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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsJack McLantern
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koyima
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« on: August 01, 2018, 01:12:29 AM »

Hi guys,

making a thread here for something I have been updating on the Art subforum due to an initial post there: https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=64604



So this is Jack McLantern - my take on the Jack o' lantern myth - what happened after the guy who convinced Satan not to take his soul... well it's not as dire as it sounds. Apparently Death now needs his - your - help - and since you are stuck in purgatory he brings you to the mortal plane to help him clean up some shenanigans and maybe he can help you find your way as well.

Drawing from Tim Burton which is not obvious at the moment, but will be when I start implementing more final graphics and inspired by Medievil and the adventures of Sir Daniel Fortesque (which was also inspired by Tim Burton), I wanted to make a 3rd person cartoony action platformer instead of the usual realistic/dark/grim stuff I usually aim to make.

After playing some Medievil I noticed that it has a lot in common with God of War: let's fight enemies, find chests and kill bosses.

This God of War parallel gave me the idea for the weapons McLantern would use: an axe. So the idea started fleshing out and a coding thingy wanted to be made, getting a Kratos like axe in Unity.





That was done in an hour or two, which is good because I have a day job and a family. Anyway I had another afternoon free so I modeled some zombies and made them turn into ragdolls when hit by the axe:





Continued...
« Last Edit: April 21, 2019, 02:38:11 PM by koyima » Logged

koyima
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« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2018, 01:20:57 AM »

Of course someone said that's neat and that it would be better if the ragdolls received force, which is something I had automatically from the functionality of the axe, but was too much, sending the dolls to high heavens - which was funny, but broke the models too much.

So I found some time and implemented a more controllable impact force that seems to work like a charm:





By now I was thoroughly bored with the axe and was considering scrapping the project, instead I started thinking about ways to play more with the ragdolls, since this has been a theme with prototypes I made in the past, maybe I could actually make something more this time.

I already had the slide implemented - the idea initially was to throw your head as a bowling ball, but I figured 1) it will be a returning ball instead of a returning axe, that's not variety and 2) sliding was fun.

Bowling Ball Jack was born:





This was really easy to implement, the only tricky thing was making sure the character didn't snag on the ragdolls while performing the action, but being able to walk over them once it has been performed. In Unity this was just a matter of switching a Physics layer interaction bool on/off, which is controlled by animation events, just like the collider that pushes them out of the way.

Continued...
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koyima
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« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2018, 01:29:23 AM »

Now this was fun of course, but you could basically spam it and take out a horde of zombies no sweat, I destroyed my game.

What to do, what to do...

Let's add a stamina bar, so you have to switch up, right? And why would you not spam the axe instead? Well because that works with magic, duh... So I decided to try out what has basically become the classic: Health Stamina Mana trio of health bars.

And while I was at it I implemented some menu and pause functionality as well as xbox controller setup I had worked on at some point





So now I have some graphics for the bars and everyone pauses when I press 'Start', what else can I do with magic?

In comes the myth of O'Lantern: Satan promises to never take his soul, yes, but O'Lantern ends up in the dark and alone, he tells Satan: you're just going to leave me here in the dark?

And Satan tosses him an ever burning piece of ember from the flames of Hades (Greek Hell) that would never burn out. Hmmm that sounds like a fireball of sorts, maybe he chucks it, so I tried it out:





Continued...

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koyima
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« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2018, 01:46:11 AM »

That's uhh... nice.. I guess. 'Well it works with the story I guess, maybe I can upgrade it' I thought.

How would an upgrade look? I already had a list of things added to my asana tasks. I have a cross-dot already to help with targeting the embers (Medievil also had a cursor of sorts, so maybe it's ok), what else can I do with the cross-hair-dot.

A pistol was in the list, but that also shoots one bullet at a time - according to the time period I have in my mind for this - so that's basically the same, but less magic...

How about a shotgun? That's better, but I still want to be able to hold the axe and possible throw it around at the same time.

What about a magic pistol then, that sort of fires like a shotgun and is powered by the same ember magic (which is blue, even though it is fire based(annoying) and shoots with a spread - because the ember breaks apart of course - let's bring in a pistol I bought for a game with pirates I was making and see how it goes:





I was already working on getting simple chests and doors in game as well as a way to regenerate Magic faster - souls of course... and coded them so this Pistol and Souls now.

Next? Keys? Scythe is on the same asana list and I already tried a spinning animation for the axe, but it isn't really good atm. Maybe skeletons and other enemies?

Continued...

(Sorry for the spamming of 4 replies - won't happen again)
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koyima
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« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2018, 09:38:16 AM »

I put together a small area to get a sense of what I will need to do for levels, I feel I will end up increasing the amount of zombies I thought I would need, so I will also need to work on the random variations and textures to get something that works. Some audio effects also added and some systems added to the gate and chest.

Next skeleton enemies and maybe the zombies can throw something at the player as well, check it out here:



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koyima
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« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2018, 12:31:11 PM »

Giblets

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DAndrëwBox
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« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2018, 12:53:13 PM »

I like how this is progressing, especially the aesthetic part, it brings back many memories of the Medievil afternoons when I was younger.
It looks promising, keep it up!

Following Grin
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koyima
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« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2018, 01:05:12 PM »

I like how this is progressing, especially the aesthetic part, it brings back many memories of the Medievil afternoons when I was younger.
It looks promising, keep it up!

Following Grin

thanks. I'm going for that feeling, will pursue it as much as possible within my current constraints
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« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2018, 01:39:40 PM »

Progress update, all zombies have a giblety version and some improvements to the gun draw and particles:



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« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2018, 12:08:28 PM »

Oh man, this looks absolutely awesome! I think our mate Jack should shhot with a little more swag. A coolish pose, you now?
Love the trees, the ambience.

Good work, my friend.
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koyima
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« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2018, 03:12:40 PM »

Oh man, this looks absolutely awesome! I think our mate Jack should shhot with a little more swag. A coolish pose, you now?
Love the trees, the ambience.

Good work, my friend.

thanks, I am trying out a different pose now, I might revisit the shooting animation as well, but I have been focusing on other aspects, will post a video soon
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koyima
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« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2018, 04:17:08 PM »

Hi guys, more on my wip game: small improvements in animations, added exploding barrels and attacking skeletons with temp wooden sword



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koyima
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« Reply #12 on: August 12, 2018, 03:12:26 PM »

Hi guys, I made a devlog on gamejolt to prepare for the release of a test version of the game: https://gamejolt.com/games/jack-mclantern/360808

Let me know what you think. Follow and share if possible as well. Thanks!

As far as the game goes I have been working on bridges and pathfinding, so nothing really interesting to show, but I will shortly.
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« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2018, 03:56:48 PM »

Making of cemetery level Cheesy







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« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2018, 05:10:31 PM »

I LOVE your character design for McLantern... Im a professional animator/game dev and I think it would be awesome to see some hit reactions while swining the axe that show the zombies take damage... Even their torso and head twisting left and right or a little stumble backward if they get hit hard.  Right now they don't move much and it leaves the player wondering if they hit them or not.  Super cool project, I'll be following for sure!
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koyima
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« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2018, 05:32:44 PM »

I LOVE your character design for McLantern... Im a professional animator/game dev and I think it would be awesome to see some hit reactions while swining the axe that show the zombies take damage... Even their torso and head twisting left and right or a little stumble backward if they get hit hard.  Right now they don't move much and it leaves the player wondering if they hit them or not.  Super cool project, I'll be following for sure!

"Even their torso and head twisting left and right" this is something I will certainly do

"a little stumble backward if they get hit hard" maybe not for this version

glad you like it
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koyima
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« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2018, 05:45:57 PM »

Before bed: Skeleton Archer basic functionality working Beer!

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koyima
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« Reply #17 on: August 14, 2018, 06:27:05 AM »

I added actual arrows, with trail, a bow with an animated string and a quiver as well as sounds for loading, string tension, shooting and arrow-woosh...





So the skeleton follows you and it has a range after which he starts shooting arrows while walking, if he gets closer he stops walking and just shoots arrow and if you move away he will continue pursuit.

I had him running like his sword wielding buddies, but that was a bit too much and would be lead to less variety. So zombies are the slowest, archers are slightly faster, but they have a range and skeleton warriors are really fast, but have a short range (melee).

I will add some randomness to his targeting as well and call him done for now (which means awaiting a modeling and texturing pass, basically polish)
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« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2018, 11:33:42 AM »

OK So I have completed a few updates this week, first some additions to the axe shown in the video





The axe can now be upgraded to increase it's effectiveness, normally you throw it and it comes back, now with upgrades it can bounce between enemies as shown in the video, with 2,3 and 4 bounces at least (the system just has a limit I can change and a distance of effect, which can also be upgraded.

I also added a few sounds and a small delay when the axe hits something to try to give it some more punch.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 11:44:16 AM by koyima » Logged

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« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2018, 10:48:35 AM »

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