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[nt]

Thanks for the comments

Hmm.. interesting. I thought everything is 2d, since there is no parallax on the animated gifs. It means you are using the orthographic projection, aren't you? If so, haven't you tried the perspective one? (for the whole game, not for the last screenshot)

Yes, I am using the orthographic projection. The minimal depth I get off the voxels is really just to get some interaction with the light and cast some subtle shadows. I actually use the perspective view for debugging sometime to see if everything snap at the right Z depth tho, but it wouldn't be playable I think, or maybe lets say its not really the look I was looking for.

I think faking the parallax by offsetting each layer like you'd do in 2d would work better.
That's a cool technique you got there! Have you thought about using 3d space for any gameplay mechanics?

Yeah I thought about some mechanics, but I put it on my "later" list. We will see how things go. If there is 3D space mechanic it wouldn't be for the whole game at least, maybe some later level? We'll see.


So I'm still working on the teaser for the game, it's taking me more time than I thought, as I am still debugging stuff at the same time and some game mechanics turned out more difficult to work with than I thought. I need to make some play testing soon I think. I change the monster to "snap" to hot spot so to make it easier to interact with them when they transform to monster, that was one thing that really helped, because before it was a game of crazy timing sometime, to transform the monsters at the exact right time. I tweaked the height of the jump too, something I should have nailed down long ago, and that made things complicated and needed adjustment on lot of other stuff.

So here is this gif showing basic Ladder Monsters interaction I posted on screenshot Saterday :

Those monster are really just walking back and forth, then react to the light to transform. This is part of the level that really show you how to work with the game mechanics.

Here is the Bridge slug in action:

These are a bit tricky, I need to make them a bit longer still, but this show also the simple mechanic they have.

[Stranger087]

Fez trees? Oh no, not again  

edit:

but light-ghosts interactions looking interesting. I think it can be more natural, if monster will transform not into ladder, but... Into vertical, twisted sprout, with knots. Something like this...

[jctwood]

Just noticed the focus shifting in the earlier gifs, incredible!

[Snail_Man]

Wow, this looks super-super cool. Other than the trees, the Fez influence isn't overly obvious, but it's there if you look.
The lighting is really nice. The whole thing just looks great! I'll be sure to keep up with this throughout development! 

[Thomas Finch]

I really love the art and especially the blurred parallax effect in front of the player.

[nt]

Thanks for the comments! I tried to make the tree not too fez like actually, while keeping a blocky look, maybe the branches should be revisited.

It's getting late, been messing with post processing color correction. There is no end to this once you start playing with it.

Click for fullsize!

but light-ghosts interactions looking interesting. I think it can be more natural, if monster will transform not into ladder, but... Into vertical, twisted sprout, with knots. Something like this...

That's a cool idea, I kinda like the ladder tho, but depending on the context maybe something more natural would be better. They are supposed to be "shadows" of the surrounding objects so it would make more sense. Ill try to animate something to see what it would look like.

[noethis]

Looking good, liking the style! One thing that is kinda bothering me though is the blurred out / DOFd foreground objects. I mean, I like them, but the soft blur feels weird with the pixel aesthetic. Wonder if you pixellated the blur?

[nt]

@kruxus : Made me want to try the classic block retracting thingy. I just made this to see how it would work. Does that count as using the 3D for gameplay? the only feedback you have to tell if the block is out or in is the shadow really.

Looking good, liking the style! One thing that is kinda bothering me though is the blurred out / DOFd foreground objects. I mean, I like them, but the soft blur feels weird with the pixel aesthetic. Wonder if you pixellated the blur?

Thanks! I guess I should try some stuff with the blurred foreground yeah, someone else talked about dithering don't know if it would work well. I've never really messed with camera shader tho, so I don't really know where to start. The pixellated blur could be interesting, I could fake it just to see how it would look before coding anything.

[blip]

Those retracting blocks and their shadows look awesome!

Another idea that might go with this is you needing to turn on a light to see their shadows.

Also lots of puzzle potential with the creatures and these shifting shadows.

[dotsquid]

Those sliding blocks look really cool: both the idea and their appearance.

[Scifa]

I really like the style of this game and the block interaction with the aliens is very clever!

[nt]

So a little update on the development of the game.

I took some time off last week as I've been struggling lately to make a trailer. I am running out of money to work on the game, I left my job 7 months ago to work full time on it and now I have nothing left. So I'm contemplating my options now.

I could do some contract work part time to help with money, I'm looking into doing some more of that, but that will slow down development. I'm also thinking of doing a kick-starter, or maybe release the trailer, open a website and look at taking preorders. I wonder what people think on preorder at this stage, would it look bad? I guess with a trailer it would be acceptable?  I'm looking at least 6-8 months before release at this point. Once the trailer is done, I'll try steam greenlight too.

Kickstarter look harder than it use to. With game on there that look 50% done, its more of a kick-finisher for games now. Preorder for me would be pretty much the same idea but probably harder to pull off since I don't have as much visibility on my own as their website.

So right now, that's pretty much it, if some of you guys can give me some comments, that would be nice. I am kinda new here, on this forum, and in game dev in general, maybe some experienced dev can tell me what they think of all this.

[Cristiano Vitorino]

So a little update on the development of the game.

I took some time off last week as I've been struggling lately to make a trailer. I am running out of money to work on the game, I left my job 7 months ago to work full time on it and now I have nothing left. So I'm contemplating my options now.

I could do some contract work part time to help with money, I'm looking into doing some more of that, but that will slow down development. I'm also thinking of doing a kick-starter, or maybe release the trailer, open a website and look at taking preorders. I wonder what people think on preorder at this stage, would it look bad? I guess with a trailer it would be acceptable?  I'm looking at least 6-8 months before release at this point. Once the trailer is done, I'll try steam greenlight too.

Kickstarter look harder than it use to. With game on there that look 50% done, its more of a kick-finisher for games now. Preorder for me would be pretty much the same idea but probably harder to pull off since I don't have as much visibility on my own as their website.

So right now, that's pretty much it, if some of you guys can give me some comments, that would be nice. I am kinda new here, on this forum, and in game dev in general, maybe some experienced dev can tell me what they think of all this.

I'm in a similar position, the difference is that I'm not really prepared to show anything of relevance as of yet. I suggest defining a strong marketing plan, I dont't know if you already doing it or not, but it's something very tricky to do. Some interesting articles that I like on the subject:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132506/building_buzz_for_indie_games.php?print=1
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/marketing-your-indie-game-the-single-most-important-thing-that-no-one-knows-how-to-do--gamedev-7157
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/promoting-your-indie-game-checklist--gamedev-7560
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/tips-for-getting-greenlit-on-steam-greenlight--gamedev-13938

And some insight into success and fail on Kickstarter:
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/a-no-name-developers-guide-to-succeeding-on-kickstarter--gamedev-10892

An ordered marketing plan is key to release your work in a timely fashion, to slowly build up interest.

A trailer is awesome, make sure to show key features of the gameplay, like you did with some of your awesome GIFs. But take care with the pace, plan your marketing properly, build interest.

Pre-order is nice, so is Early Access, players are very willing to accept it nowadays.

In early access case, it's also a dangerous move. Since the momment you put that early game up, you will never actually "release" the game, since it will be available immediately, that can make or kill a game, or your reputation, some interesting point of view on the subject and a poll:



http://strawpoll.me/2392046/r

In case of Pre-Order, make sure to communicate that you're not offering a game to download immediately or soon (making it an Early Access model, not a Pre-Order one). But for a pre-order to be successful you'll need a certain following already, otherwise it can be slow to get some funding going on and hurtful for your development.

Pre-ordering at this pace will not look bad, if you explaining clearly what the players are paying for at that momment, what is the expected release date, etc. Explaining that the Pre-Order is basically for funding, state verything in a very transparent manner.

About Greenlight, even in case of not being successful there, it is still a great way to get raw views, since thousands visit Steam every day, that includes Greenlight, but keep in mind that Valve is slowly shutting down Greenlight, now it's not even clear on Steam front page anymore after the latest update. More about this on the articles I linked above.

And I feel ya, funding is not easy, and the love alone we have for our creations is not enought to pay the bills. All of what you suggested yourself are good ideas, just take care and read some more on the subject before taking a major decision. Plan correctly, execute correctly.

[nt]

Hey thanks, that's a lot of information. I'm gonna think about all this during the week, I think I just need to finish the trailer as quickly as possible before doing anything else, so I'll focus on that for now.

I did some look dev for a new set of levels, and since I didn't post any screenshot in a while, there it is :





I'm still playing around with color correction, not sure if I over done it, might have to go back to more bright colors. Also, now that I think about it, maybe the trees should not have leaves...

[Cristiano Vitorino]

Hey thanks, that's a lot of information. I'm gonna think about all this during the week, I think I just need to finish the trailer as quickly as possible before doing anything else, so I'll focus on that for now.

No problem. Looking forward for the Trailer.

[nt]

I think this looks better. Click for full size!

[nt]

Showing off the title screen and official logo of the game!

click for fullsize!



You can also follow me on Twitter now. I'm starting this new account, I'll be posting news and announcements on there as well as development updates and stuff!

https://twitter.com/6502b

[quixotic]

Oh wow. This really looks fantastic. So many lovely details. Will keep an eye on this project.

Was going to comment on something really small: in the first GIFs it looks weird how the player interacts with the ladder. There seems to be some leeway on where the character is exactly placed horizontally relative to the ladder, which somehow bothers me a little bit, especially when leaving the ladder. In the more recent GIFs I'm not seeing this anymore, so maybe you already changed this anyway.

Cheers

[Machi & Mark]

  Love the lighting. Looking very atmospheric! Also, the foreground elements look great, I think the Gifs just make it look weird cause of the banding.

[bombjack]

Wow! I just saw the block of light transforming the shadow to a ladder.
It's really cool