Trial by Viking - Out today on Steam!

Hi Unity people! This is Trial by Viking, a side-scrolling platformer where you are a viking working as an agent of Odin. In unfamiliar lands, you will meet friends and foes, solve a few puzzles, and gain the powers needed to stop the trickster god, Loki. If you are able to survive tricky gauntlets of magic and steel, you will find yourself face to face with some of the worst terrors that the nine worlds have to offer. Good luck!

Features:

• morph into a polar bear
• control a flying Valkyrie through mazes of hazards
• ride on the claws of a great owl like a zip line
• fight a Kraken in a swimming pool
• bombs, double jump, dash, grappling hook
• an ice axe for freezing enemies and turning them in to stepping stones
• ride on a viking ship while having axe battles with Kobolds
• keys, switches, gears, ropes, hidden areas, and other tricky elements
• 130 levels
• 27 intense boss/miniboss battles
• 20 permanent upgrades
• Over 75 unique ai/enemies
• power ups like mini viking, metal viking, and time slow

Web: lastlifegames.com/trialbyviking
Twitter: @0xlastlifegames
Mailing List: click here

Update #1:

Development of Trial by Viking started at the end of 2013. Honestly this game started out with an idea of mixing Ghosts and Goblins with Cut the Rope, because I thought that would be weird and cool, but it has grown into something so far from that. I really wanted to give the game a great feel, and some of the earlier concepts just weren't right. I still make use of ropes and being able to cut them to solve puzzles, but I have changed it so that you use an axe to cut ropes instead of some sort of mouse/touch system.

 

150 levels so it's not metroid like ? As metroid games are one or few big maps , castelvania games beeing mainly one main big level.
The background will need more work, is there any video ?

 

Hello zenGarden! Yeah, you are right. A true Metroidvania has a seamless world. This does however focus on the idea of exploration, seeking permanent upgrades, and needing those upgrades in order to gain access to certain areas. I am still trying to work out my pitch at this point.

I have been shopping artists for backgrounds. Since the game is orthographic, I have been playing around with the idea of layered 2D parallaxing backgrounds.

As for video, I haven't released any significant video yet, but I do have some animated gifs that I plan to post. I will post one later today when I get to my desktop.

 

Update #2:

One of the things I had liked about Spelunky, is how different elements in the game can sort of interact with each other. I made sure that many of the elements in Trial by Viking can affect each other in maybe unexpected ways, which sets up some interesting situations. For instance, you may throw a boomerang to activate a switch that turns on a fan that can blow a block upward enough for you to push it onto a ledge with a pressure plate that opens a door.



I will add some more gifs soon so you can see some other interesting mechanics in action, and probably some combat as well.

 

Looks great in motion , remeber the old game "Gods" on amiga.
Keep the good work.

 

Looks good.

- Have you planned to launch the game on Steam Greenlight?
- Could you share some gameplay vid?
- Tell us about the production of this game. How many people have worked on it? How long does it took? Which assets have you used and so on?

 

Thanks! I never played Gods, but the screenshots look pretty cool

 

Thanks! I'm trying to hold off on releasing any video until I have some of the new backgrounds finished, so the ETA on that is sort of up in the air. I will keep posting more gifs here until then though.

There is one programmer/designer (me), and one 3D artist (Cameron Orr) mainly. We have been working on this since the end of December 2013. I am hunting talented free agents for backgrounds. Erik Braa, the voice of Jax and Draven in League of Legends and some stuff on the Telltale Walking Dead series, will be helping with VO work for the cut scenes. Erik is a viking himself, so it's going to be awesome.

I will be launching a campaign on Steam Greenlight probably at the same time as a Kickstarter that'd I'd like to create in order to get console devkits, and pay for some of the audio work. I am waiting on the new backgrounds to launch these as well though, so it's hard to say when at the moment. I will keep people posted on timelines here in the future if they are interested.

 

Vikings are a sure way into my heart. Looking good!

 

Thanks! I've always loved vikings and Norse mythology. It's cool being able to make a game about it.

 

Update #3:

Quick little gif of dash/roll. Allows you to plow through tough spots, as well as do some long distance jumping.

 

This has a nice old school feel, even though the graphics are high resolution. I like it. The effects are nice as well. Like with many games, the stills don't really do it justice, I feel. The gifs are awesome

 

Thanks! Yeah, I'm using 3D with orthographic projection, and I think it turned out to be a good balance of old and new school feeling as far as sidescrollers go. I agree about the stills though. I'll just have to keep putting out more gifs I guess! The stills hopefully will start to look better once I have the new backgrounds in though.

 

Update #4:

Hey guys. Here's a quick gif of the gear mechanics. Gears can control a bunch of different level elements. You might need to connect certain gears together in order to be able to rotate them the correct way to unlock a passage for instance. I added this because it's something I haven't really seen around. It opens up some interesting situations level design wise, because it's not just an on/off switch, you can use it to move things between two values.



Working on all new parallaxing backgrounds, which I'll show some screens of soon.

 

Update #5:

Hey guys, I finally got some new animations for a Valkyrie character that's in the game. The idea was to have a few entire levels where the Valkyrie picks you up and flies upward as you steer her through hazards collecting sunstones. Here's the initial takeoff sequence so far.

 

Update #6:

Hey guys. I wanted to show you a few gifs of the enemies in Trial by Viking. Sorry for the gif loads.

Dragonkin can run and jump very fast, and if you aren't ready for it, you'll probably get stomped.



Gargoyles are sneaky creatures that hide among the statues. You have to be careful where you step.



A bit of wall jumping to escape the nasty claws of the Werewolf.

 

Bot nad

 

Thanks! Been working real hard on this. I think there is something like 50 distinct enemies in the game at this point. They are pretty fun to make.

 

Looking awesome! This is for Windows PC?

 

Thanks! Yeah, there will definitely be a Windows PC build, as well as Mac. Likely I will make a Linux box and make a Linux build as well. I plan on running a Kickstarter campaign soon in order to afford console devkits, as well as improve a few other things in the game, so we will have to wait and see how that pans out before I promise any other platforms.

Runs fairly well on a four year old Win7 laptop with onboard Intel graphics, so the requirements to run it are pretty low. I've even tried running the game on mobile, and it runs decent there too. A bit of profiling when I'm finished, and it should be pretty smooth all around.

 

Looking good my man! If you need someone to test it, send over a build =)

If I could offer one piece of visual feedback, I think you would benefit from modifying some of the tiles to not look so repetitive. Also, I think it would help if you could round some of the hard edges (you could even write a simple algorithm to check neighboring tiles and do the replacement when you save the levels so you don't have to do it manually).

Keep it up!

 

Hey thanks!

Yeah, I totally agree. Cameron, the texture artist, is making alternate tiles for each set that I can use to mix it up, and maybe some decals too. I also have started using half height and double sized tiles, which reduces the blocky feel, as well as makes running around a smoother experience since you can walk up them like steps. I have to go back and retrofit old levels with this however. I'll post pics soon.

Anyways, thanks for the advice! And I'll let you know when I start looking for testers for sure.

 

Update #7:

Wanted to share some action gifs I took recently. Sorry for the long loads!

battling a wyvern and wind imp at the same time.



a quick cannon ride. also maybe the first time i've posted this background anywhere.

 

Seems some Amiga computer 2D platform greatness revival
I like the new gameplay machanic of canon also.
Will you have some gameplay demo ?

 

Thanks zen! With all of the player movement, level, and dash tweaks I've been making lately, the gameplay is feeling really good. I will have a gameplay demo at some point, but I'm not sure when it will be released to the public. Likely when I need a PR boost. I'll definitely let people know when it's ready on this thread though.

 

Okay i am liking this. Geez 150 levels thats a hell of a lot.

 

Looks nice I like so much the gif showing the gears, it's a cool idea

 

Thanks Aiursrage! Yeah, it's a lot of levels, but many of them aren't too big so that I can keep the pain of dying to a minimum. There are some pretty elaborate ones as well however.

 

Thanks Chemaxmax! I wanted to make sure to come up with some things that I hadn't really seen before, and that's one of them. I think it turned out pretty well.

 

Update #8:

I think this might be a good time to explain how the level and upgrade systems work, since it helps understand the game a lot better.

There are 150 levels, and completing each one unlocks the next. You need sunstones to purchase permanent upgrades for your character. I switched the currency system up a bit by making it persistent, meaning when you replay a level, all the sunstones that you have already found will be gone. It will tell you how many sunstones are remaining to be found for each level. This adds a bit of a treasure hunt element to the game.

Anyways, here is a quick snippet of the Hydra. It a really tough enemy that shoots fire balls from each of its heads, and if you get up in his face, he may try to swing you around a bit. You definitely don't want that.

 

Update #9:

Everybody loves water levels, right?

 

I don't like so much levels full of water but if there're only small parts of the stage with water it's different

 

I feel the same way!

 

Update #10:

"Mario did it", is like the, "Simpsons did it", of platformer game mechanics.

 

Alice in Wonderland did it

 

wow great work the bosses.
what are the different powerups?

 

Hey thanks garza! Here are the power ups so far.

• Time slow + viking speed boost.
• Metal viking (invincibility)
• Tiny viking
• Morph into a bear
• Extra jump boost
• Health boost

There may be more added at some point however. I've been playing around with a few ideas having to do with water, poison and gravity. There's also a host of more permanent upgrades to buy with various passive effects.

 

Update #11:

For the story, I knew I wanted to touch on themes of betrayal and retribution, the non-linear nature of time in Norse mythology, and some kick-ass friends that play a part in saving the cosmos with you. I decided the best way to tell it was through game engine made cut scenes and scripted interactions with NPCs during levels as well. In this part of the story, our friend's feathered spy barely escapes. This is a WIP at this point, but I will update here as it get's more polished.

 

Update #12:

Here's what it looks like to be fighting a treant at night. They have rotating shield magic as well as a stomping power that sends tremors your way. A very tough opponent.

 

Looking fantastic! Nice work : )

 

Update #13:

If there is anything I hate, it's crates. I can't seem to complete a level without smashing every last one.

 

Looking really nice!

 

Update #14:

Some levels are a little puzzly, but other levels are just a mad dash.

 

Update #15:

I've had this idea for a level that has rising water for a while now. I finally got around to it. You have 15 seconds of breath, and the water wakes up the anglers spread throughout the level. some other cool ideas were changing the pitch of the water rushing in sound, depending on whether you are submerged or not. eventually you will be able to get an upgrade from odin that doubles your breath time. all together i think it came out really cool.

 

Update #16:

Throughout the game, there are levels where you ride a viking long boat. This means you have to play fast and not miss the bus. Since I have other levels where you can actually swim in the water, I had to find a way to make this water lethal. So I added a megalodon

 

The parallax is really nice.

 

thanks! i put each of these boat levels in canals, so that I could still get away with a lot of motion in the background. it's kind of hard to see from the tiny gif though.

 

looks very impressive!

 

thanks! i've been working really hard on this