Labyrinth: Lots o' Progress
by William Lee Sims · 02/09/2010 (8:03 am) · 15 comments
Several weeks back, N.R. and I got the casual portion of "Labyrinth" into a state where all of the features could be tested. Time for user/alpha testing! I got several friends over, set up 7 computers, and watched everybody play for 6 or so hours. In addition to a great time, I got pages of bugs and usability issues.
Do user testing early! Of course N.R. and I play the game a lot and our families do, too, but that's not the same. Watching people play your game is a painful experience, but it is worth a ton.
In addition, we've started to define what the final portion of the hardcore game will be. We've still got a lot of work to do there, but I can promise everybody that it's fun and exciting!
Recently, I've been playing with the lighting. In the first level, our hero, Grommy, makes an ad-hoc light out of the console strapped to his arm. After that, he builds a robotic lightning bug. This bug follows Grommy around and lights up the level much better than the console can. In addition, you can remotely control the lightning bug to see further into the cave.
I apologize for the grainy video. (And the bug is just a lightbulb for now.)
The music is an original piece composed by Joshua Leung (www.joshleung.com/). We had him create 6 pieces for the game. His music adds significantly to the game's atmosphere. We gave him the feel we were looking for in each piece, and he matched it perfectly. If your project needs music, check out his portfolio and talk to him. (Plus, he's really easy to work with.)
Do user testing early! Of course N.R. and I play the game a lot and our families do, too, but that's not the same. Watching people play your game is a painful experience, but it is worth a ton.
In addition, we've started to define what the final portion of the hardcore game will be. We've still got a lot of work to do there, but I can promise everybody that it's fun and exciting!
Recently, I've been playing with the lighting. In the first level, our hero, Grommy, makes an ad-hoc light out of the console strapped to his arm. After that, he builds a robotic lightning bug. This bug follows Grommy around and lights up the level much better than the console can. In addition, you can remotely control the lightning bug to see further into the cave.
I apologize for the grainy video. (And the bug is just a lightbulb for now.)
The music is an original piece composed by Joshua Leung (www.joshleung.com/). We had him create 6 pieces for the game. His music adds significantly to the game's atmosphere. We gave him the feel we were looking for in each piece, and he matched it perfectly. If your project needs music, check out his portfolio and talk to him. (Plus, he's really easy to work with.)
About the author
#2
Agree with Melv about the green HUD, thought it might be placeholder when you posted last.
Looking forward to more!
02/09/2010 (10:25 am)
It looks like you guys created some really nice pathfinding there. Is it based on the AStar that comes with TGB or a rewrite?Agree with Melv about the green HUD, thought it might be placeholder when you posted last.
Looking forward to more!
#3
Also I agree with Melv, that green GUI is a bit too green.
02/09/2010 (11:00 am)
I loved the animated intro, that was cool!Also I agree with Melv, that green GUI is a bit too green.
#4
Also agreed. I'd suggest making it look more like the main menu with all the metalic theme.
02/09/2010 (3:36 pm)
Quote:Also I agree with Melv, that green GUI is a bit too green.
Also agreed. I'd suggest making it look more like the main menu with all the metalic theme.
#5
The animated gates, as we call them, are N.R.'s idea. We used them in "Hackers", and they were a lot of fun to make. I modified the t2dSceneObject to ease-out the position and rotation animations. N.R. creates a dozen or so images. Between the two, we get a cool gate!
I rolled my own pathfinding. I don't think the built-in version can do hexes. I made some assumptions in the algorithm, too, to speed it up. I did this because I call the algorithm a lot (the robotic pets use it to move around, and it's called to display the number under the mouse cursor whenever it enters a new hex).
Personally, I like the green HUD, but it's sounding like it might be a bit much. N.R.'s is thinking of going with a glass-like HUD, so we've got some options there.
Later!
02/09/2010 (5:18 pm)
Thanks, everybody! It's very encouraging to hear from you all.The animated gates, as we call them, are N.R.'s idea. We used them in "Hackers", and they were a lot of fun to make. I modified the t2dSceneObject to ease-out the position and rotation animations. N.R. creates a dozen or so images. Between the two, we get a cool gate!
I rolled my own pathfinding. I don't think the built-in version can do hexes. I made some assumptions in the algorithm, too, to speed it up. I did this because I call the algorithm a lot (the robotic pets use it to move around, and it's called to display the number under the mouse cursor whenever it enters a new hex).
Personally, I like the green HUD, but it's sounding like it might be a bit much. N.R.'s is thinking of going with a glass-like HUD, so we've got some options there.
Later!
#6
02/09/2010 (6:38 pm)
It's not that it's green - it's that it's too bright green. I like green HUDs too, just less radiocative ones! 
#7
02/10/2010 (3:28 am)
The whole thing looks great but I really liked your menus. But then my friends all tease me about how I love to design menus and only work on the games less then half the time. Anyways, great work! 
#8
02/10/2010 (7:02 am)
I love the menu transitions too and I like the gameplay. I think the bright green and blue colours in the menus should be subdued a little - they look a little "programmer art" just because the colours don't match the gameplay palette. Looking good. 
#9
Keep up the great work!
02/10/2010 (11:26 am)
That's got to be the best menu I've seen in a TGB game. The game looks great, though I gotta agree with the others on the green hud. Something that fits better with the menu would be good. That green was a little jarring after the awesome menu.Keep up the great work!
#11
Looks awesome! Looking forward to see more.
Glass-like HUD sounds like a good direction.
02/10/2010 (6:04 pm)
Looks awesome! Looking forward to see more.
Glass-like HUD sounds like a good direction.
#12
02/10/2010 (7:30 pm)
Thanks for the input everyone. You should see some adjustments to the green HUD on our next update.
#13
More importantly, I've made changes to the base scene object. It allows us to animate positions, rotations, scale, alpha, and clip regions. It also allows these animations to be eased-out, so that it slows down at the end of the animation.
02/10/2010 (7:49 pm)
All of the GUIs are implemented in TGB. We achieve some of the effects by using 6 scene windows.More importantly, I've made changes to the base scene object. It allows us to animate positions, rotations, scale, alpha, and clip regions. It also allows these animations to be eased-out, so that it slows down at the end of the animation.
#15
02/17/2010 (7:21 pm)
I know a bunch of people already said this, but the starting GUI animation are just the BOMB! I am really impress. 
Associate Melv May
The only thing that I thought was that the bright-green hud really distracted too much from the gameplay within. With that said, all the other animated gui looks superb!
Great work!