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[mokesmoe]

I'm on vista so I don't have 'Add/Remove Programs' but I found the equivalent and uninstalled it. I didn't think of that since it didn't even tell me it was installing something in the first place.

Personally I'd prefer large blocks.

[tim-bo-jay]

On my computer I use an auto updating build so in truth I didn't know it installed ether lol sorry about that dude.

Thats

Flat Tiles - 1
Block Tiles - 1

[Zachary Lewis]

On my computer I use an auto updating build so in truth I didn't know it installed ether lol sorry about that dude.

Hooray for version control! But, yeah, you'll have to uninstall the original version before XNA will allow you to install a new version.

I'm going to mess with the large blocks and throw that up. I'm interested in how they'll look.

[Tycho Brahe]

how about making the camera follow the player? on the build I played as soon as you got to the top your character dissapeared until you fell through a hole...

[tim-bo-jay]

how about making the camera follow the player? on the build I played as soon as you got to the top your character dissapeared until you fell through a hole...

That's on it's way we wanna fix up some other stuff before that so it should be implemented within the next few versions we release :D

[Tycho Brahe]

how about making the camera follow the player? on the build I played as soon as you got to the top your character dissapeared until you fell through a hole...

That's on it's way we wanna fix up some other stuff before that so it should be implemented within the next few versions we release :D

Yay!

[tim-bo-jay]

Just thought I'd show off some early designs for the chunky blocks we MAY or MAY NOT be using. I've come across some issues I'll need to discuss with Zach which could be the clinching decider. I do love these blocks and find them fun to make (it's like making my own building blocks...as if I am some kind of god...FEAR ME MORTALS!  ) so if we can't put them into Monolith they will be in my (and possibly Zach's if he's interested) next game :D


Click to see full size

Ignore the collection of grids, this is a messy preview I found on my hard drive and due to all my pixel work being made in Flash I have to make pixel grids which I forgot to remove from the image. Whoops.

[Zachary Lewis]

Finally got a chance to work on this bitch. Added the larger blocks, better collision, parallax scrolling, and other things. Here's a billion screenshots!











Pretty cool! Also, what's this? A WILD PLAYABLE DEMO APPEARS! (Monolith alpha 2) To play it, you'll need to uninstall your previous versions through the Windows control panel.

Timbo should update the first thread with this once he reads it. Also, what can I tell you fine ladies and gentlemen about this? I'd like to do a videolog, but I've no idea what to talk about! Let me know!

[rayteoactive]

I finally get to actually play this The 2nd link you gave me didn't work either, lol.

Anyway, I thought the new blocks looks really colorful, though I thought it's a pity you lost the stairs. It set the game apart from the usual platformers for me. You guys were asking for opinion earlier about blocks or panels, and my vote would probably go with panels. But must it really be 4pixel high? That's gonna be a really pain for the visual department, lol. As for the tower's height... maybe it can be shorten with climbing ropes and bouncy stuff... like clouds or sort.

If you guys are going for the blocks though, I suggest having curvy corners for at least a pixel. Right now, they look very flat, which is such a waste, since you guys have this really nice rotating efx.

Btw, is the idea running to the top of the tower while the platform below falls apart? I wanted to do that for Tobe back then, but we ran out of time. It would be really cool though.

[tim-bo-jay]

Anyway, I thought the new blocks looks really colorful, though I thought it's a pity you lost the stairs. It set the game apart from the usual platformers for me. You guys were asking for opinion earlier about blocks or panels, and my vote would probably go with panels. But must it really be 4pixel high? That's gonna be a really pain for the visual department, lol. As for the tower's height... maybe it can be shorten with climbing ropes and bouncy stuff... like clouds or sort.

Sadly using platforms any bigger than 4 pixels high started to cause issues with the smooth stepping up that Janitor was doing (I'm sure Zach can explain why better in his up-coming video log) and a 4 pixel panel as you probably know gives you so little room to make it look good. I do appreciate the feed back you gave last time mate I must admit after you voiced it too I decided maybe avoiding the Fez visual style was pointless so as you've no doubt noticed things are looking a bit more Fezy in this build lol.

We already have the sprites for Ropes and with luck they'll be in the next release. As for bouncy things, weirdly that never crossed my mind, I keep getting called a Feature Creep by Zach recently for wanting to stick more and more into the game so he may hit me for it but I'll see if we can add bouncy things :D this also begs a question which I'd love to hear feed back on...what bouncy things? Sonic has springs, Crash Bandicoot had turtles and boxes, Mario has Mushrooms, what should Janitor use?

If you guys are going for the blocks though, I suggest having curvy corners for at least a pixel. Right now, they look very flat, which is such a waste, since you guys have this really nice rotating efx.

Ah good point. I've just transferred over from using Flash to using GraphicsGale for my sprite work, this means I have to redraw all the blocks anyway so I'll toy around with rounded corners and effects to make them feel more real

Btw, is the idea running to the top of the tower while the platform below falls apart? I wanted to do that for Tobe back then, but we ran out of time. It would be really cool though.

Well we were thinking of having the tower falling down below Janitor as he climbed but a few people have said they enjoyed the feeling of exploration in the early test build, even though this wasn't our intention people liked it and I'm concerned throwing in a time limit via the tower falling down may destroy that fun. Although (once again if Zach doesn't punch me for being a Feature Creep) I may see about throwing in some 'collapsing tower' levels every now and then as one of the ways to break up the repetition of the game a little

Although if we do use the idea please don't sue us lol

[Zachary Lewis]

I've just transferred over from using Flash to using GraphicsGale for my sprite work...

This is the best thing that's happened since we started the project.

The main reason why the blocks were originally 4 pixels tall was purely for the art style. Each sprite is upscaled 400%, so the 24x4 platforms become 96x16 platforms in the actual window. Timbo could draw the platforms at 96x16, but the tiles will look much less chunky that the rest of the art.

I can implement stairs with whatever height we choose to use, but it starts to look odd as the stepsize increased.

Since the map is designed on a grid, I'd like to keep the grid as large as possible. Right now, it's set to a 24x24 grid (16x22 player), allowing map creation to be more straightforward (a player can fully fit inside one block, so as long as there's a 1-tile gap, the player can pass through). With the smaller tiles, a player takes up 4 tiles vertically and 1 tile horizontally, so it's much more confusing trying to keep that in account.

I also think some of the frustration is the level design itself. I only slightly modified the actual map since adding the larger tiles, so the parts that were stairs now became painful jumpfests (this slow gameplay should be avoided in actual, real maps). Most of the vertical translations should be done either with ropes, springs or little back-and-forth platforming parts (like the little jump area shown here).

I like the large tiles, and I like the stepping, but I'm having a hard time visualizing how we should implement both of them. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Finally, I'm planning on filming a video devlog with some recorded gameplay and my beautiful face talking about aspects of the game, and I'm wondering what kind of things you'd be interested in. Do you want small video tutorials technically detailing how I accomplished some of the things in the engine, or do you want a longer, less technical video just showing what we've got and some of the concepts we've toyed around with? Or, do you even want an inside look into this little game experiment?

[tim-bo-jay]

I've just transferred over from using Flash to using GraphicsGale for my sprite work...

This is the best thing that's happened since we started the project.

Cheeky shit

[Gagege]

Sonic has springs, Crash Bandicoot had turtles and boxes, Mario has Mushrooms, what should Janitor use?

Toilets?
Greasy stains?

[tim-bo-jay]

Sonic has springs, Crash Bandicoot had turtles and boxes, Mario has Mushrooms, what should Janitor use?

Toilets?
Greasy stains?

lol they don't have to have a direct connection to the fact he's a Janitor considering Plumbers and Mushroom, Hedgehogs and Springs, and Bandicoots and Boxes/Turtles don't seem heavily connected.

[Zachary Lewis]

[J. R. Hill]

You should be able to climb so high that you see stars and planets etc.

Just sayin.

[rayteoactive]

You should be able to climb so high that you see stars and planets etc.

Just sayin.

nice. In fact, you should go from land to sky to space to sky to land again (another planet).

I also liked the "toilet spring". Janitor sits on it, and the flush push him up high. Or just uses it like a teleporter. Would be great.

And 1 thing I missed previously - the tower in the logo kinda looked like a penis. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I sees it Everytime. I suspect it's got to do with the last 3 flight of stairs actually.

[mokesmoe]

Now I can't unsee it.

[J. R. Hill]

This is maybe irrelevant, but if Janitor swings his mop on a mossy block, could it become less mossy?  (You could get bonus points for how clean the tower is after you finish)

[tim-bo-jay]

Wow, stick Zach's mug on the internet and suddenly looooads'a feed-back :D keep this up and next time he'll belly dance...but only if your good

Right, first of all god damn you rayteoactive mokesmoe‽'s right, now you've pointed it out we can't un-see it lol Luckily with the redesign of the tower I'll most likely have to redesign the logo also before we release the game (as the two towers in no way match anymore) but if you notice penisyness again don't corrupt our innocent minds with your filthy one

As for backgrounds the original plan was to have if that level 1 would see Janitor heading up from the ground, then every 10 towers the sky would get darker till for the last 10 or 20 towers he's in space, I do like the idea of it somehow landing on another planet but I'm not sure if we'll be doing that (meanly because we need the top of the last tower for our EPIC BATTLE!).

The toilet idea is worth looking into, I do like the idea of him sitting on it for some kind of benefit be it to teleport or refilling his health. Have to see if we have time to put it in later down the line (as right now the key things to get into the game are the core game-play elements).

Interesting idea there JR Hill, I do like this but it's a call for Zach to make just cause it sounds kinda code heavy (it may not be but I know NOTHING about code) and he's got a fair chunk of work within Monolith as it is. If Monolith 2 comes out one day little features like this would have to work their way in of course :D