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Latest Video: Mop Bandits

WATCH (http://vimeo.com/15318230)

(http://kittylambda.com/files/MopBanditsVideo.png)[/url]



About The Real Texas

The Real Texas is a Zelda-like with gunfighting and an Ultima 6 NPC/item system.

At it's heart is a loving satire of the modern world.

Latest (Sept 28 2010) - Shaping up really nicely, I'm going to enter this guy into the IGF so I'm crunching so hard for that right now.

Well to be honest at first I was a little put off by the visuals, particularly the trees. Something about the way the leaves are rendered in the cube shape seemed kind of weird. And the bouncing lego man seemed like it could get old after a while. But when that deer frolicked across the scene I was completely sold! Very cute.  :gentleman: I think the concept is brilliant as well. Looking forward to more!

i was really turned on by the visuals.  oh, oh yes.  yes i was.

and, i agree with george.

This looks lowpolyriffic.  Sounds like fun, I can't wait to try it out!

The screenshot looks really coo-- I like the color palette and the lowpoly look-- but I can't see the video. Just an empty space where the video should be  :(

Been looking forward to this for ages :)

It's awesome to finally see it in motion. Good luck!

Here we go, some more gameplay video, this time in video blog format.

http://vimeo.com/4893217

Or on Youtube if you prefer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg3KTtUNI3Q

Totally love that deer! And the trees are gorgeous! Anticipating this.

Another little gameplay video, this one shows some informational signs in the castle, and a suit of armour in the hallway:

http://vimeo.com/4974358 (http://vimeo.com/4974358)

Screenshotten:

(http://www.kittylambda.com/sites/default/files/ArmourSuit.jpg)

I've made another quickie gameplay video, this time showing door opening.

View it here: http://vimeo.com/5139725 (http://vimeo.com/5139725)

Dev blog here: http://psysal.livejournal.com/66346.html (http://psysal.livejournal.com/66346.html)

Screenshotten:

(http://www.kittylambda.com/sites/default/files/OpeningDoors.jpg)

This looks pretty cool, I'll keep an eye on it.

I made a video of clouds in The Real Texas. This is kind of a minimalistic video but I think the clouds are pretty cool-looking. Here ye go:

View it here: http://vimeo.com/5628147 (http://vimeo.com/5628147)

Dev blog here: http://psysal.livejournal.com/ (http://psysal.livejournal.com/)

Screen:

(http://www.kittylambda.com/sites/default/files/CloudsDrifting.jpg)

PS: DO YOU THINK THE CLOUD IN THE ABOVE SCREEN LOOKS LIKE HITLER? yipes...

This game looks astounding.  :-*

I'm guessing there's no playable version yet....darn!

Soon... soon... ish? =)

It's a neat visual style, and I like how you found a very soft tone to fit the game's mood.

That said, the mood of the game is somewhat broken up by the ocean of blue bounding the areas.  It distracts the eye, and I keep misinterpreting it as water.  It might do a great deal to maintain the game's atmosphere by toning this down somewhat, an softer shade, fog, fade to white or something of the sort, to bound the areas.

I hate to do this, but bump! I've put out a new Alpha today (October 12)

Your feedback is awesome and 100% necessary for me to make a great game.

If you want to play, please just reply here, PM me or send a message to [email protected].

Thank you!

Hey yeah, I remember thinking this looked pretty cool.

I'd be happy to give a bit of feedback.  :beer:

Sure, I'd love to try it!

I know I already mentioned this over at my thread, but your deer animation video was so funny!  The part where you show a diagram with "physics in my mind" and the Lompakko music starts playing totally caught me off guard and I started laughing.  If you still need help with alpha testing, and your game works on a PC with Windows XP I'll help you test it!

Oh yeah--that bouncing deer video is pretty damn funny.  I too busted out laughing at the whole 'Physics in My Mind' part and the music definitely helped. 

Nice job producing a quirky dev video showcasing your deer bouncing.. hilarious!  :)

Hah, wow I didn't know you guys liked the deer video so much!

To tell the truth I've been wanting to make another "let's talk..." video, I've had a few ideas over the past while but haven't jumped on them. I think I will, now! The video quality was really poor which is part of what discouraged me from doing another.

@supershigi I'll reply re: the music on the other thread!

Bump! Okay kids it's not a really exciting and hard-to-produce video dev blog but... it's some cool gameplay video! Whew!

In case you are wondering, I make it look easy.

Cool video!  I like the effect for when the cube turns into rubble after you blow it up with dynamite.

Thank you. Originally I had planned for the floateye to be invincible, and the "stone" was just a disabled-state. But once I had TNT in, there was really no other alternative. Hehehe...

The inventory system looks pretty good too... how long did it take you to come up with it?

Bump! Hi everybody, please see the first message and let me know if you want to be an alpha tester. I need you, particularly if you haven't played the game! Thanks!

I'll do it :)

Looks awesome. I'd like to do some testing.

Hey folks! Thanks for all the encouragement and feedback... I made another dev blog video last night, I guess I could move this thread to DevLogs or something but really, what I mainly want is feedback feedback feedback. Anyhow the new video is here:

http://kittylambda.com/node/384

I still need alpha testers, I need them eternally. If you think you've got some time to give the game a whirl, just PM me. The next alpha will be out in probably 2 weeks or so, so that's when I'll need more testers.

Hi PsySal!  Just letting you know I've been playing the game and taking notes as I go along.  I'll post all my feedback when I finish.  It's pretty cool so far!

I'm actually writing now because I'm stuck :P  I've talked to everyone in the castle (Henleigh, Haddock, Stew, and one other guy), I examined the vandalized painting, and I'm carrying around a very threatening mop.  Do you have a hint for me?

@supershigi are you playing Alpha 201? The hint is to head for the ballroom, the game actually hasn't properly started for you, yet =) The next alpha will actually partition the castle down a LOT so that you head for the ballroom even more quickly.

Thank you for your support and feedback! I'm looking forward to it =)

EDIT: I should also add that I've made so many changes I can't even remember what each Alpha had or didn't have. But I'm pretty sure you should head to the ballroom. Also: whatever you do, don't censor your feedback! Particularly if you think something isn't good or could be better, that's usually the most valuable stuff to me...

Calvin, I would like access to the most recent alpha version please.  :beer:

I just discovered this and have been chuckling my way through the videos. Looking forward to seeing more!

Woot! Thanks @Ed I will keep 'em coming... Actually they are getting easier and easier to make, I might not do any with full video until I can get access to a better camera, though...

@Bones/Derek Woot! And yes =) Buuut... would you do me a huge favour and wait until the next alpha (next weekend)? I can send you the link to Alpha 201 but what I really will need is to see what people run into with the next one, since I've already fixed and changed a huge amount.

The difference between these alphas is only 2 weeks but that's actually getting to be quite a lot, lots of fixes and I'm implementing the actual game at close-to-breakneck speed...

I'd be interested in trying the next alpha. I'd be nice to see what has changed since the first one.

Okiedokie, I haven't finished the game yet, but I've got some fairly comprehensive feedback for you concerning the first hour, and the combat system.  Since I believe that it's absolutely vital that people don't get stuck during the first hour of gameplay, I tried to highlight a couple areas where I got confused or frustrated.  I actually thought the pacing would have been perfect (the right amount of preliminary exploration in the beginning, humorous and enjoyable dialogue, easy to follow quests, etc.) had I not gotten stuck or had trouble with the combat.  So hopefully this feedback can help a bit with that ^_^

The Castle Map:
I think you've included all the necessary navigation tools for the player, but a few changes could make the interface a lot more intuitive.  Early on, as a result of the graphical style (which is charming, but easier to get lost in) I had difficulty navigating my way around the castle.  I'd get lost easily, and when an NPC would tell me to talk to someone in the library or the kitchen I wouldn't know how to get there.  Had I looked at my castle map (rather than the mini-map) I would have had a much easier time getting around, but I had completely forgotten about picking up a castle map until after going through the portal and talking to Carrie.  I said to myself, "Well, I remember picking up the castle map and looking at it... why didn't it occur to me to use it when I was lost inside the castle?"   

I think there were a few reasons: 1.) I picked up a lot of random objects (everything from brochures to poetry books to flower petals), so the map kind of got lost amidst everything else in my inventory, 2.) My natural action was to click on the mini-map expecting to see a more detailed map of the castle rather than going into my inventory to look at the map.  In retrospect it seems obvious that I should have gone into my inventory and used the castle map, but I guess this is one of those things that gets overlooked when a person is trying to get their bearings and is picking up all sorts of things.  I think a simple solution would be to make the castle map really accessible.  Once the map is in your inventory, perhaps clicking on the mini-map can bring up a picture of whichever map corresponds with your current location.  Either that, or the option to open the castle map once you've clicked on the mini-map would have been really helpful and I don't think I would have gotten stuck.

Combat:

• I really liked the WASD + mouse combination for combat.  I felt like I had a good amount of control, and I liked how moving in any direction would cancel aiming.
  
• Although I was shown how to use a gun in Mathilda's cave, the combat from the first area was very frustrating.  I had to die several times before I figured out what I needed to do when one of the green cubes ambushed me (when it tells you to "resist").  Once I learned how to do it, it was easy from then on.  Given that this is the first real combat in the game, I might suggest either making the first enemies as straight forward as the squirrels/gators, or giving a message indicating how to deal with the "resist" mechanic.  Although this might not be an issue for hardcore gamers who will probably keep trying until they figure it out (as was my case), I think a lot of my friends who are more casual gamers might give up after dying a few times.
• Sometimes when you enter a new area, you're immediately ambushed by a green cube which can be frustrating if you don't know how to escape from its death grip.  It might be nice if the enemies in the earlier areas were placed in such a way that you wouldn't get immediately ambushed upon entering the new screen.
• I'm actually still a bit confused about how to defeat the green cubes.  Sometimes it's easy to destroy them, other times I will shoot them a lot and they just do this weird thing where they expand and contract no matter how many times I shoot them.  I still haven't figured out how to consistently kill them, I kind of just shoot them from different angles until they die, so success felt really random.  You might want to increase the area where the green cubes can be successfully destroyed; I think this might make the combat feel more satisfying.  When I had to go back and kill green cubes to earn money for dynamite I would definitely have enjoyed it more had I felt like I knew exactly how to kill them.

Other Stuff:

• Perhaps I just overlooked it (if so, just ignore this one), but perhaps you might consider adding Carrie's house to the map since everything is in reference to it.
• Clicking on the sign to the right of Mathilda's cave causes the game to crash.
• The dialogue was very well-written and I enjoyed reading it.  Xartan's journal was hilarious.
• I really liked a lot of the music; it was catchy and fit the environment quite well.  The castle theme in particular got stuck in my head and I was humming it afterwards.
• The dynamite was fun to use :P  The way the barricades crumbled was quite satisfying.

Overall, great job PsySal!  I'll let you know if I come across anything else as I continue to play.  Keep up the good work!

Woot! Thank you supershigi. Here is what I can tell you so far:

- I'm going to move the slimes to a bit later in the game, the first combat path will have a weaker slime enemy. I think you are quite right about it.
- There is a trick to shooting the slimes but I have to make it a bit more obvious.
- I made a big mistake in the last alpha, you actually weren't supposed to be able to access most of the castle. I can't remember what each alpha was, but I believe Alpha 201 I had meant to actually block off most of the castle but forgot that you could just walk around to the west of it to get in the west door.

You'll see in the next one, it's *much* different. Actually you won't even believe how much has changed in just a week or so...

Thank you x10000000 for your feedback! It's sooo helpful for me, especially other game designers.

PS: Right now I'm adding procedural music generation for the harpsichord, hahaha... that's probably not the wisest expenditure of my time, I need to stop with it now!

No problem, I'm happy to help ^_^  I hope my feedback made sense; sometimes I have a much easier time verbalizing my feedback as opposed to writing it.  What is the trick to shooting the slimes?  Oh and procedural music generation for the harpsichord sounds awesome to me, haha... more power to you!

Some New Gameplay Video - Rats

It's been a long time since I posted anything, but rest assured I am kicking a lot of ass on this game.

So here we go with a little tidbit of gameplay video:

The Real Texas Gameplay Video - Rats (Kinda Gross) (http://kittylambda.com/node/438)

(http://kittylambda.com/files/frame1000453.jpg) (http://kittylambda.com/node/438)

Gameplay Quickie #1 - Mop Bandits

Here is a nicely commented miniboss battle. I'm going to enter into IGF at which point I will have a proper trailer and proper site.

WATCH (http://vimeo.com/15318230)

(http://kittylambda.com/files/MopBanditsVideo.png)

Hooray, looking forward to igf trailer & such :)

Is the wobbly sound effect in the video meant to indicate that the shots are being blocked?  If so it seems to come a bit out of sync with the shots ... I worry a bit that their weakness / when they are vulnerable or not isn't communicated that clearly by the visual&audio cues, though it's hard to say for sure.

Also not sure it's a good thing you can shoot yourself accidentally during battles ...

This might be true, re: whether the "tells" are enough. I am worried that these guys are going to be just too hard in general, but only user testing will show these kind of things.

The later you go in the game the less polished things are. Right now I'm filling in some major-ish holes in the very late game and trying to punch a hole through to where the game is winnable (albeit still pretty incomplete towards the end.) Being able to shoot yourself in battle is actually important and fun, there are enemies which tend to cluster around you making it hard to shoot them without shooting yourself as well.

Battles tend to be on a pretty steep "control curve" which is something less common in my limited game-playing experience. Like, if you make a major mistake it can be really hard to recover. However it's also incredibly exciting when you do, much more than a typical health metered game because it tends to be more stateful. I.e. as a player you are either in some form of your attack mode (move, shoot, run, position, etc.) or you are in panic-escape-at-all-costs mode, which in practice is really exciting. The game does not punish very much for death (much closer to VVVVVV than to LTTP, for example) so the trick is just tuning it for that balance. Across such a big game that is especially challenging...

Thanks!

The thing about having a mechanic where the player can shoot themselves -- I can see it being fun mechanically in the abstract, but I think when you connect it back to its meaning in the world, that my character just randomly shot himself during a battle, it's potentially just going to come off as stupid and obnoxious?  I mean it sounds like the sort of frustrating thing where people will tend to blame the game for it happening, because it will risk feeling more like a bug than a feature.  It might work a bit better if you could find a funny way to acknowledge the weirdness of the mechanic, in the dialog perhaps ...
(of course, maybe I'm just wrong and it's fine!  feel free to ignore me, I am just musing)

Mm.. It definitely runs that risk. It is definitely not a random thing per se, e.g., it has it's own (slightly muffled) sound effect and is also something you can only do with the handgun. However I do think letting the player know that they shot themselves via some text is not a bad idea. In testing, players didn't have a hard time understanding what had happened, however early cuts had it that if you clicked your gun you would shoot yourself; now, it doesn't count if you shoot your gun. For various reasons (basically, that your guns sticks out and tracks the mouse as you spin around) it was obnoxiously easy to shoot your gun. Now it's fairly hard, but some enemies does latch onto you and it can be really satisfying to carefully pick them off without shooting yourself!

Anyhow =) We shall see! I try to make things as clear/balanced/interesting as I can and see how they shake out in user testing...

EDIT: I should add that I'm very much not averse to throwing things out when they aren't working, so if it really is an issue I will ditch it!

Overall looks really neat and stylish.

The main character seems a bit awkward with using the gun, but I guess that's just the animation.

@Hardy hey nice to meet you! Your blog is really brilliant and I've read it for a long time...

There is one problem with the main character not turning around properly when he's shooting, so sometimes he's angled the wrong way. Other than that in action I think it looks reasonably convincing when he shoots, but we'll see!

Today I have my rally outfit on, which is basically a shirt that says TEXAS and a pair of camo pants. So we'll see what I get accomplished!

Thanks I appreciate that you like it a lot. And I remembered you from the comments you left under our articles.


Yes, mostly that was the problem I was referring to.

I really like the new changes and additions to the 200 alpha. I like how the creatures remind me of Cubivore.

I've already found a couple of bugs, so I'll PM them to you.

Hey thanks! I've fixed the issue with the barrier, it had to do with how objects were being initialized (actually it was a rather major fix, but made other things better, too.)

Your saves are in Something/Local Settings/The Real Texas/(Version #) ... I think! I don't have my windows machine on, but basically if you go to the folder with all your local settings, it's usually C:\Users\Your Username or C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username you should be able to find it. This is the place that Windows recommends explicitly that games put their savegames.

The other really gross issue with saves was getting stuck, because it autosaves when you enter a new area. That has hopefully also been nuked by now but in 200 there were a number of ways to get stuck!

Thanks for playing and for the encouragement!