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[iammonshushu]

Ben is on holidays this week, so there isn't too much I can show you (most of the stuff I am working on is secret ). Here are some of the things we've been doing the past couple of weeks:

New Cutscenes:


New Art:


And Some Sketches so you can see how we think:

They're all linked to larger versions, if that's not very clear. Hopefully, when Ben is back next week, we can show you some of the other stuff we've been working on! We might even have a limited alpha release sometime soon 

[iammonshushu]

Working on some cutscenes  #SSS

[ToyTree]

Hello! We talked a while ago about music, and I thought I'd just say hi. I know you guys already have that covered, but you mentioned getting in touch when I finished the EP I was working on. Here it is! How have you been? Excuse the redundancy of the email I sent..

toytree.bandcamp.com

[FK in the Coffee]

Wow.  The atmosphere in this is stunning.

 

[iammonshushu]

Wow.  The atmosphere in this is stunning.

 

You are too kind!

Hello! We talked a while ago about music, and I thought I'd just say hi. I know you guys already have that covered, but you mentioned getting in touch when I finished the EP I was working on. Here it is! How have you been? Excuse the redundancy of the email I sent..

toytree.bandcamp.com

Hey, good to hear you finish it! Those tracks are really good 

[iammonshushu]

I thought I'd give you a little outline of how we do some of the design and development of the game.

Usually, we start out with a long discussion about what we need to work on next. We try to have an ongoing list of features to implement and things to work on, but we regularly revisit this (not deviating from an overarching plan, because it might not be perfect but you'll waste too much time rethinking it continually). From this we develop a shared vision of a few things: what part of the game we are working on next, what is the environment/setting, what is the mood (and how this is displayed graphically, verbally, through actions etc.), what features are needed (graphics, gameplay, story).

From this we then prototype. For me, this means dot points of ideas, sketches, a checklist or a plan. These don't need to be good, you just need something on paper to prompt you and to solidify your ideas.

A small group of huts


A path along a cliff-face

These pictures often inspire new ideas; items, elements or visuals that would improve this basic sketch:

From here, we can start to design actual assets for the game, which goes on for sometime:

To be continued!

Lastly, I'd like to say thanks to everyone for their continued support and interest! You guys are amazing 

(we got up to 17th the other day)

[iammonshushu]

Et Voila!

Magic. This isn't a finished product, but that is a summary of how we make the magic happen. Hope you've enjoyed it!

[iammonshushu]

And the magic continues. We are nailing down the aesthetic for this area slowly:

More soon! 

[Impmaster]

The background color looks really bad. It looks like something made out of Paint. Maybe add more contrast with the foreground, or make it darker or something?

[SafetySnail]

Agree with ImpMaster here, maybe even a slight texture could help? The other assets are looking really nice but they're washed out by the background. Definitely needs a change.

[ericmbernier]

I agree as well. The brown is really overwhelming.

Agree with ImpMaster here, maybe even a slight texture could help? The other assets are looking really nice but they're washed out by the background. Definitely needs a change.

[iammonshushu]

Brown is the worst.

Thanks for the feedback is something more like this better?

We can try a texture, it is just a bit more difficult. The individuals cliffs are actually single images, over a colour backdrop (very lazy), so it will just take a little tinkering to make it work with texture.

The latter parts of the game (and development) have outstripped the earlier, so we have been revisiting the first area of the game.

Some new assets for the caves area (click for larger versions)




Many  rocks:

[SamLouix]

I think this looks great, it's going to be big!

I especially like the lighting effects shown on the first page, something that is often forgotten amongst indie composers these days.

Good luck - I am sure it will be great, I will play it.

[iammonshushu]

We have started the last cutscenes!    This will be a huge step when they are all done. There are currently 3 or 4 short scenes and a couple of longer ones to do, but there is a lot of asset overlap between them, so they are coming together as a group rather than separately.

Character design is hard sometimes though (click to enlarge):

There were some problems with one scene intially:

...but we fixed it.

Here is a static screenshot (click to enlarge):

[iammonshushu]

Just a couple of things for now. We are improving some of the earlier game assets, finishing a couple of cutscenes (secret late game ones though, sorry!) and starting some of the big special levels that will be throughout the game:

Planning new area II assets:


Half-Finished Three Frame Waterfall Animation


And in-game:

Watch this space.

[iammonshushu]

We're still here Here's a little something we've been working on, a new mechanic. These are going to be boulders, wheels and rocks you can kick around. At the moment, they're just circles, or perhaps tiny moons.

Early days:


Almost there...


Here is Gfycat video of the new mechanic (the gif is too big):
http://gfycat.com/FlashyPlumpCavy
Sorry about the breakpoint; there is a bug where the player disappears when kicking in one direction...
You can see the ability to climb the boulders, as well as kicking them.

We have the first seven or so levels planned now, after having to redesign them all. It feels a lot closer to finishing now, although in reality there is still a lot to do...

[Uykered]

Nice, looking good. Reminds me a little of Mirage.

[iammonshushu]

Nice, looking good. Reminds me a little of Mirage.

Thanks! Yeah its a bit of a similar vibe.

Here is another look at how the boulders interact with each other:

[jctwood]

Those lights work beautifully and I adore your small notebook design sketches!

[iammonshushu]

We had a bug-fixing day and there were some big ones! Fortunately, the Left-facing Ghost Player bug that we have been fighting against for a few weeks now has been resolved! (Turns out, we had too many animation frames for the existing spritemap system to deal with... Whoops!) The gif is from halfway through the debugging, when our first solution made things a lot worse... It took a while to even find the player...

Thanks to everyone for their support! We apparently got to rank 45, but I missed it. Its awesome to see people are interested in the game, and the feedback has been really encouraging. You guys are the best!

More to come soon!