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[nenad]

Oh, and I almost forgot... a beagle puppy

[RichVreeland]

just wanted to introduce myself, I'm working on the music for this game. Hope you guys like the finished product! on an inside note, this game is already oodles of fun to play ... hopefully you guys will agree!

[Dacke]

The game is looks absolutely fabulous!
As I am an actual real-life animal rights activist, I’m also loving the story!
(Though I personally prefer to save kittens and pigs. Pigs and kittens.)

I'm wondering, how much of the game is PG? Level design and placement of enemies/beagles/owls/decorations, naturally, but is there even more?

[Annabelle Kennedy]

i still love this. and have spent a few of my remaining minutes on wifi to say how much i love it.

i love it.

[nenad]

Thanks for all the nice comments and love!

I'm wondering, how much of the game is PG? Level design and placement of enemies/beagles/owls/decorations, naturally, but is there even more?

That's pretty much it. As I already stated in the initial post - I didn't want to go overboard with procedural generation. I'm using it as a tool to spare myself of writing a level editor and spend hours in it to build levels. Imo the less obvious pg is in the game, the better job it does. Ideal would be to produce content looking exactly as it was made by humans. That's not quite possible, of course. A reasonable approach is to combine human and pg made content in a clever way, taking best from both worlds. Otherwise you can end up with something highly conceptual and procedural but actually less evocative because of striking "artificiality" of pure pg.

[nenad]

Okay, a status report quickie.



- all the enemies are now in the game (ai tuning in progress).

- levels get more difficult as you progress. The difficulty parameters include: terrain complexity, number of enemies and their type, number of beagles, resource density (parachutes, ropes, owls), vegetation density etc. All is internally expressed as a function of the level number. This is neat because it allows for levels to go ad infinitum. Power to the PG! On the screenshot you can see level 82.

- hud design is done.

- music is in.

- a lot of bugs squished.

I must say that I got really lucky regarding music on this project. Two super-talented musicians, Rich and Aesqe, jumped in and contributed their tracks for the game. Brilliant! Thanks guys!

 

[Friendly Rhinoceros]

That looks pretty hectic
Out of all the games, I'm anticipating this one the most.  Can't wait until Tuesday to play it!

How long have you been pixelling?  Your art's really distinctive.

[nenad]

That looks pretty hectic

Hah, it's level 82 with about 1000 beagles to collect. I doubt anyone will endure that far into the game  :D

How long have you been pixelling?  Your art's really distinctive.

I'm a graphics designer and illustrator by profession. I don't really do a lot of pixelling though but when doing it I try to keep it within the boundaries of my drawing ability - simple, clean and with a bit of atmosphere.

[Gainsworthy]

Phwoar. This is Red Hot, Nenad. The sprites are so dense! Tiny, but detailed and charming.

On a  note, those Red Blobs look very, very sinister. What are they?

[nenad]

On a  note, those Red Blobs look very, very sinister. What are they?

These are called lip balm residues. See, along with the dogs the plane carried a large tank of new lip balm formula. The substance was meant to be tested on beagles. Upon the crash the tank exploded infesting the whole area with the residues. The formula proved to be extremely toxic, killing anyone who comes in contact with it in a matter of seconds. You can't fight it with owls, only avoid. Fortunately, it does not move.

[increpare]

On a  note, those Red Blobs look very, very sinister. What are they?

These are called lip balm residues.

It only comes in one colour?

[Gainsworthy]

These are called lip balm residues. See, along with the dogs the plane carried a large tank of new lip balm formula. The substance was meant to be tested on beagles. Upon the crash the tank exploded infesting the whole area with the residues. The formula proved to be extremely toxic, killing anyone who comes in contact with it in a matter of seconds. You can't fight it with owls, only avoid. Fortunately, it does not move.

I love this place. Also, increpare, OH MY GOD, procedurally generated Lip Balm of Death. Although, the red's nice and visible.

[nenad]

On a  note, those Red Blobs look very, very sinister. What are they?

These are called lip balm residues.

It only comes in one colour?

This is a prototype-substance. They produced it only in cheapest flavor - wild cherry. No need to add other expensive flavoring and coloring agents while balm is still in the testing phase.

Seriously though, I actually intended to have them in different colors but figured it would be better to go with just one version for easier recognition during the play.

[increpare]

On a  note, those Red Blobs look very, very sinister. What are they?

These are called lip balm residues.

It only comes in one colour?

This is a prototype-substance. They produced it only in cheapest flavor - wild cherry. No need to add other expensive flavoring and coloring agents while balm is still in the testing phase.

Seriously though, I actually intended to have them in different colors but figured it would be better to go with just one version for easier recognition during the play.

I completely agree with your reasoning.

[nenad]

The enemy "ai" is finally finished. I'm happy that all enemies from the mockup made it into the game, having more or less distinct behaviors.

LIP BALM RESIDUES - already discussed above. Toxic blobs that cannot be attacked with owls. Avoid at all costs.

BIOHAZARD DOODZ - They are only interested in "securing the area" and "detecting the leaks" and other boring stuff like that. So 90s! Plus, heavy biohazard suits make them slow and easy target for your owls.

VIVSECTORS - Beagles are their primary concern. They'll scan about and try to catch the nearest dog. Rinse, repeat, until they can carry no more. Don't let them escape with the dogs. Owl them out and get the puppies back before they hurt them.

LAB EXECUTIVES - Quite opposite of vivisectors, their main concern is - you. If they spot you they'll follow you around nagging for signature on some "important" piece of documentation, asap. Riighhttt! Better feed them an adult dose of owl poo-poo before they lay their greasy hands on you.

PRIMARIUS' - Chiefs of various lab departments. They are just a tiny tiny little bit upset about the whole incident.

[Melly]

Please tell me this is NOT XNA.

[nenad]

Please tell me this is NOT XNA.

This is not XNA.

It's OpenGL via C++.

[Melly]

Please tell me this is NOT XNA.

This is not XNA.

It's OpenGL via C++.

Awesome.

[nenad]

Ok, I'm releasing the current state of the game as a "public beta". Still lots of bugs and things to improve.

Color palette generation is not too smart yet. You can expect some combinations that are not very generous on the eyes. I guess it'd be best to make a neural net and train it to reject ugly looking ones

There's also a nasty jumping bug when trying to jump while hanging on the ledge. I'm working on it.

Download (also in the first post):
http://www.16x16.org/download/beagles/rescue_the_beagles.rar

[Melly]

Link isn't working for me.