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[HiddenNatureDsn]

Project: Arcane Golf (Released July 26th!)





Background:  TL/DR:  I grew up in an arcade and want to make games that recapture streamlined arcade style experiences.

I basically grew up in an arcade.  My parents owned and ran a business in the local mall, just down the hall from the only arcade around.  If I wasn't running up the hall with a pocket full of quarters to play games, I was running back down to their store, pockets empty, to draw pictures of my own game ideas in the back room.  I dreamed of being a game developer for years, but it was not to be- yet. Eventually, I ended up working as an illustrator selling art to companies like Amazon, Insight Editions, Warner Bros, etc.

Over the past several years I reignited my passion for gaming and game development working on some small projects that eventually released on Steam (through greenlight) and Google Play. They were mostly learning experiences- figuring out what it takes to take a project to completion, and shipping them on different platforms.  I learned a lot, but they were hardly substantial projects.  During that time and in years prior, I would occasionally work on projects like personal game jams, a weekend here or there, and a few games even made it much further in development.  When deciding what my next project should be from among those prototypes, I had a hard time just choosing one.  So I didn't.

Initially this project began as a compilation of all my unfinished ideas, but as I began to flesh each one out and build their respective engines, I realized there was a lot more game with each project than I had initially imagined.  Wanting to do each justice, I once again have split them into individual, full games, and brought on a partner to help me develop them to their full potential.  Arcane Golf will be the first release under my new partnership with my long time friend and co-op gamer, under our new Gold5Games banner.

So what is Arcane Golf?

Arcane Golf is miniature golf with a touch of puzzle solving in a fantasy setting.  It will contain hundreds of levels, filled with a variety of magical powers, creatures and traps, and many more planned for after release.

Some of the posts below are from other Lost Arcade projects that have since been given their own separate development, and will receive their own DevLogs when we reach a point where their respective games are ready to be shown as stand alone projects.  This post will only feature Arcane Golf going forward.

Screenshots: Early screenshots from older builds






Here are links to still relevant (and new) posts:

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1364931#msg1364931
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1375754#msg1375754
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1375889#msg1375889
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1376072#msg1376072
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1376161#msg1376161
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=63334.msg1376326#msg1376326

Follow the project on twitter @ https://twitter.com/Gold5Games

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Update: 12/02/2017

Every couple of weeks I would like to spotlight a different game in the collection.

Subject:  Arcane Golf

Arcane Golf is one of my oldest game ideas, and so the easiest to take to completion.  I've had a lot of practice and time to think and rethink, code and re-code different ideas. 

What is Arcane Golf?

Arcane Golf is a fantasy-puzzle-sports game for 1-4 players.  Play through a number of different dungeons/courses and try to get the lowest score possible just like in actual golf.  On top of a typical golf style game, AG comes with a variety of fantasy trappings- stop the ball mid-air to redirect your shot, utilize a variety of traps, creatures, and magical gems to your advantage (or disadvantage), and try to sink your magical golf ball into the glowing portal.

Progress:

As of today the engine for the Lost Arcade version is feature complete, and I can move on to building a simple toolkit to help develop levels more easily, but that shouldn't take long. The toolkit isn't actually necessary, but I may be bringing on a partner to help with level design, and testing of the games in Lost Arcade, and it would greatly benefit him.

Art is about 60-70% complete with plenty of missing particle effects and some rough animations, but one thing I've had to repeatedly do is control myself when it comes to detail...I'll never finish this ambitious project if I make every animation for every game in Lost Arcade 24 fps, so I'm focusing on making sure the art looks cool and most importantly functions well within the game, instead of getting caught up being a perfectionist.  These games aren't trying to be Cuphead.

Sound is the last element of development for all of my games because I don't handle the music.  I have a library of FX I created for earlier incarnations of the game, but they'll need to be evaluated and rebalanced to make sure they fit with everything else I'll be doing in Lost Arcade.




For more regular, smaller updates, and tons more animations, please check out my twitter @ https://twitter.com/HiddenNatureDsn

[Devi Ever]

I love the concept and aesthetic!  Reminds me a lot of 90's era VGA games with people influenced by the demoscene (and vice versa), but obviously way higher resolution.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

I love the concept and aesthetic!  Reminds me a lot of 90's era VGA games with people influenced by the demoscene (and vice versa), but obviously way higher resolution.

Thanks so much, glad you dig it.  There is definitely a bit of that at the heart of the project, though these are aiming to be more substantial (and stable) gaming experiences that are less about pushing ancient hardware restrictions.

[bitbulldotcom]

Nice idea - I actually started a company called 'Joystick Junkyard' where our remit was to make obscure fictional arcade games that never existed. Unfortunately that project, and our first title, has somewhat stalled due to the artist having other work commitments (ie ones that actually pay). We were going to work on full backstories for the games, design imaginary cabinets and everything. Ah, what grand plans!

Your game with the guy running and the buildings actually bears more than a passing resemblance to the game we started work on which was called 'Attack Of Giant Jumping Man' (link in my sig). Rampage was a big influence for that, we wanted it to be something of a cross between Rampage, Super Mario and Ghost And Goblins!    

I really like the art but it looks a bit 'busy' compared to the arcade games I remember which often had plain black backgrounds and stuff, it looks a bit wedged between different eras of arcade history. Are you going for the feel of any particular era?

Anyway - I love all that old arcade stuff. Good luck with your project!

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Nice idea - I actually started a company called 'Joystick Junkyard' where our remit was to make obscure fictional arcade games that never existed. Unfortunately that project, and our first title, has somewhat stalled due to the artist having other work commitments (ie ones that actually pay). We were going to work on full backstories for the games, design imaginary cabinets and everything. Ah, what grand plans!

Your game with the guy running and the buildings actually bears more than a passing resemblance to the game we started work on which was called 'Attack Of Giant Jumping Man' (link in my sig). Rampage was a big influence for that, we wanted it to be something of a cross between Rampage, Super Mario and Ghost And Goblins!    

I really like the art but it looks a bit 'busy' compared to the arcade games I remember which often had plain black backgrounds and stuff, it looks a bit wedged between different eras of arcade history. Are you going for the feel of any particular era?

Anyway - I love all that old arcade stuff. Good luck with your project!

The game with the running guy is called "Dash Atom" and is actually based on the first game I ever tried to complete when I was first learning.  It's a runner where you want to do the opposite of what you do in Attack Of Giant.. (which looks awesome by the way).  You essentially play as a superhero on a budget because he has ruined too many cities "saving" them.  There is a trailer on youtube of the original version from years ago.

As far as the era goes, I'm actually intentionally not going for a specific era.  I want this to feel like a lost age somewhere between when I played and modern games.  I'm not too beholden to the past, just inspired by it.  I want to create my own thing, using arcades as a jumping off point/theme.

[bitbulldotcom]

The game with the running guy is called "Dash Atom" and is actually based on the first game I ever tried to complete when I was first learning.  It's a runner where you want to do the opposite of what you do in Attack Of Giant.. (which looks awesome by the way).  You essentially play as a superhero on a budget because he has ruined too many cities "saving" them.  There is a trailer on youtube of the original version from years ago.

That looks really cool!

As far as the era goes, I'm actually intentionally not going for a specific era.  I want this to feel like a lost age somewhere between when I played and modern games.  I'm not too beholden to the past, just inspired by it.  I want to create my own thing, using arcades as a jumping off point/theme.

Yeah, fair enough. That's pretty much the conclusion we came to as well. Try and make something that's more about how you remember those games being than how they actually were!

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Yeah, fair enough. That's pretty much the conclusion we came to as well. Try and make something that's more about how you remember those games being than how they actually were!

Exactly!  And thanks for the feedback and kind words!

[nathy after dark]

I'm down for this.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

I'm down for this.

Glad to hear/read it!

[Morgarten]

This...This is freaking cool!!!!!!!!!! Great idea using 80's/90's-era looking graphics. A good idea, let's just hope the gameplay is as good as the idea!

[HiddenNatureDsn]

This...This is freaking cool!!!!!!!!!! Great idea using 80's/90's-era looking graphics. A good idea, let's just hope the gameplay is as good as the idea!

Thanks for the support!  I hope so too, haha.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Update: 12/05/2017

Here are 2 screenshots of newly revealed games in the collection. 

An important note:  These screenshots are in-engine, but not in-game per se.  These are the test-bed areas where I test out all of the elements as I code them.  They are not yet balanced gameplay levels.

Astro-Mutt Adventures

This is a complete re-imagining of a mobile game I recently released on Android (one of my learning experiments).  Originally a randomly generated high-score survival game, it has been completely retooled into a vertical platformer that mixes elements of some of my favorite classic video games with Astro-Mutt concepts and style.




Title To Be Revealed Later

For now, all I'll say is that this game is a puzzle platformer.  I have a lot more information to share, but it is the newest game of the bunch and I want to let it simmer a bit before I talk too much about it.  I'm really excited about this one though.  I still need to do an art polish on this game.

[rarelikeaunicorn]

This is looking super slick! Any comments on the color palette, was it a unique creation for this project or is it a variant of another palette you've worked with prior or such?

[HiddenNatureDsn]

This is looking super slick! Any comments on the color palette, was it a unique creation for this project or is it a variant of another palette you've worked with prior or such?

Thanks!  It's a custom amalgamation of various palettes I've seen used and then I also looked at the initial batch of prototypes I was working from and tried to imagined what colors I would need to best serve all of them.  It was a bit of alchemy, and I struggle with some of my choices still, but I think it makes their look better. 

Prior to game dev, I often worked as an apparel designer so I had to work with limited palettes a lot for screen printing, and I always tried to plan ahead what colors I would use, and how they would be organized (layers, background to foreground).  I think those skills translated well to this project.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Update: 12/12/2017

Every couple of weeks I would like to spotlight a different game in the collection.

For regular updates and more animated gifs, follow me on twitter @https://twitter.com/HiddenNatureDsn

Subject: Astro-Mutt Adventures

Astro-Mutt Adventures is an entirely new game based on my first android release similarly titled "Astro-Mutt."  It benefits from having a wealth of art, sound and code assets to draw from, but everything is getting polished.

What is Astro-Mutt Adventures?

The original Astro-Mutt was high score survival game about a dog with a jetpack collecting fuel cells to keep flying, while dodging a variety of difficult obstacles that only got more difficult.  I've taken that world, and theme, and blended it with a Mario Bros style game, for a vertical platformer experience that gives players the tools to keep moving upward at a rapid pace. 

The Mutt has a jetpack driven triple-jump mechanic that can be refilled mid-air in a variety of ways, as well as a free wall kick that requires no fuel, and launch pads that allow super jumps for less fuel consumption.  All of the enemies and obstacles and art have been re-imagined to service this new design direction and take advantage of an engine not limited by my tools' limited compatibility with Android.

Progress:

The new engine is nearly complete- at around 70%- with a smart camera, parallax procedural starfields, full keyboard/gamepad support, and a feature complete movement engine.  A variety of obstacles and enemies still require coding and finished art assets.

Art is around 65% complete with many assets easily translating to the new color palette and game style, while brand new assets will take a bit more time.  Most of the old assets got brand new animations and partial redesigns as well.

Sound is roughly 50% complete, because unlike Arcane Golf I have a library of recently created effects with a PC release in mind for the previous Astro-Mutt mobile game.  These will be remastered at a higher bitrate for richer sound, and will be joined by new sound and music.

And now for the gifs

[flex$]

art looks great, and i liked your story about growing up in an arcade. keep making meaningful games dude

[HiddenNatureDsn]

art looks great, and i liked your story about growing up in an arcade. keep making meaningful games dude

Thanks, glad you liked it, and hopefully will do.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Minor Update: 12/13/2017

I managed to get a working game select menu up and running, and have some work in progress details for the Astro-Mutt cabinet.



Eventually, each game will have a unique cabinet with unique controller setups, colors, marquees and screen animations.  I also plan to add background details like posters, spilled food/ candy wrappers, tokens, and other arcade authentic details.

There will also be a simple grid view for quick game selection.

For more regular updates follow me on twitter @ https://twitter.com/HiddenNatureDsn

[HiddenNatureDsn]

Update: 12/15/2017

The 6th and final game of the first batch for Lost Arcade. 

Note: There are more working prototypes for games I plan to eventually include, but I will be focusing on the 6 revealed until they are much further along before I consider bringing in more games.

What's this game all about?

This is a co-op, turn based horde mode style of game for 1-2 players.  It has fully destructible terrain and a variety of cool spells to use as you fend off waves of demonic forces. 

The pacing is much faster, and the weapons are more forgiving than in something like Worms. Again, this is about taking a variety of gameplay styles I grew up with, and infusing an arcade-y ethos into them.

Here is a gif from an early version of the engine, and a sample of how the art has improved (in my opinion) since then.




The deeper blue background offers better contrast to the variety of spell effects