Ark
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« on: June 11, 2015, 08:30:31 PM » |
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*Trailer
*Short Description: Mirage of Dragon is a surreal maze platformer set in Arabian hell Hatamah – “that, which breaks to pieces”. Find the one true dragon in a dark world of shadows and mirages. Confront devouring Silence.
*Prologue: “At first I wasn’t sure what I saw… Everything was covered in the darkness… Memories, dreams, mirages… I realized at one point that the darkness… this darkness was my own body – the reflection of what I was – the endless desert, the reflection of the ancient mirage I was looking for – the dragon. It came to me and I followed it into the silent blaze, “that which breaks to pieces”.”
*Work in Progress: Enter the desert... Lost in the cave... To the Sky Palace... The valley of bones... One of the dragons... *Key Features: >Maze exploration and pure platforming with minimal elements of action, puzzle and adventure.
>Mostly relaxing atmosphere with occasional surreal horror scenes
>Arabian style soundtrack – music that sounds like desert
>7 Dragon mirages – from micro to colossal
>Traditional hand-drawn art
>Rich, yet entirely optional monologue-based story
>7 endings (maze exits)
>Extras: 100 page art book (PDF), 24 page Guide (PDF), Original Soundtrack (WAV)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGACY: (original project) ------------------------------------ Below you can see the original post - I'm leaving it just the way it was, even though the information given is not accurate anymore. ----------------------------------- Title: Dark Lord: The Duel Genre: 2D Arena Platformer Action Adventure Style: Minimalist 90‘s arcade/NES inspired. Setting: Dark Minimalistic Fantasy Platform: PC “The tale starts where all other end. You are at the gates of the final stronghold, prepared to fight your final foe. The longest journey is behind you… many victories and many losses have made you strong and wise. But there is nothing else back there, except the memories. … You have decided. You enter the temple. The outcome of the war... the outcome of your destiny will be decided here. …” Dark Lord: The Duel is a minimalist Action Adventure game set around one duel. The grand final battle without anything else before or after. One arena. One protagonist. One enemy. The duel though is structured as a classic 5-stage arcade action game. It also includes minor elements of the other genres. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Graphics: (Attention! The full resolution is 1280x720. Present here is only 800x450)
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« Last Edit: February 15, 2018, 02:04:59 PM by Ark »
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Netsu
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« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2015, 01:17:22 AM » |
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I agree, it's hard to tell what is in the background and what's in the foreground. Maybe try tweaking saturation and brightness of the two. For example make the background less saturated, darker, and shifted towards blue - that will make it look like it's further away.
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Ark
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« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2015, 09:24:44 PM » |
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Thanks for your opinions, weashell, Netsu ! I'll try to experiment a little with it. images of game not giving much information to me. would like to see some animated visuals if possible. If we'll continue to work as fast as now, then I hope we'll have a trailer ready in 2-3 weeks. I'll try to add something in between too. maybe that is its style but looking too flat to me. May be it is a style. I tend to avoid any strong contrasts, so yes, it might look a little flat at some parts, but... I'm absolutely happy with it this way. I think more about the composition of lines, rather than 3d forms. And also about the structure of the whole location. (Which is close to this, by the way:
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gereon
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« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2015, 08:28:56 AM » |
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The artwork is really nice. Regarding the depth: maybe a little parallaxing could help. If we'll continue to work as fast as now, then I hope we'll have a trailer ready in 2-3 weeks. LOL starting is always fast...
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Currently working on...
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Ark
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« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2015, 12:59:46 AM » |
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Regarding the depth: maybe a little parallaxing could help. This place looks quite different now. I've decided to make several different versions of the temple - one for each stage. I'll show the result later . LOL starting is always fast... Yeah... I was completely wrong with my "prediction" . But... a lot of stuff happened. A lot of work is done. More to come.
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Ark
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« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2015, 09:50:33 AM » |
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It's been a while since my last visit here. But, of course, the project is not dead. The opposite - I and my new team are working super hard on DLTD. It isn't a minimalist game anymore, but rather big one. If you are interested, you can see some newer screenshots here: http://www.sadjestergames.com/dark-lord-the-duel.htmlIn a month or two (or three ) we are going on KS. So yeah... preparing the campaign and all the extras takes a tonne of time. It isn't as easy as I thought it will be... But it goes well so far .
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Jasmine
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« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2015, 10:35:23 AM » |
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Awesome! Really glad you guys didn't fall off on this one!
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b∀ kkusa
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« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2016, 01:39:08 PM » |
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Peace Soft
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« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2016, 06:31:12 PM » |
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I love the concept, but the game doesn't seem very true to it? Like in the trailers I see the guy running through various areas fighting enemies and bosses like any other game. In what sense are you still dueling the one guy this whole time?
The art is phenomenal and you should be really proud of it. Good luck with the Kickstarter!
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SadJesterGames
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« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2016, 02:26:26 AM » |
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Hi guys! Thanks for noticing the game on Greenlight, was going to post it here, but you were quicker @Peace Soft - Thank you! The idea is that behind everything there is the hand and mind of Dark Lord. You are trying to fight him directly, but he uses the Temple to try and stop you, with his creations.
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Ark
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« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2016, 06:19:50 AM » |
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Hi! It's been awhile since my last visit! I'll try to be more active these days! Awesome! Really glad you guys didn't fall off on this one! Thanks! No matter what will happen, we will beat it in one way or the other! Seems nothing is easy for us, but it's OK. good luck on the kickstarter ! Thanks! Seems we need to boost it somehow . In what sense are you still dueling the one guy this whole time? You know, sometimes they call somebody "One man army". So.. this Dark Lord is a "One-Man-Army" quite literally . He's always there, never leaving the character... sometimes even becoming the character. We'll try to explain it better in the updates section on our KS page.
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Ark
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« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2016, 11:11:14 PM » |
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I was working on a different project for the past 6-7 months, but now I'm back to finish that I have started seemingly long time ago... The original post is still there, but the new name of the project is "Mirage of Dragon". I'm working alone again and so far doing good (slightly more than one month for now, so don't expect me to have a tonne of content right away - it's like starting everything from scratch again, even though I have a lot of stuff done and ready to be used.). The game will be finished on December 2017.
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Ark
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« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2016, 12:36:52 AM » |
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New cover art: Probably it's bloody time to write something "dev-log"-like here. The main challenge of this project is the graphics. My current goal is to establish the style - I must know how the whole game looks. There are 7 main areas. On the pictures above you can see how the 4 of these will look (more or less...) - the desert, the cave, the sky palace and the valley of bones. Currently working on the "Mountain tree" (it's a mix of a giant tree and an ordinary mountain ). What's left: the temple of dragon summoners and the "primal darkness" (sounds easy, but it's the biggest area full of various stuff other than the darkness itself). After that I'll return to the very beginning and start doing everything step by step.
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Thaumaturge
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« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2016, 09:03:58 AM » |
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Ooh, I really like that art-style! Simple, yet detailed and somewhat otherworldly, I feel. The plot, too, is intriguing, as far as the first-post reveals. ^_^
Are we likely to see gameplay any time soon? I'm interested to see how it plays--and especially the "environmental battle system" that you mention...
Following!
If I may offer a little critique, the title is rather hard to read in the cover-art that you posted. The overlapping letters and low contrast make it somewhat difficult for me to pick the texts apart, and thus to read either.
(Just to check: is the subtitle "Ark House", or am I missing a letter? I'm guessing that it's the former, but given the difficulty described above I'm hesitant to conclude as much...)
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Ark
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« Reply #15 on: December 05, 2016, 10:14:20 PM » |
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Thaumaturge, thanks! Are we likely to see gameplay any time soon? Some day in May I'll upload a big demo. I'm interested to see how it plays--and especially the "environmental battle system" that you mention... It's quite simple really. The most basic example of environmental battle would be the Bowser in the very first Mario Bros. I'm just adding more elements to it. If I may offer a little critique, the title is rather hard to read in the cover-art that you posted. The overlapping letters and low contrast make it somewhat difficult for me to pick the texts apart, and thus to read either. Yes, I can't read it myself . Cover arts are more about the style these days, so I thought I'll make it "stylish" . It's not final. I'll try few other things later. (It's perfectly readable on the title screen though: (Just to check: is the subtitle "Ark House", or am I missing a letter? I'm guessing that it's the former, but given the difficulty described above I'm hesitant to conclude as much...) It's "Ark House" - my dev name.
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Thaumaturge
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« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2016, 10:29:05 AM » |
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Some day in May I'll upload a big demo. Fair enough! (So... that's a "May-be"? ) It's quite simple really. The most basic example of environmental battle would be the Bowser in the very first Mario Bros. I'm just adding more elements to it. Ah, fair enough! Well, I'm interested to see what elements you come up with. ^_^ Yes, I can't read it myself . Cover arts are more about the style these days, so I thought I'll make it "stylish" . It's not final. I'll try few other things later. (It's perfectly readable on the title screen though: ... The thing is, I imagine that your cover art is one means by which people may discover or identify your game, and perhaps part of your advertising. If somewhat can't read the cover, they may simply pass it by; or if they're interested, but don't have a link handy, they then lack search terms by which to find more information. (That title screen does look good, I feel. ^_^) It's "Ark House" - my dev name. Ah, I thought that it might be related to your user-name--but as I said, I wanted to check!
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Ark
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« Reply #17 on: December 07, 2016, 11:41:37 PM » |
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So... that's a "May-be"? No, that's a "must" . I got to show something to the publisher and preferably fast. Ah, fair enough! Well, I'm interested to see what elements you come up with. I think I can explain it better with this picture: As you can see there are several Prince of Persia style buttons on the ground – you activate these just standing on top of them. Each has a certain effect. It can be anything, but the standard “reactions” are: -Attack -Counter-Attack -Resist -Move It’s like implementing your normal RPG-style menus directly in the environment. You don’t choose “fireball spell” in the menu – you run and jump to “attack button” on the ground, which creates a fireball for you. “Resist” type buttons can create various shields or walls even. “Move” type can create a teleport or extra platforms (this will be used often...). Some buttons can transform you or summon creatures. The number of all possible reactions is nearly infinite. I think this system is perfect for puzzle platformers (or any other puzzle+action combos). Mirage of Dragon won’t be able to show you even half of its potential, but as an introduction to this battle style it should work well. (I got to leave something for the possible sequels ). The thing is, I imagine that your cover art is one means by which people may discover or identify your game, and perhaps part of your advertising. If somewhat can't read the cover, they may simply pass it by; or if they're interested, but don't have a link handy, they then lack search terms by which to find more information.
You are right about this! I need to try some other variations.
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Thaumaturge
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« Reply #18 on: December 08, 2016, 10:03:19 AM » |
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So... that's a "May-be"? No, that's a "must" . I got to show something to the publisher and preferably fast. Hah, fair enough! (And, in case it was missed, my comment quoted there was intended more as a simple pun than an actual query. ^^; ) I think I can explain it better with this picture: ... As you can see there are several Prince of Persia style buttons on the ground – you activate these just standing on top of them. Each has a certain effect. It can be anything, but the standard “reactions” are: -Attack -Counter-Attack -Resist -Move
... Ah, I see--interesting! Well, I'm interested then in seeing what specific puzzles you come up with! ^_^
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Ark
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« Reply #19 on: December 21, 2016, 06:06:48 PM » |
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