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Title: Murias Post by: Irock on May 18, 2013, 07:26:07 AM Murias Atmospheric Puzzle Adventure Platformer Introduction Murias is a sidescrolling adventure game I'm making with a strong emphasis on atmosphere, sense of place and puzzle solving, in addition to some mild platforming. My main goals for this game are to create a unique and interesting environment, to learn about the design of and create good puzzles and to have the whole project be and feel very personal and thoughtful. It's a bit different from most of the games I've worked on and all of the games I've released (http://corymartin.net/). Up until now, I've never really tried to do something slightly "soulful." The games I've released don't resonate with me, I assume because they're not very unique or indicative of who I am or what's inside my imagination. I can't feel attached to a blatant Zelda clone or a generic action platformer. What sense is there in making games independently if your games don't mean anything to you or contribute something to the world? This is my attempt at escaping that awful feeling. Not to get overdramatic, though. I'll try and post about what I've been doing every few days. I thought I'd start a devlog to help motivate me and also to get feedback. This ought to be finished within a couple months if I stay focused. Setting The game takes place in Murias, an eccentric marsh-like land on a fictional Earth. Murias is packed with a mixture of both familiar and unfamiliar wildlife, plants and geographical features. A thick green liquid can be found making up pools and lakes throughout the environment. The different areas of Murias will have some of their own distinct features to set them apart from one another, but will all tie in together well. You'll find the occasional human, but they're not overly abundant. Gameplay The game will be structured with some mild exploration within a grand linear path. I'm a big fan of non-linearity, but that requires more work and focus than I think I'd be capable of, and I'd like for this game to actually get finished unlike the vast majority of my other projects. However, there will still be secrets and multiple paths and solutions to problems. In addition to basic movement, you will interact with certain objects in the environment as well as carry and use items. It should be noted that you can only carry one item at a time in order to keep things simplistic. NPCs can be spoken to and inscriptions can be read. This will be used this for story, puzzles and revealing more about the land and history of Murias. Screenshots (http://i.imgur.com/7BVr1sd.png) Videos Bird (May 7th) (https://vine.co/v/b2gnjLVQ9z1) Dialog System (May 15th) (https://vine.co/v/bEiVZa1BBdm) Death (May 20th) (https://vine.co/v/b9nq7UB51LB) Tools If you're curious: Stencyl is the IDE I'm using. Logic Pro 9 alongside my Korg M50 for the music and sound. BFXR also for sound. Photoshop and a Wacom Bamboo tablet for art. You can follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/KcoriM) for updates on the game. Though I'll mostly post about other stuff. Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 18, 2013, 07:27:09 AM Stuff that's already been done before this was posted (that's worth mentioning)
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Ant on May 18, 2013, 09:31:23 AM intriguing
:handthumbsupR: Title: Re: Murias Post by: happymonster on May 18, 2013, 09:45:58 AM Looks nice :)
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 20, 2013, 04:17:48 PM Thanks!
I didn't get to work on the game Sunday, but here's what I did since starting the thread: - Death (Vine video (https://vine.co/v/b9nq7UB51LB)) - Drowning in water - Player-activated switches that toggle booleans - Added another parallax background (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BKqtN_GCcAMnUrP.png:large) - Sprited some more background objects and trees - When talking to an NPC, the player will walk to the side of that NPC so they're facing one another - Bug fixes and polish I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to have death in the game, but I wanted to have lakes that were untraversable without a boat, and the only logical way to do that without physical barriers would be to have the player drown. So I had to program in death in order to have drowning. I also figured it would give me some more options as far as puzzles go, plus I can have death-causing obstacles in-between destinations. Dying just puts you back to where you entered the area from, so it's not too punishing. I don't plan on overusing it either, as in, I don't want a bunch of reflex-based stuff. When your nose area is underwater, a meter appears at the top that decrements over the course of a few seconds. It quickly refills when you pop your head out of the water. (http://i.imgur.com/zoVk8iF.png) Title: Re: Murias Post by: sublinimal on May 20, 2013, 06:54:28 PM I appreciate people who go out of their way to make their games personal. Some games just feel like you're seeing a glimpse of the developer's mind, you know? It's one of the main appeals of indie games for me.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: eigenbom on May 20, 2013, 08:07:19 PM following
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Barch on May 20, 2013, 10:14:40 PM I've noticed that your game has emphasis on nature and exploration - making due note to the streams lakes grass mountains. I see that, so why so much horizontal emphasis? You are missing out on so much natural beauty in the world. Nature creates its dress in its silk and honey in its curves and hills and bobs and cliffs.
Have a look at the splendor of this place (https://maps.google.com/maps?z=17&layer=c&cbll=50.640191,-2.06027&panoid=_B51lpJMil6WKnyytki16A&cbp=12,163.70686567164176,,-3,45&hl=en) Take a good look at it give at least 10minutes to watch how the grass rolls, the clouds break the horizon, stones break and create the boundarys, not the limit of such 90 degree angles but of - the untameable everywhere! So I say take the hills of that you have drawn - the tiles the sprites. Rip them to shreds give away and never see the y grid of your place be constrined and twisted by a mere 32+ y grid. Make cliffs ever so huge cliffs, if this is a reflection of you my Irock then let it be you not the influence of the limitations of a snes game but let it be the influence of your life, what made your smere and wonder of the glory of nature itself. use whatever your means of course be it tiles surfaces voxels polygons but be adventurous, I can just see so much potential! I look forward to what you do with your game Title: Re: Murias Post by: devi ever on May 20, 2013, 10:23:46 PM Looks nice. I'll probably be doing a Let's Play of the rest of your games soon because they look nice as well. :)
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Thecoolestnerdguy on May 21, 2013, 02:13:52 AM Title: Re: Murias Post by: C.D Buckmaster on May 21, 2013, 02:18:44 AM Dang, I love those colours.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: devi ever on May 21, 2013, 03:00:52 AM Played your other games. Really enjoyed the artwork and sound and am excited to see how this progresses!
Title: Re: Murias Post by: K1lo on May 21, 2013, 03:50:06 AM Wow I love the art style!
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 21, 2013, 06:30:11 AM Thank you, everyone! It's really motivating to see people interested in the game already.
@Barch Your post is exceptionally interesting to read, but it's not very clear. I haven't the slightest idea as to what you're asking me to do. Title: Re: Murias Post by: Connor on May 21, 2013, 09:00:00 AM following.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: matriax on May 21, 2013, 11:09:16 AM Very interesting atmosphere and minimalistic pixel-art(I love it).
IMHO i think will be better a tree without dithering and some leaf patterns instead of green bright/dark pixels that ruins the atmosphere. Title: Re: Murias Post by: aberrantmind on May 21, 2013, 02:46:38 PM this looks great, subbed
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Barch on May 21, 2013, 05:12:52 PM @Irock
yes of course. Words should never be used to create images when pictures are avalible that too with pictures making words. Lest be a post contemporary artist wonders why his visual communication cannot match his own. For pictures are not words. the barch brings forth the mspaint Behold the diagram Yourock! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5108221/diagram.png) Do you not see? Your representation is still calm - geometry. While the pictures are imperfect. Enough to make Derek yu blush (http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/18591854565/how-to-tell-when-you-gave-artists-too-much-control-over). To make clear don't be afraid to use lots of vertical space. Dont be afriad to use more then rigid shapes. Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 21, 2013, 07:28:18 PM Oh, okay, it's already my intention to make things look natural. I'm still not finished with the tileset and the level design shown in screenshots and videos aren't final. Though as it stands I already have four different slope grades sprited so it's not like I just have 45 degree angles.
Since I posted that Vine video of the death animation, I've already sprited quite a few cliff and wall tiles (it's really easy since it's a solid color) and improved that spike pit. (http://i.imgur.com/iS62fPV.png) Title: Re: Murias Post by: Barch on May 21, 2013, 07:47:57 PM I love you, see how far you can take it.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 22, 2013, 04:17:16 PM I made a test level based around the mockup example you made to see how far I could push my tileset and objects. I made quite a few new graphics in the process.
(http://i.imgur.com/Qenkev4.png) Featuring upside-down mushrooms. Title: Re: Murias Post by: Barch on May 22, 2013, 08:02:37 PM Now thats what I'm talking about, black silhouettes piecing the purple horizon. Cliffs and vines and all the masquerades of mushroom nature
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 25, 2013, 09:29:23 AM (http://i.imgur.com/GSXS4sL.png)
This is the boat the main character takes to get to Murias. Title: Re: Murias Post by: devi ever on May 25, 2013, 09:43:47 AM Looks great. Would be fantastic to see it bobbing in the water with some creaking wood sounds and night time ambiance.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 25, 2013, 09:47:14 AM Thanks. I actually wanted to make an animated gif to show the boat bobbing up and down, the fog rolling by and everything else, but I don't know of a good, free utility to do that on OS X. :(
Title: Re: Murias Post by: devi ever on May 25, 2013, 10:16:00 AM Thanks. I actually wanted to make an animated gif to show the boat bobbing up and down, the fog rolling by and everything else, but I don't know of a good, free utility to do that on OS X. :( I got just the solution for ya! > http://www.evological.com/evocam.html Looking forward to see animations! BTW. Played through your other games. Really enjoyed the artwork and style! Title: Re: Murias Post by: andy wolff on May 25, 2013, 11:03:54 AM This world you're making looks very nice
Title: Re: Murias Post by: sublinimal on May 25, 2013, 12:03:14 PM I'm glad you've taken Barch's advice into account (even if the organic look was your original intention anyway). That test level already looks like such a nice place.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: TNERB on May 25, 2013, 04:39:03 PM Very atmospheric! :-*
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Bandreus on May 27, 2013, 11:10:51 AM sexy pixels and great atmosphere made my day. followin'
Title: Re: Murias Post by: unsilentwill on May 30, 2013, 08:57:18 AM Intriguing, hope to see more of this.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 31, 2013, 03:55:57 PM Thanks everyone.
I decided that there will be four distinct areas in the game that you visit. One is the purple one I've been showing thus far. A few days ago I started working on the graphics for a second one, an olive-colored area with pyramids and trees that stem off of larger trees. (http://i.imgur.com/041gVuc.png) I've been struggling to make good trees. I attempted to make the leaves look similar to the ones in the purple area, but I haven't been able to produce anything that looks good under that style, and now I'm questioning whether those leaves were a good idea in the first place. My question is, do these look like garbage? And how do you think I could improve them? Trees have always been a problem for me to sprite. (http://i.imgur.com/KvJFENb.png) Title: Re: Murias Post by: C.D Buckmaster on May 31, 2013, 05:54:48 PM I really like that tree, is it a solid object, or are only silhouettes solid?
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on May 31, 2013, 06:01:14 PM Yeah, only the silhouettes are solid.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: matriax on May 31, 2013, 11:21:03 PM The last image need minus saturation in far objects and the enviorment needs to be a little small each layer to get more sensation of deep.
BTW, each time looks better! ;) Title: Re: Murias Post by: happymonster on June 01, 2013, 12:15:26 AM Looks great, but I think the background gradient for the sky is a bit strong. :)
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Connor on June 02, 2013, 12:56:40 PM love it :P great atmosphere.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on June 15, 2013, 09:13:56 PM I've been thinking about this game a lot, and I came to the realization (or maybe I just finally accepted) that I don't really know what I'm doing with this game. Unfortunately, I didn't think of what kinds of puzzles there would be, how the puzzles would be separated, how the areas would connect, what the goals of the game are, what I wanted to express, or much of anything except for what I have in the main post. I'm going to have to rethink everything and do a lot of prototyping until I have a cohesive skeletal idea that I can base everything on, and I need to make sure I don't make the this rookie mistake again in the future. I feel bad that I started a devlog thread prematurely, so I want to apologize to everyone.
Title: Re: Murias Post by: Greg Game Man on June 16, 2013, 11:38:15 AM I've been thinking about this game a lot, and I came to the realization (or maybe I just finally accepted) that I don't really know what I'm doing with this game. Unfortunately, I didn't think of what kinds of puzzles there would be, how the puzzles would be separated, how the areas would connect, what the goals of the game are, what I wanted to express, or much of anything except for what I have in the main post. I'm going to have to rethink everything and do a lot of prototyping until I have a cohesive skeletal idea that I can base everything on, and I need to make sure I don't make the this rookie mistake again in the future. I feel bad that I started a devlog thread prematurely, so I want to apologize to everyone. Everyones been there. Way i made puzzle games in the past was to prototype an intial mechanic that is fun, then stretch it out to 15-20 levels (each a new puzzle) by fully exploring the possibilities of the mechanic. Good way to do that is ask questions: - what if it worked with this? - what if some things were immune? - what if it was reversed...etc The more "dynamic" your mechanic is, the more puzzles you can probably get out of it. Title: Re: Murias Post by: Irock on June 17, 2013, 03:59:09 PM Thanks for the advice. There aren't really any mechanics in Murias other than walking, jumping and pressing down to interact with objects. So maybe that could be a problem since most of the puzzles I'd come up with either have been done before or won't be that compelling. I'm sure it's very possible to come up with some good puzzles with bare-bones mechanics, but I'll have to think about it.
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