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[CyangmouArt]

Yes, I believe it does, great job!

Maybe we will take a gifshot for the next update, we will definitely see if it works as intented with the next playable build =)

Damn! this looks hot!  Great art, I get an Operation Logic Bomb vibe from the graphics, but this is much better! No FB page to follow you there?

Thanks, I didn't know Operation Logic Bomb but I searched for a longplay on youtube and I have to say that this game has some really tight tiles, although the gameplay looked slow and clunky.
However I'd have to examine it a lot more closely to see if there are cool approaches I can draw inspiration from.

You should make closed elevators. The character gets in, the elevator door closes, and all we see is the Elevator moving to another plan ( include elevator music). 

There is always a lot which could be added to the game, for this level the platform fulfills the purpose and while we are constantly doing small amounts of polishing here and there we try to work on the "meat" of the game until we have a really solid playable demo-build.
Howeve rif there is time or if we start out on a classy tileset which is a bit more classy a full artdeco elevator would definitely be worth a consideration - it would add a lot of atmosphere for sure.

[tower57]

Welcome back everyone!

This week we continued polishing the weapons that will go in the demo - as well fixing the usual bugs and crashes. For starters we have a new gun, which will act as the default basic weapon for all characters. It’s weak, it’s sluggish, it’s got infinite ammo… it’s the MG 08/15:





Cyangmou also redesigned the shotgun to make it stand out a little better compared to the other bullet-based weapons: it now features a double barrel for double the fun, and a better “bullet spread” to increase the angle you cover and the number of targets you can hit in a single shot:





We also brought back the harpoon gun, which was little more than a prototype, and polished up the rough edges. The harpoon got a shadow, and enemies are now “raised off the ground” as they are impaled (as evidenced by their shadow) so it doesn’t look like the harpoon is traveling at ground level:





Enemies now free themselves from the harpoon by jumping off the wall (as opposed to teleporting back to the ground…) :





Except of course when that is not possible:







Another weapon we polished up is grenades. Up to now it was possible to lob grenades over walls / through ceilings, which apart from breaking several laws of physics could also be exploited in obvious ways. Now they will instead elegantly bounce back:







And last but not least, we finally got around to designing and implementing graphics for the rocket launcher, which until now was just a magical Tommy gun that could spawn rockets







That’s it for this week! We are also working on a tentative Kickstarter campaign now that it's available in Germany, so if there is anything in particular you would like to see in terms of updates during the campaign (boss peek, new enemies, new locations, details on specific aspects of the game, etc.) please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments or on twitter! (@benitosub and @cyangmou)

Cheers everybody!

[tower57]

Hello again everyone!

This week’s update will be a little shorter than usual, as we are progressively shifting our focus on getting our campaign off the ground.

Work continued nevertheless on the demo, and one of this week’s major additions was a subtle parallax layer to add some depth to the level:







We also added “pick-up” effects, which might seem like a small thing, but actually contributes to general feeling of a well-rounded experience (it’s one of those little things you barely notice when it’s there, but would feel out of place if it weren’t).





And finally we continued polishing the demo weapons -  this time it was the laser:







That’s it for this week! Next up, the lightning gun will be getting a make-over and a change in gameplay, and the fly-bot might make its come-back

Cheers!

[Howard Day]

This all looks amazing. My one and only crit is that the parallax layer you added in, while an excellent effect, isn't quite working. It seems to move properly when the screen scrolls, but when you stop scrolling and your smooth scroll stopping function kicks in, the background layer just stops. This looks really odd! I'd suggest either turning the movement of the background as a multiplier of the foreground movement (1/3rd or whatever) or add a similar smooth falloff to its movement.
Seriously your work on this is inspiring and highly skilled. I'm loving every second of the devlog, and every ounce of pixel artwork.

[tower57]

Mmm you're absolutely right, it *does* look odd! Will definitely have to fix that in the next build, thanks for pointing it out! 

[Hipshot]

What are your thought about splash damage for Tower, graphically I mean then.

I think it's important that you can actually see how large the area is that you take damage inside, so if I have an explosion with the radius 64, there will be some kind of graphics with the same radius. If you have an explosion with the radius 80, you need something with 80 etc.

Looking at this, do the player take damage for the whole circle smoke graphics here or how far out goes it?

[Benitosub]

Hey Hipshot!

I agree with you, this kind of visual feedback is very important. Currently you guessed right, the circle of smoke matches the damage area.

However we are still in the early stages and a lot of polish and visual feedback is still missing (point in case: the "picked something up" visual feedback we just added in this update ), so most of the stuff that's currently on screen will undergo a "polish" pass sooner or later

Thanks for the feedback!

[tower57]

Welcome back everyone!

I’d like to start by quickly mentioning that we created a new Twitter account entirely dedicated to Tower 57 : @tower57devlog

We are also starting a mailing list for those who are interested in seeing more than what makes the cut for the weekly updates (failed experiments, bugs, more gifs, etc.), getting news and updates about the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, getting preview links to the campaign before it goes live to give us feedback, watch the trailer being built, and much more!

Anybody who is interested can sign up by clicking on this link http://eepurl.com/boYiJP

And now back to the update!

Despite working a lot on our upcoming campaign, this week we also continued work on the demo levels, plus we added a nifty little trick which I like to call “stacked floors” for lack of a better name ^_^’

Last week we showed off the parallax background layer (albeit slightly bugged, but we fixed that too!). This week we worked on what the parallax layer actually contains, namely … the previous level!

That’s right, with the exception of some specific sections (scroll down for a prime example), in most levels you will be able to step back and admire your work from above



just got rid of some pesky hexapods



seen from the next level


The second thing we are focusing on right now, as mentioned above, are the demo levels. This week we worked on the game’s intro level, which sees you and your crew arriving at the tower (while commercial air travel vanished long ago, the towers are still linked by a decaying rail system).

Of course somebody has tipped off the authorities regarding your arrival and your purpose, so you will have to fight your way through the train wagon by wagon





That’s it for this time, hope to see you all again next week!

[Hipshot]

Hmm, that thing with the previous level is very cool I must admit. I've had ideas of doing this several times and it might show up in a later game we develop, but retaining the events like you do there, with the gore and so, that's pretty nifty.

I would consider placing some shadow under the train though.

[Benitosub]

Thanks, I'm really glad you like it! It may not have as much "pizzazz" as Cyangmou's pixel art, to which people - understandably! - respond more, but as a coder it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy when somebody points at a feature I wrote and says "hey, that's cool!"

Cheers!

[tower57]

Another week, another update!



This week we went into full Kickstarter preparation mode, so creating the storyboard for the trailer, drafting up a main page, coming up with pledges, budgeting stretch-goals, reaching out to our contacts, and of course working on the new locations!



The trailer will feature 5 to 6 entirely different locations, so that means a lot of new art, but also building the maps, setting up the scenes according to the storyboard, recording them, and much more.



The first scene as we teased last week will take place aboard the train taking you and your crew to Tower 57. Of course the authorities have been tipped off and things will escalate pretty quickly ^_^



With commercial aviation a thing of the past, the railway system has taken over as the main means of transportation. It is mostly frequented by the elite, who can afford the pricey tickets, a fact which is reflected by the relative luxury of the accommodations:





Of course trains are also used for freight, and will occasionally transport military or illegal weapon shipments, so be sure to check those crates for goodies:







Here is what it looks like when put together in the game:







And to top it off, we added some nice “fading roofs”:







Next week we’ll move on to the next location : the sewers. Centuries old architecture, underground rivers of toxic waste, mutated enemies, and much more awaits!

I would also like to humbly remind everybody who's reading this that we setup a mailing list so you can stay informed of our progress with the campaign, and of course let us know if you think we are on the right track You can sign up over at http://eepurl.com/boYiJP



Cheers everybody and have a great week!

P.S. @hipshot we added train shadows

[Wyeth]

Honestly. Where to start with this?

Destructable environment? Check
Loads of different weapons? Check
Great art and animationn? Check
Great lighting? Check
Coop Multiplayer? Check
Chopping off limbs? Check

I mean what is not in this game?

Some updates on here I just stared at for 20 minutes. High level stuff.

I am looking forward to play it during the talk & play event in Berlin next week!
This game alone is reason for anyone who remotely likes ... well games, really. To come play it.

Sorry for being rather broad, I will comment another time on something specific but I had to say this.

Keep it up.

[koutetsusteel]

Oh man! This game looks awesome.  I'm getting some Super Smash TV flashbacks right now haha.

Can't wait to try it out!

[Bahototh]

Amazing amazing amazing graphics!

I see the legacy of sweet Amiga games in this one for sure.

[Igor Sandman]

I really like that train gif. The effect of transparency looks neat.
The sense of speed is also really cool.
Good job!

[Benitosub]

@Wyeth thanks for the kind words! We're still missing a couple of things, but we're saving them for upcoming updates

@koutetsusteel aaawww yesss I loved Smash TV! It was a big inspiration for the control scheme, and you can expect some Smash TV-related easter eggs in the final game

@Bahototh absolutely! if one day the game is ever mildly successful, I would actually love to attempt a port

@Igor Sandman thanks! we'll post a "complete shot" in this week-end's update of the more-or-less-final level, hope you like it!

[tower57]

Hi everybody!

It's that time of the week again We've been hard at work for the past seven nights, and we're hoping it will show ^_^

First things first, we completed the train scene. Here it is in all its glory: (I encoded it as a gfy because the actual gif was over 12 megs...)

http://gfycat.com/UnlawfulSophisticatedHamster


Cyangmou also started working on the sewer level, which will be the next level featured in the trailer.

Lying below the massive tower, the sewer offers the perfect entry point for those who wish to avoid the heavily guarded main doors. The journey is not without its dangers however, as decades of accumulated radioactive waste have produced some frightening mutations within the local fauna...


Massive pillars support the hundreds of floors above.



Parts of the sewer are submerged in waste. Hope you brought boots!


And finally on the code side, I revamped the "entity-to-entity" collision system.

When I started working on the game - I'm talking before Cyangmou jumped in with his amazing art - the view was going to be strictly top-down, so I originally wrote the entity-to-entity collision system to rely on axis aligned bounding boxes.

However as the game evolved towards a mix of top-down and isometric view, it quickly became apparent that this would not be enough to properly handle "tilted" objects. While we could get away with it for smaller objects, there was really no way to get around it with bigger objects (see gif below).

Therefore I refactored the collision system to use a similar approach as the entity-to-tilemap system, which relies on pixel-perfect collision masks.

The result is pixel-perfect collisions even with bigger objects such as this container:




That's it for this week! Although if you want to take a better peak at the sewer level, you can always sign up to the mailing list over at http://eepurl.com/boYiJP

Cheers!

[Wyeth]

Can't believe I missed this game ... AGAIN... argh. Showing your game alone at an event really doesn't leave much time to go anywhere.
I guess it was the same for you. At least you got to play mine before the event started. The perks of a mobile game... I guess...
Anyways can't wait to play next time!
Will there be a demo anytime soon? That would be really exciting too.

[tower57]

Hello everyone,

we were very busy this week keeping up the work on our trailer / demo and preparing our Kickstarter campaign, but also attending an indie event here in Berlin called "Talk & Play" (more on this below) - so this will be a slightly more verbose update than usual ^_^

Let's start with the titular lights and rain!

One thing I have mentioned a few times in past updates was that lights would be destructible, and that this would not be just a gimmick but would actually serve the gameplay. This week I finally got around to implementing a proper "light destruction system", and here is the result:



Keep in mind those particles are temporary and will be replaced by glass bits

We're not going to go for "Thief" levels of stealth - we have to keep scope in mind, and properly designing levels that work both for a full-action and full-stealth gameplay is a huge undertaking... (obviously this might change if the KS goes well ^_^)

However shooting lights out will still have some effect on the gameplay: standing in  darker areas will reduce the accuracy of enemies shooting at you, and it will make you "invisible" to security cameras.

Another aspect of the game that still needs a lot of work is "atmosphere": right now the environments are pretty static - barring the occasional spinning wall-fan. Our plan had always been to spice this up with environmental animations, things like water droplets leaking from pipes, smoke coming out of vents, etc.

The first step in that direction was implementing a basic rain effect (you can't have cyberpunk without rain :D).



This is just a first draft with placeholder art, but it's already got some nice features: each droplet (there are hundreds) is an individual sprite, no "cheating" with grouping several droplets in a single sprite.

Their falling speed is affected by their "depth" - i.e. droplets closer to the screen fall faster than droplets away from the screen -  creating a nice "parallax-like" effect of rain (sadly this doesn't translate well in a choppy animated gif...)

The system also ensures "impacts" only appear on the ground / walls, and can differentiate between floors and walls - so a droplet falling on the floor could produce impacts such as the ones in the gif, whereas a droplet falling on a wall could produce a "water trickling down the wall" animation.

And of course the intensity, average speed, and direction of the rain can all be changed in real time for more variety.

That was about it on the code side (plus fixing some bugs and crashes in preparations of the Talk & Play demo).

However Cyangmou was also very busy on his side, designing and mapping out the new locations we plan to showcase in the trailer, and creating the hundreds of tiles and sprites required to bring them to life!

Last week we posted some sewer bits, this week those bits have turned into an actual location:



Cyangmou has also been working a lot on Tower 57's very own "red light district", which doubles as the game's "hub". Those of you who also follow our twitter channel (@tower57devlog) might have already seen this during the week, but for those who didn't, here is the monorail that connects some of the classiest floors of the tower:



Of course the floor will be decorated with appropriately-themed props:




And finally I wanted to quickly mention our visit at the Talk & Play event here in Berlin.

This was an event organized by berlingamescene.com which aimed to bring together gamers and indie developers. The first half was dedicated to talks, and during the second half of the evening devs could showcase their games and get feedback from players.



Sadly I was alone this time, so I didn't really get a lot of good pictures, but I had a blast nonetheless, and the comments from the people who played were absolutely heart-warming and a great incentive to keep pushing on!

So I just wanted to thank you guys - in the event that any of you read this - watching gamers enjoy our creation is the best reward for me !

This was also the chance to meet up with our friend from FrozenPotion and finally try their mobile shooter-puzzle hybrid Op90, which turned out to be a lot of fun If you like mobile games, pixel art, and shooting stuff you can check them out over at http://www.slidedb.com/games/op90 !

And that concludes this week's update, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to posting more of Amor's Den next week!

Cheers everyone!

[UmutD]

Sweet, you guys manage to increase the awesomeness level in every post