z_bill Posted November 23, 2016 Download on ITCH here! Original Post: Hey, no art yet but wanted to commit myself to doing this by posting! This is gonna be a tribute to an old arcade game called Wacko. I had quite a cool experience when I discovered this game and completely ignored the rules and figured it out on my own. It became sort of an "arcade puzzle game." So I want to replicate that. (if you are familiar with Wacko it might be pre-spoiled -but still fun!- for you). Want to include: -Twin stick shooting ala Nuclear Throne (but gonna swap movement to mouse to make it weird) -Faux 3d layers to fake dimension in gamemaker. Also: parallax bg. -Bizarre Jack Vance inspired creatures. -A goblin that hurls coins at them. -Simple Zelda-lite room structure, with some kinda insane room swipe transitions. Fun stuff! I hope #wizardjam can help us/me with this panic/depression we/I are/am going through right now! Sounds like just the remedy to me! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zzot Posted November 23, 2016 Googles Wako. Watches several Youtube video. Comes back. «Wako looks amazing!» The twin stick shooter with swap movement sounds intriguing. I like the idea of playing something that looks familiar but feels alien at the same time. Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted November 24, 2016 Thanks! Still all placeholder & crappy as of now, but here's me goofing with the fake 3d. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted November 26, 2016 This is your gob. I'm slowly making the game more animated/better. Still basic traversal stuff being ironed out though! The faux 3d is good enough for me at this point. Also, gob gets dizzy if you try to move the mouse too fast. You can see it in the middle there. Getting to be super fun...but not sure time is on my side! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Berzee Posted November 26, 2016 I'm glad someone is doing a Dance of the Treasure Goblin game. That was the first episode I listened to, and one of the ones I remember most often. Nice gif. Kind of bugging my eyes out as I write this, which is pretty suitable for a treasure goblin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Travis Posted November 26, 2016 Sounds pretty neat, and I like that faked 3D effect. It is looking pretty good in the second gif! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted November 27, 2016 Yeah! The Dance of The Treasure Goblin was a significant pod to me too! It makes me remember: "My favorite podcast is not dead and IS BACK and hilarious! And I have an unhealthy obsession with Minecraft." Haha! Ah, the memories... I forget what the actual Treasure Goblin joke was though specifically, and I decided not to listen to it again to remind myself. I like to go off on my own weird tangents with my wizard jam games. Here are some super slapdash creatures! Not great, but need to speed up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted November 27, 2016 Progress! The gif is starting to be weird (ie: that brown bar in the bg is actually a smooth gradation) but happy with this! The mobs don't exactly fit in with the space/perspective, but I think this is going to be the best I'll be able to do with that. Also: you throw Corvos as a weapon (collision not functioning quite yet). Look in upper right for Cool Mask. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Teljoor Posted November 27, 2016 The 3d effect looks nice. I see you can pick up your coins after throwing them. Are you going to make that a mechanic, like only giving the player enough coins per room to defeat all the mobs exactly, so they have to retrieve the coins when they miss? Of course you couldn't have coins disappear offscreen then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coughlinjon Posted November 28, 2016 Great progress; I'm giggling at the art Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 2, 2016 Hey. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get this done by the deadline. Just bad timing for me. Buuut I'm going to release a WIP version Sunday, and give myself an extra week to complete the final. So there's that. I need help finding a goblinesque laugh to use from a Thumbs pod. Like, is there a good laugh (probably Jake's is most gobliny) someone can remember for me to soundbite? Much appreciated! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 5, 2016 I've released a WIP version of the game to meet the deadline! Download on ITCH here! It turns out I have THREE diversifiers, pretty much by accident, haha! Nice Segue: This weird snail screenwipe btwn rooms. Learn By Doing: Yeah, my games mostly all have this. I'm a bastard. Dishonored Holidays: Corvos are in full effect! I hope everyone enjoys! Lemme know about any bugs! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick R Posted December 9, 2016 This game is hella stylish. So cool! There are definitely bugs if you move too fast, but given the message at the start. Not sure I really understand the rules of the game, but I could finish some levels. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 9, 2016 Hey thanks! I updated to version 1.1 which adds 3 rooms and hopefully fixes some junk. DOWNLOAD NOW! Yeah, you can get stuck if you let the (formerly invisible) mouse cursor get too far away from the gob. It's a problem with the mouse movement control, in that if the mouse is hovering over a spot the gob can't go, he's stuck. I've tried to remedy this by have a white dot become the mouse if it's somewhere the gob can't be. Move your cursor back to the gob and you're golden (if not dead already)! It's an early difficulty because I decided on mouse movement. You can't force the mouse be at a certain spot (at least not in game maker); it's read-only. Which led to a situation where you can warp around the room, And thusly why I added the "moving too fast" dizzy state to teach not to do that. A final version should be out soon. To add: -Last set of rooms -Ending -Music! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 9, 2016 Also, if you press escape to quit, but then decide to keep playing (hitting escape again), it will restart the room you are in! Sorta sloppy, but I already made a game all about pausing in the OG #wizardjam, haha. It's also a cheat kinda if you are about to die or run out of corvos. Also kinda totally negates the need to go back to the "tree room" (which happens if your corvos hit zero) but...oh well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 11, 2016 Well, I've updated to version 1.2 and dubbed it no longer a "WIP." This by no means means it won't screw up...But it is "Feature Complete" in the parlance of real gamedevs! Thanks, I hope you enjoy, and here's a word of advice: (Yeah. Freud would have a field day with the above.) Still coming: Music (to dance to)! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
atte Posted December 12, 2016 This is a cool mix of traditional feeling elements and z_bill weirdness! I also liked seeing your visual style in a higher resolution this time. I tried to figure out the game by myself first but had to give up and looked some Wacko gameplay that cleared things up. Even though it's a really simple thing you have to do, I think there could be some kind of a 'Do you want to know how this works?' thing in-game (I later realized there is kind of a gameplay guide right there in the itch game page too). The furthest I got was level 7. It's quite harsh that dying sends you to the very beginning. But that difficulty also fits this style of an arcade game and I really wanted to try again as I felt I was getting better at it. But then I had this crash twice. I think it was level 7 both times and I was playing the new 1.3 version. I definitely want to come back and try to reach the ending at some point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 12, 2016 So glad you liked it! Hmm...I'm not real sure about that error. I haven't had a complete crash in a long stretch. Probably something to do with the body mixing logic. It got pretty complicated (for me). There are 8 rooms. Last one is real tough. I suggest you do the escape cheat (detailed above) to get through the last levels to see the ending! I'm not sure I can even beat it without doing it! The new 1.3 version I put up a few hours ago has some slapdash music I made in 11 seconds! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Travis Posted December 13, 2016 I just played and left a comment over on itch. I really dig it! I also got an error, but I thought it was part of the experience! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted December 14, 2016 Haha! I appreciate the comment! I just spent a bit trying to squash some of these bugs and think I made some progress! New version is maybe fixed?! I'm proud of the game and really am thankful for the thumbs community for all the encouragement. This wizardjam especially helped me get through a rough patch! Time to play a few other jammers' games now (finally)! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Synnah Posted January 7, 2017 I liked this a lot! The controls take a bit of getting used to, but I appreciate you doing something weird with them. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out the mechanics on the first level, and I ran out of Corvos several times in doing so. I think I got to level 6, but now I know there are 8 levels, I feel like I have to go back and try to complete it! EDIT: I died at the same time as I killed the final Rooster! Those last two levels are really difficult. Also the creatures can damage you after you've killed them, which feels a lot like a bug; the normal enemies specifically because when you shoot the first one it becomes frozen and can't damage you, but when you shoot the second one the first one reactivates again while it fades out, and both of them can still damage you while they're fading out. The same is true of Slimes and Roosters. I took a lot of damage this way! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted January 13, 2017 Cool! Thanks for playing it! Yeah, being able to get hurt while the enemies are dying is pretty bad. I'll release a version that fixes that and tones down the last two rooms. Now I'm sorta afraid people will be angered by the ending if they manage to reach it! When are the thumbs playing them? Do we know that yet? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coughlinjon Posted January 13, 2017 lol, this looks really good I can't wait to try it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Travis Posted January 14, 2017 On 1/13/2017 at 1:23 PM, z_bill said: Cool! Thanks for playing it! Yeah, being able to get hurt while the enemies are dying is pretty bad. I'll release a version that fixes that and tones down the last two rooms. Now I'm sorta afraid people will be angered by the ending if they manage to reach it! When are the thumbs playing them? Do we know that yet? January 28th apparently! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z_bill Posted January 25, 2017 Well, got a new version out that fixes the "you can get hurt while enemy is dying" bug. Plus, the final room is easier. But I noticed that you can really screw up the game if you pause while the room is transitioning. So, uh, don't do that! haha, I didn't have time to fix it. Thanks to all the new people giving it a shot. I hope the Thumbs don't find it too frustrating. Unfortunately, I'll miss the stream Sat because I'll be at PAX South (which should be fun)! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
