TREASURE STAR: ULTIMATE BLING KING
polycounter lvl 10
ok... so i've started too many projects recently.
I was overscoping on all of them, then i had this idea. Everything is falling into place like it was meant to be. The idea is about lowering scope as much as possible. I'm taking a step back from high-res art because it takes literally 3-5 times as much time to do the animation.
I'm programming this game in MOAI again, but this time using a proper framework instead of making my own.
So far you can think of it as a cross of a RPG missile command, crossed with dragon ball z on a tiny traveling planet made of gold.
Tech wise im rendering everything to a texture and double scaling it with nearest neighbor to actually preserve the pixel grid properly. I'm also constraining rotation angles of sprites.
Which you can see here.
Because i am also doing character customisation with 2d art, which is traditionally a BITCH. I am trying to be as smart about it as possible.
The character will be split into 6 animated layers.
Top hair
head
body + front arm
bottom hair
legs
rear arm
and on each one they are all drawn with a specific palette, which i am then going to be using a shader to palette switch each asset via using little 1x4 pixel images to define colours.
I am also constraining the amount of frame i animate, as ever frame i add will mean drawing that same frame 50 times extra. (assuming 50 clothing sets for example)
Attacks are all dragon ball z style so no weapons. But instead will be like laser energy weapons, so maybe like laser ki swords or something. But that just means i don't need to actually animate them on the character and instead are seperate effects.
I also want your little planet called a treasure star to have upgrades, and things you can change about it.
Other things im doing include full localisation to start with. I just started learning japanese, so i thought it would be cool to implement that with what i do here. so i already set up my dynamic string tables and fonts system
!
Also i started working on the first music track too.
https://soundcloud.com/murry-lancashire-muzz/gunstar
It's only 30 seconds long so far.
I was overscoping on all of them, then i had this idea. Everything is falling into place like it was meant to be. The idea is about lowering scope as much as possible. I'm taking a step back from high-res art because it takes literally 3-5 times as much time to do the animation.
I'm programming this game in MOAI again, but this time using a proper framework instead of making my own.
So far you can think of it as a cross of a RPG missile command, crossed with dragon ball z on a tiny traveling planet made of gold.
Tech wise im rendering everything to a texture and double scaling it with nearest neighbor to actually preserve the pixel grid properly. I'm also constraining rotation angles of sprites.
Which you can see here.
Because i am also doing character customisation with 2d art, which is traditionally a BITCH. I am trying to be as smart about it as possible.
The character will be split into 6 animated layers.
Top hair
head
body + front arm
bottom hair
legs
rear arm
and on each one they are all drawn with a specific palette, which i am then going to be using a shader to palette switch each asset via using little 1x4 pixel images to define colours.
I am also constraining the amount of frame i animate, as ever frame i add will mean drawing that same frame 50 times extra. (assuming 50 clothing sets for example)
Attacks are all dragon ball z style so no weapons. But instead will be like laser energy weapons, so maybe like laser ki swords or something. But that just means i don't need to actually animate them on the character and instead are seperate effects.
I also want your little planet called a treasure star to have upgrades, and things you can change about it.
Other things im doing include full localisation to start with. I just started learning japanese, so i thought it would be cool to implement that with what i do here. so i already set up my dynamic string tables and fonts system
!Also i started working on the first music track too.
https://soundcloud.com/murry-lancashire-muzz/gunstar
It's only 30 seconds long so far.
Replies
I've been making solid progress on this. Though i've been posting more on tig source about it as it is mostly progress on the coding front.
as proof i got the game working in browser! however there is nothing to do yet haha.
http://muzzoid.com/www/
Thanks!
Space Adidas Genie:
"REVEAL THIS TO ME! Unleash fighting moves never before seen! HAAA!"
As for your game play is it just going to be dudes running around on/jumping between Mario Galaxy planets with Smash Bros style knocking of other players into the depths of space?
Looking at your art assets I can't help but imagine dudes leaping around, attacking one another. Where the attacks connect on a planet, cash/coins/gems fly out and the planetoid sprite gets a little smaller, making the jumps between worlds harder over the course of play.
Oh wait, no. Just reread your opening description. Fist/Punch RPG Missile Command. Got it!
The missile command elements have kinda gone away a bit and it's expanded into a larger game.
Shark Soldiers, Vicious brutes that like nothing but to eat cat food and fight.
I would love to see a breakdown/tutorial on how you do such good pixel animations
I have a new programmer. He is doing rad as hell work.
That landing on the last rock makes me think you might need an iron-man style impact pose, with a shockwave to push back any enemies that are in close. Maybe spin that into a skill thing where the pose locks you in for a second unless you dash out of it (no idea if you have a dash, just designing out loud).
Stinkhorse, yeah there is a ton of stuff to do with interacting with planets. Really what we have now is only just starting to feel good
-1 plane for the planets/characters
- 1 plane for the background stars/galaxy
If you have 2 different rotate speeds (plane 1 rotates slightly faster than the background) I feel like it would be a little less jarring when it rotates)
Edit: Yeah you're right actually.
Honestly it's a camera damping thing that just needs tweaking. I appreciate the feedback though, as avoiding seasickness in a fast paced game with camera rotation is an incredibly difficult problem. Trying to not end up like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSRuzFmztkY
Keep in mind you are also watching a low framerate gif.
Really loving how the mechanics look so far!
Got plans for some impact shake?
One little thing for the chest though. Are you planning on changing the colors of the gems that come falling out of it? Their color palette is too similar to the chest itself so it seems like they are bits of the chest falling apart, rather than something you collect.
Still going
This seems like something Kyle Pulver would make
We are making good progress pushing towards a build for people to play!
Currently I'm working on sound and music.
Have a listen to the current direction im going with the music. While i play guitar and all that jazz, i'm not very experienced doing game music. So i would love some critical feedback!
https://soundcloud.com/murry-lancashire-muzz/sets/treasurestar-demotracks
This can be epic