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[HopFrog]

SUPER FUN ADVENTURE OF AWESOME

A game by ME. Britt Brady is doing the art, and Hernán Marandino is on audio (sfx + music combo).

Open world, non-linear gameplay. Puzzle adventure, and although it may look like a platformer, it's not![/size]

GAMEPLAY
This goes as one would expect. Puzzles. Puzzles everywhere. Both mechanical puzzles (Rotation, Hookshot, Items, etc) and deep meta stuff (Think Myst, Fez, etc). Also, lots of silly humor and dumb puns. No combat!

MECHANICS
Most puzzles are based on mechanics within the game. The player is able to walk on every surface and the camera flips to match his angle. He/She will also have access to a variety of items to help overcome obstacles.

UPDATES
Am I ripping sprites from fez?
Insights on design and going off the Fez tangent.
Racism is bad.
How the camera works, and future plans for it.
On win conditions and secrets.
Key animations. Literally.
First attempt at the UI
I AM LOOKING FOR ITEM SUGGESTIONS!
Making some shaders
Possible new art style?
Wouldn't be a Fez inspired puzzle game without weird looking mysterious monoliths...
New art assets!
Cryptic puzzles update.
Fun with lasers.
New item thing!
Testing sessions results.
Any thoughts on Chromatic Aberration effects?
Legacy post (Old art).
I am trying to get water to work. It's not going very well so far...
Random updates.
Map system update.

HEY THIS IS MY TWITTER HANDLE, YOU SHOULD STOP BY AND INSULT ME OR SOMETHING

[SalmanShh]

  i tip my hat to zef 

[HopFrog]

Doing some level design right now.




The white things are clouds, they take random shapes, sizes and angles on runtime 

[lobstersteve]

Yes! Looks super cool.
Do you have already some more complicated puzzle mechanics in mind, other then those in the GIFs / do you have enough ideas how to make more complex puzzles with the mechanics you already have (rotating, crates, hookshot...)?

[HopFrog]

Absolutely! I have a good deal of puzzles designed on paper already. Not close to being implemented yet (since I just can't show that in gifs, and at this point I am trying to make clear visual progress). In fact, the original LD34 prototype had some intricate puzzles that only a couple of folks managed to solve (although everyone gives up before getting to them due to how buggy the game is lol).

I will definitely have some of this on the March playable version!

[vaaasm]

ooh man that gameplay looks neat. those mechanics will make for some radical levels

[NoLocality]

Zef...zef...now where have I heard that bef...oh yeah!

[HopFrog]

Holy cow, that was weird 

[NoLocality]

From what I gather (and I could be wrong)zef is south african slang for 'cool'

Your game is looking pretty zef HopFrog...(starts dancing in boxers)

[HopFrog]

I am honestly stunned by the amount of depth the word "Zef" has. Everyday someone tells me a new meaning! Thanks and cheers 

[oahda]

why didn't i come up with this

Are those tiles ripped straight from Fez too? They're way too similar, anyway. Would like to see the game acquire a style of its own, because it looks like fun and I would hate for it just to be a "joke on Fez" in the end (and it's also a dirty trick to score extra marketing points IMO) — I'd genuinely enjoy playing this, I think.

[lobstersteve]

One last thing i would like to add regarding the game is, that i get a ..

[HopFrog]

Tiles were inspired by Fez for sure, the whole game feel is. Nothing is ripped or clonned.


These are Fez's tiles down below:



And these are the ones I made for this game:




We don't actually share colours, except for one of the greens in the shades of grass I think?

Anywho, I think I managed to get people to confuse this as ripping Fez because I used bright colours and tons of highlight. If you see my images, I very clearly identify the highlights and shadows of the pixel art.

I am very much looking forward to divorce my game from Fez soon. The exposure was nice, but I don't want this to end up like a joke or a fan game. Better come up with a new game name! 

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

lol just noticed that zef was fez reversed... Die antwoord was too impactful.


good luck on divorcing your game from fez (the problem is that you're using the exact same atmosphere). And good luck on keeping your enthusiasm strong for a long time.
There's a lot of game that started with a big spark of motivation that ends up disappearing.

[ThilDuncan]

I saw a gif of this game on twitter, looks really interesting! and who doesn't love a hookshot :D

I am very much looking forward to divorce my game from Fez soon.

Got any plans for how you're going to achieve this?

[HopFrog]

I do have a plan but honestly, I may be relying too much on people playing this and noticing how different these games are.

It is actually hard to explain, but if you play my LD34 entry you can tell already that the games I make are very invested in terms of mechanics. I don't like the fact that the puzzles in Fez, for instance, resolve around platforming skill or just randomly switching perspective until you can continue advancing. Where Phil's game is more about exploration and the "homework" type of puzzle solving (alphabets, QR codes, ridiculously hidden secrets, you name it!), mine is more like playing any old Zelda game.

Not that I don't plan to have some "homework" type of stuff in here too, but it's clearly distanced from the core gameplay. If my mom were to pick up the game she would find herself with a more Braid-esque experience, where I introduce mechanics slowly and she gets to solve puzzles around them, in enclosed areas and with every element available clearly distinguished. (Think of Zelda dungeons!)
Now, if a "hardcore" puzzle solver gets his hands on the project, well, let's just say two people out of hundred plays found the hidden red diamonds in my original Ludum Dare entry; and when they mentioned their existence, other players didn't even notice they were a thing!

[HopFrog]

I figured what this game needs! Racist haters sending me death threats!

[Canned Turkey]

This game is great.

[Noid]

so the game's name is Fez.
for now anyway.
we actually have a super secret working title but it would give too much away.
so lets just call it Fez. also a working title.

You should change it as soon as possible. Working titles tend to stick, especially when you develop in such an open fashion. Big studios may call something "project whatever" and probably have someone that will pick a proper name based on SEO, focus groups or some other info.
If you keep the name Zef and the game becomes popular it'll be really hard to pick a new name and get everyone to accept it, and you'll have to rebuild brand awareness and search results.
So if you want to divorce your game from Fez start by changing the name as soon as possible.

Regarding the art style, it does look similar. The main character has similar colors, and the environment has similar colors and similar designs. Now, if you show a background from The Witcher 3, DOA:I and Skyrim to someone who has never played any of those games they may not realize they're from different games until they look carefully. However, with games that don't go for a realistic or semi-realistic look, art styles can be pretty unique, as it is the case with Fez. So, if you want to keep the current art style go ahead, I think it looks really nice, but you'll have to tolerate the people who think the game is a clone until they actually play it.

PS: I saw some earlier pictures you posted on facebook asking about the camera and I think it works great know. It doesn't make you feel dizzy anymore. I'm playing the LD34 version and it's really cool.

[HopFrog]

Oh yay! That's really useful feedback! Thanks a lot!

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