Games Tasukete Tako-San : Save me Mr Tako - A Game Boy Platformer

Introduction :

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Game Boy. With that in mind, a few months ago I launched myself into the creation of a game, Tasukete Tako-San: Save me Mr Tako. To me, this game is a way to take what I've learnt and pay tribute to my influences with my first “real” indie game that I intend to publish. The team consists of a friend who is doing all the sound design and music, and me, the programmer, game designer and graphics designer.

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Gameplay :

- Platformer / Runner / Action game. You have to navigate a semi-procedurally generated world whilst saving as many people as possible and fighting assorted enemies and bosses with the help of different powers.

- The game is set in a infinite world generated semi-randomly, with forced side-scrolling. There are currently about 300 patterns, divided into three worlds. These are assembled to form a random level. There is a difficulty curve which changes the environment as you advance.

- You play Mr Tako, a small octopus that can move, jump, and spit ink . Spitting ink onto an enemy will paralyze them, allowing you to use their body as a block. This makes it possible to create new paths or to protect yourself from enemies using these new platforms to your advantage.

- On some patterns you can find chests which give you one of the 22 (current number) hats . A hat gives you an additional power . These are very varied, ranging from improving your abilities (life, amount of ink, speed, jump height, ...), or stronger powers (sword, bow, bombs, etc. ..). Also, if you have a hat, you can take an extra hit before dying.

- On the UI you can see the number of people saved, the number of lives, the number of gems, the amount of ink and your current score. When you break pots you can find ink, lives and gems. Finding 100 gems gives you an extra life.

- You can also affect the scrolling speed with signs. Walk on them increase the speed but, if you spit ink over them before walking, they will slow the scrolling down. However, faster scrolling also means a higher score!

- You can fight many differents bosses.

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Universe

"A long time ago, the Octopus was the master race on earth.
They were the guardians of the memory of an ancient world, using their wisdom to rule peacefully.
But that was before the rise of a new race.
Humans.
Since the advent of humanity, octopuses were hunted, eaten and used in nefarious ways.
Humiliated and defiled over the centuries; one octopus decided to avenge the honor of his kind by putting an end to the human species.
Overcome with madness, he began to kidnap young people, plunging the world into chaos.
But there is one last hope for the world. This hope... is you."

It is in this context of war between octopuses and human that you, a small octopus, try to rescue abducted children while delivering a message of peace between the species. You will have to face humans, animals, and your own species.

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Screenshots :





















Future :

Currently, I'm focusing on the Runner game mode so you can get your hands on a playable demo as soon as possible. Nevertheless, I intend to add a story mode with real levels without forced scrolling, as well as a multiplayer mode where you can fight against your friends with the different powers. In addition to new hats and more bosses, the final game will be composed of a Story Mode, Multiplayer mode and Runner mode. You'll be able to find it all in the full version, due to be released on Steam and on Wii U eShop, if everything goes to plan.

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Demo :

- Windows: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...ads/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-windows

- Mac: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...wnloads/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-mac

- Linux: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke.../tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-demo-linux

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Links :

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/chrisDeneos
Twitter : https://twitter.com/ChrisDeneos
Portfolio : http://christophegalati.fr/
IndieDB : http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako

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News :

Thank you all for your support ! I'll keep you posted about progress here on a regular basis.

- 08/09/2014 : creation of the devlog presentation !
- 28/09/2014 : first demo of the game !

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Please tell me there's a power up called the Tako Bell.

Yes, I'm also well aware that tako is octopus in Japanese.

 

I like the visuals very much. Good job.

 

Awesome! Looking forward to playing this game.

 

Thank you all !

Sorry Asvarduil, but no tako bell for now, maybe letter.

 

All good bro! Your game look awesome.

 

Looks great and sounds like some good-old-fashioned fun! Can't wait to play it

 

Thank you
I have now an IndieDB page for the game, if you want to stay in touch :
http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako

I'm now making the finals adjustments for the demo.

 

This looks super awesome. Looking forward to the demo!

 

Work in progress for a shader which change the color palets, like the Game Boy Color :



(not over yet, there is still a problem with the darkest colour).

 

Improvement on the color shader, and correction of few bugs.

 

Hello everibody
I fixed a lot of bugs, and the demo will be ready for the release, this saturday (september 28th).
Have a nice day !

 

Very nice retro graphics.

 

Oh man, my nostalgia is kicking in!

 

Thanks The demo will be out tomorrow !

 

Today is the release day of the first game demo. September 28th 1990 was the
date of the Game Boy release in Europe, that's why I choose this
symbolic date.

The demo includes the Runner mode of the game. The full Game will have this Runner mode, plus a Story and a Multiplayer mode.

Here is the game trailer:

- Windows: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...ads/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-windows

- Mac: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...wnloads/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-mac

- Linux: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke.../tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-demo-linux

I hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to like the facebook page or to follow me on twitter to have direct news about the game.

 

Really retro and really awesome! Greta job

 

Thank you

Do I have to move the thread to "game showcase" now that there is a demo ?

 

I'm wondering how to have my game visible in the Games on the game showcase section of Unity website ?

 

Hi everybody

I posted some news about the Game on the indieDB page.

I wish you a happy Halloween !

http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako/news/happy-halloweentako-news

 

Tako-San is nominated at the EIGD Awards 2014!

I also did the pewdiepie jam this week end.

You can see all the informations, and the jam game here:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...ako-san-is-nominated-for-the-eigd-awards-2014

 

Use takoyaki for powerupss...

 

It will be canibalism if an Octopus eat Takoyaki But I will surely make a scene with takoyaki in the story mode

 

But there's this Hatchi in One Piece, an Octopus man who sell takoyaki....

 

I didn't know ^^

Yesterday, I wrote a news about some new feature of the game

You can now stock a power !



http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako-new-feature

 

I like your camera script (the vertical component). It sticks to the player but has some threshold, how does it work?

 

Thank you It's the power of lerp ! I create a script which make the camera follow the player, but with a min and a max position.

Hello and happy new year

I used my holliday time to work on Tasukete Tako-san !

- A short preview for ads :


- Bombs can now explode walls :


- Some moving platforms :


- Some other things, but I don't have gif yet. I can tell you a word : Throw cats !

I will now develop the story mode level structure

I hope 2015 will be as good as 2014, or better, and I wish you a happy new year !

 

Hey, it's been a while !

I'm a bit busy with my school and work projects, but don't worry, Tako-san is progressing well.

All the story mode world and level system is done, now I have to develop the dialog system



Have a good day !

 

Hey

Now I have the story mode save system! I'm using binaries for that. I also have the flow of the story mode, now I just have to do the dialog system and I will be full time on the game content !



A little teasing of the story :

"During a stormy night, an army of Octopuses attacked a humain ship. But one of them saved a woman who fell into the sea. A fairy, which saw is actions, give him the power to breath outside the water, but in exchange, he has to promise to never to hate a human."

Good night ^^

 

Today I come with a question where I need your answer.

I'm working on the multiplayer mode of the game, I already have 3 character skins, and I'm creating the 4th.

In the story mode, this character is one of the "bad guy"(in fact there is no real bad guy, but it is one of your opponent). He (or she) is the best friend of your brother, the dark octopus. The dark octopus save him of the rod of a fishing man. So this octopus will kidnap and hide a lot of children that you will have to save.

For the multiplayer mode, I'm working on an arena battle mode, like Towerfall (but with a lot of Octopus power), and a Co-Op Mode on the Runner mode.





What is your favorite skin ?

 

#2

 

The Cast of Octopuses main characters is done ^^



I will surely make additionnal skins laters.

All this four skins are available in the multiplayer mode of the game.
Actually, we can already play the Runner mode at four, and I just begin to make an Arena versus mode.





I also add new FX to the game ^^



What do you think about it ?

 

[MAJ]

I wrote a news on IndieDB to show you all the new things I made this week end ^^

http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako/news/tako-san-new-multiplayer-mode

 

Hey it's been a while!

Today I come with a new trailer, about the Story mode of the game.

I hope you will like it.

 

Hey it's been a while!

The project is going well, I will introduce the game in some events in France, so I prepared a little demo for that. I describe the new feature here :

http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...-san-gif-of-new-enemies-and-post-trailer-news

This news includes some Gif, like this one:



Have a nice day

 

I finally end my study in video game programming ^^ So I will have more and more time for the game!



The story mode of the game is progressing well :



I just receive a Wii U devkit, I will soon be abble to try the game on it. Have a nice day!

 

Whoa...

The first game I've every finished on my own was WarioLand on the original gameboy, so seeing this makes me feel super nostalgic (and a little old). You really nailed the visuals and sounds!

I think the jumping physics feel fine, so does the shooting. And the scrolling gameplay with random levels is a ton of fun once you understand the mechanics. I had a blast
My biggest complaint is that sometimes it's not quite obvious whats background and what isn't. This might have to do with your background beeing quite noisy with loads of detail all over the place.
I made you a couple of screenshots of areas that I felt were hard to read:



I know that background objects are slightly brighter but you may want to lower the contrast even more.

Anyway, keep up the fantastic work! Looking forward for more

 

Thank you for your answer don't worry, some of the screenshots are a bit old now, and I have improved some sprites, like the column.

The main difficulty is that I have only 4 colors for all the game. To make the difference, I'm not using the more black tone on the background object.

Furthermore, the game now has his Story mode, where there is no forced scrolling, whitout it it becomes easiers to make the difference between tiles.

 

It's cool to have time to work on the game ^^

- Tako can now drop his current power with the Select button (only if hasn't stock one, in this case he will get the stocked power)


- The dropped power disapear with time :


- I create a new power, with orbs :


- I begin to work on the localization of the game (here with french)


Bonus screen : where I play with the contrasts


Have a good night ^^

 

Here is my tribute to Super Mario Bros 30th Anniversary

I will do a proper news on IndieDB this week end to show you the progress of the game.

 

Here is the news :

http://www.indiedb.com/news/tako-san-mario-tribute-progress

 

I'm in awe! I totally love this, specially because I have huge nostalgia for the GameBoy. Are you doing everything yourself - including the soundtrack?

 

Thanks for your answer, I do everything myself except the soundtrack, a friend is making it for me

 

Yop ^^

I'm still working on the pixel perfect.

I recently made a new logo for the game, the previous one was too simple :







A pack of gifs : http://www.indiedb.com/news/tako-san-mario-tribute-progress

The sound designer of the project is remixing all the OST with a real Game Boy tracker, that will change everything.
We will soon create a bandcamp for the game.

This week I'm doing the game boy jam, so this project will be paused a little.

Have a nice sunday

 

I made two levels yesterday

 

Hey Today is the first birthday of the demo of the Game.

I wrote a big news on IndieDB, with Gifs, Video Interview and a Bandcamp inside!
Here : http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasuke...ws/tako-san-demo-first-anniversary-great-news

Thank you

 

ugh, this looks so good!!!!!

 

Thank you ^^

I'm working a lot on the game. I will finish the second world by the end of the month.

 

Hey

Here is the made with Unity page of the game : http://madewith.unity.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako

Have a nice day!

 

Hey I hope you are all alright. It's been a while, but the game is still progressing well.

I was very moved by the events in Paris. I heard the gunshots in my street, and was trapped in a panic movment. I'm alright, but it made me think of a lot of things. I will be more and more serious in the story of the game.

I'm actually working on the World3 of the game. I'm at half of its development.

I also changed a lot of things on the begining of the game, to make it better with all the feedbacks I had during multiple events this month. I added a random title screen to show the different protagonist, I created 5 new powers (they are now 45), and created new levels and sprites.



Have a good night