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[danielgoffin]

I made a small little time-lapse GIF showing off the photoshop process of transforming a purple standing character into a sleeping one. Only active characters will be standing (and walking) all other characters on the screen will sleep in the meantime.

[danielgoffin]

Welp.

When was the last update? August 23rd? Ugh, so much for keeping a well maintained dev log. It's been sometime and instead of going into every small detail of the past months I will keep things short (sort of).

We went to gamescom (unofficially) with a very raw gameplay prototype, backgrounds and animations missing due to bad planning and errors in communication. So, even though our publisher had a booth there we did not get to show the game to that many people. Still, it was good to be there with our publisher, not only because they are nice and cool to hang out with, but also because we got a first hand impression of how they work: dedicated to get their games into the hands and in front of the eyes of the right people.

After gamescom we finally managed to get the animations into the game. It is always a delight to see a game slowly coming to life. I made progress with the background paintings and about six weeks later we had a new demo version ready for EGX in Birmingham. This time very official, with our very own kiosk (including 500 pins as give-away). As is to be expected with such a low profile, interest in our game was not huge. However, about 150-200 people played the game and judging from the reactions to the game and kiosk our target group is mostly families and women... Average playtime was about 10 minutes for all 8 levels and more than 50% played the entire demo.

We were asked quite often if the game will come out as a mobile game. An understandable question as the controls are very simple and would lend themselves very well to touch controls. Initially our plan was to release on PC/Mac first and then head to mobile but now we are not so sure anymore... What do you guys think?

Last but not least, a few impressions of the current state of the game (black cap, plum shawl and pink shirt — that is me).


The current demo version has title-screens before each level but the final will have something else.


Level 8, as it was shown in Birmingham.


Our brand new post-EGX walk-cycle. Much better than the almost invisible movements of the old version.


A close look at the merge and split animation!

[blekdar]

You know at first I wasn't sure I'd like the 2D art (I understood why you did it from a development standpoint) but seeing this post here, especially that walking/bounding animation, yeah I'm totally sold. It's looking awesome.

[danielgoffin]

You know at first I wasn't sure I'd like the 2D art (I understood why you did it from a development standpoint) but seeing this post here, especially that walking/bounding animation, yeah I'm totally sold. It's looking awesome.

@blekdar, that is a huge compliment. Thank you very much.

[danielgoffin]

A few of the sketches I made this week. On one hand I think that the ones in the EGX demo were a good step into the right direction but on the other hand I was not satisfied: the level of detail was not immersive enough for me.

[SolarLune]

Whoa. This art is excellent. Posting to follow. Man.

[danielgoffin]

@SolarLune, thank you very much for the compliment. ^____^

Here is an update with new sketches: a little tribute to Nausicaa (a big inspiration) included.

[danielgoffin]

Sometimes the hardest part of a long project is to keep on track an remain focused. This is especially the case for Perlinoid which has seen many iterations both in terms of mechanics and aesthetics. At the beginning of November it became apparent to me that I needed a set of reference drawings that I could always access without a second screen or the need to switch applications. Hence, I decided that I would create a map (or atlas) to help me keep the visuals consistent. The map consists of six settings (desert, forest, swamp, mold, city, machine) and for each of those I tried to find background patterns as well as items of various sizes that I can use to assemble the final background paintings. As you can see in the photo, I ended up with a pinboard full of drawings. Out of these I've chosen three of my favorites that you take a closer look at.

[DireLogomachist]

Incredible work!  I love it when a game makes up it's own plant life.  Animals always seem to get remade in fantasy games (as monsters, etc.) but for most part everyone seems to use the same damn trees and ferns...  Loving it! 

[danielgoffin]

@DireLogomachist, thank you for the kind words. I do agree. Though there are a few games here on TIGS that have quite wonderful alien environments.

[Jasmine]

Man, these new graphics are sweet! Excuse me if this question has already been asked/answered, but is there a playable build of the game somewhere? I'd absolutely love to try this!

[danielgoffin]

@M4uesviecr, great that you like the new direction and that you would like to play it. I am sorry but currently we have no playable prototype that we can share. Might take a while until we do so. Thanks for your patience.

[danielgoffin]

My last post showed the map of Perlinoid sketches that I developed. Based on this I created a first set of concepts for existing levels. These are very unfinished, no colours and only a minimal amount of values but I am starting to get a much better feeling for the how I want these backgrounds to look.

Additionally, we have been working on implementing our new walk-cycles and other animations. Below is what happens when Blue encounters a blue gate... Cute, right?
















And lastly, for kicks a hommage to Matisse:

[Jasmine]

Ooh, I can't get over how adorable this game is. I love the blue gate animation, but if I were to see it in-game, I'd figure I did something wrong. It looks like they are trying to keep me from passing.

[danielgoffin]

Ooh, I can't get over how adorable this game is. I love the blue gate animation, but if I were to see it in-game, I'd figure I did something wrong. It looks like they are trying to keep me from passing.

Thank you. What you describe of the blue gate is exactly how it works. Colour in this game is not a sign of friendliness.

Each obstacle has a different reaction depending on the colour of the character. In this case the gate is the opposite of the bridge:

• a blue character can only cross a blue bridge
• a blue character can not pass a blue gate
• a red character can only cross a red bridge
• a red character can not pass a red gate
• a purple character can cross a red, a blue, and a purple bridge
• a purple character can not pass a red, a blue, nor a purple gate

and so forth with the other colours. It allows for some mad puzzles.

^____^

[de11ed]

Man, this game has gone through some serious changes over time. I love it! You have some seriously good art for the game and I really like the mechanics of it, great work man!

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

whimsically beautiful

[BeautifulGlitch]

Woah, the art on this one is strong! :DDD

Love the animation of the two thingies blending into the purple thingy! <3

[danielgoffin]

@de11ed, thanks! Yeah, the aethetics have been through  lot of iterations. I learned a few things about myself while working on that part of the game. The mechanics have seen their fair share of changes as well (albeit not quite as documented here). It is one of the most complex projects I have been involved in.


@bakkusa, thank you!


@BeautifulGlitch good to hear that you like it. The two thingies are a red (standing/jumping/active) and a blue character (sleeping/inactive). The purple result is a new character that inherits the abilities of red and blue.

^____^

[danielgoffin]

This week I did not get to work on backgrounds as much as I would have liked to. So, I can't really show you anything new in that department. But I worked on something else in my spare time... :3

It has been a while since I have worked on a sculpture. I bought a set of needles and some wool over a year ago but for some reason (son) or another (work) I never really got around to using these. Then a week ago I thought that felting one of the game's characters might be a worthwhile thing to do. It took me a few evenings to finish it: Perlinoid's Blue felted, about as big as a lighter, but lighter. Ha! I think it would be a nice size for a plastic toy. As I just learned, it is really hard to get precise fine details with wool fiber. The arms and legs were really difficult to get right and I ended up stabbing myself quite often. I might attempt sewing a plush version next... (and yes, I am planning a toy/plush line).