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[Hempuli‽]

EDIT: Ok, it looks like others have much nicer-looking thread starters, so let's adjust this a bit!

EDIT 2: MEH, I'll select this instead!

EDIT 3: DUHH, I suck.

Planetary cavity syndrome

Description BWAAADLERGH! After all, I decided to change my cartridge to another cool one. AGAIN! Badooks, I can't seem to decide between all these good cartridges! I just changed my cart for the third time, how ridiculous is that. Anyway, my idea will be a sort of a real-time strategy where you dig into a planet to search for... something? Maybe you'll also protect it from all sorts of enemies. We'll see. Prepare for some procedurally generated sand snow planets, folks.		Inspired by

I'm really sorry about this.

[JMickle]

This is quite a popular case, by the looks of it. Good luck, and don't steal my ideas! gah

[Saker]

Will it implement some kind of tower-defense ?! ... that would be cool

[feeblethemighty]

There hasn't been a Hempuli game i didn't like.  I can't wait!

[Hempuli‽]

This image may need some explaining.
I've worked on stuff for some 6-7 hours now, and everything seems to be going fine! The blue muzzle you see in the pic is actually a map of the mountains the player is going to scale. The red thing is supposed to mark the 'highest' point on the map, i.e. the summit you have to tackle. I've been playing with stuff, and currently you can draw lines to the heightmap and get that kind of nice statistic showing the changes in height on that path.
 The idea of the game will be to plan a path for each day, using a waypoint system, and then try to get to the end of the path before time/health runs out. The actual climbing would probably be done in a platformer-like manner, where the height changes would be reflected to the platform heights. Also I think of including some item-management for special feeling of survival, and some dangerous creatures etc.

(The mountain generator creates really boring mountains currently. Gotta do something about that!  )

[Melly]

Hah, that's looking awesome man.

[Hempuli‽]

Getting somewhere! Not far, though. Looking for a good path is quite funny, though I have to make the pathmaking a lot simplier. Also, since no mountain is scaled in one day, I'll probably have to put some restrictions to the distance you can walk a day. There'll probably be at least some kind of a counter that'd count the time of the day. I also thought that there could be weather effects forecasted for each day, so you'd have to think like "there'll be snow during the mid-day, so maybe I shouldn't take such a hard path for that time".

[Jonathan Whiting]

As a rock climber I've often contemplated the idea of making a game out of climbing, but my conclusion has always been "it miiiiight be possible, but I can't see how to make it not suck".  Your stuff is looking great though, I'm gearing up to be proved completely wrong 

[thewreck]

Im loving the mix between strategy and platform mechanics.

I have a suggestion for injuries.

Say you get bitten by a snake half way though the path, that might start some form of pulsating sound. and every 5 seconds a letter pops up on the screen somewhere, which you have to press, say G. So you while trying to move on, every 5 seconds you now also have to press G within in 1 second, else your charachter makes this "oooow" sound and looses his grip, and depending on where you are currently clibing, that might result in falling down several meters, causing another injury forcing you to now have to press E as well every 8 seconds.....  ... so now you again, try to get a grip and move on, while managing the pain and injuries. Some injuries might fade out after a while, mainly being pain. other might worsen (unless an antidote is applied for example), forcing you to press more and more often up until the point where you have to constantly tap G not to die while still trying to get higher.

Just one more checkpoint, and you can rest and tend your wounds..... just 10 more meters!

you can imagine the chaos that can ensue after a series of unlucky steps...

[Hempuli‽]

The idea's fine, but I'm not sure if I like the idea of pressing buttons repeatedly to 'stand' the pain. That might make the game unnecessarily confusing, unless I greatly simplified the controlling system I have in mind. Thanks for the idea, though, I'll ponder about it!

I just got a simple statistic thing working, so now you get a nice picture showing the changes in the height for the next day. You can see the same statistic in the two screenshots I posted, but the really hard thing I had to implement today was to get it to be always the same width, with the values relative to the length of the course etc. Now I can just draw a huge route through the mountains, and the graph keeps its width and just adjusts to the new route.

[Hempuli‽]

I just added a system that generates some walls according to the height changes. There's no gameplay yet, but it's a start!

[Hempuli‽]

Working on the basic engine currently. I'm not sure how the climbing will be done, but prepare for some sort of hookshot system. Sexy Hiking?

[Hempuli‽]

Oooh, the platform engine is in and the guy is animated! I've always wanted to do that kind of 'cold breathing', where white steam comes out of the character's mouth!

[belbeeno]

Man, I'm up against Hempuli?  :I

Looking good so far.  If your LD entry is any indicator then this is a game to look out for.

[Inanimate]

I always love the puffs of breath you get in the cold. Can't wait to see that in motion in-game.

[Hempuli‽]

Climbing is there! It needs a lot of work, still, but the basics are finished. I really gotta add some hazards like birds, stalactites and lumps of snow - the climbing might become a tad boring over time. Just a tad.

[Hempuli‽]

The climbing method I implemented isn't very good, after all. I gotta think of some altrnatives. It's a bit hard to find way of ascending vertical walls that wouldn't be boring and still give the sense of mountain climbing!

[Soulliard]

Maybe if you changed the perspective, so that the character is standing in front of the wall. Then you could add a mechanic to find hand-holds and sturdy platforms along the mountain face. That might be fun- you'd have to find the best paths to reach the top.

[tipp]

Ooh, this game looks neat! I like the simple, lo-res style.

[Melly]

I like Soulliard's suggestion. You could mix normal platforming with climbing with the character's back to the camera, using all the elements of real rock-climbing. If you do that you should also add a way to move the camera and scout ahead so we can plan our climbs.