Highwire4

Holy crap, all of these are fantastic. Hopefully more tracks will get done, specially the ones needed for the more memorable parts of the game, but seriously, wow are these amazing!

@Serephim: I share your sentiments completely. Post apocalyptic stuff is overdone to death. But I haven't seen one where you are completely alone and has a story structure like this. Plus this is also for a school project, along with how long and how much the game has progressed and evolved since it's beginning, a change of setting of that magnitude would mean a complete redesign. Which I don't have the time for, so the post-apocalyptic thing has to stay. You did bring up an excellent point with that cave story example though regarding how the world interacted with the player and the story. It's got me thinking and I'm currently reanalyzing the structure of the world of AWAKE. Definitely made me realize something I need to work on and improve. Thanks for that @Chaos Fusion: Thanks for the support! Glad to see you're interested As for the story. I had a vague idea/theme for the story/world and started to build the game from that at first, but it kinda just evolved into something that I want to accomplish more from a game design stand point, so I guess yeah, I'm making a story centered around game mechanics. A link to what you're talkin about though would be appreciated if you can find it again though. @Ayling: Thanks a lot man Music wise...I'm currently using pieces of tracks from Valtari by Sigur-Ross. Their music is pretty zen and atemospheric and fits the kind of mood I'm going for. As for how the music is going to be implemented is a bit complex. I'll be splitting up the tracks I want to use into different individual sections and save those as seperate files. I can then use those files to create a diverse and adaptive music system that will change which track is playing depending on where the player is in the level. I've seen this used in a few games, (I.E. JOURNEY) and the emotional impact it has on the experience is immensely powerful. Making this system work right is going to be a huge focus of mine after I get the other main mechanics done. Best example I can provide to better convey this is Falk's "Be Cool, Be Wild" video: A laughable try at this kind of system is already in the engine. Its the orange horizontal bar the player falls through in the gameplay vids I've posted. Also links to some of the songs I'm going to be using: I could really only use these tracks if I plan on only having this as a free to play game; which I do lol. If for what ever reason though I'd have to sell this game, I'd have to come up with some kind of original soundtrack that sounded something similar to this. I'd probably start a kickstarter or something to fund something like that. Or somehow convince the massively talented people here at SFGHQ to help, but I'd rather not do something like that unless I absolutely have to.

I have those hopes too but that's no reason to not do anything about it, especially considering how much effort has gone into making this sneak under the radar and make it near impossible for opposition in the house to even talk about it's flaws. The news isn't reporting on it at all. Nobody knows about this. Yeah, sure, maybe I'm freaking the fuck out a bit too much here but the internet is literally on its own with this one. We don't have big corporations backing us like we did with SOPA. I have hope that Obama will veto it but I can't even trust the government anymore. I'll calm the fuck down when CISPA is crushed

lol I'm making this in MMF2. Another thing I forgot to mention, the character has no name nor ever speaks or is addressed by a name. It's identity is anonymous. The main idea behind this was that the apocalypse could happen tomorrow, or the day after and you wake up as the only survivor in a hospital bed a day after everything went to shit. There aren't any other characters either, except for the environment itself, a monster, and green hooded person who you never ever directly interact with and is only in certain stories (may or may not keep this character. Generally exists as an emotional ploy or symbol). I'm trying to keep the story has vague and open ended as I can so the player has room to peice it together themselves in their head based off of clues they find. Not dictated, but suggested, much in the way song lyrics or poems work. Regarding the story idea, I like a few things that one of the stories could focus on. That bit about finding his lost love, I think there could be a story that hints at a past relationship of his and focuses on the emotional stress that he went through? Thanks for your contributions by the way, srsly appreciate it.

It still has to go through the senate as well. Plus we have to make it clear to the senate and the president that we wont tolerate this kind of affront to our liberties. This corruption is disgusting: http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2013/pro-cispa-backers-spend-over-100-times-more-lobbying-opponents/ Plus what else is mind blowing is CNN's bogus coverage of boston coincided EXACTLY with when CISPA was on the house floor. Everything is against us. We got to push with everything we got.

@DaHog: I wouldn't even call it an engine right now. It is far from what I need it to be right now. Very much a work in progress. I'd do it in 3D but 2D provides more challenges and limitations which has been forcing me to get more creative with my game design. As for the stories, I'm actually having a big problem with them at the moment. I have all of the neccessary story-telling elements needed to tell the stories of the game, I just don't...well..have any stories to tell. I mean...oh boy this is complicated. Each story is told through gameplay and visual ques not through cutscenes or voice acting. There is some text but it is in the form of newspapers or files. Its basically the player going through this world and picking up the pieces to uncover what happened AND moving toward a supposed evacuation area to where survivors might be. Heres where it gets complicated. I already have the causes for the apocalypse. Nuclear war, you're in a coma, a monster killed everyone, some piece of science equipment broke the laws of physics or some shit. I've got that. But its not all there is. In accordance to that I want an underlying message, like all of the levels and gameplay in that story are one big alagory for something else. Like, I dunno, a love story. Or maybe even a political stand point on something. But I need that kind of underlying message so the story is more engaging, it makes you think about it, reflect upon it, and make you want to go back again to try to understand what you just played through. Its kinda like song lyrics or poems, but instead of words I'm using gameplay to write my sonnets and ballads. And that is what I am missing. I have no clue what any underlying message could be, so its kind of holding back the game right now. A little bit frustrating. I'd be so grateful for any ideas or help with this aspect of the multiple stories of the game. Put your name in the credits for sure.

It's the least I can do. Anonymous is really who we should be thanking. Speaking of which, they've called for an internet blackout on Monday, april 22nd in protest until Obama promises to veto CISPA. http://anoninsiders.net/cipsa-1702/ Found some other petitions as well. Share them at your disclosure: http://www.sitesnotspies.org/ https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/cispa_facebook/ http://www.saveyourprivacypolicy.org/ CISPA is pretty fucked up though. Never seen so much corruption: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57580268-38/cispa-permits-police-to-do-warrantless-database-searches/ http://57un.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/cispa-whos-for-it-and-whos-against-it/ http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130417/16253022748/oh-look-rep-mike-rogers-wife-stands-to-benefit-greatly-cispa-passing.shtml Until then keep signing and calling and sharing. Literally spam this shit anywhere you can.

I've had thoughts regarding having things like batteries, but due to a huge list of reasons regarding game design that I don't even know how to start listing, that won't be happening. Flashlight stays on forever, no flickering or dead batteries. Also give me time to animate stuff xD this isn't even alpha yet. All of that stuff will get added in AFTER I get the game working.

Why the balls has this not been blowing up. CISPA is back and has a very real chance of passing the house vote AGAIN tomorrow. With that each and everyone of you will loose your privacy. It'll all be funneled straight to the US government without just cause or even a warrant. Less than 24 hours to help stop a bill worse than SOPA. Most of the represenatives support CISPA because of how it will benefit businesses, not people, so let your voice be heard and tell them we value our privacy. Spread these links around to anybody you can, tell them to call their represenative and pass it on, we need to get the word out and get people stepping up. You can find out your represenative's phone number here: http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/cispa/ Other links for if you want to know more about why this is a huge freaking deal. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/cispa-2013-house-vote-internet-privacy http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130417/16253022748/oh-look-rep-mike-rogers-wife-stands-to-benefit-greatly-cispa-passing.shtml List of those who voted yesterday to take away your privacy: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll117.xml Seriously guys, lets get the ball rolling. Not trying to preach or anything but the freedom of the internet is in serious trouble right now. It'll effect us all. so GOGOGOGOGOGO!

Updated the engine a little bit. Glitchy flash light is glitchy

I think I jizzed a little. Specially to Moon Mansion. Oh man it'll be such a shame if the soundtrack for the rest of the game isn't completed in time, we're really gonna miss out on the kind of experience tracks like these can give us while we play.

wow these are looking so cool!

So my game has dark areas that can be illuminated with an item. I've managed to simulate it by having a shadow and/or light graphic follow the player's position. I've managed to get it to appear and dissapear only when the light sensor is overlapping a shadow trigger. The problem I'm having is getting the flash light to work. I'm basically having two shadow graphics follow the camera, one is invisible until a button is pressed. At that point I want the graphics to swap visibilities and stay that way until the button is pressed again. I can't get it to work right. It either just flashes for a moment or doesn't work at all. Active 27 is the flashlight graphic and Active 28 is the shadow graphic. Light> [INDENT]-Start of Frame>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-Make "Active 27" invisible -Make"Active 28" invisible[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [INDENT]-Always>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-Set position of "Active 27" at (-240,-173) from "Player sensor" -Set position of "Active 28" at (-240, -173) from "Player sensor"[/INDENT] [/INDENT] >>>>>>DARK [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -NEGATE upon pressing "D"> -"Active 27" is invisible>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT] -"Active 28" Reappear[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is NOT overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -NEGATE upon pressing "D"> -"Active 27" is invisible>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-"Active 28" Invisible[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -upon pressing "D"> -"Active 27" is invisible>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-Make "Active 28" invisible -"Active 27" Reappear[/INDENT] [/INDENT] >>>>FLASHLIGHT [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -NEGATE upon pressing "D"> -"Active 28" is invisible>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT] -"Active 27" Reappear[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is NOT overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -NEGATE upon pressing "D">[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-"Active 27" Invisible[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [INDENT]-If "lightsensor" is overlapping "Shadowtrigger"> -upon pressing "D"> -"Active 28" is invisible>[/INDENT] [INDENT][INDENT]-Make "Active 27" invisible -"Active 28" Reappear[/INDENT] [/INDENT] [/CODE] halp plz

Some progress on some of the more atmospherics parts of the game Flash light off: Flash light on: Its just reflected light atm, still have to make a cone of light for the flash light.

Screen shots from the Comatose engine I've been working on. Everything is pink squares and trigger boxes till I settle on a visual style that works well.

Oh man it sure has been a long time since I've updated this thread. I've been working on the game almost non-stop (cept for last week spring break~) and my life's been getting pretty crazy lately with college and all. Plus most of the progress isn't really worth showing. Its mostly notes and scrapped webcharts and I just really haven't had the time to update every website I post the game's progress on. THINGS THAT I DID SINCE WHENEVER I LAST DID THE THING WITH THE POSTING: = I've worked out and mapped out what stories I want to use in the game = I've come up with a multitude of power-ups and items and how they'll be used = I've started designing levels, focusing mainly on the intro stage, tutorial stage, and level hub stage. = Made more concept art and I've solidified the beginning of the game (its a hospital) = Been doing immense research on IRL locations similar to those in-game = Been doing immense research into different aspects of game design like Metroid-vania game, classic platforming games, and horror games. = Resolved the issue of death being in the game. Death will not be in the game or any enemies except for The Searchlight. = Started a vlog to document the day by day progress of the game as well as my though processes and ideas. Sorry about the lack of updates. I'll post up the level designs I have later when I have the time. Heres some concept art for the beginning of the game; a hospital: EDIT: I NOW HAVE TIME TO UPLOAD STUFF; HUZZAH.

I'm pretty conflicted about this game. While you are very creative with how you use your gimmicks, I found the level design to be pretty confusing sometimes. I ended up going in a complete circle more than once with no clue where to go. I found enemy placement maddeningly cheap and I just didn't have as much fun as I thought I would with this. I've got a video of my first playthrough if that'll be more helpful than my silly lines of text:

Oh, sorry about that. Thanks for fixing that Also got a few more things to show off. New level: Sketches/Notes for level design logic: Teaching logic Story and level design logic Story division logic

Got some footage of a prototype game engine that I've crafted from scratch. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=UJzn86cK3Cc

As fun as it would be to do concept art for someone else's project again, I've got too much on my plate at the moment. What are you asking help on specifically? Just level ideas or are you looking for help with like concept artwork or level graphics?

The in-game Title screen. The actual title of the game will show up after a few minutes of gameplay. This bit is an important part of the game because this is the first time the player is introduced to the setting of the rest of the game. This is also where the player gets their main motivation at this point as well.

I thought it was pretty fun. Felt like it was pretty anti-climatic when I killed the boss in all of 10 seconds though. I felt like it was kinda slow though, I'll send you a video of my playthrough if it'll help you out since I think the best kind of information is watching the player play your game.

Drew up a new background Looks like the player may have found a clue?

Drat. Well I tried messing around with some things. This one better? Also a thought occured to me regarding gender. Animation is going to be playing a big part in determining the gender of a figure. If it seems a little masculine, yet moves more like how a woman might move, it'll throw the player off of any assumptions they had about the character's gender. I also doodled up a title screen:

New attempt at a gender neutral character. Last attempt was a bit too masculine, so I tried adding in so feminine bits. Based upon what people have told me (including my professor) the gender of this new design isn't really obvious which is pretty awesome. What do you guys think? Too Masculine? Too feminine?