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[Ludius]

///PLAYABLE BUILD///

Description:

Zero is a binaural game that features electro-swing music and an art deco visual style in which you dodge hordes of oncoming debris. Music plays a large role in the actual gameplay. Not only does it drive visual queues, it drives the generation of the world and the various obstacles you avoid.

Goals:

I started developing Zero around a year ago. Since then I have been working on it on and off, [pen]ultimately stopping a few months back when I had finished a small but 'full' version of the game. Zero received more positive feedback than most games that I have made before and it was by far the most fun to make which is why I recently decided to pick it back up and make it a more complete experience. I started making the game with the intention of it being something very design heavy that I could use to get some experience in graphic design. In the version I'm currently developing I want to make the game more cohesive theme-wise, more visually attractive and also available on mobile devices.

Android/iOS:

This is the first time I have really made anything on a platform other than a console or PC and it's been interesting so far. I don't have many iThings available so development is currently limited to Android on my Moto X. Surprisingly, porting the game was a breeze. Unity has a great API for it, and the game looks and runs fantastically. I expected a pretty hefty challenge, but I haven't run into any major snags so far.

Graphics:

I am not very good at graphic design or art in general for games, so I made this game with the intention of using a lot of text, fonts, fairly minimal 3D models, etc. This game hasn't given me a chance to really work on drawing or any kind of 2D art aside from some feeble texturing attempts, but I'm getting much better at modelling and design. I developed a routine for modelling on the buildings that I'll probably end up writing about here.

Devlog:  

My intention in having a devlog is one part being able to look back and see my progress and another part getting feedback and learning. I'm a senior in high school so I have school, college stuff, and some extracurriculars to balance out with this project. I'll try to keep this space updated and interesting though. I just make no promises. I hope to have this all finished up within a few months at most, maybe a few weeks though. Depends on how the project grows and if/how I decide to release it.

[BanzaiBrigade]

Fun stuff, and A+ for good taste in music.

Coupla things I noticed from the playable build:

1.) The pop in of obstacles is very jarring and sudden, and occurs far closer to the player than I would like, you would expect the obstacles to appear at the horizon and then move forward. If this would make the game too easy, I suggest adding at least some sort of animation for the obstacles appearing as opposed just popping in: Perhaps make them move grow out of the ground?

2.) The player ship thing should bank when it turns, and I would also like to see the camera bank along with the ship (a la Cubefield). It makes dodging the obstacles a lot more fun. Although I would test this to see if it works well on a phone where presumably your using gyro controls.

Also just out of interest did you get permission from proletr to use his music? And in the final build will it be preset music or will you be able to feed in anything?

[Ludius]

Thanks for the advice!

Regarding the jarring "pop", that's currently something I'm trying to figure out. I think I want them to have an "on the horizon" at first so that you don't really notice them until they get closer, but I'm really not sure yet.

Turning is something that I wanted to implement, but just forgot about, thanks for reminding me. I'll try to implement that in a near future build.

I actually sent Proleter a message before I posted the gamejolt version, and his response was "No worry, when I say "commercial exploitation" I mean large-scale projects, like company advertisment etc. Keep the money for yourself haha! Put my name somewhere as a credit: spreading my music is a good payback already"  (Though I didn't make any money off of the gamejolt version)

[Ludius]

Update: 11/29/14

The main thing I did today was fixing the way new objects show up in the scene. I shortened the fog falloff distance so that they are nearly invisible until they get close which made the game more difficult and had a few other unintended but ultimately good consequences. I like it, now you have to really be looking to see the objects appear. Additionally the powerups are visible even when they are in fog which is really cool.



I also tweaked the controls for android and got them working fairly well. I was busy with other things today for most of the time so not much was done admittedly.