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[Thomas Finch]

As always, amazing art. 

Wallpaper #2 is my wallpaper now 

Thanks guys! :D

Devlog Update #53 - 04/30/14

New song for you guys: Brookstone Cemetery
This is my favorite one so far! It's the theme used in the first memory/world of the game, Brookstone Cemetery.

Unfortunately, I will be camping over the weekend so there won't be any big Screenshot Saturday updates like I usually do.
Next Saturday though, I'll have a big update with a lot of new stuff to show off!

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #54 - 05/02/14

Hey guys, I'm out of town this weekend, so here's what I had planned to show off for this screenshot saturday...

Purgatory Wallpaper:


That is the concept art for the overworld of the game. It is a cloud-filled, heaven-like room called Purgatory where the doors to each memory are. The eyes of the statue open up more and more the further you progress in the game.

I also came out with a new build for testers today, so here are the patch notes:

Version 0.1.0.0: Patch Notes
01. The game now saves after entering a room.
02. The 'Apply' option is now placed next to each option that needs to be applied.
03. The 'Apply' option now only appears if the option it is next to has been changed.
04. The mouse now selects options more accurately in menus.
05. Switching between key and mouse selection in menus is now much, much smoother.
06. Added in the new mouse cursor sprite and animated it.
07. The Seething Spirit is now completely animated, with: Idle, Attack and Death.
08. When a Seething Spirit dies and ascends to heaven, a heavenly light effect is displayed.
09. The suicide button can now also be used to skip death animations to skip directly to loading.
10. When the player's position is saved, the direction he's facing is now saved as well.
11. Implemented sliders to the menu system. Currently in use for the master volume option.
12. You can no longer see how many secrets are hidden in a world in the pause menu (or anywhere).
13. Implemented sprites and animation for doors that lead between rooms in a world.
14. Implemented an auto-tiling system for tiles.
15. Added the cabin fire onto the cabin in the woods room.
16. Turned 'interpolate between pixels' off to fix blurring issues and improve visual quality.
17. Implemented a Cheats system to the settings menu.
18. The pause music is now off by default and the option to change it has become a cheat code, moved out of the audio menu.
19. Added a "Credits" option to the main menu. Currently only shows the game title.
20. Added the fire and dead body to the cabin area. The cabin area is now officialy complete.
21. Added debug ability to hold right click to make the camera stay in its current position.
22. Added a fire sound effect to the cabin room that gets quieter as you get farther away.
23. Added a new resolution option of 544x306 that makes the game look retro.
24. Added a Scanlines option to the Video Settings menu.
25. Corrected the Window Size option to be "Resolution" and removed the now incorrect help text.
26. Restructured and optimized much of the game's code.
27. The game now displays a death notice when the player dies.
28. Fixed an issue with hover text becoming misaligned after dying or moving to a new room.
29. Fixed vertical alignment of help text in menus.
30. Fixed an issue where resolution could not be changed in fullscreen.
31. Fixed an issue where fullscreen would be blurry if changed from windowed to fullscreen without restarting afterwards
32. Known Issue: Doors are not always fully together when first entering a room close to one.
33. Known Issue: The end of Pain's beam does not always display on top of the player as it should.

[Thomas Finch]

Sending a test build to press for the first time. Hope it works out well!

[Thomas Finch]

Working on the kickstarter page right now. Finished the reward tiers for now, starting on the main body. In a week or so, I'll post a preview link here and in a feedback thread to get feedback on what I should change about it. I'm sure it won't be perfect, but I'd like it to be!

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #55 - 05/26/14

Lot of stressful stuff going around right now. Lot of things I'm unsure about and not much to show for a big update, unfortunately. The artist is dealing with finals at the moment, but has done a lot of small stuff for the game not worth showing off much (though they look great). I will share the kickstarter preview link however:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/999423988/1808247635?token=6c8c5ea3

It's nowhere near done. The descriptions are first or second drafts, not at all final. It's missing a lot of art and there will definitely be a trailer at the top later. Also the last reward's price isn't decided yet.

EDIT: Also, in case you're not aware... the kickstarter will not be launching on June 3rd as previously stated. It's been delayed. I'll update when I know when it will be.

[Thomas Finch]

I'll be making a big-ish update this Friday night with some new stuff to show but mostly explaining the status of the game's development.

[karlozalb]

I'll be making a big-ish update this Friday night with some new stuff to show but mostly explaining the status of the game's development.

Waiting for it!, and waiting for news about kickstarter

[Thomas Finch]

Waiting for it!, and waiting for news about kickstarter

Well, that's the bad news, unfortunately.

Devlog Update #56 - 06/06/14

TLDR: The kickstarter for Ethereal has been delayed. Here is the story...

Kickstarter and Publishers
I was contacting a few indie publishers (not that the phrase makes much sense) about possibly getting Ethereal published. A few of them responded with interest. One really wanted to publish the game, but their cut of profits was insanely high. Then, another publisher starting talking with me. I can't name any names until everything is official which won't be for a while, but this publisher is amazing. Their cut of profits would be low and the work they do would be awesome. Unfortunately they don't fund the games they publish because they want the developer to retain complete control over the development. However, the publisher could easily make me successful on kickstarter with their name and marketing help. That is what I was so excited about the last couple months.

So, I sent the publisher a demo and they loved it. They said it was flawless and they're really excited about it. Unfortunately, they also said its not enough yet. They normally only publish games when they're atleast half-way into development. They loved the demo but with no track record for me to show, they have no way of knowing if I can keep that level of quality when the demo is really small at the moment.

They said that they want to publish the game, but they can't make any commitments yet. This means that I won't have them backing the kickstarter. I don't personally feel confident enough with what we have that a kickstarter would succeed on its own. I think the game would do well in sales and people would really enjoy it, but kickstarter projects are much better off if they have a big name behind them or they bring something really unique to the table.

Continued Development and Funding
What this means for the development of Ethereal: We will continue development as normal. The soundtrack is nearly complete, but I don't want to spoil all of it. The artist is now out of school and working full time on the game. I am continuing to work full time on the game as well. For the next 3-4 months we will be working to get atleast 3 worlds mostly done, plus the world hub (purgatory) and finish the cabin area. We'll also be working on concept art and design for the rest of the worlds. By the end of the 3-4 months we should have plenty to show. The publisher will have enough to decide whether they want to publish the game officially or not.

Best case scenario: Publisher officially publishes the game, we launch kickstarter to massive success and get plenty of funding to finish development. Do not worry yourselves though... even if the publisher says they still can't make a commitment or they don't want to publish it at all for some reason, at that point we'd have so much to show off that I can make a better trailer and better kickstarter page. I am sure that at that point even without the publisher's help, we will succeed. So, no official date or anything, but sometime in the next 4 months we should be having a kickstarter.

Can I help you in any way?
Unfortunately, what all of this means is that for the next 3-4 months we are going without the kickstarter funding I thought we'd have by now. I personally don't need a lot of money to survive at the moment, but my artist is working full time for free at the moment. Soon, he will need money to survive and I might not have it to pay him. Funding so far has been small amounts invested by family and friends. If you really, really want to help us out with a donation, shoot me an email at [email protected]. We'll figure something out and maybe even give you a reward for it like you would get in a kickstarter.

Sorry, if all of that bums any of your guys out. Now, to cheer you up, here is everything I'm showing off this Screenshot Saturday!




This is just something the artist put together for fun. I may be using it for the loading screens maybe overlayed on top of the normal loading screen. It doubles as a wallpaper!




This is concept art for the cemetery memory. It also doubles as a wallpaper! I love it!




Wallpaper #5! This depicts the player attempting to escape the pull of a Hell Void.




This is concept art for the doors that will lead to each memory in Purgatory. They will be dark and evil looking at first, but once you've found all the mementos from that level and reached the end of it, the door will be white and calm.



EDIT: Also, I just created an imgur account for Ethereal where you can easily check out all of the game's revealed artwork in one convenient location... and organized!

To see all of the game's revealed art up to date go to: http://tomfinch.imgur.com/

[Thomas Finch]

Changed a lot about the website for anyone interested: http://www.despawn.net

The main changes are:
- The Navigation Menu
- Media link now leads to http://tomfinch.imgur.com
- Removed Games page entirely and replaced it with Ethereal page.
- Background

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #57 - 06/17/14

For a few days last week I was messing around with Unity. I was curious about the changes to Unity that made it easier for 2D than before. I considered making my next game in Unity and maybe even porting Ethereal to it. After making a prototype of my next game in it though, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. It has its advantages, but after using Game Maker for so long Unity just felt so over-complicated. It was taking too much work to get past the lack of pixel-perfect accuracy. So, I went back to Game Maker.

This week I've been working on completely overhauling Ethereal. I've learned a lot over the past ten months developing Ethereal in game maker and figured I could improve on my old work. The code and assets are now much better organized. I've removed a few features from the game such as the energy system. It felt too much like a time filler. I'll be replacing it with a different type of puzzle that feels more like it belongs. I also removed a few systems that I had started but not finished, like Cheats and Keybinding. They will definitely be put back in the game at a much later point in development however. I simply realized they weren't anywhere near necessary at this stage. All in all, I ended up cutting the game's code down by about half while achieving the same experience.

The next few days I'll be putting together the game's world hub, Purgatory, while the artist works on its art.

I should have a good screenshot saturday this week. Stay tuned.

[Thomas Finch]

The game is now definitely going to be available on Wii U!

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #58 - 06/24/14

Today I have been working on something very cool (in my opinion). I've always felt that clouds are the easiest thing to mess up in pixel art games. They usually look very repetitive and just not very cloud like. The artist and I have been working on a solution and it's turning out very well. He's created a sprite-sheet with each row being a different cloud puff design and each column being various parts and shades of that poof. Together they combine to make one cloud poof. However, by drawing the columns from right to left, many poofs can be in a group and look like one big lovely cloud rather than a cluster of poofs.

So, this means that I've been able to code auto-generated clouds. They are completely different and extremely random every single time you enter the room. This makes them the opposite of repetitive and very cloud-like in their appearance. I'm still doing some tweaking to get them perfect and the artist is working on adding some more poof variations. In a day or two, I'll post a GIF of the randomized clouds.

[karlozalb]

The game is now definitely going to be available on Wii U!

Hey! that's awesome . Is it hard to be a Wii U developer?

[Thomas Finch]

Hey! that's awesome . Is it hard to be a Wii U developer?

Well I had heard that Wii U supports HTML5 via their web framework now. Game Maker exports to HTML5 so I figured it might work. So, a couple months ago, I looked into it and figured out Nintendo's process. You apply to become a third-party developer. They look over your application and call you eventually for a phone interview. I did the phone call recently and they approved me. So I don't know if they approve just anyone or they actually looking into Ethereal. I'm sure there's some sort of filter they go by though, otherwise they wouldn't need a phone call... they'd just approve you.

The main part that I hadn't been sure about was how their web framework worked and if the game maker export would work. Reading the developer forums though it seems like its possible and the guy from NOA on the phone said he can't see why not if its HTML5. I'm 99% sure there will be a way to get the two working well together.

I'm not going to worry about it too much right now though. For now I'm focusing on PC only. Once the game is around 60-70% done, I'll make sure it works well on Mac and Linux and start buying devkits for the consoles.

EDIT: If you're interested in becoming a Wii U developer, I'd start here: https://wiiu-developers.nintendo.com/signup/

[Slader16]

The thing about being on the Wii U is crazy, great job! 

[MW0]

Those clouds look awesome!

[Thomas Finch]

Thanks guys! Don't have a GIF of the clouds ready yet (or not the final version anyway), so sorry about that. The lack of art may be worrying but the explanation is simple. In May - Early June the artist was busy doing finals. The rest of June he's been very busy doing a 50 page essay required to receive his diploma. That is due on Saturday however. So as of Saturday, the artist will be working on the game full time! We should be pumping out a ton of art at regular speed starting then. In the case of the clouds, I'm completely done coding it and the randomization is insanely good in my humble opinion. You could enter a room a billion times and never see the same cloud twice probably. The reason they're not done is because the artist is still working on 4-5 more poof variations. When I post the clouds, I'll post a before and after as well so you can see the difference those extra variations makes.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #59 - 06/28/14

Still not done with the clouds yet, waiting on those poof variations, but I decided to post the work in progress for screenshot saturday. Here you go!



Remember this is a WORK IN PROGRESS!

[Thomas Finch]

I am finally, officially living in Oregon and am settled in. So, work on Ethereal is back to normal and there should be frequent updates. Current focus: The world hub, Purgatory! Working on those clouds some more now, then I'll be designing the hub while Dmitry draws the background and doors.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #60 - 07/19/14

I've finished the clouds!


As I've said before, these are randomly generated. Over 300 sprites/layers from over 80 poof variations are utilized. The process is... the cloud decides its size, then fills that space with randomized poofs. The poofs are restricted to within a certain distance of the furthest poof so the poofs don't simply cover the entire rectangular area evenly. Bigger poofs are added in, and some poofs are given wider range to allow for the unique appearances of every clouds. Once organized, every poof draws the first layer, then every poof draws the second layer and so on. This allows the edges of every cloud (the first layer) to be drawn below every other layer, so the clouds have a definite edge without each individual poof having a definite edge. All of these layers are drawn onto a surface, which is then converted into a new sprite. This makes it extremely easy to handle.

The shade of the clouds is dark as you can see, but that is actually something I made adjustable. The default brightness is that of the example I posted last time. I can easily make the clouds darker depending on how dark the area they are in is.

Lastly, the clouds move across the sky slowly. The point of making them randomized is to keep the clouds from feeling too repetitive. So, when a cloud is past the edge of the screen, it deletes itself and a new one is created at the beginning of the sky. At first, the whole process of creating clouds, destroying them and keeping track of them took a lot of processing power, but after a lot of fine-tuning and tweaking, the whole process barely makes a dent!

The cloud are not final, of course, as nothing is until the game is released. I will probably tweak them again somewhere down the line, but for now these will do great.

EDIT: FURTHER EXPLANATION OF CLOUDS -

Here is a small sample of the cloud poofs: http://imgur.com/3kUfHCf

The poofs are all programmed into position using a 2D Array, then a couple loops draw the 7th column of every poof in the cloud formation. Then they draw the 6th column of all poofs, then the 5th and so on. The later something is drawn, the more on top it appear. So everything from the 7th column appears on the bottom layer, and the earlier columns appear higher.

How the cloud is drawn: