Games [WIP] Artificial Resident

A prototype demo is available for download on Itch.io: https://johnlabern.itch.io/artificial-resident
________________________________________________________________________
Howdy! I’m John Labern, an architect starting to make his way into the world of game creation. I think my initial design is mature enough to be presented: Artificial Resident.

A.R., is the project where I’m pouring my first inquiries about gaming and sharping my tools and skills for future and better ideas.

Genre & mechanics.
If I had to choose a genre for A.R., it would be 3D puzzling. It has, however, different types of gameplay in smaller touches (platforming especially).

The game is divided in eight huge areas called octants (check screenie 5) which coincide with the eight spaces limited by the three Cartesian axes, each of them hosting a Hub (screenie 6), at least visibly, with some elevators leading to playable areas.

The game’s goal is to unlock Origin (0,0,0)(that central elevator in screenie 5) by clearing all octants and escape.

Screenies.
1. Title Image.


2. Just an image of the introduction video.

Spoiler

3. Area where you wake up.

Spoiler

4. Pic of the area where you learn how to mindjump.

Spoiler

5. The main area: Origin, where you can access all eight octants.

Spoiler

6-7-8-9- In next post.
___________________________________________________________________________
Webpage: http://www.artificialresident.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnLabern
Contact mail: Initiative451@gmail.com
Itch.io page: https://johnlabern.itch.io/artificial-resident
Discord: discord.gg/axRy36T (Join to have a chat about dev or gaming!)

 

Reserved for posting.

6. HUB of Octant II – Humanistics.

Spoiler

7. Area 2 of Octant II.

Spoiler

8. Sample of loading screen. Drawing plan of elements/lore related to the game.

Spoiler

9. A pic of options, down there you will see stuff left to do in the upcoming demo.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

These are the settings for Progressive used in most of my scenes. The scenes showed in attached pictures above are baked using a very low resolution, during my experimenting phase I realized (and it is mentioned in Unity's manual) that Area Lights provide a much softer lighting than baking emissive or spot/round lights. I only use the latter for realtime lighting/shadowing. However, that may not suit everyone's project.

For final iterations I just raise resolution to 10 or 15, and bounces to 3. It depends on how large is a scene though. The final result looked good enough in my testings.

I will try to post a video tomorrow of actual gameplay.

 

I like the scenery, it has an Antichamber, or Kairo, vibe. Plenty of room to get enigmatic or spooky, in a good way.

 

Glad you like it Robson, I want to try to keep it as minimalist as Antichamber, while the game progression would be more like The Talos Principle.

Here's a stress-testing video of the main mechanic of the game: mindjumping.

As it can be seen, you can 'mindjump' to any mechanical body which will become the main FPS controller, once you abandon one of those bodies, you may jump on them for an extra leap push allowing the player to cross 2-modules pits or gain 1 module height. They can also be used to keep pressing a type of switch that requires constant weight.

Suggestions on what else to do with the above are welcomed.

Each octant has its own extra mechanics.
(will upload videos to streamable until I get my YT account fixed)

 

Got a webpage of the game half-ready: http://www.artificialresident.com/
Should be a bit slow until I migrate it to a better hosting plan. View from a mobile phone have a bugged header, will fix that tomorrow.
Adding this and a brand new Twitter to main post.

Another Screenie:


It shows a chamber of Octant II. The gimmick mechanics in Octant II are the Zero Friction Cubes, involving some cubes which you must push through a grid in order to solve the puzzle. Looks simple but gets more interesting later on.

Won't go into much detail since that may spoil the demo.

 

That's a pic of a loading perspective with a random tip box on bottom and a 'level built percentage' on bottom right.
Added support for 21:9 ultrawide resolution so an extension of an image's limit is shown instead of black or transparent strips at both sides (all images are done in 16:9).

 

Placing one of these ‘pillars’ in each playable area, shows how many tests are left in that zone. Every time a test is done it is red-crossed. Once all squares are red-crossed it shoots a vertical laser and everything that could be done in that area is supposed to be done…?

Instead of red-crossing them I may try to turn the emission map off, would look more elegant.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I may upload a video of ZFC mechanics this week. Needless to say that suggestions related to future or past posts are always welcomed.

 

The Zero Friction Cube, four interactible faces, you click one face, it gets pushed in that direction. You double click one face, it gets dragged in that direction. Created a dummy area to show a bit of it:

 

Finally got my YT account fixed, reuploaded and updated both previous videos in it since streamable seems to be a bit unresponsive when embedded.
--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h6KU_9vXf0
--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmd58gq_bS8

 

Analyzer on... analyzer off...

It's seen in the videos above but not explained, the analyzer can be activated by pressing right click. Red objects can't be interacted, yellow are interacted indirectly while green are activated directly. Blue are objective items and purple... those are top secret.
Working in next area and polishing demo stuff right now.

 

Giving some touches to my dialogue system... I still wonder if I should let it in, it depends on the focus I want to give to the story. If I decide it will be something lore-narrative-descriptive ala Portal, I may let it in. But if I go with a no-words eerie and lonely ambience approach, like Antichamber, I may remove it.

I will just let one conversation sample inside the demo and try to receive feedback. Personally I always like to know stuff from the world in which a game takes place.

Spoiler

 

Prototyping a Portal system for comfortable long-distance travelling. I'm thinking of limiting the visual effect to a certain distance due to rendertextures being so demanding. Here's a video I posted on Twitter...

Spoiler

 

Project has been some days inactive due to an unavoidable trip I had to do but I'm back for good. Stuff:

Demo is arriving in about a week. It includes a main tutorial, octant 2 mechanics' tutorial and an octant 2 area. Then, I will feed a new area every month (maybe two when mechanics are totally closed and I improve my workflow).

Added a new feature for replayability's sake and as an incitement/introduction to speedrunning (which I'm a lover of); when you fully complete all tests in an area it will unlock two (for now) run modes: one for practicing individual rooms and another to practice an area when you are confident enough.

So far, your times will only appear in a main screen tab but the intention is to also create a global leaderboard.

Spoiler

 

Had a delay due to some troublesome lightmapping which seems to be half-solved. Demo should be live in some hours, as soon as I properly set the Itch.io page & upload it. Will link it in main post.

If anyone is interested in downloading and playing it, any kind of feedback is always appreciated. I'm especially interested in:
- Performance spikes, they are expected in big areas like Origin or Area 2-2. (Mentioning or pming me your specs would be nice).
- Missing colliders.
- Any problem related to saving options values / keeping persistent data.

Stuff you should know and it is only 'half-mentioned' ingame:
- During normal gameplay and once inside a trial chamber you can restart the room by pressing R for 5 seconds.
- Only white frames are allowed to exit trial chambers.

Known issues (currently being worked on):
- All dynamic objects being lighted by probes seem to be a bit dark.
- Had to bake lighting at half resolution in some scenes due to some problems related to lightmaps output.
- You may find a gap rarely between meshes, sometimes my fault, sometimes Unity's float approximation. A pic if you find one would be nice for me to fix it..
- Main character has some apparent mesh holes in arms/knees which are a bit noticeable especially when walking or sitting down. Will be fixed in final character iteration in case more issues appear (and I unwrap, UV and re-rig the character mesh).
- Sometimes Zero Friction Datacubes will escape their movement ‘grid’. Have polished physics for this not to happen, but if it happens to you, let me know.
- Changing language while in-game doesn’t take place immediately but as soon as a new level is loaded.

 

Updated main post with a link to Itch.io for a demo download. Added a poll too.
PD: I have hidden a surprise in the demo, for the first one arriving.

 

Great work on lightmapping, so smooth

 

Thank you, should look even better when I finally solve lightmapping output problems!

Updated build0089 to 0090 based on some feedback. Changes:
- Added some missing colliders.
- Tried to make starting platform trial a bit easier.
- Addressed some English Localization problems.

(Warning: next videos spoil the demo's puzzles experience, don't watch if you ever want to enjoy it )

Spoiler

CoalFire has posted a gameplay video in his YT channel:

And this is an Area 2-2 speedrun by me, for those curious in how it work:
(note that the gameplay speed and 'intense' music do not match the eerie feel of a first play, it's more for replayability's sake and easing the task of speedrunners)

 

Really liking the vibes from the videos. Clearly a lot of neat physics puzzles possible. I'll be downloading and checking it out in greater detail later!

 

Thank you, hope you like it! Report any performance problems in case you find any!

As the time of posting this message, I'm reuploading demo again since I left a 'rolling-buddy' in HUB2 which shouldn't be there. Anyone trying build0090 may know what I mean... That was an early test I forgot to deactivate for another octant.

 

Just took a real quick look, I'll dive more into it later. A couple things that stood out to me from the outset though was that there a strong Portal vibes which I very much enjoy. The introductory text has me intrigued to learn more about this world of mechanical rebirth. It actually runs smoother than I'd anticipated on my dinky laptop, later I'll give it a better run on my desktop.

A couple points of critique are as follows:

1. Going through the menus it was a little unclear that I needed to close a submenu before I could select other options from the root menu.

2. The introduction to jumping is a little more difficult than I think was intended because of the heavy use of shadow. It made it tricky to tell exactly where walls and platforms began and ended and resulted in few unintended falls.

3. The physics are taking some getting used to. I understand that because you are a robot (I think?) you have much greater leaping capabilities, but it is catching me off guard. I think it feels a little too floaty perhaps, like I want to feel the impact of leaping off at great speed and then colliding back into the ground.

That's it for now, I'll let you know more after I keep looking at it.

 

Thank you for your feedback! May I know your laptop's specs, so I can start to get an idea about hardware limits? (You can pm them if you want)

I'll try to upload a new build this night with these changes:
- As a correction for point one, now opening a new menu will noticeably fade in black the previous one.
- I'm rebaking the tutorial part trying to raise the lighting especially in that initial area and placing lights just above where a platform is, hopefully easying their spatial recognition.

As for point three is related, back in the day I wondered if I should let air control on or off. I decided to let it on because once you get used to the platforming, being able to rectify your jump in mid-air is a blessing. I will try to implement an 'always-running' toggle on button, since some people are having trouble pressing W+Jump+Run at the same time it seems.

Edit: build being uploaded right now.
Besides some lighting corrections (I may bump baking lighting even a bit more), I have modified the textures of all platforms to include a white side line and they now rotate/move slower.

Spoiler

 

Build0095 is now live:
- Further eased main tutorial area (optional).
- Route for area 2-2 now changed, special trial cannot be reached now from ACRO test platforms.
- Upgraded area 2-2 lightmaps, hence the build size change.
- Minor optimizations to localization file.

Now preparing:
- Area 2-3.
- HUB and mechanics of Octant 3 & 5.
- A new demo type, areas will be independently downloaded and added to 'main game'.
- Another loading background.

 

Been a bit since the last update, I will proceed to upload build0096 in a couple days. Changes:

The project has been formally rebaptized as Artificial Resident. New build will reflect this.

The way builds are done has changed: builds are now like 10% bigger in size, but areas should load faster AND they now can be downloaded individually and added to the main installation, resulting in less download fuss.

Hopefully key remapping will be live in this build.

Some options weren't be persistent when you close the game. Should be fixed in this build too.

Pressing Tab will now cycle between a 'Run by default' / 'Walk by default' mode.
________________________________________________________________________________
No new content sadly, these weeks have been mainly optimization and bug correction.
After the release of this new build, level 2-3 should arrive in 5-7 days. Along with a small teaser (finally).

-JL

 

Build 0096 uploaded. Changelog:

Title screen reflects the new name.
Key remapping and controller support is in. (needs testing)
Bug where some graphics options weren't persistent fixed. (hopefully?)
The project now uses Asset Bundles to manage most of scenes instead of them being added right away in the main build.
Fixed a critical bug in which sometimes a scene would fail to load and the players would be stuck in the loading screen.

Known issues:
R key (the one used to restart trials once inside a room) can't be remapped. Will be fixed in next version.
Speakers scattered along areas seems to be malfunctioning without reason.

Bonus: (Not added yet)

Spoiler

Hey buddy!

 

Build 0097 will be uploaded tonight or tomorrow at most. Changelog:

In addition to its name, entering a trial room will now show small icons of its play elements on top of the screen.

Spoiler

Lowered lightmap resolution in some out of reach areas with the objective of lowering main build below 1GB.
Restart puzzle key should be able to be remapped.
Several minor bug fixes in most scenes too numerous to mention.

Teaser Test Bonus:

Spoiler

A complete rework of player control is now going on. Player will be able to optionally choose a 'more automatic' way of jumping, kinda similar to VR arc actually.

And got a Discord up just in case wants to say hello, chat about games or has any suggestion.
discord.gg/axRy36T An alpha test of area 2-3 will be available there (one trial is out until I figure out why its mechanic is bugged).

 

Almost forgot to update this topic. Build 0097 is live.
In addition to what was mentioned in last post:
- Minor fixes in localization files (prevented some messages to be read)

- Fixed some issues in Time Run mode. (Area 2-3 may have new ones until further testing)

- Fixed a bug in which audio in a Time Run would fail to start.

- Made some changes to the build in order to support Area 2-3. It is not present directly inside the build: its alpha can be downloaded from the game's Discord for now.

Area 2-3 trials pic:

Spoiler

 

Love the look of this, keep going dude!

 

Thank you sir!

 

I like puzzle games and this looks really promising to me in terms of atmosphere and gameplay! It has a sort of Q.U.B.E. feeling to it. Combined with 'mindjumping' looks like a cool idea...

The one thing I would reconsider in my opinion is the arm movement/gesture (e.g., at 0:36 in the "Zero Friction Cube Test" video of post #9). If you plan on releasing your game in certain countries, you might have to revise it anyway, I guess. Nonetheless, I'm not an expert regarding game rating.

 

Yes... I realized that back in the day, maybe instead of the fingers being extended I let the hand curl in a fist so it is less 'hail cube'

 

Right

Or a random pick out of:
- hand curls into a fist
- pointing at the object
- using-the-force gesture (spreading fingers and moving the arm slightly, u know)

I think those tiny things matter and I'd like to play your game even more

 

Wow! This looks good- really nice game play and cool sound design.

 

Thank you! Sound probably requires a rework, I'm focusing on gameplay/content first and eye candy later.

 

Sounds like the right idea Well looks/sounds/feels great already- Seriously impressive- best of luck!

 

Still working in a new controller/polishing assisted jumping, hopefully it will be done for this week and I will be able to update the build.
Meanwhile here's an early pic of Octant 3 HUB, nature's sector. First time I actually play with Unity's terrain, vegetation and that stuff:

Spoiler

(low lightmap resolution)

 

Build 0098 is uploaded. Changelog:
- Assisted jumping is now implemented for those only interested in the puzzle mechanics of the game. Hold V (can be remapped) to enter assisted jumping mode and release to auto-jump inside the reach area. It isn't perfect right now and should increase precision as I improve it. (Also, the game keeps track of the number of assisted jump the player performs... I'll do something with that)

Spoiler

- The way in which you double jump on a synthframe has now changed. Instead of waiting for another jump input, player gets automatically suspended above the kneeling synthframe and can access higher areas from there.

Spoiler

https://media.giphy.com/media/7zfZs36y4yfysGGQft/giphy.gif

- Instead of extending hand gesture when aiming at objects that can be interacted, character animation is now more like pointing at them, may require further adjustment.

Spoiler

https://media.giphy.com/media/wIkjXeD6pGkOzo0BjN/giphy.gif

- Added new cool music tracks by Arvianth (https://soundcloud.com/arvianth)
- Sometimes kneeling synthframes could sink a bit below the floor level, shouldn't happen anymore. (requires testing)
- Changes to tutorial area 0-1. You are not talked into what to do anymore, instead control tutorial appear at left side of player's screen.
- Corrected some localization typos.

Known issues:
- Accidentally replaced one of the mesh prefabs: that piece has lost its lightmapping information which means I'll have to rebake almost every scene ... will upload a corrected version as soon as I rebake.
- Some platforms are missing their assisted special jump behaviour. (Area 2-2 acrobatics trial is entirely missing from assisted jumping, but that one will probably disappear anyway).
- There's a bug in which if you try hard enough and in very precise locations, you can go through the ceiling when double jumping. A correction is almost ready.
- Trying to track down another bug in which player would infinitely float after double jumping on another synthframe (this one is tricky since it seems to be frame-perfect)

For next upload: Octant's 3 HUB and area 3-1, featuring new mechanics and a more organic look. Maybe two types of controls to choose: oldschool and newschool.

As always, any feedback is more than welcomed.

 

I've playtested Build 0098 a couple of times and I must say I like the overall feel of the game. Especially the intro scene and the big interior spaces. However, here is a short list of minor and mayor things I noticed:

Intro scene:
+ interestingly, the blurriness makes it seem more realistic
- the screen glitches are cool, but way too many in my view (or I just don't get the idea)

Big interior spaces:
+ look intimidating, but also inviting
- the design changes too rapidly and breaks the "flow", unless it's intended

Riddles:
+ challenging and diverse
- partially too challenging. I don't know your vision of the final level design, but I think there should be more riddles of the same kind to make the difficult ones not too difficult, too early. The second gravity/push/pull box riddle seems to be impossible to solve (I'll try this one again tomorrow )

Assisted jump:
I'm not sure about this one, although it looks interesting. I know, you're improving it, but I guess you have to sort of permanently "interpolate" the player to a moving target platform to make it 100% accurate. For now, the feature certainly facilitates jumping, but introduces other jumping difficulties, like finding the correct timing or even jumping against a green-marked platform (and not on top of it), which results in a failed jump.

Music:
Wouldn't change it. For me, it already makes up 50% of the overall impression so far and I would say that this is a good ratio.

Hand gesture:
Looks better now

 

Thank you for the feedback Codemilker! It's very valuable!

Yeah, Intro is one of those scenes I'll rework towards more advanced versions of the game (actually I'm touching here and there every scene). The point was trying to get an uncomfortable-glitchy sensation when the player was transferred to a synthframe for the first time, maybe I'll play with a lower effect's strenght (also due to its programming the glitch is random everytime).

I guess the changes are actually intended, even if each octant has its own 'looks' related to their particular mechanic I was worried this kind of modular construction could tire the player out after some time. Hence, I'm trying that each area has its own, er, charm related to their position in the facility (they have a precise position inside it).

Spoiler

Hmm, are you talking about Dance of Three? I've received several complains about that one being too punishing and yesterday I just added a mid-checkpoint so if you fall, it doesn't take that much time to retry.
Trials get more challenging the more you advanced inside an octant but they are not now that much diverse, but they will as more different octants make it into the game. The point will be, if you get eventually annoyed by a mechanic or by a particular trial, just go to another octant for a fresh change.

Yep, it just made its debut in 0098 and it's in very early stages, requires more precision and forward/vertical speed adjusting depending on the target distance. I don't know if it's noticeable but it slows time down so it's easier to target moving platforms, I'm trying to think in an effect to make it more evident.

Composer Arvianth is slowly replacing the generic tracks I chose back in the day with his creations, the second area in octant II already features one of his tracks and this next build should have replaced the cube's tutorial too. (He is making it so each octant has its own musical mood related to their mechanics).

This will make me lose players from extreme-right movements I guess (shouldn't joke with that)

In other news, I'll upload a bug-corrected build asap (that annoying platforming zone inside the second area is gone).

 

Well, it wasn't as impossible-ish as I thought when I tried it again the next day. Actually a fairly easy one, when you're not as sleepy as I was It was the one that comes directly after this first box intro riddle:

Spoiler

Yeah, sort of noticeable, but not really much.

 

With the zero friction cubes i think you should make all the tiles that the cube has crossed stay lit to make it easier for the player to keep track of what they have completed.

 

Ohh, yes. Some players have called that 'the pokemon rock thing'. That one should teach the player to reverse-engineering the wanted path instead of pushing the cubes like crazy...

Hmm, considering the current mechanics that would probably confuse the player in more advanced trials where those cubes will go through the same area several times. I don't discard using that for just a single special trial though, where the player has to cover every of those light tiles in order to clear the trial (just like those floor-ice-breaking pokemon puzzles?)

As I'm writing this a build correction (0098A) is being uploaded (1 hour to go), hopefully fixing some graphical and programming problems. (Also this one removes those just-platforms trials in some areas).

 

Hullo there! Been busy coding plenty of stuff and polishing those new mechanics for Octant 3, they are now 95% ready.
While Octant 2 tests logic in a superficial level, NAT octant tests your ability to command by the use of three different types of spheres: black, white and blue, each of them can follow you and serve a particular purpose.

Please note that from now on I'll only update the itch.io demo with core changes especially based on feedback (movement corrections, bug fixes, etc) and it won't feature new content excepting some eventual freebies. If anyone is interesting in playtesting the newest stuff, I'll post more areas inside my Discord. (If you are a streamer or reviewer ask for an advanced version).

I'll proceed to upload Build0099 in the next days.
- Fixed a bug which prevented restarting a trial when holding R.
- Corrected and added plenty of reflection probes (areas that should look dark, look dark now)
- With the addition of Octant 3 (there's dirt, grass, etc) implementing a change-footstep sound system was needed. Only adding glass floor footsteps is left.
- Fixed a bug in which soundtracks in the same area would slowly desync from each other.
- Player will be able to access HUB-3. (But 3-1 will be uploaded in my Discord).
- Changes to HUB-2, it will allow player to travel to Octant 3 HUB after beating some trials.

I haven't had the chance to rework all I wanted to do related to movement and assisted jumping so it will have to wait for Build0100 (v0.1) which will also feature a system that will reward the player with some kind of scoring after beating a trial, that will increase the feel of gratification hopefully.

Gif briefly showing some Octant 3 mechanics.

Spoiler

And here's a curious bonus, since the game is based in an architectural module I worked with some time ago, I guess there's no problem in replicating it in real life:

Spoiler

(getting the union tolerances and mechanical resistances right is a nightmare)

 

Build0099 is now available to download. I had to split the file in two parts until I can reduce the main build size (if that's even possible).

In addition to previous post:
- Areas 2-1 and HUB 2 have received a new track by Arvianth.
- Updated Time Run menu to allow a 3-1 play when it's cleared.

Known issues: (solved in 0.1)
- Going from HUB-3 to Origin basically bugs the game (it allows to access options menu though). Restarting the application solves it.
- The ZFCs that decorate Octant 2 access in Origin, er, move by themselves and disappear.
- 2-3 glass floor is missing its soundsteps.
- 2-3 has wrong light probes in some areas (too bright).
- New area 3-1 loses its terrain detail when playing that area's Time Run.

Edit: Added a Google Drive 1-link too.

 

This looks real lovely! Love when people take inspiration from outside of games Seems like it has a really strong design + interesting art.

 

Thank you tinyruin!

I hope to upload v0.1 soon, it will feature plenty of fixes and some changes (assisted jumping has been improved a lot and I've basically removed all moving platforms). I'm testing right now a reward system that triggers everytime the player clears a trial and will make a branch of the game's symbol complete depending on which octant the player is clearing. I've uploaded a preview:

Spoiler

 

Build 0100 (v0.1) is now available on itch.io featuring a complete movement/control overhaul.

Changelog:
- Air control is now reduced and player cannot change speed while in mid air.
- Character suffers a slowdown when landing, depending on how much time it spent falling.
- Removed all moving/rotating platforms, there are some platforming elements here and there but the game is now focused on puzzling.
- Added four exit consoles in Origin, each one unlocks? a different ending? depending on your performance?
- Related to previous, an alpha reward system is live. Trials will now award points to its corresponding octant and will affect the ending of the game.
- Portals are now a bit faster. (still need performance rework)
- Assisted Jumping improvements.
- Solved a lasting bug in which player could go through ceiling when double jumping.
- Reworked the game's initial tutorial area (for the 6th time ).

Spoiler

Known issues:
- HUB3 lightmaps require noise clearing.
- Somehow vegetation disappears in area 3-1 when speedrunning it.

Now to work on more content!