Is Shovel Knight which was just released shortly ago. I don't think I need to say much about it. It's on the WiiU, 3DS, and PC (+Steam). The link there is the game's official site, which has all the infos and a video.
You could also check out Brian's LP of it. Looks like he's doing that and Tobias. He'll be finishing Tobias, he has no choice really.
DT3 Progress
Chapter 18 is going along well, slowly because real life is being a needy female dog right now. Lots of new AI to code as well. Jerry and Claire get to face off against probably the toughest enemies in the trilogy. These guys are the bulk of the end-game combat. Maybe a video to showcase just a single group, maybe not. Probably not, it gives away surprises.
6/29/2014
6/19/2014
I Feel Like I Need To Mention This
Have you heard about 'Tobias and the Dark Sceptres'? There's a link that I think you should follow in the previous sentence. This was shared to me by two people already. It's a game that was made in the span of 13 years, the video shown in the link 4 sentences ago will tell you all about it. I think you should have a go at this, I recently watched WhattayaBrian's first Let'sPlay video of the game and I'm getting some good vibes from it. It's an odd game, definitely made by someone who started it when they were young, with a few technical oddities. However, there's a certain charm about it that's really nifty and there's a lot of really cool little touches that show the creator really loved making it and put a lot of himself into it.
Brian's first LP video of it can be found by clicking anywhere on this entire sentence.
Brian's first LP video of it can be found by clicking anywhere on this entire sentence.
6/15/2014
Enemy Support Units
I mentioned a long time ago that DT3 was going to have a group that all supported one another and mentioned a key unit in the group. That one being specifically a support unit that could heal/shield allies. This is no longer happening, but... it is happening. Instead I've repurposed that idea to be a bit more broad. In the later parts of the game, the protagonists are constantly facing off against a certain group, and within this group are various support units. Instead of having a single enemy type that can do everything and only support its squad, it can now support any ally within its faction. (Remember in the scan info, the icon that showed if it was a Mario or Zelda related enemy?)
Before this change, I was going to allow support bots to use their abilities on one another. With this more broad approach, I felt that would be a bad idea, and for science I tested it. It was rather disheartening to see a shielding bot being fully recovered by a healer when it was nearly down. Even worse though, was the healer being shielded. This constraint felt right after that.
The healers and shielders can only target a single unit at a time. Healers check all nearby units and prioritize both on the group's current HP% and a hidden value that all of that faction's enemies have. (Some of them are a hair bit more important than others.) At the time of typing this, they can heal up to 150HP/sec, but after doing more field tests, that may change. It tends to keep its target between it and the player, but it still has to be close to its target to heal.
The shielding bots can shield a single ally and make it completely invulnerable. It has no cooldown or overheat, so it's able to hold the shield indefiniately, however it has to be fairly close to its target to shield it. It isn't as active at playing 'keep-away' from the player as the healer.
There is one other type of support unit, but that one is a secret.
All support units have an auto-regeneration that (once again at the time of typing this) recover 15HP/sec.
Before this change, I was going to allow support bots to use their abilities on one another. With this more broad approach, I felt that would be a bad idea, and for science I tested it. It was rather disheartening to see a shielding bot being fully recovered by a healer when it was nearly down. Even worse though, was the healer being shielded. This constraint felt right after that.
The healers and shielders can only target a single unit at a time. Healers check all nearby units and prioritize both on the group's current HP% and a hidden value that all of that faction's enemies have. (Some of them are a hair bit more important than others.) At the time of typing this, they can heal up to 150HP/sec, but after doing more field tests, that may change. It tends to keep its target between it and the player, but it still has to be close to its target to heal.
The shielding bots can shield a single ally and make it completely invulnerable. It has no cooldown or overheat, so it's able to hold the shield indefiniately, however it has to be fairly close to its target to shield it. It isn't as active at playing 'keep-away' from the player as the healer.
There is one other type of support unit, but that one is a secret.
All support units have an auto-regeneration that (once again at the time of typing this) recover 15HP/sec.
6/13/2014
Overexaggeration
After spending about 30 minutes trying to make an enemy that checks all of its allies HP% counts and tries to find the lowest one (which is easy), but may need to find the second or third next value, I remember that Game Maker has data structures and this could have been solved in seconds. Fuck me.
I drew a picture displaying my frustration with myself. Done in Photoshop for overkill.
I know!
6/11/2014
DT Blog Post
Now that I've been reminded about posting a grackle video, here it is.
Map Headers
I got asked about those little window map headers that DT1 had and asked A LOT, by both the testers and all of you that played the DT3 demo if they would return.
The sentence above should tell you what happened. It wasn't till a fair ways in that I decided to put that in and you can imagine the crazy amount of maps as a backlog I suddenly had. At this point in the game, most of it was in the Gate levels as they take a large portion of the gameplay up to Chapter 16. For quite a few of the Gate and Nightmare Gate levels, I allowed the testers to add in the map quotes. They've had a big impact on the game and that seemed like a good way to let them put a bit of their voice in there.
Progress Update
Chapter 17 is done, so that leaves 3 more plot points to cover. Getting closer. The next level involves mountains, skies with stars, and snowballs. And some other things that have nothing to do with the rest of that.
E3
It had some games that looked fun. That is all. Oh right, Splatoons looked really neat. I'll be following that one for awhile. I should fangasm over the Zelda trailer, but not much was shown and I don't think they'll be showing anything else during the rest of E3. I just need a little more than Link suddenly being chased down by some thingie, then turning around and going all Matrix on it with a wonky looking bow. It looks pretty at least, but I knew that would be the case.
Map Headers
I got asked about those little window map headers that DT1 had and asked A LOT, by both the testers and all of you that played the DT3 demo if they would return.
The sentence above should tell you what happened. It wasn't till a fair ways in that I decided to put that in and you can imagine the crazy amount of maps as a backlog I suddenly had. At this point in the game, most of it was in the Gate levels as they take a large portion of the gameplay up to Chapter 16. For quite a few of the Gate and Nightmare Gate levels, I allowed the testers to add in the map quotes. They've had a big impact on the game and that seemed like a good way to let them put a bit of their voice in there.
Progress Update
Chapter 17 is done, so that leaves 3 more plot points to cover. Getting closer. The next level involves mountains, skies with stars, and snowballs. And some other things that have nothing to do with the rest of that.
It had some games that looked fun. That is all. Oh right, Splatoons looked really neat. I'll be following that one for awhile. I should fangasm over the Zelda trailer, but not much was shown and I don't think they'll be showing anything else during the rest of E3. I just need a little more than Link suddenly being chased down by some thingie, then turning around and going all Matrix on it with a wonky looking bow. It looks pretty at least, but I knew that would be the case.
5/30/2014
See, I'm Talking About Birds
This month at work I did a promotion thingy and am no longer working outside, which is both good and bad. I don't get to see my birds all day, but I don't have to die of heat like I did every day last summer. I do go outside on every lunch break though and my birds are still as happy as ever to see me.
Here's a picture of one getting a bit upset that another bird was approaching. He likes being special.
I like their poofy feathers when they get upset. This one doesn't like either males or females around when he approaches.
I'll be posting again soonish with a video of a bird, but I need to cut out some useless stuff where I didn't turn off the recording and all that.
DT3 Stuff
Chapter 17 is getting somewhat close to being done. I wish I had more time this last month to work on it, but next month should change that.
In this shot, Claire is about to run face first into a laser because the turrets above her know how to lead their targets. She'll learn after the first mistake though. Oh yeah, spoilers, some enemies in DT3 can lead their shots.
Here's a picture of one getting a bit upset that another bird was approaching. He likes being special.
I like their poofy feathers when they get upset. This one doesn't like either males or females around when he approaches.
I'll be posting again soonish with a video of a bird, but I need to cut out some useless stuff where I didn't turn off the recording and all that.
DT3 Stuff
Chapter 17 is getting somewhat close to being done. I wish I had more time this last month to work on it, but next month should change that.
In this shot, Claire is about to run face first into a laser because the turrets above her know how to lead their targets. She'll learn after the first mistake though. Oh yeah, spoilers, some enemies in DT3 can lead their shots.
5/10/2014
Will Talk About Birds Next Time
I removed the DT3 demo on April 1st for the little Breakout game. The DT3 demo will stay removed as its purpose was primarily to get feedback on a greater scale and it succeed in that. Keeping it up now, I feel, will give bad impressions of the final version, which is much different than that demo.
Also I lied, there's more than 3 Ability Sets for Jerry and Claire. They don't show up for Gates, but instead for specific events. What they are is a secret of course. Essentially, alternate ways to look at and mix certain genres into platforming happen from time to time.
Progress
Currently focusing on Chapter 17 content, which is the start of the final parts of the story. Gameplay wise, I try a different approach to enemies spawning in and how they engage the player. One enemy from DT1 made its way into this level. Our friend from The Hideout, the Aero Scanner, is back. He was the one with the laser pointer that dealt damage if you either weren't using i-frames or had something between you and it to block line of sight. The environment and its hazards also plays into some of the rules of how enemies engage the player in the level in Chapter 17.
No more info to give!! It's hard to talk about the game on any specifics at this point because giving away anything would spoil the experience.
Another Big Change
WhattayaBrian presented a suggestion to me a few months back about how to change the way arrow ammo worked. The basic idea was when the player runs out of ammo, it goes into a somewhat lengthy reload and afterward, the player has their arrows back. Each pickup would add 1 to the capacity instead of 5. His issue with arrow pickups was that they didn't feel very substantial. I actually disagreed that arrow pickups felt insubstantial, but the idea itself went onto fixing another issue. That being limited ammo. I like the idea of ammo shortage and what it does, but all the other ability sets in the game (missiles worked the same as arrows and are included in this change) allow the player to be completely self-sufficient.
As a designer, if I know the player can't run out of ammo completely, there's a lot more I can do. So I presented the idea to the testers to see what they all thought about it and what they thought could be done. My goal was mainly to make the player self-sufficient. The player now starts with 10 arrows. (Missiles will follow these rules.) Quiver pickups only add 1 to the capacity now, following the above suggestion. For ammo recovery, it follows along the other sets of auto-recovery over time. There are new rules over the recovery rates for arrows and missiles that make sure the player can run out of ammo, but that it can replenlish them reasonably, even mid-combat.
There's also this other weird thing with video games and things in limited quantity. They feel more important and precious and therefore aren't utilized as often. WhattayaBrian mentioned this about arrows. (and he wasn't the only one) NNZ recently said, "Even if I have 500 Megalixirs, I won't use them till the final boss." or close to that. This addresses that issue with arrows and missiles too. They were intended to be used alongside the primary weapons, not an after thought, or something you saved for THAT moment or a boss fight.
It hasn't been live for the testers for very long, but the feedback for it has been positive so far. Further testing will reveal how much more tweaking will be needed.
A Question
This appeared a few days ago.
“Will the final chapter be similiar to the Secured Data Segment in the sense that it is a huge dungeon with a new awesome but challenging gimmick (SDS did have the colour wheels)?”
I don't want to say much about the final chapter. That said, it's not going to mirror what DT1 did in regards to what it did in contrast to the rest of the game. In DT1's final level (Secured Data Segment, we'll not count the power trip that is Primary Memory), I aimed to make the player feel somewhat lonely, frustrated, and a bit anxious. On the gameplay side, it focused almost entirely on the color fields.
DT3's final dungeon isn't going to be about any specific gameplay gimmick or even about the level itself. Will it be challenging? Of course, it wouldn't be DT without that, but that's not the focus. I've done the “This is going to be challenging” to death, I can do better than that.
“Is the DT trilogy an alegory about the hardships of video game development?”
Not sure where this idea sprung up from but you're thinking too hard about it. I shall give a silly answer. It's an alegory about myself and my misunderstanding of the English language put in video game form.
Also I lied, there's more than 3 Ability Sets for Jerry and Claire. They don't show up for Gates, but instead for specific events. What they are is a secret of course. Essentially, alternate ways to look at and mix certain genres into platforming happen from time to time.
Progress
Currently focusing on Chapter 17 content, which is the start of the final parts of the story. Gameplay wise, I try a different approach to enemies spawning in and how they engage the player. One enemy from DT1 made its way into this level. Our friend from The Hideout, the Aero Scanner, is back. He was the one with the laser pointer that dealt damage if you either weren't using i-frames or had something between you and it to block line of sight. The environment and its hazards also plays into some of the rules of how enemies engage the player in the level in Chapter 17.
No more info to give!! It's hard to talk about the game on any specifics at this point because giving away anything would spoil the experience.
Another Big Change
WhattayaBrian presented a suggestion to me a few months back about how to change the way arrow ammo worked. The basic idea was when the player runs out of ammo, it goes into a somewhat lengthy reload and afterward, the player has their arrows back. Each pickup would add 1 to the capacity instead of 5. His issue with arrow pickups was that they didn't feel very substantial. I actually disagreed that arrow pickups felt insubstantial, but the idea itself went onto fixing another issue. That being limited ammo. I like the idea of ammo shortage and what it does, but all the other ability sets in the game (missiles worked the same as arrows and are included in this change) allow the player to be completely self-sufficient.
As a designer, if I know the player can't run out of ammo completely, there's a lot more I can do. So I presented the idea to the testers to see what they all thought about it and what they thought could be done. My goal was mainly to make the player self-sufficient. The player now starts with 10 arrows. (Missiles will follow these rules.) Quiver pickups only add 1 to the capacity now, following the above suggestion. For ammo recovery, it follows along the other sets of auto-recovery over time. There are new rules over the recovery rates for arrows and missiles that make sure the player can run out of ammo, but that it can replenlish them reasonably, even mid-combat.
There's also this other weird thing with video games and things in limited quantity. They feel more important and precious and therefore aren't utilized as often. WhattayaBrian mentioned this about arrows. (and he wasn't the only one) NNZ recently said, "Even if I have 500 Megalixirs, I won't use them till the final boss." or close to that. This addresses that issue with arrows and missiles too. They were intended to be used alongside the primary weapons, not an after thought, or something you saved for THAT moment or a boss fight.
It hasn't been live for the testers for very long, but the feedback for it has been positive so far. Further testing will reveal how much more tweaking will be needed.
A Question
This appeared a few days ago.
“Will the final chapter be similiar to the Secured Data Segment in the sense that it is a huge dungeon with a new awesome but challenging gimmick (SDS did have the colour wheels)?”
I don't want to say much about the final chapter. That said, it's not going to mirror what DT1 did in regards to what it did in contrast to the rest of the game. In DT1's final level (Secured Data Segment, we'll not count the power trip that is Primary Memory), I aimed to make the player feel somewhat lonely, frustrated, and a bit anxious. On the gameplay side, it focused almost entirely on the color fields.
DT3's final dungeon isn't going to be about any specific gameplay gimmick or even about the level itself. Will it be challenging? Of course, it wouldn't be DT without that, but that's not the focus. I've done the “This is going to be challenging” to death, I can do better than that.
“Is the DT trilogy an alegory about the hardships of video game development?”
Not sure where this idea sprung up from but you're thinking too hard about it. I shall give a silly answer. It's an alegory about myself and my misunderstanding of the English language put in video game form.
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