Thanks again everyone for the follows, wishlists, etc. Work on the new modular components of the AI continues at a steady pace. Humanoid components were broken up into "lego" style script blocks making it easier to add variety to bi pedals of different factions. To celebrate, enjoy a nice halloween themed online holiday card complete with skeletons.
Happy Halloween and stay safe.
Adding personality to the marines, buff bar in place.
One of the things that I have been working on is improving on the animations of the Nekril to make them feel more like marines that pose a serious threat.
They'll also draw from a pool of different alert idle animations depending on their placement within the squad group if they are assigned to an array.
Different aim positions are now also available to them thanks to the new pinning which has made it vastly easier to assign keyframes
The buff bar is also now in place.
The buffing system has been more or less streamlined for various different concepts. Traits that provide an increase in damage now all contribute to a singular stack called "amp" which increases damage and how you get there is up to you.
Amping is quite often counterbalanced with instability. When taking on more risky augments, Carter must divert power from various suit stability functions. This is represented in a debuff called "instability" which causes Carter to take in more damage to shields per stack of instability along with temperature being manipulated faster. Carter's stun bar also depletes faster which can cause her to get knocked down as well as lose all active buffs if that happens.
Let's look at some example augments that will help outline why you would care about one augment over the other.
Power Overdrive:
+ Gain 1 stack of amp every half second while recharging
- Gain 1 stack of instability every second while recharging
Best used when you can guarantee that you won't be hit by anything.
Archangel:
+ Gain 4 stacks of amp every second while using the jetpack
- Gain 2 stacks of instability every second while using the jetpack
Scorpion
+ Gain 1 stack of amp every second while crouching
Empowering Shot:
+ Gain 1 stack of amp when successfully hitting with ranged beam weapons
- All ranged beams cost twice as much to use
Good to use for stacking amp normally, great to combo with this augment.
Recharging Sword:
+ Gain energy when successfully striking a target
Which now encourages the player to mix shots in with melee. With the new quick melee system, this is now more fluid to do.
Some new character graphics are also in the works to help represent amping on the character as this will also set the expectation for mobs who can also amp as well.
Instability isn't an end all downer to have as some traits increase in potency with higher instability.
Unstable Shield:
+ Carter's shield will explode when shield health reaches 0 dealing additional damage per stack of instability
Unstable Sword:
Each of the unique swing types gains unique utility attributes.
Swing 1 (upward swing) gains the ability to convert successful damage to health
Swing 2 (downward swing) gains the ability to convert successful damage to shield
Swing 3 (stab + uppercut) gains the ability to emp
Swing 4 (final greater swing) gains the ability to explode
As we have outlined before in a twitter post, the player can shortcut into the various swings to take advantage of the different benefits.
Many of these are subject to change per balancing.
Next we'll showcase some of the new Nekril weapons that Carter will have to deal with along with perhaps a character Bio so we can get to know our comrades in arms.
As always, thanks guys for reading and take care.
Meet the cast of Organism 8
Thanks again guys for your time, interest and the wishlist adds, it means everything. Let me introduce you guys to the team that will be going up against the Nekril as well as various hostile fauna that populate the planet.
As Carter (far right), you'll be working with various members of U-EneT. Individual character profiles will be coming later as I finalize different aspects of the story. As you can see, Carter's appearance has gone through some revisions, namely her sclera to better suit the direction of her character. The store page banner will be updated to reflect her new look.
In the game you will be working closely with your team. Not only will they serve as a significant part of the story, in some cases you will be able to call them to assist in different parts of the game.
I'll be spending some time in diversifying the Nekril as well as working on their different class archetypes for a good while to make sure that they are diverse, interesting, and fun to fight. Stay tuned.
As always, you can normally reach me on my twitter feed at.
https://twitter.com/mfsdduong
Or simply post here, I flip through these everyday.
Thanks again.
A big thank you for all of the wishlist adds
I really appreciate the interest in my game.
I've got a teaser image for one of the new main beasts of the game which I hope you guys will enjoy.
Meet Carbuncle, generally depicted as a small animal with a jewel on its forehead in south american mythology. I figured I would give it my own twist by making it big.
No details in regards to how Carbuncle will be treated in Organism 8's story as that will actually spoil a lot.
If you guys would like to see more regular updates, make sure to share with your friends and follow me on twitter at.
https://twitter.com/mfsdduong
Organism 8 FAQ
Hi Everyone, I'd like to thank everyone for their continued interest in the game. We were greenlit and everything and it was awesome. I appreciated everyone's time and hope you guys enjoy Organism 8 when it gets released.
What is Organism 8?
Organism 8 is a 2D action adventure that focuses on horizontal progression with light survival elements.
Who are the people responsible for making the game?
All pixel work is done in Photoshop and programming done by me (Derek Duong). You can follow me at:
https://twitter.com/MFSDDuong
I like to post things there.
Game engine used is Unity with a third party tiling system known as Rotorz Tiling System. Unfortunately Lea Hayes was not able to continue work on his tiling asset, none the less give him a shout if you can at:
https://twitter.com/leahayes
Our music composer is the talented Matthew A.C. Cohen. If you love the music, I would recommend you visit his website at:
http://www.matthewaccohen.com/
Tell us more about the weapon systems
There are 4 beam types in the game. They are;
Phantom(Electric Blueberry): Responsible for dealing pure damage, most tools aligned with phantom are largely associated with either dealing direct damage or preventing it
Heat(Flaming Peach): Responsible for adding temperature to the target
Cold(Minty Gum): Responsible for taking away temperature
Singularity(Radical Green Apple): Most utility effects are bundled here including dealing damage to ammo pools, disabling shields, knocking targets out non-lethally
Each of the 4 beam types can be used with any of the items available to Carter including:
the arm cannon
the det pack which can transform into a grenade or mine
the combat kit which can transform into a rocket launcher and remote drone
the suit in two forms including self buffing or aura emitting
With no augments, each tool is essentially smaller/bigger versions of each other. The rocket has the smallest explosion but you can shoot more at once, the mine has the largest explosion but uses the most energy to deploy. The real customization comes when the player starts crafting the trait augments of the game, "talent points" that completely change how weapons work.
Examples:
Smoke Grenade is an augment for the fire grenade which allows the fire grenade to cover a large area with smoke, interfering with line of sight. This comes at the expense of the grenade's ability to deal any damage or add temperature.
Blizzard Mine is an augment for the cold mine which allows the cold mine to cover a large area with a temperature dropping aura and disables the enemy's ability to add temperature to Carter. This comes at the expense of the mine's ability to deal damage, temperature is lost slowly for enemies in the field and also normalizes Carter's suit temperature if it's high.
All attacks stem from the same energy resource, the game's stamina mechanic rather than pickups.
Tell me more about itemization and progression
The game features a horizontal stat/trait augmentation approach with cosmetic rewards. There are various categories of items that can be crafted/obtained in the game. They are:
Resources - gather these to make things
Suit Cosmetics - I decided to make things purely cosmetic so the player can get the look they want without sacrificing their preferred playstyle
Stat Augments - Pure stat based augmentation, when an augment is used to boost a stat in max shields, it comes at the expense of another stat such as energy regen rate
Trait Augments - Augmentation associated with making various combat decisions in the game. These include augments for; when shields drop to 0, per 10 points of energy gained via recharging, when successfully landing a blow with an explosive, successful active parry, successful steady block, staying in the air with the jetpack, crouching, picking your nose IRL
Is Organism 8 non-linear?
The game features a Metroidvania style map with landing pads that can be unlocked as you progress through the game.
Tell us more about the protagonist
Yulana Carter is the head of the United Energy Technologies Research Group (U-EneT), a Private Military Group that masquerades as a Scientific Research Corporation and is also seen as one of the 4 grand mercenary groups of the galaxy by those outside of the Allied Space Federation. Despite being a very small organization, U-EneT has been able to accomplish vast things in a very short amount of time due to Yulana's more cold and sometimes very questionable approach to solving problems.
In this game we will be focusing on Yulana Carter and some of her subordinates including: Fafnir, Yamato, and Richter, more details coming soon.
Will there be New Game+?
The bosses and level design is made with New Game+ in mind. The best example of this is the Crimson Swarm faction, a race of giant red hornets that inhabit the area. Carter may attack the mobs, sending them into hostile state or do the best she can in preserving them. Maintaining allegiance with them until their level arc is finished unlocks them for assist and opens up a vendor to get a set of cosmetic armor and augments not available otherwise. Killing them opens up the option to ally with the Emerald Thunder, a race of grasshoppers that shoot lightning out of their mouths. Multiple playthroughs are required to get everything in the game.
The Nekril Orb Guardian as seen in the trailer get's his shields disabled via a flying singularity anomaly. As we know, green is great against shields, Carter can use her own singularity beam to disable the shields at will once it is obtained from a previous playthrough.
If I have more questions about the game where can I go to ask them?
I generally have my twitter always open so you can hit me up anytime at.
https://twitter.com/mfsdduong
Or you can post in the discussion here.
Thanks again everyone for your time and I hope to get the game out for people to enjoy as soon as possible. Thanks!
