I bet you could pixel this in such a way that the balls look less apparent that they are seperate.

Treasureline is done in C... (it uses a custom made game construction kit, which is still in development)

You're referring to the dragon, aren't you? I think you cannot do much with these spheres - the problems are the head and wings. (which somehow do not match that style) Anyway, if you want to pimp it up, feel free to give it a try.

@Ashkin: Empty space next to the status display could be used for the chat window, if you are concerned about that one. A radar is supported by the engine, maybe activated by a special item?

But I'm not sure about that list of active players. Are there online games that have such lists?

@CiroContinisio: "post count"...?!? Eh, I don't get it. what? what?

@Alex May: Ok, you have convinced me. Yes, the objects can be sorted according to their orientation. (You can see that very good on the dragon's body parts, but all other objects share that behaviour, too) So, I have included an offset-table for the right-hand. Didn't I want to avoid adding details? Anyway, I hope it will pay of in the long run.

Also included: The status display. Player's health is displayed below the player sprite. That Player name is somewhat disturbing, though.

Next up: The boss fight. (Then everything's done for milestone-1. whoo hoo...)

It's really hard not to get lost in details, but I try. Approaching Milestone 1 now... I have finished the basic item handling: You grab an item by walking over it. And there are 2 buttons: "Action" and "Drop". Also, you see the item next to the player sprite while walking, which is a bit of a hassle while drawing the items. (I have been using overlays in the paint program to place the items) Is it ok to show the items like that? What do you think?


the spritesheet

@Alex May: Yes, that's interesting. Size changing circles for the wing shadows might work. I might give it a try later, when working on the dragon again.

Can we get each body part of the dragon casting a shadow, or is that asking too much? I think it would compliment the pseudo-3D drawing style really well, whereas the circle shadow kind of works against it.

Interesting idea...


old / new

...but then again you want to see the exact shadow of the wings, don't you?

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad that most of you you like the dragon. But now to something less spectacular: Collecting items. Did you ever asked yourself... "What is a treasureline?" Here's the answer:

A new dragon animation... This time with head, 360 degree flapping and some background pixels from Tocky.
Creating these wings was way too complicated. I have been too ambitious, something simpler would have done the job, as well. Ok, time to do some other things for the game.

@Hempuli: Yes, the z-movement was out of sync.

Here's an improved flapping animation. This time there are 8 animation frames for the wings. Dragon's head is still under construction, though...

Nice character, Alchera - Couldn't resist to add 2-3 colors...


yours         <->         mine

Actually, I wanted to create one single world for all players, like in a mmorpg. (yes, it might be an adventurous move to mention mmorpg in context with a game that only supports 16 clients at a time)

So, if you enter the game, then already playing characters are spread all over the map and you will have to find them. (probably) It remains to be seen if that single-world-plan is possible with a peer-to-peer network. (I do not have a fallback-plan, yet)

And yes, I want to include barriers that only can be crossed by a cooperating party. (e.g. puzzles) And boss-monsters should be too tough to be killed by one single character...

@invisibleMan: Ok, a lockpick-guy is cooler than a key-guy  It depends on the final game, tough. If there are lots of puzzles and only a few monsters, it might work. But if there are lots of monsters, then anyone should be able to fight them.

About the network: Actually, all player appear in the same world. And they start in the same room. (call it lobby if you want) But because of the peer-to-peer structure of the network, there's an upper limit of simultanous acting clients. I don't know what I am intending here. It should not be a problem, until the game is getting too popular.

@Alex May: Yes, good idea 

Why would anyone want to play as the guy with a key and not the guy with a sword?

Your opinion might change when you enter a room with 20 locked doors. (just kidding)

But seriously, that's a good point. This grab-only-one-item concept might probably not survive very long. But on the other hand, you can drop your key and grab a 2nd sword. Noone will kill you. (well, maybe someone will)

Here's a test for the flying animation. I don't like it very much, but I might stick with it. Any hints how to improve it?

To be honest, I do not like the dragon without head. Too abstract for the style i am up to. It will need at least a head. I would be ok for me to drop the wings, but it has to fly somehow, you know...

Also, the dragon is a key element in this game, so I cannot skip it. (the other game elements are quite simple)

Thanks for your feedback! I am still working on this and I will try to continue with that graphics style. Although, animating that dragon might have been a bit too ambitious for me. I have failed to create flapping wings for 8 directions so far. Maybe the dragon will only walk around. Here's a one-leg-test:



@michael: Some artistic help would be great. (Watch your mailbox) Treasureline is coded in C (by using the same game core as Nanovoid and Silverline)...

@Hajo: Constructing images out of rendered objects is difficult. They always look segmented. That might be ok if the object itself is segmented. (like this: nvtentacle4.gif) Animating such segmented objects is a nightmare, too...

@Inanimate: There might be an intro sequence with a line of treasures  

I made some progress on the dragon. Here's a trailing test of the body parts - currently without head and wings. Feel appetized, Ashkin. ("appetized" might not be a real word, though)

@Alomard: I have started about 10 cooperations with artists and all lost their motivation about some weeks. Finally, I am doing the graphics myself. They might not look so good, but there's a chance that something gets finished! 

Head and wings need to be drawn from different angles. Oh well... hard work...

[milestone-1:]

Welcome to...
>><<

This is a multi-user-adventure, based on the Nanovoid-engine. All players are located in the same world and some parts of the world are blocked by special barriers which only can be removed by a team of players. And there are some boss-monsters which are also too strong for one single player.

features:

• mouse/touch/joypad/keyboard control - integrated online chat
• cross-platform: Windows / MacOS-X / Linux / iPhone / iPad (probably freeware)
• milestone-1: a player, a sword, a maze, some bats, a dragon and a treasure

Lazycow's collection of all devlog-game-animations can be found here
Scamper's "Dungeon Theme - In The Caverns" can be found here

Do you want to contribute? Please tell me!

   
milestone-1: mockup / early dragon test / item handling

Was working on material definitions for PovRay, decided to publish and release some under the GPL. Maybe they are useful for someone.

Hey they are really nice. What about creating a seperate page, like your povray gallery?
(the povray source for the pictures in the gallery would be interesting, too)

There has to be someone out there who wants to make something.

Hi Bones,

I would still be interested in working with you on your "Lectro" project...

regards,
Lazycow

st33d: I see what you mean. Actually, the current network-tests suggest that 2 moves per second will be possible. Internally, all objects move block-by-block and the client shows a smooth animation. So increasing the move-speed to 2 pixels won't help here. (But you never know, it could be improved in future)

Hey thanks for your ongoing interest in Silverline. Unfortunately, DocJones seems to be busy, so the project is on hold. (If someone wants to tweak mysql-servercode, drop me a line)

st33d: What's a tad nipper?  The game speed is limited by the uncommon server-design. It should catch up with Zelda-like games, though.