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[Destral]

The Myriad Spheres await...

ONIRIUS

Onirius is the story of Wibblin, a fledgeling psionic entity belonging to a race of 'dream guardian angels' who watch over the Myriad Spheres - the vast collection of universes that sentient beings create and travel to when they dream. As is wont to happen in these games, dark forces are afoot, causing trouble and turning sweet dreams into nightmares, and it's up to Wibblin to find the root of the problem and, erm, uproot it.

This is Wibblin (it's a WIP):


Gameplay is split into an overworld map with pathways, levels, and obstacles blocking the paths. The levels themselves are all based on shooter gameplay - horizontal, vertical, arena, and so forth, with a few twists and turns to keep things interesting. Clearing levels opens up paths to new levels, as does fulfilling certain criteria within levels. I'm hoping to have some form of persistent upgrade system (I hesitate to call it an RPG levelling system, since the term has been so badly abused already) and maybe some small amount of customisability for Wibblin's speed, shot power, etc. I'm also hoping to spice things up by having the world map be more than just a glorified level select screen.

Influences for the game include Gradius, U.N. Squadron/Area 88, Super Mario World, Pop'n'Twinbee, and Geometry Wars, as well as the this thread.

I am using Game Maker 7 for development, and since this is my first game, I'm hoping it will be a good learning experience. I've already relied on Derek's tutorials (I II III - credit where it is due) (thank Yu!), but I still have many questions that need answering, so you'll probably see me asking questions a lot as I become stumped. Graphics-wise, I am using Graphics Gale for sprites and Gimp for backgrounds, menu, etc.

Thanks for reading. I will update this thread as progress is made!

[moonmagic]

Pop'n'Twinbee

Hooray!

I like Wibblin. I'm getting kind of a Coryoon vibe from him. Are your enemies going to be cute-em-up types, too?

At first I thought about The Guardian Legend when I read "branching level paths" and I was thinking "aiee!"

First games are exciting!

[LeFishy]

Pop n Twinbee is my fondest childhood memory. And pretty much the only game from my childhood I haven't got around to rebuying.

Therefore I love this. It is cute :>

[Montoli]

Nice!  I also want to throw my support into the ring for the "branching level paths, yay!" sentiment.  Yay!

Question:  Is the title (Onirius) a reference to the Oneiros/Oneiroi of Greek Mythology?  I realize this is a stupid nitpick, but I keep looking at the title and thinking it should be a reference, (given the obvious connection of dream game/mythological dream figure) and then thinking "if it's a reference, it looks misspelled, and should be 'Oneiros'"

Also:  Really digging the rainbow background on the map.  Bonus points if it animates!

[Destral]

Thanks for the encouragement and feedback. 

@Moonmagic:

I hadn't heard of Coryoon or Legend of the Guardian before, but after some quick research yes, I'm aiming to make Wibblin as super-cute and adorable as possible. As for the enemies, I'm hoping to have different artistic styles for some of the levels, with enemies that match the personality of the dreamer. So there might be some cute ones in some levels, and some hideous ones in others, to maintain the theme that each dreamworld matches the personality of the entity dreaming it.

@LeFishy

I'm not sure how much _like_ Pop'n'Twinbee some of the horizontal levels will be, all I know is I'm hoping to have the air-to-air and air-surface attacks.

@Montoli:

 You are absolutely correct. I explained the background of the title on the Name Rating thread in the feedback forum:

It's a somewhat long and convoluted story, but I'll try to pare it down.

I had an idea for a cute character/mascot. I designed a co-op multiplayer platformer around him. The scope of the game was way too big for a first project, so I parked it.

Some time later, I stumbled across these parts of the internet, saw Derek's tutorials on game maker, decided I should learn to make my own games rather than look for collaborators willing to trust huge amounts of time and effort to an unproven designer. I did the tutorials, then got distracted by other stuff, like getting a new job.

After getting said new job, I was casually talking to a coworker about Game Maker, and it turned out he owned a copy of The Game Maker's Apprentice (very good book), which he allowed me to borrow. So I picked up Game Maker again and went through most of the tutorials. Then I started thinking what kind of game I would want to make as my first game. I figured a shooter should be simple enough as a first project, with all I'd learned, decided to make it a side-story to that other game, and based it in the same 'universe', albeit with different characters and gameplay.

Since the setting is the vast multitude of dreamworlds that we humans go to when we fall into deep sleep, I figured the etymology should spring from there. I always liked the greek word oneiros - dream - so I started there, and figured the 'ius' bit at the end would be fitting since it's a shooter (Gradius and its offshoots, Parodius and Otomedius, also Darius Twin). The setting probably has something to do with my love of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series. The weird spelling is due to the fact that the Spanish equivalent of Oneiric has no 'E'.

The concept for the game has evolved a lot since I first sat down and hashed out the basics (in part thanks to th this topic and my natural incllination to try something new and different), but for the first version I plan on making just a few levels of traditional shooter, learning to use GM7 on the way.

And to prove you learn something new every day, it's actually Oneiric, rather than Oniric. I'm wondering now if I should change it to Oneirius? It doesn't quite have to same ring to me, but I'm acclimated to Onirius.

I have some sample WIP enemy sprites over on the pixel art thread too.

TL:DR version: The greek word for 'dream' - Oneiros.

EDIT: I should probably also add that I love the Cthulhu mythos, and that crazy nightmares and nightmarish entities will (hopefully) feature prominently in the game. Fair warning. fnord

(I added a few lines here and there).

But yes, I'm going with Onirius for now, but might change it to Oneirius (I want to keep the -ius part as a reference to the games I mentioned).

As for the background, I'm glad you like it, and yes, if I can figure out a good way to liven it up some without causing the game to explode, that's what I'm aiming for!

Thanks again for the feedback! I'm really interested in knowing what you all think, so please keep it coming.

[moonmagic]

As for the enemies, I'm hoping to have different artistic styles for some of the levels, with enemies that match the personality of the dreamer. So there might be some cute ones in some levels, and some hideous ones in others, to maintain the theme that each dreamworld matches the personality of the entity dreaming it.

I love this idea, because I think you'll get some really good level variation out of it (rather than, "oh, the snow world! the jungle world!" which - don't get me wrong - I also enjoy). I do think it will be a challenge to keep the game looking consistent with different styles coming and going, but that might just be me revealing a desire to see a cute-em-up Yog-Sothoth sprite.

[Destral]

A wee update: There's a new version of Wibblin. That first version is 64x64, which is probably too big at 640x480. Here's Wibblin in 32x32:



and here's a basic enemy I also drew tonight:



Also, here's a tentative first version of a starry sky background for a level:



And as a bonus, here's a mockup of the first version of the world map:

[Destral]

A quick update.

I've been plonking away most of this last week, between in-game assets, concepts, level brainstorming, and other stuff. Still not much to show gameplay-wise, but I'm going to take the opportunity to crowdsource a little.

I sketched out a few different versions of Wibblin, and I'd be interested in which ones folks find more interesting/appealing/aesthetically superior:



At first I pigheadedly stuck with the more circular forms - Wibblin's 'health' is a bubble-shield that changes colour as it takes damage, and more circular forms fit in the shield better - but I figured if I was going to explore the character I shouldn't confine him to a set shape because of how I want him to work mechanics-wise.

Also, here's a concise study of one of the antagonists:



I'm going for the 'evil mime' angle on this one, but I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts.

[TheCube]

I didn't know there WAS an "evil mime" angle until I saw that, but now I understand it.  Cool, scary in a Tim Burton way (maybe it's the striped shirt). 

As far as Wibblin, I'm partial to the sleeping looking one, the first one on the second row.  Looks a bit like a fetus in the womb (intentional?) and not too alien.  (The bigger the eyes get, the less relatable he seems, actually.)  That one reminds me of Little Nemo in a way, the innocent sleepy protaganist.  Also like the Superman-esque one on the second row, all the way on the right.  Pinobee?

The upper right one reminds me of GIR (from Invader Zim) for some reason.

Also, I don't think the one clenching his fists near the the middle jibes at all, the fists make him kind of creepy looking.  Like putting a baby's head on an adult.  But maybe that's just me.

Hope that helps.