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[Kosmic]

Update 12/3/17

Sorry for not updating this in what seems like a century now. I ended up making a lot of changes to the game and didn't want to talk too much about it before I was more confident about what was finalized and what wasn't.

I decided to make the game more of a straight action RPG now like CastlevaniaSOTN, before it was more of an action adventure with some RPG elements, so expect to see more weapons and more stat elements down the line. I also made some changes to the story, although it will still be fairly minimal and there won't be a lot of NPCs in the city as I want the game world to feel dangerous and moody.

As I said in the screenshot Saturday thread I'm working on a demo but it's still probably going to take a bit longer while I polish it up and try and fix all the glitches, it won't be super long(around 15-20 minutes) but it should give a good idea what the game as a whole will be like, and I really want to see what people's comments are on it. Here's a few screens and some concept art I did for the characters in the mean time.








About:

Vivid is a 2D action RPG where you play as a graffiti artist named Kotone who explores the city of Spectra which has mysteriously become inhabited with monsters while many citizens have vanished.

Gameplay and Features:

• Despite the modern setting Vivid is has a lot of fantasy elements. Kotone can use magic in the form of various black books that you can equip for example. When you have a black book equipped Koto can convert her graffiti into magic spells that can offer protection or used to attack objects that stand near them, magic is used for both solving puzzles as well as combat. You can also modify the graffiti for certain spells in order to change how they function.
  
  
• The game's combat is designed to be fast and tense but easy to pick up and play. Kotone is very agile but she takes takes damage easily. While some enemies like bats don't pose much of threat, others like thugs and police can be very dangerous to simply run up and start wailing at.
  
  
• While the game is structured like a metroidvania for the most part, there are many areas that are outside the game's main map, some are even in other worlds all together!
  
  
• Throughout the game world there are specific spots Kotone needs to write graffiti on in order to level up and create checkpoints. You can only level up once at these spots so even if you have the EXP you will need to find another save spot before you can level up again. However you can write tags at any time that can boost your stats within a certain distance in exchange for EXP.
  
  

Old Screens:




Kotone Inazuma:


Videos: Really old build.







Anyway, thank you for checking out this thread, I hope this game gets people excited as much as I am working on it. Look forward to more updates in the future.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

looks really cool, i like the shadow effect. What engine is it made on?

[Kosmic]

looks really cool, i like the shadow effect. What engine is it made on?

Thanks, the game is being made in GM Studio.

[jctwood]

Wow this looks phenomenal. I love the atmosphere and general themes. The block/parry sound is so satisfying and all of the animations are so fluid particularly the ledge climb. I really love the idea of drawing your own graffiti and as an overall goal having to complete certain pieces. I could definitely imagine a kind of multiplayer hint system where players can leave graffiti behind but maybe in a sequel. Keep it up, really looking forward to more! Can I ask how you are achieving the cool motion blur effect? Are you a graffiti artist yourself?

[Kosmic]

Wow this looks phenomenal. I love the atmosphere and general themes. The block/parry sound is so satisfying and all of the animations are so fluid particularly the ledge climb. I really love the idea of drawing your own graffiti and as an overall goal having to complete certain pieces. I could definitely imagine a kind of multiplayer hint system where players can leave graffiti behind but maybe in a sequel. Keep it up, really looking forward to more! Can I ask how you are achieving the cool motion blur effect? Are you a graffiti artist yourself?

The motion blur effect is actually just after images that appear and fade out during certain actions.
I'd like to have some kind of online element but it's not my priority right now. Also no I'm not a graffiti artist myself, but I studied and practiced it a lot while coming up with the game's concept.

[TheGoatee]

This looks awesome, keep up the good work. Definitely following!

[Pixel Noise]

MC is super cute - but I find myself drawn to the backgrounds, they are awesome! They really give a sense of depth, and make it look and feel like you're in a real, living city.

The only question I had was, how does the MCs goal of spreading graffiti tie in to the overall narrative of the game? Like, why is she doing it? Is it just because she wants to, or is there some further purpose/goal behind it? Is the overall narrative of the game about the graffiti - or are we ultimately fighting evil?

[Kosmic]

MC is super cute - but I find myself drawn to the backgrounds, they are awesome! They really give a sense of depth, and make it look and feel like you're in a real, living city.

The only question I had was, how does the MCs goal of spreading graffiti tie in to the overall narrative of the game? Like, why is she doing it? Is it just because she wants to, or is there some further purpose/goal behind it? Is the overall narrative of the game about the graffiti - or are we ultimately fighting evil?

The backgrounds and the atmosphere are something I'm trying give special attention to, since most of the game takes place in urban environment I feel it's important to make the settings feel distinct as possible to avoid getting stale. As for the story it won't be very narrative driven for much of the game, but that will change towards the end. One thing I can say is the that MC takes on a sort of vigilante role in addition to being a regular street artist.

[nu_muso]

This looks great! I love the detail in the background lighting. Makes it so vibrant

[Thaumaturge]

I believe that I found the logo a little hard to read at first--once I managed to parse it, reading became easy, but it didn't make much sense at first glance. I think that styling it after graffiti makes a lot of sense, but perhaps it might be worth reducing the stylisation just a little bit, in order that people seeing it for the first time be able to quickly understand it.

Otherwise, the art looks rather good to my eye, and I like the character design. ^_^

[Kosmic]

Update #1(3/19/17)

Using Phase to avoid detection:



You can also use it to go through some walls since it makes Kotone's body like a ghost but the downside is she can't attack enemies, at least physically.  Beating up groups of armed enemies isn't the usually the best option, a couple gunshots will kill you instantly if you're not careful and police will hunt the player down relentlessly until the wanted meter drains so knowing when to be stealthy is important.

[Kosmic]

Update #2
New screenshots:

A few images from another area in the game. The last shot shows a subway station which kind act like warp points in the game world. Also the guy sleeping's name is Clyde, he appears in multiple places.

[Pixel Noise]

Love the look of all of this. The animations from the previous gif look really slick - and all of those screenshots look great. Like nu_muso said, the lighting is excellent.

[Kosmic]

Update #3
Offensive Tags:

Didn't get as much accomplished the past few weeks as I've been kind of busy. But anyway, so I showed off the Phase tag already that allows the player to avoid enemies. Here are some basic  elemental ones you can use to fight back with. Note that all  spell tags create an aura that effects a certain area and have an MP amount that drains automatically as long as the tag is active and drains faster when more of the same type are placed nearby. If your MP runs out the tags will vanish and MP is restored to full.

Burn: This one I already showed off in the videos but made some changes to how it functions.  Now any foes that are standing near the tag instantly catch fire allowing the player to use it as a shield somewhat.



Freeze: Functions similarly to Burn but freezes enemies in place instead of simply doing damage. It even freezes bullets and shatter them.



Shock: Unlike the other tags shock doesn't automatically do damage to enemies that approach it. However it instead makes it so anything that attacks Koto or vice versa gets caught in burst of electricity.



The graffiti used for each tag corresponds to what's drawn in the player's black book. I'm working on allowing the player to edit the graffiti used for each spell and possibly changing their effect slightly depending on what's drawn.

[Pixel Noise]

Oh yeah, I realllly like the tagging system in action. I don't know if this is the first gif that shows it in action, or if I've just missed it before, but that's really cool. Definitely also like the idea of allowing editing/variation to the graffiti for more variations on skills. Or possibly combining smaller, weaker tags into larger more intricate tags with multiple effects?

[Kosmic]

Update 12/3/17

Sorry for not updating this in what seems like a century now. I ended up making a lot of changes to the game and didn't want to talk too much about it before I was more confident about what was finalized and what wasn't.

I decided to make the game more of a straight action RPG now like CastlevaniaSOTN, before it was more of an action adventure with some RPG elements, so expect to see more weapons and more stat elements down the line. I also made some changes to the story, although it will still be fairly minimal and there won't be a lot of NPCs in the city as I want the game world to feel dangerous and moody.

As I said in the screenshot Saturday thread I'm working on a demo but it's still probably going to take a bit longer while I polish it up and try and fix all the glitches, it won't be super long(around 15-20 minutes) but it should give a good idea what the game as a whole will be like, and I really want to see what people's comments are on it. Here's a few screens and some concept art I did for the characters in the mean time.

[Pixel Noise]

Love the art - good to see you post again!

[bombjack]

I really like the mood of this game. 

[Veilastrum]

I like the style of this game both graphics and gameplay-wise. Looking forward to the finished product.

[Devi Ever]

I've got a little heart on for the look and feel of this game! D: