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[Magnesium Ninja]

TOMORROW'S HORIZON

Tomorrow's Horizon is a game about conflict, exploration and discovery. You play as one of a number of captains, each with their own story path, travelling across a world stricken by war and racism. Each captain is driven forward by their own goals, and each captain will ultimately find themselves at the end of their road.

Tomorrow's Horizon is focused largely on storytelling and adventure. No character in the game is safe from harm. If a member of your crew is killed, they are dead forever. The same goes for your captain. If you die, the game is over.

Our goal with the game is to achieve a rich and immersive world in which every new game played feels completely different, not just in game play and strategy but also in story. The characters you meet, the places you find and the people you kill will play an impact on a personal tale formed by you and the game.

We're doing our best to make the development of Tomorrow's Horizon as transparent as possible. We want feedback at every phase of the project in order to make the best game that we possibly can. In order to do this, here are some of the things we're doing during development:

Still Alive Saturdays

As often as is possible, we're doing weekly updates every Saturday, discussing some of what we've been working on, as well as expanding a bit on the features of the game. This will be an opportunity for you to learn more about Tomorrow's Horizon, and to tell us what you think of the going-ons.

Video Updates

I've spent some time refurbishing the Magnesium Ninja Youtube channel. Our intention is to start posting more frequent video updates on Tomorrow's Horizon. Some of these will show off footage of the game, and others will talk more in-depth about development or specific features.

Our Youtube channel can be found at http://www.youtube.com/MagnesiumNinjaStudio/.

Beta Testing

We would love to have members of the community work with us to make the best game possible. We'll be talking more about this in the future, but we're letting you know about this now!


I hope that some of this has piqued your interest. We're staying fairly quiet about the game's features right now, but stay tuned because we'll be revealing more as time goes on.


Thanks for checking out our game!
Chris

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #1: Combat

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first official Still Alive Saturday, henceforth referred to as SAS because I can't be bothered to type out the entire thing. We spent this week designing and implementing the majority of basic player combat, as  well as working on the first of a large number of enemies.



Basic Combat Moves

Combat in Project Sky has been designed to be fast and fluid. All humanoid characters will fight primarily with a melee weapon, although not all characters are limited to just that.

As a player, your attack options can be broken down into two main categories: ground and air. While grounded, you can attack low, medium and high. The same goes for in the air. This allows the player a large variety of attacks and methods by which they can defeat enemies with different strengths and weaknesses.

To give an example of what I mean: A standard enemy with only a sword isn't too hard to kill. Most likely, simply mashing the attack button at close range will be enough to stun and kill him. However, an enemy with a shield may require some more thoughtful tactics. Perhaps a better way of handling him would be to crouch, stab at his exposed legs, and then attack from behind while he's stunned.

Our goal with combat is to make situations like these frequent so that we can challenge the player in a way that enforces different skills and ultimately leads to them becoming a better player.

(As always, nothing in the above GIF is representative of the final game!)

Technical Updates

A slightly frustrating side-note: As it stands right now, streaming development doesn't look like it's going to work out as well as I had planned. My upload speed isn't strong enough to support anything better than a slightly laggy 360p stream, which isn't all that exciting to watch. I'll look into workarounds, but as it stands things aren't looking too positive for streaming. Sorry about that.



That's all for this week! Depending on how much we get done next week, I may or may not talk a bit about the Project Sky world and aesthetic.

Let us know what you think of the update!

Chris

[qwertyhim513]

The game looks epic, though I would suggest changing the bland blue background with more zest.Perhaps birds, clouds, sun, moon, etc. Keep up the work!

P.S. Will you be able to man objects such as cannons or harpoons.

[Magnesium Ninja]

Thank you! Don't worry about the background, it's incredibly placeholder.

As for mannable objects, well, I'll keep stuff like that secret for a bit longer 

[nss_aries]

I like some visual ideas (to me there's something panzerdragoonesque in it) but I think you need better drawings to reach those ideas, in both characters and furniture. But I know you're still in the early stages, so I'll keep an eye on this

[Magnesium Ninja]

Absolutely! We have a ton of aesthetic work to do and what we have right now isn't a very good representation of what we want the game to look like!

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #2: Generation and Lizogs

Hey everyone!

We've reached week two of our SAS streak. This week is all about random island generation and our first official enemy. Here we go!



Island Generation

A big part of Project Sky will be the randomly generated events, both on land and out in the open air/sea. We've designed this game to allow for the largest variety of unique events to occur while still allowing us some control over the shape of each event.

What this means in terms of island generation is that each island is built up of a number of small 'chunks'. These chunks shape the overall layout of the island, after which we can further customize each island with its appearance, as well as the actual content on it.

By using predetermined chunks, the only restriction on the number of islands is the number of chunks we design. For every new chunk we add to the game, we increase the number of permutations.



The Lizog

The Lizog is a large and dangerous animal native to the world of Project Sky. Part lizard, part dog (I didn't choose the name don't look at me), this beast is a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, it wasn't bestowed with the largest of brains, and some quick maneouvering should prove effective against it.

As you can see from the above gif, the lizog relies primarily on rush-in attacks. If you can figure out a strategy that will keep the beast away from you, this early game enemy shouldn't cause you too much trouble.



Final Notes

A few small updates to accompany this week's SAS:

• We've added  the beginnings of the HUD. I'll discuss the HUD in a much later update, probably after crew is in game to some degree
• The island layout that you can see in the gif is obviously just a placeholder. The real layout will be much more natural

That's all for this week! Let us know what you think of the update, as well as any suggestions/comments you may have!


One last thing before I go:

Perhaps the lizog ai needs a *little* bit more work before we ship. Just a little.

Chris

[Erichermit]

I'm starting to see that a lot of the "metroidvanias" nowadays are finally picking up on better combat fluidity. I'm so glad to see this. It's more entertaining to have a very agile character.

I like your lizard AI bug gif, haha. It looks like this could be a real fun game, and I'm glad you've chosen a Pirates theme, as I've not seen much of that.

[Derqs]

Looks good!, following

[Magnesium Ninja]

Thank you!

Small aside: I've been working tonight on some better effects. Here are the results so far:

http://gyazo.com/ddbc2a74e62fdddf1106dda5801b678d (Click MP4)

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #3: Sparks

(Hey all! I was busy this morning and Justin wrote up the SAS for this week. Thank him for me! [Chris])



We've both been really busy with schoolwork and the like, but this week we managed to add a few details to the game. A lot of them aren't easy to demonstrate with GIFs, but here we go!

Hitsparks



Gone are the days of the shrinking red circle. We've implemented hitsparks for sharp attacks and blunt attacks, a block spark, a blood spray effect, and screen shake. In addition to this the player now has a proper hurt frame, so combat looks much nicer.



Lizog AI and Combat Fluidity

In addition, we've made some tweaks to combat with the lizog that should guide our combat design in the future. The lizog used to attack as soon as it got within range, but this made it much too difficult to take on several lizogs at once, especially because the player's range was shorter than the lizog's pounce.

To remedy this we've extended prep time to the lizog's attack.

In addition, the player's combat controls are much smoother; they can now switch directions instantly between attacks and blocks, and they have greater control over how far they lunge based on the directional key they press.

Our goal is to build a fairly extensible system where enemies have a certain pattern to them; like in Dark Souls, enemies will be challenging but fair and a great part of the game's combat will be the player's skill in dealing with the behaviors of different enemy types. To this end they must know when to strike, when to block and when to dodge, as well as their best opportunities to attack. We want combat to feel agile, and to reward players for their observation and quick thinking.



Final Notes

In addition to those things:

Chris has added full controller support. Right now he says it plays equally well on keyboard and controller.
Avash started writing bits of the story.
Lizogs no longer form a lemniscate when faced with a valley.


That's all for now, folks! Hope to see you again next week.

Justin

[Prinsessa]

So smoooooth. Even without proper tiles around, those animations give off such a promising look already.

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #4: Please Hold

Hey everyone!

I'll preface this update by saying that there wasn't a whole lot of actual work done on the game this week. Why? Well, because between Sunday and Friday, the game was in a completely inoperable state. It's a bit of a long story, but worry not because everything is fixed and good now.

Instead of talking about what we accomplished this week, I'm going to give you some insight into the general story structure. Keep in mind that because we don't want to spoil any critical story/gameplay elements, I'm going to stay fairly vague with my explanations.



The Captains

At the beginning of each round of Project Sky, you will choose a captain to play as. Each captain will be defined by a specific back story and motives which will shape both your path through the game, as well as the options you will have at key moments during the story.

Our goal with these captains is to tell a series of interwoven and personal stories. As I said above, there are going to be key moments during each round where you will have to make decisions that will largely impact your progression. These will be unique to your chosen captain and will be impacted by your play so far that round.

If you're worried about these captains limiting the customization/random nature of the game, don't be. Our goal with the storytelling is to enhance the already unpredictable, dangerous and exciting nature of the game, not to force you through bottlenecks each round.

The last thing I'm going to say about this today is that all of the captains are related in some way.



That's all for this SAS! A little short, I know, but when issues appear they appear in full force!

See you all next week,

Chris

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #5: Books and Stones

Hello there!

Some very big technical jumps happened this week. We started off by tackling proper island generation and art, working on varied landscapes and design. Afterwards, we started working on the Ledger, an important centre for a large portion of the information you'll need as captain to stay alive and well.


Island Generation

A large chunk of the gameplay in Project Sky takes place on islands, both in the air and on the sea. We've been working a lot on sky islands lately, trying to diversify both the verticality and the sizing of each chunk. The result is something that I am very, very happy with, but you'll have to wait a little longer to see the full extent of our work!

Justin has been hard at work creating art for each chunk. We've decided on a sort of Giant's Causeway aesthetic for at least our starting islands, which you can see in the screenshot below. It's a style I very much like, and coupled with further art assets/background work it's going to look really nice.

The Ledger

The Ledger is a focal point for information. From it, you can view all of your crew members, as well as assign equipment and tasks to them. The Ledger is going to be one of your best friends in managing your progress throughout the game.

Clearly, from the screenshot above you can tell that the Ledger is far from complete. However, this should give you an idea of how it's going to look. The left side of this screen will eventually hold an inventory screen that displays all of your held items. You will be able to easily equip an item onto a crew member by dragging the object onto their respective equipment slot.


Things are definitely starting to come along! This coming week is going to focus quite a bit on under-the-hood mechanics, but I'm hoping to work some more on island generation and events as well, so look forward to that.

See you next week,

Chris

[Magnesium Ninja]

Still Alive Saturday #6: Mekkin' Arts

Hey everyone!

This won't be a particularly long SAS; school got in the way of progress for me this week. Thankfully, Justin is a machine and made a bunch of island art despite also being busy, so I can show off more of that today!

I got some work done on the Ledger earlier this week, including the creation of a functional inventory system. The next step for me is going to be working on the world map, as well as extending the inventory system to work with an equipment system. There are some heavy pieces coming into play, and once they're in this game is going to start shaping up fast!

To compensate for a somewhat lack-luster SAS, here's a somewhat not-lack-luster GIF of the game in action (Read: Some dude running across the screen)

We've got an incredible amount of work to do still, but it's nice to see the game starting to look absolutely gorgeous.

That's all for this week, see you next Saturday with hopefully a lot more progress!

Chris

[Prinsessa]

dat majora's mask motion blur kinda tracing effect

[Magnesium Ninja]

Screenshot Saturday #7: Inventory!

Hey everyone!

Another busy week for all of us what with midterms and projects, but I did actually manage to get something accomplished!



The Inventory

This week I buckled down and got to work on the game's inventory system.  The way that inventory/items work in Project Sky is slightly different from other roguelikes and games of this sort. In this game, items are not randomly dropped as you might expect. Instead, all items are either received as quest rewards, discovered in chests (read: rewards for random events) or purchased from stores. There are a handful of other ways you can get items, obviously, but these are the primary means.

Once obtained, these items go into your ship's inventory, which can be accessed from your Ledger in the captain's quarters. Within the ledger, you can equip your crew and yourself with improved armour, weapons and trinkets which improve their stats and keep them alive. Better equipment is key to surviving the later areas of the game.

Our goal with the inventory design was to create a very visually clear and easy to use interface, regardless of whether or not you're using a controller. Due to this, we've settled on the idea of a virtual cursor, rather than allowing the player to use a mouse to navigate the inventory. Having a game where you never use a mouse for anything except the inventory is bad design, and would make even less sense for controllers.

Each inventory slot is a 'card' which can be picked up and moved to other spots. This allows for easy item swapping and equipping. The system needs a little bit of tweaking to be perfect, but it's already incredibly functional and we're very happy with it.



That's all for this week! Stay tuned for more developments in the future.

Chris

[Magnesium Ninja]

Screenshot Saturday #8: We've got Clothes

Hey all!

We spent most of this week working on equipment and the underlying engine powering it. It's not 100% finished, but it's coming along very nicely!



Items

Items in Project Sky is divided into a number of subcategories. Today we'll focus on character equipment. This means things like armour, weapons and trinkets.

Think about player equipment as coming in tiers. Each new tier is, for the most part, better than the previous. There are a few instances where that isn't the case, but we'll forget that I just said that for the time being. The equipment you'll see in the gif below is from the leather armour tier. Equipping it adds one point to the character's defence. It's the lowest tier in the game, but it's still a hell of a lot better than nothing.

If you've ever played the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown game, you'll notice that this system is quite similar to theirs. They also have tiers that are objectively better. The only difference is that XCOM is based around a health system where armour adds health points. In Project Sky, we take the more conventional route of having armour reduce damage taken.

The necklace you see in the gif is a trinket that will alter the character's stats in some way. This could mean increasing their damage, increasing their speed, or some other attribute. It could also be some sort of a trade-off of unique effect. Trinkets are important to the survivability of your crew and are best used in a way that will enhance the strong traits of the individual.

Weapons in the game work fairly similarly to equipment, except that they modify your attack power. There's more to equipment than just this, but we'll get to that when it comes up.

As you can see, the Ledger isn't completely finished yet, but we're making great progress with it. Swapping equipment in and out is fast and easy, even with multiple crew members. Our hope is to keep the game as streamlined as possible in this area so that you don't have to spend too much time managing your items. A large part of the game focuses on your crew, but that doesn't mean you have to spend all of your time lurking around menus.



That's all for this week! We'll be tackling some difficult things this week, which means I'll either have a lot to show you on Saturday, or I'll be grumpy and have nothing to talk about. Let's hope for the prior!

See you then,

Chris

[Magnesium Ninja]

Screenshot Saturday #9: Everything is Clear

Hey everyone,

This week we tackled a couple of specific areas of the game. In terms of programming, I worked on enemy HUD components, as well as the beginnings of crew AI and implementation. Justin continued to work on island chunks and equipment art.


Enemy HUD

In order to improve clarity in combat, your current enemy (the one you attacked last) will have a HUD in the top right corner of the screen. This is pretty straight forward, but helps greatly in understanding the ins and outs of your opponent.

Crew AI

Crew members in the game will have two states. The first is inactive, when they are not part of your selected boarding party. This is the state that I worked on this week. It's fairly simple, but it's nice to see the crew members actually represented in game now.

The second state is active, where they follow you around, fight battles with you and so on. This will come later.

These crew members automatically update with changed names and equipment.


That's all for this week! See you guys soon.

Chris

[diegzumillo]

Looks very fun! Following