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[Taugeshtu]

> here is a comparison
Yep, if textures will looks like this - simple colouring of parts + different materials for them - it will be pretty!

> first have to get on with lots more gameplay dev
Keep on going your way

[Ant]

My mind is mightly blown. Good luck with it.

[Chromanoid]

Nice graphics! Style reminds me of the film

.

[s0]

The art for this is fantastic and unique.  

The game is mainly about exploring and finding new weapons, and the combat is mostly there for reckless fun. You quickly find your first spellcasting weapons and the play style becomes a shooter/fighter blitz. Overall I'm aiming at an RPG feel to the combat - so you can enhance your character through optional challenges to get stronger. It becomes more about tactics than twitch gameplay.

Sounds good. It'd be great if you could actually make the combat about tactics as opposed to stats (think Monster Hunter or Demon's Souls).

[iggie]

@Chromanoid  - mmm... Kaena uses an unusually narrow palette. I'm actually thinking of how I can inject more colour into my levels and characters without looking too garish. Flaming orange torches, and strongly coloured cloth and tatoos might inject some good colour. The magic effects will probably be quite saturated too to contrast with the overcast backgrounds.

@C.A. Sinclair - I want to keep the learning and tactics of a Metroid, while replacing the Nintendo Hard Twitch gameplay with more generous modern console style (ie: Jak & Daxter). I'm planning to make the weapon upgrades more about tactical differences than stat boosts. Ideally you should be able to pull off some hard battles with an entry level weapon if you know how to use it well - but on the other hand if you have plenty of ammo and an advanced weapon you can wade through 100s of low level grunts for fun.

[iggie]

@Taugeshtu - The more I think about climbing the more it fits my original gameplay ideas. I like big spaces with lots of vertical movement while exploring and fighting - but at the same time I dislike the usual methods of dealing with this (repetitive jumping, moving platforms, ladders, and screen-facing climbable walls...) so gradually giving the player climbing abilities would be great. Technically I already do this for enemies, the trick is blending it with the existing control system for the player. Might give you a right click launch power control so you can "aim and fire" yourself into a jump from climbing (This is similar to the AI logic the enemies use to jump attack you)

[iggie]

I've put together most of the low level systems, and I have a fair idea of how the level structure and meta-game systems will overlay over them - so now I'm getting on with a first pass at tuning the combat. I'm trying to maintain a persistant threat of catastrophic failure, while keeping the expected number of deaths low to reduce frustration.

This video shows combat against a variety of enemies on a test level,

[iggie]

Concept art for a green orb.

[Taugeshtu]

Yay! Will green orb every time supplied with girl? ^_^

[iggie]

I considered using a pedestal, or a chest, but using an NPC just seems more fun.

[iggie]

Updated materials on prototype monster, trying to make the flesh feel more fleshy.



Meanwhile I've been blitzing ahead with weapon designs for the player. I'm currently thinking about doing away with mana - and using a single stamina measure for both physical and magical attacks. When your stamina gets low you can't block attacks very well and take more damage (breaking your combo) so there is an incentive to use your attacks accurately and avoid getting hit.

Several more powerful spells require ammo (reagents) so they balance differently, and I want to make the set of melee weapons viable alternatives for play, with powerful combo effects if you can build a good chain of kills.

Next step will be to impliment the weapons in code, and do a tonne of testing against the enemy types to explore the emergent gameplay implications.

[Taugeshtu]

This version seems to me more... waxy. It's something fresh - to seem wax monster)

About mana-stamina... Well, in your idea I see 1 drawback: when players gets hit he attacks less effective and block less effective, what means more hits, more debuf and finaly - death. It's bad.

Suggestion:
Let player use one-shot-one-kill attacks when his stamina is low... This will produce intersting tactics - saving low stamina level and being in danger to get deathmachine)

[iggie]

Another concept, this time a trapper from the darkling cave.



In other news - I am seriously considering swapping the platformer combat for a more JRPG style split of run and jump action mixed with turn based tactical combat (in the 2D view but without player controlled movement). I think this will give me more scope for interesting battles - while also letting me get more imaginative with the enemies and environments without causing endless AI headaches.

[iggie]

"The Elanwei live in a vaulted tower to the far West of the swamp of the undying scream. Priestess Samel wanders alone in the swamp praying for the lost souls that terrorise the trade caravans on their way to the Golden King in his castle to the East."

I'm constantly working on mood and atmosphere, trying to make a fantasy world without getting bogged down in Tolkien or Conan type worlds. I'm currently aiming at a more Labyrinth or "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" feel.

In other news - I've been mapping out plot and levels throughout the game, and have just finished a rough playable map for a world in Act 2 which I'll flesh out as a playable prototype. I've ended up spliting the world into rooms, so I can use a large pre-rendered backdrop for each room. A typical room is several rooms wide and tall.

[iggie]

I got a whole level of the game playable this week (about 20 mins of play), it's pretty loose but still fun bouncing around hacking baddies to bits. I am aiming at more of a thoughtful RPG than a Diablo, but it doesn't hurt to have fun combat.

Also had a chance to add some static props to my otherwise procedural world. These slot into place over the procedurals before the pre-renderer adds all the shading and shadows.

Next thing to do is NPCs and quests, I want non-linear with meaningful choices... but my common sense says that linear with no choices is a much safer design.