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[Magnesium Ninja]

I recommend adding or changing to your game's name for two reasons.

1. "Overclocked" is not really searchable. The game would be overshadowed by a bunch of threads related to the act of overclocking a computer.

2. http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=47211.0

One idea would be a subtitle. Dust: An Elysian Tail did this.

I appreciate the concern! I don't think there's any worry of our games being mistaken for one another, or even overlapping. We won't be releasing for quite some time still  .

[Magnesium Ninja]

Recently we've been working really hard on getting Overclocked to the point where it functions well enough to allow us to casually move into content creation.

I've added the functionality for cutscenes, as well as some UI work to make some elements of the game more clear. On top of that, the tutorial stages are officially complete (except for art), allowing us to slide into the first official episode.

This is exciting, but also kind of scary and a little difficult. The next phase for us involves figuring out the scope of the game, fleshing out the rest of the main characters, and making sure that the game's difficulty curve isn't too crazy. Once we get Episode 1 done, I think that the rest of the game will come a little bit easier.

There's a lot coming up, and a lot of what we're making includes spoilers. I'm going to do my best to keep the plot spoilers at a minimum, but look forward to seeing more gameplay footage in the future!

[arrebeat]

Hey, that last video made it clear that I spoke too soon about game speed haha... I think it's perfect! All that momentum makes total sense to me now.

Btw, nice song on the video! I assume you guys intend to go with that fast paced, classy, j-pop style for the soundtrack?

[Magnesium Ninja]

Hey, that last video made it clear that I spoke too soon about game speed haha... I think it's perfect! All that momentum makes total sense to me now.

Btw, nice song on the video! I assume you guys intend to go with that fast paced, classy, j-pop style for the soundtrack?

Great to hear! We're still working out the details for the soundtrack, but you can definitely expect music in a similar style to that. Our goal is to create music that helps the player get into and keep that "flow state", but also gives them a chance to breathe and unwind when they need to. We should have more news on audio pretty soon.

We've been quiet for a bit, but we've been hard at work on content creation and implementing systems for some things coming up in the game. There're been a ton of tiny little changes that make a big impact, but they're a little hard for me to talk about.

...Instead, why not have an explosion-filled gif to give you an idea:

We've got exciting stuff coming down the pipeline, but for now I should stay quiet. Look forward to the next handful of updates, though. (Also, say goodbye to the gray squares and background, as we're hopping into level art very soon).

[Magnesium Ninja]

Listen Up

The exciting news we've been keeping hush-hush about recently is the addition of a new member to our team. Introducing Jamie, the man who's going to steal away control of audio design and implementation to ensure that we don't royally screw it up.

We've spent a ton of time this week working with Jamie to integrate our project (in GameMaker) with WWise, an insanely powerful audio middleware tool that will help him ensure that the game sounds perfect.

The only snag that we ran into was the lack of support for GameMaker from WWise. The only existing plugin to integrate the two tools is GMWWise, a plugin that was last updated in 2012. Obviously, this wasn't good enough to fit our needs, so I went ahead and performed some upgrades on it. Thankfully it was open-source.

Now GMWWise is upgraded to the latest stable build of WWise and has some nice fixes and new features. I'm still working on implementing some additional desirable features, but it's a hell of a lot better than when it started. If you're interested, you can take a look at my changes on GitHub.

We'll be talking a lot more about audio in the future, as well as actual level art, as we've finally finished Amber's monstrous spritesheet.

Exciting times ahead!

[Magnesium Ninja]

I put together a couple new levels over the past handful of days. They're pretty exciting in that they introduce a new obstacle that I'll show off fairly soon. These levels are also far different in design than the previous ones, which gives me hope for creating a wide variety of levels that will feel completely unique and challenging in new ways.

We've also got a ton of ideas in the backlog regarding new enemies and obstacles. Given that we're already 10 levels into the game, I'm very optimistic about creating something long-lasting and satisfying.

Next up for me is the first "boss" of the game, which will be a fun challenge to put together.

[Magnesium Ninja]

Recently we've been working on implementing a bunch of small functionalities. I took the time to create an object that would handle the loading and drawing of backgrounds with parallax included.

We're also making progress on audio and art, but not enough to show just yet.

We implemented an arrow that appears while charging to show the direction of your dash. This can be turned off or on in the settings, which we think is a good middle ground for all types of players.

[Magnesium Ninja]

I've spent a few days now working on the first boss of the game.

Bosses in Overclocked are special levels that can be of a variety of types. They all have the objective of defeating the boss, but they aren't necessarily all arenas. Some might be chase levels, others might be avoidance or survival. We have a lot of options available, and I'm excited to play around as we go.

The first boss represents a fairly substantial level with some unique mechanics. Bosses are typically going to be "difficulty gates" to the next episode. That being said, my goal is to prevent the player from feeling like they've hit a full wall at any boss, especially for the first few.

Overclocked is and will continue to be a difficult game. Even so, I want to target players who may not feel as confident with their platforming/action game skills but are eager to give it a shot. Overclocked isn't going to beat players down from the start.

I'll probably show off some of the boss once we get art in for it. Right now it's just a bunch of squares.

[jctwood]

Love the laser punch. Are moves like that unlocked as you progress a la Guacamelee or do you have access to them all from the start?

[Magnesium Ninja]

Love the laser punch. Are moves like that unlocked as you progress a la Guacamelee or do you have access to them all from the start?

Glad to hear it! All of Amber's moves are available from the start of the game. Overclocked is more of a skill-driven action platformer. Sort of like Super Meat Boy but with punching!

-----

Finally wrapped up work on (the first pass of) the first boss. It took a while to get right and I have no doubt that it'll be tweaked further, but for now we have the pleasure of continuing on with the story.

We've been hard at work fleshing out the specifics of each aspect of the story. We know what we want to say with the plot, and we know the major moments in the story, but a lot of the in-between is still open for us to play with. It's a lot of fun, but also quite frightening!

[jctwood]

I can imagine it is quite frightening with so much possibility. Donyou think you will ever omplement a level editor? I can already imagine it being really fun to tweak the levels in the game.

[jamiebell]

Hey folks, Jamie here! As mentioned in an earlier post, I've come aboard to handle audio design and implementation in Wwise. A quick introduction: I started my career doing audio for film and TV and have since worked as a contract audio artist at Microsoft and EA here in Vancouver.

The thing that drew me to this game was how fun everything looked even without all of the things that "should" make a game fun yet -- even with enemies being placeholder squares, this game is still a blast. I could tell they were really making sure that the feel of the game was paramount, and I think it really shows in how it plays. Overall, I couldn't be more stoked to work with these dudes and can't wait for people to see and hear this thing.

So far I've been playing the game loads to get a sense of how it feels to play and what I want to hear while playing --  what can I do to make this game easier and more satisfying to play, while contributing to the cool universe that we're creating? For example, while playing a level I died because I didn't realize I was out of air dashes and fell to my death. To help you keep track of your resources, the suit now gives you a little notification blip when you've exhausted your dashes. You'll learn this SFX and instinctively know when you're out hopefully without having to think about it.

What I've learned from playing a terrifying amount of Street Fighter IV over the years is that the less actively a player has to seek out information, the more she can focus on doing cool things -- the important stuff, especially in this game which has such great feeling fluid movement! If I can be a constant passive stream of information for the player, then she doesn't have to worry about keeping track of that stuff and can really sink her teeth into the game.

So, that's what I've been doing -- hunting down these sorts of moments where audio can help out, which can only really be discovered by playing the game lots and getting very comfy with how it feels to play.

I'll post more updates as there are more solid things to show. I plan on eventually doing some Wwise video walkthroughs, too. Stoked

[jamiebell]

A New Challenge Approaches!

Some cool progress last night!

Each level has two badges that you must unlock to get 100% completion. Only the first badge is necessary to beat the level and continue the story, but the second is an extra challenge. The simplest are "Complete the level in 35 seconds" or "Get a score of 6000 points," but we've been doing some brainstorming to find what other cool second badges we can throw at you.

Please ignore the fact that I accidentally died to take this screenshot!

This is a new level which includes the first of the "Don't defeat any enemies" badges. It's a tough one because the enemies are usually conveniently close to a laser, and your air dash kills enemies so you've got to use them carefully. Here's how I get around this first one when trying to get the no-kill badge:

Bet that purple guy feels like a dolt!

When I showed this GIF to Chris, he was stoked about how different our approaches are. Of the three of us working on the game, we each have a totally different way of approaching this no-kill badge, and I'm excited to see how people get creative with these challenges.

Speaking of getting creative, check out this usage of a punch to eke my way past a laser in the next part of this level. This felt so flippin' cool to do:

I ABSOLUTELY MEANT TO DO THIS, I SWEAR.

Back to the lab to think of some more cool badges! Until next time!

[Magnesium Ninja]

I can imagine it is quite frightening with so much possibility. Donyou think you will ever omplement a level editor? I can already imagine it being really fun to tweak the levels in the game.

Right now a level editor isn't in the plans, but the hope is that the game itself has enough content (story mode and endless mode) to satisfy that itch for levels! We'll have to see.

The Content Train Chugs Along

A lot of what I've been working on is content creation. This process will definitely speed up in time, but for now one in every few levels requires me to code a new system or make adjustments.

Still, we're plowing along and having a great time discovering what we can do with our designs.

I'll be putting together a gif/video soon with pieces of levels to show off how the progression of the game feels.

-----

Today I worked on implementing a new stage type called "Onslaught". Onslaught levels force the player to survive for a period of time in various circumstances. While many of the game's levels focus on player-driven aggression, these levels are more of a passive strategic experience.

It's going to take some time to get them feeling just right, and they'll vary a lot depending on the structure of the stage, but I think they're going to be an awesome change in pace and addition to the game.

[Magnesium Ninja]

We've been working to put some proper level art into the game. We've started on the tutorial stages, and it's looking pretty good! We've got a long way to go before it feels perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than gray squares on gray walls.

More art is going to be waiting for a bit, as Justin is away for the week. Progress elsewhere will chug along, though!

[Magnesium Ninja]

Tons and tons of progress has been made! Boss #2 is complete and we're plowing our way into the fourth episode, which is really exciting. We're still only about a fifth of the way through the game's content, but things are coming along well.

The fourth episode is designed to be one that tests the player's skill in tight quarters, as well as their ability to adjust to a new, shielded enemy type.

I want a workout room like that.


Boss number two is a beast.


Don't get seen-- oops.

[Magnesium Ninja]

We've made a handful of large design changes over the past couple of days. None really affect the core game, but rather the metagame in terms of badges, stage completion, and leaderboards.

We've removed the concept of "Score" from the game. The realization came that score was a vestige from the previous concept of the game being nothing more than a score attack endless wave mode. We've changed this functionality to "Kills" instead, to better reflect the design of levels.

As such, all score attack levels have been changed into combo'd kills level, where you must kill every enemy without losing your combo once. Honestly, the level doesn't play even slightly different, which is a good indication that we had superfluous elements in place.

We've also changed one of our level types from "Survive for X time" to "Defeat a constant stream of enemies". Again, the level plays very similar, but allows for time trial-style speedrunning.

This last point is very important for us. We intend to have per-level leaderboards, and to do this all levels need to be designed in such a way that players can race for top times. Obviously, "survive for X time" doesn't fit that mold.

Other than this, we've made a bunch of minor improvements and developed a few more levels. Progress is coming along swimmingly and I'm really excited to get closer to the second half of the game, where we have some sweet opportunities for really interesting level design and gimmicks.

[Magnesium Ninja]

We're making headway into Episode 4 now.

This episode will introduce 3 new enemies and one new obstacle. It's a pretty intense one and I'm excited to be starting it.

We're doing the Ludum Dare this weekend, which is exciting as always! Looking forward to seeing some of you over there as well 

[Tangleworm]

Hi everyone!

I'm Justin, and I've been the artist of Magnesium Ninja for a while now. I figure it's better late than never when it comes to making devlog posts alongside Chris and Jamie, so here goes!

Chris and I have been busy getting back into the swing of things at university (and winding down after LD33), but I think we're almost settled in now; progress has been slow but steady, and I recently finished some preliminary designs for the main characters of Overclocked.

Amber, the protagonist. I made her sprite before anything else in the game, and I wanted her design to reflect the world I had in mind -- blocky, friendly shapes and saturated colours, which should hopefully make everything easy to tell apart.

Amber has a direct but friendly personality, and I wanted to reflect this by giving her chunky armour contrasted with a bright, warm scarf. Her augmentations are mostly internal -- things like reinforced bones, cybernetic eyes, and ports that connect her suit to her nervous system.

I think her hand-on-hip pose is a little bit iffy right now and her legs are probably too thin given the suit she's wearing, but I'll fix those eventually.

Ruby, Amber's best friend. The starting point for her design was that she was boisterous and expressive, so I wanted to convey that by basing her design around triangles -- her suit had to be sharp and action-y, but not menacingly spiky. Her extroversion also translates to external augmentations; all four of her limbs are cybernetic, and have plates that can be swapped out for different situations.

Her hairstyle was inspired by La Roux.

Ash, the pilot. He most often flies the team's mobile headquarters (a cloaked airship) and does techy things around the base, but sometimes also assists in combat missions. Since he has a very gentle personality, I wanted to make his suit rounder than the other agents and associate him with more cool/neutral colours. His suit is partially inspired by older Kamen Rider designs.

Violet, the team leader. As the one in charge of directing the team and managing all the non-combat work, I wanted her to exude confidence. A traditional suit wouldn't really fit her renegade status, so her outfit is a little more casual and colourful.

Thomas, the insider. Since he's an RCMP officer, I wanted to make his design fit in with regulations; groomed hair, clean shaven, and professional. I didn't want him to be stiff, though, so I tried to give him a friendly face and stance.

I'll get around to shading and tweaking these portraits eventually, but for now they'll help us align our textboxes and work on the conversation system.

[Tangleworm]

Hey everyone! It's been a really long time since we last updated; we've all been busy with our own things, but we've been grinding away at this project bit by bit:

Most of our work has been focused around getting the first little bit of the game completed so we can eventually start playtesting it. As a team, we decided to remove charge burst attacks (the bar that filled up in the bottom left) because they felt unnecessary to our level design, and we also tweaked a few variables here and there to make the game faster and smoother. I've also managed to solidify the art direction a bit with regards to the UI.

Here's some art assets I made, compared with the old versions.

Old level select screen:


New level select screen:

(I hope I accurately portrayed what city this is! :D)

Old level 0-1 start area:


New level 0-1 start area:


Old episode 1 background and dash arrow:


New episode 1 background and dash arrow:


Old level end screen:


New level end screen:


Old conversation textbox:


New conversation textbox:

Besides this we've continued to write dialogue and design levels, add particle effects, and other stuff that I'm too lazy to take a screenshot of. Jamie has also done more work on the sound, so things are slowly coming together!

Hopefully we'll have more to show soon!