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[Skomakar'n]

WELCOME!

YOUTUBE progress: day 9

It's all in mumbly Swedish since I just recorded these pre-announcement clips for the other guy working on the game, and it's a bit of a lousy recording of the iPhone screen by the iPad, but you can see what it looks like, although there isn't much sound yet. I might subtitle it this evening or something. There is a lot of graphical detail missing in the main gameplay at the moment, and planned are, for example, gems to collect.

I recommend beginning by watching the video, but to get the stuff you saw explained, read on.

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A brief look on the plan here:

* The game will be made in about 2,5 weeks. About half remains at the moment.
* The game will be released in the iPhone App Store this month.
* This will be the first published game by Royal Railway.

Know well that the current screenshots of the actual gameplay is graphically lacking. There will be backgrounds and a sky and whatnot. Not just a white background. Also, there will be stuff, and equally importantly, sounds, making sure you know what's going on and how you score.

I am the programmer and artist and on board is also Erik for music and sounds.

Twitter: RoyalRailway
Facebook: Royal Railway

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Taking some time away from Bottoms Up! (link in signature), which has gotten too big for the moment, I wanted to work on some smaller things for a while. This is the first fruit of this. I've been working on it for about ten days now (today will be the eleventh) for at least 10,5 hours each day (some days more) and the progress is rapid. Great fun! My friend Erik and I are putting some really weird design decisions in here.

It's an iPhone game (we'll have to see about Android later on) that's just supposed to be easy to pick up, and equally easy to put aside when you feel done playing for the time being, and as such has only one way of input; one finger constantly touching the screen to steer the character Novia about. He's a geisha with a sad excuse for a haircut and and the tail of a fish propelling him through the water.



Avoid mean rocks or they will cause your screen to shake and your device to vibrate as they change their faces and wiggle about violently if you swim into them. Most importantly, they will take one life away, and you only have three, so the game is over and the final score shown when the last one goes.



Ouch!

Along your way, collect rings. Gems are a semi-planned feature too. Don't miss any rings, because the more you can get without missing any, the more points you will get for each; this counter starts over entirely as soon as you miss one. There is also a bonus for every sixth ring.



Another thing you can do to increase your score is to take any opportunity you see of a path to the surface that's not filled with obstacles, and jump out of the water and dive into it again. This will always earn you points, but making sure you land nicely with the nose first yields even more points than a regular, less elegant, jump.



Game Center shall be incorporated, and we can see obvious proof of that in the main menu (as well as on the death screen):





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[Seiseki]

You should really bend the entire body when you go up/down in the direction you're going. Not just rotate, but bend the tail fin and such. (which is already bent upwards, it should bend the other way )
It looks very stiff and I think this could make the game feel a lot more smooth which I think is extremely important for people to get hooked on the gameplay.

[Skomakar'n]

You should really bend the entire body when you go up/down in the direction you're going. Not just rotate, but bend the tail fin and such. (which is already bent upwards, it should bend the other way )
It looks very stiff and I think this could make the game feel a lot more smooth which I think is extremely important for people to get hooked on the gameplay.

Yeah, I'm already set on adding a few more frames, so I might as well refine the old ones when I get to it. Thanks. Did you get your impression just from the pictures or from watching the video?

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These are the clips recorded for Erik so far, by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ScRlCqg1e8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUWhrlaOLs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP4mrIGR840
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAKD53D-Gkk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jmGwyOY4Iw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6koUIYhI9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXcCjf2Lxoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzS80621CI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG4qmOxNHIA

[Seiseki]

From the video.
An idea would be to segment the tail into several parts, to get a flowing snake-like movement.

[Skomakar'n]

From the video.
An idea would be to segment the tail into several parts, to get a flowing snake-like movement.

I actually did that, but it seems I didn't do it as well as I first thought. But, yeah. I'm on schedule and everything is going great, so I should have time to explore the animation further before release.

[moi]

I think you should bring a great deal of attention to your merman's animations. Since it is a simple gameplay, this is probably going to make or break the game.
Don't hesitate to put a fuckton of frames to make his swim smooth and pleasant to watch.

I find the graphic style a bit weird, it could work but IMO it lacks a little something to bring it all together stylistically.

Good luck

[Skomakar'n]

I think you should bring a great deal of attention to your merman's animations. Since it is a simple gameplay, this is probably going to make or break the game.
Don't hesitate to put a fuckton of frames to make his swim smooth and pleasant to watch.

I agree. I think I will start working on it tomorrow morning.

I find the graphic style a bit weird, it could work but IMO it lacks a little something to bring it all together stylistically.

Feel free to point specifics out, if you're able to put your finger on them. The gameplay is at the moment probably the least worked out, graphically, though. I've spent a couple of days finishing up the GUI and I'm adding the final stuff right now (the help screen). After that it's back to filling the levels with interesting backgrounds, some more types of rocks and whatnot, as well as more graphical input when things happen (such as landing on the nose, getting ring bonuses and some vignette when the screen shakes after a hit).

Good luck

Thank you, sir.

[moi]

I find the graphic style a bit weird, it could work but IMO it lacks a little something to bring it all together stylistically.

Feel free to point specifics out, if you're able to put your finger on them. The gameplay is at the moment probably the least worked out, graphically, though. I've spent a couple of days finishing up the GUI and I'm adding the final stuff right now (the help screen). After that it's back to filling the levels with interesting backgrounds, some more types of rocks and whatnot, as well as more graphical input when things happen (such as landing on the nose, getting ring bonuses and some vignette when the screen shakes after a hit).

First the style is a bit weird because it's halfway between vector/caricature and painted. But...why not, it could work.
Then I think the obstacles graphics lack personality. There is a some wasted potential here, they just look like grey meme faces right now. Especially the long ones with teeth.
Think about what kind of atmosphere you could convey with the type of obstacles you would choose. Why not something related to japanese culture?

[Skomakar'n]

I find the graphic style a bit weird, it could work but IMO it lacks a little something to bring it all together stylistically.

Feel free to point specifics out, if you're able to put your finger on them. The gameplay is at the moment probably the least worked out, graphically, though. I've spent a couple of days finishing up the GUI and I'm adding the final stuff right now (the help screen). After that it's back to filling the levels with interesting backgrounds, some more types of rocks and whatnot, as well as more graphical input when things happen (such as landing on the nose, getting ring bonuses and some vignette when the screen shakes after a hit).

First the style is a bit weird because it's halfway between vector/caricature and painted. But...why not, it could work.

Let's hope it does.

Then I think the obstacles graphics lack personality. There is a some wasted potential here, they just look like grey meme faces right now. Especially the long ones with teeth.

They're definitely not intended to be meme faces, anyway. Just weird-looking things with a crazy Japanese feel to them.

Think about what kind of atmosphere you could convey with the type of obstacles you would choose. Why not something related to japanese culture?

Making the rocks look like such things (geishas, samurais and whatnot) might not be that bad an idea. That is true!

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Here's the video of today.

Subtitles have been added to the clip. Just turn annotations on.

I won't subtitle it right now, because I really need to sleep, but I'll do it first thing in the morning. Just look at the visuals and keep in mind that the new stuff is the following:

* The game now runs on the 3G (to the right), and uses half-resolution graphics. No lag or anything.
* The game runs better overall.
* The settings (sound and vibration on/off) are now working and are saved until the next session.
* There is now a help screen with four informative boxes that tell you how to control Novia, how to pause, what to avoid and what to collect and that breaking the surface earns you even more points.
* I am aware that the title of the help screen doesn't move along as the screen animates in and out, but simply pops up. I will fix this tomorrow.

Screenshot of the help screen:

[moi]

Think about what kind of atmosphere you could convey with the type of obstacles you would choose. Why not something related to japanese culture?

Making the rocks look like such things (geishas, samurais and whatnot) might not be that bad an idea. That is true!

They can remain as rock but maybe just a little more picturesque
The japanese have a great tradition with the sea so hopefully you'll find the right idea

[Skomakar'n]

Think about what kind of atmosphere you could convey with the type of obstacles you would choose. Why not something related to japanese culture?

Making the rocks look like such things (geishas, samurais and whatnot) might not be that bad an idea. That is true!

They can remain as rock but maybe just a little more picturesque
The japanese have a great tradition with the sea so hopefully you'll find the right idea

Well, I still intended for them to remain as rocks, albeit more decorated ones. Now you're starting to give me ideas of making the waves look like in Japanese paintings and stuff, but my intention is to make a game in the modern popular culture's cute kind of Japanese fashion, rather than a traditional one, so I'll probably drop that particular idea, but investigating other things and applying traditional thoughts in a modern manner is still a good idea.

Thanks for taking the time to come with the constructive criticism. I appreciate it.

Subtitles have been added to the clip. Just turn annotations on.

[Skomakar'n]

New video for today's progress.

Subtitles have been added to the clip. Just turn annotations on.

I had less time on my hands today since I had to pay a visit to the tax authorities to set other things regarding the company up. Here are the news (I forgot to mention at least one thing in the video, but it's all there too see):

* The initial speed is a bit higher, but it increases slower.
* Novia has been moved a bit more to the left to allow for some more knowledge of the upcoming obstacles beforehand.
* A parallax background of two layers of rocks in the distance as well as some fish have been added to increase depth and life. Also pink sky.
* Visual response to actions such as collisions and getting points in the form of flashing vignettes (green for points and red for hits). The score box is also animated when more points are added.

[eyeliner]

The game has a very asian look to it...
I really like the title screen and menu screens. The game screen is... Bland. Needs more refinement, but I like specially the faces representing the lives. Nice touch.

Keep at it!

[Skomakar'n]

The game has a very asian look to it...
I really like the title screen and menu screens. The game screen is... Bland. Needs more refinement, but I like specially the faces representing the lives. Nice touch.

Keep at it!

Thanks! It is a bit bland still, but hopefully less bland now than two days ago. I will keep investigating the possibilities and try to figure out what else I can add.

I've now started redoing the animation of Novia, and I'm starting out with a stick figure just to get the basic motion down. How's something along these lines (note that the head will be bigger in relation to the body; this ring is just a marker)?

[moi]

NO
(Hint :  imagine a sinusoidal wave that goes along the whole body, the head needs to go down at one point.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=F4BgRlIF_9M#t=75s