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[WIP] Tales of Lena - 2D (pixel art) platformer

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by SiegfriedCroes, Dec 29, 2014.

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  1. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Oh riiiight. Yeah, first one I actually bought myself then was a PS3. All my other consoles I got from friends and for birthdays/christmas when they were already old and cheap, ha ha, cause I'm broke like that

    But do those people have working games? I see tons of people make sprite work that looks good, then do nothing with them. You have the skills to make them do something.

    I feel like someone should have invented plug-ins to do that

    Oh, right. thats a shame.
     
  2. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    I buy everything myself :) Since the launch of the DS I've bought all Nintendo consoles and handhelds on launchday ^^' Not all the revisions though ;) Anyway, this is getting offtopic.

    I think some people do though there are only a few :)

    Yeah... Btw, there's this online 3D tool called Clara.io that is quite cool and simple to use compared to Blender ;)

    Also, I'll be taking a little break from Tales of Lena to participate in Ludum Dare 35 (first time) and play other people's games afterwards so it might take a while before a next update ;)
     
  3. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Awesome! I'm gonna have to look into that 3D software, I've never heard of this before!

    Game Jam? Nice! I did the Global Game Jam a few years ago, those are a fun time. Though by the end of mine, I was hallucinating, slept for about 16 hours afterward, And was horribly sick for a week. Still worth it.

    Take the time you need, as long as you come back, the world needs this project
     
  4. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Last edited: Apr 24, 2016
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  5. virror

    virror

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    LOL
     
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  6. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    You were far less foolhardy than I was then, ha ha

    Wow, I love the GB look. It feels like Pokemon

    PLEASE tell me you get to play as the cat after that. The game is probably instantly 10 times better that way.

    Though, me and my friend will one day make the ultimate cat game. That game will be the best of all.
     
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  7. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Yes you play as the cat afterwards but that's not the only thing you play as ;) I just added a link to the game, can't believe I forgot that ^^'
     
  8. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    HA HA HA

    What did I even just play...?

    That game was good. And also insane. ha ha ha
     
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  9. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Glad you enjoyed it :p

    Lena is back to kick some... balls?



    So I decided to make some changes and give the player the ability to kick at any moment (also while in the air). This means kicking is now your way of attacking (instead of jumping on enemies). I added the balls mainly for fun though they might be used in some way. One idea is to have stones you can kick to kill enemies (apart from just kicking them directly).

    I'll definitely be tweaking Lena's design a bit to make her shoes/boots bigger and the kick animation more powerful.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2016
  10. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Nice! I love the physics on those balls

    You could make a type of puzzle where you have to kick an object like that to a certain location to unlock treasure or something. This little mechanic has a lot of potential. I always find simple, chaotic mechanics have a strange vicseral appeal.

    I wouldn't take jumping on enemies out of the game though. Having two modes of attack makes it so you can make some enemies that can only be killed one way, and some that can only be killed another. And perhaps maybe some enemies can't be touched at all, and the only way to kill them would be kicking something at them. It would give your enemy interactions greater variety. Yet another way this ball kicking thing could be incredibly useful.

    By the way, I showed one of your screenshot gifs to my friend that I'm making my game with and told her "Our level have to look alive like this." when we were working on some of the animated decorations of our level.
     
  11. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Thanks :)

    That could work though I'm not entirely sure of it yet. What do you think of something like a fast downwards kick (working the same way as a Mario ground pound)?

    Hehe, awesome :D Curious to see what you are working on ;)
     
  12. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    I just feel like the Crash Bandicoot model of having enemies that either need to be attacked or jumped on gives your enemies more variety, if every enemy is handled the exact same way, it takes options away from you. Say you have a ledge, and you have an enemy holding position on that ledge. If all enemies are killed the exact same way, then you deal with that scenario the exact same way every time.

    Now, if you have one type of enemy that can only be jumped on, verses one type of enemy who has like, spikes on his back or something so you can't attack him by jumping on him, that scenario can play out multiple ways. You either just simply jump up and onto his back, you have to AVOID jumping on his back or either kick him with good timing on your jump, or find a way to get over him and kick him from the other side, or if he can't be touched at all, you have to just find a way to avoid him. One scenario becomes 3.

    As for the down kick, like the one in Castlevania SOTN? Maybe it if was like an option, where you had to hit Down+Kick. Though thats more for cool factor than functionality. But cool factor is always fun

    It's linked in my sig. It's not nearly as ambitious as yours though, ha ha. This is just a basic starter project with my friend
     
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  13. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    You might be right ;) I'll see if it feels right :)

    Ah I checked that link but there wasn't much to see yet ^^' Post more!

    In other news, Lena is really enjoying kicking things! Maybe a bit too much ^^'

     
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  14. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    I'm really loving the animations for stuff getting destroyed, it gives the world even more life than it already had. Also, who doesn't love a little chaos? Ha ha

    I know! I wish I could, we are having trouble finding a way to record footage off of android devices because my friend has an old version of android that won't record easily without paying money. But we have made progress, just today we had a major testing and balancing session, but now we are fixing our UI graphics to scale better with smaller resolution devices. I'd definitely post videos of progress if I knew how.
     
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  15. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Thanks :) I'll be making it even better, like I want the mushroom to spin while it flies away. I also love the idea of having all kinds of things to interact with :D

    Maybe you could use Unity Remote and record on your computer. That's definitely the hardest part with mobile, making sure it looks good on all resolutions ^^' Best of luck and looking forward to see what you come up with ;)

    I've been thinking about the score system in my game and I think I'll remove it. I'll be using the fruits (or whatever else it will be in other levels) as health :) The game started off as a simple arcade platformer but now that it's turning more about adventure/exploring I think the score isn't needed.
     
  16. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Yeah, whenever I would play old games, I'd always wonder why there was so much you couldn't interact with. Whenever I saw a thing that I couldn't interact with, I'd wonder why. I loved games where you could at least do something to almost everything in the enviornment

    Interesting, I'll have to research this. It could be very helpful. And yeah, it works great on devices which are 1080p or higher, but on old 720p devices it's a total mess, so we're making sure it at least supports 720p and up.

    I still think score converting to coins would be good, because then the treasures you find will have some form of monitary value.
     
  17. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Yeah totally agree :)

    It's also a great app to debug your game. It's just running in your editor, and streaming the image to your device's screen so when errors occur you can see them in the console.

    I'll think of something that works ;) In any case, the score counter at the top will be removed!
     
  18. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Yeah, me and my friend develop this game remotely, so most of the development process is just me looking at her screen, so when we test the game, I can't tell whats going on, this will be helpful I suspect. And the bugs in the console will really save us, right now we just debug the hard way of just guessing where the problem is, hah a ha. Have you even developed anything on mobile?

    I'll be interested in seeing your solution
     
  19. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    As mentioned before, you'll be able to collect records of the music in most levels.
    Here's Lena's way of acquiring them (gramophone graphics are WIP):

     
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  20. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Woah, that looks great

    I hope theres a little record scratch noise when she kicks it in the final version
     
  21. SiegfriedCroes

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    Watch out for the kamikaze bird, it'll fly right at you if you come too close!

     
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  22. Not_Sure

    Not_Sure

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    IDK, I'd shy away from unnecessarily offending anyone.
     
  23. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    You think a bird with a red bandana could offend someone? Or did you mean using the term "kamikaze"?
     
  24. virror

    virror

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    Can't see why any of that would offend anyone. Looks cool, bird might be a bit to big though?
     
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  25. KnightsHouseGames

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    I was worried you had fallen off the face of the earth! I'm glad you're still with us

    Yeah, my gut says on the name that there might be fringe cases where someone could see that as possibly uncomfortable. Also, some digital storefronts (I know for sure Windows Store and Android do it) will include culturally context spesific references as stuff your game can get taken down for, like for example, if your game is being sold in China, and you make any reference to the existance of Tibet, your game can immediately be taken down. Seriously, it's kind of interesting to read some of those rules and examples of stuff you can't do.

    I feel like if you were making a historical WWII game, and literally refering to the plane, you'd be alright, but the context you are using it in COULD be seen as making light of a rather dark thing in Japanese history.

    I think if you wanted to go the safe route, maybe go with a more generic name, like Dive Bomber or something. I assume the bird doesn't die when it hits you, correct? It just dives at you, and can hit you again and again until you defeat it? I think it might just be safe to go with a euphimism in this case.
     
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  26. SiegfriedCroes

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    I already made him a bit smaller compared to my mockup but I'll have to see and compare with my other enemies, they are all quite big in general especially the frog.

    Yes, I'm still alive!
    Don't worry, the enemy will not be called "kamikaze bird" ;) Actually the idea of using the term came from Worms, where it was called "kamikaze" and it was a suicide move! I was thinking of letting the bird die when it hits something but I could also go for him just flying off screen. I got the idea for the behaviour from the original Rayman where you had a type of antitoon that jumped in the air and then flew off screen, dealing damage if it hit you.
     
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  27. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    I'm glad you are! The world needs this game!

    Well yeah, I was imaginging him being like those owls from Castlevania 3, or the little birds from Hagane for SNES, where they just kinda dive bomb on you, then fly away. I always found it funny when like you would be playing as this battle hardened badass, and get killed by a little bird or a frog, ha ha
     
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  28. der_r

    der_r

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    Another update! :D The bird looks badass.

    I have a question regarding previous screenshots. Do you print text using Unity's UI features or did you roll your own using sprites? I have some trouble getting fonts to look crisp using low res rendertextures.
     
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  29. SiegfriedCroes

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    Haha, thanks ;)

    I've never played Castlevania or Hagane :eek: But I think I know what you mean :)
    Haha true!

    Thanks :)
    I use my own system with sprites because I thought rendering text with the UI system would never be 100% pixel perfect (never actually tried though so who knows). What are you using the render textures for?
     
  30. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Websites exist on the internet to cure that problem. Especially considering Hagane barely got released in america, so basically the only way to play it is using snesfun.com

    Really!? You don't use the UI system for your dialog boxes!? Wow. Thats pretty amazing.
     
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  31. der_r

    der_r

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    I render everything to a 320x240 render texture (DOS VGA ModeX :D), put that on a quad and render it with a second camera, so the sprites are pixel perfect. I tried your suggestion with the screen blitting but I somehow couldn't get it to work. I also struggled with getting the Unity UI pixel perfect like you and have started working on my own text system with sprites and bitmap fonts. :)
     
  32. SiegfriedCroes

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    I'll check it out ;)

    Thanks a lot :) I reused (and improved on) the textbox system I made for an older project ;)

    Ah yes :) Making your own system with sprites will be better (and 100% pixel perfect). Good luck with it :D
     
  33. MrUnecht

    MrUnecht

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    This game looks awesome!!

    I would buy this game!! 5€ would be nice :)
    Please try Steam i think many People would upvote it
     
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  34. SiegfriedCroes

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    Thank you very much :D
    I'll be putting it on greenlight when I have some more to show (more worlds, so it's clear that there is more than only forest). The price will definitely be reasonable ;)
     
  35. BenBurgeCode

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    I have pretty dumb question but hey why not. I have been looking high and low for a platformer game tutorial for 2D style games like this. From the videos I watched I really loved how smooth your platformer physics are. What class/tutorial/book did you use to development the skeleton for movement and platforms?

    Thanks!
     
  36. SiegfriedCroes

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    Even though it's definitely not a stupid question, I don't really have a super helpful answer to it... I just made it myself with the knowledge I had from previously making some platformers in C++ and Game Maker. It could help looking up some game maker platform tutorials or just general platformer mechanics and translate that into unity code :)
     
  37. MoonJellyGames

    MoonJellyGames

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    Gosh, I'm incredibly jealous of your artistic skills. I'm fairly confident in my ability to make a game that's fun to play (based on the little bit that I've done anyway), but I just don't have the drawing skills to make them visually appealing. I really need to pester my artist friend into getting on board. XD

    I'm very curious about how you've handled your physics, too. I read a few very useful blogs/tutorials that got me using raycasting collision, which I've been very happy with. Can I assume that you're using raycasts also? And about your dirt blocks that fall when nothing supports them-- how did you manage that? I have something similar in my game, and the way I achieved the effect is probably the hacky-est thing I've done in this project-- and I don't plan on re-doing it unless I need blocks with that behaviour for my next project. I could detail how I did it, but I'll spare you. The short version is that I use Unity's physics, and then turn them kinematic and snap their position when they've landed.
     
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  38. SiegfriedCroes

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    Haha thanks, It's sometimes hard for me to like my own pixel art and always think others look better (I guess that's often the case with artists) ^^'

    I experimented a lot when I first started working on the game and decided to make my own simple collision system like it worked in a previous game I made in C++. It's all just basic checks whether one rectangle overlaps another. I've made my own Rigidbody like behavior (called Simplebody) which handles all the collision checks including a check if the object is grounded and if not it has to fall down.

    Currently still working on the enemies: programming the behaviors, updating the trigger system to allow both jumping on an enemy and kicking it to work and changing the way it dies.
     
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  39. GarBenjamin

    GarBenjamin

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    Way to get it done. It definitely is more effort to learn someone else's system when you can just knock out the kind of things you have been using for a long time. Plus if something goes haywire you will be in a better position to fix it.

    Do you think you might have a playable web demo (just a tiny thing) to check out this year? It looks like an interesting world to explore.
     
  40. SiegfriedCroes

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    I totally agree. I like doing everything myself and not rely on assets (from the asset store), I like knowing exactly how every script in my project works.

    I should be able to do that :) It's still a hobby project I only work on from time to time (currently also doing some digital painting for a change) but I asked at work if I could work 4 days instead of 5 so I have one day in the week that I can spend on my own projects :) Hopefully that's possible!
     
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  41. imaginaryhuman

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    I feel like the movement is too slow. That always turns me off about a platformer if there's so much time taken just to move around. I'd speed up the player animation a bit and increase the movement and jump speed.
     
  42. SiegfriedCroes

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    I made the player run a bit faster now, don't think it should be any faster than this. I'll still change the run animation a bit to make it look more like running instead of walking.

    I've been working on some internal stuff lately and also changed the way enemies die + played around with particles a bit (still needs some tweaking here and there).

     
  43. SiegfriedCroes

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    Some enemies can only be killed in a special way ;)

     
  44. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Ahh! I never got any notifications about updates to this thread! I just decided to check now because I hadn't heard anything in a while, and here all this is!

    Dude, you are a beast. This is the brand of insanity that accompanies these kind of badass single person games made by renaissance men like Out of this World and Rollercoaster Tycoon.

    I'm really liking all this enemy gameplay, that Hedgehog is great, and those particles are awesome. Is that Unity's internal particle system or something you came up with yourself? Having just used Unity's particles in my most recent project, I know they can be a little weird in a 2D game since they are more for use in 3D projects.
     
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  45. SiegfriedCroes

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    Haha, thanks man ;)

    Glad you like it and yes, it's Unity's build in particle system. At first I didn't want to use it because it wouldn't be pixel perfect, then Unity 5 came and I was able to use Render Textures to render to the native resolution. Only now I tried using particles again and thanks to rendering to a texture it stays pixel perfect :)
     
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  46. KnightsHouseGames

    KnightsHouseGames

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    Oh right, yeah I forgot about that, that is a nice system, I used it for the animated birds in my game and it came out pretty nice
     
  47. SiegfriedCroes

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    I took a break from the project for Ludum Dare 36 but working on it again now.

    I started designing the first level and decided I wanted Lena to be able to crouch and crawl (implemented) and climb ladders (partially implemented). Both still need graphics though so nothing to show yet.

    I'm also thinking about rewriting my physics system. I wanted to add jump through slopes but the way everything is programmed now doesn't allow this. A rewrite should solve this.

    Lastly, I changed jumping from fixed height double jump to the more common jump and hold to get higher.
     
  48. GarBenjamin

    GarBenjamin

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    Glad to see you still working on this. Where is your LD submission? Can you pm or post a link?
     
  49. SiegfriedCroes

    SiegfriedCroes

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    Finally made a new kick animation :) Also changed how crates (and other containers) break.

     
  50. HugoCBR

    HugoCBR

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    Hi, i found your two projects (Lands of Treasure and Tales of Lena) while i was looking for some references, and i wanted to say how good Tales of Lena is looking right now

    I'm on a small project at Unity with a friend, aiming initially to develop just for learning. I am in love with your art and ideas and I wanted to ask your permission to inspire me in your arts for the development of my RPG game in the same graphic style. I'm going to face difficult programming-related challenges, and I wanted to ask if you have any suggestions.

    (sorry for any errors)
     
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