It's been quite hectic over the last few weeks, what with Christmas and everything. Once we got back to Newport, we had to jump straight into work and solve the what seemed like endless problems of our game. We had 4 days till our hand in on the 7th of our pre production port folio. Tough, but we managed it and benifited from it immensely :)
Since the last lot of images we showed you, theres been alot of changes and I hope I can sum them up well for you.
We started on the title screen, as we thought it would give a good indication of what you might expect from this game. Fun (hopefully). So, I drew in the lines and Codey coloured the image. When I recieved the image back from Codey however, the colours had deviated from the ones we had planned. An honest mistake, but it looked as though these 'new' colours were better than our originals. So here is the finished title screen minus the title...which we stall havent thought of.
The features of the little buggers have been developed further also. We have decided that they are deffinitly out to get you.
Though they may appear cute, once they get near you, they will appear slightly more aggressive. And at points throught the level, They will merge together in a sort of russian doll like fashion, jumping in to eachothers mouths till they are left with one much larger little bugger.
In this new state, they will be able to run faster, jump higher and ultimatly be a bigger threat.
The stages in the game that this will occur will hopefully be reminicent of the moments in Abe's Oddysey in the Scrabanian and Paramonian temples. Where the player must run from their persuers as fast as they can while dodging obsticles and timing jumps. There is no time to think. Codey and I both find these moments extremely saticfying, as they really make you feel like you have achieved something once you have evaded the enemy. We hope we can recreate something along the lines of this example.
Obviously, we were still lacking a character. But finally we have one, and it has turned out to be great for tying up some of our loose ends adds motivation for the player.
After drawing the same quadraped figures over and over again, we werent getting anywhere and for a joke...as we were eating jelly beans at the time.
I drew this...
A very simple and silly, Jellybean, opperating Arcade machine/Walker style vehicle.
As i say, it was uspposed to be a joke...but something was nice and fresh about it. So we ran with it for one night...in which i made these images in flash..
The idea with this little character, was that instead of having a dual ability system with different jumps and speeds. This character has the ability to retract its mechanicle legs to then roll on its surrounding sphere. This would explain our tubing system also. So although the mechanics of this idea were better, the visual aspect was not. When put against out title screen, it looked small, instignificant and out of place..
So hereare a few ways i tried to correct the design.
Although I enjoyed drawing these, none of them really worked. They are all side facing, so in game, it doesnt fit in very well with the rest of the creatures and environment.
So after abit of a panic 24 hours before the deadline...i drew a few little pictures and came up with the idea of a white little bean like character, that is cute like the little buggers, but some kind of a higher being...and the little buggers want to eat it,,to obsorb its power or something along those lines.
The little white bean is suspended in a ball of energy that spouts for energy legs.
This led the idea of the player, not playing as the bean controling the ball...but playing as the energy ball, and you are carrying the bean to its destination.
So you are protecting the bean from its predators..
heres a few pics showing the development of this new character
and finally a developed image...though i think this may also change. We may stick to the dual ability design..but instead of the character fliping to choose which ability it uses, the colour of the sphere with change..say from blue to red. One being a high jumper but slow runner and the other being a not so high jumper but with a faster speed.
When the legs are animated I think they will appear more electrical. I'm going to try and animate them free hand in flash, instead of using the line tool. I think it might give it a less solid look which is what i had in mind when I drew it.
Here is the scale character sheet and a kind of ingame shot..just to show the Large little buggers in action..
Now to pick up where Codey left off...The sequence that he created while in an internet cafe...ha.
This is basically a pre scripted sequence in which the player will enter the character, and then have no further control of until the sequence is finished.
The idea is, that you have landed on the same level as the 'Little Bugger' as we now call them (probably a working title). So you have no choice but to run (to the right in this case) where you will come against a wall with a small tube/tunnel at its base. With the 'Little Buggers' hot on you heels you must retract you energy like legs and rol your sphere down the tube/tunnel. One the player has reached this point, the sequence will kick in, hopefully with no break in the motion.
So, this is where it all kicks in...
The character will fall down the tunnel, swing round and then shoot up into the first chamber. In here are quite a few little buggers. They watch in awe as you fly up and catch some air(haha), as you then fall back down into the next tunnel, they form their faster russian doll and chase after you. In the next chamber, once again you fly up and enjoy a nice dose of hang time. Only the big little bugger is heavier than you and doesnt get so much air, and falls infront of you. With a frustrated look on his silly little face.
Meanwhile, a little bugger who is on a platform above you and your hangtime, catches a little glimps of you and hurrys ahead to intercept you...only to be thwarted by the fact that his is too fat for the next tunnel..and becomes stuck.
Now you are racing behind the little bugger and are shot out of the tunnel, rolled across the ceiling and finally to the end of the seqeunce and back into the gameplay. The little bugger again, because it is heavier falls faster to the ground.
Then you will be chased once again :)
I think thats about it for now, I have a idea of an ending and a loop back to the beggining that I still need to talk to Codey about. Hopefully there will be an update again soon with information about that and other things :)
Until next time
Bye bye
Iain
