next »

[Hadrien]

Disquest is a dynamic and challenging 2D Platformer, in a retro 90's style.
You run a computer named AL Z. whose entire memory has been erased because of a terrible virus.



The goal is simple: you will have to recover disks that contain valuable pieces of memory that will restore the OS of AL to its original shape:




Because of the virus infection, the small computer suffers from terrible symptoms, he will have blackouts that will make him forget certain levels of elements. Eg platforms and colors that disappear:




... and many glitches and computer components will try to bar his way:




He can walk, run, jump, slide on all surfaces and perform wall jumps:




You're going to kill him, learn… and succeed!




The adventure will not be simple, good timing and choreography will be needed to recover the disks

About Disquest:

• Game Engine used: Unity 2D
• Other softwares: Photoshop, Ableton Live, Sublime Text
• Author: Hadrien B. (Game Design, Development (C#), Graphics and Sound Design)

To do:

• Main Menu & little Ending scene ✓
• Pause Menus ✓
• Creating Animations
• Adding more visual and sonore feedbacks
• Creating Sounds and Soundtracks

Project progress:

The Alpha version of the game currently has 15 levels and will obviously be free. Before its release I want to add at least 15 more levels to offer a good gaming experience.


Thank you for your time, I will soon add other components of the game.

[fingerman]

Hi,how does the long horizontal jump work?

[Hadrien]

Hi,how does the long horizontal jump work?

Hi, this works with the Speed of the Player. When the Player is jumping and the Speed value of the Player is set to the "running speed" (in my game it's the double of the regular speed of the Player), it creates this "big jump".

[Hadrien]

This weekend is dedicated to character animation and management of the particles (yay!).

I now have various animated states for the main character:

- Idle
- Walk
- Run
- Jump
- Wallslide

To amplify the effect of "speed" when the main character walks or runs, I created a function to slightly tilt the character in the direction of its movement.
The result is still not very conclusive, but I keep working on it.

Here is a GIF to show you the different animations, with, in order: Idle, Walk, Run, WallSlide and WallJump with the outbreak of the particles for each of the states (including touching the ground after a fall).




Sorry for the low FPS, but I record on a laptop that gets old…


Regarding the game itself, I have finished 2 new levels, making 13 in total. I am quite satisfied but I hope I have inspired enough to create other more original levels.

Thank you for your time.

[Hadrien]

Today I set a new rule for the level design of Disquest (great news, right? ). My approach is simple: I set the level so that the player can finish it in one go, without having to stop Al Z. (the hero) once.

Since the players are not all speedrunners, I have to make sure that those who play way more "casual" can also end the level with a bit of fun.

So I allows the player to finish the level in two different ways:



1) Above, the « Best » way to complete the level: you maintain the « Running » button, you tap once on the « Jump » button, and voilà! The level is completed almost instantaneously (approximately 2 sec.). But do not be too confident, it will take a bit of skill and mastery to approach the perfect timing…




2) Above, the « Classic » way to complete the level: you jump from a platform to another, and pray to not fall into the void, or hitting the fans. It will take about 10 seconds to finish the level in that way. Big difference, right?


Conclusion: both ways are valid and cool, because in my opinion the most important is the fun feel and the little shiver of fear that comes over the player when Al Z. is approaching a fan!

[lobstersteve]

Always up for some good platformers 
Fun fact: i also made a walljumping platformer once and had a very similar beginner level^^:

[Hadrien]

Always up for some good platformers 
Fun fact: i also made a walljumping platformer once and had a very similar beginner level^^:

Hehe nice! Platformers are kings, because nervously hitting the jump button like a crazy old man is the best feeling.

Your screenshot is funny, we always create this "S" level, fun to play and easy to make 

[Hadrien]

Hello everyone! Today I have a lot of new things to show. Upon reflection, I made a big decision and I conducted a complete overhaul of the artistic direction of my game. Why? Because I found the graphics too generic and not sufficiently consistent with the universe of the game.

Since the game takes place « inside » a computer, it was necessary to create « sci-fi » and closed environments.


Here are some screenshots:


         
         
         
         
         




And as these environments are now very dark, I had to change the color of my character, this little guy is now white and it screen is black:

         




As new features, I added:


1) Effects of "glitches" on the backgrounds, texts and logo of the game.

            


2) Platforms that are crumbly when the player laying on (I'll add particles instead of blinking effect):

            


3) A mini cutscene showing the story before the first level. No screenshots for it, I keep the surprise


4) A main menu, a pause menu, and an end scene:

         Main menu:

         
         

         Pause menu:

         



To conclude, I now have 20 playable levels. Since I want to provide at least 30 levels in the Alpha version, so the release is coming very soon. I hope this weekend


What do you guys think of these new graphics?

Thank you for your time and see you soon.

[FK in the Coffee]

Meat Boy?

[Hadrien]

Meat Boy?

Huge inspiration for the movements and game feel in general, yep! But don't worry you'll find surprising things in that game (well, I'm doing my best)

[lobstersteve]

Colors are an improvement of course. The style is pretty good actually. The blinking platform looks actually interesting. I would keep it that way, but add more of a glitch effect on it.

[oldblood]

Meat Boy?

Huge inspiration for the movements and game feel in general, yep! But don't worry you'll find surprising things in that game (well, I'm doing my best)

I had the same reaction. While the controls look tight, some of these gifs look ripped out of SMB. Curious how you're differentiating Disquest (e.g. why would I buy Disquest when I could just play Meat Boy in my library?). I ask because selling 2D platformer games is quite hard, so reskinning another game into a different setting will be a really hard sell. Assuming selling is your end goal. If not, disregard what I'm saying and just make the game you want to make. If you are planning on selling, you will need to nail down your pitch about what makes Disquest unique (and don't say its the story or setting cause they probably won't care about that).

Hopefully this doesn't come across as me trying to discourage, more just throwing out there that questions like that will arise the closer you get to completing this.

[Hadrien]

Colors are an improvement of course. The style is pretty good actually. The blinking platform looks actually interesting. I would keep it that way, but add more of a glitch effect on it.

I'm creating some "glitching" platforms, but not on the blinking ones. It's actually a pretty good idea instead of using particles. I'm going to try that, thank you!

[Hadrien]

Meat Boy?

Huge inspiration for the movements and game feel in general, yep! But don't worry you'll find surprising things in that game (well, I'm doing my best)

I had the same reaction. While the controls look tight, some of these gifs look ripped out of SMB. Curious how you're differentiating Disquest (e.g. why would I buy Disquest when I could just play Meat Boy in my library?). I ask because selling 2D platformer games is quite hard, so reskinning another game into a different setting will be a really hard sell. Assuming selling is your end goal. If not, disregard what I'm saying and just make the game you want to make. If you are planning on selling, you will need to nail down your pitch about what makes Disquest unique (and don't say its the story or setting cause they probably won't care about that).

Hopefully this doesn't come across as me trying to discourage, more just throwing out there that questions like that will arise the closer you get to completing this.

Thank you for asking me this, I totally understand your opinion (and I totally agree), but:

1. The game is not for sale, it will be free. Why? Because I have not yet found the characteristic that distinguishes it from generic platformers and it's a good way to start a project that I will finish one day (I created dozens of more creative games that I will not finish because it's too difficult in term of time because I am all alone in every aspects of development).

2. Why not re-playing SMB instead of Disquest ? Because me and others gamers love this kind of challenging platformers, and I think having another experience pretty similar in term of gameplay but in different environments and with others traps and game mechanics can be fun. For example, if I know exactly all the stages from SMB and I want more, why not trying another game?

I hope seeing Disquest in your library, it's not that generic I'm currently working on unique features but as you know it takes time

[oldblood]

Great response. I just see similar games appear on Greenlight and not do a good job highlighting the differences (if there even are any) and then get chewed up and spit out (steam users can be a bit harsh) so was just wanting to float that out there if that was on your agenda at some point down the road. Best of luck on the development!

[Hadrien]

Great response. I just see similar games appear on Greenlight and not do a good job highlighting the differences (if there even are any) and then get chewed up and spit out (steam users can be a bit harsh) so was just wanting to float that out there if that was on your agenda at some point down the road. Best of luck on the development!

Thanks a lot! I'm not gonna throw this project anywhere without solid features and a lot of work into game design. I'll keep it simple and free for the moment, and see where it goes.

[Hadrien]

A small update about graphic improvements:

Main menu: Added a Glitch system with some binary code that blink in the background. I hope you're not epileptic… 




Game: Added some particles to the chipsets launchers:




Thank you for your time.