next »

[Sustrato]

Hey, this is a really cool project. I can't read French so the comic is a nonstarter for me, but I love mixed media projects like this. I believe in you! Don't give up!

[Frappa Studio]

Hey, this is a really cool project. I can't read French so the comic is a nonstarter for me, but I love mixed media projects like this. I believe in you! Don't give up!

My real-life character skills just got a +30 in energy !!! I planned to work on the english comics translation as soon as I finish the first Volume, just a few months before the Alpha Release of the game around October.

It's a big issue to explain the connections between comics, music, animations, and videogame, this can be confusing when I try to explain the whole thing ; but your message makes me confident about this   so thank you

[Frappa Studio]

I've done a very basic "Breakable" script which I use for lots of objects in 3571. Basically it gives object a resistance, behavior when hit, and loot items, play sound and particle effects when broken. All I have to do then is to place different prefabs in the editor to create breakable enemies( generate meat, bones...) or crates ( loot inside! ), jars, breakable rocks... I'll share it with you when it'll be clean ! I'm currently working on the trees with it to let the player gather wood resources:

[Frappa Studio]

I'm currently tuning the camera views : I want the game to be playable both with a real 3D person RPG camera AND a real FPS immersive second camera angle. I feel that seeing the helmet gives more immersion to the player and also make your helmet choice more strategic, what do you think ?

What's funny is that as I place the camera directly into the eyes of the player character, you can actually see your chest and your feet when you look down, just like in real life

[io3 creations]

In VR, having a helmet could add to the experience.  However, for a normal monitor it "feels" strange to see the helmet.  Perhaps, since the monitor screen is far away from the head.  At least that's my first impression but certain things can be quite different when I actually play the game.

On the other hand, in either version it's good to have the body.  In many FPS games the "where's my body" experience looks weird when you look at the ground and you don't see any part of your body.

[Frappa Studio]

At least that's my first impression but certain things can be quite different when I actually play the game.
On the other hand, in either version it's good to have the body.

I think you just pointed a "philo-technical" issue videogames makers will have to think about : what's the real meaning of a "virtual environment" for the player's brain ? How do our minds really handle this space perception brutal change we experience when we play a videogame ? This question becomes really interesting with the rise of VR technology, making traditional FPS less immersive.

[io3 creations]

At least that's my first impression but certain things can be quite different when I actually play the game.
On the other hand, in either version it's good to have the body.

I think you just pointed a "philo-technical" issue videogames makers will have to think about : what's the real meaning of a "virtual environment" for the player's brain ? How do our minds really handle this space perception brutal change we experience when we play a videogame ? This question becomes really interesting with the rise of VR technology, making traditional FPS less immersive.

That's a good question.  My first guess based on 3d movies is that the difference is not that much.  Even if you are playing a 3d game on a flat screen, when your moving or looking around, the brain processes it as a 3d space with perspective.  You know when an enemy is behind something and how "far" is it. So, actually experiencing the 3rd dimension in a VR game won't be that much different.  For example, a few dots and lines can create a ...  :-)   Or maybe I'm just saying this after having seen lots of 3d movies and the novelty aspect has worn off a long time ago.



On the other hand, much like we can easily tell whether a scene is real or computer generated, until visuals reach fully realistic levels, that may keep players aware at a certain level that the "game world" isn't real.  However, something suddenly surprise or scare you causing your heart beat faster ... is still as *real* as it gets.

[Frappa Studio]

Crafting System Session !!!!

I created 3 different "Ground" resources in 3571, Coal, Rock and Metal.

I finally found a simple but rich enough crafting system basic principles. There are only 5 different resources to craft anything you need :
- Coal
- Rock
- Metal
- Wood
- Leather

Here, each big natural block breaks into a smaller round one that you can roll in your shelter, and break later to get lots of usable resources items.

[Frappa Studio]

Breakable Crates !

They loot random objects, and you can also gather wood from destroying it.
I think I'm starting to like the style, between real texturing and cartoon design from the comics.
I have to work a lot on the GUI, even if the item icons looks pretty cute like this.

Energy / Health

- The red line is you health, and getting to close to zero is a real bad idea ( I think about permadeath a LOT ).
- The white line at the bottom is your realtime energy level: anytime you do something, you get tired and loose energy, so you need to rest a little bit to wait for it to increase again. It makes combat more strategic : I implemented the player's attack to be 50% less efficient when you hit with very low energy.

[Frappa Studio]

Working on the main cover illustration of the game :

[Frappa Studio]

I'm testing and tuning my very useful "Breakable" script on metal blocks to gather resources.
You can see me on this picture breaking metal with a piece of wood. Fun !

[Frappa Studio]

Here is a small video of my very first combat with my first functional enemy : the Slug !
Click on the image to see video GIF!

[Frappa Studio]

Massive Update v0.2!
First UI draft & first player customization test  

I've been finally working on a first draft of the UI ! It's a bit weird as a traditional art director to have to place texts and colors with numbers only in C# at first, but very amazing then!

Most of all, to add more "RPG" in the "Hack'n'Slash" gameplay, you can now customize your character ! This is the first test, I will work more precisely on the textures and hair models later. But the core engine works and that was a hard part :

Assigning different materials was pretty easy, as well as creating the buttons to switch them. Changing hair model was easy too thanks to Unity's prefab system. But the main issue - and I didn't slept during lots of night - was to save properly everything, and be able to spawn the player without bugs or anything. Now I can create lots of funny faces, shirts, pants, hairs because the script is finally OK ! I also plan to be able to vary the height and the size of the character.

I discovered that programming can be amazingly rewarding AND painful at the same time, like art.



This weeks, I also plan to complete the implement of a dialogue system for all human NPC's ! Again, I really want the gameplay to have more RPG ingredients and emergent gameplay.

[Frappa Studio]

Update v0.22 : New UI Improvements, New Weapons, New Buildings!

Here we are! The first draft of the player ingame interface! Following the general idea of the game, I want the player to have maximum possibilities with the simplest gameplay and controls possible. So I've designed this first draft of a multifunction pause menu, with all player skill levels and equipment/inventory options at the same place.
Oh, I also worked on new weapons and buildings !


New Weapons and Buildings

I just added new animations for the player to create a new class of weapons : BIG two-handed weapons! I started with a very big sword, because I realised I wanted to feel more powerful while I was fighting a droid last week. You can't hold a shied with these weapons, but you can parry some attacks with it. I also started to implement magic weapons, which will consume quickly your energy according to your magic level.

I also worked on several buildings, but I still have a lot of work to do. The idea is to let the player evolve in a real open-world, which means you can visit every house, tower, castle you see. I'm very glad my 3571 Comics was so graphically simple as I can design very simple models and increase FPS : each room you can visit is as much vertices as the exterior of a building. I need at least 15-20 different building at first to create satisfying random maps. I also started to write a script which will spawn random furniture, mobs and loots in the buildings.


Player Interface

In order to design the most simple window possible, I've forced myself to clamp the height and the width of the window, and I choosed not to use tabs or multipages menus in order to let the player acces data or inventory pressing only one key.

By pressing Escape key at any moment during the game you'll be able to:

- Pause the game
- Save your game and exit game
- See you currently equiped items
- Examine each item stat, like power or durability by simply pointing it
- See your how your combat skills change in realtime as you change weapons, armors...
- See your carried inventory and equip/unequip any of your items
- See all your current character XP levels



I like how the small size of the window let you still see game view, and it forces me to use very ordered elements and only what I need, keeping design style sober and efficient. I think I'll give a more Sci-Fi touch to the graphic design, but I'm pretty happy with the ingame user experience this window gives. I think time you need to choose items, check your progression or craft items is reduced, increasing real playtime.


Next steps :

- I think unfortunately I have to add 1 page ( not more! ) to create the crafting window that the player can open with a "BUILD" button on the main pause window presented here. And I also need to add hunger and thirst indicators, and a mouse sensitivity cursor for better confort.

- I improved the runtime shortcut UI on the bottom of the screen a lot. This lets the player know at any time health, energy, water and food levels. it is currently like this:





See you in the future,
Thanks for reading!

[foofter]

The game has a nice visual style itself, but I especially like your concept art sketches! Nice. And the idea of above ground sharks swimming in the air.

[Frappa Studio]

Thank you! I am a fan of you visual style too, so meticulous and modern, I've got an eye on monster garden since I discovered too recently the "indie game makers" network. I'll try to upload more sketches in the future !

About the sharks... They're supposed to stay in the water, even if sometimes they can catch a prey walking too close from water. 

[foofter]

Thank you!  And that makes sense about the sharks...although I wouldn't mind if they were flying around in the air, either.  Good luck, and looking forward to more!

[Frappa Studio]

Hi everyone ! Tonight I was both working on :

- The Open World Random Map Generator ( works pretty good )



- Some concept art

[Frappa Studio]

New update coming soon!

I have completed particle behaviors, random map generator, and new droid enemies! So we soon will be reaching v0.5, which I think will be the base for the first playable demo this summer.

I started to create the very first clean screenshots from the game actual version :







And for a better understanding of the mix between the 3571 comics and the game, I've also created new concept art images ( more coming soon ):






I finally can update my First Devlog Cover Post.  

[io3 creations]

I really like this image and it's good to see the comics compared with the cg models.

At first I thought this image was an animated gif that took a while to load ... but it's just a jpeg image.  So, where are the "Big Monsters"?