Early version of a sprite sheet. She is going to use more weapons than a boring pistol. Weird pixel patterns will be used for adding more colors to the sprite
#Aether Outbreak
gilded zodiac
dense imp
Noice
gilded zodiac
"Meet your new best partner - Wally. It's the top-tier AI companion. He's the face of new generation of software, designed both for your physical and mental support. You can customise him howewer you want. Any shape, any color, any personality traits and all of this in a single module!"
- rejected advertisement note, USC marketing archives
gilded zodiac
Finally, after a (already usual) burnout, first look at the graphic style of the game along with alternative color palette. Which one would you prefer?
gilded zodiac
First look at the Abyss location
gilded zodiac
First ability you need for metroidvania is sliding.
P.S. Video quality is garbage since I can't use any of the good editing and screen capturing programs
gilded zodiac
Bad news. Game's build was lost. Well, back to the beginning
gilded zodiac
Here's a little summary of changes I made since the whole progress was lost:
- Slightly improved physics
- New color palettes
- Slide and attack working properly
- Added first enemy - Runner
gilded zodiac
Here's a list of new features:
- Full room with multiple layers
- Double Jump
- Dash
- Slightly improved Runner's death animation
tulip breach
gilded zodiac
Here comes another list of improvements:
- New bullet sprite
- Health mechanic
- First look at the death scene
gilded zodiac
I killed all of my weekend's free time, but it was worth it. As always, here's a list:
- Slightly altered color palettes
- Removed flashing
- Custom font with custom dialogue box
- New death scene!
gilded zodiac
Introducing one of the very important mechanics: Bloodlust!
- Bloodlust gauge can be filled by killing enemies
- Once filled, it'll greatly heal Neon, saving her from another regeneration process
gilded zodiac
Another small update:
- Now, you can finally collect items to acquire new abilities
- Bloodlust is working a bit differently. Now, any taken damage will reset the counter to keep this mechanic less overpowered
gilded zodiac
Few purely cosmetic updates of background and sprites + fixed sliding animation
A little piece of artwork I combined from existing assets. It would look much better than annoying running GIF, but since I can't change it, let it be here
potent mica
This is looking super polished. Loving that slide
gilded zodiac
Prototype image of Neon's redesign
rigid meteor
Prototype image of Neon's redesign
did you realize that your game have 1 year of life?.good job.
gilded zodiac
New little update with lots of prototypes for future mechanics:
- Enemies now have health system
- Weapon damage outputs are now in the game
- Laser goes bzzzzz
What's still unfinished, but in the build:
- Some kind of an inventory screen
- Diving gear for future underwater locations
gilded zodiac
Current inventory design. To be honest, I want to add 1-bit elements in the background since it looks a bit empty. By the way, Neon's face will change depending on her current health
gilded zodiac
Big update: INVENTORY
- 8 slots for each type of equipment
- 2 fully functional menu options
- That smile...that damned smile
- Neon's expressions will change depending on a current sanity level
It took longer than I expected, but it's finished. Next stop: functional artifacts and new death scene. The game is supposed to maintain comic-like style, so it would be better to rebuild death animation from scratch.
potent mica
Big update: INVENTORY
- 8 slots for each type of equipment
- 2 fully functional...
Dang your items can be in any box? That’s pretty cool 👀
gilded zodiac
Since I'm a terrible artist, game over scene was left yet untouched. But I spent another week on an inventory, using full advantage of 20 actors per scene limit
gilded zodiac
Decided to make a new room for testing underwater mechanics
IMPORTANT NEWS!
Development slowed down a bit because I have to spend a few months working on my final college project. I'll try to keep improving the game, but from now on, it won't be so frequently
gilded zodiac
Using some of free time, I decided to redesign weapon icons to look more like something from portable Castlevania games
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A table, showing all of the weapons you can use in the game
gilded zodiac
Due to software projectile limit, I had to rework weapon system. Now, all weapons belong to 3 tiers. Each tier changes the color of Neon's gun and includes 3 weapon types (except tier 2): fast single shot pistol, short-ranged, but powerful shotgun and piercing laser
gilded zodiac
There's been a LOT of problems recenty. So, what's the situation?
I've lost any access to GB Studio since my PC is now completely unable to work further on scripts. Right now, I'm engaged in two separate projects and it's causing too much stress. I'll try to keep the project alive, but it will be hard. I hope you will still be waiting for the adventures of Neon
gilded zodiac
Snipers are corpses of a soldiers, whose bodies were overtaken by Janus's blood vessels. Their weapons fused with their organs, turning dead bodies into biomechanical living turrets. Is there any personality left behind these skulls, covered in pulsating net of veins? Nobody knows.
lunar pebble
Due to software projectile limit, I had to rework weapon system. Now, all weapon...
u can increase the projectile limit! also DAMN this looks good graphically ❤️
gilded zodiac
u can increase the projectile limit! also DAMN this looks good graphically ❤️
Oh, did I missed something?
lunar pebble
if u eject the engine, u can increase it manually! ☺️
gilded zodiac
I'll try it later. It would be very useful
lunar pebble
np! have a good day! :3
gilded zodiac
It seems that everything what can go wrong, did went wrong. Our city got flooded and it damaged our electricity sources. I was not been able to work for a few days. I'll try to push further, but every time it's harder to stick to the project alone
lunar pebble
oh no, i hope ur okay! please take care ❤️ and be safe ❤️
gilded zodiac
Good news, I managed to install GB Studio through blood and tears. It's been a long time since I've seen this interface. Suddenly, it feels so weird. I look at the scenes and all inspiration just fades away. It feels like another extra chore that a welcoming return. Heh, ironic
gilded zodiac
Anyway, here's a new enemy. This one is hiding in hanged corpses and blends in the background until Neon walks close enough.
Apparently, this creature is another puppet of Janus. This flesh plant-like abomination strangles it's victims and hangs them to use their spine and legs to reach an impressive mobility. It's only weakness is it's own host...only if you'll be able to shoot the corpse before the monster detaches from it
gilded zodiac
Decided to redesign Runner and ended up with 2x less tiles in total. Yaaaaaay)
I find my weapon system quite...boring. It's basically same 3 weapons with different projectiles due to 5 projectile limit. So, I'm thinking of changing effects instead of weapons (much like in early Castlevania games for GBA)
gilded zodiac
To be honest, when your life is falling apart, your hobby can be a perfect way to cope with inevitable changes to worse. Anyway, here's Neon's redesign. Smoother movement, lots of frames and only one spritesheet. I managed to optimise it to use 40 tiles for all animation frames, including: special frames for double jump, sliding (when gained momentum) and shooting while idle, moving, jumping, etc.
grave valve
To be honest, when your life is falling apart, your hobby can be a perfect way t...
I think it's a great refinement. Looking awesome!
gilded zodiac
I'm working on a cosmetic improvement of the game, finally adding new rooms (I'm tired of showcasing everything in one single test room). The work is going slow, since I'm very busy with my final college project
gilded zodiac
A little idea I've had since migrating to 4.0
gilded zodiac
Since I switched my game to "color only" mode, I had some tiles to work with. It's really hard to find any time to work on the game and I'm really starting to feel burnt out. But, the work have to be done, so here's updated Neon's spritesheet
gilded zodiac
I guess I went full insane mode and made Neon's spritesheet almost as rich as some GBA Castlevania games. No regrets, I want her to be expressive, without taking too much tiles (I stand no competition against "Mighty Metalhead" in terms of actual emotions on sprites)
So, since my project is moved to a new version and basically needs total rescripting, I would like to take more methodical approach in making my game. Any help in planning would be greatly appreciated, but for now, my next goal is to create a proper test room to test all mechanics and optimise my scripts
gilded zodiac
It's time to start really thinking about game design. That's why I need a real test room to (obviously) test various mechanics
gilded zodiac
I'm tweaking my game's physics, since for a good metroidvania you need a good controls
So, it's almost a year after I started working on my game. To be honest, it's kinda terrifying to realise how much time has passed.
I started from knowing nothing about gamedev for GB and having a just few pixel art sketches. It's been a long and quite troublesome journey.
Throughout this year, I've experience the worst time in my life, but somehow, this project still keeps me alive. And now, I don't even care about how long will it take and how shitty will it be, compared to many brillant games I've seen here.
If anyone is reading this, thank you for being here and keep following your passion...
humble briar
Sofia the Witch took me 2 and half years, with the first 6 months getting tossed out when i moved from 2.5 beta to 3. For me the key is just try to do something on the game and keep it moving forward. even if its only a small thing. I know you can get Aether Outbreak done.
gilded zodiac
I have to admit, rewriting all scripts I made earlier made me look at my game from different perspective and (hopefully), made it play a lot smoother, at least in the parts I was able to recreate and optimise. I guess, sometimes, starting something all over again is more efficient than trying to fix something broken in it's core
gilded zodiac
My double jump script caused a funny bug (let's call it "triple jump"). I don't see any harm in it, since it requires some specific precision to replicate it. What do you think, should I leave this unintentional mechanic or patch it?
viscid snow
I think it's fine to leave it, unintended mechanics/engine exploits are always fun x)
random ocean
I guess I went full insane mode and made Neon's spritesheet almost as rich as so...
Ive just seen this. those look awesome man! no need to compare yourself to anyone, your art stands on its own and
looks really good. I actually like a lot your "gigeresque" tilesets.
random ocean
My double jump script caused a funny bug (let's call it "triple jump"). I don't ...
it depends. finish the game and then, if it doesnt allow to break the game anywhere, leave it (skillful stuff is always enjoyable, but not if it ruins the experience)
gilded zodiac
Decided to collect all of Neon's previous designs. It's kinda funny how with each version she slowly turns from space soldier to Lara Croft's style punk
gilded zodiac
A little update to the current status of a game:
It's a bit hard to concentrate and I feel slightly burned out, but I managed to make the scripts almost 3 times more optimised. Sadly, I had to use more plain and boring health bar, but at least it removes the problem of complex calculations and sprites switching
I promise to try to be more motivated and work harder to show you something worthy of a true update
grave valve
No need to promise anything Zee - work at your own pace and take breaks if necessary. We'll be excited to see it whenever you're ready to share ☺️
gilded zodiac
Here's a first kinda playable basic mechanics test. Had to scrap some idle animations and effects, but I guess it's more tiles for the other characters. In this build, you have the next abilities:
- Double Jump
- 3 levels of new health bar
- Healing by pressing "Up" in front of a seat
- Other simple stuff
It's just a test build, so sorry for the lack of proper graphics
humble briar
game dev is all about compromise and finding the right balance between what we want and what the hardware can handle and ultimately what's the most fun we can pack into our games.
grave valve
Physics handle really nicely
gilded zodiac
New sanity/bloodthirst bar design. I would really want to make one of them horizontal, but it would take almost another 20 tiles. So, I picked smooth draining animation instead of cool UI. Let's hope it won't bite me in the tail later
gilded zodiac
So, the development is about to slow down quite a bit. No matter how I hate it, the college now eats all of my time and I'm unable to work on nothing, except concept arts and some sprites
But hey, at least Neon finally has a ship. It's still a prototype. No details, no shading, but I think overall idea looks interesting
gilded zodiac
Okay, for almost a year, I tried to fight it, but it seems I might disappear for a year
Long story short, in my country, every guy must spend 1 year in the army, no matter their health condition
And I was able to avoid it for almost a year, but now it came back and everything comes down to 26th of September. I have almost no chances to escape it, so if the worst will happen, I'll lose access to my PC and internet as a whole
If I won't give any updates until October 1st, it means I'm gone