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[oahda]

Stuff's looking nice, descriptive commits or not

I do feel like disappearing behind right-facing walls could be a bit confusing, even if it's consistent with appearing in front of them on the other side, perspective and all. Have you given that any thought? o:

[RealScaniX]

Stuff's looking nice, descriptive commits or not

I do feel like disappearing behind right-facing walls could be a bit confusing, even if it's consistent with appearing in front of them on the other side, perspective and all. Have you given that any thought? o:

That's something, I have noticed as well. But wasn't this the case in the classic Flashback or Prince of Persia etc. as well? I think it was. Doesn't mean that it has to be this way, of course. But I think the player is probably fine with this as he just moved there and knows where the character is.
In the classics, I think there was a situation where you turned around in place and had to figure out in which direction the character was facing, though. Still, you could see it as part of the puzzle. ^^

[diegzumillo]

Yes, it bothers me too!

I tested retracting the wall to show the character partially, but it can't always be done that way because of how the planes are laid out*. On the other hand, it is how those classic games worked, and -- despite having numerous frustrations with those games -- I never had any issue with that specifically.

*There are two planes plus sprites. When the wall is in one and the background is in the other plane I can retract the wall a little and it works fine, but when the background is in the same plane of the wall (the internal areas, for example) then I can't retract the wall, that would require only part of a tile to be drawn in front of the character which is not possible.

[oahda]

Ahh, technical stuff! Could probably get used to it, but would it be horrible to just not disappear at all behind right-facing walls?

[diegzumillo]

Looks perfect! thanks for share this.

You are welcome. I assume this is about making it open source.

Ahh, technical stuff! Could probably get used to it, but would it be horrible to just not disappear at all behind right-facing walls?

It would be the opposite of horrible, it would be ǝlqᴉɹɹoɥ. Maybe I should give the main character a prominent badonkadonk so he's always visible!

[diegzumillo]

I think it has been more than a week since I made an actual log.

I put a lot more time into writing a nice story. The same workflow I described before, without erasing anything, just rewriting while iterating on ideas. The document has a dozen pages now.

I am somewhat burned out though. Maybe I should take a break.

But I want to leave a record of what I plan to do next here. The small demo is nice. I fixed the combat and implemented some cool things. The visual style is not working for me and I did not have the energy and drive to work on that this past week, despite my efforts. But anyway, I should expand the prototype and start tinkering with Metroid elements, see if it works with the gameplay elements already in place. Experiment with both traditional Metroid style by adding some gameplay upgrades as keys to new areas, but also try the light Metroid style of non-linearity, like locking areas with information to be acquired somewhere else or with playing skills you get by playing easier areas. And the other alternative is to have a dynamic world, like a zone that controls lights of another, attracting guards from a building to another, that kind of stuff.

[JobLeonard]

I am somewhat burned out though. Maybe I should take a break.

Sounds like it. There's also another reason: you have to read those dozen pages later and make sense out of it again, and that process might be just as exhausting and demanding. So take a healthy break!

[diegzumillo]

Not a log but last night I had a really cool idea and I want to get it out before I forget it.

I'm still working on finding a good level structure, expanding the prototype to have upgrades and non-linear elements. But I had nothing exciting to add, I was just pushing through trying to find something interesting.

Last night I couldn't sleep and I had this idea of having some special NPCs that roam the map. Some could be actively hunting the player, and you need to stay on your toes to this character when he enters the area. Others might be just roaming randomly and could be targeted by the player, maybe to kill or kidnap, and they are well guarded, and choosing the right area to take them down can be interesting (very hitman). The hunting NPC could also be attracted to an area if the player gets too clumsy. The player could intentionally lure one of these special NPCs away from an area being guarded.

I really like this idea! it adds the dynamic element I think was missing from this game.

[RealScaniX]

The hunter idea sounds interesting. Warframe has this mechanic where, after you killed certain characters, you will get a bounty. And then one of two (I think) assassins could hunt you down in ANY level that you play. They would announce themselves with flickering lights, then come to you and attack.
What I just thought of when reading your text: There could be a very attractive Target (because you get good loot) spawning at a certain point, wandering to another. When the player recognizes the start or end point they could look for the perfect assassination place along that path before a timer or event will lead to the target to spawn and move along it.

[diegzumillo]

When the player recognizes the start or end point they could look for the perfect assassination place along that path before a timer or event will lead to the target to spawn and move along it.

That's the spirit! I have no plans for loot but maybe I should consider.

But I really am excited now! this is great news because this kind of excitement is what drives my projects usually.

[RealScaniX]

I know. When working on something interesting, it feels great and there is much more progress.
Good luck with it!

[diegzumillo]

Worked on cave tileset for a while and I think it looks nice. Very empty for now though.



The other character is an early doodle. But I like the style. It'll be chasing the player. The dialogue is a mockup done in aseprite.

Last two days I have been trying to write down a simplified version of the game. Because the plot I want is long and complex, and I still need to test other aspects of the game's design, so I'm trying to come up with a super simplified plot that I can use to make a mini game. This is hard. There's nothing for me to draw or code, so I'm a little lost. I'm using a physical notebook with paper to jot down stuff. Weird.

Anyway, this prototype should have at least one metroid-like upgrade. I'm thinking a glove that unlocks wallrunning and wall dragging. Other than that I got nothing!

In terms of code and art I think it needs a dialogue system, a way to track upgrades and abilities, and maybe some more specific sprites, depending on what I come up with.

That's it then. Wish me luck 

[RealScaniX]

Good luck!
 
Doing a simplified version of the plot is a good idea. I'm thinking about stripping lots of scenes from my "script" at the moment as well. It would hurt less if I had decided on a simpler thing in the beginning. ^^
 
I like the hovering red dude(tte). Looks mystic, like your bad conscience that is following you. XD
 
A dialogue system might add quite a bit of complexity to the game if it has an impact. But it might fill the NPCs with more life and players can decide how much of the lore they want to ask for.
 
I like the artstyle. Is there a reason why the player portrait is black and white?

[JobLeonard]

Yeah the floating red person has a strong "summoned from my inner demons" feel to it and it's great. I immediately get the feeling that it will chase me slowly while I'm struggling to run away fast enough due to platforms and obstacles, in a way that builds up tons of dread

EDIT: cave tile set looks good!

[luckylogic]

I like the art style you're going for. The dark purple, green and lots of black gives it a very onminous feel. Some light sources (torches or something) in the cave would be cool. Given that it is a MegaDrive game, does your game engine support anything like that?

[diegzumillo]

Thanks all 

I like the artstyle. Is there a reason why the player portrait is black and white?

I haven't decided anything there yet, but I kinda like the black and white thing. It might be a good solution if I find myself out of colors.

I like the art style you're going for. The dark purple, green and lots of black gives it a very onminous feel. Some light sources (torches or something) in the cave would be cool. Given that it is a MegaDrive game, does your game engine support anything like that?

Thanks! and I agree with the light comment, in fact I was trying to achieve just that but haven't found a good solution yet. It does need some bright areas from a aesthetic perspective.

Also, I implemented light shadow in the stealth part of the game but I still don't have a clear way of communicating it. So this complicates things a bit, since I don't want confusion on what's dark and bright. I have to fight an urge to make some pretty bright tiles just for looks.

[luckylogic]

Yeah. Good lighting can do alot for a game.....especially if it was somehow tied into a stealth mechanic.

You definitely didn't pick an easy game brief for yourself......almost as bad as my "The ultimate game everybody will want to play...........Probably" brief. 

Best of luck with it. As a fellow mid-30s dad, I love retro games. I have very fond memories of Golden Axe on Megadrive. I'd love to see this one finished.

[diegzumillo]

Last couple of weeks I have been busy with starting on a new job (yay!). But I haven't completely neglected this project. In fact, I incorporated some of my newly acquired knowledge on project organization. I'm working on weekly sprints. I just finished the first sprint, in which (amazingly) I got all of the tasks in my to-do list done in exactly one week. I just finished the last task! I thought I would either under or overshoot the to-do list.

I think the devlog is a nice way of closing the sprint where I look at what I did this week and what I want to do by next saturday.

I finished three player animations: running (it was temp, now it's not, but I still don't like it so maybe I'll revisit it), sheathing and unsheathing the sword, turning around while holding the sword. I also write the necessary code for turning, which works by double tapping the directional.

I wrote a tiny plot for a tiny demo. This is like a 'vertical slice prototype' (VSP). I don't know where I heard this term but I like it. It means a slice of game that has all the elements in place, including animations, but it's a small slice.

Another task of the week was defining what goes into the VSP. I did the best I could with the plot I came up with. It will be a nonlinear map, but no metroid elements at all, so basically just a 'level'. For this demo that generic enemy won't look right though, so a new sprite will have to be made. Plus some generic NPCs to stand as people in the streets. This task of defining things is one that will be circling back to the to-do list on a regular basis as things get more defined.



For the next week I will be working on this new sprite for the imperial guard, walk and turn animations. Player attack animation. And I will start looking into what I need to implement a dialogue system.

[JobLeonard]

"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?"

Animation looks great man

Congrats on the new job too!

[oahda]

Nice!