Support NeoGAF

[Messofanego]

Some of them are. Not all. Thanks

I wanted to show this because he didn't happen to do it on-camera in my recorded fight.

(this area likes to get some really gnarly artifacting on it when taken as a gif!)

He likes to hit you with a short range then retreat and use his long range. He also will use the long range if you stay far away for too long.

This gif also illustrates "heavy" damage types. The first shot is ordinary damage; if you have enough armor to absorb it, it does little or no damage ("chip" damage) to your actual health (top left number).

Certain attacks will do a lot of damage regardless, such as this rifle shot. It's worth mentioning that if by chance you are hit by this while your armor is empty, it's a one shot kill. Balanced by the fact that it is broadcast by a sound shortly before the actual shot.

HNNGGG

 

[Arkadios]

It's worth mentioning that if by chance you are hit by this while your armor is empty, it's a one shot kill.

Now we're talking.

 

[whiteninja]

Will there be background music in the final game like metroid or more like souls where its more ambient sounds and music at certain areas or times? I don't mind either way just wondering.

 

[Anony]

seems more like a metroid clone than metroidvania

 

[tebunker]

This game missed wii u by like 6k did paypal not help get there? I guess not going unity changed that dynamic as well. Would love to see an update on the situation.

Game looks awesome

 

[Ran rp]

Holy crap, Jobbs. I'm in awe. Passionate and dedicated indie devs like you give me all the strength in the world to continue honing my own craft.

Keep it up dude!

 

[BaronLundi]

Looks fantastic and sounds even better.

Done the deed on steam greenlight.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Everything pretty much looks great except for the weird audio dip when changing screens. Fix that and MY IMMERSION will be intact.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Holy fuck, looks awesome. I would have kickstarted the shit out of this if I knew about it. Will buy day one instead.

My biggest complaint about most Metroid style games is that most have you playing as some lame looking dude like in Shadow Complex. I want to look bad ass. I am happy to see a bad ass looking character design here.

 

[psykomyko]

Looks fantastic. Will be preordering this for sure!

 

[Kansoku]

Love everything about it. The ambiance is really great, the mechanics are pretty solid and can be pretty fun.

There's one thing bugging me, tho. The screen transition seems really odd for some reason.

 

[Jobbs]

Thank you.

Some have mentioned screen transitions. This is something I'll be thinking about. As it is, it's done by way of placing invisible objects to be doorway sensors, and when you touch them they load variables into data lists to pick your spawn point in the next screen. In some cases my coordinates aren't dialed in 100% perfect. In addition to that I'd consider fades or something.

Also in some cases there's a minor pause or lag on screen switch, because new things are loaded into memory. I would consider a buffer scene to smooth this over. One of many things on my mind lately.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Thank you.

Some have mentioned screen transitions. This is something I'll be thinking about. As it is, it's done by way of placing invisible objects to be doorway sensors, and when you touch them they load variables into data lists to pick your spawn point in the next screen. In some cases my coordinates aren't dialed in 100% perfect. In addition to that I'd consider fades or something.

I think its the audio dip that happens when changing screens. Like its re-loading the current sound tracks or is being interfered with. Pretty sure you clear that up and people wont have an issue.

 

[Jobbs]

I think its the audio dip that happens when changing screens. Like its re-loading the current sound tracks or is being interfered with. Pretty sure you clear that up and people wont have an issue.

At least part of this "change" in white noise tonality is intentional, believe it or not, I like the slight changes in the white noise making one area just sort of "feel" different to all your senses compared to the last.

But when it comes to the little blips and stuff, yes, those are not desired.

 

[arab]

my body is ready

 

[~Kinggi~]

At least part of this "change" in white noise tonality is intentional, believe it or not, I like the slight changes in the white noise making one area just sort of "feel" different to all your senses compared to the last.

But when it comes to the little blips and stuff, yes, those are not desired.

Maybe a casual fade or something between intentionally different room sounds would make things seem more natural./ I just know when sharp sound transitions occur like that it kind of makes areas feel segmented in unintentional ways, making the immersion feel jilted.

Anyway though everything else looks really amazing. Are you the only guy working on it?

 

[dancrane212]

Great work Jobs! The game continues to look fantastic.

Actually is the game is still coming out on Linux? I wasn't sure if that was dependant on Unity or not. I'm thinking of putting together a little linux machine for my television to play all these kickstarter games I've backed.

 

[Jobbs]

Maybe a casual fade or something between intentionally different room sounds would make things seem more natural./ I just know when sharp sound transitions occur like that it kind of makes areas feel segmented in unintentional ways, making the immersion feel jilted.

Anyway though everything else looks really amazing. Are you the only guy working on it?

thank you

I am doing the design/implementation/art, roger's doing music, but I also have a little network of support with the stencyl gurus, and Jon (the creator of Stencyl) has already modified or added to the toolset for my benefit multiple times because he believes in the project. So, while I"m doing most the work myself, I do have support and help, and when I need to figure out how to do something, I have a place to go. It was this support structure which enabled me to feel comfortable and confident enough to make the change. If something went distastrously wrong with the implementation of the game, or if I hit some kind of wall, well, I have the person who created and controls the toolset to help me solve it. And it's nice to know that.

There's also Ari, who has done a couple sprites. I hope to raise the funds to be able to hire him (or someone like him) to do much more artwork and make everything go much faster.

 

[Fou-Lu]

This game is looking incredible, the atmosphere is unreal and the talk of ambient lore is exactly what I want out of a metroidvania game. Excitement is through the roof.

BTW, what's stencyl?

 

[Gbraga]

GOOOOOOOOOOOD LORD

THIS LOOKS FANTASTIC.

I mean, it always looked delicious, but the atmosphere finally clicked with me, I was only hyping up the gameplay so far.

GHOOOOOOOOOST DASHHHHHHH

COMING THRU COMING THRU COMING THRU NOW

WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING

OVERDRIVE

=@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

The voice acting is fantastic, the Crestfallen Warrior at the start is so much Dark Souls it makes me cry. Did I back this?

EDIT: Bring the webms, Jobbs.

 

[NoirVisage]

Looking good! you wear your inspiration on your sleeve while still being original..

success stories like this give me hope. WHEN I release or kickstart a game i'll never mention who i am on Gaf though, hopefully word makes its way back over here. -__-

 

[CTLance]

I hadn't logged in for quite some time, but this is something I had to show support for.

Looking mighty good there, jobbs. Certainly worthy of my meager kickstarter moneys. So glad I backed this.

 

[DTU]

This video is great. The game is atmospheric as hell. Love the graphics, sound design, and gameplay. Jobbs is delivering.

 

[Atomski]

Damn, this looks great. Crazy I somehow missed this kickstarter..

 

[JD_Lars]

So glad I backed this. Thanks to the Super Best Friends podcast for telling me about it.

 

[Instro]

I'll watch the whole thing later but what I saw looked great, nice jobb.

 

[Solid SOAP]

If this comes to Wii U I will definitely buy it. Looks awesome and I've been craving a Metroidvania for a while.

 

[Kojirospath]

There's also Ari, who has done a couple sprites. I hope to raise the funds to be able to hire him (or someone like him) to do much more artwork and make everything go much faster.

Have you considered doing some kind of preorder page or slackerbacker type thing? Might generate some more cashflow.

 

[The Xtortionist]

Is the camera still being worked on? Seems like the character should be closer to the middle of the screen when moving. In the video, the camera's position while running could make it difficult to react to stuff.

Also, does the game have a map system? If so, is there a reason why it isn't displayed onscreen?

Nice atmosphere btw.

 

[Stratosphere]

Wow, that really looks good! I remember seeing this during the kickstarter campaign, starred it, but for some reason never backed. After this recent footage I'm all in. Is there any way to pre-order w/digital OST? I'm really digging the music.

 

[Jobbs]

Is the camera still being worked on? Seems like the character should be closer to the middle of the screen when moving. In the video, the camera's position while running could make it difficult to react to stuff.

Also, does the game have a map system? If so, is there a reason why it isn't displayed onscreen?

Nice atmosphere btw.

thank you all. I originally used a simple easing logic that makes the camera lag behind the character's movements a little, the primary reason because it "felt" nice, but I do see how in some cases (like the adam fight) it feels like it could be a bit counter productive. I'm definitely thinking about the camera and how to improve it.

I have a very traditional, old school approach to a lot of things, stubbornly so, and fairly stubborn cameras is one of those tendencies. I don't really want the camera panning or zooming around (in the case of zooming, my levels aren't really designed for it, not sure how that'd work) all over like in most modern games. That said, I am open to "finessing" things a bit to make the camera at least not work against you, if I can.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

thank you all. I originally used a simple easing logic that makes the camera lag behind the character's movements a little, the primary reason because it "felt" nice, but I do see how in some cases (like the adam fight) it feels like it could be a bit counter productive. I'm definitely thinking about the camera and how to improve it.

I have a very traditional, old school approach to a lot of things, stubbornly so, and fairly stubborn cameras is one of those tendencies. I don't really want the camera panning or zooming around (in the case of zooming, my levels aren't really designed for it, not sure how that'd work) all over like in most modern games. That said, I am open to "finessing" things a bit to make the camera at least not work against you, if I can.

I like how the camera lags a little. I also love the little drone companion; I'd kind of assumed it was going to be quite large (bigger than her head) but it seems just right at that size - always being there as a little companion in the darker depths, but too small to be intrusive.

As a closing thought, is 3252 the year in which this game takes place?

 

[Noogy]

Continues to look amazing, well done, Jobbs

 

[The Xtortionist]

thank you all. I originally used a simple easing logic that makes the camera lag behind the character's movements a little, the primary reason because it "felt" nice, but I do see how in some cases (like the adam fight) it feels like it could be a bit counter productive. I'm definitely thinking about the camera and how to improve it.

I have a very traditional, old school approach to a lot of things, stubbornly so, and fairly stubborn cameras is one of those tendencies. I don't really want the camera panning or zooming around (in the case of zooming, my levels aren't really designed for it, not sure how that'd work) all over like in most modern games. That said, I am open to "finessing" things a bit to make the camera at least not work against you, if I can.

Thanks for responding. It's cool that you're open to feedback.

I was thinking about it a bit more. It's possible that a major consequence of using a lagging camera would be that players would always have a finger on the dash button - preparing to immediately dash backwards on reaction should a threat appear. I can see two responses to this. One would be that the reduced time to react would induce paranoia within players and potentially increase the feeling of hostility in the atmosphere. The other would be more negative, in that having to be "on guard" the entire time while moving (at least in unexplored areas) would distract the player from the world/atmosphere, instead keeping their eyes locked on the edge of the screen. Eliminating the camera lag would allow players to relax a bit more, though the uncertainty of what lies ahead would be diminished at some level.

I really have no basis for any of this because I haven't seen or played your game, but I think the same can be said when discussing camera lag in general. It's a touchy subject, for sure.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[SuperSah]

Looks fucking amazing.

The art style is incredible and the sound design is fantastic. The voicework is great.

Thank you for Mac support!

 

[Jobbs]

I continue to be a little taken aback by all the positive response, I honestly wasn't sure if neogaf would take notice.

here's a bit of trivia, since some of you guys are interested, Adam can actually be flinched. There's a constantly declining value inside of him that is raised by being hit, and if it is raised high enough (ie, rapid hits) he flinches.

I noticed flinching him also made him a bit too easy so I made it less likely to happen, and so it didn't actually happen in the particular youtube video, but it definitely can happen.

This is a flinch state gif I took a while back when I was first programming his behavior. At this time, the plasma shot had a chance of insta-flinching him. Obviously this had to go, it made him too easy. I'm for randomness in some things but this seemed to be out of line.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Just looked at the Kickstarter page and saw that $54,000 was raised with the Wii U version being a $60,000 stretch goal.

Is the Wii U version going ahead? I'll assume not.

 

[Jobbs]

Just looked at the Kickstarter page and saw that $54,000 was raised with the Wii U version being a $60,000 stretch goal.

Is the Wii U version going ahead? I'll assume not.

Fielding the Wii U question is almost like flexing a muscle, it's just this thing I'm so used to that it's effortless.

I'm a console gamer, and my infatuation with consoles goes back to my childhood and is a motivating factor for me. So, while the game is not being built in Unity, there is the potential to get it onto Wii U or other consoles in other ways. I cannot say anything concrete yet, though, all I can do is talk to you honestly that I'm hopeful but do not know yet.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Fielding the Wii U question is almost like flexing a muscle, it's just this thing I'm so used to that it's effortless.

I'm a console gamer, and my infatuation with consoles goes back to my childhood and is a motivating factor for me. So, while the game is not being built in Unity, there is the potential to get it onto Wii U or other consoles in other ways. I cannot say anything concrete yet, though, all I can do is talk to you honestly that I'm hopeful but do not know yet.

Understood. Good luck, and thanks for the response.

 

[Vampirolol]

I'm so buying this!

 

[Gbraga]

dat backdash

 

[wilflare]

Fielding the Wii U question is almost like flexing a muscle, it's just this thing I'm so used to that it's effortless.

I'm a console gamer, and my infatuation with consoles goes back to my childhood and is a motivating factor for me. So, while the game is not being built in Unity, there is the potential to get it onto Wii U or other consoles in other ways. I cannot say anything concrete yet, though, all I can do is talk to you honestly that I'm hopeful but do not know yet.

I'm so glad I backed this. the art looks amazing.

and thanks for clarifying - glad to know that you want as much for the game to be on other platforms. I look forward to playing it on my handheld (Vita) in the future!

 

[DrROBschiz]

I'm so glad I backed this. the art looks amazing.

and thanks for clarifying - glad to know that you want as much for the game to be on other platforms. I look forward to playing it on my handheld (Vita) in the future!

I would also love to have this on Vita but that could be a long ways off. Ill be watching this close though!

 

[Messofanego]

I continue to be a little taken aback by all the positive response, I honestly wasn't sure if neogaf would take notice.

You cray cray, how wouldn't we notice how awesome this looks!

 

[gift of 100 gab]

So happy I backed this, looks absolutely phenomenal.

 

[Jobbs]

thanks all.

some commenters have made me think about how to revisit the camera a bit, so I've been tinkering.

this is a quick job, but basically I've taken my easing behavior and extended the target for it out in front of the character. I have some ideas how to add further refinements, but this is the jist of it.

link: http://gfycat.com/CooperativeVacantAmericanmarten

this is probably a bit more extreme than I should do, but it demonstrates the idea.

thoughts?

 

[Happy-Bunny]

I think it's better.

 

[The Xtortionist]

thanks all.

some commenters have made me think about how to revisit the camera a bit, so I've been tinkering.

this is a quick job, but basically I've taken my easing behavior and extended the target for it out in front of the character. I have some ideas how to add further refinements, but this is the jist of it.

link: http://gfycat.com/CooperativeVacantAmericanmarten

this is probably a bit more extreme than I should do, but it demonstrates the idea.

thoughts?

Moving the character behind the middle of the screen while running is a great move. It gives even more room to react to threats. Super Metroid also does this, IIRC.

A few things you may want to consider:

1. The camera shifting when merely turning the character seems a bit extreme. Repeatedly changing directions when engaged in a fast-paced encounter could cause the camera to spaz out a bit. It might be worth testing a less responsive camera when changing directions, instead initiating the camera shift when the character begins moving in the opposite direction. Example: Character is standing still, facing right. Character turns to the left -> Camera does not move. Character begins moving to the left -> Camera begins to shift. I think this would provide a more stable and consistent image, overall.

2. The speed of the actual camera shifts when changing direction looks a bit delayed. I noticed that, after the character changed direction near the end of the footage, they were still able to outrun the camera. Without speeding up the camera shifts to the point where they become jerky/jarring, some tightening up might be a good idea. For 2D action games/platformers in general, I would expect an initial camera shift (placing my character in the middle of the screen) immediately after changing directions and taking a very small number of steps forward, with a second shift (placing my character behind the middle of the screen) immediately occurring when I take a sufficient number of steps that imply I probably won't suddenly change directions.

Hope that helps, thanks.

edit - My post is simplifying camera mechanics a bit. I make it sound pretty restrictive when the camera should shift or not. I'm mainly basing my thoughts on the way Super Metroid handles its camera. It's very analog in that the number of steps taken in the opposite direction determine how much the camera shifts. For example, there is a very slight camera shift when Samus simply changes directions without moving. Regardless, "Direction change + small movement forward -> immediate character shift to middle of screen", followed by "Continued movement forward -> immediate character shift behind middle of screen", though simplified, should be good starting points for potential tweaks, if you feel inclined.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Nice to see hear voice acting in an indie game.

 

[Toxi]

That talk with the robot at the end was amazing. If that sort of encounter style appears elsewhere, I can't wait to explore the game and discover more moments like that.

seems more like a metroid clone than metroidvania

If Ghost Song will be a Metroid clone, sign me up.