View Full Version : A little thing I'd like to share. [prototype link inside]
Bonezmann
08-12-2009, 07:40 PM
Okay, so I was playing around with ideas for some levels for a platformer game, when I thought of a level made out of complete darkness. But how would you know where to go, you ask? With a SONAR!
I went through three different sonar objects and then settled on this one for now:
What I did:
In the wall's/enemy's/pickup's collision event with the sonar, I set each to make their respective effect.("Create effect" under the Draw tab) Simple as that.
Screenshots:
NORMAL:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/Hirok99/screenshot105.jpg
DARK:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/Hirok99/screenshot107.jpg
NORMAL:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/Hirok99/screenshot112.jpg
DARK:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn254/Hirok99/screenshot115.jpg
Here's a Link (http://www.mediafire.com/?yqnymomozig) to the prototype if you want to see how it works for yourself. The sonar 'beams' once every second or two.
edit:
Controls:
Press the arrow keys to move left/right, and enter to change rooms(one is dark and one is light)
Could it work? Any suggestions? I'll upload the source if anyone wants it. :)
DevilsAdvocate
08-12-2009, 09:01 PM
i think it looks pretty awesome the way it is :)
whats the aim of the game tho?
Bonezmann
08-12-2009, 10:37 PM
It's a straight forward platform game, no idea on a story of any kind... That which you saw is only a prototype, I've put it into my platformer game(the one I was busy with) and it looks cool so far. :)
BlackShipsFillt
09-12-2009, 09:03 AM
This does look very interesting indeed... It would naturally lend itself to quite a suspense-full, if not outright scary game, it doesn't have to have gruesome graphics for that, the partial blindness mechanic is scary already... I'm assuming of course that a lot of levels become dark enough that only the sonar signatures of the enemies show up (I'm also assuming there will be enemies).
Also it should definitely have a meep-meep sound, like the Aliens motion scanner. (if you go the scary route)
Aesthetically I would suggest turning down the opacity of the sonar when the room is light, unless there is a reason for it to be so bright. Making it transparent would suggest that it is redundant when things are visible, but then very necessary when things are dark.
Other things that could be interesting:
invisible enemies even when the room is light that only show up on the sonar.
Walls that ping a different colour to denote some other property (like they are breakable, or are actually a door, or traps, traps traps!)
Upgrading the sonar to be more frequent and for the pings to last longer
Using the ping to effect things, like flick switches while they're pinging, or use it as a weapon (ping burn)
Things that don't ping, like ghosts.
Things that die when pinged, but grow in the dark.
Of course I'm assuming that the sonar is a main mechanic, not just a mechanic that pops up for a few dark levels, although that would work as well.
It looks like you've got a ghost as the main character, I'd like to suggest that the enemies are Pacmen, tunnelling under the earth eating all the nutrients, and your job is to go down there and stop them (Naturally there would be a Pac-Queen orchestrating the pacmen, kind of like Aliens). Ghosts of course can only kill pacmen when pacmen aren't eating tasty things... So hiding the tasty things from the pacmen could allow for some interesting puzzles. Though I have no idea what you intend, I kind of think this game could be a little bit like Knytt's Stories, in that everything is dangerous.
Just my thoughts. It looks very exciting (and quite pretty) so far.
Bonezmann
09-12-2009, 10:09 AM
Also it should definitely have a meep-meep sound, like the Aliens motion scanner. (if you go the scary route)
Thanx for the idea, maybe I could use a sound for the sonar and a different sound for different enemies. I'll check it out.
Aesthetically I would suggest turning down the opacity of the sonar when the room is light, unless there is a reason for it to be so bright. Making it transparent would suggest that it is redundant when things are visible, but then very necessary when things are dark.
The light room was purely for the purpose of the prototype, to show you where the walls are so you know what goes on when the room turns dark. So I don't really plan on using light rooms. :)
Other things that could be interesting:
invisible enemies even when the room is light that only show up on the sonar.
Walls that ping a different colour to denote some other property (like they are breakable, or are actually a door, or traps, traps traps!)
Upgrading the sonar to be more frequent and for the pings to last longer
Using the ping to effect things, like flick switches while they're pinging, or use it as a weapon (ping burn)
Things that don't ping, like ghosts.
Things that die when pinged, but grow in the dark.
A lot of those could actually work, thanks. \o/
Of course I'm assuming that the sonar is a main mechanic, not just a mechanic that pops up for a few dark levels, although that would work as well.
In the game I'm currently busy with, it's a power-up used in a few levels. After that, I'll make a game that uses it more. :)
It looks like you've got a ghost as the main character, I'd like to suggest that the enemies are Pacmen, tunnelling under the earth eating all the nutrients, and your job is to go down there and stop them (Naturally there would be a Pac-Queen orchestrating the pacmen, kind of like Aliens). Ghosts of course can only kill pacmen when pacmen aren't eating tasty things... So hiding the tasty things from the pacmen could allow for some interesting puzzles. Though I have no idea what you intend, I kind of think this game could be a little bit like Knytt's Stories, in that everything is dangerous.
This sounds like a really good idea, however, the main character I use is a princess.:D I'll use that idea for my next game. :)
AndrewJ
09-12-2009, 11:46 AM
Nice twist on the "I only have a lamp and the cave is dark" theme.
DukeOFprunes
09-12-2009, 12:01 PM
Sounds a lot like Devil's Tuning Fork (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11/17/the-best-tunes-devils-tuning-fork/), but I like that you have ghosts :)
Bonezmann
09-12-2009, 07:03 PM
Thanks for all the comments.
Wow, Devil's Tuning Fork looks awesome!
But, like I said, the main character isn't a ghost(in my real game). The ghost sprite was used purely for the prototype. :)
I'll upload the game when I have a few levels done. :)
Bonezmann
09-12-2009, 08:00 PM
Update:
The first two sonar levels are done.
Different colors mean different things:
Green=Safe
Red=Dangerous
White=Help
Blue/Yellow=Power-ups.
DOWNLOAD LINK (http://www.mediafire.com/?tk0xnlyj202)
Feel free to tell me what you think. :)
CiNiMoDZA
09-12-2009, 08:49 PM
Freaking amazing!! This is too cool! Two basic concepts put together = AWESOME!! Maybe you could add a time trial mode, so that we can race for fastest times!
The game is a bit buggy though, I found that more than once I kept falling into nothing, and collecting a power-up did nothing! Otherwise! Awesome!
Bonezmann
09-12-2009, 10:02 PM
I'll check out the mentioned bugs. Would you mind telling me which color the power-up was?
Nandrew
15-12-2009, 02:14 PM
Heh, I was playing SOTN recently and there's one bit where you use echolocation to get a valuable treasure. Its potential for use in a full game is actually pretty awesome given the right components. :)
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