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[Strife]

Some more artwork of our protagonist Lilac, courtesy of FeliciaVal:

[Nu-Type]

Just saw this, I think its great Strife. Everyone should love a homage to Sonic!

[Conker534]

This is a awesome game.

[Strife]

Thanks Nu-Type and Conker!


Here's a couple of new special abilities I've been working on:



Lilac's new ability is the Dragon Cyclone. It's hard to capture in screenshots, but she basically spins around like a top, dealing rapid chip damage to enemies and propelling herself slightly upwards, allowing her to glide more easily across horizontal spaces. It currently has to be charged by holding down the Attack button for a few seconds until a spark appears in the center of her sprite. I have concerns that, like Mega Man's charge shot, it would render her normal attacks moot in spite of the charging time, but we'll see how testing goes.

Carol's new ability is more of a stage-specific powerup, but at certain points she'll be able to hop onto her motorcycle and drive around. It doubles Carol's top speed so that it matches that of the Speedup powerup, but it has bad deceleration and falls quickly due to its weight. The bike can drive up walls, and jumping at a vertical wall will cause it to latch on. It's still incomplete, but it should give Carol's gameplay a nice kick.

[Conker534]

Awesome.

[Strife]

I had a radio interview last night with the Berklee Internet Radio Network, a.k.a. the BIRN, about the game along with my voice actress for Lilac, Dawn Michelle Bennett. I'll be uploading it as soon as I can.

In the meantime, Milla the Hound artwork is up!

[Uykered]

Tried using my controller, which responded perfectly in the settings.exe but didn't entirely work during the game (face buttons work to do selecting and actions but the Dpad X/Y axis didn't let me select things on the menu or move the character in game.)

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just an issue with MMF2. Clickteam/Scirra/etc follow the tradition of having horrendous support for custom input.

[Strife]

It's interesting how it works in Settings.exe but not in the game, as I'm almost certain that they use the same method of tracking input from the D-pad. Are you sure that you:

- Configured Up/Down/Left/Right to use the D-pad directions?
- Set the current device at the top-right to your controller?

If so, perhaps something in the actual game is interfering with the process. It would be easier for me to address if I physically had a computer and controller with me where the issue takes place...

MMF2 does have bad custom input support. xD It's not too shabby if you want to stick to a predetermined combination of buttons, but when you want players to customize their controls, then it starts getting murky.

[Strife]

I'm almost at the halfway point of the third stage's development - Fortune Night - and I'm currently working on the AI for the miniboss. The boss' quick-paced attacks have gotten me thinking about a few things - namely, how the player's gravity might be a little too floaty to easily avoid some of the quicker attacks. I've tried increasing gravity by about 16% while adjusting gimmicks such as springs to compensate, and I've also increased acceleration a bit as well. I think it helps make the controls feel a little tighter, and as a consequence, running up 45-degree slopes from a standstill will no longer be an issue.

I'm really quite excited about Fortune Night. The stage flows extremely well and there's a ton of different gimmicks. I hope I can get most of it done before I return to Denmark at the end of the month.


On a different note, I'll be heading to the Berklee College of Music this weekend in Boston to meet my voice actress for Lilac. They only have Apple computers at the college, so I unfortunately can't show off my game design software, but I'll probably be too busy hanging out with my VA and her roommate anyway. xD

[Storsorgen]

I think this looks really awesome!
While there are some similarities with Sonic, they seem to be more in artistic style than gameplay. Really good job, looking forward to it!

[Strife]

Thanks! ^_^


Progress has been steady. I'm now on the second half of the third stage, which takes place in this shopping mall:




I've also been putting thought on what I want to do with the cutscenes, and I would consider scouting out some options to get a professional animation studio to help out. The thing is, I have no idea where I should be looking. xD The only place I'm familiar with is DeviantArt, which is somewhat limited. I could just search individual websites of animators, but first I need to know who is accepting commissions.

I doubt if most of the people watching this page know anyone worthwhile, but if you do know of some animators who would be willing to work for money, let me know and I'll start making up a list of candidates. I'm leaning towards someone with a style akin to Japanese anime, but that's not a super-strict requirement.

[Strife]

Sometime within the next month, I'd like to setup a Kickstarter fund for the game, primarily for one reason - to make the final version as accessible as possible. With a little extra money (I estimate no more than $1000), I can purchase the following:

- SWF exporter (for exporting to Flash)
- XNA exporter (for exporting to Android and XBLA)
- OUYA developer's kit (which is technically free, but having access to an OUYA would streamline it considerably)
- Access to Steam Greenlight
- A subscription to Soundsnap so I no longer have to worry about copyright issues with the sounds I'm using
- The Developer version of MMF2 so that I don't have to include the MMF2 logo in the final game


I am considering right now if I should ask for an amount beyond this so that I can commission further artwork and possibly even those animated cutscenes I've been dreaming of, but since those are nonessentials, I should probably stick with the base amount. I also have to consider what kinds of pledge rewards I could offer, which is somewhat daunting since I've never distributed things for money before. I'll try asking around for advice on these things since this is my first attempt at crowdfunding.

[Strife]

The Kickstarter has been submitted for a review. Hopefully it'll be up in a day or two. ^_^

In the meantime, version 1.3 has been released! We want to give a good impression for our potential Kickstarter backers, so we included Lilac and Carol's new abilities, full swimming mechanics for both characters, and improved textures, among other improvements. You can download it here:

http://freedomplanet.galaxytrail.com/download.htm

[Strife]

Aaand we're live!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galaxytrail/freedom-planet-high-speed-platform-game

Anyone who pledges at least $10 will get free copies of the PC and Steam versions on release (provided the Steam version is greenlit in the future). We'll be super grateful to everyone who backs us, even if it's just a dollar.

[zede05]

Congrats on reaching your goal within a day! But why set it so low? You'll probably cross $10,000 no problem.

[Strife]

We wanted to be honest about what we would spend the money on and focus only on the essentials first, and with so many projects out there that end up coming short, we figured it was better not to take any huge risks with our first Kickstarter.

That being said, we're absolutely floored that we reached our goal in less than a day! Now that the basics are out of the way, we've put up our stretch goals, which include extra playable characters, animated cutscenes and a possible webcomic series.

The more funding we get, the better our chances will be of overcoming the limits and downsides of MMF2 with regards to exporting and the like. Heck, if we get enough funding, we might even be able to afford getting the full game reprogrammed into a different engine.

[Uykered]

Make sure you've found someone to animate it before you finish the campaign!

[Strife]

Will do! There's a 90% chance that we might have already found someone, but she needs a couple weeks to get things sorted out in real life first. Failing that, we have a few other candidates we are considering. :D

[JobLeonard]

Tried it yesterday. Smooth controls, but I'm still too fixated on responding like it's a Sonic game when I shouldn't, if you catch my drift. Probably changes after a few sessions.

[Strife]

Aye, it certainly doesn't help that the stage featured in the demo is a jungle/hill type stage. I think that once the full version starts showing its face, the game's other influences will start to shine through.


Anyway, we're on Steam Greenlight now! Spread the word and Upvote us if you'd like. :D

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=120841685