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[jamesabels]

Hey guys,

Just a quick update on the soundtrack.

Going to start the sonic exploration come Monday, but over the weekend I'm putting together a little mood board for aesthetics I really want to try and capture musically, which is probably just super hipster and pretentious.

Enjoy!

https://www.pinterest.com/jamesabels/lithium-city-inspiration/

[nicotuason]

Just got back from a week of doing non-gamedev stuff (oh real life, you're so distracting).

Today I've been experimenting with a more "immersive" ammo counter:



The convention is to place the ammo counter at the bottom right corner. This works for First Person Shooters because you almost always want the action to be at the center of the screen, but in an angled isometric perspective I feel you have to be more aware of the entire screen.

Also, I wanted you to be able to check your ammo with the minimum amount of eye movement... though it remains to be seen if this is the best way to do that.

[Canned Turkey]

I think it's a cool way to do it and it fits the style.

[nickgravelyn]

Just got back from a week of doing non-gamedev stuff (oh real life, you're so distracting).

Today I've been experimenting with a more "immersive" ammo counter:



The convention is to place the ammo counter at the bottom right corner. This works for First Person Shooters because you almost always want the action to be at the center of the screen, but in an angled isometric perspective I feel you have to be more aware of the entire screen.

Also, I wanted you to be able to check your ammo with the minimum amount of eye movement... though it remains to be seen if this is the best way to do that.

Definitely looks neat and could work just fine. If it starts feeling too distracting (it looks like it could be moving a lot) you might try anchoring above the player's head so it's less affected by aim direction and thus wouldn't move around quite so much.

[nicotuason]

Guns! One constraint of this vector art style is that the guns have to be made up of as few rectangles as possible (to save on calculations and render time). It was an interesting exercise to make futuristic looking weapons with this constraint.



From the thumbnails I picked out a few that are (hopefully) easily distinguishable from one another:



I'm having a pretty hard time deciding if the game should have an inventory system or should force you to keep looking for new weapons like Hotline Miami.

Hotline Miami style:
pros:
 - you are forced to improvise often
 - each shot matters more, because your weapon never lasts long
 - you get to use almost all the weapons out of necessity
cons:
 - constantly hunting for a weapon on the ground breaks the flow of action
 - not having the right weapon for the job can suck
 - weapons can not be developed or upgraded

Inventory
pros:
 - you can choose a weapon that suits your play style
 - you can plan in advance what weapons to bring
 - possible weapon upgrades
cons:
 - more time-consuming to implement
 - have to think about the game's economy. Can you buy and sell weapons? If you can sell, then you might end up with the "packmule" problem of making sure that you are carrying the most expensive weapons at the end of each mission for maximum profit.

  sometimes decisions like this paralyze me.

Maybe dinner and a good night's sleep will help.

[Canned Turkey]

Combine both.
Have all the enemies guns drop, so it works like hotline miami, but have them also drop a bit of universal ammo.
So if you want to pick up a magnum and keep it, you can, you just need to be careful not to run out of ammo.
And vice versa, if you want to leap frog from weapon to weapon you still could.

P.S. personally I don't care for weapon upgrades and economy BS, so I say nay to that.

[MereMonkey]

Woah this is super cool, the gameplay flows beautifully! Also can't wait to hear what you come up with James!

[Join Indies]

Love the look of this, it's like a deadly round of laser tag from the future. 

It would be cool to throw in some stealth training modes like from the VR missions in Metal Gear Solid.

[nicotuason]

@Canned Turkey - I feel you're right about upgrades and economy... too often it turns into grinding and padded game length. I really like the puzzle-like feel of a Hotline Miami level where everything you need to complete the level is right there.

I like your idea of universal ammo, but instead of having separate drops for the weapon and ammo they could just drop the weapon and if you walk over to it, you automatically pick up the ammo for that weapon. This I think would cut down on the need to keep swapping out your weapon with a fresh one.

@Join Indies - Definitely want to do some stealth elements! I just want to avoid the kind of stealth missions that slow the pace to a crawl and become frustrating. I'm thinking of adding some kind of invisible mode (like in Ghost in the Shell) where the enemies can only see you at close range.

[nicotuason]

I was about to start implementing the different weapons when I realized that the main character needed a short-range takedown move (for when you start without weapons or run out of ammo). I don't have the ability to do those cool fully animated takedowns like in Deus Ex Human Revolution, so I figured a lighting-quick attack move was the most practical:



This seems a bit much and I will probably tone it down later, but right now it's just so fun to pull off :p

[JobLeonard]

If it is fun to pull off why take it out? This is a game, not a realism simulator.

[Daze Hill]

The last gif makes me wonder: these walls, are they supposed to be translucent for the computer too? Do they see you through walls? If not, will you take advantage of windows and such for game/puzzle design?

[nicotuason]

@JobLeonard - Oh I wont remove it, but I might need to balance it so that it isn't overpowered compared to the firearms. Like reduce the range or increase the cooldown time.

@Dad - Nope the walls are supposed to be opaque for the computer, though I am planning some "dark" levels where they block your line of sight as well. But visually, they must always appear translucent so as not to block the view of the action. I am also planning to add windows and low furniture as elements of the level design.

Been working on adding the different weapons and I wanted to see how many guns you could strap to your character's body before it starts to look silly:

[marcgfx]

I like the idea of strapping on the weapons, but won't this force you to also have swapping weapons animations? the style of the game is great, not something I've seen done before. I really like how the arm follows the cursor, gives it a very realistic aspect!

[amateurhour]

I think what you've got there (5) weapons is a good number.

It makes me think of Shepard from Mass Effect where every character carried a pistol or smg, rifle, heavy weapon, and sniper rifle and it didn't seem to look to ridiculous there.

I like it! Also the visuals in general are freaking awesome. This looks fantastic!

[ryansumo]

Loving it!  I think the animations could use a little tweaking, I'd be happy to help out and offer suggestions if you're interested in my opinion.  Regardless, it's looking pretty damn good!  Given that the look is not so serious I wouldn't worry too much about looking silly.  With this kind of design maybe you should just go all out!

[nicotuason]

@marcgfx - That a good point... I'm not really looking forward to doing the weapon swap animations. I'll probably make the swap animation really quick so that no one will notice if it looks janky :p

@amateurhour - Thanks! I think in Mass Effect the weapons did a good job of blending with the characters because they mechanically shrunk to a more compact size and their colors didn't contrast too much. With this game the guns are a blinding white color, which I wanted so you could easily identify them by their silhouette... but I'll test out ways to make the holstered guns blend-in a bit more.

@ryansumo - Maybe you're right... I tried out a "Rambo mode" with dual-wielding SMGs:



Haha I think I like it! Definitely going to add this somewhere mid to late game. Will just have to figure out how to do weapon quick-swapping with this setup 0_o

Btw would love feedback on the animations! I did the death animations really quickly but I'm planning to make them more varied and hopefully more reactive to the environment. My animation process is a bit of a time sink now so I have it on the list after gameplay mechanics and environment / level design.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

This game is promising. Akimbo Style !

[Canned Turkey]

How about having a weapon swap animation for each spot where she can hold one?
That's only three animations to make, if you're holding two.

[nicotuason]

@Canned Turkey - The animation itself is doable, but the problem I foresee is what key do you press if say, you want to switch your left hand weapon with the one on your back, instead of the one on your left or right thigh? I don't want to confuse people by putting too many hotkeys. I'm also considering just using an inventory that pauses the game and lets you drag weapons onto the spots you want.

I feel good about the progress with the weapons so I started working on the environment and level design elements. I made some furniture and experimented with adding a very light texture to the floor.

There are two styles I'm considering for the furniture. Black with outlines:




Or translucent like the walls:




My concern with the black-outlined style is that it could be harder to notice enemies since they share some colors, but the translucent style could make everything look too samey. Would appreciate any opinions!