next »

[xix]

KEY IS DEAD. SORRY. MAYBE SOME OTHER TIME. IN OTHER NEWS WE ARE WAY FAR AHEAD ON COMBAT JR SO WE'RE WORKING ON THE MOOOON FIELDS


 
The refactor is up! Check out the itch.io page!

old trailer!!




100% Refresh On This OP, guys.

The Moon Fields x Combat Junior IIIrd Smash Combo Cart is our super long, super overdue NES Zelda-y, Hotline Miami-y, Street Fighter/Smash Brothers mashup. What started as a simple Zelda game turned into this thing about aesthetics and story. What started as simple mechanics turned into this combat jr *thing*.

THE MOON FIELDS

The Moon Fields is sprite/voxel Zelda. We developed this thing about syncing voxels and sprites in Unity. So while we are working in 3D space, we have the aesthetic of 2D sprites AND can throw voxels in for good measure. I know it looks basic, but hey, watch the videos below and you'll see where we're going.

COMBAT JUNIOR




Combat Jr started out as a gamejam demo for our gameplay systems in The Moon Fields. It was essentially versus Zelda, but it has turned into something much more for us. Because our systems in place for TMF allow for quick & dirty combat we made and are expanding upon this idea. It really was an amazing thing and we threw a party at the bar that I work at.

The roadmap for us is as such:

Finish Super Combat Jr 2, release on itch.io
Revamp and clean up the game engine, adapt Super Combat Jr 2 items, release Combat Junior IIIrd Smash *Dream Preview*
Apply gameplay mechanics from CJr3 to The Moon Fields, develop one dungeon. Release as a demo alongside our crowdfunding venture.

[xix]

So a few things about this #FemaleLinkJam entry:

1) This is an action adventure game in the vein of Zelda with a female protagonist. It doesn't really matter that it's a female protagonist, and that's sorta the point.

2) This might be in direct response to http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/

3) I just drew an armored horse centaur with a lance he throws and a nailbat he nailbats

4) Why are bows & arrows so crummy in most Souls games? Those games suck. Long live OG Souls. Long live NES Zelda.



5) How do responsible gamedevs do a gamedev blog? This is all so difficult.

[Cobralad]

6) how do you spot a gamer? Using "female" instead of woman. Just like us humanoids do.

[Mittens]

6) how do you spot a gamer? Using "female" instead of woman. Just like us humanoids do.

I thought link was a child, so it would be 'girl Link', right?

[Cobralad]

right. Male Link is not a thing someone ever said.

[jamesprimate]

6) how do you spot a gamer? Using "female" instead of woman. Just like us humanoids do.

ROFL

[xix]

6) how do you spot a gamer? Using "female" instead of woman. Just like us humanoids do.

I was playing Bloodborne, and I found one of the bell sirens. The message right in front of her said, "No mercy for females." Were you the one who put that there? 

[Cobralad]

whoa woh ah.

Thats some unexped logic escapades there.
Anyway, it looks good, although inconsistent outline looks weird.

[xix]

   

[xix]

Saw a Dark Crystal fangame on twitter. Remembered that Dark Crystal was 80s rad. Wrote down as many things as possible to harness the residual power of the 80s. FROM Software seeped into my consciousness, nfg.

Dark Crystal
Neverending Story
Neverending Darkness
Dark Fire
Kindling
Familiar, Unfamiliar
Story
Bound
Flame & Smoke
Warmth
Kindlefoot
Blight Field
Woefield
Woebound
Gloomlifter***
Gloomfoot
Moore
Doomlifter
Netherlifter
Neverlifter
Brimstone
Darkstone, Neverstone, Stonefoot, Stone Field, Stonelair, Forbidden Stone
House, Haven

I call dibs on all of these names.

Added some items. Played some Titan Souls. Made Link a hot short black chick with pink hair. You can only tell the black and pink thing because she's still only 16x16 and 5 colors. She will probably not be sassy because that's a dumb stereotype. She will probably be strong because that's a fitting stereotype. Maybe she will be silent because that will be easy.

I want to give her a spaceship.

I am listening to The Clash. Bowie on Pandora is terrible. Deafheaven is better. I wish I could name this game that. Chvrches is also doing it.

Sunburned.

https://vine.co/v/Olt5BPrB0jd
https://vine.co/v/OlTYxBMPVxq

The game starts out in an overworld, but it's *not* a green grassy plain. And because girl link is not dumb, you start with about 50% of the gear. Also, uh, it's an indie game and if I make you play through 2 dungeons to get a full set I would have done-unto-you-what-i-would-hate-to-have-done-unto-me. It's a mountain that's almost as hard as mount doom.

I'm looking through the enemy types. Zelda's easy path to dungeon one is full of uh... the weakzer red moblins and weird tremor looking things. There might be some octorocks the screen before the dungeon. But everything besides that is tremendously easy.

Now, I am looking at the butt stomping battwing mega keese and I am now certain that Miyazaki seems to think FROM stands for FROM THE PAST and I fucking love it. Butt stomping megakeese will get ripped off in this somehow even if it's totally different. It's all in the concept, right?

I like the idea of magic floating masks ala Tengu & Yamabushi. Mountain hermit monks that transform are cool.

The Bloodborne ravens are killer. I made some ravencrowblackbird things that will be quite annoying.

I worry that my moblin goblin orc things are too LotR looking. I could accentuate the 80s neon aesthetic, but the overworld is looking nice and OG Zelda. What are everyone's weird psuedo-future 80s cartoons? I'm thinking of the one with the goo monster and the rhino thing that shot rocks out of its horn. Also, uh, Female He-Man would've been a cool jam. Not She-Ra. But like... Buff As Fuck She-Man. Kk thanks for reading. I promise I'll have better pictures soon.

[xix]

So it's pretty dumb of me to get stoked about little intricacies like this, but I think that's important, so whatever. You can shoot and throw in 32 directions, and I think I have the controls to make that feel comfortable.

The bomb is also an item that you can tap to drop or hold & let go to throw. I'm debating whether or not I want to allow you to cancel it and put it in your pocket.

Atmosphere is pretty important. I kinda don't want to have enemies on every screen. Some screens I want to just be... nothing. I am anxious to put in a really simple falling puzzle where, uh, you can fall. A lot of this is making the OG Zelda feel even more minimal while also not giving up on making it look like a beautiful NES thing.

How's that water?

[EdFarage]

I don't get it, whats wrong with the original link?
I know hes kinda bland, but why exactly him?
Why not a new original character?

[xix]

I don't get it, whats wrong with the original link?
I know hes kinda bland, but why exactly him?
Why not a new original character?

I updated the original post to reflect how this came about. TBH, I was building a Zelda-alike anyways, and the "big reveal" was supposed to be that GREEN CLOAK was actually a hot black girl and omg whoa gender and race bending in something that's functionally identical, but hopefully not as stale...

If you're really curious why I am attaching this character to Link, it's solely because Link, to me, is the James Bond of adventurers. He's created to be bland. Read up on how Ian Flemming developed him as a character and you'll see a lot of other boring white male characters fit in pulp fiction. My favorite image of Link is a dude that adventures, picks stuff up, and uses that massive amount of stuff to solve problems (usually baddies). None of that necessitates being white or male or an adult. By switching the character it's merely saying that "yeah, other types of characters can AND should do this". I know a lot of people won't agree with me that these perspectives are important, but that's those people's opinions. To be honest, I don't care if I'm making a product for them at all.

Also, uh, sometimes a blank character and a descriptive world is all you really want to do. It can be Link. It doesn't have to be Link. I probably won't even call her Link except for the twitter promotions. Homie will adventure with a bow and a dagger and some bombs and there will be a silver arrow that wins fights for you.

Can I get back to being weird again?  

Possible game names:
Visionquest, Blacksun, Sunburner, Starburner, Sunfield, Gloomlifter, Netherlifter, Blightfoot, Blightburner, Kin & Kindle, Flame & Familiar, Sunbound, Neverending Darkness, Darkfield

I call dibs on all of them. Even though some are jokes.

[EdFarage]

Fair enough
I like all the names, the one that popped out to me was Sunbound though. Maybe make a mechanic based around the name?
I also realized i was kinda rude, your game is looking pretty good, good luck with it.

[xix]

EddCoast, I expected it. Not from you, but in general. I ain't mad. It's part of changing the status quo, bro.

[Sorsy]

Hey xix, your game looks realy cool. I love the arrow shooting in the last gif as well as throwing bombs. Really satisfying to look at. On the other hand attacking with the sword doesn't look as good. Do you plan on tweaking it?

[xix]

Thanks for the kind words Sorsy. Re: dagger: I don't know!

The dagger is out for 8 frames. Frames 1-3 are different, and 3-8 stick on the third animation frame. There's hand drawn leaf swinging and motion blur that's hard to see in that gif.

I always think function first, and these dagger effects are supposed to be pretty much OG LoZ. Why? I don't know. It feels good. But I don't know how to make the daggers look good in 8 frames w/o looking real janky. I don't want to have more swinging animations for Cloak. I really, genuinely like clean 2 frame animation.

But, yeah, I agree that the dagger could change. It's 60fps in person so it looks marginally better, but it's still not perfect.

[bkslsh]

Nice work, xix. Out of your names I like Neverstone the most. It's mysterious and I like the allusion to "never" as in never gonna expect a female Link. A stretch, I know, but it feels right. Maybe the Neverstone works its way into becoming an object in the game, too.

[xix]

Updated FLJ. Obviously didn't get it done. The game is now a little bigger and it's called The Moon Fields. Music duders is working on a track, tho.

https://soundcloud.com/sufreshbeats/moon-fields-theme-1/s-IwBdM

[gunswordfist]

That water looks good.