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[jmakegames]

Hey everyone!

Was pretty unwell over the last couple of weeks so progress was a little slow. I've been working on map layouts (before I dive in and lay the massive amount of tilesets per level design) and decided to add a little touch of detail today. See if you can tell what it is!



Thanks for all the support and feedback by the way, it's been awesome!

[Slader16]

Umm.... shadows? 

[jmakegames]

Another little update!

I've been working on the first map area for the game - it's a little tedious having to manually tile what feels like a huge area, but it's getting there! I've also added a nice amount of polish (behind the scenes too) to the dialogue system. You can see now it's much easier to read and just looks a little more aesthetically pleasing.



Hope everyone's having a good week!

[jmakegames]

Hey people!

So I've finally completed the bulk work for the maps/areas and the relevant tiling that goes with that, so the game world is essentially complete! I don't want to post images of that, as it will take away from exploring it yourselves once the game is released.

I've been studying particle systems and will add some subtle effects using them very soon.

For show this week however, I present you fauna!



Aren't they adorable!? I'm not sure if I'll add more animals at this stage, but for now they're a nice touch to breathe more life into the game.

[blekdar]

This is simple and cute, looks fantastic.

I'm a fan of simple exploration games, so I'll probably be all over this.

[jmakegames]

This is simple and cute, looks fantastic.

I'm a fan of simple exploration games, so I'll probably be all over this.

Thanks blekdar!

I've had to reduce the scope a bit. I first wanted a super large game world to explore and discover, and I had large areas, however because the land is meant to  be barren the gameplay was tedious. So reducing the size of the areas and focusing a little more on story progression should help.

There is still that element of exploration to find things that help progress that story as well (but I won't say what they are ).

[Grog]

It's been said multiple times... but that simple aesthetic is really strong. Nice job.

[jmakegames]

It's been said multiple times... but that simple aesthetic is really strong. Nice job.

Thanks Grog!

I made some more progress this weekend - bug fixes, new sprites, proper interiors (and transitioning) and more! Here's the new interior/exterior transition (smoothed out):




A little well that needed implementing:




And some fun debug stuff for you!



Takes so long to run around the maps testing new features so I just HAD to implement a speed boost/noClip sort of mode! Still have a decent amount to do but I'm happy with the progress this weekend!

[FK in the Coffee]

Lovely visuals! The little details really give it a smooth, seamless feel.

[jmakegames]

I've been working on implementing more of the story and the game mechanics that go with driving it. The game is relatively small but it's still proving to be a lot of work!

I've got a teaser of the eerie side of A Journey to Tower for you guys. I won't detail any more of this, as I don't want to spoil anything (I may have already ruined the surprise a little though!).



There's a gif over on my twitter and I'd definitely appreciate the follow and support!

Thanks!

[Osteel]

That last image has me so curious. I love the look of this!

[MereMonkey]

Haha love the chickens!!

[jmakegames]

That last image has me so curious. I love the look of this!

Thanks! I hope it lives up to the mystery.

Haha love the chickens!!

99% of my development time has gone into those chickens... I'm glad it paid off! 

I have a couple more things I've been working on today to show off. The elder-type character uses a critical story-driven mechanic I had to implement (I've only used a teaser of the dialogue you'll experience in the final game), and the campfire is some more ambient detail that I wanted to add from the start!





Happy Tuesday everyone!

[Fenrir]

It looks so nice, so much personality in so little pixels! Keep it up!

[jmakegames]

It looks so nice, so much personality in so little pixels! Keep it up!

Thanks Fenrir!

Here's an update for everyone! I'm still working hard on A Journey to Tower. I did have some time off for a couple of weeks but I'm back into it, trying to write music and add general audio. I also added a core gameplay mechanic that I had been considering for quite some time (I don't normally recommend implementing gameplay mechanics this late, but this brought more interesting gameplay out, if only slightly).

So you can now overheat! It makes sense, right? Your a radio sorta thing and you're in the desert. Here's what happens when you do (sped up for demonstration):



Game over. Start again. Relentless, huh?

But of course if you can overheat, you've got to be able to cool down! This was great because it brought the interiors to more of a gameplay role as opposed to adding atmosphere.



So release should be pretty soon. Don't forget to follow my TWITTER for the fastest updates!

Thanks!

[oahda]

Good mechanic! Now you've got to put interesting stuff in the houses too so that you can do stuff in there and not just wait. c;

[NinthPower]

somehow missed this. Looks super cool. Followed

[jovanmilic97]

This looks amazing, good luck in development. One question: do you plan to release the game on Steam?

[Chris MacAdam]

I like the new overheat mechanic. Maybe when your about to overheat you can have some sort of heat wave effect or something to convey the danger before you actually die. I would totally play this when your done.

[Rolkus]

This looks really cool!