Progressing in Reverse.

Posted by Charlie Carlo on Dec. 18, 2012, 10:50 a.m.

Which I think is an emo band or something.

So I've been working on Credence Filter, but I became fed up with the platformer style, partly because there are things I want to do with the game that would feel very limited if it was a platformer, and partly because I've made nothing but platformers for like, 3 years.

So now it's a Zelda-like adventure game. I'm not sure what the proper name for the genre is. I feel like, since this is the first project I've restarted from scratch mid-production, that this game is the most important one I'll ever make. It's like my Depths, except arguably less pretty.

Instead of a sword, Tohm is equipped with a deadly, deadly rake, which will always be equipped. The new game has 4 way movement that is grid-based. The grid-based movement isn't the annoying kind, though, it's really smooth and the grid is fine enough that you barely even notice you're stuck to a grid, all with the added bonus of being able to walk through doors without trying and failing for 20 minutes.

There will be a second action button that can be rebound to various other items, the only one implemented so far is the pistol.

The new engine is more versatile, and less resource-intensive. The overall darkness of the game can be changed or automated with a global variable, which would have been a pain to implement in the old engine. The lighting looks better, but it's a bit more convoluted than in the old engine, of course, not nearly as convoluted as the shadows in the old engine. Instead of just add-blending the light to the game, I use the light sprites as a mask to blend the game onto itself. It sounds weird, but it preserves darks and makes the game seem to have more depth instead of less. Plus this new engine I can just color blend the light objects to make colored lights, I like it so much better.

Also there's this guy, he doesn't do anything yet, other than look really creepy in the dark.

In other news, I made another song for the game,(TWO MUSICS IN ONE BLOG? >:C) wherein I actually made use of instruments that I actually own (an electric guitar). By the way, putting recorded tracks into Reason 5 is pretty annoying.

Any thoughts on this crazy re-imagination?

Comments

Toast 11 years, 5 months ago

That's a cool song. I've been wanting to "get into" Interpol. And your song is cool too.

The "genre" is 2D action-adventure with 3/4 top-down perspective. Yeah, I know, someone should come up with a better name that that. I like grid-based movement, so that's cool.

I like the visuals. You should try experimenting with 3D - just making the buildings cuboids which pop out of the rest of the game.

Charlie Carlo 11 years, 5 months ago

Quote:
That's a cool song. I've been wanting to "get into" Interpol.
You should listen to Turn on the Bright Lights album, I think it's probably their best.

I'm going to call it a Swizzards. I forget what I originally used that word for.

This game is a Swizzards game, much like Zelda.

I like your idea of 3D buildings, I just can't see that looking very good, at least not in any way I know to implement it. I think I'm going to stick with just pixels.

Toast 11 years, 5 months ago

The guy behind Lone Survivor made this prototype of 3d mixed with pixels and I think it looks badass, hence the suggestion.

pounce4evur 11 years, 5 months ago

Quote:
In other news, I made another song for the game

PIECE, man. PIECE. o_o

Anyway, I actually really liked the piece. The guitar you recorded sounded pretty professional.

BP Scraps 11 years, 5 months ago

Whoa. Dude.

Your CSS.

<3

Quietus 11 years, 5 months ago

now that you've made this into a Zelda-like overhead instead of a more limiting platformer view, i am ten times as interested in this project. you have really refined art styles and you manage to pull them all together in GM really well.

since i have my laptop on the darkest setting though, i can barely see anything beyond the player's lighting, and some really dark scenery. you may wanna add a brightness setting in the game for people like me :P

Glen 11 years, 5 months ago

I like the graphics.

Charlie Carlo 11 years, 5 months ago

@Spoctre, Yeah, I feel like that'd be awesome if every dev on 64D had their own massive project that never was actually finished.

@Tost, That does look awesome. I don't think I'll delve into that for this game though, I kinda had my heart set on pure 2D.

@Ponce de le�n, Thank you! I get a bit uncomfortable when anyone says something I made seems professional, I don't know why. I feel like it's an insult to professionals. Steven's beard looks like a thousand tiny hamsters. Either that or it looks like it was just airbrushed on in photoshop.

@Qwobblewobben, incredibly relevant as always. Thanks, it took me forever to figure out how that shit worked. The color scheme is two colors I discovered worked well, back when I had graphic design class. I made everything with these colors. My original avatar on here had these colors, too.

@hol, :D I'm glad someone's interested other than me. I think I've developed an unhealthy obsession with this IP; I've been making music for it with most of my spare time, and I drew the protagonist for my drawing class final. The story's the only decent story I've ever written, and I want the whole thing to be amazing.

The second two screen shots are supposed to be that way, you don't have that problem with the first two right? When I've gotten more stuff done, and this isn't a debug room, there'll be more atmospheric lights, like street lights and store signs. Also, it won't ever be that dark in an exterior, it was just to show the lighting system.

@Glon, I like trains.

Thanks XD.

Quietus 11 years, 5 months ago

that's excellent, glad you have a good story for it! i was really worked up about the story i had for mine and RC's S4D game but i ended up losing internet that whole month… and ended up with a whole soundtrack of scary songs idk what i'll ever do with so yeah, i know how it is :P

Charlie Carlo 11 years, 5 months ago

Are they on Soundcloud? I don't know if I've heard these songs, but I'm interested.