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[Franklin's Ghost]

The spears look so fun. Nice job with them.

Now can't wait till version 6 comes out so i can run around throwing them 

[Nate_G]

This is looking absolutely fantastic Ninja Dodo. Really enjoying seeing the progress, and the split-screen looks excellent! Are you planning online and/or local split-screen?

[Ninja Dodo]

Thanks.

@Nate_G: Just local at this point.

[Geeze]

Please remember that local multiplayer is almost always more fun than online. Especially in this case.

[Ninja Dodo]

Agreed.

I grew up playing split-screen PC games with my brothers on the same keyboard so I know what you mean. I've never really gotten into online multiplayer much, but I've changed my mind a bit recently when it comes to co-op.

Working together with someone you don't know can be a lot of fun.

[eigenbom]

Just watched the vid, looks smooth .. looking forward to battling a big minotaur or something..

[Ninja Dodo]

@eigenbom: Thanks. The Minotaur is definitely on my wish list of things to attempt.  


Version 6:



Download: http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/hellas/hellas_v06.zip

You can pick up and throw (X) a spear or drop it anywhere (Z). Works for both player 1 and player 2 (B and V). An interesting side-effect of the lack of friendly fire in co-op is that you can now play catch with spears.

Sword attacks were getting cut off too early when falling or landing into a run (when going down stairs for example) so I made them continue into a falling or run attack.

Improved object wrapping and player 2 no longer appears out of thin air when crossing the level edge (with player 1 in view of the other side). I ended up cheating player 2's position since wrapping before the border would have been incredibly messy.

I took out the pillars level so I could focus on getting things working in the scrolling environment. Might bring back some elements in later levels as I did for the earlier single-screen levels.


Next: damage, enemies and sacrifices

[Nate_G]

Please remember that local multiplayer is almost always more fun than online. Especially in this case.

Absolutely agree, there's not enough of it these days.

[eigenbom]

Very cool and fluid animation, I especially like the uppercut sword swipe! Keep it up!

[Ninja Dodo]

@Nate_G: This is something I definitely want to get right with this game.

@eigenbom: Thanks. I'm not certain yet how detailed I want to make the animation, but I'm being very picky about where I put which pose and how the momentum works.

[Ninja Dodo]

Working on some sprites and exploring the look of the ZAP/lightning-power:

[eigenbom]

lol at the guy lying down, chillaxing after a long day. awesome poses dude!

[Ninja Dodo]

New gameplay video:

[Franklin's Ghost]

Poor sheep 

Looking great, like the new frames for grabbing the character.

[Ninja Dodo]

Worth noting you can play the game only sacrificing wine to the gods if you feel bad about the sheep... I'm toying with the idea of having wine-only sacrifice unlock some kind of "Dionysos"-mode or power, but I'm not sure yet what that would look like. (make enemies drunk?)

For now sacrifices have infinite respawn, but eventually I will probably make the number of sacrifices per level finite, except in sandbox levels that can go on indefinitely (like this one).

[Ninja Dodo]

And here's version 7:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/hellas/hellas_v07.zip

I added sacrifices (sheep & wine) as shown in the video and did some grabbed (in air) poses. You now drop your spear when grabbed and I also made it so you can't pick up anything while climbing, so you can't cheat the spear falling during a climb.

I worked on mouse selection so that you don't have to click exactly on the hitbox of an object to grab it, and when multiple objects are near you pick the right one.

Also cleaned up the level wrapping a bit to accomodate the sacrifice objects.

... plus other tweaks.

As I was trying to improve the object placement earlier I added a view of the entire level for debugging so I could see how objects were shifting around as you go. If anyone's curious, this is how the infinite scrolling works:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/hellas/vids/hellas_wip_v07_infinitescroll.mov

Objects are transported along when you cross the level edge with the same relative positions to the border (with environment identical on both ends). If you go the other way everything is placed ahead of you. This plus some exceptions for anything that's currently on screen or too close to (and in the path of) the player.

I'm going to hold off on Versus for a little while until I have more of the mechanics implemented. Meanwhile I'm going to think about how to make this work for split-screen.

[edit: fixed broken link]

[Franklin's Ghost]

Just gave the new update a quick go and like the new elements. Sheep are looking nice and the whole sacrifice thing with the sheep and wine is a great idea. Also fun to grab the player and move them on higher platforms that way instead of having to perfect a jump.

[Ninja Dodo]

Glad you like the additions.

This way I can keep the powers (more later) without making it totally unbalanced and I think it also sits nicely within the fiction. There are so many instances of "Zeus guided his spear/gave him the strength to etc" in these stories... This is just taking that and taking it very very literally.

I will probably add some kind of "The gods demand sacrifice!" text if you try to use a power with zero sacrifices.

[Franklin's Ghost]

I will probably add some kind of "The gods demand sacrifice!" text if you try to use a power with zero sacrifices.

I like that idea, really adds that emphasise about gods being such key players in this world.

[Caran Elmoth]

You made a cool, stylish platformer. You set it in an ancient greek vase painting. Here is my money!
(aside from this, lookin forward to see a more defined gameplay )