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[vdapps]

-= Devlog #15 =-

(RTG is in version 0.2)

'Carriable boxes' levels

Hi All!

After some time new devlog. In recent bunch of tasks, I was working almost exclusively on 'carriable boxes' levels. Carriable boxes opened lot of puzzle possibilities, so it was quite fun. To give you some impression, how they are implemented in actual levels, here you are 2 short animations. To not spoil any puzzle solution, I'm just roaming around with those boxes more or less randomly. I made 6 new levels, one of them is tutorial level for carriable boxes and 5 are actual puzzles involving mostly those boxes in solutions.

Next, I'm planning to implement final gameplay ready version of 'carriable light' element and make a set of levels around those carriable lights (but of course also elements already introduced earlier will be used in those levels as well).

Cheers.

Will those boxes be enough??



Boxes, mirrors

[JobLeonard]

Looking good!

My inner Q&A side immediately wants to know what happens if I stack multiple boxes on a moving platform, and it hits a ceiling that the boxes can't go through 

[vdapps]

Good question @JobLeonard. I hope answer will not disappoint you. I hope it will not be considered as glitch by players, but stacking on moving platforms is not supported. As it will need more implementations in collisions resolving code (collision trees), for little gain (as I'm able to make up lots of puzzles without it).

So while elevator is static, you can stack boxes on it (as on any static surface). Once it will move (some collision resolving takes place), boxes will fall one into another (they will overlap).

[oahda]

I think the box just falling through the floor of the rising elevator as it hits the roof, like in your vid above, is perfectly fine! And heck yes, ray-traced mirrors! Looking better and better

[Alain]

Figuring out the box puzzles looks fun. It makes me think of all these people working in delivery, juggling heavy packages, racing up and down stairs and elevators all day and getting paid inadequately. I hope you are rewarding the players fair @vdapps

[JobLeonard]

You mean like in the original Mario Bros, Alain?

(skip to 12 minutes)

[Alain]

You mean like in the original Mario Bros, Alain?

Hahaha, this fits in two ways: First, that the developers were not even credited for their work AND that it is about two people working hard in the delivery business and still get yelled at by their boss.

[vdapps]

Thanks @Prinsessa!

@JobLeonard : so that's classic! In Eastern Europe I remember similar hand-held games. One was wolf or rabbit catching eggs, I don't remember well. And another one was scuba-diver going for treasure while avoiding giant octopus tentacles. Grand fathers of hand held games.

@Alain : I hope so as well.. :D

Because all of those boxes are collidable themselves, sometimes it's a bit like Sokoban experience, so it's needed to juggle with boxes a bit more. E.g. clear out bigger box (one you can't jump over), if you want to pass with smaller box, or placing some smaller box in front of bigger one, so you can jump through this bigger one with another smaller one in hands, etc.. I'm not sure if it's enough visible in animations, but because in 'lot of boxes' environment, sometimes it can be not clear to player which box he/she's going to take so I added subtle highlighting to the box to take. If you touch more boxes at same time, highlighted one is the one you will take when pressing corresponding key/button.

[assemblerbot]

Mirrors and animated lights - beautiful! I've noticed that some floors are mirror-glossy and others are not. Are you planning to use that also as a gameplay mechanic? Like slippery surface or things that can be pushed on smooth surface but not on the rough one?

[vdapps]

Thanks @assemblerbot!

For now mirrors and reflective floors are only deco.

However, thx for the tip, I have to check out this possibility. I can imagine throwing a box below some obstacle on slippery surface, as only way to pass such box to its needed destination. Having some longer horizontal inertia for such surfaces should not be a big deal to implement. Also should be great for arcade part (even if puzzle part is much more important as arcade in my case). I'm putting it to backlog, as it always great to have new puzzle/arcade possibilities at hand.

I have brainstormed all mechanics for my wished gameplay time, however, some of them may fire-out worse, some better, so this can be good replacement if something from my brainstormed ideas will not make it to final game.

Also such ideas are always great to keep. As they can be directly implemented in possible continuation of game, where you need fresh mechanics if you don't want to bore player with more-or-less the same. And if RTG will have at least some relevant success, I like to build on it.

[Ramos]

I don't know how code works since my area is an artwork/design so I cannot judge it by the "Ray trace" feature, but as an artist, I must say the lightning visual is truly eye-candy.

And out of curiosity what theme will you do for the game? And is the black background going to stay or you plan on adding some more magic, parallax effects, or other wizzardy things?

[Schrompf]

Just throwing ideas: can one maybe build game mechanics out of the rendering technology? Raytracing is famous for handling hard reflections and refractions. Maybe you could build something from this? Like a ground that reflects mirror-like, but it reflects the room from another ground, and you can use this to shine a red light on a red-light-scanner, or drop a crate on it and see it plob out on the other side like a portal.

Or a refraction thing that you need to push in front of a crate, and then it "applies" to the crate and deforms it to look like it's still refracted.

[oahda]

Those are great ideas, mirror puzzles etc that really take advantage of the raytracing would be very neat!

[vdapps]

@Ramos : thanks! This shadow and lightning effects are my only way to do "the art" in the game (if you notice, models are only boxes, so 99% of the look is just shadow and lighting, as there's almost no modeling and minimal amount of texturing). That's power of ray-tracing. And you're not alone with question about background. For now I leave it empty as I'm focused on puzzles creation to fill the game with content (such type of game require lot of levels). However, I can experiment with filling background in later stages of development. Game logic is 2D, but naturally what you see is purely 3D just with camera side-view. So I can place objects/lights deeper into scene to make some background. For sure I can say there will be nothing hand-drawn or pre-rendered. Also story setup which I'm not going to spoil is okay with more or less emptier background.

@Schrompf, @Prinsessa: thanks for ideas! My only limiter is now my time budget. With 2-3h daily, I have to hand pick ideas which are fastest to implement but yet, they allow lot of puzzles variability. So the best are ones which offer best (puzzle variability / implementation time) ratio. But yeah, it would be nice if at least one game mechanics using reflections or refraction will make it to final game (in fact I don't have refraction yet implemented at all but it should be not big deal as it's just very similar to reflection).

[Ramos]

I understand now the direction you are going for.
Do not be afraid to experiment with different environments architectures, light + weird architectures can span some interesting creations, maybe a bit toward surreal.
Keep the updates flowing

[vdapps]

-= Devlog #16 =-

(RTG is in version 0.3)

'Carriable light' levels

Hi All!

RTG have moved forward a little, so new devlog is here. In recent bunch of tasks, I was working on 'carriable light' levels. You can call it 'flashlight', but in the context of abstract game world, I like more 'carriable light' naming.

'Carriable lights' did not open up lot of puzzling possibilities, as they serve just for illuminating dark levels. So main trick is to have 'carriable light' in hand to move forward in dark areas (as it's easy to fall away from level without it). Thus, levels with it are more 'arcade' like (however, there's still a little bit of strategy, as player can have only one object in hand, and in some levels are also boxes to juggle with).

That's all. And as always, here you are some animations.

Cheers.

Light and box



Is that sci-fi enough?

[assemblerbot]

Nice! And what about that green animated room? That's a new puzzle?

[vdapps]

Thanks! That room is nothing puzzle-like. It's story-like. It's when story moves and you turn ON some sub-system in that mysterious world. But in fact, I was just playing with editor and later I didn't want to delete that level. And as it fits into story something like that, I'm keeping it.

[JobLeonard]

It's more of a lantern than a flashlight anyway

[Ramos]

That green wall effect totally steals the eyes.

Regarding the flashlight / 'Carriable lights', can the player also drop the 'Carriable lights' with the active state?
aka leave the flashlight on the ground turned on to light out the forward path, and then go to take another item and pass through the dark area(now illuminated area) but losing the flashlight in the process?

Also if you go for all this beautiful light, do you also consider adding a torch or a fire with a dynamic warm light?

ah and is it also possible to achieve some sort of Godrays effect in your game engine?