[KKairos]

I'm not going to say what AFT means yet. See this post for the screen. It is only a mockup but basic world design is proceeding nicely. I plan on using MZMs for pretty much every area. Feedback on colors would be appreciated, because I think they need some tweaking. I am keeping the simple style. Basically I can't resist posting this; here's some assurance as to why, barring my untimely death, this must be finished:

A. It's specifically designed to be not epic. In terms of world design I'm looking at 30 or 40 areas that size, maximum.
B. I feel like I've actually got potential to make something cool here, atmospherically.
C. I feel like it's about time I released a freakin' game.

Edit: Why the heck does dMZX always shrink the image, even if it already fits on any sane...nevermind. I'm tired.

Edit #2: On colors. Looking at this thing I'm thinking a subtler purple and more purplish red will help. Thoughts?

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Seventh Shade]

You're wasting a lot of characters on those hearts. The colors are pretty garish. What kind of game is it?

[KKairos]

SeventhShade: Adventure. More importantly, not a long adventure.

Reworked screen.

Decided it would be better to go for cool colors. Good thought on the hearts; they fit better now.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[ShloobeR]

that is like 400% better on the eyes

[Maxim]

Personally I liked the first set of colors better, but I guess you can't count on anyone here but me to have Good Aesthetic Sense.

Really, I think those colors rocked. They coulda been toned down in brightness a bit, but..

[ShloobeR]

blue is better

dont listen to him, he's probably high

[KKairos]

Walking engine works. As in, our hero can go from one board to another in a "walking-off-the-edge" fashion. I'm going to need to implement something else for the doors that will later be able to be taken. So the screenshot below is a quasi-mockup: the HUD is nowhere near done but the actual guy walking is a sprite.

Area design hasn't progressed much more, yet.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Sai'ke]

ShloobeR, on Dec 26 2008, 03:04 PM, said:

blue is better

dont listen to him, he's probably high

I lol'd.

I like the fact that you only use part of the screen for the game area. Are you planning on doing something with the rest of the viewport though?

[KKairos]

Sai'ke, do you mean the whole 40x19 area to the right? If so, then yeah, I might be doing something with it. I'm not sure -what- yet, though.

[NoahSoft]

dont fuck this up

[KKairos]

I won't be doing anything gameplay wise with the other half of the screen, at least, nothing the player will be able to see.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Ando]

What is this game going to be about, exactly? The random nonlinear exploration of worlds? If so, I'll definitely be looking forward to it.

[KKairos]

I'm not going to say what this game's about yet...

It's not just exploration, though, and there's only one world, though it will have a few areas (about 5 or 6) and some secrets to find. I plan to keep this thing small.

Last stuff done tonight: I've got some sounds in, I've been working some on music, and I'm starting to think about what sort of pattern the first boss will have (the first area's basic design and enemy placement is done.)

What the first boss is set to look like:

Attached image(s)

• 

[Hoof]

I like it! very inspirational.

[KKairos]

Vaguely got textbox engine started. Need to start first boss sometime tomorrow and second dungeon (maybe expand the first one a little.) Soundtrack is mostly complete. I've got 2-3 areas left to write pieces for; previous failed projects provided some songs, others I wrote newly. I also get to start writing dialog and a dialog interpreter (for reading from .txt files.) Yay. And program some X-items (items used by pressing "X.")

[KKairos]

More work has been done. Textbox has started, I'm going to start thinking up an algorithm for the first boss that isn't just a copy of the basic enemies. I know what the first couple of X-items are going to be, and I've got a somewhat reworked display. Textbox engine is basically working, though it's largely unlinked to anything at this point.

[T-Bone]

For when the player goes Norther and reaches the HUD, do you have a robot that checks if he's at that location to transfer him to a northern board? I always get annoyed with having to code a robot to check for that, when using overlay HUDs.

[KKairos]

All the action in this game is taking place on one board, so I'm having to check where the player is by default. It's really not that bad.

[KKairos]

Screen.

I hope you enjoy it.

Textbox engine is working, and I know what attacks I want for this guy.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[KKairos]

New screen.

Fighting Big Sam.

He's pretty easy to beat for me, which hopefully means easy for the rest of y'all. He's the first boss, so he shouldn't be hard. We're looking at a 3-5 boss game total, for the record.

I've got to do some more stuff, write some script tonight for some stuff surrounding this first boss battle and get it somewhat integrated into the game. By that I mean the script and the events and stuff. The boss battle should be fully accessible at this point.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Galladin]

It's hard to tell things apart, the graphics look quite messy - the floor kind of clashes with the player graphics.

[KKairos]

Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that floor...

If anyone else has thoughts on that stuff, please, share.

[KKairos]

New screen of cave while fighting Big Sam.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Seventh Shade]

That looks much better. Am I right in guessing that you won't be using the usual swords and guns to fight in this?

[KKairos]

Uh, the usual sword will be used. Hadn't planned on guns, but it's a thought, and in my mind preferable to arrows, which I would have to draw.

[Risu2112]

Yeah, that screen looks far better than it did, good work.

[weasel]

The olive drab color makes for a much better mood than the last screenshot, and the more subtle coloring of the floor texture makes it much easier to see the characters. I like it.

[T-Bone]

KKairos, on Jan 9 2009, 05:07 AM, said:

New screen of cave while fighting Big Sam.

Fantastic change. I'm loving the new color scheme.

[KKairos]

Thank you all for the kind words and constructive criticism. The first area of the project is nearly done; I basically have to figure out what to do with the island that this bridge in this screenshot here leads to and redesign the outer portion of that cave you've all been seeing so much of. Then I'm counting it done in design if not in reality, because if anything is going to require any substantial further work, it probably won't be something essential to completeness of the game, so it'll be coming later anyway. Then I get to do some town design and implementation, and some scriptwriting for the townspeople, as well as for the first cutscene of the game. When that's done, well, on to area two. I've got the basic trajectory of the game in my mind. We're looking at a total of about 5-7 areas to explore and visit, counting the town.

Partly as a result of what happened with the cave area, I'm going to be doing a little redecorating of everything else in the game; what you're seeing is actually a somewhat redecorated peninsula and a pretty much new bridge. For the record I am of course still up for constructive criticism/suggestions in the graphics department.

Also, the grappler is done in that it can pull you to things. It's not a full-blown Zelda hookshot because it doesn't pull things to you, but it will be able to attack enemies like that one, once I code that in.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[KKairos]

Screen.

This one's another forest; I think I'm now about the most satisfied I've been yet with forest colors.

Also, here's a couple forest enemy designs.

It's time I did some math, so I'm going to post these and do that!

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
•