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[Thomas Finch]

I finally made an IndieDB page and it was authorized just now! Not sure how we're at 1,377 out of 14,563 in popularity since it just barely authorized...


EDIT: Now it's at 1,007... Is this normal? EDIT 2: Nevermind, I think I understand the whole popularity meter thing now. I'm guessing it goes off the day's views only, because I'm rank 140 now apparently.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #28 - 02/07/14

Got some more art for you guys today! This is the player character being scared:

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #29 - 02/08/14

The artist finished our title art! I really like it. What do you guys think?

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #30 - 02/09/14

These are the gates the player passes through to get to different memories!

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #31 - 02/10/14

My website has been sometimes not loading properly or at all and yesterday it wouldn't load all day. Guess that's what I get for using a random free host. So, I switched hosts. So the website should be working just fine all the time now.

In game-related news, I sent the artist the design for one of the areas that will be used in the teaser trailer. So right now he's working on drawing that. It'll take him quite a while to finish this though so I might not have as much art to show for a couple weeks.

Today though, I'll show you a WIP animation of the player 'haunting'. One of the players abilities is to scare humans, sending them running into switches or onto buttons.

WORK IN PROGRESS

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #32 - 02/15/14

My artist had an idea to animate the angel gates ("Gate of Memory"'s). I love it! I'm going to have it come further out of the ground the close the player gets to it and go back in as he gets farther from it.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #33 - 02/19/14

Today, I have a sneak peek for you of the background for the beginning of the game's area. It's just a tree and moon, but it'll give you an idea what level of detail is put into each part of the game.

(Click for full resolution)

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #34 - 02/20/14

I'm currently working on getting the game's necessities in so I can have a prototype/alpha build. I'll mostly be using it for business purposes.

Version 0.0.5.0: Patch Notes
01. Added the "Gate of Memory" to the game which rises out of the ground as the player approaches it.
02. Added in the player's new animations for movement, idle and haunting.
03. Added saving and loading. The game autosaves at various points and you can load at any time.
04. Added a save/load menu to the title screen and a load screen to the pause menu.
05. Added the title art to the top of the title screen and all menus.
06. Heavily optimized the game, also making the code itself look cleaner and more organized.
07. Fixed an issue where the player would sometimes not collide with some spirits correctly.
08. Fixed an issue where the game would freeze when the player flipped.
09. Fixed an issue with v-sync not toggling back on.
10. Fixed an issue where pressing escape in certain menus didn't return to the correct menu.

Checklist:
Menu System (99%)
Player Basic Code (100%)
Player Abilities (50%)
Enemies/NPC Code (45%)
Pausing Functions (100%)
Saving/Loading (100%)
Collision and Movement (99%) - Small bug to work out.
Options (75%) - All the necessities are in, but I'm sure I'll add more later.
Atmosphere/Particles (0%) - I don't need this for a prototype really.
Interactive Environment (20%) - Hell Voids, Gates of Memory, etc.


I'm learning a LOT as I go, so I've been constantly going back and completely restructuring my code and assets. At this point they're damn near perfect, so things are sailing by much smoother. I should be done with the prototype build in 2-3 weeks.

[Beaulamb1992]

That Angel gate...wow! 

[Thomas Finch]

That Angel gate...wow! 

Thanks!

[alvarop]

Digging the style a lot. Following.

[Thomas Finch]

Digging the style a lot. Following.

Thank you!

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #35 - 02/24/14

Let's talk about the story! I don't go too much into detail in the main post, so I'll go more into detail now.

So at the beginning of the game, the player character (who is nameless as he doesn't need a name) is lying dead on the floor of a cabin engulfed in flames. His ghost floats above him. At this point the player gains control. Making their way to the right, the player finds a large room made up of clouds called Purgatory. In this room are 8 Gates of Memory. Each one leads to a different traumatic memory from the character's past. Each memory you gain a new ability that corresponds to the story somewhat. For instance, in the first world it'll say, "I felt like my whole world had been turned upside down." Thus, you gain the ability to reverse gravity for yourself alone.

It is extremely important to me that the story is subtle. I don't want enormous amounts of text explaining the story to the player. Instead, I want the story to be told mainly through the gameplay, world themes, etc. I think this will spark a lot more discussion between players as well. The beginning of each level will have one small room in which the background is a painting depicting the traumatic memory. In this same room is where you first get your new ability and test it out to solve a very simple puzzle.

Each world will contain 5 Mementos. These are objects that are always noticeable to the player, but hard to obtain. They're always behind a puzzle. The mementos will each be an object that reminds the character about something positive around the time the memory took place. If the player gets all 5 objects, at the end of the world, you will see a positive ending room where the player is realizing that things weren't all that bad and he needs to let go (said more subtly of course).

I feel that each world's memory should be a compelling enough story by itself to warrant it's existence. If one level was about death and another was about spilling milk it wouldn't make any sense. So, I'm taking this on from the viewpoint of the character. What in his life would make him sad or angry enough to have trouble letting it go. I don't want to reveal all of them, but stuff like: His parents tragic death when he was 5, being picked on at school all the time as a kid, his wife being told she couldn't have any kids.

This is also why I chose 8 worlds rather than 9+. I personally feel that after 8 memories the individual stories would start to become much less compelling or interesting. Also, because more than 7 abilities would be overkill. Side note: I have considered the possibility of adding a Level Editor and creating an online world like how Super Meat Boy did.

The eighth world will be a conclusion to the character's life story, basically and explain certain things through the mementos you find. I'll be leaving some things up to interpretation. After the last world, the player moves on to the final room of the game which contains no puzzles. It will simply tell the end of the story... what happens to the character's spirit? The answer will entirely depend on how well the player did throughout the game. There will be four endings: three bad, one good. Which you get depends on how many mementos you collected through all of the levels. If you collected all mementos in every level, you'll get the good ending. You can always go back to worlds you've already finished and get mementos you missed.

Also, I plan on having secret trophy type objects throughout the world that are much harder to obtain than mementos. Once you collect all of them and all mementos you'll have gotten 100% completion of the game.

Thanks for reading guys!

[Silvermaan]

Sounds really interesting. Also, love the animation that you guys have put in for the angel gates. Adds a whole lot over just having a static object.

[Thomas Finch]

Sounds really interesting. Also, love the animation that you guys have put in for the angel gates. Adds a whole lot over just having a static object.

Thank you! Yeah, I think having more of the environment animated really adds to the atmosphere of a game.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #36 - 02/28/14

I'm very proud of this:

(Click for full resolution)

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #37 - 03/04/14

Not much news at the moment. The artist is working on hard on a big piece so not much new art to show you. I've been working on hard the game's programming and design. Here's our latest patch notes though:

Version 0.0.5.5: Patch Notes
01. Changed the way the camera follows the player. Its now much smoother and gives the feeling of weight to the character when falling.
02. Changed how the player's sprite were oriented so the animations didn't jitter when changing.
03. Made animations have much smoother transitions.
04. Added the 'Scared' and 'Vanish' Animations to the game. Both are used when you 'die'.
05. Added false doors.
06. Changed the sandbox level to be the building block for the prototype demo.
07. Added arrows to the left and right of options in the settings menus that you can click on to change the selected setting.
08. Changed the alignment of option text to be centered between the left and right selection arrows.
09. Adjusted the height of the player's bounce when landing on a Squeamish Spirit's head.
10. Fixed an issue with loading and saving.
11. Fixed a few issues involved in using larger rooms.
12. Fixed all issues with movement and collision. There should no longer ever be any crashing due to player collision.
13. Fixed misalignment of audio options text.
14. Fixed an issue with the keybinding options menu.
15. Removed Window Centering (most likely temporarily).

Version 0.0.6.0: Patch Notes
01. Added an option to delete save files by holding 'Shift' and clicking on the slot.
02. Changed how help text is displayed for better readability and nicer design.
03. Adjusted the player sprites further for even smoother animation.
04. Added text that floats in various parts of levels. Will be used for both story and tutorial sections.
05. The game will now delete save files used in older test builds, so the player doesn't spawn into walls. (Test Build Feature Only!)
06. Pause Menu and Title Screen help text is now dyanmically shown based on cursor movement and button presses.
07. Added a quick-check for walls, so if the player is walking into a wall it will not run unnecessary while loops every single step.
08. Objects not within view will now deactivate until back in view. This will drastically improve FPS.
09. The "Quit" option in the pause menu now returns the player to the main menu rather than closing the game outright.
10. Changed the positioning of the parts to all menus to give more room between lines.
11. Change any on/off option toggle to checkboxes and added click functionality to them.
12. Added a gate to the beginning of the play area for testing.
13. Fixed an issue where if the player went out of bounds he'd respawn, then play the death animation.
14. Fixed an issue where if the player died while bouncing, he would keep bouncing.
15. Fixed issues with old Seething Spirit and Key Object code so they can be used in this build.
16. Fixed a few issues with wall designs causing sticking.
17. Fixed an issue where the framerate would drop dramatically when walking rightward into a wall.
18. Fixed the flipping animation to look less jarring.
19. Fixed an issue with 'Resume' not working in the Pause Menu.
20. Fixed an issue where checkpoints weren't saving the player's position.
21. Drastically optimized code.

[Thomas Finch]

Devlog Update #38 - 03/05/14

This is the animation for when the player "dies":

[migrafael]

Devlog Update #29 - 02/08/14

The artist finished our title art! I really like it. What do you guys think?

Love it! The game is looking sweet

[Thomas Finch]

Love it! The game is looking sweet

Thank you, I love the title art.
Also your game is looking more awesome by the day. Love the parallax backgrounds.