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[ChrisLSound]

I really like the new backgrounds as well!
In a way, it reminds me of the ones in classic Spyro and how they used them to vividly display the unique color palette of each level:


I love the painterly texture of yours though

To dackerman's point, the new BG (combined with the small playing area) makes it feel a bit like you're in a dream or somehow detached from reality, whereas the gray BG was very very neutral.

I still far prefer the new ones. There's just so much more life in them. Plus, given the style of this game, I think it's okay to have attention-grabbing backgrounds you can stop and appreciate for a moment. If it were a real-time action game or something, it might be an issue.

[hidingspot]

It kind of feels like the cards are like learning a language: the more you have, the bigger your vocabulary, and the more options you have.

A keen observation JobLeonard    That's something we've discussed internally.  The question will be if there's a cool way to address the concept in-game, or at a minimum a way to make subtle nods to the idea throughout the story.

Maybe if it was just a bit more subtle with colors and smoother gradients?

I agree, and that's definitely something I'd like to try out!  I'll post a test if/when we do.

I still far prefer the new ones. There's just so much more life in them. Plus, given the style of this game, I think it's okay to have attention-grabbing backgrounds you can stop and appreciate for a moment. If it were a real-time action game or something, it might be an issue.

That's a great point regarding it being more suitable to a game like this, where there isn't really any camera movement around the environment.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!  It's very helpful to hear some outside opinions on stuff like this.  Especially when we've been looking at it a certain way for so long.  It can be hard to step back and look at it with fresh eyes.

[Thaumaturge]

I'm a little late, but let me chime in to say that, as with other posters, I rather like the personality that the new backdrops bring. ^_^

I do, however, feel like the background posted here is perhaps a little too eye-catching; I feel like it fights with the foreground a little for my attention.

What I might suggest--aside from what has already been offered by others--is to try colours that are either less-saturated or cooler: both of those tend to "recede", while warmer, more-saturated colours tend to "advance", if I'm not much mistaken.

[litHermit]

Love the idea behind this and the visual style

[hidingspot]

What I might suggest--aside from what has already been offered by others--is to try colours that are either less-saturated or cooler: both of those tend to "recede", while warmer, more-saturated colours tend to "advance", if I'm not much mistaken.

That's a good note to keep in mind, thanks for the tip.  We'll have to give that a try as well.

In other news, here's a slick new animation for when a word/card gets played into the story:


Since these are fairly significant moments in the game, we wanted to juice it up nicely with a hand drawn animation. Complements to the artist, Ilse.

[JobLeonard]

The question will be if there's a cool way to address the concept in-game, or at a minimum a way to make subtle nods to the idea throughout the story.

Well, think of traditional point & click adventure games, and especially the humorous ones from Lucasarts: the real fun bit was always exhausting the entire dialogue tree for funny, witty interactions.

In some sense it might be interesting to forgo the traditional idea of progress altogether and make exploring more and more conversations a reward on its own. Every card letting you get to know other characters you talk to a bit better by learning more about them

[hidingspot]

In some sense it might be interesting to forgo the traditional idea of progress altogether and make exploring more and more conversations a reward on its own. Every card letting you get to know other characters you talk to a bit better by learning more about them

That's true. An earlier iteration of the game would grant cards by having conversations with other characters. It was a bit awkward though because the player was then using cards and getting cards from the same interactions.  Now, as discussed above, cards are still played in conversations, but granted from interacting with and exploring the world.

When it comes to deck management (letting the player sell/buy new words more freely) we're considering something similar to your suggestion, where the player might gain experience or some currency though conversations with others.  This might encourage the player to explore more conversations than they would otherwise.

For now, the deck management side of the game is still in the early stages, and we have a lot of work to do in order to nail down the possibility space of that mechanic.

[ChrisLSound]

The word acquisition animation looks excellent! I'd like to see some particles though. Maybe sparkles or bursts of light - a bit more glow.

I'm curious how granular the cards will be. Will there be duplicates of some cards? Will there be some cards that are different words but mostly have the same meaning (and would they have slightly different flavors of reactions)?

[hidingspot]

The word acquisition animation looks excellent! I'd like to see some particles though. Maybe sparkles or bursts of light - a bit more glow.

I agree about the extra details!  Those touches will likely come as it gets polished up.

I'm curious how granular the cards will be. Will there be duplicates of some cards? Will there be some cards that are different words but mostly have the same meaning (and would they have slightly different flavors of reactions)?

Currently duplicates are not in the pool.  Synonyms are available, though.  The reactions for synonyms are for the most part not distinguished.  The gist of the current implementation is that cards will map to a limited set of reactions depending on the context.

That is, if you give the teacher a "rotten" apple, you'll get a reaction in which the teacher is grossed out and increases Luka's "sassy" personality trait.  Likewise, the sweet and strange personality traits will have their own reactions and consequences.  There may be some situations where specific cards get their very own responses.

In an ideal world, every word would have it's own custom response, but that's just not manageable for our small team.  This is how it worked in a previous iteration, but it's not scalable.  The compromise for now is to have reactions which respect the nature of the word being played, while also having the consequence of changing Luka's personality traits.  The words are mapped to categories.  So apart from the fun of playing interesting words, there's also the consideration of how that word might change Luka's personality based on the context.

We've spent an awful lot of time hammering on this mechanic, but it will likely still be changed along the way.  In the end, it's a matter of finding the best solution for allowing players to put any word at their disposal into the empty slots in the story.  A tricky matter.

[ChrisLSound]

Tricky indeed, but I like what you've described!

Will there be a way for the player to objectively tell which cards are considered synonyms? I can imagine a situation where I get an unexpected reaction because I think of a word differently from you the developer. At the same time, I can see how the ambiguity could be good in giving things a more natural, less "gamey" feel...

[hidingspot]

Will there be a way for the player to objectively tell which cards are considered synonyms? I can imagine a situation where I get an unexpected reaction because I think of a word differently from you the developer. At the same time, I can see how the ambiguity could be good in giving things a more natural, less "gamey" feel...

No plans to indicate synonyms.  As you mentioned, we don't want the playing of cards to feel too gamey.  But hopefully players who are really trying to min-max Luka's personality with their card plays might still find some fun in determining which kind of personality will result based on the card/context.

[hidingspot]

Just finished integrating Luka's house (well... his grandma's house really)


Here's the 3d view showing how we sort the layers:

[oahda]

aahhh it's so pretty

[ChrisLSound]

Wow I love it so much

[JobLeonard]

What's the functional purpose of the 3D view? Layering objects in the scene?

[hidingspot]

Wow I love it so much

aahhh it's so pretty

Glad you like it!  There are a few more rooms inside this house that I'll share soon.

What's the functional purpose of the 3D view? Layering objects in the scene?

The 3D view has no functional purpose.  But yes, as you allude to, it's for the layering behind the scenes. The environments/characters/objects are laid out in 3D space in the engine, so that characters and objects are properly sorted on the z-axis as they move around. Was just showing the behind-the-scenes for anyone who might be curious 

[hidingspot]

Beck is the new kid in town. She prefers to roll solo, but as things get weird in Beacon Pines, she becomes a close ally of Luka.  Rolo may take a bit more warming up to.

[hidingspot]

Meet Luka, the main character in the game.  He lives with his grandma and has the sweater to prove it.

[ChrisLSound]

These look great

He lives with his grandma and has the sweater to prove it.

I'd wear it honestly.

[JobLeonard]

Did you see Amanita Design's newest game? Pilgrims? Also has a "card game adventure game" angle, but different from yours. Still might be good to be aware of how you want to distinguish yourselves