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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsWaker - Story-driven adventure
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NickGlowsinDark
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« Reply #20 on: March 27, 2013, 04:53:29 PM »

Hah, I know exactly what you mean when you're describing the difficulty in adjusting a game's "intuition level" for different gaming abilities.  I'm working on something that's got a little more action in it, and after tearing my hair out watching my "not-very-gamer" friends die over and over, I decided to introduce a difficulty setting.  Even so, my "Meatboy-speedrun-enthusiast" gamer friends still blow through it and hardly pay any attention to the story at all, and I'm struggling to find a happy medium.
I went back to your blog and followed the link to BetaFish; I love your article on notgames!  I'll be keeping an eye on your devlog, but I'd like to read more about the technical development of your game, like the issue you mention here with your father.
Also, the bit where the graphics look very stark and unfinished in the "real world,"  I hope you'll be keeping that, and it's not just some leftover prototyping-graphics.  That's a really neat mechanic, and makes me think of the Wizard of Oz.
As for discriminating between "important" objects and just background stuff, one thing I remember looking for in other games is a stark black line around the object.  Ever play any of the old King's Quests, or other similar point-n-clicks?  You could always tell when an object was something you were supposed to click on, because it was just drawn differently.  Higher color saturation, black border- something about it just made it seem more "alive."  The highlighted thing rundown mentioned is also a possibility.  Maybe a faint "glow" that outlines the object when you come within X pixels of it.  The color red in Mirror's Edge and the color yellow in Dead Space made it obvious when you should be focusing on something important on the screen, but you could always go with something a bit more subtle.
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Alex Higgins
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« Reply #21 on: March 27, 2013, 05:31:37 PM »

I wouldn't place the character in the middle of the screen either, you could really capture some feelings with that. Like when the person would stand near something dangerous, or he saw something from a distance.

I've already made it so that the character is off-center in nearly every screen. Wink

And for the "gamier" part. I suggest to highlight your objects. Not that mutch. Even a certain collor would do. Just look at different games. Like mirrors edge for example. Everything you want to interact with is red for instance. In other games the interactive things are less ambiant collored.

As for discriminating between "important" objects and just background stuff, one thing I remember looking for in other games is a stark black line around the object.  Ever play any of the old King's Quests, or other similar point-n-clicks?  You could always tell when an object was something you were supposed to click on, because it was just drawn differently.  Higher color saturation, black border- something about it just made it seem more "alive."  The highlighted thing rundown mentioned is also a possibility.  Maybe a faint "glow" that outlines the object when you come within X pixels of it.  The color red in Mirror's Edge and the color yellow in Dead Space made it obvious when you should be focusing on something important on the screen, but you could always go with something a bit more subtle.

I've been making it so that individual interactable objects stand-out, but I haven't been thinking in terms of communicating to the player about an object's interactability in a more general way. Thanks for getting me thinking about that.

Anyway, you seem to have a nice build here at hand. Good luck!

Thanks! Appreciate it.

I went back to your blog and followed the link to BetaFish; I love your article on notgames!  I'll be keeping an eye on your devlog, but I'd like to read more about the technical development of your game, like the issue you mention here with your father.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. I haven't written much about Waker's development in a while. I've mostly been adding new content that I want to keep secret, but if I can think of something interesting to write about, I'll do it.

Also, the bit where the graphics look very stark and unfinished in the "real world,"  I hope you'll be keeping that, and it's not just some leftover prototyping-graphics.  That's a really neat mechanic, and makes me think of the Wizard of Oz.

Those graphics are here to stay! I wanted to make the two worlds as different as I could without disorienting the player. Also gives me an excuse to use simpler graphics and save some time. :p

Hah, I know exactly what you mean when you're describing the difficulty in adjusting a game's "intuition level" for different gaming abilities.  I'm working on something that's got a little more action in it, and after tearing my hair out watching my "not-very-gamer" friends die over and over, I decided to introduce a difficulty setting.  Even so, my "Meatboy-speedrun-enthusiast" gamer friends still blow through it and hardly pay any attention to the story at all, and I'm struggling to find a happy medium.

It's a challenge. Since most of Waker's difficulty comes from just being able to find things, and make the right choices (when there is a "right choice"), I can't really adjust the difficulty to meet the differing abilities of players.

I've ultimately decided to add a little dungeoneering in there, but the player can fail it and still complete the game - they might just get a less desirable ending to the game. This seems like a fair compromise to keep the game accessible while appeasing those of us who want a little bit of action.
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« Reply #22 on: April 27, 2013, 06:24:28 PM »

The project's not dead, but I've had to put it on the side for the past month for the sake of college. Starting next week, development should resume, and I'll have enough free time to put serious effort into it again. I'm aiming to have the game halfway complete by the beginning of summer, with a playable demo of that half for all of you to check out. So stay tuned!

Wrote a blog entry about the current state of the game a while back. It's here if you missed it.

Also, I've been thinking about renaming the game. "Waker" by itself is sort of awkward to say, and when I tell people about the game, they ask me what a "waker" is, and so I try to explain the game's lore, and it sounds dumb because it's original fantasy lore. So, I've been thinking about either renaming it to "The Last Waker" or "Wakers and Dreamers." I think the second one works better since it sort-of explains what a Waker is in the title itself, and the first one is a bit too... blockbuster-y, for lack of a better word. On a purely aesthetic level, do you think that "Wakers and Dreamers" is a good title?
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« Reply #23 on: June 13, 2013, 08:11:22 PM »

Been a while since I posted, so here's some screenshots. The player character now has a lighthearted companion on his travles named Sue the Poggle. She adds some much needed humor and warmth to a grim and dark game - I think she was the missing element to what otherwise would have been an interesting but masochistic story. I talk more about her character and the current state of the game on my blahg.





I'm debating whether or not I want to release a demo this summer - at this a public demo would end up spoiling a lot of the story - but we'll see.

Some time soon I'll start writing about the game's world and characters - they're starting to settle.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2013, 08:17:11 PM by Alchiggins » Logged

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« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2013, 04:19:59 PM »

The game has now been in development for a year. I've never stuck with anything for this long, but I'm glad that I did. Thanks again to everyone who's ever expressed interest in this project - it will not disappoint!
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« Reply #25 on: October 10, 2013, 06:52:05 PM »

TIGsource, it's been a while. Regretfully, I haven't had much time lately to dedicate to game development or hang around the forums. I have good and bad news.

The bad news is that I am on the fence as to whether or not to continue development of Waker. You can read about why this is here. Despite the positive feedback I've gotten from playtesters and the online community, the game suffers from bad design decisions early in development have lead to weak gameplay late in development (despite very strong story). Also, I've been working on this thing for 16 months and am struggling to find motivation to dedicate another year to it. The game no longer represents what I am capable of as a developer, and I want to move on.

The good news is that this has prompted me to release a public demo from which to obtain feedback!

Click here to download the demo and please let me know how badly you actually want me to finish this.

The demo currently requires a Window OS and screen resolution exceeding 960x720. Esc quits. F5 and F6 save and load. Everything else is explained in game.
There's no sound, and it's buggy, but otherwise it is indicative of what would be the completed game's experience.
Thank you so much for taking the time to play it.
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Thomas Finch
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« Reply #26 on: October 10, 2013, 07:40:27 PM »

This game looks great. I love your style. The perspective looked confusing at first glance in the first screenshot of the main post, but I think it'd be less confusing while playing it.
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« Reply #27 on: October 11, 2013, 10:52:57 AM »

This game looks great. I love your style. The perspective looked confusing at first glance in the first screenshot of the main post, but I think it'd be less confusing while playing it.

I hope so. I've gotten no feedback in regards to perspective from those who've played the game, only from people looking at screenshots, so I think I'm in the clear. The ambiguity of the perspective is personally frustrating - it's a mistake I made 16 months ago that I would not have made today.

I'm glad you like the art style, in any case! Thanks!
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« Reply #28 on: October 13, 2013, 06:43:30 AM »

Alright, from the feedback I've gotten so far, it seems as though the largest issue with the game is the pacing - I give too much information to the player too quickly with very little filler inbetween. While some people haven't mentioned this as a problem and enjoyed the story, others have given up on reading through the text altogether. Basically, I'm not sure if the difference between the two camps is simply a matter of taste, or if there's an actual problem that needs solved.

The game depends on being able to tell a good story - the amount of work that is required for me to do that determines whether or not I continue with this. So please play the demo and provide feedback on the story's pacing, especially. It'd really mean a lot to me. Thanks!
« Last Edit: October 13, 2013, 07:00:55 AM by Alchiggins » Logged

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« Reply #29 on: October 15, 2013, 02:12:57 PM »

Development will continue!

I am excited to say that a new musician may or may not have been recruited for the project. Will let you know how that develops!

The game will feature greater emphasis on exploration and dynamic character response to the player based on player-character history than the demo lets on. For example, an NPC who judges the PC to be an incompetent oaf will treat him as such for the remainder of the game, unless their opinion changes. This should make the story more dynamic and increase the impact of player choice.

Thanks for your continued support! Those of you who are devs know how powerful a little feedback and encouragement can be.
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« Reply #30 on: November 22, 2013, 12:44:54 PM »



Recent progress:
-Expanded much of the game's opening section (the whole gate fiasco):
     -Expanded area (snowy area is now 4x as large)
     -Rewrote dialogue
     -Removed Roger (he's irrelevant to the main plot. Rest easy, man.)
     -Extended chase sequence
-Added the Go Go Boots. They make your character go more go-ier when you spacebar hit lots and lots.
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« Reply #31 on: November 22, 2013, 09:14:14 PM »

Also, here's a picture with some turrets:
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« Reply #32 on: December 02, 2013, 04:18:22 PM »



Turrets now actually shoot. I've always loved getting shot at by turrets in games, for some reason - I made this awesome little top-down shooter as a teenager (which has been unfortunately lost to time) in which you could dash past the fire of a corridor lined with turrets. The second I put that in, the game just came alive.

As awesome as it would be, you won't be able to dodge the turret fire in Waker. Getting past them requires the player not to trip their scanning lasers.

Next up, I'll be rewriting the dialogue so that it's more dynamic - while in most RPGs each dialogue tree is (strangely) generally the same regardless of the player's past choices, I want to make Waker so that every line spoken, if possibly applicable, is determined by the player's choices.

Except an updated demo in December.

Thanks for your continued interest!
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« Reply #33 on: December 29, 2013, 12:10:38 PM »

My friend made this awesome 3D model for me. It's Waker... IN 3D!


Still working on polishing the old demo into it's upcoming superior form. Getting there.
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« Reply #34 on: June 01, 2014, 07:05:21 PM »

EXCUSES
Gosh, the past semester's been awfully busy for me and I haven't been able to dedicate nearly as much time to this as I would like. I made the mistake of taking a game dev class and am being derailed by a student project, and I'm also doing intensive research for a political science thesis.

Also, I broke my wrist, which has rendered my newfound free time mostly useless. But I'm recovering, and am turning my eye back to the project.

ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Ashton Morris has been working on sound and music, and it's wicked stuff.

On my end, I'm continuing to build levels and rewrite dialogue. About to work on new plot development. (To those who played the old demo, the Waker and Sue have finally reached Eldria!)

WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO AND NOT DO
Holding off on the new demo until I have a more holistically complete game experience. I'd rather show off a small finished section of the game than a long incomplete section.

Gonna replace the old screenshots on the first post soon.

WHAT YOU CAN NOW DO
I just created a Twitter account, you can stay up-to-date with Waker development by following me @alchiggins
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« Reply #35 on: June 11, 2014, 04:59:36 PM »

Hey, surprise, I just made a Waker trailer for IndiE3!



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