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[bombjack]

This looks very promising! Keep on good work 

[Paul]

This looks very promising! Keep on good work 

Thanks!

Currently undergoing the process of putting the art and gameplay elements together. I put together the background images in a separate scene to keep things simple, saved them as prefabs and then exported them. It didn't take too long so hopefully I'll have some working gifs by the end of the week

I also set-up a twitter account, and although I'm not the type to post ten times a day (or even once), I'll be posting consistently about smaller development progress and then keep the bigger posts for this forum

[Paul]

Update #14 Putting it all together

I've spent the last week putting the graphics together with the gameplay. Some minor changes had to be made to scale or positioning but nothing too big. I have almost enough backgrounds for the first area, and any extra rooms can be made by re-configuring these backgrounds into something new (I'll need a range of room sizes, e.g. 1x1, 2x1, 1x2 2x2). The rooms are divided by the red and grey beams so when walls are destroyed, these are what you'll see. The backgrounds will be put in procedurally, so when a room is generated a corresponding background will be added to suit. Some of the more standout features, such as the boiler or monitor array, will probably be only used once per level to avoid the feeling of repetition

Edit: Link to a slightly bigger image here. Let me know what you think or give some critiques. Next step is redoing some of the old animations based on feedback

[Paul]

Updated run animation. Let me know what you guys think, I want to keep it kind of stylised and not super realistic. I got some good feedback on the last one so would like to see if it's on the right track or not.

[lobstersteve]

Definetely better

[Paul]

Definetely better

Phew! Thanks for the feedback

[karlozalb]

Much better, more "cartoonized"

[Katsusiro_7]

Not only your game is cool, but your devlog is really interesting and informative!
Keep it up!

[oldblood]

New run animation looks great. Definitely think the more stylized approach is an improvement. Really liking the overall look/feel you've got going here.

[arrebeat]

I like how you still kept him out of the ground for long periods and with almost fully stretched legs. That's what first caught my eye in the last run cycle and what makes it cartoony for me. Now it's much more believable within the same idea. Great job!

[oyog]

Something about this devlog makes me think of Aeon Flux. I can't really explain it. It's just a feeling I get when I'm watching those early gadget gifs.

Lets hope when the game get's released I die less than she did.

[TopherPirkl]

I am really loving the visual aesthetic you're developing. Just read through the devlog and it's cool to see the direction the game is heading. I absolutely love Gunpoint and Mark of the Ninja, and I think this would scratch that same itch really really effectively.

[Paul]

Thanks for all the comments! I spent yesterday evening implementing enemy animations and fixing some old AI bugs that were still hanging around. I should hopefully have a proper update in the next few days

Not only your game is cool, but your devlog is really interesting and informative!

Thanks, I'll try and do some more in depth updates on the processes I'm using. Not that my techniques are necessarily the best, but they work for me!

Lets hope when the game get's released I die less than she did.

No guarantees!

I like how you still kept him out of the ground for long periods and with almost fully stretched legs. That's what first caught my eye in the last run cycle and what makes it cartoony for me. Now it's much more believable within the same idea. Great job!

Much better, more "cartoonized"

Thanks guys! The mid-air "hanging" was also needed because it moves at such a fast speed in game. After playing Guacamelee I really wanted to try a similar form of super stylized animations, they added so much to the look and feel of the game

I am really loving the visual aesthetic you're developing. Just read through the devlog and it's cool to see the direction the game is heading. I absolutely love Gunpoint and Mark of the Ninja, and I think this would scratch that same itch really really effectively.

I love those games too so hopefully I can capture the same feel of stealth and ingenuity they had, with a bit of a faster pace

[Paul]

Working on some smaller details of the game for the last week or so. First up was the smoke effects,mainly for the smoke bomb but they'll be extended into explosions too. I spent a lot of time praticing with volumetric explosions and smoke but they just didn't fit the overall asthetic. This solution seems to look better and was much simpler to implement! I have a problem of always going for something complicated first when I should test in the other direction. The result is created by modelling a simple cloud shape in blender which then rotates, scales and disappears with some randomness thrown into each parameter to create the variability





For the explosions I'm creating small poofs of smoke that vary on each iteration. They'll be filled out with a flash and some lighting to give it a more explosion-ey look

[Paul]

I realise my thread is becoming very gif heavy! I'll try to add some more static images... Starting after this post...

Since I completed a number of backgrounds, I decided to put them together and solidify the procedural generation process. The first building in the game consists of three 16x16 blocks laid on top of each other as shown in the gif below. The overall outline of the building will stay relatively consistent but the insides will change on each play through. This should give the player some familiarity going into a new level and also allow them to scale down the walls using ropes and enter from outside

There are 4 sizes of rooms in the building, 4x4, 4x8, 8x4 and 8x8. The inside of a new building will contain a random mix of these room types and when the level is generated a main path is created so the player will always find a way through. The rooms are then selected from a pool of designs, with or without doorways depending on if they are needed.

I'm still testing this method, along with different rooms and obstacle types for the player so everything might change in the near future but for now it seems to work well

One 16x16 block


Piecing them together into a building

[deab]

Love the style, and you nailed the run anim.

[Paul]

Love the style, and you nailed the run anim.

Thanks, only about 100 more animations to go :D!

[arrebeat]

Yay! Procedural buildings FTW! Can't wait to test it! You're still going for the destructible enviroment approach? Or the only way to get from a room to another is by doors, windows or air ducts and such?

[Paul]

Yay! Procedural buildings FTW! Can't wait to test it! You're still going for the destructible enviroment approach? Or the only way to get from a room to another is by doors, windows or air ducts and such?

Hah thanks, will hopefully have something playable in the next couple of months :D Yep, definitely still using destructable walls. There will be a path through each building but some rooms containing loot will be blocked off and only accessible through either drilling or explosives. It will need a lot of balancing and testing but will hopefully be worth it!

[Paul]

A different approach to the levels

After playing with a lot of configurations within the original procedural generation concept, I didn't find what I wanted in regards to fun or flow within the levels, so I'm going through a bit of a rethink. The original idea of a fixed level shape may still be possible, but the inside layouts weren't working as they were. I started blocking out exactly what I want withing the levels, and bug fixing and feature adding as I go. I'm much happier with it now and it feels a lot more solid and fun. Below are some gifs of some sections of the level