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[Silkworm]

My take on level design is that, be ready to do alot of different layouts and scrap them again, then redo it.

You are right. I've really wanted to get this demo out but I should probably not rush what is arguably the most important. Good design is not only making the game intuitive but actually fun as well. I'm really happy to finally be working with the actual level design but in doing that I've already noticed quite a few things I'd like to change in how the game plays. 

Or like, do alot of different scenarios, and by scenario i mean; some levels might be jump "themed", or some might have alot of straight running, or some might have alot of hazards, and some might have alot of enemies in them.

And then when you're done with designing all those different levels, kinda mix them together, so they have elements from each scenario / theme. But then again, you dont want to start too hard out or punishing out, you wanna slowly ramp up the difficulty, so the player get a feeling of being "safe" in your game, and then slowly throw them out in more dangerous areas.

That's an interesting approach actually. And yes you really have to think about the difficulty. I think the game is easy now but I know you can never rely on yourself for these things . I also try to introduce every new element under pretty safe conditions before they're used in challenging way. 
 
Some stuff I've re-thought after starting with the level-design:

Player health - You no longer get only one size smaller when you get hit. You always go to the smallest size. The reason is I don't want the player to be able to just tank hits and run past enemies during the invincibility frames and just regrow. I rather make this change instead of adding tons and tons of enemies in the way as an alternative solution.

Enemies - I don't want them to just be fodder you can take care of from a safe distance. I might change the range of the main attack/weapon which right now is almost unlimited but I'm thinking of different approaches too.

The owl for example used to just oscillate up and down and I thought that was fine for an early enemy but when you have a ranged attack it kinda just becomes a glorified breakable wall, and that's boring to me. So instead, now it chases you if disturbed. I also made a version that flies above you and drops a bone.



You no longer damage the mushrooms with your shots, but rather push them to a spikey death.



I also made these boost-platforms which are pretty fun. They brake if you're the biggest size and boost you otherwise.

   

[oahda]

This is the weirdest character ever. But cute!

[Silkworm]

This is the weirdest character ever. But cute!

Thanks !

It's definitely a case of character design coming first and then trying to build a game around it and I've had my fair share of headache around that, mostly because of how wide it is. I wouldn't really recommend a shape like that for a platform game but eh, it works now I think and I like that it is a bit different. The basis for it was an old doodle I did years ago and I made it an enemy in my first ever (failed) attempt to make a game. Might talk about that project at some point since I still have the assets and some of the designs have carried over to this game.



The idea to shoot parts of yourself came heavily inspired by the SNES game Plok! My original idea was that you only had those two shots and then had to pick up the pieces before you could shot again but I realized I wanted to do something more fast-paced so I just added the "grow" mechanic.

Plok! also has arguably one of the best 16-bit soundtracks out there, but then again, I'm a huge Tim Follin fan and am definitely musically inspired by his stuff.

Anyway, quick update on the demo. First draft is done, from beginning to end! There is some work left on the aesthetics and there is still the audio to look over (which I'm doing tomorrow). After that I'm letting some friends test it locally to snap up any glaring problems there might be before I let it loose on you guys. But it's getting there!

Now I need to get to bed.


 

 

[Silkworm]

Hello my neglected thread! Demo has been done for a while. I've been doing some local testing which has gone over pretty well. I've gotten some good feedback and made some changes (nothing big though). Had another testing session planned but it got postponed and I don't want to delay posting it here any longer. So here you go!

Pools of Creation Demo (Windows only)
Link: Dropbox
Mirror:Mediafire

I'm pretty happy with it. Play time is about 45-60 minutes usually.

Feedback is very much appreciated. Also, please tell me if it runs ok or if you have any performance issues as well as if you encounter any bugs or spelling errors.

[Silkworm]

Made some good progress this week. Been working on assets for the second level which will be cave/water themed. Still need some more enemies and I want to add a bit more depth to the background.
 

MUSIC: Dank Passage

Implemented some water physics but it probably needs some tweaking.


I've also decided I want a special companion to team up with at some point in each level (in addition to charm). It's just fun to have some support and it gives me an excuse to add some more characters. I'll try to make them all different from each other though, some might help you fight, some might help with other things.



Companion AI in action.


And finally, so here's this giant enemy crab. I have some big plans for it and I hope I'll figure out how to do it all. The sprite is pretty huge so I have to split it up for one thing. And yes, I realize that the design looks kinda.. Freudian . I didn't when I drew it, I swear. I kinda like it though. Will it have a weak point to attack for massive damage? Probably.

[Pixel Noise]

Hey, very cool project! Listened to the OST, and you've definitely got some nice stuff on there. Curious what programs/vsts you used to create the sounds? Some of them are very reminiscent of the 16-bit era. Children of God was probably my favorite all around, but lots of nice tracks

[Silkworm]

Hey, very cool project! Listened to the OST, and you've definitely got some nice stuff on there. Curious what programs/vsts you used to create the sounds? Some of them are very reminiscent of the 16-bit era. Children of God was probably my favorite all around, but lots of nice tracks

Thanks! My setup is actually very consistent and pretty limited. It is a conscious decision I've made.

Cubase is my DAW.

For the 8-bit sounds I mostly use magical 8-bit which is a nice little freeware vst (I also use one called ymVST). I put some delay on there to make it less dry since I don't think pure 8-bit really fits the game.

My most used lead instrument is the triangle wave from that vst, most often doubled (or in counterpoint) with a pan flute (KORG M1).

One of my biggest inspirations for the sound is probably Seiken densetsu 3 for the SNES. 16-bit era J-RPG music in general are a big inspiration since I loved those soundtracks when I was younger.





Bass and rock organ are HALionOne. Rock organ is another instrument you hear a lot in stuff like the FF-series and Chrono trigger.





Lastly, for the orchestral stuff I use Miroslav Philharmonik. If you're going for realism there is definitely better sounding stuff out there. But I like to use miroslav because it's not very performance heavy and doesn't require a huge sample library. I don't mind a less realistic sound for this anyway.

In other news, I've got bats swoopin', fish chompin', frogs swimmin' and squids squirtin'. I have one more enemy type in mind for the caves and some work on the background but after that I'm set to begin with the level design.

[Pixel Noise]

Very cool - thanks for the info. We usually use Tweakbench (http://www.tweakbench.com/) vsts for our 8-bit stuff, especially the Triforce and Peach vsts, and Toad for percussion, but I'll have to check out the "magical 8-bit" you mentioned.

I've been trying to find vsts/instruments that could capture the 16-bit sound, particularly the likes of "Secret of Mana". I definitely got a "Secret of Mana" vibe from some of the tracks, which is what led me to ask the question in the first place

Our previous sound designer used Cubase, and I thought I recognized some of its sounds in your work. Now we use Reaper/Kontakt stuff. Absynth 5 rocks my world

Anyway - thanks for the info and keep up the work. Will be following!

[Silkworm]

I'm terrible at updating! But a lot has happened.

First things first

-Ludum Dare #35.
I participated for the second time and I'm pretty happy with my submission. Play and rate if you can!
The Night Shift



-I've updated the demo and the OP
It includes a cave/underwater themed level and I'd say 1/3 more content than before. Try it out! Feedback is as always very much appreciated!

Download(Itch.io)
Download(gamejolt.com)



-Switched from 30 to 60 fps
I've never really cared about fps that much but after trying it out, I just couldn't go back. There was no excuse to keep going with 30. It was kind of a pain to make the switch but it looks so much better.

-Started work on a teaser trailer 
Well, started thinking about it at least.

That's all for now!

[Silkworm]

Trailer's done!

[Pixel Noise]

I lost it at "A fruity Jazz band" - but really, the trailer is great. Great pacing, humor, music - really solid!

[Silkworm]

I lost it at "A fruity Jazz band" - but really, the trailer is great. Great pacing, humor, music - really solid!

Thanks! It was really fun to put together.


I've recently been working on the assets for the next area, the mountains.

Most enemies will be birds.




Peng(uin)-pong!




And all together


We also got a new companion, a cactus on vacation. Still needs work but it will use both melee and ranged attacks.

[Silkworm]

Progress on the game has been a bit slow. I've been looking for work since frankly, I'm broke . I'll be working full time 2 months during the summer so I'll try to save up as much as I can then so I can get back to the game.

Anyway, got a new video of the next boss battle. I really want the wizards roll in each boss battle to be different. It's has been going from an offensive roll more and more towards a supporting roll. This time it's casting a shield on you as well as immobilizing enemies called into the battle by the boss.







This level has a bunch of small little scenes and they're all mostly done. I usually do all assets, cutscenes and battles before I start designing the level. I will be starting the level design next week and try to get it done before I start my summer job.

Banana man is still very important.


A challanger appears



Food fight!

  

And gay penguins.

[Silkworm]

Mountain level is pretty much done! I've been debating whether to update the demo with the new content but I kinda like the length of it right now (both gameplay and narrative-wise). There has cropped up some bugs and issues during playtesting so a patch is on the way at least.

I've also sent the demo out to some press but have't heard anything back, oh well .

Someone did do a nice little write-up on the demo though.

Here is a quote:

A different kind of platformer
All things considered, Pools of Creation is a pretty amusing and challenging game, although a tad too slow for most platformer fans. However, it compensates through the original character design and the unusual story.

It's pretty fair, I'd say. Although slow gameplay isn't really what I'm aiming for, I do get it. One of the main problems I think has been that the physics are just too "floaty". I've kinda liked it that way because it feels a bit different from other platformers but looking back, the low gravity and overall slow vertical movement is a bit too extreme so that's one of the major things I've changed. The beginning of the game is also a bit slow. But even if I personally think the demo is way way way too easy, playtesting have suggested that it shouldn't be any harder and that it takes a while to get used to the mechanics. I definitely don't want people getting frustrated, especially in the beginning. It's really a fine line to thread making a game challenging while not frustrating. It will get harder later on though .

In other news, Cactus buddy turned out pretty dope!
 

[Silkworm]

New build up! (download v. 0.2.1)

Changes include:
-Less "floaty" physics
-Some bug fixes
-Minor changes in level design and balance

[Fuzenrad]

His game has a very nice look, I'm not very adept at visual in high definition (with vectors) still perked up a lot for the gameplay, rather fluid.

The music is something I standing applause, its really well done, you did that?

ps.: Im following your profile on itch.io.

[Silkworm]

His game has a very nice look, I'm not very adept at visual in high definition (with vectors) still perked up a lot for the gameplay, rather fluid.

Thanks!
The graphics are actually not vector-based. For anyone wondering, pretty much everything is hand drawn in Photoshop and animated in After Effects. The game used to run in 30 fps but I finally came to my senses and made the switch to 60 fps so it's a lot more fluid now than before.

The music is something I standing applause, its really well done, you did that?

Yep, I do it all!

[and]

Still looking for testers? I've not been on here in a while :|

[Silkworm]

Still looking for testers? I've not been on here in a while :|

Absolutely! Download link is in the OP.

[and]

Awesome! I'll give it a play over the weekend