In the Heavens - Demo 0.1.16

[Bobble68]

Hello again! It's been way longer than I intended since I last posted about an update, but I've released 4 versions since then! I've also made a trailer talking about the new things since then (except for the builder menu, which I decided to show off in the video anyway. Also, I made a mistake with the first title, it's supposed to say 'sticky roll', I may be stupid).



Changelog:

• Time bubble ability is now pixellated to fit with the rest of the game!
• Adjustments to the camera system
• Camera now focuses on characters you are talking to
• New attribute to override the maximum camera zoom when inside a polygon
• New 'fade when behind' attribute to make caves more realistic
• Added mysterious direction stones to give players a better idea of where to go
• Added rain emitters
• Removed the magic system
• Bounce parry has been replaced with the sticky roll as a new movement ability
• Fixed crash when reading certain characters from files
• Fixed crash related to the time bubble ability

[Giuyo]

Hey, that's so cool! Keep up the good work!
Also the dragon is so cute!!!!

[zingo]

Neat. Dragons instantly add more awesome

I was recently kind of mulling over including full flight in a platformer of my own someday, but worried that flight, if not handled properly, could leave the player simply "skipping" most of the game.

However, if someone else has already made an engaging game featuring a flying character, then it may still be something to consider. I personally just find the idea of having full freedom of movement, and multi-directional exploration, to be pretty cool

Thanks for sharing this. Keep up the great work.

[milon]

I was recently kind of mulling over including full flight in a platformer of my own someday, but worried that flight, if not handled properly, could leave the player simply "skipping" most of the game.

However, if someone else has already made an engaging game featuring a flying character, then it may still be something to consider. I personally just find the idea of having full freedom of movement, and multi-directional exploration, to be pretty cool

If you haven't played/seen it, check out Super Metroid (awesome SNES game). You don't begin with the power of flight, but it's unlocked late in the story. Also, it mostly takes place underground where free flight isn't as overpowered as you might expect. It also doesn't let you open doors, find (some) secret passages, etc. It's a really nice add-on, but not game-breakingly so.

In the case of a dragon, maybe you start the game as a baby/hurt dragon that can't fly yet. That could be unlocked through the story telling. Or maybe you really can go any & every where, but you have to have certain items or story progress to enter the temple / open the chest / interact with the thing.

[Bobble68]

Neat. Dragons instantly add more awesome

Woah, didn't realise people were still looking at this, I've been busy with assignmnet work. I didn't realise it got to 162 downloads

In the case of a dragon, maybe you start the game as a baby/hurt dragon that can't fly yet. That could be unlocked through the story telling. Or maybe you really can go any & every where, but you have to have certain items or story progress to enter the temple / open the chest / interact with the thing.

I've been going with the general philosophy of not limiting movement - I'm planning on making it so that the abilities you unlock as you go are what drives the progression, aside from normal story progression. I've just about got to the point where I can manage the logic needed for puzzles (I currently have a test where lighting a brazier will open a locked door), so hopefully in a few updates time I'll have something that looks a little closer to what I have planned.

[milon]

Nice!! Looking forward to it.

[Bobble68]

Hello again! I'm back with a 'new' update for people to try out!

I've been sitting on this one for a while now, since I've both been busy with new assignments (which aren't done), and am easily distracted by other programming projects. I expected this to be a fairly minor change, but I'm looking at my changelog notes and it adds up to a fair bit of change:

Changelog:

• New sliding animation
• Improvements to bonk physics
• Props now support animations
• Added roll jump
• Added logic entities
• Flapping force changed

Known bug: sometimes you will now go upside down while walking - I'm not sure what causes it yet but it is on my radar.
Also, I foolishly broke some of my vector maths, I think I got most of them but please let me know if you get an error.


Roll Jump
While you are tucked in a ball, you can press space to jump in the direction you are pointing - if you are moving at speed, you will be redirected, looking a bit of velocity in the process, while if you are not moving very fast, velocity will be added.


Flapping force changed
I noticed people who tested the game had trouble learning to fly upwards, and would often get stuck beneath the floating rock bridge. As a result, the way flapping works has been changed a little.
- You get a bonus flap force when moving slowly
- The force produced while at max speed has been lowered a little (it's not all that noticeable)


Added logic entities
These will help me design the upcoming puzzle sections - they're currently designed to allow the connection of braziers and doors, and have special logic types.

Let me know what you think of these changes!

[kingnoob]

Very smooth which gives a good feeling. But I'm no good at these kind of games and that gives me a bad feeling when I play. I want the dragon to be smart enough to not crash into the ground or a cliff wall. The dragon should have some mind of its own and not do some things. Just a thought.

[Bobble68]

No update today, sorry! Just wanted to show off the new cover image for the game.

Final 2.png (253.29 KiB) Viewed 233041 times

[zingo]

If you haven't played/seen it, check out Super Metroid (awesome SNES game). You don't begin with the power of flight, but it's unlocked late in the story. Also, it mostly takes place underground where free flight isn't as overpowered as you might expect. It also doesn't let you open doors, find (some) secret passages, etc. It's a really nice add-on, but not game-breakingly so.

In the case of a dragon, maybe you start the game as a baby/hurt dragon that can't fly yet. That could be unlocked through the story telling. Or maybe you really can go any & every where, but you have to have certain items or story progress to enter the temple / open the chest / interact with the thing.

Super Metroid is one of my favorite classic titles for the SNES...the "screw attack" was fantastic, and introduced some interesting game mechanics. I think the key to any kind of "aerial" type ability is to design areas that take those kinds of physics into account, and, as you mentioned, flying around (or any kind of "wall crawling", like the "spider ball" in Metroid II) works best inside enclosed spaces such as caverns etc. Anyway, "In the Heavens" is a great example of how this style of gameplay can be a lot of fun, especially when combined with traditional platforming elements