Update time.
First of all, I've uploaded a fine-tuned version of the last demo, now christened the NCFC Demo, since that is now only a week off.
Get it
here if you want it. It's just the same as the last but with a couple of niggling things removed - in particular that whole stopping-dead-when-changing-rooms thing, but most obviously I've shaved quite a lot off the filesize by compressing the WAVs and it's now a more acceptable 4MB. Also, I toyed with diagonal rolling but I pulled it out. It doesn't look right at the moment and I need to work out why...
There is also something those of you who are having slowdown issues might want to try... The / and * keys on the keypad now switch between a 'frameskip' mode, where the screen draw rate adjusts itself if the room speed drops. To counteract it the room *should* remain at 60fps - it just won't refresh that many frames per second. Try it. I dunno, you'll probably just jerk all over the map and it'll be totally unplayable, but it might keep things constant for at least one of you...!
Anyway, the real reason for today's update is to give you a first glimpse of
Noon, the Sheikah shaman who created the Shadowgazer and originally defeated the Maren long ago. More of his backstory will be revealed in time but he's basically your guide and mentor through the game, and even though his physical body died long ago, his consciousness is doomed to walk the nightmare realm forever, though he can contact Link in the waking world via the Shadowgazer.
Designing him has been probably the hardest thing I've done so far in this project. It was important to get him right since he's such a key character and presence, and I must have done literally dozens and dozens of concept sketches before even getting close to this. That might be a story for another update, but I'm posting it now since he's going to be revealed in some art for my NCFC booth next week anyway.
The idea came from throwing everything I'd come up with so far away and taking a second look at Sheik from OOT. The skin tight costume... Pretty fruity. S & M, almost?
So I began brainstorming from this point. So he's been a prisoner in the nightmare realm for an eternity with nothing for company but mankind's darkest thoughts... That would send a man pretty crazy, and he'd probably act a little creepy, so it came to me that I should make him jester-like, with long floppy sleeves reminiscent of a straitjacket, but also with some *ahem* bondage gimp overtones. What you see above is very much a toned-down version of that idea. Toned down partly to fit in with the WW style the game uses, but also toned down cause some of it was pretty out there... Yeah, I think I'll save some of those sketches for a rainy day.
Thoughts? Like him? I finally do, and I began spriting him a couple of days ago - as you might be able to see from my PI.
Anyway...
well I tested the demo again (and with my slow comp took around 15 mins to get to octoroks) and no, link wasn't flashing when i rolled through it. same deal with the pellets. and I didn't test this, but if you swing your sword at the pellets, does it destroy them or whack them back or hurt you? cause on wind waker you can knock them back by swinging your sword too.
Can't reproduce that I'm afraid. I can
walk through the octos when flashing, which I knew about and need to look at, but roll, no. I bounce off every time, and in every scenario. Sorry.
Cheers,
KM