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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsCurse of the Caves
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Author Topic: Curse of the Caves  (Read 4097 times)
Kingel
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« on: August 12, 2010, 01:30:55 PM »




System: PC-compatible ?? or higher
Memory: ??K RAM required
Graphics: EGA required
Controls: Keyboard, Joystick optional
Sound: AdLib?

Current status:
The engine is currently being coded in C and x86 assembly. Stay tuned. Beer!
We'll need music eventually, so if you want to help out, let us know. Smiley



I started working on Endless Cavern in 2007. The initial idea was to create a game similar to Crystal Caves, but with more caves. With the help of the Pixelation crew, it evolved quickly. However, I lacked ideas for story and gameplay, so it died a few months later.

After I started working on Codex, I wanted a simpler side-project for variation. It had to be something I could sit down and pixel for, while having to do less planning. I had just discovered the benefits of design documents, and I'd made one for most of my existing projects, so it was just a matter of picking the most suitable.

Now that I've been working on this for a while, I thought it was time to make a devlog for it.



Graphics

One of the EGA graphics modes used the 16-color CGA palette and had a resolution of 320 x 200 pixels. I chose these restrictions for nostalgic reasons, since some of my favorite games as a kid were EGA games, but also because I wanted to see what I could do using the same restrictions.

Story

The caves were once inhabited by a neolithic people. Their shamans found a way to trap ghostlike creatures inside crystals and use them as weapons. Shrines were built to contain the weapons and ensure that they would not fall into the wrong hands. Shrine keys were crafted and guarded by the shamans.

In order to free their trapped kin, the remaining creatures started slaughtering the humans. Initially, the humans fought back to preserve their only weapons against the creatures. When the humans realized fighting was futile, it was too late. The shamans had died and the shrine keys had been scattered. The humans could no longer surrender the remaining weapons to pacify the creatures.

Thousands of years later, you get trapped within the same network of caves. Soon you'll find that the creatures are still there, and they remember. Now you must find every last one of the crystals before the creatures find you.

Items



There are four types of weapon crystals. Three of them use other crystals for ammunition. The third type of crystal is both weapon and ammunition in one.

The knife and the heart will keep you alive, and the little screaming figures are the four shrine keys. Lastly, tiny gems for points and journal pages you'll find scattered throughout the level.



To do

Lots and lots. I think the only thing that remains unchanged from my old mockups is the background, so I'll redraw that eventually. I need to polish the tiles a bit more and add more tile variations. I also want to add some additional background layers.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2011, 09:23:58 AM by Arachne » Logged

Inane
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« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2010, 02:48:40 PM »

I didn't see the title screen before. It's excellent! <3
If you can keep two projects going at once, I'll be pretty jealous of your dedication Noir Hand Thumbs Up Right
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real art looks like the mona lisa or a halo poster and is about being old or having your wife die and sometimes the level goes in reverse
ness io kain
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« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2010, 03:19:43 PM »

This is gorgeous...
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My music.
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« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2010, 03:21:24 PM »

This does look excellent. And those graphics are truly inspiring, I can only wish to replicate that style.
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Epitaph64
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« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2010, 07:35:38 PM »

Used to love CC. Will keep an eye on this project!
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Inanimate
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« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2010, 08:43:02 PM »

This is a beautiful looking adventure. I remember seeing the mockups for this. I love the story you have going on, as well. I can't wait to see where this magnificent project leads.
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Plattfisk
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« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2010, 01:09:35 PM »

Totally in love with what you've done with the EGA restrictions, and the game itself looks to become great as well. I'm glad it didn't end with just mockups, that would have been a real shame!
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Montoli
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« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2010, 06:04:11 PM »

Oh man, those are awesome screens.  Those totally remind me of all the old EGA games I loved.  I love your art style - it completely captures those games.

Are you going to do palette cycling to animate the water?  Please tell me you are going to do palette cycling. Smiley

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.
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« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2010, 06:12:08 PM »

Ooh, the 16-color palette reminds me of La-Mulana (which is a good thing IMO).
Looking forward to this!
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MalcolmLittle
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« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2010, 01:51:41 PM »

Wow, Arachne, those are some nice screens. The titlescreen is more dire than most horror games out there and the icons are top notch. I can't wait to see more.
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Derek
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« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2010, 06:14:06 PM »

Soooooo lovely! I really dig that scrap of notebook paper and handwritten-looking text.
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alspal
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« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2010, 06:41:33 PM »

Looks wonderful.
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RCIX
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« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2010, 11:18:04 PM »

Are you going to do palette cycling to animate the water?  Please tell me you are going to do palette cycling. Smiley
If he does, i'd recommend that he take a look at http://www.openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=11028 Smiley
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Kingel
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« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2011, 09:54:34 AM »

Hey, guys! Glad to hear you like it so far. Grin I've been pretty busy with school the last couple of months, but the project is far from dead.

I now have a programmer helping me turn this into a game, so we've mainly been working on putting the engine together so we could start testing the concept. Then we decided to try to make this into an actual DOS game. It doesn't get much more retro than that. Kiss

We already have graphics covered, but we'll also need AdLib music eventually, so if anyone wants to help out with that, we'll be very grateful. Smiley



I came up with a new name for the project, which I think suits it better, and I've redesigned some of the sprites.



Here's the concept sketch for the new worm monster. I wanted something more agile and more threatening. I think this will also be a bit easier to animate.



Here are the new worm sprites and the new insect swarm. I've also been working on new weapon icons to make their effects a bit more obvious.

I'll update more as we get the engine closer to presentable in some way. One of the advantages of running this in Dosbox is that video capture will be straightforward, so I'm looking forward to getting there. Grin

If you can keep two projects going at once, I'll be pretty jealous of your dedication Noir Hand Thumbs Up Right

I've been working on them both side-by-side for a year and a half now, albeit slowly, so it seems to be working well so far. They're both fun to work on for different reasons.

Are you going to do palette cycling to animate the water?  Please tell me you are going to do palette cycling. Smiley

I think we'll go for animated tiles rather than palette cycling. I like that example, but it's using both higher resolution and a subtler palette. At this resolution and with a fairly garish palette to boot, the result is a bit too noisy.
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