I'll take one build please.

Thanks! It's one of many mechanics. Pretty much like Zelda items.

Yeah... 1B

Lasers are fun.

Precisely the reaction I was going for.

A wild update appears!

It's been a while, but this game is still being worked on. Lots and lots of art has been done for the game since the last update. We are reworking the entire overworld map into a cool new system which is going to tie everything together a lot better.

I have something fun to show that I'm currently developing:


(don't mind the horrible framerate, it was set low intentionally to keep the file size down)

This is the laser security system stuff I'm implementing. You'll be able to spray mist and reveal laser paths so that you don't accidentally trip the laser. You can place down mirrored blocks that will cut the laser path off so you can slip through otherwise inaccessible areas. The little pink "X" blocks won't actually be visible in the final game, they are just for testing.

The game plays nicely. I never felt like I couldn't handle the requests and I managed to squeeze in some learning time and resting as well.

I'm assuming you'll eventually add achievements/unlocks of some sort? Like being able to see a gallery of the paintings your little dudes make?

My only concern would be that if you expand the game into having more than a few artists, it could get really tedious/nerve wracking trying to keep track of like half a dozen artists spread all over the building.

My comments on the alpha:

- being able to mouse over your artist to see their energy level would be great
- knowing how much time you have before the ! people get mad and leave would also be great. Maybe a little timer bar on them or something so you can pace yourself better. I always get anxious and click on them early to avoid them leaving mad... but they actually hang there a while.
- just a minor issue... I found the camera movements a bit excessive... I dunno... it was zipping around a lot for just slightly moving my mouse from one side to the other. I feel like it would benefit from not moving at all, or at least moving slower.

The next obvious step is to do some quicksand 

On the title screen, I think the dust blowing screen left while the character's clothing/hair is blowing screen right is bugging the heck out of me. :p

Someone got a bit too happy with screen shaking... :p I don't think every object in the game needs to be shaking the screen.

At least for most of it you could do very subtle shaking... It doesn't seem to have a range... it's just "regular no shake" or "FULL ON SHAKE THIS SCREEN UNTIL YOUR EYEBALLS SPASM".

[Update 206]

Should've left yourself better notes! 

Heh, actually I don't comment at all... This is just a two week project anyways, why bother

this game is fucking amazing, one of few games i am actually genuinely looking forward to playing, massively inspirational as well thank you for making this game man

Thank you! Remember that it's extremely difficult and frustrating though

Update 206
Finally have something I can show:

Image is broken!!! ahhhhh

I think maybe one way to improve the forward shooting animation is to put both his hands on the gun... unless you are reserving his other hand for something else. I agree that the "looking back" while shooting animation looks fine.

Also some recoil would help a lot. I realize the gun is automatic so it's firing very fast, but you could add just a tiny bit of kick back to his arm/wrist to show the gun has some firing power. Right now it's just like he's spraying a water hose.

Also having him use both hands on the gun would strengthen the appearance that the gun is powerful. When it comes to shooting guns, it's all about the full experience of firing a powerful weapon. Even if the gun is like the dinky basic gun you get by default.

I checked out the demo. Only played it for 2 stages but...

I'm not sure I like the super limited inventory space. I found myself just using up stuff to make room for other stuff.

I also found myself staring at the top half of the screen about 85% of the time... which seems a shame since it's literally just some colored squares while all this nice pixel art is down at the bottom going unseen.

There's a big disconnect when trying to navigate the maze and actually looking on the lower part of the screen to see what's going on. I know that's probably the last thing you want to hear after basing your entire gameplay mechanic around the split screen style... but I really don't think it's working that well.

It's a really cool idea though, I just feel like there's a reason most roguelikes stick to a single camera view.

I wasn't interested in this until the rock video. Seriously... this needs to be shown on your KS. I think I'll back this now.

By the way, I have to laugh at all the people wasting their time arguing over the use of the word roguelike... It's like the same people who argue about Americans using "Football" and "Soccer" for the name of sports instead of what the rest of the world uses. In the end, it really doesn't matter what you call it, as long as people understand what you're referring to.

When someone outside of America uses the term football, I know they are talking about what Americans refer to as soccer. It's no different with "roguelike". When I hear that, I think "a game with elements similar to Rogue". Not necessarily "MUST BE TURN BASED. PERMADEATH. RANDOM GENERATION. ETC." No need to match every single thing on a list.

Anyway... I'm getting off topic. I'm backing this now thanks to a rock. Good day!

Bridges aren't too difficult. You just need to set up some special conditions for them. Like if the player enters the bridge from the sides, then draw the player under, otherwise draw the player over. You could even set up some invisible collision boxes if you needed to.

It also really depends on what you're developing the game with.

I'm curious as to the gameplay mechanics... Seeing the video makes me wonder what sort of pace you're going for. The game feels very heavily action based. What with the turbo sprinting and even the slow crawling movement is quite fast. What are your plans for when the burglar gets spotted? Would he be chased throughout the level or what?

I'm just wondering why anyone would want to walk in the foreground if hiding in the background provides better cover and also seems to allow you to move equally fast.

Those animations look really gorgeous. I should look into toonboom.

Be prepared to spend $4,000

My work is currently scoping out Toonboom and it is indeed, pretty freaking amazing. With just a back and front view of a character you can create a full 360 rotation that actually looks legit. No quarter or side views need to be drawn.

Anyway... this game looks amazing! How long has it been in production?

YES. THIS.

The painterly style you tried is nice, but this is by far the superior choice.

I actually do prefer this color over the other color samples as well.

I will play this game so much if you stick with this style throughout.

Your default keys are R, W, and U? Are you high?

I'm staring at my keyboard trying to figure out what alien hand I'd need to use to reach these keys comfortably.

Seems really jittery/sliding still.

To really lock the feet down you just don't move the object forward on a foot plant. It feels like you're trying to cover too much distance with a slow moving walk cycle. You either need to speed up the walk cycle in order to get the right amount of steps needed (think a small dog taking many steps to cover a short distance), or you need to lengthen the gait of the walk itself.

You can get away with maybe a couple of pixels sliding forward during the stepping but you definitely should freeze the movement when the foot is coming down and firmly planting.