BGMC23 | Eternity

What lies beyond…
Explore the decayed open world of a solemn afterlife in my BGMC23 entry: Eternity

Everything is all set to play, just hit ‘P’. Controls are listed in the pause menu, also accessed with P.

** Finished just about everything I wanted to get done with this project. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to make when I started a week ago, but most of the game was developed as I went along. I would have liked to have had a stand alone player for the game but ran into a little issue that I couldn’t work out in time. This post will hopefully be updated with a standalone player when everything is in order. Until then… **

Created in Blender 2.78

*1/30/2017: Fixed a few of the major bugs. Thanks to an old article from Doc Monster I was able to fix a major tracking issue and learn some new stuff. The gameplay is a lot smoother that it was. Also, I added a 1st person camera for the player while walking to fix some angle issues- press ’ to toggle between cameras. Switching to 1st person is helpful when walking into the wooden shacks and other structures.

Here is the newest build - Eternity v1.01
Blend file - 47.03MB:

Standalone player(Zip file) - 76.71MB:

Enjoy!




Attachments


I love the mood!

Things I noticed:

  • When dismounting from the bike, dismounting when the bike is at an angle, the player stands at the angle of the bike when walking. Can be fixed by continuously aligning the axis of the player downwards.
  • The loading screen right before the game seems unnecessary.
  • The player running animation is a bit wonky.
  • sometimes after releasing w,s,a,d keys, the animation continues to play.
  • The camera position is a bit difficult to control.
  • When dismounting the bike inside a structure, the camera intersected the walls and became very confusing to control.
  • I also didn’t really know what to do in the game.

Good job though. Sorry I threw all those points at you.

@Nicholas_A No problem, I appreciate all the input! This was one of my first “completed” game projects, so it all helps a ton. I’m probably lacking as far as the story goes, but I also wanted it to upkeep the somber aimless feel so I felt like too directed objectives might take away from that. There were a few things I would have reworked had there a been a bit more time- the animations/bugs and camera mechanics were definitely next on the list.

Also, I want to thank you for your youtube videos. I couldn’t have made this without learning from them. I think I forgot to credit you for the sway script I used in the menu and intro. I’ll update it if I reupload. Yours and Timster’s optimization tip videos also brought me back up to ~50fps from ~15fps this morning, so thanks for that too! :slight_smile:

I’m glad my tutorials helped. There is no need to credit me because the sway script was so short. Unless you want to. :eyebrowlift2:

I saw in another thread someone said something about 24 hours for bug fixes. Is this true? I started another play through and just found some issues. Like, the green arrow has no tracker object anymore- making the “ending” sort of undefined, and I had a rock spawn in an awkward spot, making it nearly impossible to get the flashlight.

Interested to hear what other bugs people find. Either way, I will make sure they get fixed.

Edit: 24 hour bug fixes confirmed :slight_smile:

If you haven’t played this game yet, but still want to, I kindly recommend waiting until tomorrow. I have some bug fixes that will make the gameplay a lot nicer :slight_smile:

Ok, I’m waiting. :slight_smile:

The update blend file is now up - v1.01 (not sure if I used the proper update convention lol)

I appreciate any feedback you guys have. I’m also interested to see what everyone thinks about the method I used to generate the world. I’ll probably use this method in the future. It took a little bit to work out how I would make it, but saved me a lot of development time in the long run.

I’ve already found a few new issues cause by the ones I just fixed :confused: Not sure if I made it’s better or worse now, but at least the waypoints work.

I can’t run the game, I’m assuming it is because I am on Mac OS.

That could be why. I’m not sure :confused: I exported the standalone player to a zip file, but it was 78MB so I didn’t post it. Also, I wasn’t sure If I fixed a texture problem. Having a friend test it on his computer to double check, and then I will probably post that here as well.

I’m not against downloading a bigger file so I can try it out- but that will have to be tomorrow if you are willing to put that out there :slight_smile:

Friend says everything seems to work fine with the player, so I’ll add that to the first post. I’m not sure if the standalone player will work with Mac OS though.

He did have some criticism when playing:

  • “Am I supposed to be looking for the ball?” My answer “I ran out of time, but I did want to add a longer story where you follow the ball.”

  • “The world could be more dynamic with maybe cliffs or caves and more buildings to explore.” I agreed, and said I might continue to develop the game or rework it.

We also came up with some really cool stuff that could be added if I continue to work on it: a slingshot or BB gun, Living trees that are hidden in forests, and perks that fall from the sky like meteors leaving a crater where they land. I’ll have to ask around to see if I can continue working on the game or if I have to retitle it, but I think the world of Eternity might be something I’ll want to continue working on for a while.

Thanks, I will try it (as soon as I get home)

It was fun riding around on the bike. I picked up a bunch of stuff but I wasn’t sure if it was helping since there’s not count of how much “knowledge” I’ve gained.

I really liked the cut scene type story telling part at the beginning, that was great!

Thanks. Maybe it was helping? Maybe it wasn’t? :stuck_out_tongue:
The story itself was aimed to be introspective in nature. After impact with the ground, the boy became trapped in “Eternity”, or rather a manifestation his own subconscious at the time of the event. Which is to say, he may have never died at all. The game was my exploration of that place between life and death projected from the boy’s unconscious mind.

I had a lot more I wanted to include, of course, which, I think, would have made the story and theme clearer. I wanted to include finding the ball as the objective, but I really ran out of time fixing other things at the end of the project. I’ll plan a little better next time, but I’m still happy to have made my first game nonetheless :slight_smile:

Glad you liked the intro scene. It was a simple-ish way for me to convey the story without spending too much dev time on it.

Hello APilch,

congratulations to get the game done. The included instructions are well done and helpful.

I discovered a crash with the 2.78a blenderplayer shortly before loading. Therefore I played the game in embedded mode, which felt pretty smooth without any hickups.

Thank you for joining BGMC23

Monster

I did a play through of this game recently for anyone who wasn’t able to play it. I finally got around to uploading it.

I have not played it, but the overall mood and premise seem outstanding…given the concept…I really really like the atmosphere…

Thanks :slight_smile: I forgot how decent the game was when I replayed it. Even though this was my first game I still think it is one of the best I’ve made. I might try something like this again sometime. I’ve made a lot of new assets that could work with the mood if I did.