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[BlackBulletIV]

Illusive Dreams is a 2D platformer being developed in FlashPunk. It is based around a guy attempting to make it to wonderful looking land he sees in the distance, only to find it was an illusion. The game's challenge is primarily about avoiding obstacles and other various forms of death; puzzles may also have a part in it. There are three environments so far, forest, mountains, and hell (which isn't done yet).

Latest Test Build

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My Blog - Specifically, the Illusive Dreams tag







Video Log 3
Video Log 4







Currently I'm working on making the sound effects and music, which isn't coming along too well. I also need to make the content for the hell environment. If you're wondering, I've been working on the game for nearly two months.

[JackMenhorn]

If you need music and sfx hit me up!

www.jackmenhorn.com/audio

[BlackBulletIV]

Thanks. I've sent you a PM.

[BlackBulletIV]

Well, I've started on the Hell environment today. Four basic obsidian tiles, and a basic implementation of lava.

[BlackBulletIV]

I think I may not do the hell environment, it's too much work I think (this is a free game after all).

Anyway, I'm currently making the levels, with three already done. Sometime soon I plan to work on the way the story is conveyed (pictures in a cutscene format, text, something like that).

[BlackBulletIV]

Well, I've been working on the levels as usual. Here's the next

showing the first five levels as they are now.

[BlackBulletIV]

Today I made two more levels, 6 and 7. I think they're alright in terms of difficulty.

By the way, if anyone wants to test the game out just give me a yell; I'd really appreciate it.

[BlackBulletIV]

I think I've mostly finished the "cutscene" system. The system is only based around images and text, but it'll do just fine.

[negativeview]

Yay Mac compatible! I'll totally help you test the game.

[BlackBulletIV]

Thanks. Well it's made in Flash, so theoretically it should work on all three major operating systems.

But yeah, I'll let you know when I've got a test build ready (should be ready very soon).

[BlackBulletIV]

Well I've finished level 8 and the first three cutscenes. I've also removed stuff that was in the game related to hell environment, as I'm not doing that anymore. I'm going to work on releasing the first test build soon.

Finally, I may have a rather large web development job coming up soon, and if so then Illusive Dreams will have to take a back seat while I work on that.

[BlackBulletIV]

I've released the first test build, which you can find on my website. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[BlackBulletIV]

Today I made levels 9 and 10, although I'm worried that 10 might be too hard for its place in the game (yet again). Also, Jeremiah Pena is composing the music.

[negativeview]

The sounds seemed quite loud, but that might have been my volume. Wait until others confirm/deny before acting on that.

I like the mechanic used at the end with toggling between light/dark. It would possibly be more interesting if the light had obstacles that the dark does not. That doesn't really fit in with the narrative, but would make for much more interesting puzzle possibilities.

The stage with the pillars that you have to jump onto was much harder than the others. Not insurmountable by any means, but felt like the difficulty curve was broken there.

The jump height is HUGE compared to other games, but it never annoyed me in this particular game.

[BlackBulletIV]

Yeah the sound is pretty loud, but remember, it's only temporary 8-bit stuff.

That's an interesting idea, I might give it some thought. However, as you said, it wouldn't fit with the storyline/narrative.

Yeah I've had the same feedback with level 4, it's a lot easier now (in my personal build of course). I guess I kind of got used to precision jumping a while ago.

The jump height is huge? It is pretty big, but I didn't think it was that big. As a comparison, Mario can jump 5 times his body height, while the guy in this game can jump around 3 times his body height. Anyway, whatever, at least it wasn't annoying.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

[negativeview]

I don't play a lot of old school games. Perhaps that's where my idea that it's huge comes from. I mean, I played Mario back in the day like everyone else, but not in a long long time. Modern 3d mario can't jump 5x his height, for sure.

Again, it wasn't annoying. I was expecting with that high of a jump height (watching the videos) that it'd make it harder to control, but I didn't have any such problems, so good job. Just thought I'd mention my first impression of jump height as feedback. After playing it a little longer I'm sure I wouldn't even notice anymore, and people who play mostly older and/or classic-inspired games may not notice even at a first glance.

[BlackBulletIV]

Ah ok, good stuff then. And yeah, modern mario definitely can't jump 5x.

[BlackBulletIV]

The main thing I did today is make level 11. I recorded the entire process, and have already uploaded the first two parts (

and

) to YouTube.

I also experimented with making the clouds automatically generated and able to move, but that didn't go so well.

[BlackBulletIV]

I just released the second test build for the game. The changes are listed on the page.

Once again, any feedback/suggestions would be most appreciated.

[BlackBulletIV]

Since I was getting feedback that the last three levels are too hard for their position, I'm creating new, easier ones to fill their place. As usual, I'll be using the previous levels 12, 13, and 14 in some other part of the game.

Today I created the levels 12 and 13. Another night music track was completed as well.