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New James Cameron deep-sea exploration mode planned.

  • NewBlack
  • 04/16/2012 08:50 AM
  • 2321 views
...Not really.

In other news:


We're not dead!




But I felt like it was time for an update so that anyone who cares knows what's a-happenin'.

Recommended listening for this blog post:



In fact, a hell of a lot has happened since the last update so I'll try my best to give a lowdown of what we've been up to:

* Thanks to DynRPG by Cherry, and some coding wizardly Kazesui's pulled off, the game was saved from an issue with enemy handling/lag that would have made progressing with the project a nightmare.
* 99.9% of necessary components/resources etc for the first stage are made and either implemented or ready to be implemented.
* The first stage is 50-60% complete and playable including a handful of enemy types and a mid-stage miniboss which took LOTS OF ANIMATION.
* Stage 1 end-stage boss frames are all but done, there may be one or two additional animations added for certain actions but all of the main actions are currently covered.
* Loot drops and collection have been implemented through some fancy code magic, and they work gloriously.

Once the first level is playable from start to finish we're gonna send the game out to a few select people to give it some testing and see how it plays, if any issues come up and generally get some in-depth feedback.

A large chunk of the game's details have been planned out, at least roughly. Stuff like stages, enemy types, bosses and progression has been worked out a lot more thoroughly than before (although stuff could always change before or as it comes to implementation). Here's some rough idea of the stages:


(Stage 1 isn't pictured because the background/junk for it was already made and you can see it in the screenshots)


Annnd here's a sneak-preview-test-shot of level 2's WIP foreground junk that I'm working on right now, plus some enemies from level 1 and stuff (please ignore the second octo and the boxes around the fish :>).



Also, it's become apparent that at some point in the future we may need to get a composer on-board. Originally I thought I'd be able to make all the music for this but really I don't think I'm gonna be up to the task with me already making all of the graphical assets for the project. Not 100% sure what the plan is right now but if you're a music-maker and may be interest then please feel free to pipe up.

Eeeeh I thought I had more to say, so it's likely I've forgot to mention a whole bunch of stuff, but yeah!

That's all for now folks :>

Posts

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Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Level 3 and 5 concepts look interesting! Tranquil Void especially so. Also, is The Abyss a "cave" thematic level? That'd be pretty cool!
Originally I thought I'd be able to make all the music for this but really I don't think I'm gonna be up to the task with me already making all of the graphical assets for the project.


if its any help i might be interested in doing the backgrounds for you
Man, this is looking real sweet! I agree with Happy, levels 3 and 5 seem to be the most interesting ones so far. 5 because of the mines; And I wonder what's the gimmick gonna be on 3... To keep things as quiet as possible, perhaps?

How long are these backgrounds, btw? I'm guessing at least two screens long.

...And have I mentioned that you guys need to pimp up that HUD design? =P
I was hoping for a cowboy themed O.K. Coral level. Rustle up me some seahorses!
@Happy - Thanks :> The abyss isn't necessarily a cave but it will have cave-like elements :P
@sixe - I spoke to you in irc about that, thanks for offering :).
@ae - Cheers :> Hopefully the mines will be fun, you'll have the to wait and see what stage 3's all about. The backgrounds are parallax backgrounds...

<mini-rant about the term "parallax">
By which I mean real parallax backgrounds, as in there are layers (we only have two, but w/e) layers that scroll at different rates to create the illusion of depth. not just a picture that you walk on a-la rpgmaker games that claim to have "parallax mapping".
</tanagent>


...which have a 960px long foreground layer and a 960px long background layer moving at a different rate.. Soo that makes it three screens long with some variation in what you see on each repeat based on the farthest background's scrolling offset (not that there's much to see in the farthest bgs so far, but it beats a straight-up scroll of a repeating background).

Edit: Oh, and some stages will have like, two sets of backgrounds because there will be like "inside" and "outside" sections! :D

About the HUD, we're not sure what to put there! We've talked about it a lot and are kinda against trying to find some arbitrary gameplay related thing to whack in the empty space purely for the sake of filling it up. As for moving the weapon/ammo thing, I doubt that's gonna happen without a really good reason (at the very least not for a while because the main focus at the moment is getting a stage playable from start to finish :P), perhaps if it gets mentioned as a big problem when we get some people to test the game then it'd be considered. When playing, my eyes tend to be over to the right-ish part of the screen anyway because that's where the enemies are coming from, so it's not given me much trouble personally. But hey, any ideas and suggestions/comments are welcomed.

@Kentonaaaa - I DON'T WANNA PAINT A CORAL REEF ;_; (seahorses are a good idea though /me steals)
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