My current project

[lcl]

Hi!

As some of you know, I participated to the Darkness tournament this January by submitting an unfinished game engine without anything to actually play. Failing my plans that roughly was a major setback for me and especially for that game project, and I lost all motivation towards that game for quite a long time. However, now I'm back at work with the game and I decided to put up this topic to show you my progress.

As the name of the tournament this game was originally made for suggests, this game will be built on the theme of darkness visually and the ambiance of the game will also be somewhat dark. The game is also going to focus strongly on a story. Or at least that's what I intend it to do.

I will update all major progress to this topic with some videos and screenshots.

At some point of the development I will need beta-testers, and if you want to be one, you can send me a PM. But before anyone rushes to volunteer as a beta-tester, I want to say that I require a few things from my beta-testers. A good beta-tester should be able to notice and report bugs, not just play the game and say that it's good. Also, besides searching for bugs, I would love to have my beta-testers give me their opinions about the game, what things work and what things should be changed.

If you're still interested about becoming a beta-tester, just go ahead and send that PM, I would like to have at least three testers.

One thing:
When I get this game finished, I will publish its source code free for everyone to look at and experiment with. All the game data (graphics, sounds, musics, etc.) will also be free for everyone to use.
The reason for this is that by the time this game is published, Sabre 2.0 should also be ready or at least very close to being released, and I want to help people get started with making games with it. By sharing this game's source code I give you a complete example of how to make a game using the features Sabre provides. And by giving away the graphics and sounds for free I give you something to work with - it's difficult to make a game without graphics, right?

Updates (newest first):

• 10.5.2014 (NEW!)
  
  • Lit textures are currently under work. This means that it is now possible to have textures that are partially lit. For example windows can now glow light to the night and some lamps can be put on the walls. There's still some bugs with this system, but most of it works already.
    
    
  • Also added a simple background / skybox, thanks to bat78 for the textures and explaining me about skyboxes
  • Here's a video showing the new features:
    
• 14.4.2014
  
  • A system for handling animated textures was started and finished. What this means is that now there can be things going on on the wall textures. Here's a quick example with only two frames in the animation:
    
  • Here is a video of the game engine in it's current state:
    

Some screenshots:

A screen on the wall, activates when you walk near it


Some weird looking pieces of wall


Pause menu


Bigger view of the place with the screen

[MrJolteon]

[lcl]

:shock:

Umm.. what?
I don't remember seeing you use an emoticon before.

[Jagmaster]

This is looking fantasic actually.
It was a little hard to see the textures because of the glare on my laptop's screen though. I might reccomend adjusting the brightness a little as well as the contrast on your screenshots . https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/389 ... ntrast.png

I think I remember in your contest entry you has some sort of flashlight? if so that would address that concern.

[lcl]

This is looking fantasic actually.

Thanks!

It was a little hard to see the textures because of the glare on my laptop's screen though. I might reccomend adjusting the brightness a little as well as the contrast on your screenshots . https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/389 ... ntrast.png

I think I remember in your contest entry you has some sort of flashlight? if so that would address that concern.

Yeah, I noticed it being a little too dark, too. I'm going to add the possibility to adjust the brightness of the game.

And actually, these screenshots have the flashlight on. But it's light isn't so visible anymore because I didn't think of one thing when I tried to make the game a little less dark.
I have the light being a transparent area in otherwise black image. This is then moved on the raycasted world to make it look like a flashlight's light.
I increased the transparency of the image but didn't understand that it would also take away some "power" from the light actually. XD

But yeah, I'm going to make adjustments to the brightness of the game.

[NightOfHorror]

I will beta-test.

[lcl]

I will beta-test.

Great! I will contact you when the game is at a stage where it needs beta-testing.

[NightOfHorror]

I will beta-test.

Great! I will contact you when the game is at a stage where it needs beta-testing.

Awesome! Looks great so far by the pics.

[lcl]

Looks great so far by the pics.

Thanks!

[Turon]

Nice is it a shooter or some action adventure game?

[lcl]

Nice is it a shooter or some action adventure game?

It's going to be an adventure game of sorts.

[NightOfHorror]

By the way, since this is adventure, I am assuming enemy content will be quite small. Also, if there is enemies, what will they be like, just regular humans, monsters, stereotypical darkness enemies, etc.

[lcl]

By the way, since this is adventure, I am assuming enemy content will be quite small. Also, if there is enemies, what will they be like, just regular humans, monsters, stereotypical darkness enemies, etc.

I'm not quite sure about things like this yet. I don't know if there will be enemies at all, but there will be some other characters for sure.
But I'm thinking it will most likely be people and animals, nothing supernatural. But I haven't done any decisions yet, so, who knows?
I'm will have to do some planning when I get all the most important mechanics finished. I hope that'll be soon.

[NightOfHorror]

Just to put my early suggestions and thoughts out there. I think you should keep going without supernatural things, we have enough of those type of games. Enemy numbers should be low as in an adventure game like this, we should be able to go through every nook and cranny without the fear that we will be ambushed for doing so, therefore making us not adventure in an adventure game. I do believe there should be some enemy though, guard dogs, security guards (depending if you are just trespassing areas randomly in the game, or thieves. Although, this is darkness, so a fear factor should pan out, such as footsteps you hear that aren't yours to make you freak out about oncoming enemies, wind noises if you are outside with rustling trees, maybe rain, or random gunshots in the outside (something that occurs a lot in my area, as hunters hunt).

[lcl]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, NoH, there was some very good points you brought up. This will help me when I start designing the gameplay. I think the game will become something you could describe as an adventure/exploration/puzzle hybrid with an eerie atmosphere.