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TIGSource ForumsCommunityJams & EventsCompetitionsSportsBy the law of blades [BUILD 2]
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Author Topic: By the law of blades [BUILD 2]  (Read 9462 times)
arcsin
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« on: November 04, 2012, 06:49:27 AM »

compo deadline DOWNLOAD
WIN32 original release for the competition (1st December 23:50)
from mediafire 25MB
Playable but needs lots of fixings Hand Joystick

Post compo DOWNLOAD
WIN32 build 2 - v0.2.0 - Patched version (2012-12-11)
from mediafire 22MB

Post compo webplayer version
build 2 - v0.2.0 - Patched version (2012-12-11)
from kongregate



Controls

Movement          WASD
Primary attack    Mouse 1  
Secondary attack  Mouse 2
Defense           Q
Exit              ESC
Restart           Space
Shove             E (build 2+)
Zoom              Mouse Wheel (build 2+)
Drop weapon       F (only if starting with no weapon) (build 2+)
Pick weapon       Space (build 2+)
ALT+F4            Force exit




Original first post




Loosely based on Conan and D&D we'll try to create a game where you're a fighter earning his way to fame and riches, fight after fight in an arena, to delight the masses in the favorite sport of ancient Rome.

We'll apply some semplifications to reduce the development time:
- black and white graphics (except for the blood, of course)
- gui reduced to a minimum
- bla, bla and bla

We already have a basic engine made in Unity and we will do our best to come up with something playable.

key Features

- Fighting with two or more characters on the screen
- Multiplayer: versus or co-operative
- After every win you can use the earned money to upgrade your equipment
- You can select your path choosing which 'team' to fight
- You can fight enemies using a little strategy as the spoils of some allow you to create special weapons or armor
- All that will come to mind during development and we have time to put in it Smiley


Most recent screenshot - 2012/12/01 23:56


« Last Edit: December 12, 2012, 12:10:43 AM by arcsin » Logged
arcsin
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« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2012, 10:05:03 AM »

Day 1 - 2012/11/05

Here we are with the first update.

For now not much to report.

The fights will take place in an arena that is more or less like this:



Since one of the features we want to introduce is the ability to fight against colossal enemies here is an outline of how the proportions will vary (thanks D&D).


And here is our first screenshots straight from the game. It 's very far from how it should be but it is a beginning.


We also have two sensational pieces from the soundtrack Smiley

Main Menu
Shop/Upgrade

« Last Edit: November 06, 2012, 07:56:42 PM by Sebastian E. » Logged
arcsin
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« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2012, 07:39:23 PM »

Day 2 - 2012/11/06

Second update.

  • added black stroke to graphics (need to erase unneeded boundaries)
  • added an enemy
  • added parallax scrolling (pillars in the background)
  • added animated textures (torch and spectators)




Soundtrack

work in progress:
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« Last Edit: November 06, 2012, 07:50:09 PM by Sebastian E. » Logged
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« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2012, 09:45:55 PM »

That is an intense brow on those dudes.
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Mallus
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« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2012, 11:21:29 PM »

Hi all I'm Mallus, and I'll be mostly working on animations and physics for the game.

Thanks for checking our thread. Hopefully we'll be able to deliver a fun game for many to enjoy.

Technically speaking, we already have a motion sensitive animation controller, and have already implemented the basic combat sequences.
We already have a couple of advanced features that we'll detail, once they can be seen in action.
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« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2012, 01:17:16 AM »

Progress update:
- Completed first set of animations (stand, jog, combat stance, throw, pickup, attack [melee and armed], defend)
- Completed character controller and collision interfaces
- Implemented design classes for weapons. What's left to code is the weapon interface to enemy damage.
- Implemented inventory interface (meant to let the characters spawn with their designated/ saved equipment)

Planned:
- Weapon-enemy damage model.
- Camera-playercontroller zoom manager

Until next update!   Coffee
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Mallus
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« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2012, 10:40:33 AM »

New progress update:
- Weapon to enemy interface is completed, so we can spawn particles and play sounds when the weapons hit. Just needs the damage handling routines.
- Soundtrack manager. We now have a slick system to load an playback ambient effects and level music. The arena sounds cool already with this.
- Item interface, allows the player to pick up and throw anything.
- First weapon prototype. It's both physical and logical depending on the state, in regards to the players. Thanks to the underlying item classes, weapons can be picked up and thrown at enemies. Additionally, the base parameters and interfaces are implemented, so the player knows what damage his weapon deals, what animations to play based on the weapon, what particles to spawn and so forth.
- First gameplay elements, with correlated set of character animations. We're trying one fighting approach that should be both challenging and fun, and are prototyping it on the scene. We'll see what it turns out :D

Planned:
- Enemy damage, dismemberation and death
- Gameplay beta

Cheers!  Coffee
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« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2012, 07:13:27 AM »

Sorry to see you nice torches go, but gladiators didn't fight at night. Proper lightning just wasn't possible even for the romans.

And, a torchthough with a flame the light shouldn't go downwards but up and sideways like in this drawing: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/89ikww9.png

But, I like the game idea Smiley
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« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2012, 01:57:37 PM »

ahahah love the graphics!looks fun, can't wait to see it moving!  Beer!
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arcsin
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« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2012, 07:59:48 PM »

That is an intense brow on those dudes.

Eh, eh it's only the beginning...



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arcsin
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« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2012, 08:38:41 PM »

Sorry to see you nice torches go, but gladiators didn't fight at night. Proper lightning just wasn't possible even for the romans.

Oh! thanks for your suggestion!
Although we have no intentions of making our game historically accurate, the nocturnal setting takes its cue from historical facts. In fact we have drawn inspiration from 'Lives of the Caesars' by 'Svetonio', which tells that the emperor 'Domiziano' offered 'venationes' and 'spettacoli gladiatorii notturni' at night, illuminated only by torches. In these duels both men and women were involved.

And, a torchthough with a flame the light shouldn't go downwards but up and sideways like in this drawing: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/89ikww9.png

You're absolutely right about the light but it was just a test for the animated shader. eh. (the light it's just a spotlight placed behind the torch sprite).
In any case we will include the nightly level only if we have time.

But, I like the game idea Smiley

Beer! thank you!
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arcsin
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« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2012, 08:46:42 PM »

ahahah love the graphics!looks fun, can't wait to see it moving!  Beer!

Thank you!

Here's another development screenshot:

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« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2012, 04:58:39 AM »

Although we have no intentions of making our game historically accurate, the nocturnal setting takes its cue from historical facts. In fact we have drawn inspiration from 'Lives of the Caesars' by 'Svetonio', which tells that the emperor 'Domiziano' offered 'venationes' and 'spettacoli gladiatorii notturni' at night, illuminated only by torches. In these duels both men and women were involved.

Boobs, booze and dwarves. And Fights. By night. Romans knew how to party hard.
Our setting is more Cimmerianish', however.
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arcsin
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« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2012, 06:20:47 PM »

Here we are with the first patch.
This fixes some of the (many Smiley ) problems we were forced to ignore to be in time with the competition's deadline.
There is still a long way to go but we'll get there a bit at a time.
 
Change history

build 1 v0.1.0 2012/12/01 23:50:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mediafire.com/?k5ykd915vth9k6p
  • first alpha release for the TIGSource Sports Compo

build 2 v0.2.0 2012/12/11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mediafire.com/?r8wmisb6orkrj8s

File size
  • reduced size of the standalone version to 287MB (22MB 7-Zipped)
  • better organization and compression of assets allowed us to build a webplayer version (we'll post the link in a few days)

GFX
  • added more screen resolutions to the configuration window
  • removed colors from skeletons and human enemies
  • initial support for better particles (blood, terrain dirt, etc.) (still a lot to do)
  • added dust cloud as atmosphere effect
  • crowd added to the arena (still a lot to do)
  • better enemy marker
  • better enemy energy bar
  • adjusted score and health+stamina bar position (still a lot to do)

Sound
  • better mixing of background music and crowd screaming
  • better choosing of sound effects for damage, screaming, etc. (still a lot to do)

Game
  • enemies no longer damage you when in idle mode just because they were holding a weapon
  • arena limits slightly increased
  • reduced overall game difficulty
  • adjusted speed for all weapon attacks
  • added new weapon types for enemies
  • added helm support for enemies
  • dead enemies release their weapon
  • initial logic for weapon pickup from dead enemies

Misc
  • better ragdolls
  • dead bodies continue to interact with the world
  • initial support for physics forces based on hit direction
  • camera shaking when hit by an enemy
  • initial camera shaking support for big enemies footsteps (buggy)
  • initial zoom support (use mouse wheel to zoom in/out)
  • fixed little flash on intro startup

And now some screenshots

New zoom and better particles

original size

Better ragdolls

original size

It's all for now - we are working hard to release tons of new features on build 3 - in addition all ugly armor and equipment, gui elements, etc. made in a hurry for the compo will be replaced by items that best suit for heroes of the arena.

Now it's time to play some games and do some voting. Lots of fun games for this compo. We gotta play 'em all.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2012, 07:06:55 PM by arcsin » Logged
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« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2012, 10:00:33 PM »

Just gave this a try.  The compo deadline version.
The graphics and presentation were nice.  The whole thing worked well with the skeletal animation.
The fighting seemed like it needed work.  I spent most of my time walking backwards from enemies, trying not to get cornered, clicking in their general vicinity (I wasn't sure where to click, exactly; by the end I was focusing on that circle thing underneath them).  It was kinda hard to tell when I was hitting or being hit, and really difficult to time any of it.  The attacks need a lot more impact to them.  It seemed like I was dealing damage on my weapon's upswing?  It was a little confusing.

And I don't know if you've fixed this bug in your post-competition version, but on the second level I noticed somebody wander in who had the exact same armor and weapon as me.  I said "Hey, that guy stole my armor!"  I ended up dying (got cornered), and realized I could still control my doppleganger.  So I walked him around beneath the "You died, press ESC" overlay, killing the remaining compliant enemies, and when they were all dead I pressed space and ended up on the third stage.
I thought this was a one-time bug of some sort, but I ended up seeing the doppleganger again by the end of the third stage.  So on the fourth stage I ran against the left wall to summon him early, and used our combined efforts to take down the big boss.

After beating him, I defiantly pressed space again, and ended up in a level with only 1 skeleton.  I guess I wasn't supposed to be there.

Anyway, this game has some potential to it.  I haven't tried the post-compo version yet, so I don't know how much of this has been addressed, but I hope you continue running with it.
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« Reply #15 on: December 11, 2012, 05:43:52 AM »

Just gave this a try.  The compo deadline version.
The graphics and presentation were nice.  The whole thing worked well with the skeletal animation.
The fighting seemed like it needed work.  I spent most of my time walking backwards from enemies, trying not to get cornered, clicking in their general vicinity (I wasn't sure where to click, exactly; by the end I was focusing on that circle thing underneath them).  It was kinda hard to tell when I was hitting or being hit, and really difficult to time any of it.  The attacks need a lot more impact to them.  It seemed like I was dealing damage on my weapon's upswing?  It was a little confusing.

And I don't know if you've fixed this bug in your post-competition version, but on the second level I noticed somebody wander in who had the exact same armor and weapon as me.  I said "Hey, that guy stole my armor!"  I ended up dying (got cornered), and realized I could still control my doppleganger.  So I walked him around beneath the "You died, press ESC" overlay, killing the remaining compliant enemies, and when they were all dead I pressed space and ended up on the third stage.
I thought this was a one-time bug of some sort, but I ended up seeing the doppleganger again by the end of the third stage.  So on the fourth stage I ran against the left wall to summon him early, and used our combined efforts to take down the big boss.

After beating him, I defiantly pressed space again, and ended up in a level with only 1 skeleton.  I guess I wasn't supposed to be there.

Anyway, this game has some potential to it.  I haven't tried the post-compo version yet, so I don't know how much of this has been addressed, but I hope you continue running with it.

A heartfelt thanks for your playthrough and feedback: all of the issues you mentioned were addressed, and were basically overlooks since we crammed in more functionality than we properly tested.

Weapon mechanics were reworked, so now there's a specific per animation window where a weapon can hurt, ensuring that an attack connects only in a certain phase of the animation.
Defense mechanics were basically working, but because of attack issues, they were ineffective. Choosing to defend now has its purpose.
Pushing enemies is now working as expected (albeit we could add more force to the pushing ability) so enemies now can't stick to the player indefinitely, thanks to the fact that they get pushed away with this action.
The doppelganger was an artifact of the multiplayer setting. MP is implemented but not interfaced since it's not complete, and the double was a glitch of the player spawn procedure.

So we fixed those issues and went on to focus in gameplay a bit.
Smashing enemies should give proper feedback all the time, and we even made character ragdolls hit direction sensitive, so now you can really tell when you kill an opponent with a rising blow or a hit to the feet.
We've introduced camera zoom, and a primitive (and honestly mediocre) camera shake effect to boot.

We'll keep working on this title since we believe it has much to give.

Next iteration:
- projectile weapons
- enemy prototypes (brawler, grabber, runner, etc.)
- rpg elements (experience and levels, equipment purchase with round earnings)
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« Reply #16 on: December 11, 2012, 11:32:28 PM »

We are happy to present the webplayer version of the game, for ease of access:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TheArcGames/by-the-law-of-blades

Thanks to everybody that tries it.
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« Reply #17 on: December 19, 2012, 09:07:31 AM »

I played the webplayer version as MediaFire is 404ing for me today. It has a great look about it and all the fancy swooshing was a nice touch. Combat was good, but I did feel movement and the attacks were a tad slow. Maybe consider speeding them up a bit. Although it could have been the game running slow as it did crash IE after a while. Good stuff Hand Thumbs Up Left
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« Reply #18 on: December 20, 2012, 06:16:51 AM »

I played the webplayer version as MediaFire is 404ing for me today. It has a great look about it and all the fancy swooshing was a nice touch. Combat was good, but I did feel movement and the attacks were a tad slow. Maybe consider speeding them up a bit. Although it could have been the game running slow as it did crash IE after a while. Good stuff Hand Thumbs Up Left

Thanks a lot for the feedback. We're working on update 1, and we're keeping all suggestions in consideration Smiley
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