Recent Posts

61

Introductions / Re: I'm back.

« Last post by Gizgord on December 21, 2022, 10:45:47 PM »

Welcome back, brother. Happy to see an old user join us back.
Nowadays we're mostly hanging out on Discord
https://discord.gg/j8ZYQhQYhU

62

Introductions / I'm back.

« Last post by iplux on December 21, 2022, 12:47:08 AM »

Hi.

It's been a hot minute since I last logged in here, heck, some people even thought I died from a stroke or a heart attack.

Anyways, I'm Yann. I'm 14 years old, almost 15, and I'm a French resident.
I was kinda active on the forums in 2019, and I didn't consider myself "known" here until I saw a wiki article with my crap old game on it.

I'm planning on either remaking World's Chaos or just letting it in the dump and make other games.
But I'm back in the community, and I missed you guys.

63

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on December 15, 2022, 09:40:48 AM »

Another update, I'm getting very close to having the next demo ready - not much more to make. I know nobody has replied to my last 4-5 posts here (and a lot of that is because the forums are very slow). While I'd appreciate more feedback on my progress, this thread is really to track how much I'm getting done. After this one I'll probably take a break from PB for a day or two, been working on it constantly. So, new stuff made this week.


Challenge Zones: Spoiler

^^ This factory challenge is a longer one, since it unlocks a shortcut.






^^ This one's unique, where you have to look around this rail yard and its buildings for three keys to complete it.

Arenas and Bonuses: Spoiler

^^ More of the new "enemy arenas". There will be 15 of these, and an award for beating 10 of them.






^^ This bonus on a train is a fast moving auto-scroller, so you have to be quick and careful to grab those coins!

Thanks for having a look guys - not much more to go, them a new beta demo twice the size can be released

64

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on December 07, 2022, 09:59:37 AM »

Hello guys, another update here since I got more done than expected yesterday. The extension to the hard path is just about done now, with its four levels. First is a long fort, which I recorded a video of, posted below. The second level is the video in the previous post. And the last two, I'll just do some screenshot of the levels zoomed out.

This is the longest castle in the game yet. There's a finished rising lava section starting at 9:00





Fungus Tunnel, kind of an open maze one, with a few hidden gems (some literal) if you search it all.





This is the first bit of the hard path's train level, which is not only underground, but you start at the engine this time and have to work your way left, to the back. Made a custom layered background too, so those wood beams zoom by.

That train level is almost done, but I still have arenas, stores, challenges, and bonuses to make. Maybe 20 or so altogether, but those don't take nearly as long. Still planning the second big demo release before Christmas, making the demo twice as long, ending at the three paths' halfway point where they join up again. It'll have new content and quality fixes to the old levels and map areas too, so there will be plenty of new content out for this in a few weeks.

65

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on December 04, 2022, 09:23:52 AM »

Quick update with a video of one new level:

This is a level on the hard path, right after getting the double jump upgrade.

There's new music, and new sound effects for the checkpoint and extra life.

Also, new enemy - well, it's just a Stingbat that's on fire, and shoots fireballs, but still pretty dangerous!

Anyway, the hard path is coming along; these levels are just longer to build of course, but I'm still pretty on track to have a new demo out before the holidays.

66

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on December 02, 2022, 04:18:21 PM »

Small update, I just got the next four levels of my easy path finished, getting closer to the city area. I took some screenshots of their best sections, zoomed out:


NEW LEVELS: Spoiler

This path's fort is log style. It's just a bit more complicated than the first fort.



Outdoor town themed level, a deserted depot.



Third is a warehouse (with a "new" background I made, with layered girders), with a twisting path, but pretty standard run through. Not searching for keys in a maze like the previous two.



Last is the easy path's airship - a lot more forgiving than the airship in the current demo (on the hard path)

Thanks for taking a look!

I have a few more new mechanics to work out, and some old levels need an overhaul. Then I need to make five more levels - and a handful of challenges and bonuses - and that'll connect all three paths at the game's midpoint. Then I'll release the second demo, which'll be about twice the length of the current one. Probably be another week, but I'll post any relevant updates here.

67

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on November 26, 2022, 05:15:31 PM »

A couple new updates. First I'm making a new kind of extra level, which will add some content to the early parts of the game that will need to be replayed after the next update:


ENEMY ARENAS: Spoiler

These are "test centres" for all the enemies. I'm doing this instead of a bestiary, so the first room is a little lab with some info, and perhaps an NPC. Here's four of them:





Behind the black door is a short level full of just that enemy, and you have to defeat them all to complete that course.





The first one, for the common "Tarpy", is the easiest of course.







They'll get longer and more complicated, the more threatening the enemy is. The next demo coming out will have 15 different enemies, so there'll be 15 of these places scattered around the map. The final game should have 20-25 altogether, and I'm thinking the reward for beating them all will be upgrades to your attack power. Maybe one upgrade halfway through, and another (or like, a sword...) for all of them.

The world map is also finished now, with all the main levels placed, even though only about 35% of them are actually made. The game will be almost half finished for the next demo. So this map is subject to change of course, but have a look at the potentially finished map if you like:


FINISHED WORLD MAP: Spoiler

The halfway point in the game is the little house in the middle. The three paths can connect there if you've played them all up to that point, but branch off again into easy (the city), medium (snowy mountain), and hard (mines and lava caves). The the final "world" has you taking on a tower sequence to enter the walls, and a few fort levels in a row before the final stage - though there'll be a few surprises in their designs.





That's basically how the world and path structure is laid out, although these world might not be mentioned in game, as it plays like one big map. I calculated some totals too; the final game should have 51 main levels, and about 20+ each of optional challenge zones, arenas, and bonuses. That's a lot to complete, but the shortest possible path to the end should be just 22 levels. There'll be a few different ways to beat it (and therefore several endings).

But that's looking ahead, I have plenty to design in the meantime! Hopefully the next demo will be out before the holidays, lots of levels to make. Thanks for looking it over, and any advice is appreciated!

68

Completed Sandbox Levels / Borderless

« Last post by Gizgord on November 25, 2022, 04:49:23 PM »

"Many daredevils were claimed by this mysterious fortress.
Its magical properties cause adventurers to warp between two borders, making escape impossible.
Can you manage to do it?"

This sandbox is quite experimental. The main gimmick is screen-wrap, similar to what you saw in Mario Bros. arcades. Walk up to the right edge, you end up on the left edge. Based on that mechanic are simple puzzles and platforming challenges. The actual screen-wrapping is done with two repeatable command blocks, as they change player's X axis. Players have to be moved 16 pixels away from these command blocks, so there's a one-tile border to mask that effect. If anyone were to replicate the effect, I'd recommend using farther camera distances. Just so you have more to work with.
This isn't the most robust thing in the world. If you manage to jump above the ceiling while screen-wrapping, you'll be teleported to the top of that wall. It's pretty fun and figuring that out, I felt like a speedrunner. So I left most of those spots in, now it's up to you to figure them out. 
Ambience is an ominous silence, broken only by sounds of your footsteps and jumps. I was looking for a fitting music track, but no luck so far. There are no deadly obstacles in the level, your biggest enemy will prove to be patience.
The sandbox took about 5 hours to make. 2 hours were spent messing around with the block indicator sprite and footsteps CP, so it's more like 3,5 hours on a good day. I'm glad that I made it, it was fun. Hope you enjoy it 

Screenshots:
Spoiler

Playthrough:
Spoiler

https://youtu.be/5431euHhLNY

69

Introductions / Re: Oh...hi guys...it's been a minute

« Last post by CGM on November 21, 2022, 11:51:02 PM »

Hey, @Alley ! It's nice to see you again. It'd be nice if we could chat on steam or discord sometime soon, maybe. 
I'd rather not get into religious discussion here on the forums, I'd prefer to do that in a private conversation. I do have one comment to make on something you said, but we don't have to have a long argument about it.
I agree that by Platform Builder standards, ASM is an amazing game. But by indie game standards, ASM is just a cheap, horrible ripoff. Games like Spark the Electric Jester and Freedom Planet are hte kinds of games I'd want ASM to be as good as. But the thing is, ASM doesn't have anything that makes it truly unique or worth playing compared to those games, which I highly recommend you look into playing if you haven't. If ASM was to be finished, I'd want it to meet those standards. Spark and Freedom Planet both are high-quality retro games that are lots of fun and aren't buggy with amazing graphics and fun game mechanics, and ASM was the opposite of all of that.
I looked at a braindump I made of ideas of things to put into the game, and the one game mechanic that sounded pretty fun would be to have a paint machine that works like F.L.U.D.D from Super Mario Sunshine and have similar mechanics from Paper Mario Color Splash. It sounds like a fun idea, but I haven't been able to think of anything original and fun that could work. ASM was a very colorful game, I mean, just look at the logo. I even was going to have different things behave different based on color, but the system never was fully realized and it was a bit complicated. To me it being based on colors of paint could be a fun idea if I was to ever continue the game. If I had a solid idea of what the game mechanics were to be, and if it was fun, and I had a team of creative people to design levels and do some coding, I would make the game happen. But I don't have any of that, so ASM is cancelled for now. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in continuing the project. Also, I'd probably change the  project's name as The Adventures of Super Mike is a really dumb name.

I hope you have a good day, Allar.  God bless!

70

Works in Progress / Re: Spy Island - Demo V 1.2

« Last post by WidgetKitty on November 20, 2022, 07:26:42 PM »

Thanks for the lovely comment, @Alley - I'll answer it here, without the quote.

Yeah, for this game I drew over the original sprite sheets - the wasps took over the Tilbubs' spot. I saw this recommended here on the forums before I started, that replacing the enemies rather than the "Extras" make them behave better with commands and arrows? I'm not sure, it's just the route I took, and it works, lol!

Yup, no birds - I like bats and wasps more!

I actually did a lot of lurking here, reading old posts and update logs, before I dove into my game -  that and PB is similar to other programs I've tried, so I just got comfortable with it quick. But yeah, it really isn't that complicated under the hood so far - just basic commands.

There'll be  a lot of ending bonuses once the game is finished - such as a music test level, credits level, etc. All that will have to wait, but sorry that I didn't mention in game about the dead ends, and it being a beta demo - I only put it in the description. I'll be sure to add a note to the next beta demo.

Hah, well I can address both of those surprises at once. True, it's rare to see women in video game development, though we have been involved since the early days of arcades & Atari - just rare. As for me, I'm an only child in a family of mostly men who were mechanics and carpenters by day, and gamers by night. So watching games fascinated me since I was about 4-5, though I hardly got any good at them (really, I might just look good at my own game because I test levels constantly). I can beat easier platformers on Nintendo, but these days I prefer SIM & tycoon style stuff. Making games for me is more of a medium; it combines three of my biggest passions - art, music, and solving puzzles/challenges. So I became obsessed early on with making my own games too, because it seemed like every step would be fun. And I was right!

Anyway, I actually finished three more levels last night, completing the next section of the medium path that comes after the demo's dead end. I just felt like making this one before the easy path, and get my desert theme out of the way (the next part of the medium path ironically takes you through a snowy mountain, but that'll be far later, near final release).

So I played these four new levels (including "Cactus Crawl" that was posted above, though it's been altered) and uploaded it to YouTube. First is a long fortress with some upgrades, then after level 14 is a pyramid with a mini boss that kills me twice, and finally the second tank level. There's also more new enemies, music, and two new bosses.

It came out to almost half an hour long - perhaps I'm making my levels too big? But this is what I was envisioning! I want the final game to be 8-10 hours of gameplay, roughly. Here it is, if anyone wants to skim through and see the progress:

That was a stressful playthrough! It's supposed to be the second level of difficulty after all, it should be a bit tough. Well, I need some rest from this, let me know what you guys think!