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[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

Still in development, recent stuff from the dev's Twitter



Mock-up

wow the mockups are crazy o,o

[kebabskal]

Ok, ok! I'll make an update here.

The game is NOT dead. In fact, the development is more active than ever!

Today marks the first day of me being a "real" part time indie.
My day job graciously granted me one day a week off to work on the game.

I have been a bit silent since I didn't know what would happen with some things.
During radio silence I have actually signed with a publisher. More on that later.
Didn't want to jinx anything until everything was signed

The game itself has evolved quite a bit.





Wut!? The game is in 3D now? Yup.
There is even some meaningful uses for the difference in elevation.

Check this small gameplay teaser video out:



The music is by the awesome Adrian Shegstad (@zantilla_music).
I fell in love with his previous EP Encounters (https://zantilla.bandcamp.com/album/encounters) and just had to have him on
SFX are very temporary at this point.

I'll try streaming a bit of development on http://twitch.tv/kebabskal
Keep an eye on my twitter (http://twitter.com/kebabskal) for announcements.

I'd better get back to developing!
Let me know what you think!

Hugs,
/Hannes

[SafetySnail]

Heck yes, so glad this is still in development. Congrats on signing with a publisher man, the game is looking gorgeous as always.

[squarepug]

Love how in the teaser video it suddenly turns in to a bloodbath with rapid gun fire. Quality.

[jhocking]

I really like this art style!

[Christian]

Congrats on signing up with a publisher. Taking a wild guess, but between the main four (Devolver, Adult Swim, Team 17, and Double Fine), I'm betting it's Adult Swim Games...

TIGSource has a good track record there, with Ghost Song, Rain World, Oblitus, and Rise & Shine all being published by Adult Swim...

[lobstersteve]

It's 3d now? 
Still looks awesome (probably even better). 

[FreakOrama]

This looks beyond awesome! Hope you release a new demo for this new version of this game =3
Also I hope the music composer releases that track used in the newest gameplay video on his website. sounded awesome!

[jeandenishaas]

So loving the look of this!

[kebabskal]

I have spent the last six months silently making this game progressively worse...
As I make one final push to make this mess into something awesome, should I possibly, maybe, start posting here again? :D






(Also, I'm possibly looking for a skilled collaborator)

[lionfish]

I've always enjoyed seeing the progress of the game. 
Great job! 
Plus posting on here I think builds hype for the game, which is good for everyone.

[Cranktrain]

Really loving the new 3D environments. Congratulations on getting a publisher! That's wonderful news, I hope it all works out.

[kebabskal]

I've always enjoyed seeing the progress of the game. 
Great job! 
Plus posting on here I think builds hype for the game, which is good for everyone.

Thanks, bro! Not sure if tigsource packs the same punch as it once did, lets find out

Really loving the new 3D environments. Congratulations on getting a publisher! That's wonderful news, I hope it all works out.

Glad you like it!


Also, sounds like twitter agrees that I should start devlogging again:


Updates coming soon!

[kebabskal]

TL;DR: Skip to the end for some current gameplay footage.
As promised, here is the first of hopefully many devlogs to come. I'll try to be as honest as possible.

Last we spoke I had just signed a publisher, I had just moved to 3d. I also started taking one day off work each week to work on the game. Things were looking great, I had tons of fun making the game. I even streamed a bunch of it's development on twitch.

Missing the Hook
Within a few meetings with my publisher, it was pretty clear that the game was missing a hook. There was no story, no super unique gameplay mechanic, not hundreds of guns, not tons of characters, no overarching unifying theme. The game played well minute to minute, but it needed something to make people say "oh, I know that game, it's the one with <blank>". Back when I started working on this, the genre was wide open. Since then there has been a flood of awesome titles. Nuclear Throne (that game where you mutate), Cryptark (that game where you infiltrate massive spaceships), Enter the Gungeon (that game where everything is gun-puns. Also: Much soon! Very excite! Woop!) etc.

It turns out, tacking on a "hook" midway through the development and design of a project isn't all that simple. Here are two of the ideas I tried out:

Collectible cards - Character switching
The game would feature tons of characters (50+) each with a unique loadout of spells. You would find new characters pretty much every run, and you could cycle through your characters mid battle at the push of a button. The idea itself isn't all that bad, but it would involve a shit ton of work to make all the characters. I was already pressed for time so I put that one on the back burner.



Magic orbs
On your adventure you would find Magic orbs that enabled you to cast spells. These would be placed in slots on the face of your spellbook. There were also Augment orbs that altered the spells you put in there. It could be 'Reduce mana cost' or 'Trigger spell when hit' etc. It was obviously inspired by the materia system in Final Fantasy VII, one of my favorite games growing up. I loved this idea conceptually as you had tons of replayability and exploration between which orbs you got. The major problem is that it breaks up the game play, with what is essentially inventory management. I want this to be a fast paced action game, not MS Excel.





So where am I at now? I still don't know what the hook is.
I have some ideas for a story line and Setting that might feel a bit "hooky".

Real life (tm)
To complicate things further, real life reared it's cute little head in the shape of Girlfriend Finally Pregnant. We had been working on that for a while so we were especially happy when we saw the two blue stripes on the test This, however also lead to selling the apartment and buying a house. We are now finally up and running in the new house, and the sale of the aparment will be finalized next week. This has all been more time consuming than one could think, but I should soon be back on my usual dev schedule.


The view from my new home office, as I write this

Platforms
I am exploring Twin Analog Sticks as primary control method. I didn't think I would like it but it quickly became my favorite way of controlling the game. The game is also running on actual non PC hardware. I'll say no more at this point.

Current state
I would say that the game has gone back to a pre-alpha prototype stage.
Level generation is decent (I'll do a whole separate post on the current method soon).
Player controls just fine.
Enemies are few and stupid as dirt but good enough for now.
Graphics look pretty cool.

One of the ways that this game sticks out a bit from the herd is the 3d verticality. To emphasize this a bit I actually added jumping and grenades that are thrown in an arc. I started playing Destiny quite recently, and I felt super bad ass vaulting over enemies with double jumps and raining death from above. It feels pretty sweet in Tiny Wizard as well. Also gives you another option to circle strafing around the enemies. Maybe I should borrow Downwells gunboots as well? :D




Some recent gameplay

Pew pew! Let me know what you think!
Did you like any of the failed ideas?
How about jumping in 3/4 view, good/anus?
Keep me honest and motivated!

/Hannes

[mleta20]

WOW! Very cool game. I love the art style and how well you captured the fast paced action. I can 100% see myself playing this in the future. My only concern (based off of the initial thread gif) was that the player character and the environment may be too close in color. The player could lose the wizard when the action picks up. Just a thought! Can't wait to see more. Do you have a twitter?

[Green Gospod]

IMO the latest gifs have way too much bloom and brightness (and probably other effects, though the foggy effect is nice in most areas).
Also its perhaps slightly off that the player is 2D *sprite* and enemies are 3D voxel objects.

[SolarLune]

I really like the art style, too, but I think I do agree that it's strange that the enemies are 3D while the character's 2D. I'd also agree that the bloom's pretty heavy (it might be the bloom + fog combination that kinda pushes things over the edge). You might also want to make the enemies glow like the player and shots to help them stand out.

Try using some select different neon colors and unique structures (though this can wait) in the environment to help break things up and make the areas appear a bit more different from place to place, I think.

[kebabskal]

WOW! Very cool game. I love the art style and how well you captured the fast paced action. I can 100% see myself playing this in the future. My only concern (based off of the initial thread gif) was that the player character and the environment may be too close in color. The player could lose the wizard when the action picks up. Just a thought! Can't wait to see more. Do you have a twitter?

Thanks! Nice to hear that you like it. I agree on the character distinction. I'll work on that at some point.

IMO the latest gifs have way too much bloom and brightness (and probably other effects, though the foggy effect is nice in most areas).
Also its perhaps slightly off that the player is 2D *sprite* and enemies are 3D voxel objects.

Yeah, bloom needs some tuning, surely. Graphics are not anywhere close to final
The 2d sprite is a holdover from the old 2d days. Have made some experiments on voxelizing the character.

But they don't read very well when the camera is higher up. It's not impossible that I'll revisit this later.
I'm also a bit attached to the old 2d sprite. It's been the calling card for the game since the beginning (Original ludum dare flash game from 2012).
 

Try using some select different neon colors and unique structures (though this can wait) in the environment to help break things up and make the areas appear a bit more different from place to place, I think.

The tiles for the graphics are placeholders that I have spruced up a little to be able to show screenshots. Rest assured, more variation will come I have a whole thing with the colors representing "schools" of magic and so on. Btw. Keep the Gearend stuff coming on youtube.

[Nonsense]

I'm really pleased to see this is coming along; I played the earlier 2D version and loved it. The 3D is looking good, although as others have said it's a bit odd that the PC is 2D while the enemies are 3D. I was actually quite fond of the slightly earlier screenshots, where all characters were represented by 2D sprites in a 3D environment, Paper Mario-style. Full 3D gives you the chance to do some interesting stuff though, like letting you jump on top of a large enemy and run around on its back (just a random example and absolutely not an idea I'm trying to implant in your head, honest).

I don't work in publishing or advertising so am not by any means an expert in grabbing a player's attention, but I actually feel that the early version of the game I played already had a hook with its suite of abilities available at the start. Nuclear Throne has a huge amount of guns, but only two available to you at any one time. Similarly, Binding of Isaac has enormous variety, but in a single run you are limited to your tears, bombs and a space bar item (and only your tears can be consistently deployed in combat). Part of what drew me to Tiny Wizard was you had four or five spells right off the bat, which each had a different role to play in combat.

As a player, the idea of having 50+ unique characters with their own set of spells is hugely appealing, but, as you say, it would be a lot of work. One of my favourite moments in the version I played was when, after a few runs, I started with the blue frost wizard. Part of that was the surprise factor, but having a new set of spells made the change feel more significant than in similar games where different characters typically get just the one new ability. Unlocking new characters is also a hugely compelling reason to start a new run (and largely the reason I have played so much Dungeon of the Endless). I have mixed feelings about being able to switch characters mid-combat. I feel like you might have less attachment to your character if it's, well, not really a character. Obviously, it's all about implementation though. If there were interesting mechanical consequences to shifting character, or if there was some plot-based justification for it, I could see it working.

(Personally I like the idea of character selection always being random, but I know a lot of people would complain about that so...)

I think the magic orb system could be implemented without breaking up the flow of the game, as long as the player doesn't get an inventory of unused orbs. Look at the trinket system in Isaac: you can only carry one, and any trinket you don't use has to be left on the floor. So whenever you find a trinket you ask yourself which one is better suited to your current playstyle and roll with that.

Of course, we all know what the real hook is: pink!

[kebabskal]

I'm currently experimenting with full 3D voxel characters.
It's by no means a finished design or anything, just trying out proportions, how long it takes to rig and animate etc.
Also, infatuated with the combat in Hyper Light Drifter, I'm trying out some melee and dashing action.






Combat feels a lot more engaging this way. Just keeping your distance, holding down shoot and circle strafing is not all that fun.
Going to get the shooting back in and see if I can find a good balance between the two playstyles.
I have some ideas on where to take this.

<snip snip snip>

Thanks for the insightful comments!
Some of the ideas I have for the combat in some ways echo what you are saying about how many actions you can take at any moment.

I'm looking at having a main character with a couple of moves available at the start (Shooting, Melee, Dashing, Jumping, Throwing grenades) and a bunch more as persistent unlocks between runs (Downstab, Dashstab, Doublejump with blast downwards etc).
Upgrading would be expanding the possibilty space but not primarily increasing straight DPS.
Player learns to use the correct moves in whatever situation she is put in.
Moving away from the MOBA/WoW/Diablo action bar with "spells" towards more of an action game controller layout.

I worry a little about replayability.
The replayability of Isaac, NT and Gungeon comes largely from which guns and items you find between each run.
While I have procedural levels, I don't really know how to fit in random items etc.
A game like Devil Daggers have almost no character progression during or between runs, AND the runs them self are always roughly the same, and people still play that game til their fingers fall off...

I agree that the Pink is the real hook

I'll be back soon with more updates.
Keep the feedback coming. It's both hugely helpful and inspirational.