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[Ishi]

I'd say enemies are very unlikely at this point. I'll probably take the environmental hazards (aka spikes) route.

I think the wall jump will be an upgrade as I can tie it into the grip boots or something. Ledge hang and stuff would be silly though like you say, it just doesn't make sense for a character who's meant to be good at exploring to start out basically helpless.

[baconman]

That is so adorably animated! Pacing and everything looks smooth, too; and that last little thing she does was completely unexpected, tbh. I'm sure there's a reason for it, though...

[FK in the Coffee]

The movement is beautifully fluid.  God damn, this is the sort of precision I want in platformers these days.  It just all animates so seamlessly.  Please, please tell me that you're planning to release a playable alpha in the near future.

[McMutton]

A ledge grab upgrade may make sense if it were, say, climbing gloves or something that would enhance one's grip.

[ink.inc]

such fluid animation

brb weeping at my own inadequacies

[Zaphos]

Wow, nice.  She and Guy Balding should hook up.

[Ishi]

Thanks guys

Oops, the thread was locked; I think that was due to a rogue tap on my iPod screen whilst attempting to change page. Unlocked now.

A ledge grab upgrade may make sense if it were, say, climbing gloves or something that would enhance one's grip.

That's a good point; I already have different plans for the ability granted by grip gloves though so hadn't really considered it. It might be worth me experimenting without the ledge hang, to see if it'd be worth holding that back too until the player gets the gloves.

Please, please tell me that you're planning to release a playable alpha in the near future.

Maaaaybe. I might release a similar sort of playground thing to this, once I've improved it a bit further. It'd be handy to get a bit of feedback, and test that it runs fine on everyone's PCs, etc.

[leonelc29]

ohh my, i'm sure are slow. the animation are super, super fluent.

brb weeping at my own inadequacies

[Ishi]

Update

Added a slide ability (run and press down).

Never been much into environment drawing, but I figured I should make a start on some concepts, so here we are.

[Destral]

The animations in the vid look amazing, and the variety of actions is really impressive. 

[Ishi]

Update

• Added skill roll! Now up to 185 frames of animation.
  
  
   
• Started the system for placing proper tiles (rather than just the single repeated tile I've had so far) - see below.
   

I'm calling 10% completion on it. Just guessing of course, but I'm at the sort of place I wanted to be at before I changed the thread icon to 10%.

Technical Fun

Instead of going for my normal method of placing every individual tile by hand, I'm going for a material-based system. A material could be, for example, grass+soil, brickwork, etc. Drawing continuous shapes merges the tiles together into one big block.

This is my current test material.



And this is how it looks in-game. I can get some variety in without having to constantly pick tiles from the tileset, and it's really easy to edit.



Each tile stores a Material value, as well as a MaterialInstance value. This value is how the game knows where borders are between individual blocks of the same material. So when I draw tiles, it simply uses the same MaterialInstance for all tiles drawn before I release the mouse button, then uses a new one next time.

I'll be adding inside corners, multiple layers etc in the future.

[happymonster]

Looks beautiful.. 

[SolarLune]

I like that automatic tiling system. I should try to implement that myself when I need a lot of tiles for a platforming game... I believe Frogatto used a similar system. Sounds (and looks) good!

[baconman]

This set of abilities is completely impressive, because at this point, it appears that Trixie can pretty much remain in perpetual motion. She doesn't have to stop or drag for anything. And they flow together SO incredibly smoothly, too!

This game. Is gonna be. Amazing. "!".

(It'll also make 95% of developers here whine in a corner of their own inferiorities. But they'll be too busy playing TT to care. For awhile.)

[Ishi]

Even if I don't reply to comments, they're all really appreciated Makes the development much easier knowing there are people excited by the project. Cheers!

Update

• Added the concept of upgrades to the code, and I can toggle them on and off with the number keys.
   
• Implemented the Grip Boots upgrade. They enable full-speed running and wall jumping.
   
• Implemented the Grip Gloves upgrade. Not gonna say what they do, but they're gonna allow for some awesome not-touching-the-floor sections. It's an ability I've wanted to put in a platformer for ages, and have never seen in another game.

[Relix]

Implemented the Grip Boots upgrade. They enable full-speed running and wall jumping.

Read that as wall running...

Have you managed to think uses for the roll after jumping yet? Only asking because I could share a few things I'd make for a skill like that.

[Ishi]

Have you managed to think uses for the roll after jumping yet? Only asking because I could share a few things I'd make for a skill like that.

Currently the roll is mainly just something that looks cool (and more realistic for falling long distances). It also acts as a bit of an inconvenience to the player, so if they do a long jump and don't allow space for the roll, they'll crash into a wall or something and break their momentum. If the roll goes off the edge of a platform, Trixie grabs the edge, so an accidental roll shouldn't cause you to fall further than you intended.

I'm interested in hearing ideas and suggestions.

[Ishi]

Update

• Cleaned up a bit of code; compressed some of the more similar player state classes into single classes with parameters.
• Added a couple of new minor player states.

Not a huge amount of progress today sorry! And not even any visuals to look at. Here's another really old sketch of Trix.

[Relix]

I'm interested in hearing ideas and suggestions.

Whelp, I had two ideas in mind. I've no idea if they'll actually fit TT, but here goes;

One would be to negate falling damage (if you've it) ala Zelda, but instead of just that, you could make a special challenge where you've to get trought area without losing healt. Withouth the roll after jump, you'll lose healt at some points making a door close or something.

Another would be keeping the momentum to go under a closing door or go into small crawl space that has collapsing floor before it, so just walking/running to it wouldn't work.

And then I got another idea from what you said, crashing into walls to break them, or to bounce off from them and rolling to another direction.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Ishi]

Whelp, I had two ideas in mind. I've no idea if they'll actually fit TT, but here goes;

One would be to negate falling damage (if you've it) ala Zelda, but instead of just that, you could make a special challenge where you've to get trought area without losing healt. Withouth the roll after jump, you'll lose healt at some points making a door close or something.

Another would be keeping the momentum to go under a closing door or go into small crawl space that has collapsing floor before it, so just walking/running to it wouldn't work.

And then I got another idea from what you said, crashing into walls to break them, or to bounce off from them and rolling to another direction.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Cheers for the ideas. Timed areas and collapsing platforms are things that could fit into the game, I think (indeed I've already considered collapsing platforms before now). You've given me the idea that if Trixie hits a collapsing platform with too much momentum, she'll crash straight through it, but rolling would reduce the impact enough for the platform to not collapse immediately. Maybe in that case the roll should be actively initiated by the player by holding down, instead of being automatic. Maybe also, walking would allow Trixie to cross collapsible platforms without them collapsing. Plenty to think about anyway, thanks!

As a side note, Trixie can already carry momentum into crawl spaces by running and sliding.

Update

• Added one very minor player animation.
   
• Added a slow motion button so I can more easily view what's going on in dodgy collision situations or if animations don't blend together well.
   
• Added support for multiple materials in the editor, and an XML to define material properties. I was going to add support for materials that extend beyond their collideable areas, to do the grass extending upwards, but that will be tomorrow.
  
  
  
  (Tiles are all just placeholder graphics)