next »

[Irock]

Murias
Atmospheric Puzzle Adventure Platformer


Introduction

Murias is a sidescrolling adventure game I'm making with a strong emphasis on atmosphere, sense of place and puzzle solving, in addition to some mild platforming.

My main goals for this game are to create a unique and interesting environment, to learn about the design of and create good puzzles and to have the whole project be and feel very personal and thoughtful.

It's a bit different from most of the games I've worked on and all of the games I've released. Up until now, I've never really tried to do something slightly "soulful." The games I've released don't resonate with me, I assume because they're not very unique or indicative of who I am or what's inside my imagination. I can't feel attached to a blatant Zelda clone or a generic action platformer. What sense is there in making games independently if your games don't mean anything to you or contribute something to the world? This is my attempt at escaping that awful feeling. Not to get overdramatic, though.

I'll try and post about what I've been doing every few days. I thought I'd start a devlog to help motivate me and also to get feedback. This ought to be finished within a couple months if I stay focused.


Setting

The game takes place in Murias, an eccentric marsh-like land on a fictional Earth. Murias is packed with a mixture of both familiar and unfamiliar wildlife, plants and geographical features. A thick green liquid can be found making up pools and lakes throughout the environment. The different areas of Murias will have some of their own distinct features to set them apart from one another, but will all tie in together well. You'll find the occasional human, but they're not overly abundant.


Gameplay

The game will be structured with some mild exploration within a grand linear path. I'm a big fan of non-linearity, but that requires more work and focus than I think I'd be capable of, and I'd like for this game to actually get finished unlike the vast majority of my other projects. However, there will still be secrets and multiple paths and solutions to problems.

In addition to basic movement, you will interact with certain objects in the environment as well as carry and use items. It should be noted that you can only carry one item at a time in order to keep things simplistic.

NPCs can be spoken to and inscriptions can be read. This will be used this for story, puzzles and revealing more about the land and history of Murias.


Screenshots




Videos

Bird (May 7th)
Dialog System (May 15th)
Death (May 20th)


Tools

If you're curious:

Stencyl is the IDE I'm using.
Logic Pro 9 alongside my Korg M50 for the music and sound.
BFXR also for sound.
Photoshop and a Wacom Bamboo tablet for art.

You can follow me on Twitter for updates on the game. Though I'll mostly post about other stuff.

[Irock]

Stuff that's already been done before this was posted (that's worth mentioning)

• Movement
• Doors
• Side of map area switching
• Dialog system (mostly done)
• A bird
• Some art

[Ant]

intriguing

[happymonster]

Looks nice

[Irock]

Thanks!

I didn't get to work on the game Sunday, but here's what I did since starting the thread:

- Death (Vine video)
- Drowning in water
- Player-activated switches that toggle booleans
- Added another parallax background
 
- Sprited some more background objects and trees
- When talking to an NPC, the player will walk to the side of that NPC so they're facing one another
- Bug fixes and polish

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to have death in the game, but I wanted to have lakes that were untraversable without a boat, and the only logical way to do that without physical barriers would be to have the player drown. So I had to program in death in order to have drowning. I also figured it would give me some more options as far as puzzles go, plus I can have death-causing obstacles in-between destinations. Dying just puts you back to where you entered the area from, so it's not too punishing. I don't plan on overusing it either, as in, I don't want a bunch of reflex-based stuff.

When your nose area is underwater, a meter appears at the top that decrements over the course of a few seconds. It quickly refills when you pop your head out of the water.

[sublinimal]

I appreciate people who go out of their way to make their games personal. Some games just feel like you're seeing a glimpse of the developer's mind, you know? It's one of the main appeals of indie games for me.

[eigenbom]

following

[Barch]

I've noticed that your game has emphasis on nature and exploration - making due note to the streams lakes grass mountains. I see that, so why so much horizontal emphasis? You are missing out on so much natural beauty in the world. Nature creates its dress in its silk and honey in its curves and hills and bobs and cliffs.

Have a look  at the splendor of this place

Take a good look at it give at least 10minutes to watch how the grass rolls, the clouds break the horizon, stones break and create the boundarys, not the limit of such 90 degree angles but of - the untameable everywhere!

So I say take the hills of that you have drawn - the tiles the sprites. Rip them to shreds give away and never see the y grid of your place be constrined and twisted by a mere 32+ y grid. Make cliffs ever so huge cliffs, if this is a reflection of you my Irock then let it be you not the influence of the limitations of a snes game but let it be the influence of your life, what made your smere and wonder of the glory of nature itself. use whatever your means of course be it tiles surfaces voxels polygons but be adventurous, I can just see so much potential!

I look forward to what you do with your game

[devi ever]

Looks nice.  I'll probably be doing a Let's Play of the rest of your games soon because they look nice as well.

[Thecoolestnerdguy]

following

Me too!

[C.D Buckmaster]

Dang, I love those colours.

[devi ever]

Played your other games.  Really enjoyed the artwork and sound and am excited to see how this progresses!

[K1lo]

Wow I love the art style!

[Irock]

Thank you, everyone! It's really motivating to see people interested in the game already.

@Barch Your post is exceptionally interesting to read, but it's not very clear. I haven't the slightest idea as to what you're asking me to do.

[Connor]

following.

[matriax]

Very interesting atmosphere and minimalistic pixel-art(I love it).

IMHO i think will be better a tree without dithering and some leaf patterns instead of green bright/dark pixels that ruins the atmosphere.

[aberrantmind]

this looks great, subbed

[Barch]

@Irock

yes of course. Words should never be used to create images when pictures are avalible that too with pictures making words. Lest be a post contemporary artist wonders why his visual communication cannot match his own. For pictures are not words.

the barch brings forth the mspaint

Behold the diagram Yourock!

Do you not see? Your representation is still calm - geometry. While the pictures are imperfect. Enough to make Derek yu blush.

To make clear don't be afraid to use lots of vertical space. Dont be afriad to use more then rigid shapes.

[Irock]

Oh, okay, it's already my intention to make things look natural. I'm still not finished with the tileset and the level design shown in screenshots and videos aren't final. Though as it stands I already have four different slope grades sprited so it's not like I just have 45 degree angles.

Since I posted that Vine video of the death animation, I've already sprited quite a few cliff and wall tiles (it's really easy since it's a solid color) and improved that spike pit.

[Barch]

I love you, see how far you can take it.