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Tower57 - AlienBreed/ChaosEngine-inspired co-op shooter Amiga4life

Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
Hopefully this will produce enough variety in the ways you can beat the levels to entice players to go for additional play-throughs

You could add something like the skulls system in halo, where you have options to have weapons do half damage and enemies have more health and moves. or grenades are 3 times as powerful. I'm expecting a lot of local coop with this so it's nice if you can customize your challenge to keep things interesting.
 

benitosub

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Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hey, actually I'm trying to leave as much of this stuff open to modding, so changing weapon damage, enemy health, grenade damage etc. should be fairly easy in case anybody wants to mod the game. But you're right though, having a way to set this stuff in-game would make it even easier!
 
Joined
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Messages
468
Hey, actually I'm trying to leave as much of this stuff open to modding, so changing weapon damage, enemy health, grenade damage etc. should be fairly easy in case anybody wants to mod the game. But you're right though, having a way to set this stuff in-game would make it even easier!

You could just give a couple of settings as optional to spice things up. Just make the game how you want to make it then add these for extended play. Don't have to worry about balance or nothing, just for those who want to keep playing it keeps things interesting. increase enemy speed blabla just a couple of modifiers on/off keeps things interesting.
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hello everyone,

this week we did a lot of polish work in preparation for this month’s A MAZE./Berlin , where we will (hopefully) be showing the game for the first time ^_^

Starting with the characters, we integrated the new shooting animations from last week in the actual game:

T62Y4vC.gif


Also the shotgun had been suspiciously absent from the weapon list until now, but we decided to fix that this week :)

eva359d.gif


qkuLR8F.gif



We also worked a lot on the level which we’ll be using to demo the game, and even added lights:

r9QsS1k.png


s89adoC.png



r1s1aZD.png


tXfixj3.png


This is obviously all work in progress, but hopefully we’re headed in the right direction.

And last but not least, we did a pass on our main menu, which had been “under construction” for a long time, and finally got the make-over it so badly needed. Here is the result:

NyU3ylU.gif


That’s it for this week! Hope everybody enjoyed it, and if you’re in Berlin between April 22 and April 26, don’t hesitate to pop by and try the game :)

Cheers!
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
DwarvenFood thanks, we haven't settled on a price yet (we're not quite at that point yet) but it's a pixel-indie-game, so it will be priced accordingly ;)

ERYFKRAD thanks, yeah there should be at least one melee-weapon that will let you chop body parts off your enemies (something like a laser-sword...)
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hi everyone!

This week, as the race continues to add enough polish in time for next week’s A-maze ./Berlin, we focused on the character selection menu and the in-game ui. On the code side, we also added a working ammo system, respawn points, and the typical invincibility period / flashing bit after getting hit.

And finally I fixed a nasty memory leak in one of the core functions of the engine - not as bad as is sounds, but definitely not something you want to have in when you’re about to leave the game running for several hours at a hopefully-packed game convention so… yay ^_^’

Anyway, enough with the boring details, here are the shiny new gifs, starting off with the character selection menu:

pA1iqAq.gif


The in-game ui:

QBUg2R9.gif


And that sweet-sweet flashing:

SzGqzGF.gif


That’s it for this update; next week we’ll try to post some pictures of our experience at A-maze :)

Thanks for tuning in!
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hello everybody!

This week the update will be a little different than usual, as Cyangmou and myself attended the AMAZE ./Berlin Indiegames Festival, and the experience was nothing short of … well … amazing (in no small part because it was our first time showing the game ^_^’)

We took a few pictures to share with everybody, but what the pictures fail to convey is how incredibly satisfying it felt to watch others have a good time with something we created, and the amount of really good feedback we received from players, so much so that we ended up with a long list of changes - some of them pretty substantial - that we want to implement based on said feedback (more on that later…)

But first things first, the festival!

AMAZE ./Berlin was taking place at the Urban Spree, which is a “1700 sqm artistic and re-creative place focused on contemporary art and urban cultures” located on the banks of the Spree river in Berlin, Germany.


swYylWT.jpg

The crowd was a healthy mix of gamers, press, and publishers (which I didn’t necessarily expect)


Vl2UlxC.jpg

The main entrance, with a pretty clever display of the games nominated for the awards.

After being assigned our machine, we faced our first bump in the road: the game crashed at launch while trying to initialize the audio device! It turned out the sound library really didn’t like it when no output device was plugged in (that was also our first bug in what was to become a pretty long list!). Thankfully Cyangmou had a pair of earphones with him, so we were able to work around the issue, and we were ready to go!


VjBUiv2.jpg

Yay, a player! (incidentally he provided very insightful feedback - if you see this … thanks man!)


lDTkfW3.jpg

Let’s check what’s going on here!


However our second bump in the road - one which would cause me to mentally facepalm throughout the rest of the day - followed soon after: everybody, and I do mean *everybody*, was running out of ammo barely 5 minutes into the game.

Guess we didn’t anticipate how much fun blowing s**t up would be ^_^ It got so bad that we started taking turns typing the ammo cheat code over and over (why I made that cheat code a simple “refill” as opposed to a more permanent “infinite ammo” is beyond me…).

As it became painfully obvious that we wouldn’t be able to interact much with players if we were busy repeatedly typing in cheatcodes, I decided to head back home to grab my laptop (mistake number 2: should’ve brought it along in the first place…) and make an emergency build.

One hour later I was back, build in hand, and we could finally let players have some fun and socialize a bit more with them!


ZEIny9W.jpg

Props for the sick bag!

9oo3RtB.jpg

We also had quite a few girls try the game


nVm4xkM.jpg

Discreetly watching somebody play. Not pictured: my huge nerd-gasm from trying to wrap my head around the fact that a stranger is playing my game and seemingly enjoying it


There were also some pretty cool “non-video games” (not sure what to call them?) such as Magnesia, a multi-player game where you drag metal balls around a plexiglass maze with your “controller” (a big fat magnet) and must deposit them in special slots to score points:

4tk4lZz.jpg


Also, world-famous 1D dungeon crawler Line Wobbler:

Y8TH0yo.jpg


Alongside some pretty interesting VR games:

UncM7dN.jpg


oHYejGW.jpg


And of course indie-darlings such as Crawl:

Qtvh9cz.jpg



But before wrapping up the day, we had one more surprise waiting (and by “we” I mean Cyangmou… the festival ran until 3am and I had to go to work the next day ^_^’ ). Some of the staff, having seen the game during the day but unable to play at the time due to being at work, approached Cyangmou and asked to have a go!

fPdfj6F.jpg



All in all it was an incredibly positive experience, and a great reminder of why all those sleepless nights spent coding and painfully arranging pixels really *are* woth it.

As a final word I just want to thank everybody who stopped by and tried out the game; you are all the reason why people make games, watching you play was mad fun, and your feedback, whether positive or negative, will help us reach our goal of putting out a kick-ass demo, so, you know, thanks for that too :)

Cheers!

fgBzLZJ.jpg
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Welcome back everybody!

This week we’ve been soaking in all the feedback from last week’s play-sessions, and the result is 42 features / changes (and 5 bugs ^_^) which have made the cut for this summer’s public demo. These features range from things like more clearly identifiable doors all the way to new weapons, bosses, and more!

M7LSJrf.png


We are also re-designing the demo level practically from the ground up, as well as introducing additional enemies, but more on that in further updates… Until then, here’s what we’ve been up to this week:

One of the most important insights we gained from watching people play was how difficult doors, especially east / west doors, were to identify. Players would frequently miss them entirely and get stuck in a room until they accidentally walked by them, triggering the “open” animation. Therefore the logical fix was to redesign the doors :)

Cyangmou made the opening more obvious by removing the piece of ceiling that hid the top of the door, added some glowing arrows which also double up as indicators of whether the door is locked or not, and optimised the shape of the surrounding walls so characters will smoothly slide towards the door when attempting to get through it in a rush.


vA2ZJvu.png



Another piece of feedback we took very much to heart was that players wanted to jump in after watching somebody play alone for a bit, however they would need to start a new game in “2-player” mode in order to do so.

Taking a cue from arcade games, we added the ability to jump right into an ongoing game by inserting a coin and pressing start on the second controller (ok, you don’t actually have to insert a coin anywhere…), then selecting your character through a mini-ingame-portrait (think Final Fight, TMNT, etc.).

(keep in mind the portrait graphics are placeholders, they will get a proper scaled down version, a frame, etc.)


ECBaP6S.gif



And finally we’ve been playing around with different turret variations (this one isn’t really based on feedback, just something we've had in our backlog for a while ^_^)

We got our standard “bullet turret”:


xKCkKB3.gif



But also a far more explosive “missile turret”:


E7CmzU0.gif



And finally the deadly “laser turret”:


8Rm6gbA.gif



Next up will probably be the “lightning turret” and the “sawblade turret” ;)

Considering the great reaction we had to our hastily-cobbled-together demo, we are pushing forward for an early / mid-summer release of a more polished demo, which will include more levels, new challenges, and a generally tighter experience!

... also in totally unrelated news, Kickstarter just launched in Germany…

Have a great week everybody!
 

Haba

Harbinger of Decline
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Codex 2012 MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
It really does look damn good. Hopefully you have some unique enemies in store. Animating a gazillion complex critters is not much fun, but it really pays off in the end.
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
It does, also since you use lighting now, how about critters who can't see you in the shadows, or surfaces that heal/damage/repel you or the critters.

Whatever you do make sure to watch people play it like you did and talk to them about it, the feedback is invaluable.
 

benitosub

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Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Welcome back everyone!

First of all thanks a lot for the comments!

Haba yes! we do have some pretty original enemy ideas in store, and I realize the current build is a bit short in that aspect, but we wanted to nail the basic mechanics before adding enemies we may have to scrap later. Rest assured however that enemies will not be limited to robots and turrets ;)

Weirdstuffinspace enemies who can't see you in the shadows is definitely coming at some point, also the lamps / light columns etc. are all destructible which means you will be able to blow up lights to sneak around certain enemies. That probably won't be in the demo though, as we already have plenty of work left with the current feature set ^_^

And back to the actual update, this week we continued polishing the weapons that will go in the demo - as well fixing the usual bugs and crashes. For starters we have a new gun, which will act as the default basic weapon for all characters. It’s weak, it’s sluggish, it’s got infinite ammo… it’s the MG 08/15:


QbI1I0h.gif



Cyangmou also redesigned the shotgun to make it stand out a little better compared to the other bullet-based weapons: it now features a double barrel for double the fun, and a better “bullet spread” to increase the angle you cover and the number of targets you can hit in a single shot:


nE0EVqF.gif



We also brought back the harpoon gun, which was little more than a prototype, and polished up the rough edges. The harpoon got a shadow, and enemies are now “raised off the ground” as they are impaled (as evidenced by their shadow) so it doesn’t look like the harpoon is traveling at ground level:


emirkj5.gif



Enemies now free themselves from the harpoon by jumping off the wall (as opposed to teleporting back to the ground…) :


3xkN76H.gif



Except of course when that is not possible:


7pgKDSG.gif


vHbXHn2.gif



Another weapon we polished up is grenades. Up to now it was possible to lob grenades over walls / through ceilings, which apart from breaking several laws of physics could also be exploited in obvious ways. Now they will instead elegantly bounce back:


VBJirLG.gif


H5gGciE.gif



And last but not least, we finally got around to designing and implementing graphics for the rocket launcher, which until now was just a magical Tommy gun that could spawn rockets ;)


e4I5tGS.gif


OFhvC7X.gif



That’s it for this week! We are also working on a tentative Kickstarter campaign now that it's available in Germany, so if there is anything in particular you would like to see in terms of updates during the campaign (boss peek, new enemies, new locations, details on specific aspects of the game, etc.) please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments or on twitter! (benitosub and @cyangmou)

Cheers everybody!
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hello again everyone!

This week’s update will be a little shorter than usual, as we are progressively shifting our focus on getting our campaign off the ground.

Work continued nevertheless on the demo, and one of this week’s major additions was a subtle parallax layer to add some depth to the level:


9hKVbXV.gif


um00lC5.gif



We also added “pick-up” effects, which might seem like a small thing, but actually contributes to general feeling of a well-rounded experience (it’s one of those little things you barely notice when it’s there, but would feel out of place if it weren’t).


CwxMmKS.gif



And finally we continued polishing the demo weapons - this time it was the laser:


fzITYyT.gif


KCLmoCW.gif



That’s it for this week! Next up, the lightning gun will be getting a make-over and a change in gameplay, and the fly-bot might make its come-back :)

Cheers!
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Welcome back everyone!

I’d like to start by quickly mentioning that we created a new Twitter account entirely dedicated to Tower 57 : @tower57devlog

We are also starting a mailing list for those who are interested in seeing more than what makes the cut for the weekly updates (failed experiments, bugs, more gifs, etc.), getting news and updates about the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, getting preview links to the campaign before it goes live to give us feedback, watch the trailer being built, and much more!

Anybody who is interested can sign up by clicking on this link http://eepurl.com/boYiJP

And now back to the update!

Despite working a lot on our upcoming campaign, this week we also continued work on the demo levels, plus we added a nifty little trick which I like to call “stacked floors” for lack of a better name ^_^’

Last week we showed off the parallax background layer (albeit slightly bugged, but we fixed that too!). This week we worked on what the parallax layer actually contains, namely … the previous level!

That’s right, with the exception of some specific sections (scroll down for a prime example), in most levels you will be able to step back and admire your work from above :)


IDnsTk1.png

just got rid of some pesky hexapods


9HNoIqN.png

seen from the next level


The second thing we are focusing on right now, as mentioned above, are the demo levels. This week we worked on the game’s intro level, which sees you and your crew arriving at the tower (while commercial air travel vanished long ago, the towers are still linked by a decaying rail system).

Of course somebody has tipped off the authorities regarding your arrival and your purpose, so you will have to fight your way through the train wagon by wagon ;)


iZ5lMqs.gif



That’s it for this time, hope to see you all again next week!
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
Looking good. It would be wise to discuss your kickstarter plans here. There is a lot of experience here with them.
 

benitosub

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Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
DwarvenFood I have no idea what you are talking about ^_^'

Weirdstuffinspace Good point! We've been in touch with some teams behind some of the recently funded pixel-art indie games, and so far the bulk of the advice that we have collected is that the trailer is extremely important, so we are currently focusing our efforts on producing a trailer which not only showcases what we've got so far, but also gives good glimpses of other levels, and puts forward the mechanics that set us apart from other top-down twin-stick shooters.

The other thing we are putting a lot of effort in currently is the Kickstarter page, again putting forward our unique selling points and trying to present every point clearly without going into too many unnecessary details so as to keep the page short, informative, and straight to the point(s).

Regarding rewards, we're planning to have them all be digital rewards, so we don't get bogged down in producing physical rewards and also are not hit by surprise costs, shipping issues, etc. We'll probably announce a preliminary list soon in our mailing list and try to get some feedback, but we came up with some pretty original ideas (at least I think ^_^)

Stretch goals should mainly evolve around console ports, online multiplayer, a 4 player mode, and of course more characters, levels, enemies, etc.

The tiers should start very low, with a token 3$ tier to show support for the console stretch goal which also gets you on the backer list so you can follow development, get updates, etc., and then work their way up with the usual early bird, "normal tier" (i.e. copy of the game), then all the cool stuff we are throwing on top ;)

We are of course reaching out to as many indie teams as we can, collecting press contacts, trying to secure some let's plays upon the launch of the campaign, and trying to build up momentum for the campaign by talking about it in updates / forum posts / etc. so we don't launch "out of the blue".

I think that roughly sums it up, though I'm probably forgetting a ton of things, but of course if anybody has any advice or ideas, please feel free to post them here or shoot us a mail at tower5757 at hotmail.com, both myself and Cyangmou have access to the account so whether it's graphics or code related it's a good place to send it :)

Thanks a lot to everybody!
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
See we've averted disaster already.

When you bring a game to kickstarter, the backers will be those who want to play it obviously. But most of them will be backing for the first release, in this case to be found on pc, so most backers will not care for a console stretch goal, thinking their extra cash will go to a version they do not care about, or even worse: will compromise the pc version even before it's released due to design changes to ensure compatibility with consoles.

The other stretch goals are fine, but i'd go with : more more more content, and more more more polish for that content to create a perfect local 2p coop, and singleplayer. I'd get a good estimate of the amount of work you believe it will take to ensure online multi and 4 player mode are in good shape.

You don't want to waste time on promised features before you know what they might cost you compared to the gain in funding. And research before you go IF your audience is even waiting for these features. Or else they might not generate income or even stall pledges if backers think their money will not be spent wisely. (like a console version stretchgoal could cause)

Also be sure to make ALL game assets available to all backers. Nobody wants (gameplay influencing) exclusive content. If I back something it would annoy me to know that because I paid more I get more game. If you simply add cosmetic changes, like a special skin usable by backers then that is another story, those are usually fine.
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hey Weirdstuffinspace thanks for the feedback!

My bad, I didn't actually list the stretch goals in any kind of order, just what the main ones would be :) However you make a very good argument for not having consoles be the first one!

The low 3$ "console pledge" was not meant for first-release backers, but more in case we do get funded, we figured backers who are *only* interested in the console stretch goals might want to contribute towards reaching that stretch goal but without investing "too much" in case we don't make it - especially if there are other stretch goals to reach first before getting to consoles. Maybe that doesn't make any sense though :D ? We are basically trying to figure out a way to get "console backers" who are only interested in the console stretch goal to join in the support, but without making it too risky for them. Any ideas that could help in this regard would be more than welcome!

Regarding the other stretch goals, these are actually the features that most people who played the demo requested: "will there be a console port" was the question we got asked most, with the 4-player mode a very close second. The extra content is of course as you said for "first-release backers" who want increase the scope of the game, and the online multi is already prototyped so we have a pretty good idea of the amount of work it represents - which is why we have to keep it as a stretch goal in the first place ^_^

However I absolutely agree with you, we should make sure we focus on stretch goals that potential players actually want to see. In this regard we created the mailing list (link in the last update!), so one of the upcoming things in this mailing list will be a poll to ask players precisely which stretch goals and perks they find more interesting so that we can sort them accordingly (we are also planning to send out preview links in the mailing list of the actual Kickstarter page before launch, so we can collect as much feedback as possible, fill in the gaps, re-organize the sections to put forward the points people find more interesting, etc.)

And regarding your final point I guess I didn't communicate that properly, my bad again, but all extra content I mentioned (levels, characters, etc.) is meant for the base game itself, so if we get reach that stretch-goal, we make the game bigger for everybody! All versions will be identical in terms of content, no silly pre-order dlc or any of that stuff ^_^ In fact the "main platform" is the PC: we're the not Witcher 3 or Watchdogs obviously :D But there will be no "downgrade" of the PC / Mac / Linux versions under any circumstance, the console ports are just that, ports ;)

Finally you have no idea how much I value and appreciate your feedback, not many people take the time to write and post thoughtful feedback on forums, so please by all means keep it coming! If you have any ideas for cool perks you would like to see, more stretch goals, features with you think are must-haves etc please don't hesitate to mention them :)

Cheers!

Marco
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Another week, another update!



This week we went into full Kickstarter preparation mode, so creating the storyboard for the trailer, drafting up a main page, coming up with pledges, budgeting stretch-goals, reaching out to our contacts, and of course working on the new locations!



The trailer will feature 5 to 6 entirely different locations, so that means a lot of new art, but also building the maps, setting up the scenes according to the storyboard, recording them, and much more.



The first scene as we teased last week will take place aboard the train taking you and your crew to Tower 57. Of course the authorities have been tipped off and things will escalate pretty quickly ^_^



With commercial aviation a thing of the past, the railway system has taken over as the main means of transportation. It is mostly frequented by the elite, who can afford the pricey tickets, a fact which is reflected by the relative luxury of the accommodations:

AGtc1an.png




Of course trains are also used for freight, and will occasionally transport military or illegal weapon shipments, so be sure to check those crates for goodies:




OQPdfwm.png




Here is what it looks like when put together in the game:




2W3RSZX.png




And to top it off, we added some nice “fading roofs”:




q67jfA2.gif




Next week we’ll move on to the next location : the sewers. Centuries old architecture, underground rivers of toxic waste, mutated enemies, and much more awaits!

I would also like to humbly remind everybody who's reading this that we setup a mailing list so you can stay informed of our progress with the campaign, and of course let us know if you think we are on the right track :) You can sign up over at http://eepurl.com/boYiJP



Cheers everybody and have a great week!
 

benitosub

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Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hi everybody!

It's that time of the week again :) We've been hard at work for the past seven nights, and we're hoping it will show ^_^

First things first, we completed the train scene. Here it is in all its glory: (I encoded it as a gfy because the actual gif was over 12 megs...)

http://gfycat.com/UnlawfulSophisticatedHamster


Cyangmou also started working on the sewer level, which will be the next level featured in the trailer.

Lying below the massive tower, the sewer offers the perfect entry point for those who wish to avoid the heavily guarded main doors. The journey is not without its dangers however, as decades of accumulated radioactive waste have produced some frightening mutations within the local fauna...

8lpbc4k.png

Massive pillars support the hundreds of floors above.


C7WysCR.png

Parts of the sewer are submerged in waste. Hope you brought boots!


And finally on the code side, I revamped the "entity-to-entity" collision system.

When I started working on the game - I'm talking before Cyangmou jumped in with his amazing art - the view was going to be strictly top-down, so I originally wrote the entity-to-entity collision system to rely on axis aligned bounding boxes.

However as the game evolved towards a mix of top-down and isometric view, it quickly became apparent that this would not be enough to properly handle "tilted" objects. While we could get away with it for smaller objects, there was really no way to get around it with bigger objects (see gif below).

Therefore I refactored the collision system to use a similar approach as the entity-to-tilemap system, which relies on pixel-perfect collision masks.

The result is pixel-perfect collisions even with bigger objects such as this container:

ZkI8Au1.gif



That's it for this week! Although if you want to take a better peak at the sewer level, you can always sign up to the mailing list over at http://eepurl.com/boYiJP ;)

Cheers!
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
468
hitting all the right buttons again. The love for 2d art is all over this. I also like concepts like rich folks using the train coming back in the way it is designed. You see how creating a narative, even a very basic one, already reflects upon the gameworld if you let it, and when shit comes together you end up with a coherent game.

Think about re-using the moving train level/mechanic in your sewers, like a subway you run into. Also spice them up, too many fucking sewers in games. I'm sure your art guy and mechanics will make it acceptable but still...
 

benitosub

Novice
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
41
Hello everyone,

we were very busy this week keeping up the work on our trailer / demo and preparing our Kickstarter campaign, but also attending an indie event here in Berlin called "Talk & Play" (more on this below) - so this will be a slightly more verbose update than usual ^_^

First things first, Weirdstuffinspace yeah I hear what you're saying about the sewers, but as you said we're hoping to spice it up with some sweet sweet art and some interesting mechanics (for example semi-submerged sections where you must wade through the waste, which slows you down), and also I promise there will be *no* rats or spiders :D !

One thing I have mentioned a few times in past updates was that lights would be destructible, and that this would not be just a gimmick but would actually serve the gameplay. This week I finally got around to implementing a proper "light destruction system", and here is the result:

AHuN0NA.gif


Keep in mind those particles are temporary and will be replaced by glass bits ;)

We're not going to go for "Thief" levels of stealth - we have to keep scope in mind, and properly designing levels that work both for a full-action and full-stealth gameplay is a huge undertaking... (obviously this might change if the KS goes well ^_^)

However shooting lights out will still have some effect on the gameplay: standing in darker areas will reduce the accuracy of enemies shooting at you, and it will make you "invisible" to security cameras.
Another aspect of the game that still needs a lot of work is "atmosphere": right now the environments are pretty static - barring the occasional spinning wall-fan. Our plan had always been to spice this up with environmental animations, things like water droplets leaking from pipes, smoke coming out of vents, etc.

The first step in that direction was implementing a basic rain effect (you can't have cyberpunk without rain :D).

qZoIFDY.gif


This is just a first draft with placeholder art, but it's already got some nice features: each droplet (there are hundreds) is an individual sprite, no "cheating" with grouping several droplets in a single sprite.

Their falling speed is affected by their "depth" - i.e. droplets closer to the screen fall faster than droplets away from the screen - creating a nice "parallax-like" effect of rain (sadly this doesn't translate well in a choppy animated gif...)

The system also ensures "impacts" only appear on the ground / walls, and can differentiate between floors and walls - so a droplet falling on the floor could produce impacts such as the ones in the gif, whereas a droplet falling on a wall could produce a "water trickling down the wall" animation.

And of course the intensity, average speed, and direction of the rain can all be changed in real time for more variety.

That was about it on the code side (plus fixing some bugs and crashes in preparations of the Talk & Play demo).

However Cyangmou was also very busy on his side, designing and mapping out the new locations we plan to showcase in the trailer, and creating the hundreds of tiles and sprites required to bring them to life!

Last week we posted some sewer bits, this week those bits have turned into an actual location:

OsGUus2.png


Cyangmou has also been working a lot on Tower 57's very own "red light district", which doubles as the game's "hub". Those of you who also follow our twitter channel (@tower57devlog) might have already seen this during the week, but for those who didn't, here is the monorail that connects some of the classiest floors of the tower:

avbV8Mu.png


Of course the floor will be decorated with appropriately-themed props:

oDo0kSj.png

VTeuFBR.png


And finally I wanted to quickly mention our visit at the Talk & Play event here in Berlin.

This was an event organized by berlingamescene.com which aimed to bring together gamers and indie developers. The first half was dedicated to talks, and during the second half of the evening devs could showcase their games and get feedback from players.

o3q73ih.jpg


Sadly I was alone this time, so I didn't really get a lot of good pictures, but I had a blast nonetheless, and the comments from the people who played were absolutely heart-warming and a great incentive to keep pushing on!

So I just wanted to thank you guys - in the event that any of you read this - watching gamers enjoy our creation is the best reward for me :) !

This was also the chance to meet up with our friend from FrozenPotion and finally try their mobile shooter-puzzle hybrid Op90, which turned out to be a lot of fun :) If you like mobile games, pixel art, and shooting stuff you can check them out over at http://www.slidedb.com/games/op90 !

And that concludes this week's update, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to posting more of Amor's Den next week!

Cheers everyone!
 

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