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[tim-bo-jay]

● Video Added! See the Level Builders vast improvements that I think we can all agree were worth Zach's mental breakdown in the process HERE :-)

● Drop In/Drop Out ability has been added to the Level Builder allowing for quicker testing.

● Tower Size Options added to the Level Builder to allow easier editing of how wide and how high a tower is.

● Save feature has been improved and a new Load feature has been added to the Level Builder.

A GAME BY TIM-BO-JAY , ZACHLEWIS & PSOPLAYER

Me, psoplayer and zachwlewis have begun work in a future Xbox Indie title and it's now at a point where we feel comfortable showing off our progress!

Game Name : MONOLITH

Story :
The story behind Tower Game is one that makes no real sence, but isn't that what makes games like Crash Bandicoot, Sonic or Mario great? Well..that and good game-play. The basic plot of Tower Game lets you take control of a Janitor who's set out on a quest to save a Princess who's been kidnapped by an evil something (we are thinking Scientist right now) who's holding her against her will at the top of a tower...floating above 99 other towers.

Videos :

Audio : Why a panda for the audio icon? Why not?!
Samples Coming Soon. Provided By:


Screen Shots :

More screens will be added later, for now check page 5 for over 20 sexy images!

Art/Sprites :


Things We Are Working On :

● Variations to game play.
● Upgrades.

Test Build Release :
This test build is pretty out of date now as everything for the game has been rewritten but if you want to get a basic idea of how the game will work it's worth a poke...

|MONOLITH - Alpha 3|
(Left and Right to move...well..Left and Right! Z to Jump and X to Attack or Mop Swipe)
(Can't run XNA Games? Check out how HERE)
(The Game will also work with an Xbox Game Pad! Joystick for Movement, X jumps and A attacks)

[rayteoactive]

The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable.

[tim-bo-jay]

Yeah I think they've started moderating their files so I added a mirror too till they've passed the file as ok

[Gagege]

Rapidshare not working either. Wow, you've overloaded 2 servers already. Congrats!

[tim-bo-jay]

Haha bad sign considering this threads only gotten 47 views!

I'll add another now, any recommendations for hosting sites?

[tim-bo-jay]

Added two new mirrors!

[Gagege]

Ok, I like this. It has a lot of potential. Even this little non-game demo was a lot of fun (for the few minutes of play time that is was).

I love the graphics and the way the character moves.

My two criticisms are:

(first)The first jump took me a few tries to get across until I figured out that I had to actually step most of the way off the ledge and then jump. Maybe you should make the gaps a little less wide is what I'm saying.

(second)I want more! I can see this becoming a joyful exploration game type of experience. I'd like to be able to easily see certain areas that are not so easy to get to. That would be fun.

[tim-bo-jay]

(first)The first jump took me a few tries to get across until I figured out that I had to actually step most of the way off the ledge and then jump. Maybe you should make the gaps a little less wide is what I'm saying.

Yeah the jump is under powered right now, we are fixing this. We've decided to go for a quicker jump rather than a higher one thus we don't have to raise the whole floor above giving you less of a view. It should be fixed in the next pre-release we put on here

(second)I want more! I can see this becoming a joyful exploration game type of experience. I'd like to be able to easily see certain areas that are not so easy to get to. That would be fun.

We are toying with visibility, trying to make the tower big without being over whelming, we also don't want to zoom out too much and make some things (like spike floor) harder to see. We've got a selection of tiles we are adding in now, once we have them in and can see how easy to see they are at what sizes we should know how much of a view we can give to tempt the player into risking a few lives to get more gold (we also have full intention of rewarding some exploration with Easter eggs, cause come on, who doesn't like finding an Easter egg in a game?!)

REALLY glad you enjoyed it though, I've been nervous since I uploaded it encase someone said it was unappealing!

[Zachary Lewis]

Here's a question for all you s out there: Would you like code examples and implementation walkthroughs and tutorials for this kinda' stuff? I know there's a ton of XNA-related resources out there, but I wouldn't mind putting some text or video tutorials for the kind of stuff I'm creating or for documenting my workflow. I'm learning tons of tricks and shortcuts as I go (this is my second serious XNA project), and I'm all about improving the community.

Also, you're welcome to download the game from our version control server as long as you promise not to kill the little thing. That link should be good forever.

[mokesmoe]

I thought it was fun, but the jumping was very slow. The jumping and landing lag bugs me when I want to jump quickly.

[tim-bo-jay]

I thought it was fun, but the jumping was very slow. The jumping and landing lag bugs me when I want to jump quickly.

The jump speed will be fixed in the next release

[tim-bo-jay]

Well we finally came up with a name. Not wanting to mention Towers in the title because we don't want to come across as a Tower Defense game we've gone for the name


That's Monolith if you've mistaken the tower for just a tower and think it's called Monolth.

[Zachary Lewis]

There's a new version out (available here). It adds random tiles for a more decrepit feel of the tower and tightens up the janitor's controls for stage three.

[tim-bo-jay]

WE NEED YOUR OPINION!

Hi sexy people, we need your opinion on something!

Recently a design choice for Monolith has appeared, this would allow me to make the tiles look much better (as it'd have more space to toy with than the current 4x24) but it will mean giving up the stair-case system we currently use in place of a jumping and climbing system. I can't decide which way to take the design so I'm coming to you guys for your thoughts. If you've played the recent release you know what the current game play is like.

[Gagege]

Glad you asked. Actually one of the first things I noticed about the game was that I liked that I could just walk....... for a while before I had to jump.
So, one vote for keeping the stair-case system.

[mokesmoe]

I can't play the new build. It gives me a message "You cannot start application TowerGame from this location because it is already installed in a different location." I deleted the old build already.

[Maxim Schoemaker]

I can't play the new build. It gives me a message "You cannot start application TowerGame from this location because it is already installed in a different location." I deleted the old build already.

I had that too, but uninstalling "TowerGame" in the "Add or Remove Program" (in the control panel) thingy should work.

[tim-bo-jay]

Whoops sorry didn't notice there were new messages, and wehay on the log getting to Page 2 :D didn't think we'd get any interest. Yeah the Add/Remove Programs thing should do the trick dude

I'm still toying with a game-play style change allowing for bigger blocks which would allow much more graphical detail and creativity, I have some blocks knocked up on my other computer I'll put on here soon to hear the views on.

We are currently thinking about ways to keep the whole 'climbing a tower' thing fresh considering the game will be 100 of these things long, any ideas? things you'd like to see?

[Zachary Lewis]

I have been thinking about the pros and cons of larger blocks.

Pros:

• The concepts I've seen are fucking gorgeous, and now I've got an erection
• They would make the towers much taller for the work we put into them
• They would make the random algorithm much simpler (since an entire character can fit inside one of the tiles), making my life easier
• The would allow for a more "jumpy" game (we'd probably add wall-jumps and climbing up corners)

Cons:

• We'd be straying from our source inspiration, making it harder to take more gameplay element directly
• Stair-climbing would be gone (and that was a bitch to implement properly)
• Might make the tower look less tower-like and more floating-block-like (although, I'm sure it won't be terrible

These were just quick ideas I had and may not apply upon further discussion, but it's what I had on the top of my head.

[tim-bo-jay]

I may have found a way of fixing this problem with a half way solution, I just need to have a word with Zach as soon as his Erection is gone, make sure it'll actually work, if so we'll be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. Otherwise I have a second idea which I'll pitch to him, should have some news soon