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[Carpetwurm]

Introduction
Hello there! My name is Justin C., and I make games with the HaxeFlixel engine. (I call it an engine, some people refer to it as a framework.) I actually had a devlog on here once before, for a game that I actually finished! So here's a link to that here. So yeah, that went sorta well. I thought it wouldn't hurt to do another one of these things, so here goes!

The Game


So this post is half a devlog introduction, and half an announcement for the game in question. For the past week or so, I've been saying I have a new game in the works, and that I'll be announcing it "soon". So here's my official announcement! The game I've been working on is called Clothsoul, where you play as a ghost who's stuck inside of a ragdoll without arms. (I'll reveal the story behind this ghost later in development) Since you don't want to be possessing a crippled ragdoll, and can't escape it yourself, you must seek out an exorcist to get you out. This is where the actual game begins. You spend the game traversing different areas on your way to find the exorcist. Of course, there are some unfriendly people out to get you, so in classic video game fashion, you have to kill them all! You do this by shooting ectoplasm (and maybe other projectiles) at people until they die.

So like my previous game, this one's being created in HaxeFlixel. My pal, Joe S., is doing the soundtrack. (Check him out here) Unlike my previous game, I'm doing art in Flash MX, which isn't really new to me, I've been using Flash for about a year now. (Though I'm not the best at it) The game, like stated in the topic title, is a roguelike. If you haven't noticed, it's inspired by The Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne. (Though it looks like it's only inspired by Isaac. Which is understandable.) The game also has gamepad support, which is nice. Though shooting isn't the best. I'm more focused on bringing a good experience to the keyboard-only crowd. I mean, this is a PC game after all.

Images and such
So I've been working on this for about a week now, right? So I should have something to show for it. Which I do! If you follow me on Twitter (which let's be honest, you probably don't) you've most likely seen my posts about working on art. And art I have been working on! I want this game to look top notch, or as top notch as I can make it. Why? Well, I'll get to that later. In the meantime, enjoy some screenshots!


Title Menu


Title Menu Options


After selecting "New Journey", the map generates and you're dropped into something like this.


Shooting ectoplasm


Pause menu, with a randomly selected image under the player's current location/time. NOTE: If you want to, suggest a drawing you'd like to see appear there.

The release plan
The plan for this game is a tad different than the rest of my games. My plan may be a bit ambitious, but I want to (hopefully) turn this into my first commercial game. I want to take a Meatboy approach to this, where Super Meatboy is a, well, Super version of the original Meatboy. My plan is to make the game, release it for free, see if people like it, and if they do I'll work on the game for another year or so and then will release it again for ~$2 on the upcoming GameJolt Marketplace. I'll probably give it a subtitle of some sort, to make it stand out from the original. I'll also try updating the art to look way better.

Anyways, that's it. Thanks for reading, and if you aren't already, follow me on Twitter as I'll probably post updates there more regularly. (Link) Anyways, see you all soon! 

[Carpetwurm]

Shepherds

So in the time between this post and the last one, I added shepherds to the game. They're pretty neat and all, but first I'd like to show of the smaller changes. The first small thing I did was in the title/pause menu, I added gamepad settings to the options menu. You can only modify the cursor sensitivity at this point. You can also toggle your gamepad on and off, so that's good.




Next, I added level exits. Though they don't really do anything yet. (At least they're set up!)



Alright, now it's time to actually talk about shepherds. They basically just run around and shoot sheep at you sometimes. I modeled them after my pal Nik, so here's his twitter. Also, here's his running animation. All of his animations are done, even his death and hurt animations. (Though he can't die or get hurt yet)



So here's some screenshots of the shepherd being a shepherd.






(Lots of shepherds)

Anyways, that's it for now. 

[Carpetwurm]

So I'm thinking of using pixel art in the game, instead of Flash art. The main reason being: I don't think many people will like the look of Flash graphics, especially mine. (Much less pay for the thing.) Flash art basically requires me to run the game at 1080p, and downsize it to the window size, so it looks smooth all around. (Which doesn't really help development) I think using pixel art would make the game seem more like a roguelike, even though most hardcore roguelikes use ASCII art. Anyways, I just wanted to leave this update to see if you guys were alright with it. (And by "you guys", I of course mean nobody because this devlog is completely silent)

[Pezomi]

So I'm thinking of using pixel art in the game, instead of Flash art. The main reason being: I don't think many people will like the look of Flash graphics, especially mine. (Much less pay for the thing.) Flash art basically requires me to run the game at 1080p, and downsize it to the window size, so it looks smooth all around. (Which doesn't really help development) I think using pixel art would make the game seem more like a roguelike, even though most hardcore roguelikes use ASCII art. Anyways, I just wanted to leave this update to see if you guys were alright with it. (And by "you guys", I of course mean nobody because this devlog is completely silent)

I get what you're saying about the graphics, but a rougelike can have any type of artstyle. Try and make sure there isn't a clash of art and mechanics. If you want it to be a roguelike that kicks your ass, make the art look like IT IS a game that is going to kick your ass.

Looking at your game, if you wanna make money from it, you'll either need to decide if you wanna hug close to the Binding of Isaac feel the game already has, or if you want it to stand on it's own two feet. Neither is necessarily wrong or right, it's up to you. Making games is a lot of decisions. Like a TON of decisions. If you want to go the pixel art route, go for it, but at this point I'd say go for whatever you're most comfortable with, and don't question that choice again. Make decisions and stick with them. It is YOUR game, make it YOURS fam.

Best of luck.

[Carpetwurm]

I get what you're saying about the graphics, but a rougelike can have any type of artstyle. Try and make sure there isn't a clash of art and mechanics. If you want it to be a roguelike that kicks your ass, make the art look like IT IS a game that is going to kick your ass.

Looking at your game, if you wanna make money from it, you'll either need to decide if you wanna hug close to the Binding of Isaac feel the game already has, or if you want it to stand on it's own two feet. Neither is necessarily wrong or right, it's up to you. Making games is a lot of decisions. Like a TON of decisions. If you want to go the pixel art route, go for it, but at this point I'd say go for whatever you're most comfortable with, and don't question that choice again. Make decisions and stick with them. It is YOUR game, make it YOURS fam.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the advice! I'm probably going to stick to the style it has now, hell I'll probably try refining it a tad. I ended up making a mockup, and decided my pixel art skills aren't exactly on-point. My Twitter following is also pushing me to continue with the current style after seeing the mockup.

[Kyuugatsu]

+1 on keeping the style, and it does remind me very heavily of Binding of Isaac. Maybe a little bit too much - I would try and find my own style if you are trying to make a commercial game, because it could get hard to get an audience if you don't bring something unique to the table...

For example right now all I can do is compare it to BoI and since your game is obviously unfinished and way less polished I am inclined to think "I could just play BoI".

[Carpetwurm]

+1 on keeping the style, and it does remind me very heavily of Binding of Isaac. Maybe a little bit too much - I would try and find my own style if you are trying to make a commercial game, because it could get hard to get an audience if you don't bring something unique to the table...

For example right now all I can do is compare it to BoI and since your game is obviously unfinished and way less polished I am inclined to think "I could just play BoI".

Yeah, that's quite a problem. Though I'm not sure how I can make it look any less like BoI, as I've already tried doing a really simplistic character style. (With sticks for limbs)

[Chris MacAdam]

I think even though the art style has a BOI feel, if the game play is different enough it is alright. It looks like your not using square rooms like BOI so that is already something different.
I agree that the non pixel version looks better IMO.
Do you have any ideas for upgrades / items? Like BOI had the item rooms and boss items and all that. Nuclear Throne you level up and get mutations. A unique mechanic there might set your game apart from others too.

Anyways looking forward to progress!

[Carpetwurm]

Do you have any ideas for upgrades / items? Like BOI had the item rooms and boss items and all that. Nuclear Throne you level up and get mutations. A unique mechanic there might set your game apart from others too.

Yeah, I'm thinking the game will end up using items/upgrades like BoI, but the way you get them will be a bit different. To get any sort of upgrade (or cash for shops) you have to kill enemies. Enemies do have a chance of dropping money, but if you kill every enemy in the level, an item drops from the last killed enemy. (I'm also thinking of having companion characters that you can only buy from shops or get under special circumstances)

[Carpetwurm]

So I've been working on updating the graphics, and I have a tad bit of news. I got rid of the shepherd, and replaced it with the peasant. They're both mechanically the same, just graphically different. I also updated the player graphic, which is good. Next I'll be fixing the tileset, re-doing the title screen background, and maybe adding particle effects. Anyways, that's it.

[lobstersteve]

Hey, looks cool once again
Nuclear throne is probably my favourite game atm, so i'm in for a game going a similar direction.
I would also totally go for the comic - style, much better.

[Carpetwurm]

Hey, looks cool once again
Nuclear throne is probably my favourite game atm, so i'm in for a game going a similar direction.
I would also totally go for the comic - style, much better.

Thanks! There's actually a whole lot going on with the project that I neglected to note here, so I'd check out this thread on the HF forum for more information.