Renzatic on 18/9/2015 at 16:37
Quote Posted by henke
No worries Renz, I was a bit unsure what to turn Tyre into as well. I kinda like what's there at the moment, but let's leave it on the backburner for now. I've got a few other, simpler, more managable ideas I'd like to make first.
You wanna help me out with mine? Pixel art is fun as hell to do, and I've even got a few programs and tuts I can throw your way to get your feet wet with. :D
This offer also applies to Nicked, since he's already got da skillz. This won't be anything big. Just something neat and kinda fun.
demagogue on 18/9/2015 at 17:11
Quote Posted by Al_B
If the boxes need to be applied in the same why then it probably wouldn't be too difficult to knock up a quick tool to do that (e.g. in python or similar)... certainly less than hours and hours of work.
Not sure I could isolate a set of rules to automate it.
I mean, my map is hand drawn -- well, the most famous hand drawn map in history; it's what makes the world special. I can make world objects if I overlay buildings & such with transparent/highlightable boxes, but every building is a different shape. And there are other designs so I can't just have a script box in lines.
Well, ok, now that you mention it, what might be a little more efficient would be getting into photoshop & doing a paint fill of the areas, maybe 5 colors to allow bordering buildings, then have a script that converts the fills (in chunks of whatever format is best, jpg, bmp, etc) into .obj objects (and usefully labels them, eg by a grid number) that I can import into Unity. Does that sound like something in the realm of possible?
Edit. Hmm, I wonder if that'd be any faster than just drawing the outlines directly into Lightwave though. Defining the boundaries is the main work one way or another.
nicked on 18/9/2015 at 20:20
Quote Posted by Renzatic
I remember that. It seems like you got a pretty good ways along. Why didn't you finish it?
Many reasons, but chiefly:
* The editor I made is really clunky and making levels is extremely tedious. Making the level editor better would also be super tedious.
* The fundamental concept kinda fights itself - the gameplay is half about the awkwardness of being in a wheelchair and movement puzzles that would be easy if you had legs, and the other half is about exploring a mysterious alien world and uncovering secret nooks. So it's like a control scheme suited to linear set-piece "puzzle" levels, in a world that would suit running, jumping, flying etc. Hard to explain in so many words, but it just meant the basic gameplay was really hard to make fun.
* The size of the world as envisaged. The number of levels left to make for the original vision is about 80%. That is years and years of work.
I still think the idea of a game about a guy in a wheelchair is a good one, but would probably suit a very different style of game, like a survival horror. And if you take the wheelchair aspect out, there's no USP and it's basically sub-par Metroid.
If people are interested I can probably dig out whatever the last build I knocked up for it was.
Yakoob on 19/9/2015 at 22:52
@nicked - aww I remember that! The premise was pretty funny, I could've seen it getting some good recognition on that alone. Bummer you gave it up :/
Quote:
The editor I made is really clunky and making levels is extremely tedious. Making the level editor better would also be super tedious.
there's a bunch of 3rd party tilemapping programs, why not use that and write a simple importer? I've done that before, its not too hard. If its in Unity I also can give you a bunch of tilemapping tools for like $10-50, well worth the price.
Quote Posted by Renzatic
And Henke, I'd love to start it again, but I've come to realize one thing. My skill set? It's all over the place. I want to make something, but I always end up going way overambitious...
Maybe that's why working with Henke would be a good idea? It would help you "scope down" onto a tangible project and henke could keep your ambitions in check. He's already finished one game so clearly knows how to do that. Plus, working with someone is MUCH more motivating than working by yourself when you hit those roadblock
Quote:
I'd like to work on my french revolution sim, but I'm at the point where I have to draw boxes around several thousand world items, and it's hard to get rolling on something so tedious.
So it's creating colliders for the houses from the single image map? if so, ouch, I've done super tedious work like that, take it in chunks and alternate with other "fun tasks". Or have a good TV show playing in the background.
Considering simple collision spheres so you can just click on each house, maybe tweak the radius slightly after, and then convert the sphere into a bounding box on the fly.
nicked on 20/9/2015 at 13:16
OK, I zipped up a playable version of Wheelbound (obviously very unfinished):
(
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_UhLOkH7SZTaEFJLXdlbThNc00/view?usp=sharing) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_UhLOkH7SZTaEFJLXdlbThNc00/view?usp=sharing
A few notes:
* To install, just unzip everything into a fresh folder. Then run WheelboundALPHA.exe.
* The .arr files are levels. The .ini contains all the text and settings. Don't mess with them unless you want to break stuff.
* You can play with keyboard or 360 controller. Control schemes can be viewed/edited from the main menu. Some controls may not work great with a 360 pad.
* There are no "Challenge Levels", "Accomplishments" or "Bonus Content". These menu options don't work.
* Press F2 at any time to restart the application.
* There are some bits that may break if you start a new game in a slot that already has a save. If you want to do this, you're better off deleting save.arr from your install folder.
* The Debug button on the menu is only of use if you have coordinates. Which you don't.
* New Game, Save and Load functionality should be 100% working for all three slots.
* There is a map (press M or scroll to it from the Pause Menu). It shows one square per screen, so it's not necessarily that helpful.
* You can break the game easily on elevators, because you can get the chair stuck to walls and the elevator will just stick. You'll need to reload if that happens. Try to stay in the middle of elevators to avoid this.
* Resume, Map, Upgrades and Quit all work from the Pause Menu. Options and Load Game do not.
* There are a few graphical glitches, such as the player's arms continuing to animate after they have died.
* The game is only complete up until partway through the jungle world. If you have collected the tyre upgrade that lets you pass spikes, then you have finished everything playable. You can bypass spikes after this in a couple of places and end up loading a level that doesn't exist and falling into the sky.
* The game has not been balanced for difficulty, so there are some stupid hard bits. If you beat the first boss, you get a gold star.
* There should be hidden collectibles, but they don't seem to be working. If you find a dead end that seems like it should contain a secret, just pat yourself on the back and pretend you got something.
* There are some debug keys that work:
You can debug all the upgrades. Warning, this will break the intended flow, and some of them don't work right. There may be other bugs if you do this. To unlock each of them individually, just press the number keys 1 through 0.
To unlock everything, press L. If you save after debugging the upgrades, these will be saved too, so don't do it unless you're happy to break your save.
You can kill the player by pressing K. Use this if you get stuck somewhere.
henke on 20/9/2015 at 15:37
Thoughts on Wheelbound:
-it starts off very good. It's scary and presents a self-evident goal right away. The guy standing nearby kinda undercuts the tension. While it's probably a good idea to have a character like that to keep the game from getting too dark, it'd probably be a good idea to introduce him later so as not to undercut the drama of the opening. Also I'd wait a bit with presenting the player with too much info and lore (the stuff about the machine. Let them just stumble around a bit first). Maybe make the opening bit last longer instead, and wait with introducing elements like the blowing wind. There is just
too much stuff in that first screen.
-I like the wheelchair. I though it'd be a more dull experience just wheeling around but giving the thing actual momentum makes navigating the environment more fun, and the fact you can't make it up all the inclines without building some speed gives you a greater sense of vulnerability. No fall damage might seem silly from a realism standpoint, but from a gameplay standpoint I think you made the right choice in not including it.
-a small note, but I'd like it if the elevator buttons were all at the edge of the elevator instead of the middle. Making them just a tiny bit difficult to use makes you feel more hindered by your predicament, and it's also simply more fun to flip that switch since it's a bit more challenging to reach it.
-favourite part so far: the swinging platforms! Yay, physics! :D
-the story picks up and gets more clear when you start reading about Weissman experimenting on himself. Before that it was a bit muddled and I wasn't really following it.
-that part with the fires on the downward steps is incredibly hard. You should at least make all the flames in that section have the same intervals in their blasts.
-was that thing in the ceiling with the tentacles the first boss? Also,
that was Weissman, right? That was a good bossfight! :thumb: I enjoyed that one a lot. Had to retry it maybe 4 times. Just challenging and tricky enough.
-great job on the animations, especially the death animations are horrific.
-got the tyre threads and soon after that fell off an edge that seemingly went nowhere. Guess that's it.
nicked, this is good stuff! :thumb: If you don't have the energy to make a game that tells the whole tale of the golden machine, I'd at least rearrange the stuff in level 1 a bit and release it as a short story. Maybe make it be a story about a wheelchair bound scientist trying to figure out what happened to his old collegue Weissman, and have it end after the boss fight. Then if you get enough good feedback on that you might wanna make a sequel, which could start with the introduction of the golden machine and the jungle level.
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Maybe that's why working with Henke would be a good idea? [...] He's already finished one game so clearly knows how to do that.
That's kind of you to say. :) But as Renz and Judith have had to experience I do sometimes pull people into things I don't end up finishing. In the future I need to get my games to the beta stage before inviting anyone to make assets for me, so I at least have something I know how to finish.
demagogue on 20/9/2015 at 18:12
Quote Posted by Yakoob
So it's creating colliders for the houses from the single image map?
...
Considering simple collision spheres so you can just click on each house, maybe tweak the radius slightly after, and then convert the sphere into a bounding box on the fly.
Yes, pretty much that, and to click on and highlight houses. Another part overdraws the background, giving the credible illusion of being 'behind' it. (Surprised more games don't use 2.5D on handdrawn maps actually. It's a cool aesthetic.) Only slow thing is LightWave makes it a pain to drag points around.
I take your advice to basically mean put in some place holders and get on with the game, then fix as I go. I'll take it into consideration.
The other problem is just having other projects I want to do too.
nicked on 28/9/2015 at 12:16
Quote Posted by henke
Thoughts on Wheelbound:
You've inspired me to pick it up. With some downscaling of the original plan, and plenty of tedious bug fixing ahead. Whether or not I'll give it up again before long remains to be seen... :p
henke on 28/9/2015 at 14:50
Glad to hear it! :D
