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[crusty]

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggghhhhhhh

I handmoney because I like mario galaxy.  Can you talk about anything innovative/different/new you have planned that will change up the 3d platforming formula?

[Razz]

This looks very good. I especially appreciate the use of a drop shadow, I see lots of indie 3d platformers omit that for some reason.

[denzgd]

Just watched the teaser, and it's looking great! I definitely like that the character can grab ledges, and unless I'm mistaken, around the beginning of the part with the snowballs, it looks like they are using some sort of dodging mechanic? The jumping looks rather heavy, compared to other platformers, and the character seems quicker; with games like Mario and Banjo Kazooie, the jumping mechanics make the characters feel like they have quite a bit of control before they land. With Poi, it looks more like flicking a marble into the air. I imagine the character's faster walking speed is definitely going to come in handy when navigating the large, open levels. I do suggest tweaking the trampoline animation and physics, as it appears that the character is hopping, rather than getting a good bounce out of it. This could be achieved by making the animation a few milliseconds longer, and making the character stay on longer, before rising up again.

I hope none of this comes of as insulting; I'm trying to be constructive!

[Jondog]

Oh cool an Indie 3D platformer, don't see many of those, will be following with interest.

[oahda]

Watched trailer. Am amazed. Music's really good too. I love everything.

Just don't listen to the comments on the video.

[AKWolf]

Can you talk about anything innovative/different/new you have planned that will change up the 3d platforming formula?

We have a few things we are working on right now that we hope will put a different spin on the platforming. Also, we have some ideas revolving around the open world that will tie into overall gameplay. I don't want to give away specifics yet until we know that they are going to actually work out

Just watched the teaser, and it's looking great! I definitely like that the character can grab ledges, and unless I'm mistaken, around the beginning of the part with the snowballs, it looks like they are using some sort of dodging mechanic? The jumping looks rather heavy, compared to other platformers, and the character seems quicker; with games like Mario and Banjo Kazooie, the jumping mechanics make the characters feel like they have quite a bit of control before they land. With Poi, it looks more like flicking a marble into the air. I imagine the character's faster walking speed is definitely going to come in handy when navigating the large, open levels. I do suggest tweaking the trampoline animation and physics, as it appears that the character is hopping, rather than getting a good bounce out of it. This could be achieved by making the animation a few milliseconds longer, and making the character stay on longer, before rising up again.

I hope none of this comes of as insulting; I'm trying to be constructive!

Not at all! The feedback is greatly appreciated.  We definitely have messed around with the weight of the character a lot.  Before he was more floaty, and now it's been tweaked it so that he's heavier.  We think it feels better when playing (more responsive for quick turns / jumps on moving platforms), but I agree that there is a lot more work to be done with the animations. We'll keep working on this!

Thanks for checking it out!

[melos]

hey cool!

- what is the player movement like (it looks pretty stop/go and kind of sudden fast moving?)
- shadows for the player? looks like it could be hard to judge distances

- can you reveal anything abt how the gameplay of each stage ties into the entier game? like super mario 3d world esque or more like jak & daxter ish?

- any sort of core ideas for the mechanics other than just 3d platformer ?

[AKWolf]

- what is the player movement like (it looks pretty stop/go and kind of sudden fast moving?)
- shadows for the player? looks like it could be hard to judge distances

- can you reveal anything abt how the gameplay of each stage ties into the entier game? like super mario 3d world esque or more like jak & daxter ish?

- any sort of core ideas for the mechanics other than just 3d platformer ?

-The player movement depends on the type of platforming level. Right now, we have a few different "flavors" of levels planned. Some are more explorery (find objects), while others are more hectic (get to the end of the level without falling / dying).

-Yeah, depth perception is something that we're actively working on.  We do have a spot shadow on the player, but there are definitely cases where judging a jump distance is difficult.  We have a few mechanics (ledge grab, double jump, etc) that make it a little more forgiving, but it's still not where we want it to be!

-The individual "levels" you see are traditional platforming levels.  But they are placed in a large overworld and completing each "level" will play into the overworld and bigger picture. We're still designing this a bit, so I don't want to say too much more until we get it locked down!


Since the last update, we've added more traditional platforming mechanics like climbing and sliding.  We also updated our website! 

Updated Website

[AKWolf]

Hey all!

Poi is now on Greenlight! Throw us a vote if you like what you see



We've been hard at work on some of the non-platforming aspects of the game (secrets in the world, story cutscenes, etc). Also, puffy particle clouds! We wrote a custom shader based on some of the techniques described by Niniane Wang and used in Microsoft Flight Sim (http://www.ofb.net/~eggplant/clouds/). It's pretty simple, but gives the clouds some nice subtle shading that changes based on the time of day and direction of the light. Here are some shots at morning, noon, and evening:

[Mr Underhill]

Gorgeous graphics and feeling! Chapeau, gentlemen 

If there's one thing that bothers me a little is that all grass blades are identical. It'd be nice if they were randomized a little. But that's nothing. It looks and seems to be running great. Prooops!

[AKWolf]

Gorgeous graphics and feeling! Chapeau, gentlemen  

If there's one thing that bothers me a little is that all grass blades are identical. It'd be nice if they were randomized a little. But that's nothing. It looks and seems to be running great. Prooops!

Thanks!

Yes, that's bothering us too. We're going to be doing a texture pass soon that will take care of the identical grass!

[Pawl]

Hey all, Paul here, the other full-time developer working on Poi.

We've been heads down the past few months working through some design changes, but I figured it was about time to start posting some updates again. Here's a look at a couple of our new level styles.

And here's a WIP gyf of a transition that will be used elsewhere in the final game. Not sure how to embed gifs/gyfs here on tigsource; if it's possible, would be great if someone could explain, thanks!

[Jondog]

To upload gifs you need to have it as an actual gif, not the video file that sites like gyf use.

[archgame]

I really like the direction of the game so far, the various level designs, open-world platforming, and especially the character design. Basically I love seeing other 3d platformers on tig and in the indie scene, there should be more.

I was wondering if there was going to be other characters in the game? I'd hope in an open world like this there'd be lots of characters to interact with!

I was also hoping you could talk a bit about your camera work? In the trailer there are a couple of different shots (from the side, following behind, and close up-behind) but the video was cut in a way that never shows transitions between the camera states; is this player controlled or is it set by the environment?

[botwoj]

Wow this looks really really good!! Very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the models and the color palette. Would love to hear more about the world and the fiction of it 

[Pawl]

Ah, thanks @Jono! Next time I'll make a gif that  isn't 14mb so I can embed it directly without crippling the thread.

@Archgame There will be other characters in the game, we just haven't shown any yet. Right now we're working on cutting a new trailer, so hopefully that'll fill in a lot more details.

The camera has evolved a lot since that initial video, but our general philosophy has remained the same. We want to give as much camera control to the player as we can, while still trying to pick the best spots based on the environment. So for example, right now the player can always pan (L, R, U & D) and zoom, but when they enter a custom trigger zone, we'll smoothly re-position the camera, but the player always has the option to make adjustments.

@botwoj We'll be able to talk more about the world after we finish cutting our new trailer.

In other news, here are a few close-ups of the player. (now with foot IK )

Full album here

[oahda]

The 3D model is mirrored with respect to your 2D avatar. :O

[Pawl]

The 3D model is mirrored with respect to your 2D avatar. :O

Hah, you're right! Would have never noticed that. Must've flipped my avatar by mistake at some point.

[AKWolf]

Hey all,

Big news today for us -- we're going to be releasing Poi on Wii U!

We've updated our website with more info on the game and a ton of new screenshots. We're also going to be doing a Kickstarter campaign in July. Check it out and let us know what you think!

http://www.poi-game.com

[Pawl]

Here are a couple new gfys that showcase the character's improved jump physics and our world above the clouds.