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[Ant]

For the most part I only work on whatever happens to inspire me at the time, so this place is where I'll dump all my game update logs, as well as hopefully get some feedback and possibly indev stuff if there's demand. Made in Game Maker 8 so Windows only - sorry Mac fans.

downloads, details and screens for all gams

[Ant]

I've been working a lot on Straima recently, rethinking its approach. Instead of a story mode I'm going to open it up to the players so have been working on a level editor and plan to focus it more on just allowing you to play through a huge amount of fan levels. I've finished the level editor itself, so now need to re-do all the main menus and I'd really like to get a co-op mode in as well after that.

You can download the level editor here. I've included a few levels myself using it and it seems pretty solid, though I made some changes to the way sprites/variables work so let me know if you come across any errors. The file size is bloated because it's got a lot of the old story mode content in there still (I won't be sure what to keep until I finish the menus).

[Ant]

Well that's the bulk of the main menu stuff done, you should now be able to play your custom levels from the level selection screen. The levels are self-contained .sl files in the levels folder which automatically show up in-game so it's dead simples to swap fan levels.

download pre-build

I'll be working on getting the co-op done next. It'll just be a basic mod of the single player mode where simply two straimas show up instead of one. You'll definitely be able to interact, helping and hindering. For example, you can land on the head of the other player allowing you to jump up to higher places, or stomp him to stun him for a few seconds to leave him in the clutches of encroaching nasties.

After that I'll get working on some more level objects and levels.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Love it. Love the fluid movement of the player and love the art. What do you use to make your art?

Had a quick go at the level editor and really impressed with how easy it is to work with so far. Also like the choice of powers for the level.

Really great job on this 

[keo]

Hi Ant,

I played Call of the Wild.  I've had similar thoughts of making such a game, so I'm glad that someone went and did it.  Do you have any plans to move forward with it?  One thing you can think about experimenting with, is ways to make the experience more tactile, which is one of the joys of being out in nature.  Otherwise I thought it had a lot of character, and the scenery was close to capturing the feeling of that.  Anyways I liked it even though it wasn't finished.

It seems like the inventory system was ported to your Zombie game, the buttons again were confusing I'd suggest simplifying the button scheme, or have a reminder at the edge of the screen what each button does, changing depending on the interface.

My idea was so similar to yours, though your character would be traveling, at the end of each day he'd have to pitch a tent somewhere, and decide what would happen the next day, thus creating the next stages, much like your exploration menu but options being specific to the location, and not entirely centered around nature.  I think I'll post a devlog soon.  I think I'll make one now

[Ant]

Cheers keo. Yeah I do still plan on continuing to work on all my games except Paltapa, but I probably won't get back to Call of the Wild for a while as I want to work on some of the other games before that. I really should add a Future Plans to my original post...

I do plan on making the gameplay a little more involving so things are less automated, mostly through stuff to do like fishing or hunting, but also the everyday activities. For example, when chopping a tree down a slider pops up like in golf games where you're looking to hit the sweet spot. Different item types would affect the speed of the slider, the size of the sweet spot and chance of breaking. Other than that the main things to add will be seasons, the ability to furnish your camp with decorations/useful items, the chance of random encounters when moving between areas, and just keep adding content.

Yup a few people now have mentioned the complexity of the inventory controls so I'll definitely look into changing them to be more context menu driven.

I'll be keeping an eye out for your devlog as well.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Hey Gabriel, just downloaded all of Ant's game's the other day and took me a second to figure it out too, but you just need to click on the game title to download the game 

[Ant]

Cheers Verdon, I'll update first post with downloads.

That's all the co-op integrated now, though I didn't get a chance to thoroughly playtest everything. It looked odd standing on the heads of each other so I didn't bother adding that, but you can still stomp on each other to stun them or press up to give them a little uppercut slap which is nice for knocking them off ledges to their doom. Both single-player and multi-player use the same stats, in multi the time is doubled at the end and both players deaths count towards the total.

Next up I'd really like to get some chip-tune music added, though I don't do music so I made a topic begging for contributions here. I'll probably also just get cracking adding levels/objects/powers until I get bored.

[Ant]

Well I'm going to be hella busy with work until the end of the month so thought I'd update now with a release build. Here's a quick list of the bigger changes since the pre-build.

• Now has chiptunes thanks to the fine talented folks over here.
• Four new objects: Platform Mover, GoGo, Ion Glass and Pinky Flyer.
• Two new powers, Melt Time and Syoken.
• Five new levels, including one inspired by this splendid game.

click to embiggin

[Franklin's Ghost]

Nice screenshots, will have to give this latest build a go 

[Slather]

Ok, so I dont want to scare you, but I think I love you.   Your pixel style is exactly what I like, and want in a project=> fat pixels with gradients and noise for atmosphere.  Your overall style on everything is focused and mature.  Your site has the simplicity I've been planning to put in my own. (I wont update my site until I've packaged and written postmortems for my "learning projects". read: run until I fall, then learn and get back up). 

My latest project using Flash has halted (for many reasons) so I'm at a crossroads.  Anyway, I'd just like to open a dialog with you if you're interested, and talk about all kinds of things.

[Ant]

okaaay...

By the way I hope you do something with your ninja game, I really like the feel of it, especially the pic below (though I do think the original ninja sprite fits better). Weirdly I saw the

recently and instantly thought how kewl it would be if somebody made a ninja version where you have to stealthily infiltrate into feudal China castles to assassinate warlords (complete with epic bosses and limited magical abilities).

[Ant]

i. cannot. make. my. mind. up. please. tigers. make. the. hard. choice. for. me.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Tough one cause I love the colours in the first one, but think the contrast in the second is easier to read. So I'd probably suggest the second one. Really like them both though 

Is this for a new game you're starting?

[Claw]

Both nice but I much prefer the second. Contrast is obviously a lot clearer and I love the colours, it brings out the ambient feel of the stars in the background more, and gives the whole scene more depth.

[Ant]

Cheers guys, red it is.

@Franklins Ghost I thought I'd make a start at remaking Alees since I've never much been happy with it, especially with its visuals. Still in mock-up stage at the mo so there won't be anything to see here for a couple of weeks.

[SolarLune]

Wow the spriting is gorgeous!

Agreed. Go with the first, because then you can sneak in enemies or weird things in the back to make people really stop and take a look at it. Wouldn't it be weird if you saw hundreds of wrecked spacecraft somewhere in the background? It's a lot easier to sneak that kind of thing into the first picture than the others.

By the way, I think you should make that ninja game on the previous page - it looks like an awesome game. Unless it was just a mock-up, but otherwise... Yeah, make that game.

[Ant]

Well work has been pretty hectic so I didn't get much done this month, but I thought I'd just release what I have as I'd quite like to move on and make a mini-update to Straima. So there's just the three rooms and the basic movement (animations are pretty shoddy).

alees r1






@SolarLune Sorry the ninja game isn't mine so you'll have to pester mister Spencer (I hope you pester him reeeal good because I like the looks of it myself).

[Ant]

Heh yeah I should probably explain the game, if nothing else because I'll forget half of it by the time I get back to it. So alees is based around a short story with your actions determining how much is uncovered. There will be a 'proper' ending alongside a bunch of other endings and many interweaving routes to reach them. The main gameplay is based around picking-up and using objects in specific places (like a simplified S.C.U.M.M. game) as well as some typical actiony/puzzle elements and choosing dialogue will also affect the story.

I'll post the outlying story below so skip it if you don't want to spoil the juicy details.

After being struck by space debris you land on a planet and send a distriss signal. Seeing signs of industry in the vicinity and with you only needing some extra fuel to make it home you explore the area and find a mining base operated by a single human caretaker and a few AI drones. The facility is in varying states of disrepair, the drones included so they will each have their own personalities (e.g. one will be super-aggressive, another heavily damaged drone that's been locked away for years will be friendly but quite mad and will assist you).

Unknown to the caretaker is that she's actually an alees (part human/robot). The planet is toxic to humans so every 5 months the organics of the alees are replaced and her mind wiped to the previous 'setting' which are the memories of when the first original human caretaker arrived. Alees and the drones are also unaware that Earth was evacuated due to a synthetic virus over 140 years ago but continue to mine/launch ore packets in vain because they have never been given the signal to stop production. You also learn a previous alees that uncovered the truth herself was responsible for sending an ore packet your way to get your attention (hence the original collision).

So the story will focus on the player uncovering that the caretaker is an alees and trying to convince her of it. Initially the drones will try and stop you covertly until alees discovers the truth in which case they will go all kinds of homicidal on yo ass.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Had a play of it today and like what you have so far. Looking forward to the next update with more stuff to do and see