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21

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: January 01, 2024, 09:12:19 pm »

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.28.009 (9-15 december 2023)
* Finished trailer assets

v0.28.010 (15-17 december 2023)
* Commissioned next batch of music tracks
* Started groundwork for allowing for multiple languages
* Restructured how Boss and Area introduction text is stored

v0.28.011 (22-23 december 2023)
* Fixed chest color reference in cave hinttext
* Made more progress separating out all the game's text (for later language options)

v0.28.012 (24 december 2023)
* Fixed catching a wind elemental giving you the darkness elemental
* Using a restoring elemental when already at full mp/hp will now release it (thus allowing you to empty nests)
* Made more progress isolating game's text (for coming language option)

v0.28.013 (28 december 2023)
* Tweaked demo dungeon subboss for better stability
* Made more progress isolating game's text (for coming language option)

v0.28.014 (29 dec 2023 – 1 jan 2024)
* Made more progress isolating game's text (for coming language option)
* Overhauled journal data setup
* Overhauled text engine text input files

22

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 27, 2023, 06:11:19 pm »

It's good to be back home again! With my precious laptop adaptor in hand (which I definitely did not forget to pack a few days ago ). It was quite the hearty holidays this year so I'm all relaxed now. Even got pages and pages of new ideas to try out next year.

Also: Clemmy featured the trailer in his video, so I can finally share the full version as well: https://youtu.be/5I3jhNeF2VU
Hope you like it!

23

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 23, 2023, 09:12:38 am »

Have faith my friend. The future is looking bright

Case in point:
I've just been informed that my game('s trailer) will be feature on this channel in the next 1-2 days: https://www.youtube.com/@ClemmyGames

24

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 16, 2023, 12:04:07 pm »

YES!!!
The steam page for the game just went live:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2738140/Horn_of_Balance/
LET'S GO!

Please wishlist the game! And stay tuned for the next step: the upcoming trailer!
Lots of big developments this month.

25

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 10, 2023, 10:25:08 pm »

Is it Sunday already?!

Man, this week has been a rough one behind the scenes. Nevertheless, I am nearly done with the trailer. Just need to cut the final re-recorded (1.5 GB worth of) footage down to the final length. After that it will be send to a pretty big Youtuber for a premier showing sometime mid December.

And then up next in my master plan for December will be:
- Commissioning more new music
- Submitting the Steam store page
- Setting up the game for multiple languages (or at least to start laying the groundwork)
- Ramping up the advertisement efforts

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.28.005 (4 december 2023)
* Made more progress on trailer (assets)
* Tweaked a few more tiles

v0.28.006 (5 december 2023)
* Made more progress on trailer (assets)
* Fixed a serie of reported typos
* Fixed split second prompt on demo dungeon big stairs

v0.28.007 (6 december 2023)
* Fixed more reported typos
* Fixed starting with the pellets item

v0.28.008 (7 december 2023)
* Got taken out by dental complications from an earlier appointment
* Switched map chest colors to make more sense

26

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 08, 2023, 08:53:38 am »

I had to keep quiet about it before, but..
Horn of Balance demo 2.0 is now formally released to play at the surprise Christmas SAGE event.
Event link: https://www.sagexpo.org/games.html

(Which is also the reason why I only stealth launched the game on Itch earlier. Not counting the posts here of course)

There's also a bunch of other fan and indie games at the SAGE event so why not check it out.

27

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: December 03, 2023, 06:48:50 pm »

Well, this has been the final day of my latest vacation period. 
I've been in crunch mode for a little while now (=working on a trailer for the game), so if you'll excuse me I'm going to keep it short (yet again) as I jump right back in trying to squeeze as much out of these last few hours as possible.

That being said: the rough trailer draft already seemed to get people excited, so the final results look to be well worth it.
Here's a little teaser of something new that'll be included in one of the shots. 

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.28.002 (1 december 2023)
* Made more progress on trailer (assets)
* Replaced visuals dungeon deep water
* Tweaked and implemented some new mansion garden tiles
* Updated masking in mansion dungeon
* Implemented several new art commissions

v0.28.003 (2 december 2023)
* Made more progress on trailer (assets)
* Implemented new visuals for one more enemy type
* Implemented new visuals for several movable objects

v0.28.004 (3 december 2023)
* Made more progress on trailer (assets)
* Added new visuals for more enemies and areas

28

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: November 30, 2023, 01:36:57 pm »

And here it finally is:
Demo 2.0 is out on the main Itch page: 
 https://hornofbalance.itch.io/horn-of-balance-pre-ks-demo  (see version 0 28 xxx)

*So what's new?*
- A compact intro area to play through before getting to the demo dungeon
- More world building and characters to meet
- Energetic new music from a new composer
    (Who I may also have redo the earlier dungeon music, so feedback on the new style is welcome!)
- More Murray!!
- A new item: the shovel
- More bugfixes and stability updates
- And of course all the incremental improvements added between demo 1.0 and 1.5

Hope you enjoy! And feel free to leave me your thoughts if you've had a chance to play it.


Oh, and as a little cliffhanger:
More progress has also been made on some locations outside of the demo area, but more on that in near future. 

----

EDIT: Updated the download link/description

29

Graphics / Re: LTTP resolution BoTW Mockup

« on: November 30, 2023, 08:37:26 am »

Looks good! Well done.

30

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: November 27, 2023, 11:38:38 am »

I have a few points of good news:
- The last remaining pixelart for the new demo is now done and implemented
- One of the two remaining music tracks is now done. The other one is being worked on and should (fingers crossed) be done by the 30th.
- Private playtesting is ongoing and can switch to public playtesting next weekend IF the last track is done by then.
- I've finished the storyboard for the game's trailer. Note that it'll be a little while before I can show the finished version publicly (because I want to include more areas compared to the demo), but it will be my next main goal past the demo.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.114 (10 november 2023)
* Expanded mountain tileset with deep water border animated tiles
* Made more progress implementing mountain tileset across the game

v0.27.115 (11 november 2023)
* Finished implementing mountain tileset across the next demo's explorable space
* Tweaked overworld tiling + masking
* Implemented visuals for a series of new containers and pushable objects
* Expanded container respawn requirements
* Expanded code to allow pushing/pulling of objects directly above enemies or containers (= on floor above)

v0.27.116 (12 november 2023)
* Implemented new cave wall lights
* Added new visuals for cave doorways, exits and inner stairs

v0.27.117 (17 november 2023)
* Tweaked menu text to better explain what the smoke pallets do
* Added new visuals for cave stairs within rooms
* Tweaked speed on regular staircases

v0.27.118 (18 november 2023)
* Added new visuals for cave conditional and locked doors
* Made progress spriting the new waterfall tiles

v0.27.119 (19 november 2023)
* Switched over to the demo 2 playable area and dealt with the various bugs and checkboxes resulting from the first playtest sessions

v0.27.120 (20 november 2023)
* Added (hidden) shortcut to make Linden wave to the camera (=ctrl+5)
* Continued tweaking demo 2 based on player feedback
* Made demo dungeon enemies slightly stronger
* Decreased starting health
* Added ability to recomplete demo dungeon multiple times on the same savefile
* Tweaked visuals special pressure plates
* Added new visuals for on-off blocks

v0.27.121 (21 november 2023)
* Put together a very early mockup trailer
* Adjusted some dialogue to better fit the new demo
* Fixed error when turning enemies to stone

v0.27.122 (22 november 2023)
* Spend time reviewing the new music tracks
* Fixed issues when screen transitioning while diving
* Tweaked more NPC dialogue
* Added ability to hookshot towards big trees
* Trees have now become action objects
* Fixed visuals NPC scene in water dungeon
* Fixed issue with one of the “medallion” character actions
* Made the hammer feel more powerful

v0.27.123 (23 november 2023)
* Added more dungeon map boss icons – for fun. Only applies for later dungeons.
* Fixed dungeon map boss animation when on the floor below the boss
* Finished new visuals for waterfalls

v0.27.124 (24 november 2023)
* Implemented new visuals for waterfalls

v0.27.125 (25 november 2023)
* Added various new cave flavour objects
* Updated the Itch page in anticipation of the next demo

31

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: November 05, 2023, 10:02:35 pm »

Sick at the moment, so I'm skipping the description for the weekend.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.112 (3 november 2023)
* Added and implemented extra tiles to the mountain tileset for the sides of angled hills
* Made more progress implementing the mountain tileset further in the entire overworld
* Fixed depth issue shadows large trees
* Reworked overworld starting room a bit more
* Expanded base room transition sequences for easier usage
* Tweaked rose archway slightly
* Fixed doorway when entering later mansion out of order
* Implemented a few more overworld tiles

v0.27.113 (4 november 2023)
* Implemented north and south mine entrances
* Implemented new cave entrances
* Implemented new mountain tileset into one of the later dungeons
* Expanded mountain tileset with additional tiles
* Fixed depth issue when exiting a later dungeon
* Made more progress implementing the new overworld mountain tileset across the full game

32

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: October 29, 2023, 08:45:46 pm »

And here's you regularly weekend progress update:

- The big thing for this weekend has been the results from the latest pixelart commission. I'm still in the progress of implementing all the new objects and tiles, but expect to see more new content soon.
- Aside from that, I've started the progress of further tweaking and implementing the mountains from last time. As you can see in the screenshot I've switched over to a darker pallet in order to make other objects stand out more. I'm still in the progress of trying it out in the different daytimes and worlds, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far. It also nicely allows for transitions into the darker top soil, that I was already using in other areas. So that's another challenge dealt with like this. (Although I might still use the earlier colorpallet in one of the other locations eventually)

Oh, and finally:
I've been looking over my development schedule again. The mountain tiles really held things up, but now that they are done:
I'm expecting demo 2.0 to be completed and released early to mid december!
So look forward to that!

PS:
A few health related issues have come up recently (and I will be missing a week of work in november), but that's been factored in already.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.109 (27 oktober 2023)
* Tweaked mountain tileset and started implementing in full overworld
* Started pixelart commission review process

v0.27.110 (28 oktober 2023)
* Reviewed, tweaked and started implementation latest pixelart package

v0.27.111 (29 oktober 2023)
* Completed review new pixelart package
* Implemented several new overworld and cave tiles
* Fixed error regarding returning to holes hidden underneath tall grass
* Tweaked overworld tiling
* Made it tiles underneath cut grass undiggable
* Implemented various new overgrown garden archways
* Implemented new visuals bomb pickups
* Recalculated business case slightly

33

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: October 22, 2023, 10:20:39 pm »

Good news!
I've finally got a fully completed first version of the new mountain tileset implemented into (parts of) the game. It's still a work in progress, as I feel the colors and contrast could use another pass, but the hardest part is now truly behind us. Making sure all those individual tiles link together in all possible directions was quite the challenge, let me tell you. It's been the most complex development aspect BY FAR so far. So it's hard to understate how releaved I am about this! Progress speed might be really picking up again once this one is done.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.108 (18-22 oktober 2023)
* Made a lot more progress working on the new mountain tileset

34

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: October 15, 2023, 08:19:38 pm »

Ah, yes. Mountain tileset. My nemesis. We meet again.

So things are actually moving along quite well. The cave and overworld tilesets are progressing nicely and a big pixelart commission had already been put out to get them to a nearly completed state.  There is some light at the end of the tunnel regarding work on demo 2.0 now.    Past that point it'll just be some straggler sprites, commissioning music tracks and finishing the mountain+water tilesets, before opening up for playtesting.

Which does mean there was no postponing it any further: I'm taking another crack at completing the mountain tiles. The good news is that clear progress is being made. As you can see many more corners and variations are being taken into account now, so things are looking good so far. The colors and shading are still a work in progress. Especially the shading is something I'll be doing a lot of experimenting on next weekend.

Also, more good news:
I've released demo 1.5 over in Itch, which fixes the issue with the up button on controllers, as well as all known issues regarding the gamepad rebinding page.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.105 (13 oktober 2023)
* Tweaked shallow water object to make it quicker to implement

v0.27.106 (14 oktober 2023)
* Added extra color variants for (shallow) water
* Created and implemented more new cave tiles
* Added more visuals for floor switches
* Added ground shadows to all big trees

v0.27.107 (15 oktober 2023)
* Made progress on new mountain tiles

35

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: October 08, 2023, 07:35:45 pm »

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.101 (3 oktober 2023)
* Tweaked a few cave border tiles
* Added extra variants breakable floor
* Fixed things again after a new Gamemaker bug continuously deleting several specific sprites and one of the tilesets

v0.27.102 (6 oktober 2023)
* Finished preparing next art commission package

v0.27.103 (7 oktober 2023)
* Fixed issues with the dpad up button some people were reporting (=was finally able to reproduce it)
* Fixed issue with not being able rebind controller buttons
* Fixed visual oversight on controller rebinding screen
* Fixed a small typo in the demo
* Fixed visuals of one demo dungeon door not being consistent
* Made small keys stand out slightly more against the backgrounds

v0.27.104 (8 oktober 2023)
* Experimented with new fonts and settled on slightly different visuals
* Made a small amount of progress on the overworld mountain tileset

36

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: October 01, 2023, 08:40:39 pm »

I've just released the next demo update (= 1.4) over on Itch.io.
Link: https://hornofbalance.itch.io/horn-of-balance-pre-ks-demo/devlog/614590/06-demo-14-released
Hope you enjoy it.

Release highlights:
* Better shield:
    - You can now move while shielding
    - Shields don't just block projectiles, but also guard against (most) enemies
* Extra starting equipment:
    - The stone sprite - Whatever will it do, I wonder
    - The fire sprite - Linden is about to get all fired up
* Added a few extra shortcuts to cut down on backtracking
* Tweaked a few puzzles and rooms to better guide new players
* Made the sub-boss slightly harder
* Made it visually more obvious when you collect small keys
* Fixed the collisions between your sword's smear effect and banners


Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.96 (25 september 2023)
* Completed and implemented cave wall/floor tiles
* Tweaked outside NPC texts slightly
* Experimented with new flower visuals

v0.27.97 (26 september 2023)
* Finished adding new flower visuals and animations
* Implemented a few more new overworld tiles
* Slightly tweaked overworld bridges style
* Replaced a few more cave tiles

v0.27.98 (27 september 2023)
* Implemented new visuals overworld tall grass
* Added more variant overworld bushes
* Fixed a few issues with digging near tall grass and water
* Fixed issue with collecting some dug up items instantly
* Replaced a few more cave tiles
* Finished cave visuals from breakable floors

v0.27.99 (28 september 2023)
* Experimented with sequences to work towards my own take on the medallion effects

v0.27.100 (29 september 2023)
* Added extra colorswapped cave tileset

37

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: September 27, 2023, 06:22:23 am »

I'm aiming for PC, Switch and Switch 2.
The switch releases will be dependant on a successful Kickstarter campaign though.

XBox and Playstation are much harder to publish on as a solodev (from what I've seen during my earlier research) so there are no concrete plans as of yet.

38

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: September 24, 2023, 08:13:30 pm »

Here's a little sneak peak of the progress made over the weekend regarding caves.
Kohari actually made the original tiles; I'm only just tweaking the colors and detailing while I began trying them out in some of the existing rooms. The coloring is a little darker than I had originally intended, but then again: they are intended for underground areas so the contrast with the overworld might be to it's benefit.

Also, now that SAGE 2023 has concluded, a very brief look back:
The streamers favoured action games for the most part. That was expected for an event originally all about Sonic gameplay, so any and all attention was welcome. Overall I´m pretty happy with how the event turned out though: The streamers that did play the game provided valuable new insights. I made a few more connections. And most importantly, we've jumped from 52 to 66 Kickstarter followers

All in all it's been a good week with some nice progress.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.92 (21 september 2023)
* Updated all hero frames for extra shader option
* Experimented with fencing tiles and animated grass/flowers

v0.27.93 (22 september 2023)
* Experimented with new cave wall/floor visuals

v0.27.94 (23 september 2023)
* Experimented further with new cave wall/floor visuals
* Made a start with the new cave tileset
* Started replacing the first few cave tiles
* Implemented a few more replacement overworld tiles
* Experimented with house indoor/floor wall tiles

v0.27.95 (24 september 2023)
* Fixed issue of conflicting NPC's appearing together
* Added grass animations
* Experimented with new flower visuals
* Made progress tweaking the new cave wall/floor tiles

39

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: September 17, 2023, 08:43:53 pm »

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.89 (15 september 2023)
* Tweaked and implemented a few more overworld tiles
* Made a start replacing the world signposts with a new type of object for more functionality

v0.27.90 (16 september 2023)
* Finished replacing signpost tiles with new (destructable) objects
* Finally found a way around some invalid gamemaker coding warnings
* Added small extra scene for demo 2.0
* Added extra frame to one of the villains
* Implemented another few overworld tiles

v0.27.91 (17 september 2023)
* Implemented another few overworld tiles
* Added / updated more NPC dialogue for demo 2.0
* Added small extra scene for demo 2.0

40

Other Projects / Re: Horn of Balance

« on: September 10, 2023, 08:09:16 pm »

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.27.83 (1 september 2023)
* Improved visuals dug ground
* Finished implementing new desert boss sprites
* Implemented new NPC visuals
* Implemented new visuals for stone piles (and updated properties to be more appropriate)
* Implemented a few more new overworld tiles
* Did some experimentation with tall grass terrain sprites

v0.27.84 (2 september 2023)
* Implemented various new (visuals for) containers
* Tweaked shack sprite shadows
* Now able to hookshot onto cut trees stumps

v0.27.85 (3 september 2023)
* Implemented new doorway visuals into the demo dungeon
* Edited and implemented a few more overworld tiles

v0.27.86 (8 september 2023)
* Fixed typo in the intro sequence
* Made demo dungeon central room pushable statue slightly more obvious
* Added shield strafing
* Added a few extra shortcuts to the demo dungeon to lessen the amount of backtracking
* Made demo subboss fight slightly harder
* Switched around a few demo dungeon objects to better signal safe routes

v0.27.87 (9 september 2023)
* Tweaked character animation when using the shield
* Fixed collissions between sword smear effects and banners
* Made it more obvious when you pick up small keys
* Introducing hitswitches earlier in the demo dungeon
* Made demo dungeon entrance puzzle slightly more obvious
* Experimented with collisions between the shield and enemies

v0.27.88 (10 september 2023)
* The shield will now block (some!) enemies
* Added a few special properties to the better shield
* Fixed sound effect when blocking with the metal shield
* Expanded the roster of enemy defense stats for all enemies
* Tweaked character visuals after using the earth/fire elementals
* Changed up starting equipment nests