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[Chris Pavia]

Some design brainstorming:

For the puzzle gameplay, the order and types of puzzle pieces (called tokens til I think of something cooler) are determined algorythmically. I have various knobs I can tweak by encounter to make things easier or harder.

I wanted to do something different with the boss fights to make them feel more unique, so I thought it could be fun for the token spawning for bosses be hand-design instead of algorythmic, so they have intersting play patterns in a manner similar to guitar hero. My friend built an XML parser and timeline editor for my other project Gaia that i could re-purpose for these sequences.

This would also give me the ability to make fully hand designed challenge levels that I could update the game with post release. Sound like it would be fun?

[McMutton]

Definitely. Being able to control the flow of the game as opposed to the random generation everywhere else would give climactic battles some extra "Oomph".

[Doktor_Q]

That does sound good. Unique bosses generally trump generated bosses, unless you're going for pure count over individual interest.

[Inanimate]

Token alternate words:

Sigils, runes, talismans, symbols, seals, emblems

Those help, at all?

[Chris Pavia]

Yes, I like the mystic vibe very much! 

[Chris Pavia]

Actually, that gives me a fun idea. Initially, my metaphor was that you were playing the puzzle portion to directly control the party members, in a mechanical (cause and effect) sense. But, since you can control the enemies a bit as well by canceling out their attacks and abilities, it could be something more.

Instead, the player could be playing as a Fate, one of the gods of the world who look after worthy adventurers. Interacting with the puzzle game would be akin to playing a loom/harp of fate, affecting the outcome of the battle. Put the player directly into the game world as a literal figure, and tie the two systems together thematically.

This type of metaphor should be more interesting to interact with than the regular puzzle game.

[Chris Pavia]

Getting ready to start concepting environments, I put together a couple mood boards:

[happymonster]

I eagerly await the results! 

[ink.inc]

Bah, I should really think about doing those!

[Chris Pavia]

Bah, I should really think about doing those!

Definitely try it at least once and see if you get any use out of it. I tend to hoard reference material so putting them together is pretty simple.

[Chris Pavia]

I managed to do some exploratory doodling. The characters blend in a bit too much, but with some decent lighting the focus can be put back on them. I'll most likely be replacing the chains at the bottom with something simpler.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Great colour

[Chris Pavia]

Thanks! I ended up using the theme of the first mood board, but the color scheme of the second. I'll probably do a new color pass today to get something in line with the first board.

[Chris Pavia]

Is it hard to tell what's going on here? It's supposed to be a forest of obsidian with rivers of lava flowing through it, and ash falling in the distance. I thought the lava would be fun to animate and make particle effects for.

[Tumetsu]

Yeah, I have some problems with it. For example the farthest character blends to lava and nearest one to the ground. AS for background, I had to look a few moments to figure out what was going on and first assumed it was some weird surrealistic at Art itself is good I think, but I think that lava is a bit too bright and ground too black. IMO the forest background was better.

[Chris Pavia]

In case I didn't mention it, these are just loose concepts, I will be building them in 3d to fit in with the style of the characters.

Yeah, I have some problems with it. For example the farthest character blends to lava and nearest one to the ground. AS for background, I had to look a few moments to figure out what was going on and first assumed it was some weird surrealistic at Art itself is good I think, but I think that lava is a bit too bright and ground too black. IMO the forest background was better.

Good points. The stark blackness is mainly just to get across that it's obsidian, it'll have more color variation when I model it out.

I'll probably tone down the height of lava overall so it doesn't draw as much attention. Once it's moving hopefully it'll be easier to tell what's going on in the scene.

[Chris Pavia]

Anyone else have feedback on the environments before I forge ahead and do more? They might be a bit too loose for specific feedback, but 2d has never been my strong suit. My usual flow is to get the overall jist (gist?) of things laid out loosely in 2d then work out the specifics while I'm modeling/texturing.

On the enemy front I'm currently texturing a mimic (living treasure chest) and a skeleton. Should be done over the weekend.

I wonder if Derek would let me put this guy I made a while back in as an easter egg:

[McMutton]

You might just have the obsidian be a kinda-dark purple with lots of shiny ridges. Perhaps have the lava be more orange than red, and farther away.

[Chris Pavia]

Yeah, I'll probably shift the color of the lava and the obsidian a bit. Also, I'll move one of the foreground columns to be directly behind the fighter, so having him overlap with the lava shouldn't come up.

[Chris Pavia]

Hanging out with my friends, Bruce:



And Smiles: