One Of Them

[Galavant Garde]

Dilapidated petrol station on the side of the freeway:

[c^5]

I really like the atmosphere the background of the gas station pictures. I recently read Time Out of Joint and it really reminds me of one of the scenes from later in the book for some reason (minus the Zombie  ).

[Galavant Garde]

Dystopia 🤙 That kind of unravelling of the world around you theme is what I want to emulate in this game, because the player gets to see just how messed up & cruel the humans really are. A dark & crumbling world totally helps to illustrate that actually, but I didn't have that in mind when I started making it...just thought it looked cool. So now that you mention Time Out Of Joint, my brain is like ARGH with ideas, thanks!! I'm gonna stick with this aesthetic & use it to illustrate the eroding facade of civilisation (deep stuff)

[Galavant Garde]

Little update - creating a node network for the bots to navigate in the new freeway map.  Going to make a blockade somewhere along the road forcing you to have to find a way around



I think I'll need to add a routine to the bots too so they use their flashlights when they're in the dark, not just to see you when you're in the dark.  Otherwise they walk around in the dark and you can't really see them until its too late.

Anyway I'll keep posting as stuff develops

[Galavant Garde]

So I finally sorted out my web host - I can now upload large files!  Meaning now that Dropbox public folders have been retired, I can post download links again!

Here's the latest playable beta of the game - http://galavantgarde.net/oneofthem/OneOfThem.zip

EDIT - my web host wasn't quite what I expected, so I've killed the site.  That means you can't download the beta for now.  It'll come back soon don't worry

[Galavant Garde]

OMG can't believe I didn't think to implement this sooner!  So, enemies hear your footsteps!  It means 1) you gotta be sneakier, and 2) when they're chasing you, they can easily follow your footsteps!  Suddenly, they're better at tracking you down, instead of standing there confused from afar when you slip around a couple corners

So depending on if their alert level is low, medium or high, they'll be able to hear further.

PS I'm almost done with the second level!  And here's a random screenshot of enemies finding me hiding under a desk:

[Galavant Garde]

Significant progress in the past few days:

Prison map has had a big makeover:
- real stairs instead of weirdly textured ramps
- layout opened up so you can see where the heck you are actually going
- more pillars and other map geometry you can hide behind
- bye bye nebulous stairwells
- built in glorious glass ceilings letting more moonlight in
- light bollards have made an appearance improving the look of outdoor lighting
- more vents built into the map can be yelled into to make distractions for enemies
- guards have 'hiding spots' where they run to when they're scared

Scripting improvements:
- icons appear on the HUD telling you when a contextual action is available (such as pick up rock, yell into vent, aim/throw, vault over a barrier/bench)
- resolved action button conflict where throwing a rock close to a vent made it irretrievable (trying to pick it up would make the zombie yell into the vent instead)
- I 'think' I resolved a scripting conflict that caused the engine to unexpectedly crash (believe it was something to do with the 'hide all bitmaps' command when no bitmaps were actually shown)

These changes go a long way in making the demo more playable and smooth!  I'm finally starting to see glimmers of a 'real game' now

[Galavant Garde]

Here's a screenshot showcasing some of the improvements I mentioned in the last post.  Better lighting, more game-like layouts with structural stuff that makes a bit more sense/gives you places to hide, improved lighting, a little contextual instruction on the screen depending on what your action button will do (in this image you're holding a rock):



You may notice the glowing wasp images - going with wasp venom as the experimental treatment that was supposed to make the prisoner placid and compliant, but it obvs has a different reaction in a human than it does on cockroaches (crazy I know)

EDIT - looking at this from my Mac Pro through the TV, it's pretty dark.  Looks fine on my MacBook though.  How does it come out on your displays?

[c^5]

Improvements sound neat!

EDIT - looking at this from my Mac Pro through the TV, it's pretty dark.  Looks fine on my MacBook though.  How does it come out on your displays?

Looks pretty dark to me on both my Macbook and on my external monitor, hard to make out what's going on in the parts of the scene that aren't directly lit.

[Galavant Garde]

If I put the gamma up a little bit, it comes out like this:



Any better?

[`teh1]

All your images just broke as of yesterday. They redirect here:

https://www.000webhost.com/migrate?utm_source=000&utm_medium=rdr&utm_campaign=old_panel_off&static=true

[Galavant Garde]

Argh my web host has been such a pain lately. I'll get on that asap

[Galavant Garde]

Got my web host sorted so the images are back.  Here's a new one showing the start of a new enemy capability I've been working on:



When you kill a guard, and another guard comes across the body, he goes up to it to inspect and says something like "J-j-j-johnny!" or "He's dead!" and "OMG" etc.  The moment they spend by the body gives you a chance to run, or spring an attack on them.  Also, the body will only interrupt an enemy's routine once i.e. they won't all keep stopping to check the same body.  Need to polish it a little as they kinda stand on their friend's body, but it's getting there.  I also know this screenshot is a bit dark - still finding the right balance to lighten the game up while keeping it dark

[Galavant Garde]

This is still happening BTW, been busy working on other projects.  But I started building the sewer network for level 3, will post updates soon 

[ggadwa]

This is still happening BTW, been busy working on other projects.  But I started building the sewer network for level 3, will post updates soon 

Everything is slow around here, but we're all still working

[>] Brian