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[chriswearly]

I noticed something that will probably need finer tuning. I replicated it & it didn't happen the second time, but the first time it did it was a totally cheap way to die. I went through a short cut, into this room with a bunch of shortcuts. I see a purple mass traveling through a shortcut two tiles to the right of me. Realize what it is, lizard. It emerges before I do, walks over & stands above the hole I am about to come out of. Instantly kills me. I don't know what you can do prevent spawn kills granted that lizards have free reign to move between rooms, but it'd definitely be preferential to have a fighting chance. The simplest fix I can think of would be to be able to reverse direction while traveling through a shortcut, or at least be able to decrease the speed you're moving through a shortcut at will.

Yeah  but if you think about it, Slugcat can't see the lizard until it's out of the tunnel, so it's just gonna slide through.

[DarkWanderer]

I'm sure there's some way to balance it.
Are bats supposed to get impaled on spikes? They keep shooting down out of a shortcut onto a spike pit & dying, despawning moments later.

Wait, it appears they touch the spikes on one side of the room & spawn out of the spikes on the other side of the room.

[Rat Casket]

simple solution is to allow players to change direction while in the shortcut.

[jamesprimate]

Welp, didn't take too long to figure out how to manipulate the game...

10-second rain cycle. Bahaha.
Oh, also made it that I didn't need any bats to win, soooo, wooohoo!

OH MY GOOOOD!
If you put "1" in the setup text file for each color, you spawn with one of each lizard! AHHH!

ROFL, here it goes 

I'm sure there's some way to balance it.
Are bats supposed to get impaled on spikes? They keep shooting down out of a shortcut onto a spike pit & dying, despawning moments later.

Wait, it appears they touch the spikes on one side of the room & spawn out of the spikes on the other side of the room.

i was wondering what you meant by spikes... thats "bat grass"! its like their nesting grounds. and as you have observed, they can travel through it. clever bats...

[Christian]

Damn, lizards can climb poles...and I thought my superior agility would keep me safe :p

I found areas like this where vent openings are close together, it can be tricky and a bit frustrating to jump into the correct one. A few times I'd jump into the top vent rather than the one I had wanted


I think a short wall-run/scamper could be useful. Would make it easier to climb onto platforms like this.


Also, just my opinion, but I think slugcats should be able to move and climb faster in vents than lizards. I've been hopelessly chased down in vents by lizards a few times, and you'd think the sleek small slugcat could outrun the heavier lizards more easily in a vent

[chriswearly]

Damn, lizards can climb poles...and I thought my superior agility would keep me safe :p

I found areas like this where vent openings are close together, it can be tricky and a bit frustrating to jump into the correct one. A few times I'd jump into the top vent rather than the one I had wanted


I think a short wall-run/scamper could be useful. Would make it easier to climb onto platforms like this.


Also, just my opinion, but I think slugcats should be able to move and climb faster in vents than lizards. I've been hopelessly chased down in vents by lizards a few times, and you'd think the sleek small slugcat could outrun the heavier lizards more easily in a vent

Well, the knowledge now is that you hold right, then press Z about a half-block below the desired vent.
Took me a few tries to get that figured out, but now it's second nature to just know how to do it right.

[Christian]

Yes, the lizard encounters are awesome. Was engaged in a tense cat and mouse with a green lizard, and just narrowly evaded its jaws, got out of sight, and was able to slip around it and get away. So intense

[JLJac]

Glad you guys are having fun with the build :D It is pretty rough, as I'm sure you've noticed, but I'm glad you're finding some enjoyment in it!

@Christian, thanks for the feedback! Agreed on pretty much all points. Addressing some of your concerns ~ the controls for grabbing a pole is actually only up, not x+up. Hope that makes it easier for you! Grabbing mid air is supposed to be a bit tricky, but both James and I have gotten really good at it so it's possible that we have too much of that element in such an early area. You can't enter the "standing on pole" animation from the air, you have to grab the pole with your hands and then get back up. Eating bats - yeah... The idea is that you shouldn't be able to eat them in the heat of battle, making them feel more like prey rather than "collectible". I like the animal-like feeling of scurrying to some safe corner with your collected food to quickly munch it down. But maybe the eating should be a bit faster to make it less intrusive on the tempo. White shader bug will definitely be fixed! When I have final versions of all the shaders I'll write light versions of them for older machines.

Wall run is something I'll consider.

If you put "1" in the setup text file for each color, you spawn with one of each lizard! AHHH!

There are also other numbers except from 1 ... Also, the level name at the top of the file allows you to spawn wherever in the world. Not that I encourage shenanigans with setup.txt, but have fun 

As for lizards camping at room entrances, I actually have a fix for that in the pipeline - there'll be a timer that keep them from biting you right after they spot you for the first time, giving you a split second to get back into the shortcut again. The lizard will pursue you, but it won't be an inevitable insta-death. When it comes to stuff like this in general, things that make the gameplay smoother, there are like a million things to add, several of which I have solutions for in mind but haven't gotten around to implementing.

Update 377

Don't antagonize the snails!



The body/animation of the snail isn't done yet, still working with the head / tail / limbs / pretty much everything. Animating creatures really is the big time sink in RW development, but creature animation is also our main selling point, so I guess that's OK.

And in slow motion:



The game is screaming for audio at this point! Would really like to see what these effects feel like with some juicy samples to go with them.

[Golds]

As for audio stuff, I recently integrated this free port of CSharpSynth into a couple projects, and it's been great. It can play back midi files with full control over synths, precise callbacks on note hits, muting/soloing/mixing tracks etc. comes with example analog synths and FM synthesis. Also useful for playing synced silent midi event tracks alongside rendered audio...

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unitysynth-full-xplatform-midi-synth.130104/

works on every unity platform  (standalone mac/pc/web/iOS/Android), free, and open source. don't know what your plans are, but it could be useful for implementing dynamic soundtrack stuff.

[jamesprimate]

Don't antagonize the snails!



The body/animation of the snail isn't done yet, still working with the head / tail / limbs / pretty much everything. Animating creatures really is the big time sink in RW development, but creature animation is also our main selling point, so I guess that's OK.

And in slow motion:

OH MAN! that shader (?) sonic shockwave is sooooooooooooooooooooo awesome :O

The game is screaming for audio at this point! Would really like to see what these effects feel like with some juicy samples to go with them.

ok lets do it! hell, if we get the audio engine in, i could probably get a good amount of the basic audio stuff done just while im waiting for these multi-screen rooms to render

[gameaddictwn]

I'm having problems with grabbing poles. Sometimes I grab them, other times I just fall trough, any tips?

[Christian]

I'm having problems with grabbing poles. Sometimes I grab them, other times I just fall trough, any tips?

I was having trouble with that too, but through practice, I'm finding it easier. Are you talking about when you're jumping from pole to pole?

@Joar - Yes, that control tip helped. Much easier now. I really like that you have to manually grab. Adds a Tomb Raider-style vibe where you had to focus and time your grabs if you wanted to survive. I'm finding that I can move much more fluidly through the environment after several attempts

And have to say again how great the lizards are. They're almost Nemesis-esque, since they outclass in so many ways. They can kill you in one hit, some can climb up poles, they chase you relentlessly across screens. Even when I'm armed with a spear and rock, the best option seems to be just to run, get away, and try not to get cornered. I haven't been able to kill one yet. Had an intense movement when I was in a vent/tunnel and a lizard crawled in. Just barely escaped by stunning it, losing my spear in the panic.

Some more thoughts on the alpha:
- The shelter you need to return to is the room you start in? Or are there other safe areas throughout the world?

- If there are others, I feel like some subtle guidance toward those areas could be useful. Nothing overt, perhaps faded rusted signs or symbols in the background that kind of guide you to safe places, that would kind of indicate "Hey, these vents in particular might lead somewhere interesting". Since the player is on a time limit, having to balance between simulateously following migrating bats and finding a safe place to flee to, having some slight visual cues that kind of guide the player could be helpful. Have you played NaissanceE? That game did that masterfully; you're never told where to go, but the game subtly guides you in the general direction through interesting landmarks in the distance and visual cues such as lighting. You feel lost in a strange place, but yet you're always moving forward

- I like that I'm gradually learning the layout of the world...but I do think a map should be considered. That does go against the whole "Slugcat can't read signs, etc." idea but I feel like it would help significantly in terms of traversal and just overall survival. And technically it could make sense, since animals would know their territory and how to return to their dens.

[gameaddictwn]

I'm having problems with grabbing poles. Sometimes I grab them, other times I just fall trough, any tips?

Are you talking about when you're jumping from pole to pole?

Yes, sometimes I grab, other times I just fall through. Spent struggling to get to a area until the rain came because of that...

[jamesprimate]

The controls are something we'll definitely want to spend some solid time on down the line, once we have a good sense of what will be needed. There will also be a bunch more "slugcat moves" as well, which will factor into all that.

But also I think its important to retain a degree of difficulty when navigating the environment. There should be a sense in the tactile experience of the game that life as a slugcat is *difficult*. Everything should be slightly to big for you to comfortably climb up, slightly too far to jump to without sufficient skill. Minor mistakes should potentially have consequences. You should constantly feel out of place, outnumbered and out gunned. And if you can't get up to a ledge comfortably, then perhaps you dont want to encounter whats beyond it yet! Then as you get used to the timings and rhythm, develop the more advanced tricks and techniques, then the world naturally begins to open up to you.

Buuuuut were not quite there yet

[Christian]

The controls are something we'll definitely want to spend some solid time on down the line, once we have a good sense of what will be needed. There will also be a bunch more "slugcat moves" as well, which will factor into all that.

But also I think its important to retain a degree of difficulty when navigating the environment. There should be a sense in the tactile experience of the game that life as a slugcat is *difficult*. Everything should be slightly to big for you to comfortably climb up, slightly too far to jump to without sufficient skill. Minor mistakes should potentially have consequences. You should constantly feel out of place, outnumbered and out gunned. And if you can't get up to a ledge comfortably, then perhaps you dont want to encounter whats beyond it yet! Then as you get used to the timings and rhythm, develop the more advanced tricks and techniques, then the world naturally begins to open up to you.

Buuuuut were not quite there yet

You definitely got that part down. Now that I got the timing for grabbing and wall jumping down, I can navigate through the environment much faster, able to take routes that I wasn't able to on my first attempt

And any time I see a lizard, it's an Oh crap moment. You do totally feel outgunned. And I like that I'm learning how to deal with certain lizards through experience (aka death). I didn't realize purple lizards could climb poles, so my first attempt to get away with my superior slugcat agility didn't work out so well. The green lizards are slower and can't climb so I know I can outmaneuver them more easily. Haven't encountered any other lizard types yet. 

[gameaddictwn]

Is there any way to survive the rain at the moment?

[jamesprimate]

Is there any way to survive the rain at the moment?

yep! simple win condition for this alpha: just eat 7 bats and make it back to your den before the rain.

In other news, chugging along in level design toward some of the more industrial / urban inspired areas:

[Christian]

Is there any way to survive the rain at the moment?

yep! simple win condition for this alpha: just eat 7 bats and make it back to your den before the rain.

There is only one den in the alpha? That room you start in?

In other news, chugging along in level design toward some of the more industrial / urban inspired areas:

Looking great as usual.

So Suburban looks like the general introduction to the mechanics and world. Drainage System seem to focus on water, tighter spaces, and introducing new creatures like leeches and snails. Any ideas yet what the urban area might introduce?

[jamesprimate]

yep! just the one for now. we haven't implemented multiple dens yet, as its one of those "bunch of puzzle pieces coming together" bits. i think we'll want to do that for our next milestone when we start to connect up the multiple regions? but first we have to MAKE those regions and maybe sort out one or two design things.

for the alpha, all bat nests are raidable and possible to "beat", though you may have to discover some tricky paths back and forth

[Christian]

Also, is this area supposed to kill you if you fall? Whenever I miss a jump and fall offscreen, I die. Not sure if that's intentional.