engine

[Linx]

Day 005:

• More animation work, trying out a new process thanks to http://alexhw.com/
• Major designing
• Combat system
• CubinJ: Ghost platforms, sprite placeholders, improvement on previous basic mechanics

Some of the design notes~

• Feel of the game:  Player should feel that the world is Mysterious and mystical, not so much that they’re creeped out by the world, but some of the areas will have a darker feel to them.
• Inspiration: “Tales of” games
• Creatures should look somewhat unique, some traveling in packs, some alone, behavior should match the creatures.
• Story should make the character think about things, having significant points that are meant to mean something to the player.
• Characters must be believable. If the story is meant to impact the player, it has to have believable characters.
• Government uses false reasons for war to take hostages in order to power their country.
• Game tends to get dark at certain points

Screenshots for you~
Animation Process

Basic Engine

[saint11]

Cool I'm anxious to see some mockups or videos

[Linx]

I'm anxious to post both .  Ive still got a bit to go before I can do that though  
Edit: Actually, i lied. I do have a tileset mockup that i forgot to post  .

 Have to edit a few things with the tiles though such as the grass being a bit too bright.

[ANtY]

Maybe add some simple round shade under the objects (for example under the player sprite), it'd make it look much better. Also a little darker grass would also help

[kamac]

Nice grass  !

We'll see how it turns later on.

[Linx]

Day 006:

• More animation work
• Even more designing
• Looked up references for how the forest should look
• CubinJ: Fixed bugs, added graphics/placeholders, adjusted basics of movement engine more

Another conceppt for you all~ This piece was made by my friend Drake. (That lazy hoe didn't add in Fate)


@ANtY-  Yeah that'll probably happen in-game, I just made this mockup in Paint.NET quickly
@kamac- Thanks man

[Linx]

Day 007:

• Run Animation finalizing
• Monster concepts
• Lighting engine basics started (shadows)

From now on, i'm just going to list everything out instead of doing the separate CubinJ thing.
Sorry about the lack of scans/artwork for today. Tired due to today being Halloween, and staying up till 2AM last night. Scans of those monster concepts coming in tomorrow.

[saint11]

Awesome mockup! I like the dirt and rocks, the character is great too!

[Linx]

Day 008:

• Run animation almost completed @_@
• Redrew ugly concepts from yesterday. Still not perfect, but better
• Lighting engine shadows perfected

Accuracy comparisons of Lighting engine
Vs

@saint11- Thanks , still hav ea bit of work to do on that mockup though ;P

[Linx]

Day 009:

• Run animation somewhat completed
• Lighting engine finished up

Light Engine notes:

CubinJ:
dynamic takes shadows into account
statics are on a different "layer", one that's closer to the player
and it lights "atop" the objects, thus not taking shadows into account

Running animation- Need to fix the parts where its making the animation look choppy.  And finish shading certain frames. Animation also will play faster than that in game.



Dynamic vs Static



Sorry for the smaller update today, we were quite busy with other things.

[Linx]

Day 010:

• Enemy Concept Art
• Designed quest system with Cubin (not programmed)
• Tested movement engine
• Slept

Free picture for you.

[Linx]

Day 011:

• Design Notes-Game Concept as a whole
• Design Notes-Combat
• Worked on Tileset
• Lighting engine tests

Combat Design Notes by Cubin~

[Linx]

Day 012:

• Animation work
• Movement Engine tweaking

Small update today, sorry  

Nvm :D

[Linx]

Day 013:

• Forest Scenery Concepts
• Village Scenery Concepts

Another small update . Busy weekend, and I'll scan these tomorrow because I'm trying to cram in all of this homework at the last minute.