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[flipswitchx]

Oh man this is a really cool idea. Can't wait to open chests and smack stuff and stuff   

[Lexonite]

The new screenshot with the new direction appears more aesthetically pleasing because it isn't as cluttered or bulky looking as before. I like the stream-lined approach that you're going!

[baconman]

Take a spacial 3D grid of those 7x7x7 planets and connect them with bridges (or these island chains?), perhaps? Even a 3x3x3 grid of those planets would then have 162 faces to traverse, and that's not even counting undergrounds, which could possibly double that.

Secondly, experiment with different cube sizes, and find out what size gives you the best traversability and design flow. I was going with a 2D level chunker concept, and found my design flow worked best in a 15x10 tile "chunk size," which when you divide each by five, gave a solid and consistent (wall|open|wall|open|wall) structure that I'm able to keep cohesive, although even that feels occasionally limiting as well.

I just happen to be wrestling with actually implementing the tiling.

Secondly, let's think about objectives. Winning conditions. Granted, exploring these cubeworlds is intrisically fun, but it's not a game yet. It needs goals, winning conditions, and then obstructions to that. It can honestly be as simple as reaching a particular destination, defeating a boss enemy, collecting some collectables, whatever.

[Ralkarin]

So, the last thing I mentioned was that I was floundering on the direction of the game world and I felt like the current design was restrictive.

I've been adding new mechanics every now and then, so I thought I would share a few basic ones.
I'm still soul searching and right now instead of being "adventure"-like, the current direction is to be more of a standard puzzle game with a fixed set of levels.  I may flip this again and try to create a more open game world with integrated puzzles, but for now, I'm working on some puzzle design mechanics.

It's not Saturday, but here are some screenshots anyway. Because a picture is worth 1,000 words right?

Cannons
Cannons provide an avoidance/timing/damaging mechanic and also destroy certain blocks.


Blades
Blades also provide an avoidance/timing/damaging mechanic, but they follow the terrain instead of linear firing.


Targets
Targets provide a secondary objective and/or activate switches using bow & arrow.
For secondary objectives, think Super Smash Bros where you have to hit the targets.


Rods
Rods can be slammed with a hammer, 1 unit at a time to create new pathways.  They cannot be used if something rests on top and they will also move other objects sitting on top of them.
See Sample Screenshot for picture [Red Blocks]

Push Blocks
Push Blocks can be pushed or pulled and will rotate around an edge, creating new pathways.  They can be stacked or moved onto Rods for extra extendage.
Picture to come

Stars
Stars serve as a secondary objective.  Every level will probably have 3 stars to collect and are outside of the primary path to the objective.
See Sample Screenshot for picture

Sample Puzzle
Here is a sample [mid-game] puzzle if the game continues down the current path of 50 levels of puzzle filled fun.

[Linkshot]

Don't think of this as giving up on adventure.

Puzzles are the meat of any open world adventure. Without puzzles, it's just exploration.

You've already dabbled with the open world. Now it's time to dabble with what puzzles get put into it!

[Ralkarin]

Thanks Linkshot!  That's some good encouragement!  We'll see how that advice pans out for the future of this project.  Maybe players can build their own adventures in Pivot someday!

I think the moral of my dev story so far is:
I'm not a very good level designer, but I'm an alright game mechanic programmer. 
I'm a terrible idea man, but I can bring ideas to life [and judge which ones fit within the scope appropriately].

So, the next step in this project's journey for me is to engage the community / friends and build the game together by delivering the Pivot Level Editor!  I hope to build unique mechanics and blocks and world pieces that let other players build puzzles / levels / worlds for others to enjoy.

Anyway, a screenshot of progress so far in the editor.  Some key elements and mechanics are missing, but it's a step in the right direction I think!


Dragging blocks to build levels


Iterate on level designs by playing them immediately and going back to edit mode.

When I feel like the editor is ready, I'll try to get those of you that are interested in trying it a build/link so you can submit levels and suggestions for new mechanics.  Stand by for now [but don't hold your breath  ]!

Cheers! 

[Ralkarin]

Hey everyone! 

This project is not dead!  It's still alive, it's just going through the next stage of metamorphosis (slowly... I have a day job).

I just wanted to announce that a new playable build is up in the project's current [development] form.  The objectives have changed, the mechanics have changed, but the fundamental pivot mechanic is still there.

Link:WebPlayer
Screenshots




The controls and integrated tutorials are not there yet, so I apologize in advance, but you may have to read the controls on the page to understand how to play, hopefully it's not dreadfully hard to pickup.

The last level in the prototype is a hodgepodge of mechanics, so I apologize in advance for the brick wall of complexity (it is solvable though!)

I'm interested in your feedback, your ideas, your stoke level, your hates, and your loves [about the game or otherwise interesting love stories].
I am aware that there are bugs, I'm more interested in design ideas/suggestions than bug reports, but I wanna hear your feedback!

As always, thanks for playing!
Josh

[Udderdude]

Looks cool, I'll try it in a bit.

It looks like the concept has progressed quite a bit since the original post.  I think at this point it more closely resembles English Country Tune. http://www.englishcountrytune.com/

Also, I like the focus on mechanics and game elements.

Edit: Tried it out, it's pretty good so far.

[Linkshot]

I dropped the gem off but I can restart the level.
No diagonal flipping = no diagonal glitches

Seems solid.

[Lexonite]

Got to the cannon level, and that level felt better designed. I think there were too many levels in the beginning that felt empty, and you probably could add like one or two mechanics in those before the cannon level. Pretty awesome so far though!

[Ralkarin]

Spreading color will activate objects in the world. Some objects can be carried.



See blog post for more details: http://www.redclovergames.com/blog/?p=637

[Ralkarin]

Hey everyone!  Thought I'd share a new alpha build with Level Editor support!

Blog post with download links: http://www.redclovergames.com/?p=716

Release Notes:

• Menu system
• Level Timing for speed runs!
• A level select menu with 23 levels (currently working on more)
• A fully featured Level Editor
• Save states for tracking high scores and level progression
• Several graphic tweaks
• Lots of mechanic polish

The best part about this release is the built in level editor.  I build all of the in-game levels using this editor.  It needs usability improvements, but it works.  If you enjoy the mechanics of the game, go ahead and make/share your levels.  I am interested in crowd sourcing player generated content for the release version of the game.  So if you see a creative way to use a mechanic that exists today, send me your levels and I'd be happy to give credit to the level design when the game ships (and even plug your own projects/website if you'd like).  If not, go nuts, have fun with it, let me know what you think.

The levels you create in the editor are all stored in Pivot_Data\Levels.  You can share these files with friends by dropping new text files in that directory.

Your feedback is invaluable, if you'd like to see a new mechanic, a new crystal, a new block, or something else, let me know.  Feel free to share this build with friends, it's a DRM-free alpha build right now, lots will probably change.

Also, I like the name Pivot for the game, but I feel like it's perhaps too generic and there are other similarly named products out there.  I'm open to more suggestions that capture the essence.

Hit me up on Twitter (@Ralkarin) or e-mail me ([email protected]) for direct questions or to send me your awesome levels.

-Josh

[Ralkarin]

Just wanted to let everyone that follows this project, that I've finished iterating on a light weight build of Pivot that will be released to Kongregate sometime soon...hopefully this week.  I hope to gain a lot of feedback and expose Pivot's mechanics to the world to see what they think, before continuing on mechanic and level design.  Hopefully it's fun.

Thank you for being such a supportive community during the beginning of this project's journey, it really is a lot of fun and I appreciate all of your help.

If you're interested in helping me do a final quality check before I release it on Kongregate, I'd be happy to hear your feedback.  The URL to the playtest build can be found on my blog here: http://www.redclovergames.com/?p=740

Thanks much!
Josh

[Moonblade]

Congrats on your release! Looking forward on how things are going.

[Linkshot]

Managed to get sub-7 (that is, under 7 seconds) on Island Hopping! That's nearly 2 seconds of improvement! Immediately turn right, jump down, drop red, turn right twice, drop blue, jump down, insert blue, turn right.

6.980. Can be refined with more frame-perfect jumps/grabs.

EDIT: Also snagged sub-3 on Gem Drop. Phew.

Developer times beaten on stages 1-10, 19, 20, 25-27, 30. I'm a bit wiped out now.

[Ralkarin]

Linkshot, your passion/dedication to testing my Pivot builds is incredible.  Thank you!

I published this version on Kongregate now, integrated with a high score board for best complete times.

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Ralkarin/pivot

More to come on this game in the future, but for now, I'll see where the feedback from there takes me, before I start working on new mechanics and new levels for Pivot 2.

Thanks again everyone!

[Udderdude]

Grats on finishing it.