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[Bob le Moche]

Lost in Eldritch




Begin story with presence of narrator--inexplicable to himself--in utterly alien and terrifying scenes (dream?).
Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment. Fears to regain memory--a glimpse. . . .

EXPANDED VERSION WITH SOUND AND MAP EDITOR:
Click here to download

Controls: Press A to walk slowly and Z to jump.

See this post for editor instructions.

Original post follows:
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211 Begin story with presence of narrator—inexplicable to himself—in utterly alien and terrifying scenes (dream?).

215 Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment. Fears to regain memory—a glimpse. . . .





 

Ok! So here's what I'm working on... I started pretty late on this because I was trying to get my IGF entry done before the deadline... (which I missed by a lot!)

I've coded the whole engine from scratch C++/OpenGL from for this competition.
These screenshots are in-game. I have the game engine and editor done, as well as some tiles, and the main character is fully animated, but I don't have a game yet

It'll probably end up being a simple exploration game... But I might turn it into something more after the compo....

No download yet! But I'll put whatever I have tomorrow, I promise, even if it's just a half-assed test level...

[Chaoseed]

Sounds good, and sounds like a lot of work! Even if it doesn't end up being a full game, it'll probably be a valuable experience, right?

[increpare]

It looks pretty interesting anyway dude.  I'll be happy with whatever you've got

[Loren Schmidt]

Ooh, I want to play that. I love the premise, and those screenshots seal the deal. Have fun and make a good game!

[agj]

I really like that starry background, quite beautiful.

Since you're on a tight schedule, you might choose to make, as you say, an exploration game, with some sort of special conclusion (ending) that ties the game, and the experience, together. Like, no need for developing a storyline, for instance, or creating mid-game events, if you take a good punch at the player at the end. Just an idea!

[Bob le Moche]

Thanks for the comments!

agj: I have something like that in mind... Hopefully I'll get it done!



(new parallax layers...)

I found out about the extension until tomorrow, but since I promised I'd put something up today, here's a download of a test level:
(Link removed because of new version)
Controls: A to jump, Z to walk

I need you guys to test it and tell me what you think! (I haven't tested it on another computer yet...)

By the way, I made the map data file readable as an image file:

 

[agj]

Ah, quite nice! The graphics are beautiful, but you already knew that. That dust cloud when the guy lands is a tad too cartoony, perhaps, to go with the style. I like that he can't control his jump in mid-air, but perhaps he should accelerate a tiny bit faster; as it is now, it's a bit annoying how you need to take several steps to make any jump at all. I really like his animations! And, well, what else can I say? It looks like you have a solid foundation already, so give us something nice for tomorrow. :)

[Loren Schmidt]

This has so much potential. Its every otherworldly pore exudes greatness. Can you hear it's little plaintive cries? It wants to become a larger project!

P.S.- Are you a Delphine fan? I think I smell some Another World / Flashback influence, in a good way.

[eddietree]

I liked the game, but the physics of the jumping action felt a bit off to me. 

[increpare]

Well it works on osx with crossover   It feels pretty good, though man that place sure is dusty!

[medieval]

It looks and feels really awesome, but perhaps you might want to give him just a tad more acceleration when he starts running, and go a little down on the dust.

Aside of that it's lovely!

[Bob le Moche]

Haha! yeah I kind of really went overboard with the dust...

I just uploaded the last version:
Click here to download

I added a little storyline featuring unfathomable writing from the abyss.
Also there's a couple of other entries from the book in there, see if you can recognize them!

Sparky: I actually never played those games even though I always meant to, but I've been struck by the screenshots I've seen and there's definitely a little bit of that in this project...
Other non-obvious influences include: Prince of persia, Jean Giraud/Moebius, the Homer Simpson hot chili trip, and of course H.P. Lovecraft.

I'm not fully satisfied with this version. Hopefully I'll revisit this project some day, I have a lot more planned!

I knew the jumping physics would be somewhat controversial... I decided early on to no acceleration in the air, and the slow acceleration on the ground is kind of a necessary consequence since it allows for better control of your velocity before you jump: If you accelerate faster it can get really frustrating to try to land in the right place.
I spent a lot of time tweaking the controls to make them feel right, but I'm wondering if maybe it was my brain that adapted rather than the controls that got better...
And to tell the truth I had a few more control mechanics planned that would have made jumps more forgiving, but they got scrapped early on because of the lack of time. (things like grabbing onto ledges)

I still don't have time to try out all the other games now since I have to leave for the weekend... 

[increpare]

The text screens just display as pure white to me.

I think that, if you hold down a particular button while pressing jump, that it might be good wer there some minimum lateral jumping velocity: it is possible to jump in one direction from standing, and I don't see why it wouldn't suit a game like this.

Also: The shirt animation when jumping/falling is...really delicious dude...

[Loren Schmidt]

Oh, how did I miss commenting on the shirt animation.
I also really like the walk cycle.

You should definitely check out Flashback. I like Another World better, but Flashback has some truly amazing character animation.

[cactus]

I got white text screens as well. Especially annoying when the game seemed to end without me understanding it. Other than that it was cool. Lacked a bit in the excitement department, but I did beat the game (I think) so it definitely kept me playing.

I loved the animations (wished there were more of them in the game), and the level design was pretty good too. Nice job! 

[deadeye]

Good game

The art and animation was awesome.  One of the jumping puzzles was a tad too long I think (the one in the top-right of the level, it took a little too long to try again if you missed, which I did a LOT ), but other than that it was ace.

Oh, and the text boxes worked okay for me, and I quite liked the ending 

[Melly]

I liked the atmosphere and the simple, cryptic plot. The graphics are great, though sound effects would have gone a long way making it even more atmospheric.

I have to complain about the inertia-heavy platforming. While jumping at full speed does feel good, navigating the tight environments that are plenty is just too slow and frustrating. Like it's been mentioned, make the acceleration be greater the slower you are, and if you're running in one direction make slowing down and stopping much faster if you press the opposite direction, with a skidding animation if you'd like.

 

[nayon]

The movement was, I think, fine, however it isn't what most people are used to in a game, so it feels a bit weird.

The graphics were awesome.

Wish there was sound.

By the way, may I ask what this was made with? The whole "one huge room" thing, I wonder whether MMF2 or GM can handle it, or whether it was hand-coded. And if GM or MMF2  can handle it, how do you do it?

[moshboy]

At first I found the 'gain momentum to make larger jumps' annoying but once I got used to it, I grew to like it. Getting out of tight spaces did feel tedious but i forgave that purely because of pixelart. Loved it.

[scytos]

I agree with what most people said about the movement being a little slow before you start running.

I really liked the graphics and the animation, both the character animation and the tiles looked great. I think it lacked things to do other than collecting fruits, so I hope you continue working on this game and add more stuff. Also, could use sounds.

Nice work.