[BETA] Action Adventure game in development

[routine404]

Hey, thanks Strille.

We couldn't have started it without you

keep it up man!

[swak]

Umm... Big problem. On the second level I fell out of the level and was unable to get back in. I was beyond the walls.

[routine404]

It's ok, the levels currently online are tests - it's possible to jump over the edge walls of both levels and plummet for eternity.

I'll post again when it's in a fit state for Demo purposes.

Cheers

[Gloo pot]

I must say that the hole bolt jumping thing is a genuis idea, i like it alot. Good work!

[routine404]

cheers dude.

we have some cool things planned for how the game will be presented eventually - the design concept has been in the works for about three years (since we started our company), and it's just taken this long to get up to speed with code well enough to make a game of it.

We made a dog of a flash site when we launched which hints at the direction of the game (http://www.futurlab.co.uk/flash/) if anyone's interested in that.

I don't know if it still works completely...

cheers

[routine404]

Hello all,

I've just uploaded a bunch of new things to the game demo, and was hoping if someone could play test and give their thoughts on the design of the new elements, particularly the switch locks on the second level.

We're still working on the lead character design, and have yet to work on the enemy graphics. It's mostly been optimising the engine, and adding features that allow us to push the engine into lots of shapes for different styles of level - puzzle, vertical scrolling etc.

We've got some contributed music on there too, which I could do with some comments on - whether the tracks work/don't work.

Please try and ignore the ropey sound effects... (it's hard to ignore them because they're so present...)

Anyhow, thanks all again for your support and kind words. You've really helped us keep the development pace up.

Cheers!


http://www.futurlab.co.uk/games/prism/


r404

[rubbersharkman]

The performance is very nice, but of course the character still needs a more memorable design as do the enemies particles etc...

The lightning bolt mechanic (with the space bar) is interesting and has a lot of potential but needs some fine tuning.

some suggestions:
The puzzle solving element of bouncing through the colored pads is deceivingly shallow, since you do not appear to be able to change your direction once in lightning bolt mode. You just shoot one shot and then you wait to finish bouncing through the pads...

I think it would be more fun if you could steer your character with the mouse (maybe with some lag to get the right difficulty) and use the pads as recharging elements that allow you to continue flying. perhaps if the pads hinted you in the direction of the next pad and recharged your lightning? That way you kind of keep your mechanic, but give the player something to do while bouncing through the pads, and it gives you the ability to ramp the diffculty of the puzzles.

Make the distance between pads larger, or slow the character down a bit. The character moves so fast that it is hard to get a view of whats ahead of you before you hit it or miss it.

Make the bullets slower so you can identify individual bullets and get a better feel for how many shots you are putting out. Right now it feels more like a sort of whip than a gun.

Keep interactive elements consistant, it seems like the pads for the first and second level are different? This is confusing.

Make the worm challenging. He never hits you right now, so its pretty boring, although it looks pretty cool.

The music is OK, but it doesn't seem to fit the techy style of the character and backgrounds.

The engine looks very promising though, I'm excited to see where you take the gameplay.

[routine404]

thanks man, those are some enlightening comments. I like the idea of subtly adjusting the bolt mode. I'll have a go at putting that in.

the character is in the post, as is the story. We're getting those things watertight before spending any real time designing the levels and gameplay. The whole design has been strongly underpinned by the story and the character. I'm really confident about that side of things, so we just need to get it tied down, and then we can start designing the levels and enemies more carefully.

Btw, I have plans to make the worm swoop at you in a circular motion, and it's also going to have bullets to fire at you, so he's going to be a right bugger eventually

I appreciate your suggestions, ta.

r404

[routine404]

Hey folks,

The final character is in the game now. Although he's still missing some of his powers, most of what he's going to be capable of is now in the game.

We've also improved the look of the enemies, and most of the sound effects are final (i'm really proud of Bolt mode...) and other bits and pieces.

The goal is to finish a demo (a couple of decent levels) by the end of the month, so we're all working like crazy to pull it off before we start another job :'(



(still thinking about making Bolt mode controllable...)


http://www.futurlab.co.uk/games/prism/


Cheers all,

r404

[NoSkills]

super smooth engine, i really like the style your aiming for
needs more action though...the bolt thing rocks...must have more uses for it

I'm working on a development kit that I will offer to people, which will have most of the code we're using:

framework
scrolling layer management
map builder
collision detection
loading and saving maps

etc.

awesome!

[routine404]

ta mate,

Bolt mode is going to be exploited to the full I promise!

I haven't had a second spare to work on the development kit recently, but I'll have more time once the demo is finished. Hopefully it'll be ready before the year is out!

Cheers!

[fjgamer]

I love what's done. The bolt stuff is like what I want to accomplish for teleportation in my own game. I think I know how to do it for my game, so I won't ask how you made yours. I just wanted to praise you a bit. Great work.

http://www.electroniclife.co.uk/sikir/
Btw, is this your music site? If so, not bad. Love it.

[routine404]

Hey, thanks dude!

Bolt mode is pretty easy to accomplish, it's just careful tweaking of the effects to make it look ace.

sikir is my friend's work - he's responsible for all SFX in the game too. He's a talented chap!

[joncom11]

That's a very nice looking game. Did you base your scroll engine off any particular method or tutorial, or was it entirely self produced?

[routine404]

The engine is based on Strille's design. I found it about 2 years ago, fainted at the complexity of it, spent two years learning some advanced ActionScript, returned to it in February this year, rewrote it for AS 2.0, and then built it up from there!

It's taken over my life, but I love it You can read about the process on my blog (link below), particularly this post: http://futurlab.blogspot.com/2006/05...velopment.html