jamesprimate on July 30, 2013, 01:04:11 AM:

AHHHH this actually helps me a lot right now haha

JLJac on July 30, 2013, 12:00:44 PM:

That means he's doing the lizard growls! :D

JLJac on August 04, 2013, 01:26:28 AM:

Update 156
The menu is more or less done now. I have also made a few new graphical assets and hunted down one or two level editor bugs.

JLJac on August 07, 2013, 09:12:34 PM:

Update 157
More stuff with the custom game framework. Made an option that gives you a spear every time you go down into a den.

Also James has started making lizard sounds! They're sounding very cool so far

JLJac on August 10, 2013, 10:44:35 AM:

Hm... made a new version of the typeface. Old above, new below.



What do you guys think?

JLJac on August 11, 2013, 02:27:07 AM:

For this I make the letters myself.

Hm... Why can't you all keep to one single oppinion, internet guys!? 
I agree though - there's some kind of graffitiesque quality to the old one that I'm missing in the new one. What do ya'll think about these?

JLJac on August 12, 2013, 01:20:37 AM:

 

Which one is best, objectively?

JLJac on August 12, 2013, 09:58:52 PM:

Thank you! I'll see if I can make the old one work better...

JLJac on August 13, 2013, 09:12:47 AM:

Update 158

Worked on the art, created a few new assets:


(Click for full size)

There's more than this image, but I think there should be something left for you guys when playing the thing as well

jamesprimate on August 14, 2013, 12:33:18 AM:

hnnnnnnnnnnnng so good. instant mood.

JLJac on August 15, 2013, 05:35:07 AM:

It makes it a little less flat. They might be better if a little bit more subtle though...

Hm... I like the idea of somehow showing a little of what the world is about, but I think straight up depiction is too blunt. I'll give it a thought. You're totally right that the "i" is too much like a "z".

Update 159
I'm putting the logo stuff on hold - instead I've for the first time started to seriously create the world. I'm making art and implementing it in the levels - a lot of fun but a rather slow process. I'll have some screen shots soon.

JLJac on August 17, 2013, 08:03:37 AM:

Update 160
I felt like doing something fun today, so I implemented sticking creatures to walls with spears. In the gif I pull the lizard into position with the mouse. The movement is jerky and the lizard looks chopped up, but needless to say there won't be any such behaviour  in the final game. It's just a convinient dev tool to be able to instantly move creatures around like that.


(When I look at this thing now I realize how horribly brutal it is  I don't exactly think of it that way, because to me it's all numbers and testing functionality. Don't worry though, the game won't play like this. It's not about cold-bloodedly placing helpless creatures in position for butchering - actually the real thing will rather have you at a disadvantage to the enemy.)

In the actual game there are very few situations where this happens, as it's not often a lizard is climbing next to a wall. But I like to have neat little details like this, even if they occur rarely. It gives the game another dimension of depth.

The spears can be wiggeled out, if the body they are stuck in moves around a lot. That means that a living lizard will sooner or later get free, and that a dead one can fall down if you jump on it/mess around with it enough.

jamesprimate on August 17, 2013, 01:11:09 PM:

        

JLJac on August 17, 2013, 11:14:28 PM:

Thank you all for flattering me with questions!

Well, that's actually one of my goals, in a way... Don't get me wrong, the game is not at all a "Spore" kind of thing where the goal is that you should be able to do everything. Rather the game has an extremely narrow scope - there are only three types of creatures and a rock and a spear for weaponry - but I've tried to make the interactions between those few objects as fleshed out as possible. So you can't do everything, because there are very few things, but you can do quite a lot with those few things.

Yes, and no. They are a limited resource - in custom mode there's usually only one per level that the players have to fight over, and in world mode they are even more precious as you will have to take a detour in order to get one. They don't wear out, but are still spent in a way. When you hit a lizard the spear is lodged in the lizard, and in order to retrieve it you'll have to get close to the lizard, which is extremely dangerous. If you hit a wall there's a risk it might get stuck. So basically, when you throw a spear there's no guarantee that you'll get it back.

Very little is done with traditional animation, almost everything is done by the computer. Track a few pages back here, and you'll see a little more about how I've animated stuff.

You only throw left or right, not up and down.

JLJac on August 19, 2013, 01:52:14 AM:

Yup, there's a little water dripping from the ceiling. It's difficult to include more effects though, becuase of the strange 2D/3D level image. I can't really draw something like a puddle on the level - as I'm restricted to draw everything between the foreground and the background it's impossible to draw anything that's aligned with a horizontal surface.

Update 161
A lot of work, but little to tell. Little visual details and so on beaing tweaked... Created a function for checking whether a custom game should end, so that in hopeless situations where you're captured by a lizard it just ends it rather than having you wait until you're carried to the lizard's den. If you're captured by a lizard but have a friend there to save you the game plays on until it's sure that all hope is gone.

JLJac on August 21, 2013, 12:11:08 AM:

Update 162
Added a few missing interactions between objects. It's fun to see how for every possible interaction the narratives get richer when we play. Quite often something unexpected happens, and we scream little stories at each other about what happened. I think that the decently smart pathfinding/AI that was such a time sink was also a good investment in a way, because it allows you to read a lot of personality into the enemies.

The game has become insanely difficult. Since custom mode is so easily available I've been using it for most of the testing, and balanced a lot of stuff for it. But there are big differences - in custom mode there are a lot of spears available, and when you die you can instantly restart. Single player has few spears, and when you die you have to start over from several levels back. I find myself unable to finish some of the missions in single player, and I'm the second best player in the world (after my 15 y/o cousin, who always beats me). I think the solution might be to add more spears to single player, which will make the game less of a sneaker and more of an action kind of thing. That will be a little change in direction, but I think the game will still be fun.

The only thing I'll need to think about is to not make the spears too abundant, I still want you to hold on to them a bit, and try to retrieve them from lizards etc. Hopefully there'll be a good balance to find.

JLJac on August 22, 2013, 11:36:13 AM:

Update 163
I made the red lizard spit. If you try to camp out somewhere high on the level it will hit you with a few sniper shots of black slime, and you'll fall down into its jaws. Just because shit wasn't insanely difficult enough.

jamesprimate on August 22, 2013, 01:30:54 PM:

OH GOD. i was just getting destroyed by those sticky tongue bastards too.

the recent build is gorgeous btw. those sunset levels are stunning and the active rain effect looks sooooo good

jamesprimate on August 22, 2013, 03:52:37 PM:

oh, there isnt one. Im just working on the audio so get to play with it while its in development

JLJac on August 22, 2013, 10:21:09 PM:

James, maybe you could take a look in your archives to see if you have anything suiting for a tounge shooting out? Or for a lump of mucus hitting a wall? For the latter I've been using your "egg splat" samples, they work wonderfully but have a bit too much echo perhaps.

Also, what do you think we should do about single player? Add more spears and make it more of an action game?