Leaving an update for all the forums;
Myself the project lead has been away from the internet and computers for about a month and a half dealing with getting into the Toronto Film School & Academy of Design for Video Game Development and Design. Not to mention a bunch more, but anyhow, I’m back and ready to start throwing out some more examples, and much more.
Keep in touch on all the forums and threads for a short playable demo to check out how it runs on your computer.
We will be testing the build on many PCs to check the compatibility before we go much further in the project, so we know to maybe slim down textures or other great graphical effects!.
Some updates I’ve been told about since my arrival:
The #1 problem this project had to start was the camera controls, and to my understanding Goliath one of our “alumni” has entirely created a camera system for our unique character.
Maya0 has completed a more smooth and proper 'sticky" system for the characters main puzzle move which allows the character to walk up walls and ceilings which hopefully will work great with the new camera system.
Currently Working on:
Maya0 and myself will be working on many of the base functions of the game which include more moves, dialogue system, character system, battle system and menu system.
Moves that are being developed now use an IPO curve to tell the blob mesh what to do. We are also working on other moves that creates an object through the centre of the blob for things like our “Blob Shot” attack and our others like “Area Blob Shot” which effects a larger area.
The dialogue system I have been researching how to implement but the scripts and resources I found will only help so much, we still need to rip through the .blend files and scripts to have nicer graphics, none of this “black box B.S.”. The dialogue system works off of a very “basic” principal where you pick "this’ to say and that happens, which in this case is 2 things. One is a counter built into the character “properties” which include abilities, strength, intelligence, etc. which “counts” which selection you pick in the dialogue. This creates a “Good, Bad and Neutral” counter that effects what the NPC says to you.
Example: Player chooses 3/3 “Bad” things to say to the NPC the NPC will activate one of their 3 responses which would in this case not help the player on their mission. This will be what the whole game mostly revolves around, your interaction with the NPCs since this is a puzzle game, information can make or break you.
Character system is how the game determines what damage you deal to the enemy, how much the enemy damages you, character ability experience and character kill experience. Your character levels up in 2 ways, one being your ability tracker, which counts how many times you have used an ability to either hit an NPC or to help yourself with a buff or heal. The more you use an ability the stronger that ability gets, the stronger it gets, the more forms of that move you get. The other way you level up is by your kill count which determines your character level. This “Character Level” is what determines how much damage you deal, how much damage you can take (defence) how much health you have, also it will determine what puzzles you can enter, abilities you can purchase & learn.
Battle system will be how the character interacts with hostile NPCs, this will have a “lock on” function which will help out drastically with aim as your character can be on the ceiling attacking while rolling away, etc. this battle system will also include the counters and much described in the character system. This battle system will also include AI programing but will mostly be dependant on the character system for implementation.
The Menu system is sectioned out into 4 categories which include the character system to display everything mentioned in that section and more. Abilities section which will allow you to choose which moves you want for your “quick selection” which is basically just hot-keys for your moves. A map section to be able to review area maps, level maps, etc. there will also be a quick review in the map section to remind you where your missions are. The last one will be an extensive view of all the missions you’ve taken and completed, this will include hints you gained from talking with NPCs.
Well there is all the systems and a brief description also so that anyone working on it knows where were at and if anyone would like to help you know what were doing and what is looked for.
I’ll be updating whenever I can now that I’m back, I should be also getting a version of the game that works much better than before so that everyone can check it out. Again, I/We are looking for people to test the game, we need many different kinds of computers, 3D cards, etc.
Well so long for now, hope to get lots of replies
-N00B3R (Will = Project Manager)