Haaaaat

Don't try to decipher the title, it means nothing, it's just what was randomly on my mind just now. Something to do with my roommate. When will you get a new demo with a new area to play in? Not until 2010 unless I magically speed up production of this which is unlikely.

Game Changes
- Made a very minor change to the Kirby boss, you won't even notice it.
- The Castlevania boss has been made a little easier, he doesn't spam as harshly and when he rages around the room, he does so a little bit slower.
- A few more enemy spawns have been removed. (Not many though.) Mainly for gameplay flow purposes.
- There may be a few power ups added in some of the previous areas. This may happen throughout development till the final version.
- Possibly this release or the next, a new way to show if you have everything in an area will be used. Instead of hovering the mouse over the level icon to see, a little trophy icon will be displayed next to the level icon on the map itself. I'll probably be taking out the previous method completely which means you won't be able to see which type of items you are missing. I'll switch to this new method unless I get a lot of "No we like the current one." The upside to the new one is you can see at a glance where you have everything.














All the new spells and abilities you will get in the Mega Man zone are ready. The screenshot shows you what two of them look like, but I won't say what they do.

The 22nd Anniversary of a Cold

The title makes little sense, but so does getting sick and feeling dead this last weekend. Glad that's over.

Game Stuff
You would think that in celebration of Mega Man's 22nd Anniversary I would release an updated demo of the game considering the new content is the Mega Man area. Well guess what? I'm not releasing anything. Yeah I know sad face. :( Maybe a lack of planning, maybe a lack of being done with the area, and it could also be a lack of remembering it... probably all of these. So here's a screenshot instead.














Don't make assumptions that you will surely make anyway from the screenshot about the obvious changes in gameplay in this area. Also, pay no mind to the out of place blocks that you will surely notice. Before I end this brief message, I will add that yes, spikes do in fact result in the Game Over screen with a single touch.

Game Changes
-A Healing Post has been placed in the Dusty Ruins. One room before the boss cause I'm an ass.
-Very minor adjustments to a few bosses.
-Fixed up some grammar issues with the dialogue. On that note...

Dialogue
This will constantly be revised throughout the project. Consider this, all the story text for the entire first half of THFG was revised at least once. And the first few hours of the game revised (as well as select areas) roughly 3 times. The dialogue in a lot of cut-scenes for Distorted Travesty, I think anyway, is pretty bad. Before the final full release, expect a lot of the dialogue to be rewritten/edited.

Something that's a surprise to me, 2 people have asked if there will be a 4th unlockable difficulty setting. Is Hard not making you feel masochistic enough? There are no plans for a harder difficulty at this time, but who knows, some people get their wish. (I'll be making it like the Hard mode on THFG to where you can't wuss out and change the difficulty if this is made available to you.)

Edit: The post time is actually 2 hours later, blogger still thinks I'm in California. How cute.
2nd Edit: Fixed the time zone.

No, I Don't Sleep

It's true, I never sleep... except for when I do. Quick note to those that don't know, I'm back in Austin, Texas... have been for 2 weeks. And now on to non real life stuff.














Probably wondering what the black space on the left is... we'll just call it the dead zone. Anyway you guessed it, the Mega Man area is under construction. This shot is all I'm giving you. I'm sure it's familiar and yes there's a few changes, bite me, you will understand once you've seen it in game. (You're going to die here a lot.) You all know how a typical Mega Man game plays out so I don't have to explain that. I definitely won't be using 8 different levels, (or even 6 like the first Mega Man) that would just drag this section on too long. And with how evil I like to get, I don't think you want 8 levels + a wily stage or 2 of platforming mayhem. Expect at least 5 or 6 different areas in all though. Bosses and events will of course be a secret. Can't give away subplots, this will even feed into the main plot line as well. I definitely can't wait to unleash this upon you all. ^_^

I recently (3 days ago) saw that there is going to be a Mega Man 10. That's a half fail considering Mega Man X. o_O Even though I've been ranting on about Capcom milking Mega Man EVEN MORE, and making fun of the lame Sheep Man... seriously... Sheep Man, I almost want to make fun of that in Distorted Travesty, but I'll let it rest. Despite all my cynical remarks at the game, (would have been cool if they did a downloadable series, each one bumping up the bitrate, MM10 being 16-bit and so on) I'll still probably be lame enough to get it. $8-10 isn't that much. (Even if I beat MM9 within a few hours of downloading it) One other thing I noticed is a computer related level with cursors as enemies and all that jazz... ... ... I beat you to it Capcom, get off my territory. :P

Game Changes
I've cut back some of the enemy spawns in a few of the early areas. Up to Dreamland, there were just way too many in some areas. Areas after that I've already fixed up and by that time, you have enough base Spirit Recovery to blast through most group with spells.

Also... The Game. <3

A Little Updated Demo

The last release got a nasty crash error due to some file purging I was doing and I messed up. (Deleted something that was needed) Luckily this was found right away.

There are a few changes.
- You now build power when you Air Dash. As long as you don't hit the ground, you will build up power. There is a new skill in the Skill Submenu to speed this up.
- The spin animation is faster when doing the forward ground dash.
- Minor change on the aerial bounce effect, you float very momentarily with the bounce now.

I think that's it actually. I had to move again and was very busy, hence my disappearance and not much work being done on this.

Updated Demo Today

Yep, this should have everything fixed that you all reported to me. :) One thing you may notice is a significantly lower file size despite there being new content. Fixed up a lot of things.
Enjoy and remember:

If you want to continue from where you were with the last demo, unpack the .rar here and move your "GameDetails.ini" file to the new folder and BAM, there you go.

The side links have been updated.

Changes Coming Up

With both the game and real life. More so with real life most likely. No worries, it won't affect development of the game. It will, at most, have me disappearing for about 2-3 days, no big deal.

A Little Love
So many bugs have been found, not by me, but by you guys. Thank you again to everyone who has sent me bug reports, every bug found and fixed makes this a better game.

I also want to thank everyone who has reported and talked about their experience with the game. What you liked, what you disliked. It has helped incredibly and shapes the way the rest of the game pans out, not to mention the rebalancing of existing content.

And one more shout out to everyone who has been following this project since the beginning. The game wouldn't be the same without you. :) And to those of you who have even played it on multiple difficulties. Lots of love goes out to you guys that have played/attempted it on Hard.

Game Changes/Fixes
- Finally made it more distinguishable if you are choosing New Game or continuing from a Saved Game at the title screen.
- The first map of Distortion 1 has been split into 2 maps. The content is roughly the same with some minor edits for the seam where the 2 maps meet. This has killed the lag there completely.
- Earth Shift's casting time has been decreased by 25%. (This is the only change to spells and knockback this time, yay that means I'm finding a good balance for it all.)
- Fixed lag a bit overall even more. Realized I had over 100 sprites being preloaded in. >_<

A Change in Music
Actually it's not a change in what music I'm using. (Although some minor changes have been made.) I will be changing the way music is loaded into the game. This will speed up the loading time (when external resources are loaded in) and also kill off even more lag. (Probably quite a bit.) I will be testing this thoroughly before releasing a change like that though. Compatibility won't be issue or anything like that. I just don't want any crash bugs slipping in. Always looking for ways to make the system more efficient and I've found this. :)

New Levels
Well of course there will be new levels! The Hideout will be finished, along with the area after it. Which is quite a treat. Didn't do as much as I probably could have with the idea, but it will still be enjoyable. The best part is the boss, at least to me anyway. You'll die many times, but you'll die laughing as well. Slaix had his hand in the creation of this one. (I really wish I could've implemented that idea with the background that you had (I know you'll read this) <- parenthesis inside of parenthesis, I really wanted it in there.)

Next up would be those Megaman levels, which I know will be a blast. I won't spoil who I'm using since I've already spoiled when it's coming up in the game. I'll throw in a few of my own surprises at you of course.

Another level that some of you will enjoy and some will go "Noooooooooooooo WHY?!" is another optional level. And of course with my theme of making it brutal. It will actually be accessible after the Jungle level, so if you finished the demo, then you will have access to it right away upon the release of the next demo. It will probably be 3 maps instead of the usual 2, but they will be much smaller maps.

And a thing that I really should have been doing the whole time is marking the end of the demo WITHIN the demo itself! Wow, that should've been an obvious thing the whole time. When the next demo will be out I don't know quite yet, but I'll keep you all posted. RAWR and later for now.

Late Post is... nevermind

That joke is only funny for so long. Old jokes are ol... GAH, I keep doing it. Repetitive jokes are... NO!! Okay I'll stop. Been busy but not busy, but busy at the same time. Been enjoying it at my new home. But let's see, new game stuff...

Stuff on the Game
The Hideout area is done. Now I'm working on a few new systems and the next area which I will not reveal. Going to keep this one a surprise, it will be quite the humorous level though. It's the next Distortion level. The difficulty won't be too high for this one, but like I said, there will be plenty of laughs. You are all VERY familiar with what it is. In fact, every single person who reads this will have shared the experience with the theme this level has at some point in their lives... probably this exact moment... But I won't give anymore away.

Level Suggestion From You the Player
If you've been reading the comments from the previous post, then you know for sure now that there will indeed be a Megaman themed stage and it is coming up very close. I will keep as close to the Megaman style as much as possible. 1 hit kill spikes most notably, Megaman boss intro, and of course some sort of Megaman boss. Now I haven't gotten the tiles yet for this stage, and I haven't decided which Megaman stage to go with.

So now I ask all of you who read this, for input, which Megaman stage would you like me to use? I can use more than one too and split the stage into parts as well. The boss doesn't necessarily have to go with the stage, you guys can suggest a boss... or two as well.

I could possibly do a few (shorter) stages and have it set up a bit more like Megaman in that you have a choice of different levels to choose from. I'm taking suggestions for this section hasn't been set in stone yet. Leave your suggestion here, on the RRR thread (if that's where you came from) or email me.

thehappyfungame@yahoo.com

Also, I'll be making an extra level based on Megaman of course! This can use a completely different Megaman theme as well. This level will open up once the story related stage is completed.

California is pretty swe... oh right an update

The move went very smoothly, aside from a highway being blocked off and having to find an alternative route, so... yay! The area is awesome! Everything is close by and lively, it helps to live in the middle of the city and not out in the middle of nowhere. Hooray! Oh and the beach is awesome. There are lots of nice restaurants with surprisingly low prices around there too! Lots of things to see and do here!











The Game
Which by the way, you just lost! The game is coming along at a fair pace. A lot of new systems, so a lot of debugging this past week. Trying to make things efficient and lag free. And fixing up past areas that lag. (Distortion) Lowered the lag there a bit anyway.

Lots of new mechanics and level obstacles that will make many appearances in later levels.

There's finally music on the title screen. Very out of place music, but then again, when ISN'T something out of place with this game?

Not too much to say right now, I'll probably edit more into this later though. I want to thank everyone again for their comments and feedback, it helped me find a lot of bugs.

New Demo Before I Leave

Just a quick update, I've posted a new before I leave for California. It has a lot of fixes and some changes in response to the feedback I got. :)

The download links have both been updated! Thanks again for the feedback, it was a lot of help. Still a few issues need to be worked out, but this has a lot of fixes. And a new area too! Has the start of the newest area, you can play around in it a bit, but nothing too much there yet.
(I'm aware the keys hover over enemy health, I'll move that next time.) x_x

Enjoy! :)

Edit: Forgot to mention this, if you want to keep your previous data, move the GameDetails.ini file over to the new demo and you'll have everything you had before. (Thanks for the comment.) :)

What a Travesty

Horrible puns are... ... ... bad. horrible Just a heads up, there won't be a post new week due to me moving. Going to get settled in with new roommates, apartment, new area, etc. The area of California I'm moving to is very nice and about an hour walk from the beach! :D Never lived by a beach or even in California for that matter. Closest for me would be when I was in school in Phoenix, Arizona. The move is pretty exciting for me, going to be a nice change as I seriously need one. Been wanting to move out of Texas for a long time. Not that Texas sucks, it doesn't, but I personally don't like it here any longer. It's time to move on... with this post!













Various Changes
- Water Barrier now lasts 1 1/2 seconds longer. Approximate Duration: 8.5 seconds
This is the final change on Water Barrier.
- Zephyr nows lasts 1 second longer. Approximate Duration: 13 seconds
One more note with Zephyr, it actually behaved incorrectly and has now been fixed. You may not notice a difference, but it now affects other objects properly. No more sending enemies zooming off the screen with it.
- Earth Shift now lasts 3 seconds longer. Approximate Duration: 15 seconds
- An enemy's current life total is displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen when they are hit. It is displayed via percentage meter. This can be turned off from the options sub-menu.
- Resources loading into memory again after returning to the title screen has been fixed. No more memory wasting and sound loading errors.
- Various help boxes have been placed around the world in the form of what is called a "Binary Index". There are 2 types, one that gives hints/info about the game, the other is notes left behind by a mysterious character, which will give more insight on the story. The story related ones have distinct difference in appearance.
- New "Pointless Records" have been added, there is another page and 1 or 2 entries have been moved for consistency's sake.

Platforming Stuff
Some of you are going to love me and the others are going to hate me for what I've put in the game, or at least what one of the new areas I'm working on has in it.

Conveyor belts, these will add a lot of level design fun for me, as well as ways to screw you over. ^_^ They work with everything, you, your summoned rock, everything.

Some New Hurtful Enemy Types
This new area has some nifty yet potentially destructive enemies. One being a mechanical turtle that fires a laser from it's mouth. The screenshot above shows one. It may not look like much from what you see there, but this has infinite range until it hits a wall and is out in an instant. You must be out of it's way before it is fired. This will pose a nice threat on bridges and some platforming areas.
There's a few other nice ones, like spread missile launching mechanical turtles, laser sight scanner bots, scatter flame launching... well you'll see. Understand your spells and your dodging and you will be fine.

The new area isn't as densely populated with enemies and traps since backtracking through an area will come into play there. This will be the first of the dungeons that you are given a map for help. I noted on maps in a previous post, again, these work roughly like they do in Zelda. I've kept the map/compass system, I even used this in THFG. In this though, you can see which rooms you've been in and where game progress sensitive(GPS) points are. (Don't use that, it sucks.) Actually THFG had all that, except for noting where you've been. o_O

Other Game Stuff
Brutal Legend is released the day before I move. BLARG!! I've been looking forward to this game forever now. It's going to be the best thing since Psychonauts. It's okay, I played the demo and I will indeed be getting the game, I just need to wait a bit. It's not really a major concern of mine considering the obvious though. :P

On Time This Week

Actually got a decent amount done on the system itself. Lots of little fixes and tweaks to help things go smoother.

Stuff
Got the rest of the next area completed. Just getting through it isn't too hard, except for one choke area. Trying to get all the pickups requires some finesse though. The boss of the area I wouldn't say is ultra hard or anything, but it'll definitely have you on your toes. It uses a few new things that you haven't seen before. It'll definitely catch you off guard the first time.

Various signs have been placed around the game to serve as little reminders and for random fun.

So this post isn't really about my game, but rather about someone else's game that NEEDS to be mentioned.

Other Games
I took a little break this week and played some other games... well one in particular really.
A game by Daniel Remar called Iji. This link takes you to his site.

It was also made in Game Maker and is very well done. I highly recommend playing this. I've actually played through it twice. The game is level based and linear like a lot of older games. But what you do throughout the game determines how the ending and various things play out in the game. There are consequences for your actions. I actually felt bad about those I killed throughout the game.

You play as a girl named Iji, who wakes up to find that her home (Earth) has been taken by an alien race known as the Tasen. She has been given a protective shield through nanotechnology and must find the Tasen leaders in hopes that she can convince them to leave Earth. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't say anything else in that regard.

The game is an action-shooter. Eh... you know what, just click the link I provided, it tells you everything there. The game even has a wikipedia page. Definitely made it to the top of my favorite independent games.

Thought I forgot?

Nah, I didn't forget. Busy days are just busy... moving preparations and all that. Two more weeks and I'll be moving, pretty exciting! Almost everything is done for the move though, yay! Now onto the update.












Various Changes
- The Cheese Garden level does not show when you have all the pickups, but they're in plain sight, you don't need the game to tell you for that level. :P (It's been fixed of course.)
- Knockback and flinch time have been reduced again... this time drastically. You will definitely notice a difference in the air. With Air Dashing, you can even save yourself from those dreaded bottomless pits.
For those that finished the new demo:
- You will have noticed that "Flood" acts awkwardly when you use it. Silly mistake on my part. (Fixed, and luckily it's at the end of the demo and not used for the game yet.)
- I changed "Blast Off" a bit. It's casting time is considerably shorter, but there is a cool-down for using it now. The cooldown is shown in mmo style next to your health. (Same as status changes, both good and bad.) This also kills off a lot of easily broken sections in the game. (However, the cool-down time for this is 3 seconds, if someone was able to keep their air time up that long, they could theoretically go as high as they wanted.) :P

Something some of you will find awesome:
The arrow keys are now supported everywhere. Movement, menus, everything. They can't be reconfigured, they just work on top of the normal configurable WASD.

Stuff
Yeah, I haven't really been doing much on DT this last week... for obvious reasons. So not really much of an update this time. :( Late AND short. :P

Ha, I remembered

Time for another weekly update. Well things have been progressing nicely for the game this week. Coming up in mid October, I might be skipping a week or two as I'll be moving. Yep, going to be moving to California, where in California I will not say, but I will be moving. Its pretty much official at this point.












Keys
So you may have noticed that you can get keys and they are displayed Zelda style on screen and all that. You may be wondering why even bother? They haven't played much of a part for the game. Oh they will, I'm merely marking that a "key -> locked door" system is in place. There will be a very Zelda like dungeon coming up. I've even got a Zelda style map system made. This was actually made before Distorted Travesty was really started. The system is already coded in the game, it's just laying dormant for now. I would be very easy for me to lay out a map for every area, but that would be pretty useless as so far every area is very straight forward. Any area that isn't will use this map system though, and it even lets you know what rooms have items.

Item Locator
The Happy Fun Game had an item locator. DT will have the same and it will work the same as it did in THFG. When you enter a room, you will hear a chime if there is still a collectible or chest you have not found. It will be a mid to late game item.

Status Ailments
Another thing you may have noticed is an item that will make you recover from all status ailments. "What status ailments" you say? They will start to make an appearance, some enemies and traps will be able to inflict various nastiness on you other than damage. All of them are temporary and you will be able to see how long their effects last on screen.
These include, but not limited to:
Poison: Life drain.
Element Lock: Self explanatory.
Spirit & Element Drain.
Cripple: Yes, you can be crippled too.
Blind effect: Oh if only you knew the horrors that this will cause. (Near sighted would be a better term for it, but let's stick to terms we all understand easier.) :P

Other Stuff
I hope you all saw that TellTale Games was giving away the first chapter of Monkey Island for free. O_O I caught it at the last minute, my roommate told me about it. Yay!

New Demo Released Today

Guess what?
No really, guess what?
Yep, you guessed it! NEW DEMO!!

The link on the side has been updated, but if you can't find it. It's right here too.
Click me for the new Demo.
Or click me...

Just a note, remember if you played the previous demo and don't want to start over, be sure to NOT delete the "GameDetails.ini" file. If anything, just unpack this new version and move that ini over. All your progress will be here.

No post this week

That's right, no post this week...
And with that said, we'll get into this week's post.














Okay, so I could technically release the demo now... but I'm not. I want to fine tune something first, I have tomorrow free so I'll probably spend a good deal of time working with this. ^_^ I could have honestly had this demo done 2 weeks ago, but I just haven't been able to focus well lately. I sit down to try and create, but I can't get my mind into it. It's not a lack of creativity or inspiration, nor a lack of will to do so, just can't seem to focus lately. Fear not, I won't quit this, just a rough time and lots of major decisions coming up. (Could be moving... far away.) Game design hasn't been able to get my mind off it. Anyway I'll close this tag now. [/emo] On to the update.

New Demo soonerish
You: "STFU Joe, you've been saying new demo for over a week now!"
Me: "I'm sorry, I just fail, look at the title of this section."
You: "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!"
Me: *cuts*

So really really soon... even though I've been saying that for awhile. XD HEY, I have a screenshot for you!
For those of you from RRR, you'll see a post update first before anywhere else when this new demo is released... this week! O_O omg, yeah, I'll make it happen... like I said, it's done, but it isn't. XD

New Techniques & Spells
You'll be getting a new set of spells at the end of the demo. Sorry I didn't make a place for them to be used, you do get a new Physical Technique mid way through though. It's a close range attack that does very high damage. Another nice side to it is it gets imbued with the active element and also does more damage the higher your hit combo is, so it can do a lot of damage. Uses quite a bit of Spirit Energy so multi-casting it can get costly, but a good way to get rid of something quick.
The new spells give you a lot more variety as far as offensive spells go. They cost a decent amount, but with creative use, can really rough things up. Some of them give a boost to mobility which give some nice game breaking possibilities.

Random Game Stuff
I got a chance to check out Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. I loved Odin Sphere for PS2, the game was repetitive, but the story telling was spot on and dramatic. The ending chapter was nicely done as well. I won't spoil it. Another thing was the art style and way it was executed, it was awesome to look at with all it's subtle animations. Which is what really sold me on it, not the visuals itself, but the way the colors and subtle animations were used.
Muramasa does the same with using that awesome art style. If you're into 2D hack/slash games, I recommend Muramasa, gameplay is better than Odin Sphere and not nearly as repetitive, but there is just one problem with the game... now I use the Gamecube controller set up. I don't know if the others provide a way to escape this, (I'll see if there's a control set up next time too) but "Up" is the jump button! WHY?! Arg! I don't like having to control my character's movement and jump with the same stick/button/hand. It's... annoying. I mean, I've semi/sorta gotten used to it, but still... *sigh* Hold on while I go *cut* myself again. This post is full of emo, I better end it now. I still say try the game out, but that one thing...

Yes, I did remember to do another post ^_^

Changes & Tweaks
Okay, we're getting ever closer to that next demo release. Busy weeks are busy though. x_x But anyway, a few more changes.

- You don't have as much knockback as before when taking damage. (I'm still tweaking this too, I may knock it down a bit more from the current change.)
- On that subject, you have a shorter flinch time. This mainly takes effect when you take damage in the air since you recover when you hit the ground anyway. For those that have the faster flinch recovery skill, you will still benefit from the skill and will definitely notice a way shorter flinch time.
- The skill "Flame Pillar" has a slightly higher spirit and element cost. (The damage output for this is quite insane.)
- The element cost of all the first elemental spells has been lowered slightly.
- The boss fight in Vegetable Garden has been made easier. He has a longer recovery time on his attacks and his Physical Power has been lowered slightly. (I think I said this once already.)
- The first boss now has a hit stun. Well all the bosses have one, I just realized the first didn't. Note: Bosses have a different kind of hit stun than normal enemies, but it's there.












Extra/Optional Level
A new one may not be in this demo, however if it is, note that I was frustrated this week so a lot of that frustration went into it. I hope you like losing over and over. That's right, I'm taking out my frustrations on you, the player. Enjoy.~ <3 (Remember, it's only optional) ^_^

Also the end boss of this demo will give you a run for your money. It is the first one to make use of every element as well as a constantly changing elemental weakness and Cripple Point. It has a Physical and Spirit Defense way off the chart compared to what you have faced, but don't fret, you can do it! Observation is the key to beating this one.

First Weekly Update

Not much to actually talk about for this week. Things are coming along though, and a new demo is definitely within sight. Possibly within 2 weeks!

I do have 2 screen shots to show!






















You can click on the images to make them bigger. That's what she said... wait, that doesn't even make sense.




You know... adding in screen shots to this blog is kinda clunky. Anyway, I will have more to say next week... or maybe after work tonight. o_O

Random Game Stuff

I was watching my roommate play Majora's Mask on the virtual console and I suddenly had memories of when I first played that game. While not as great as Ocarina of Time, a certain part of the game always stuck with me.

It was that very first 3 days without the Ocarina. I remember how hectic those first 3 days felt. Here I was, stuck in an unfamiliar world without friends, stuck in a Deku Shrub's body, I have no clue what's going on and the only person who seems to be able to help me is a nut job mask salesman. On top of this, in 3 days this giant moon is going to crash right in the middle of this town that I can't leave because some asshole guards says its too dangerous for a lonely shrub to leave. "FML" says Link.

Apparently I needed to get on top of the clock tower, which only opens up on the night of some festival, which coincidentally happens on the same night the moon is going to hit the town. (no pun intended) Now when the tasks to actually get up there are put into perspective, its all incredibly simple, but remember, we don't know that. All we know is that we're alone, we don't know how to get up there and this moon is going to end the world. I remember the sense of dread that the time limit placed on me. Every moment counted, I frantically ran about trying to find someone or some clue that could help me get up there. A flying deku thingy will let me up there, sweet! But he wants a Moon Tear? wtf is a Moon Tear and how do I get one? Okay, go find a missing fairy, got that. Go find these 5 hiding kids... THE MOON IS GOING TO HIT IN LESS THAN 48 HOURS, WTF!! I just want to ask this guy in your hideout about a Moon Tear, stop hiding you little fucks! I'm sure you remember when a new day starts and it does that boom sound and shows you -24 hours remain- . I saw that when I had one kid left to find. Needless to say, I just wanted to find this damn kid. I find him finally, I've only got like 17 hours left. Damn it! Okay, I run in the hideout, piss off Skulltulas! Okay, look through this telescope... NO, give me the Moon Tear you old fart, we only have 12 hours left to live! I start to make my way to the flying deku thingy when just then, the doors to the clock tower open and the festival starts. Everything has this red tint, the music has this low creepy (and somewhat sad) tone to it and maybe... 2 people are out. Everyone is gone. The clock has disappeared and been replaced with a timer. I have less than 6 minutes left to get to the Skull Kid. I get the Moon Tear, and bring it to the flying deku thingy. Yay, he moved! I fly up to the clock tower and run to the top. I get bombarded with these 4 locations and bringing something here. Dude, we have 5 minutes left to live, wtf are you talking about. Now this section is actually very easy, the Skull Kid doesn't actually do anything here, but again, we don't know that, we're freaking out. 5 minutes to get my Ocarina back? wtf do I do!? Oh... just hit him with a bubble. I play the Song of Time and poof, I've suddenly gone back 3 days.

This whole first scenario was amazingly well done and a great introduction to the game. I liked the time limit the game had. It never got in the way even when playing through dungeons. It did give that sense that you needed to be quick. But seriously, if you slow down time, that's roughly 2 1/2 hours you have to complete a dungeon, which is more than enough.

Weekly Updates Now!!

Okay, time for something a little different... I'll be making a post here every weekend! No set time for them, just know that they will be on weekends. The posts will be various news about the game's progress, fun little facts, and anything else I can think of, and maybe a screenshot! And if you're feeling like it, leave a comment about anything your heart desires at the time. Comments, suggestions, flames, whatever you want to throw at me. (As long as it isn't a spear.) O_O The posts will have sections so you know where to find the info you want and can skip the stuff you don't want to read. :P

Distorted Travesty Stuff

Sound Effects
In the process of adding in more sound effects... finally! You've probably noticed a lack of sounds on many things. If you played The Happy Fun Game, you know how I like to use abuse sound. Probably going to add in an option to turn sound effects off, it will be separate from music of course.

Teleport
A very much needed ability will be given after the Dusty Ruins. A teleport spell! It will teleport you to the World Map... Actually it probably won't be a spell, but just something you can do from the menu. It would be rather tedious to go to the spell menu, equip the spell, close the menu, use the spell, open the menu again and switch your other spell back in. o_O It'll probably (most likely) be a hot-key that can be used anytime the menu is open. A note about the teleport. It will be disabled at certain points. Boss fights, scenarios where you are trapped, etc. I'm actually contemplating on whether I should give it to the player just after Distortion. If I do, no worries about those who are past that point as it will automatically give it to you if you are past that point.

Saving Fact
On that note: Save data is and will always be able to be transferred from one demo version to another. This wouldn't be possible had I stayed with GM's built-in saving function, it's pretty crummy.
Fun fact: I didn't want to get rid of the option of saving anywhere. But with this new way of handling save data, I couldn't have it from the menu, it would've caused some pretty nasty issues. The save room gets rid of any issue of map loading errors and random mishaps and also keeps the player from saving after every single obstacle in rooms. (Remember the option "Load from Last Save"?) Again though, I didn't want to get rid of being able to save anywhere, which is why you'll generally find a save door at the beginning of every room.

Check Points
Another thing I might add, but I'm leaning towards no on this, is check points in levels. Meaning that if you get to that point, you can return to that spot if you say... returned to the world map. If I do decide to do this, I'm sure you'll know the checkpoints when you see them. They'll be a familiar sight. :P

Stuff
Wow, that was a real update and didn't include anything from my personal life. Btw my roommate has an old fat cat that is funny to watch when she walks around... opps.

Whoa, an update

Wow, look at this, an update! Well I'm back from my summer job, (For 2 weeks now.) which was amazing I must add. Being a camp counselor is a pretty amazing job. Lots of work, but very rewarding, plus the kids are awesome. But anyway, you're not here for back-story...

A new demo may be released soonish, depending on how much time I get to work on it.

Some minor/major things changed/fixed.
- The "Load From Last Save" option now works in the Game Over menu.
- Hitting "Esc" doesn't immediately close the game now. You will have a prompt message.
- Holding up on the Save Point will not result in it multi-saving.
- Getting a Game Over has a somewhat different effect. (No changes to functionality, just a visual makeover.)
- The low health warning on screen is a little different. (Can still be turned off.)
- The higher your hit combo, the more damage your physical attacks deal. (It gradually builds.)
- Various minor makeover things that you probably won't notice. XD (Moved a few enemy spawn points by a few pixels here and there.)

Air Dashing
Some time during the game, you will gain the ability to Air Dash. To execute, hold up or down when pressing jump in the air. It takes up 1 Dash Point and can only be used once till you hit the ground again, however, if you hit an enemy while airborne, you can Air Dash again, allowing for virtually unlimited dashing without touching the ground.

Other Stuff
As always, new enemies, bosses, levels, and more! New characters introduced in a new city which will add more to the story.

Secret Levels & More Updates

Secret Levels
Everyone likes secret levels and what platformer would be complete without them? Distorted Travesty is no different. Extra/Secret levels will be placed around the world. The first will open up automatically after the completion of the Old Castle level.

These levels are completely optional for progress, but completing them will give you extra goodies. On that completion note, the extra level's themes will be chaos. Their difficulty will be much higher than the surrounding areas.

Yeah I know, lame update. Bite me! :P Oh wait, I edited more into this post, not as lame, still lame, but not QUITE as lame... you can still bite me as well.

Lag Issue Fixed
Yep, if you were experiencing some lag in the bigger maps, namely the first area of the Diluted Mansion and the first area of Distortion, you shouldn't anymore. The game now runs much faster due to a new check being done before drawing sprites to the screen. (Actually the issue was sprites being drawn while offscreen.)

Change Screen Size While In Windowed Mode
I've had a some feedback from Vista users (and seen it) that fullscreen looks really bad, but most of the Vista users are using screen resolutions of like 1600x1200 and higher, so the game window is very small. Sucks for both ends. I sympathize and have found a fix for this. Anytime while playing, (excluding the title screen) you can press F3 and toggle the window size between 1x/2x mode. It just doubles the pixel size without flipping it out. (Game Maker typically blurs pixels when going full screen, but for some reason in Vista, it looks really jaggy and nasty.) Hope this little add-on helps. You'll see it in the next demo release.

Distorted News and Updates

Progress is slow yet fast... yet slow.

Story

Good news for those who want some story to guide them. The next demo section will give just that... A purpose for it all. You'll find out a bit about The Darkness and what is actually going on, which will give some much needed direction for the seemingly aimless travels Jerry and Jeremy have been engaging in.

Distortion

You will be shown the Distortion world which is sure to bring about some laughs in both it's presentation and the fact that a lot of people will fall for the many traps within. Some of the enemies there will do more than trying to damage you. You'll just have to wait and see the kind of awkward traps that lie waiting for you. (Small clue to one of them, I hope you don't mind playing in either windowed mode or fullscreen when the game decides. Just don't get close to that particular attack. :P ) If you understand how to use the spells and abilities to get yourself around easier, then a plethora of goodies lay waiting for you to take, and can also create huge shortcuts. Distortion is a very open area and allows the game's momentum based movement to really shine.

New Ability

A new ability will be obtained just before entering this area called "Wave of Awesome". It is actually 4 attacks in 1. They are executed in the same way special attacks in Smash Bros. are done. They are as follows: (btw, they are all Megaman X attacks)
Neutral: Charge Shot
Down: Spin Wheel
Forward: Magnet Mine
Up: Boomerang Cutter
They behave closely to how they originally were, but obviously with some modifications. Each do the same amount of damage and cost the same. While the base power is low, it's cost is incredibly low, and if used right, you can actually gain back more Spirit Energy from using it than the cost.

Ability Change

The Fireball spell's summoning position has been raised up slightly. It will now fly over 1 tile high from a standing position, it was bumping against them before and it was kinda meh. Which also means it may fly over shorter enemies. Overall, it's better like this. (Hey I only raised it up by literally 2 pixels.) Btw, did you notice that it is the fireball Dracula from Castlevania uses?

Experience/Level Change

The required experience to level up has been reduced SIGNIFICANTLY. By roughly 40% actually. The curve was a bit ridiculous before.

New Item Pickup

A new pickup type has been added. It will increase your max Spirit/Elemental Energy by a little. Since your elemental energy can be increased now, it's stat parameter can be monitored in your menu. All the elemental Energies are counted together, so it will show them all as one. Like the other pickups, it will be shown if you have obtained them all from an area on the map.

Random Small Game Elements

This is all about little things in the game that can help you... or something.

Aerial Bounce
This is triggered by successfully hitting an enemy with your physical attack while having downward momentum in the air. It will cause you to stay air-borne for a little longer.

Week-Day Experience Bonus
Since weekends rock ass, you get a 1% experience bonus on Saturdays and Sundays. However, Mondays suck so you get a 1% experience penalty on those days.

Time sensitive Experience Changes
Due to a glitch in the game world, at 4:04am, you will not gain experience, but only during that minute.

Awesome Experience Bonus
The more Awesome Points you have, the more experience you will get from enemies. You may start to notice a small boost after some time.

Momentum Boosts with Techs/Spells
Some Techs and Spells can give erratic movement changes. Example: Mental Insurrection will bounce you in the air much like the Aerial Bounce effect.

Kill Chain Internetz Boost
When you get higher Kill Chains, enemies will have a higher chance at dropping bigger amounts of Internetz.

Boost Spirit/Elemental Energy Recovery
Successfully hitting your enemy with any attack will give a slight one time boost to your Energies. However, having a high hit combo will significantly boost your Energy Recovery. High Kill Chains and Killing Sprees also give nice one time boosts to your Energies.

Defense Boosts
When an element is active, you get a 10% resist bonus to that element type. This stacks with any skill resists and support magic. Water Barrier also has the added benefit of giving a 10% defense bonus while it's active.

Jump Attack Invincibility
When you start to see an afterimage during a Jump Attack, you are invulnerable to all enemy attacks during the rest of the Jump Attack. Additionally, the longer the jump occurred, the longer the invulnerability lasts after the jump.

Setting & Plot

Setting

The settings are places you've seen in other games like Mario, Kirby, etc. Each keep many aspects that were used in their original settings. While the stages start out normal, the "Distortion" will soon start to take effect and the worlds and aspects of these worlds will collide. Jerry will earn new spells and abilities to traverse these areas in his effort. I'll let you find out for yourself just what's in store.























Plot

Jerry and Jeremy's goal in life has never been clear. As a team of expert gamers/hackers/bad ass people, they are unsure of where they are going with their lives. However an unexplainable event at the corporate office of the IEF flip their whole world upside down.

They now find themselves stuck in the very worlds they've come to love over the years...The many video game worlds they have played. With Jerry stuck on a 2D plane and Jeremy stuck on the fourth wall, they must now find a way out of this world and back to their own. (In hopes of catching the new episode of the best series ever.) Their efforts are thwarted when they find that the worlds have collided due to the "Distortion" a mysterious group of beings called "The Darkness" have created. They soon find out the insane truth of it all and the only way to set things right is to gather the 7 Magical Flavored Muffins scattered through the world.

Why Muffins? To learn more about what makes Muffins amazing, click here to see the wikipedia article on Muffins. They're so awesome, the article even has a semi-protection on it!

First Travesty

What is this you ask? Distorted Travesty is an action platformer being created in Game Maker. The next few paragraphs will explain this in more detail.




Characters

Jerry
The character you control. He's a hardcore gamer who likes to kick ass. Short tempered and does whatever he feels like regardless of the consequences. Jerry's gaming skills have far surpassed everyone else in the world, and while he doesn't typically flaunt this "natural ability" of his, he knows he kicks ass. Because of this amazing ability, he can transfer this to the real world. He also has the ability to learn new random things on the spot.

Jeremy
Jerry's life-long best friend, who is also a gamer. You control his identifier ability. He likes to hack and play jokes on people and doesn't like corporate entities. During the course of the game, he sits on the 4th wall and assists you using his laptop and awesome knowledge. He will also often use word play, using phonetic mix-ups and clever rhetorical excursions.

The Darkness
A mysterious entity who's motives are unknown. It can cause a Phase Distortion which is also unknown. Everything about it is unknown, even to the creators of it. The only thing that is known about it is that it's unknown. It does however seem to have a corporate aura about it which is quite unnerving to those around it.

Hexor
He seems to be in league with the unknown entity. Like Jeremy, he has access to hack the world from his laptop. His skills seem to be both inferior and superior to Jeremy's hacking skills. He has sold his soul to corporate entities in favor of who knows what.

Gameplay

Movement
Jerry can move and jump like any other, however, he can also perform a quick dash forward or backward which makes him invulnerable to all enemy attacks during the duration of the dash. He will also gain the ability to dash mid-air which also prevents damage from enemy attacks.

Attacking
Again, Jerry can attack like any other, however, if different directions are held while attacking, it will change the type of attack he performs. Also, if attacks are continually executed, his 3rd attack will have 50% more power. While attacking in mid-air, if Jerry has any downward momentum when his attack connects, he will bounce up and stay in the air longer, giving him more time to punish his foes in the air. This can also be used for getting across large gaps.

Spirit & Elemental Energy
When a spell is cast, it takes some Spirit Energy as well as some energy from the associated element it is cast from. These energies automatically replenish over time, though kicking ass in combat will speed this up. Spells have many uses outside of combat as some can be used to get around easier and solve puzzles. Jerry will eventually learn to summon up rocks to use at platforms, as well as summon up wind which will throw off airborne enemies and projectiles. He could also use the wind spell to move the rocks he summons up.

Fusing
When an element is active, it is fused into Jerry's hand. While an element is active, it will have properties of that element applied to the attack. If Fire is fused, enemies with a fire weakness will take more damage while enemies with a fire resistance will take less damage. It also takes a little bit of elemental energy from the associated element with every attack made while an element is fused.

Rave Mode
As Jerry battles the many bad things in the world, he will gain Rave Energy. The better he does in combat, the more Rave Energy he will build. When he has enough, he will be able to enter Rave Mode. While in Rave Mode, Jerry is completely invulnerable to all enemy attacks and his power will be amplified by quite a bit. Not to mention he'll look bad ass in the process. He is still vulnerable to traps however.

Awesome Points
When Jerry does really well in combat, such as getting high combo strings, or kill chains, he will get Awesome Points. The more of these you have, the better. Earn as many as you can, they will eventually be helpful. One benefit for having them is enemies will start to award more experience.

Crippling
Every opponent has what is called a Cripple Point, which is a weakness to a certain attack/skill or combination of attacks/skills. When the Cripple Point condition is met, your opponent will be crippled for a short time. While in the Crippled state, it's Physical and Spirit Defenses drop by 40%. This is a great way to get through an opponent with high defenses.

About Jeremy & the 4th Wall
Jeremy has access to the world while sitting on the 4th wall. From there, he can see what you see, however, he is able to hack the world when given enough time to alter the way things work within that area. As the game goes on, Jeremy will learn new hacking tricks in order to change things in your favor. Some of the spells Jerry learns can also carry bits of "cheats" in them from Jeremy as well.