Plom510 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Finally got around to making one of these. As you can tell by the screenshot, I'm also implementing a Bank system that could be used in the final game to buy powerups such as shields, temporary speed-ups, invincibility, etc. Only attendees at Sonic Revolution will be able to see this next week as of this post since I'll need to make a new demo with the level clear stats implemented. However, the coin bank will serve no purpose in the demo and all it'd really be good for until the game is completed is bragging rights. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highwire4 Posted June 10, 2014 Report Share Posted June 10, 2014 Finally got around to making one of these. As you can tell by the screenshot, I'm also implementing a Bank system that could be used in the final game to buy powerups such as shields, temporary speed-ups, invincibility, etc. Only attendees at Sonic Revolution will be able to see this next week as of this post since I'll need to make a new demo with the level clear stats implemented. However, the coin bank will serve no purpose in the demo and all it'd really be good for until the game is completed is bragging rights. I like it. Its simple and instantly recognizable as to its function. Perhaps if you had a banner of some sort pop out when you cross it or a flag standing there that would react to the wind created by the player passing it would make it a bit more interactive than just a thing the player runs over. Like maybe a Flagpole that Bingo swings up and how high he goes is dependent on how fast he crosses the line? Or maybe a little podium for the player to jump on that would single the true end of the level? I mean, this works, but I think it would be cool if the end of the level was initiated by the player deliberately pressing a button on their keyboard when they want to rather than just holding down a button that they use to progress anyway and then just crossing the line. I guess what I'm saying is, why not make it kind of like a little game? The Mario Flagpole and the Sonic Capsule are both great examples of how to make the end of the level more like a player initiated thing, and as a result, something they've been working towards. Just a suggestion for the future. What you've been dishing out so far is great though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2014 Since Sonic Revolution will begin in 13 hours as of this post and I probably won't have any internet access while I'm at the con, I may as well make an early reveal tonight. Meet the main villain of the game, Darth! As you can see, he appears to be similar to our hero, Bingo. What is his true purpose on wanting to conquer the world? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse0 Posted June 15, 2014 Report Share Posted June 15, 2014 Im gonna be honest, his name sounds Very generic _ coupled by the fact he's black.Bingo is cool_ its fresh - But Darth? Got any thing else like Bango? get it BingoBango Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clouder Posted June 16, 2014 Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 My question is why are the characters chao with limbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 My question is why are the characters chao with limbs? I'll be honest, I designed these characters back in 2007 when they were based on Chaos, which explains why they look the way they do. Over time, I did take away their emotiballs and their wings off (they used to have those way back when I first thought up with these guys) and tried my best to make them their own species. All I can really say is that if I plan on making any new characters or add any NPCs into any of the levels, they will start becoming unique by design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse0 Posted June 16, 2014 Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 What about my comment? no Comment? aww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 What about my comment? no Comment? aww Sorry. I know how you feel about the name choice for the villain as well as his color scheme. For his name and design in general though, I just stuck with it ever since I designed him. Not to spoil what I have plans for in the game, but at some point, the villain is going to have a different form that will be permanent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse0 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) kk_ but just remember you dont be tethered to your old ideas you can always modify to improve Edited June 17, 2014 by Pulse0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 @Pulse0 I know. I can accept change, but only when I know if it's for the best, like how Bingo's old color scheme and shoes made him be similar to Sonic and such. Gameplay related stuff I have no problem changing up though as I removed the spin dash and changed the bounce mechanics a bit. Aside from all this talk, would you guys like to see a boss fight in the next SAGE demo with Darth himself? I will attempt to do so if I can get sprites for him done in time, but it won't be a problem to start programming his fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light The Hedgehog Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 My only problem with Darth is that it's like the Bingo equivalent to Shadow. That's not bad by any means, I mean we don't know his backstory yet so that could be a thing. But he's kind of- generic per say? A name change and a little design overhaul would be cool. Maybe the emotion orb would actually be a good idea for this character unless you're trying to completely stray from the chao concept. But the flame type one would be kind of cool. Maybe mix and match elements from other favorite characters of yours? But all in all, it's your idea and as long as he is an interesting character AND/OR the gameplay is really good. It would be find by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highwire4 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 Darth is indeed generic and I don't see the point of making him look like Bingo. Making him look like Bingo insinuates that he is some how connected to Bingo in ways the player may or may not come to know. Shadow looks like Sonic because the plot needed Sonic to loose his reputation by someone impersonating him and stealing shit, thus having a connection between Shadow and Sonic, thus having shadow look like sonic. Not only that, but Shadow has similar gameplay to sonic, connecting him even more to sonic. If Darth isn't doing anything like that then I see no reason for him to bear resemblance of any kind to Bingo unless he's like his dad or something. *cliche plot twist here* He's also not very threatening and could do with some more evil features, like making him look bigger or bulkier than Bingo, have floating hands or spikes or something going on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 I can totally understand where you guys are coming from. Yes, from a first glance, he does indeed seem to be a discount villain. I do want to make him shine more in the boss fight encounters you have with him each time. As for boss fights though, here's a short preview I made. You can't hurt him yet and he can't hurt you. I do have plans for what he does after each hit on him but character pixel art takes quite a while for me to do. As for Darth himself having any connections to Bingo, I haven't exactly thought of his backstory just yet as I'm more focused on making the overall levels. I know that if I choose to keep his current design (which I'll most likely do), I might have to make up for it by making him an interesting character. Although at some point he will have a very different appearance by means of plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 I believe it seems like I'm finished with the boss fight against Darth. Every time you attack him, he'll drop some coins as well as performing a dash attack after he recovers. Right now, he only has 8 hit points and he just vanishes once he runs out of hit points. I still need to make an ending sequence for him, but I also need a VA for him. You can also notice in the video that Bingo has a crouch sprite and he can now crouch whenever he's standing still. Any thoughts on the boss fight itself? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highwire4 Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 I know its a first boss--judging from the background--but he's painfully simple and a bit too easy. He suffers from a problem that older sonic bosses have in that there is never a state where the boss cannot be hurt (unless its submerged in lava or something) so the player can always get a hit in on the boss and if good enough, can kill it pretty quickly before the boss has even gotten started, which kinda takes away from the depth of the fight a bit. Perhaps if you made it impossible for the player to hit darth while he's charging the sphere or impossible to hide under him or close to him while he's charging it would add some more depth and make it more engaging. In this fight its just a bit too slow paced and easy to hit Darth, even for a first boss. I like the addition of a dash after a hit, but its not really a good counter attack since it seems to go in the complete opposite direction that the player seems to end up after hitting him, which just ends up speed up the fight and not doing much else. I feel like you can do something more with that though, like the dash is his method of introducing the counter attack before he does it--basically he uses it to get away from the player to get to somewhere the player can't reach before unleashing a new attack that the player must dodge no matter where they are. This could be an extension of the energy ball attack--he makes a big one and throws that down in the middle making 2 waves go along the ground in opposite directions maybe?-- or an extension of the dash attack--he aims his body at the player for a moment or two before slicing the air where the player was with an instant dash move before reseting. You've got a few basic fundamentals of what a boss fight is, and with the additions you've been putting on you'r clearly going in the right direction, I just don't think its quite there yet. After all, if you can just camp under him for half of the first fight, he's not too threatening at all for a main villian is he? You want the player to hate the villian in a game, so make a good first impression, and a good way to do that is with a good boss fight. I don't know how much you'll actually have time to change since SAGE is coming up and I know how much time it takes to get even a basic boss working, so if you can't really mess with it any more I totally understand, but something to think about for the future? Anyway, nice progress man. You just keep going full steam ahead with this. Its good to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisPwnz Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 Darth is a good boss, but he just needs more attacks then just the energy ball and dash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 @Highwire4 A lot of the problems you've stated in your post are blind spots for him. As you said, you can hide under him while he's charging the energy orb, and the player will usually be in the opposite side of Darth when he'll do his dash counter attack. With you're issue with being able to hit him at all times, you really can't quite attack him whenever. When he's moving across the screen and when he's charging his orb, you can't attack him. The reason why I made it so he can't be attacked when moving is that when he stops his dash counter attack isn't trigger based and instead based on alarms. Based on his slowness, he's really only that slow since I feel like there's enough telegraph time to avoid his energy orb as well as having enough time to attack him. I still have enough time between now and SAGE to make some improvements to him though. With that said, I am open to ideas for what else he can do for that fight since I don't want him to be too predictable. I'm probably gonna leave the predictability when you're fighting one of his robots as a boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse0 Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Im sorry Id have to agree with Highwire on this one, Its way too simple a boss. Most pple wont attack whiles hes charging, or dashing. The boss seems quite boring even for a first boss. Window for attack is way too apparent and much too accessable Edited June 21, 2014 by Pulse0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highwire4 Posted June 21, 2014 Report Share Posted June 21, 2014 @Highwire4 A lot of the problems you've stated in your post are blind spots for him. As you said, you can hide under him while he's charging the energy orb, and the player will usually be in the opposite side of Darth when he'll do his dash counter attack. With you're issue with being able to hit him at all times, you really can't quite attack him whenever. When he's moving across the screen and when he's charging his orb, you can't attack him. The reason why I made it so he can't be attacked when moving is that when he stops his dash counter attack isn't trigger based and instead based on alarms. Based on his slowness, he's really only that slow since I feel like there's enough telegraph time to avoid his energy orb as well as having enough time to attack him. I still have enough time between now and SAGE to make some improvements to him though. With that said, I am open to ideas for what else he can do for that fight since I don't want him to be too predictable. I'm probably gonna leave the predictability when you're fighting one of his robots as a boss. Fair enough. If you think thats enough for him I suppose thats your choice. I did leave another suggestion for his counter in my previous pot. You didn't mention it here so I'm going to assume you didn't notice it. But yeah those counter suggestions would help out the boss quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 It didn't take very long for me to come up with another move for him. I made it so that it can be used either as a counter attack and a normal attack. I increased his hit points from 8 to 12 as the original 8 seems too short. Once he's down to 4 hit points remaining, he enters pinch mode, where he begins to chain his attacks together. He will also become a bit unpredictable as to what he'll do next. If you listen, I have some boss music that I whipped up in maybe about an hour as well as some sounds for his energy orbs. All that's really left is to find a VA for him. That isn't really a high priority for me for SAGE Act 2 since even if a VA isn't found before then, at least his gameplay is complete. I'll also need to find time to make the level where you'll find the boss fight. I hope the boss fight is more interesting to you guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse0 Posted June 22, 2014 Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 yep, definitely better than before. Personally id say keep his hp @8 cause if he's hard to hit the battle will drag out. (and image the harder bosses, how long that will take as the game progresses) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 @Pulse0 I only bumped his HP up to 12 since during his first 8 hits, he seems to be predictable. I'll see how it is once everyone can fight this boss during SAGE Act 2 since the level where you fight him will be playable, although I'm thinking that it should be unlocked. (I'll be making use of the added bank system since it'll serve no use in the demo) If a lot of people say it drags with the 12 HP, I may consider lowering it to maybe 10 at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Working on another boss for my game. You fight him before you even face Darth, so he'll be a tad bit easier than him. I already have some ideas for him but I don't think I'll be showing him off in a video. I've already decided on which boss you'll be fighting for the SAGE Act 2 demo, so it probably won't be for a while until you see this guy in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted June 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 In honor of another Michael Bay movie releasing soon, I bring to you... EXPLODEY THINGYS!!! I can't believe it took me this long to finally start implementing an explosion particle. I also feel like I did a mediocre job on making an explosion sound. Also tiny preview of the boss I showed yesterday but only his death animation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plom510 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I've been meaning to post this yesterday if there wasn't any maintenance going on. I got Bingo The Multiva to work on my Android phone. Doesn't really mean much since I can't export to the platform without paying $200! Either way, at least its nice to see it running. After some testing with the other levels that you see in the menu, a few of them make the game suffer some lag issues. If I ever port my game to Android devices, I may have to consider splitting larger levels into smaller chunks. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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