Upgrades, upgrades, and upgrades It has been a long time since our last update. So we try to catch up with the latest development.
Vincent planned upgrades, trying to cope with the restriction to use only the features and content available. His goal was to provide some new, unique items. Pictured below is kind of an “Upgrades Playground”. Basically, it is a test level which offers a controlled environment, without features that could interfere with the test. That way Vincent knows exactly what action triggers what, when, why, and how. The downside of this approach is certainly that if he encounters a bug and is not able to fix it on the design side, he has to drop the upgrade entirely.
Once an upgrade is tested, bug-free and working, Vincent submits it and it’s ready to go into the game.
RS Experiment Final Update!
New main character and features
With the new level approaching the final stages, we made a decision on who the main character will be: It’s Giana, including her switching mechanic. While we were at it, we also mashed up some characters and enemies from Twisted Dreams into the mix.
https://youtu.be/a8Rc51ABX1M
Another feature is a complete main menu overhaul. Originally we planned to include this at a much later stage, but we thought a more modern approach would fit well into the Rogue Stormers universe, and we couldn't wait.
The release is scheduled for next Monday, since nobody in their right minds would release anything on a Saturday, April 1st...
Rogue Stormers Experiment - Day 9
Freebies? Freebies! Vincent integrated some new, fixed upgrades into the level. Upon pickup, they will spawn a random rare item. A freebie! Right now they are placed at the beginning and the middle part of the map. In order to prevent loot ninjas the maximum amount of freebies you can stack is two. The screenshots show the upgrade in action. Until Vincent and Schmitty get some time from an artist, the chair currently representing the upgrade will function as a placeholder.
For the remainder of the week, Vincent will create some new upgrades, and secondary weapons, as well as continuing to polish the level.
As a little reminder: We still want to know what you think about how difficult this level should be. Head over to our survey and vote for your preference.
We already posted this in the discussion board.
Schmitty and Vincent currently are finetuning the level. Now we realize that the games' difficulty is a much debated issue. That's why we’d like to know how hard, or easy, you want the level to be.
Just answer this question in the survey linked below and let us know.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScV9wdswRF84FgN4YURe-aXAzQxV6DYWVBHVZ-WMIX3XzJnbQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Thanks!
Rogue Stormers Experiment - The Boss!
Our animation intern Jeroen spend the better part of the week rigging the airship boss. And please make him smile by cheering for him. This boss is actually the first thing he created since he started working at Black Forest Games that he actually can show to the people close to him. All other projects he worked on so far were created under strict NDA.
Having said that... see the magnificent Airship Boss in his idle animation.
Yes, yes. We said we would uncover the new airship boss today. Well… we don’t. Not today, anyway.
The level is now completely set up. All chunks have their first draft gameplay in them. Assets not yet in the game, or not yet done have placeholders in place.
Vincent added some mini-challenges into the level, which were only possible because of the linearity of most of the level. Yes you read that right. Although most of the levels will be linear and premade – Schmitty and Vincent decided to include some procedural chunks into the level – for challenge.
The next steps are mainly polishing and incorporating feedback from playtesters.
And promise. Tomorrow we will present the airship boss to you.
Rogue Stormers Experiment - Day 6
Reverse engineering.
Vincent had to add an important feature to our engine. Since they weren’t given any programmer resources, they had to reverse engineer some of the stuff in order to make it work. And they did. As always, they encountered some bugs on the way, but nothing really messy.
More tomorrow. And then we will show the new boss.
Rogue Stormers Experiment - Day 5
Welcome to bug county…
Vincent encountered a bug, where the camera jumped randomly to the higher chunk and back again. His first guess was a missed tag that he should have placed on the chunk, in order to fix it in place within the level setup. The real reason was much simpler. He forgot to assign a difficulty, which caused the editor to not recognize the chunk properly and sent the camera bouncing like a frantic poodle.
Next to setting up the audio triggers, which is important in case we actually are able to include the audio, Vincent mainly worked on small changes to various chunks, adding new mobs and tweaking the placement of level-elements.
Vincent was also able to playtest one of the flying sections of the new level, which he turned into a short clip
Watch the videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsENjEAcUTM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL6TDJlyF1M
Rogue Stormers Experiment - Day 4
Vincent created an attack for the level boss of our experiment. A friggin, homing, deadly fireball. How will it work? Watch the video. Try to imagine the new boss - a big, badass, hurling fireballs that actually home in towards you…
But it doesn't end there - while you get bombarded by these fireballs, you'll hear - hear that guy throwing all kinds of insults at you. Okay... the latter is an option both Vincent and Schmitty explore. When they sat together, exploring the possibility of including voice acting for that fireball-hurling boss, things got pretty interesting. And if you know Schmitty, you know that this meeting became very... expressive.
We'll keep you updated on the progress!
Rogue Stormers Experiment - Day 3
Vincent and Schmitty finished the level layout and basically built a level where they can walk through from start to end already. Of course, the stuff THAT IS in there isn’t the stuff that SHOULD be in there…
In essence, that means the frame is finished, now they work on the interior design.
We think they have fun. Because when we pass by their workspace every now and then we overhear laughter and see them rubbing their hands.
Do you want to know more? https://www.facebook.com/BlackForestGames/videos/1374388155954620/?permPage=1
Upgrades, upgrades, and upgrades
Our animation intern Jeroen spend the better part of the week rigging the airship boss. And please make him smile by cheering for him. This boss is actually the first thing he created since he started working at Black Forest Games that he actually can show to the people close to him. All other projects he worked on so far were created under strict NDA.
Yes, yes. We said we would uncover the new airship boss today. Well… we don’t. Not today, anyway.
And promise. Tomorrow we will present the airship boss to you.
Vincent encountered a bug, where the camera jumped randomly to the higher chunk and back again. His first guess was a missed tag that he should have placed on the chunk, in order to fix it in place within the level setup. The real reason was much simpler. He forgot to assign a difficulty, which caused the editor to not recognize the chunk properly and sent the camera bouncing like a frantic poodle.
Vincent and Schmitty finished the level layout and basically built a level where they can walk through from start to end already. Of course, the stuff THAT IS in there isn’t the stuff that SHOULD be in there…
Do you want to know more? https://www.facebook.com/BlackForestGames/videos/1374388155954620/?permPage=1