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[jctwood]

As someone working on a somewhat similarly themed project it is refreshing to see such a diverse colour palette in a zen game. As opposed to the traditional dark hues.

[nuno]

As someone working on a somewhat similarly themed project it is refreshing to see such a diverse colour palette in a zen game. As opposed to the traditional dark hues.

maybe because its not a "zen" game

[jctwood]

maybe because its not a "zen" game

Sorry it looks somewhat relaxing though. 

[nuno]

maybe because its not a "zen" game

Sorry it looks somewhat relaxing though. 

it is, that's one of its purposes

[nuno]

The last(?) big Autumn Devlog update

Original post with better formatting: http://www.bitoutsidethebox.com/the-last-big-autumn-devlog-update/

Hi everyone!

It’s been quite a while since I wrote a decent devlog post, and many things have been happening with Autumn. This will probably be the last big devlog post I’m writing for Autumn. In a few days I’m going on a 15-day volunteer program, and then I expect the remaining days  of August to be used to finish up the rest of the code, and then do some proper work on the art of the game. As I previously announced, Autumn will be released on the 24th of September.

Usually, at this stage in development, you shouldn’t really be changing too many features and plans, but I had to do it. Mainly because when I started Autumn I didn’t have a clear idea of it yet. But it if had to wait for the idea to be complete and finalized, probably I wouldn’t have started it yet! So I decided to jump in and ideas took shape as I went along.

Right now, time is running out, and besides time limitations I’m also dealing with my own limitations (skills, tools, resources). That means some ideas are being put in a “later,maybe” list… in case I miraculously end up having extra time before release

So what are the relevant changes and news?

No more I-Ching

In the last devlog I talked a lot about the I-Ching and how it would play a central role in each game. I decided to take it out once again for 2 reasons:

    its super complex! the whole I-ching can inspire a game of its own, but its complexity is just too overwhelming to add at this stage
    I did not want to add things just for the sake of adding content to “fill up” the game. I don’t want to cheapen the spiritual aspect of it, so everything is being carefully selected

Prana Orbs everywhere

Initially, the role of prana orbs was a very small one: they are released from trees, you attract them, and they give you more Prana to spend.

Right now, they play a major role in everything you will do in the game. Not only can you guide them to specific objects in order to achieve something, you can also emit prana orbs from by your own.

What things can they be used for?

    “know” (acquire) new tree species
    “know” (acquire) new items
    increase land size
    re-charge special items
    help spiritual practitioners

The player type that you choose when starting the game will have a negative or positive modifier on the energy effect of each orb. For instance, a Yaksa player needs less energy to expand its land.

Puzzles

In each game, one or more puzzles will be available for you to play. Puzzles provide you some relaxing and entertaining time. Right now, there are 3 puzzles types (probably one more will be added):

    Tree Guild
    Scene Puzzle (sliding pieces puzzle)
    Zen Stones (an hanoi towers puzzle on steroids)

Each puzzle will have a random difficulty: easy, medium or hard, which will reward you with a quote, inspiration or teaching, respectively, if you managed to complete it.

Conclusion

Other relevant changes done recently:

    smooth soundtrack transitions between seasons (by the way, the soundtracks are coming up really nicely! thankfully to the 4 composers who volunteered)
    better atmosphere with rain, wind and bird sounds (video)
    minimap to navigate the game world and have a quick glance of the landscape

All in all, the game is progressing well, although time is really tight and there is still a lot to be done. I’m particularly frustrated with my sucky skills with the artwork, I think the game deserved something better, oh well…

[nuno]

what a cold place!!

[nuno]

today's news

[nuno]

Kind of a meta-post, I wrote about how I organize my game dev plans and tasks: http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/2boar2/metagamedev_organizing_your_dev_plans/

[nuno]

As Autumn gets closer and closer to its release date (23rd September), I’m very happy to finally announce its own dedicated website which just went live today: http://www.bitoutsidethebox.com/autumn

This website will be the one-stop place for all news about Autumn, updates, gameplay tips and whatever else shows up. I’ve just uploaded a few screenshots from the current build. Keep in mind the artwork may (and very likely will) undergo improvements before release.

Thanks for your interest and spread the word!

[Yameki]

This is pretty, keep going!~

[nuno]

I've been very reluctant in sharing too many screenshots or doing videos of Autumn's gameplay simply because the artwork is still being worked on.

Still, I've been receiving many requests in releasing a short demo video/gif of what it looks like, so I recorded this piece today, which shows a full one-year cycle.

[nuno]

How Autumn came to be

The idea for Autumn changed many times during the brainstorming phase and during the development itself, although the core aspect of what I wanted to transmit remained the same. I can say that the origin of Autumn came from two different ideas:

The first one was when had just finished moving to where I live now. I was driving in the mountain with my wife and we were right in the middle of Autumn. The scenery was breathtaking, trees with vibrant yellow, orange and red colours, leaves floating in the air, a beautiful sunlight that filled the atmosphere. I remember looking at all that and thinking to myself  “one day, I’d like to make a game that resembles this”

The second one was in an online discussion of game ideas. One person had written about an idea for an open-world exploration game where you have nothing to do, but can just enjoy the views, the sunsets, and then go to a library and read something, learn and use it in the game world.

I put these two together and Autumn began to take shape as a “world” where there are no big objectives but to enjoy it and learn. The learning aspect is important, in fact, it is the main purpose of the game. But I didn’t want to teach about worldly things or make up game stuff. Rather, I wanted to use it as a medium to talk about what I consider the most vital aspect of our lives: the spiritual side.

The spiritual aspect of Autumn

Where is spirituality present in Autumn? Well, the easy and obvious answer is in the text items you collect for the chest. These come in the form of Quotes, Inspirations (stories, poems, thoughts), or longer Spiritual Teachings. This is what the player aims for and struggles to get as the game is played. The purpose being to acquire all of those items. (although I can not say the final number, an early estimate indicates around 100 quotes, 50 stories and around 30 teachings).

Then there is another side, invisible to the player, which is how spiritual concepts were introduced in game design decisions. They don’t need to be visible, as the purpose is to make the player realize, while playing the game, why some things are as they are. The spiritual connection may not be evident at all, but that doesn’t matter, as what the player perceives will stay in his mind and sooner or later, the link will be made.

I will give just one example here. The Chest collects all the learnings and what the player can do in the world (trees, world items and spiritual texts). The game can not be saved. That means when you decide to exit the game, all that was done in the world will be lost, you’ll have to leave it behind. But, whatever was acquired, stays in the Chest and the Chest is permanent across all the games. So if you managed to acquire a new tree specie or a new spiritual teaching, it will be available the next time you play. So, game after game, the Chest grows.

This is connected to the spiritual concept of life, death and rebirth. This life, this world and whatever you did has to be left behind. In the next one, a new world with new challenges will be presented to you. But you don’t go empty handed, all the learnings and all the growth done previously will be part of you, even if unconsciously. Your state of mind, your spiritual awareness and your consciousness is an ever-growing process, life after life, so is the Chest, game after game.

There are many other examples like this one, but I prefer to keep it less obvious and not spoil some parts of the game

[nuno]

early spring showing off a new tree

[nuno]

new UI for browsing the trees in the chest

[nuno]

And the items

(costs are wrong, and the details are missing)

[nuno]

Finished all the code (I hope)
Time to give a try at making a trailer :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE3zsC4k1s0&feature=youtu.be

(constructive) feedback is appreciated

[nuno]

Just closed Autumn's trello board, no more bugs, or tasks to be done. This is where it ends. Thanks to everyone who read this for the past 7 months, it was quite a ride!

I made an official trailer today:



Looking forward to the 23rd

[nuno]

using the excuse that it's already the 23rd in some parts of the world, I've just released Autumn

Looking forward to see what people think. It's such a strange feeling...

thank you all for reading and commenting over this past months, its been quite a ride, so much learning!

[melos]

I get this error running win64 on Windows 7 ! AFter choosing my name/alignment. I ran the game as administrator

http://gyazo.com/e177b11a3d3d93dfbb71952160e173de

[nuno]

I get this error running win64 on Windows 7 ! AFter choosing my name/alignment. I ran the game as administrator

http://gyazo.com/e177b11a3d3d93dfbb71952160e173de

thanks for the report! should be fixed now, just uploaded a new version. let me know if it works for you