Projects > Discussion
"MiZM" Zeltroid Game
FrozenFire:
Updates! I changed the thread subject/title because I've decided to make this an original game, not a Zelda fan game, but even so, it's likely to have a good amount of content that's intended to show blatant inspiration from Zelda, and with the way the game is planned to play out, the main character's identity is really never explained because it all works out better that way, so - as I said before - you could assume he's Link and I'd just say, "Sure! Why not?".
If anyone is wondering what "MiZM" stands for, it's "Mini Zelda Metroid" (I literally almost forgot that's what it stood for though.. lol, oof). It's just the working title; I'll change it once I know what to call the game.
NEW STUFF SINCE LAST UPDATE
• Ya boi got his trusty sword
• Ledge grabbing
• Spirit Blocks can be removed with the sword, as shown in the video below ( I have yet to finish this; they lack death fx, and they will later chain react in their destruction )
• Various changes to make the code and game feel better
Here's a little video which mainly shows off the sword as of now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBKRzJlI2GU
I've got the sword art and code to the point where I have a working attack that feels and looks 'good enough' for now. I plan to touch it up and expand on it later.
Oh man though, I've programmed platformer shooter mechanics before, but this is the first time I did platformer melee mechanics, and I've found that it's SO MUCH MORE... just MORE. :o :'(
So it took me a lot of playtesting to get things feeling and working well enough. It was a bit of a grind, so I'm happy to move on.
As far as ledge grabbing goes:
I plan to make it an acquirable item, as opposed to something you can do from the beginning. The item will probably be some kind of gloves with grip.
It's funny, because I wasn't planning on having a ledge grab mechanic at all, and I only ended up adding it because there was a point where I was feeling drained and disheartened from the grind on that sword (i.e. failing at making the animation look okay enough, continually realizing there's another thing to add or change, etc.), so I wanted to work on something else and come back to it, to give myself a sort of a break, yet not a break.
I didn't think it'd be all that important or usable of an ability at that time, but later I realized there are some good action-puzzle challenges I can make with it, and I have some ideas for making it useful to deal with some enemies. It also extends the player's reach. For e.g. in the video, I climb on top of the mast, but you can't get up there without the ledge grab ability.
EDIT:
I updated the OP.
EDIT x2:
Removed previously attached pics because it cluttered the thread. I put them in spoilers at the end of each corresponding post.
FrozenFire:
Made it rain:
All the rain is held in a 2d array and is run by a single instance. I probably could've done better with a shader, but due to the interactivity with tiles and some objects, it seemed overkill and over-complicated to do so, and T B H, shaders are still a limited area for me. The array method has proven to be quite CPU-efficient, so I'm good with it.
I also made Spirit Blocks chain react when destroyed and I squashed a few bugs.
Next up to add is an aerial dash attack which will be performed by pressing jump and a direction in the air.
I want to focus mostly on adding in all the abilities you can get throughout the game, then I will design the world based on those abilities, so the scenery might not change much for a bit and things might feel like they're progressing slower than they really are.
EDIT:
I just realized, I might want to give updates on my game less frequently, to help match the low activity on here.
I'll probably just edit this post again when I give another update.
FrozenFire:
Well, the dash ability and stuff turned out to be worth a new post, imo, so here we go!
First, the new vid featuring the aerial dash ( and the Spirit Block chain destruction, which I plan to use as a timed action puzzle once or twice ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdjLE_9De1Q
The movement is 4.2x more fun with the dashing ability and it feels pretty fluid, so I'm happy with it. The dash can be leveled up to allow three dashes before landing. In the video I had it maxed, though I think I only ever used two dashes consecutively. It's possible two dashes will be the max in the end, if I feel three is too OP.
I almost went with dashing being restricted to left and right only, because at first I had 4-directional dashing, but no matter what I did with the x momentum, it felt weird when dashing up or down, so I cut out the up and down dashing, but then it just felt limiting, and not a good kind of limiting - like a frustrating "I can't control this how I want to" kind of limit.
So I fired up Celeste - the queen of dashing mechanics - and realized 'oh yeah' that game has 8-directional dashes, so I figured I should put in the extra effort and try 8 directions, and I'm very glad I did.
It probably doesn't look all that special in the video, but it feels great, and I'll improve the animation aspect more later, so it'll look better too.
I've been focusing on programming all of the abilities so that's why I haven't done more work on the map and thus the scenery has remained the same across these updates. I want to lay down all the abilities first, so I can playtest them a bit to know if I really want them or not, then - when I have all the abilities set - I can design the map based on those. It just makes sense to do it this way, since I'm shooting for a Metroid-like progression.
As far as the next ability goes: I'm currently trying to decide on something about the sword, because I have another sword concept that I really liked, being the 'shock' type.
Here's a pic showing the concept for my current sword and the shock sword below it:
I like the idea of shocking things to stun them, using electricity to power stuff, etc., but then that leaves me thinking about how many types should the sword have, if any, and what would the current sword be. I'm playing with an idea, calling the current sword type the Rose Blood, perhaps making it siphon HP, but I can't help but think that maybe I just need to change the normal sword color and particles and just make it a basic starting sword. I just really like how it looks, so I wanted to keep it.
All that said, it's possible I'm going too far and I just need to prevent myself from giving in to the feature creep. I am still planning on making this a pretty small scale game. So I'll be thinking on it.
SpritingBrad:
This looks great so far man! Looking forward to playing this!
FrozenFire:
--- Quote from: SpritingBrad on April 13, 2019, 07:31:04 pm ---This looks great so far man! Looking forward to playing this!
--- End quote ---
Thanks! Hopefully the game shapes up to be something you'll like.
PROGRESS!
( The framerate suffered a bit more than I'd like.. I need to experiment a bit more with gif captures )
Please ignore the weird tile stuff going on. It's a test room and it's currently like that because of my strange way of testing out my tiles and experimenting.
New stuff:
* Developer menu.
Not really a part of the game, but it's going to make things far nicer for me, moving forward.
* Chargeable attack for greater range and damage.
* Leveled up charge attack which shoots a ball of magical destruction.
Of course, it's got some force behind it, so who's to say it couldn't also be used to flip an otherwise out of range switch or something?
* Blue and red rings which cut the damage taken.
An 'as obvious as I can make it' reference to the original Zelda.As far as the shock sword attribute goes, I've decided it'll be a leveled up version of the original sword. That's actually one of the reasons why I changed the sword color to purple instead of red, because the cyan lightning type stuff should look better over purple. Also, the blade is a kind of spirit/soul energy, so purple seems more fitting.
Lastly, I'm experimenting with some 80's 'retro wave' (no better word for it comes to mind) elements. I don't want to make it cyberpunk though. I have a certain vision that's a bit hard to explain because it's largely influenced by experiences years ago at arcade rooms and a roller rink, having to do with colors, dim lighting which increases the contrast between the room and the arcade machines, contributing a special atmosphere, and Sweet Tarts and stuff.
So that all probably sounds a bit weird, but my hope is that those influences will make for a nice otherworldly design and atmosphere. I am trying for something alien, much like Metroid, but also magical, so that's kind of why I'm thinking this should work, if I can pull it off.
05/11 - SNEAKING IN AN EDIT, SINCE IT'S APPARENTLY A THING I LIKE TO DO:
Almost been a month since I last gave an update on here..? Oops. I've actually done quite a bit since the last update, making pretty consistent progress each week, so it's moving right along.
I plan to give a new update in the near future, touching on the big things that I've added and what's next.
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