Good luck! I'll get a copy on Steam when it's out

Hey, Thank you! I really appreciate that

[Time for Release on Nintendo Switch and Steam (PC) - 27th of February]

Time for Release on Nintendo Switch and Steam (PC) - 27th of February

Woh, it's been a long time since I posted regularly here. The main reason for that is that the development of the actual game ended quite a while back. So the last year has mostly consisted of "porting" the game to Nintendo Switch and setting up a company called Solvarg. There are things I could have written about for sure, but I just had too many other things to keep track of and I'm sorry about that.

So "The Lost Light of Sisu" will be released for Nintendo Switch and Steam (PC) on the 27th of February. Super exciting for me since it's the first game that I have ever released. So many new things to learn about!

Release Trailer:




Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/876150/The_Lost_Light_of_Sisu/

Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-lost-light-of-sisu-switch#game-info

Screenshots
Here are some screenshots, you can find more in the press kit: Sisu Press Kit.

[#Update 166 - Post effects]

#Update 166 - Post effects

So I had some time last week to work on the post-effects. The Color Grading made the biggest different in my opition. It made the scene and colors come together a bit more.


The forest with NO post effects.


The forest with post effects.


Ice world with NO post effects.


Ice world with post effects.

I also tried adding Depth Of Field (DOF) to the game. But there are too many transparent object and particle effects in the game that gets blurred as well. So I have decided to not use DOF.

I did however try to create a transparent beam that would write to the depth buffer so the DOF would not blur it. It looked ok but it felt like it could add a lot of work in terms of testing.


Beam that writes to depth buffer so DOF handles it better.


Game without DOF


Game with DOF


Blurred beam when DOF is activated.

What do you guys think, is it ok to skip DOF?

This looks really nice. Im looking forward to seeing some more progress An even more in depth tech talk about how the 2.5D system works would be very interesting!

This looks great! I love his little walk and how expressive his eye is.

I'm doing sort of a similar style of character in my game (small and cube-y) and I'm in the process of the same debate you had toward the beginning of the devlog in terms of whether to give them a head or more features or not. It's really helpful to see how you worked through it and how the response was!

Hey!

That's great, I'm glad that you could find some help and inspiration!

I dig the boss heartbeat sound on the world map, too. It really does add a nice tension. You generally want some energy around 250 to 300 hz for 'laptop bass' to come out. Once that's there, try adding a high shelf to taste. Not so much that the highs are audible, listen for it sounding like the bass is 'pushing air'. I think heartbeats in media often have a bit of energy somewhere between 800-1200 hz too. That's just a guess from picturing the sound in my head though so take it with a grain of salt.

Good to hear that you use the word tension since its right before going into a boss level.

That is some good information, thanks! Its one of those things you easily forget to test and figure out how to solve in a manageable way. But checking the hz-range totally makes sense.

Unsure if the icons on the pause screen is a good idea. I didn't get 'World Map' from that button on it's own. Have you tried it with labels?

I do agree with you. Sometimes it is really heard to convey what the icons mean, but in this case I two main reasons for keeping them instead of text.

1: I think that when you have clicked that symbol once, you will know what is does. There are also only 3 other options which are quite clear what they do. It also correlates with the red colored background as being something "exit" like.

2: My main goal with the UI (and the whole game) was to stay away from using any text. This is mainly to keep the project smaller and avoid having to localize (translate) the game.

Also, hear me out on the 'flap' indicator: If you have those orbs rotate in a circle underneath the character, then you can make it so Sisu kind of 'jumps' on each one and they pop individually. In my opinion it would make for a stronger and more intuitive visual metaphor. Not that it's too hard to understand what's going on as-is, but it might save your players just a second or two of puzzling it out.

I really like that suggestion. That could look so sweet! If I get the time, thats definately something I would like to do, Thank you!

Haha a little animation of that *pop* and sisu flying upwards keep playing in my head.

Thanks for all the great feedback and for checking out my dev log!

And that "The Decision Engine" you are working on looks really cool. I'm going to check it out as soon as I get the time!

[#Update 165 - A mix of updates]

#Update 165 - A mix of updates

Oh man, time flies, and I have mostly been working on non-tigsource-friendly-stuff. But I have some new things to write about finally

Steam
So I have managed to register my company om steam and upload a build that I have been able to download, and it works! Such a nice feeling to have your game (even though its not public  ) downloadable from Steam.

So there was some "paperwork" that was necessary to be able to get access to all of the steam works stuff, but all in all it was a very smooth process.

Hopefully Ill be able to test the game easily now on different computers and get some information about if something is not working as intended.

Dynamic audio system
So I tried to make a more dynamic ambience audio system for the forest and ice world. It kind of worked but it also had a few issues. The idea was to have a number of separate bird sound files and play them randomly. Easy enough right? The problem was that the audio files that I had included a lot of background noise. So I also needed to have some general background noise playing at all times to not make it sounds weird. But it still kind of did. I also did not have a clear idea about what the ambiance audio should be for the ice world.

To get a cleaner bird sound, I tried recording my own whistling, which turned out ok. But the lack of "forest ambiance" in the audio made it sound super flat. I could probably have spent time on having the audio sound like it came from the right, or left with different nuances, but it just felt like too much work at this point. And I was not even sure it would sound that good. And what about the ice world?

One of the whistles trying to sound like a bird: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1warbLEegYAT3n9huAhQoeHekczAdCdpf

So I decided to use longer audio recordings of forests with bird in them (and other longer recordings for the ice and lava world). I added a few of them for each world and then randomize which one plays at the start of each level. This way it still feels dynamic and there is no issue with volume levels or the "forest ambiance"-feeling.

This solution also have some issues, but I think its the best sounding, and simplest solution so far.

Other updates


Showing current version number in game menu (lower right corner).


Updated controller button information.

I have also:
- Added lava particles when things go through the lava surface.
- Added audio for lava boss arms going up and down.
- Handled console options vs PC options (resolution and such).
- Added console controller scheme to options.
- Volume adjustments.
- A few bug fixes.

Other updates
So one of the last things to do game-wise is adding the final audio for the lava boss and the birds on the ice level.

The last major thing in general though is to port it to the X-console and hope that they accept the game into their store. That is all for now, but hopefully there will be more updates soon

[#Update 164 - Slamming Visual Feedback]

#Update 164 - Slamming Visual Feedback

I have added some additional feedback when activating the slam ability. The idea is that the green diamionds are being released when slamming down, and then recharged.


Final version.


Early prototype where "air" got shot upwards when slamming down.

I have also added some more audio for the Ice-world fish boss and some other things. There are not too many things left to create audio for so thats nice 

I have also started looking into Steam-related and console-related things which is interesting but also takes up a lot of time.


Some extra footage of the character playing around with slamming in water.

[#Update 163 - Visual feedback and audio updates]

#Update 163 - Visual feedback and audio updates

I have kept adding new audio but also some visual feedback where I felt it was needed.

So when getting hit by an ice orb the player gets frozen for a short while. This is communicated to the player through audio and visuals. I have also added a small particle affect when the player thaws.


Getting frozen by an ice orb. Small particle feedback along with audio when thawing.

I also felt that the visual feedback when flapping was not satisfying or good enough. So I added a small affect every time the player activates a flap.


Visual feedback when flapping.

I also added audio for:
- Under water currents.
- Spitters.
- Ice Orbs when impacting and exploding.

[#Update 162 - UI Fading]

#Update 162 - UI Fading

I have implemented the sound for the menu UI now, and realized that the fade ins and outs for audio and visuals when restarting and going to the world map needed some updates. Also when exiting the game.

This is what it looks like now (and you can imagine that the audio fades out and in with the same pacing  )


Restarting level.


Going to world map from level.

I am still working on adding and finishing up all of the audio and will post an update as soon as that's done.

[#Update 161 - Audio update]

#Update 161 - Audio update

I have kept on working with adding audio, this time for the levels. And for the forest levels, this also included all the general audio for things like the wind, the character, the flowers, the beaming up and down etc. I still haven't finished up quite yet, but I will post a video later with all the audio.
Here is a list of whats been added this time:

Character

• Running
  
• Jumping
  
• Swimming
  
• Swimming under water
  
• Getting hit
  
• Falling into things
  
• Rolling up slopes
  

General

• Beam down
  
• Beam up
  
• Picking up energy
  
• Flower retracting into ground
  
• Picking up secret
  
• Water splash
  
• Wind
  
• Checkpoints
  

Forest

• Stomper enemy
  
• Pusher enemy
  
• Spinner enemy
  
• Enemies impacting with player
  

Things left to do in the forest

• Ambiance day
  
• Ambiance night
  
• Boss related audio
  

The ambiance is a bit special. At this time, it is just playing an audio file, but I am thinking about writing a small "ambiance audio system" that randomizes which bird will chirp and things like that. This could come in handy for the other levels as well. The point would be to make it sound less repetitive.

Yep, was a laptop speaker 

Glad the feedback was of use

Ah, thats probably going to be common. Thanks for letting me know!

Haha, yes. It was great feedback 

What are your plans for the music? :-)

Hey!

The plan is to start by only having ambience-like audio and then build from that. You can hear parts of it in the #160 update

Hey this is pretty beautiful? Any ETA?

I'd love to be friends. Is this possible? 

Hey, thanks! I appreciate that

I dont have an ETA but I am hoping in the coming 6 months. But its a really tricky thing to estimate.

Do you mean on the tigsource forum? Im not sure, but if it is, ofcourse 

I love the idea, but I don't hear the hearbeat on the boss icon though?

Cool that you like the idea

I have double checked that the heart beat audio in the video exists. The sound contains almost only very low frequencies so Im thinking that you might have listened through laptop speaker or something like that (that cuts off the lower frequencies)? Then it might not be able to hear it actually.. and that is in it self a good point  I should probably add som mid-frequencies to that audio so all types of speakers can play it.

[#Update 160 - World Map Audio]

#Update 160 - World Map Audio

I have found and added the (hopefully  ) final audio to the world map. So now there is audio for:

- Background ambiance
- Intro cinematic teleportation.
- Spaceship movement.
- Activating and selecting level, teleporter and boss level.
- Teleporting between planets.
- Final cinematic.

So I actually got inspiration for in game animations based off of sounds that I found. A good example is the heart beating boss level icon. I really like how it adds some extra tension before entering it

[#Update 159 - Choosing audio]

Man, this is looking so nice / lovely! Looking forward to playing this.

Hey, thanks a lot! I hope it wont be too far into the future

#Update 159 - Choosing audio

I am in the middle of trying to find the final audio for everything in the game. Like Background ambiance, pickup sound etc etc.

I will write an update and try to link some audio when its more finalized. At this point it seems like I will be able to add all the audio that I wanted from the start, except for music. It will be more of an ambiance layer with birds, wind and things like that. But nothing is set in stone, so who knows, I might feel like it really needs to be some music there 

[#Update 158 - Unified UI]

#Update 158 - Unified UI

Previously I had a separate UI for the world map and for the level since they contain different buttons and features. Yesterday I decided that I wanted to use the same UI prefab in the world map as in the level. The main thing to fix here was how to make sure that the correct buttons show at the right time. So the different situations for me would be:

- Using different platforms. Some may not need graphics settings for example.
- Being in the world map and not show buttons like restart level and such.
- Being in a level and show restart level, go back to world map, but not quit game.

The simpel solution for me was to use #if #else preconditions based on platform together with a check if it was the world map scene (build index 0). This way I could simply activate or deactivate the different buttons depending on which platform and scene that was loaded. The grid layout group took care of the placing of the buttons dynamically.

Updates

Im sorry if I am not posting as frequently here as I have before, but I try to write at least once every thursday. Its getting hard though when I'm porting the game to a platform I'm not sure that I can mention, and dealing with a lot of business set up which doesnt have anything to do with the game necessarily. So sorry about that, but Ill try to find interesting aspects of those things as well that might affect the game in certain ways. I hope you think that could be interesting as well 

Love it!

Thanks, Much appreciated! I´m glad it makes more sense

[#Update 157 - Flying visualization]

#Update 157 - Flying visualization

So I have been busy with creating company stuff and porting the game. But I also had time to make some improvements to the flying visualization.

The old one showed shortly how many jumps the player had left and then disappeared.

This is how it used to look:



Now the circles that indicate how many "in air jumps" there are left appear as soon as you leave the ground. They also stay for as long as the player is in the air.

This is how it looks now:



I thinks its clearer and hopefully players will pick up on it quicker.

[#Update 156 - Falling through the ground]

#Update 156 - Falling through the ground
So last friday I fixed some game breaking bugs.

1: You could fall through the ground at ceratin places.
2: The second boss would devour multiple enemies at once if they were in the "eating range" at the same time.
3: You could get stuck in a stompers flower hat.
4: The ice would flicker on night levels where there were no ambient light.

1 - Composite Collider 2D
As far as I could understand, this was caused by using the "Composite Collider 2D" that unity provides. This is a component that takes multiple collider component and turns them into one during runtime. I was using the "Polygons" setting in the "Geometry Type" options and I had similar issues with falling through the ground earlier when using the "Outlines" options.


Falling straight through ice collider.

So when I tried to figure out what was wrong, I did things like this:
- Looked at the created collider visually in the editor - it looked fine.
- Turned off the adjoined collider to where the character fell through - This helped in most cases.
- Changed the collider into not using the composite one - Worked well.

So I figured it might be a bug in the Polygon option. So I tried changing back to the outlines options. It has a default "Edge Radius" option of 0. When using that setting, the character fell through the ground pretty quickly again. But when I changed it to "0.01" I havent seen the bug. So hopefully this will work  

4 - Ice flicker
I could not figure out what actually caused this. I tried changing a lot of settings in both the material and light settings. In the end it seemed as if this visual artifact showd as soon as the material was transparent. So I decided to create a separate material for ice on the night levels. Its kind of a dirty fix, but it does the job  


Ice stops receiveing light when charachter/camera is at a certain point/angle.