hedgefield

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Posts posted by hedgefield


  1. So far so good, with a lot of trial and error I've gotten the ledge climb system working, and for fun I set up some lighting and a stock sprite hand for the idea.

     

    The purple trigger checks whether the player is jumping when entering the trigger volume, and moves them up onto the ledge surface. Some optimization can be done there, it literally just moves them up and forward by 1, I want to make it check the player position first and calculate the difference needed to get to the target position. And eventually animate the camera and all. But even with that basic implementation, it already feels pretty cool when jumping from one platform to the other and scrambling up by the skin of your teeth.

     

    Next I want to make another trigger to slide over low obstacles, and charging up the jump height by holding down space.

     

    hand.png.bd98063d2869a7d1e58fb3f894b9929b.png


  2. TLDR download link

     

    After a successful jam last year, I figured I'd join again this year. Gives me something to do over Christmas break ;)

     

    I've always been more of a 2D adventure game type developer, but I've done two 3D first-person games now, and I can't get enough of that vibe. So this year I'm doing something even more bold: I'm throwing some physics into the mix and taking a stab at the immersive sim genre with

     

    The Boots, The Obelisk And The Eye

     

    I mainly chose that title because I want to do something with upgradeable rocket boots :D and it gives me a location and a macguffin for free.

     

    So far, I've identified these features of the boots:

    - jump really high

    - run really fast

    - move quietly

    - kick stuff pretty hard

     

    Maybe I want to allow switching between these 'modes', just like Crysis had the stealth mode, combat mode, jump mode etc.

     

    I considered making it a grappling hook gauntlet instead of boots, if only to have something cool to show on screen, but I feel like those mechanics would really give me a headache.

     

    For the setting, I really want to do something with the brutalist architecture from Blade Runner 2049, specifically the wallace corporation building, with the fake sunlight and caustics and long shadows. That look would fit in with the Egyptian-themed Obelisk as a location, some sort of crazy tower complex. And I guess you.. climb it? To steal..... The Eye??

    blade-runner-2049er.jpg


  3. Agreed on Resident Evil 7 and Tacoma.

     

    I just finished writing up a post about my media log of 2017 (yeah I keep a log), but fuck naming my GOTY is still hard.

     

    I think it's a toss-up between Prey, Horizon Zero Dawn and Hellblade.

     

    Prey made me realize the immersive sim is my favorite genre and that I need to make a game like that. HZD is just beautiful and lush and interesting and Dutch, and the politics are so well-nuanced. And Hellblade gave me hope that the AA space will grow and accommodate all the great narrative experiences I crave, and also it's damn spooky and intense.


  4. I had pretty high expectations from the first trailer. As an artist I love color and composition, and as a sci-fi fan I love the Blade Runner/Akira/Ghost in the Shell/Deus Ex brutalist futurism. The later trailers did make it seem all action-packed, but I was convinced it would be a good one, and it delivered.

     

    To me the story is less important, I found it very inspiring as a work of art. The colors are very good of course, and the craft of doing it with physical sets and all is very good too, but also the fact that in almost every scene in the first hour they introduce some futurist concept with a fresh spin - the cars with the drones, the projector and the emenator complete with a working UI concept that feels natural, how they store data, how they light the Wallace offices, it's all extremely well thought-out and presented, and often manages to avoid tropes too. That trend continues in what you mention, @Vainamoinen.

     

    Spoiler

    To me the fact that they introduce a whole replicant resistance in 5 minutes and then never mention it again is amazing. They could have very easily made that the last act of the film, and it would have sucked, because this is just a story about K and his relationship with this world, and this man Deckard who happens to be at the center of the events that led him there. It's just something that's going on in the world, but it's not relevant to this story. A great feat of restraint on the writer's part there, completely avoiding the trope. Same with the set-up that K would have been Deckard's son, also shot down. And he's no super cop. They never show him alongside any other detective, he's not presented to be superior to any of them. K is not special, K is just dealing with some shit.

     


  5. Finished it yesterday, oof woof. That ending was intense.

     

    I love how they make it feel like you become more powerful towards the end without offering any skill trees or XP boosts. It's just like oh shit, now I can decimate three or four dudes with one chop. Not sure if that's me getting more skilled at timing or them tweaking the damage, but it felt great.

     

    Spoiler

    I'm kinda sad that more games have used the 'stop fighting and let go' plot device, because it made it feel a little cliche here, but it's also the first time where it really fit thematically, and I actually felt powerful enough to go "no fuck you, I got this, I can do this, I'm gonna keep going" and push and push against overwhelming odds, knowing that it was probably pointless.

     

     

    They really did a good one here. I hope more people check it out and sing its praises.


  6. I've heard good things about GitKraken yeah. I stayed away from Sourcetree in the beginning because their GUI was very classic-windows-toolbars-everywhere-gray-drab, but I see they've made some major improvements in that department since. I can imagine that their features are very useful when working with multiple people.


  7. Man, this game. Until two days ago I didn't even know it was in development, and it has shot up to be my GOTY since then. It's such a bold project. From the start it was definitely one of the most chilling games I've ever played (you have to play with headphones), but I was waiting for it to become rote (fight some guys, do some puzzles, bossfight, repeat) but after the first two 'dungeons' they turn the formula on its head and dive into some experimental gameplay, and then explode out with amazing setpieces. So glad to see an AAA dev throw an AAA budget at new ideas and great, well-researched storytelling.

     

    @syntheticgerbil there are NPCs, but not in the traditional sense, there are no sidekicks or villagers, but you do see some other characters. The overall style is pretty bleak, but that fits with the opressing atmosphere of dread and tragedy. That's not to say the environments are dull, they really did a good job making some impressive vistas, and they play a lot with the weather and time of day.

     

    I feel like it both fits in the line of Ninja Theory games and also stands out because of the wildly different tone. I didn't play that much of Heavenly Sword or Enslaved (though I loved their aesthetic) but I feel like those are way more action-packed. Hellblade has a really sweet combat system too, but they use combat more as a story beat and not so much as the main gameplay. The majority of the time you'll be exploring the environment and learning about Norse lore and the workings of mental illness, as told through the parable of Senua.

     

    Spoiler

    The second set of dungeons has been my absolute favorite so far, gosh I can't believe they made a Papa Sangre/Nightjar level, it works so well. And that fucking hellish maze, dear lord.

     


  8. The writing is amazing. From the feel of the town to the mundane but enchanting conversations, and also the aesthetic of cartoon animals that blend seamlessly with human personalities, it's a masterclass in world design. And all the little interactions are wonderful. I was especially Blown Away by the fact that there are even full little extra games in this game, like the rockband and the pixel dungeon crawler!


  9. On 3/6/2017 at 9:25 AM, Bjorn said:

    Ethan Must Die is hard yo.  I upgraded my video card this weekend and wanted to see how RE7 ran (fabulous, it turns out, my old card was deffo long in the tooth).  In 10is shots at Ethan Must Die, I don't think I made it more than 3-4 minutes alive.  The furthest I got was into the basement a little ways before things all went to hell.

     
     
     

     

    I'm not even going near that mode. I tried it once, started with a knife and the assignment "defeat marguerite", and when I learned I had to get the greenhouse key from the house where a barfing juice boy was camping out I said fuck it.

     

    The other DLC is fun to replay, but I'm waiting for that story DLC to drop now.


  10. I was deep into the first one, but the gameplay vid left me ambivalent. Maybe it's because I'm occupied with Horizon Zero Dawn currently, or the tech looks a little outdated (to be fair, it is an alpha), I'm not feeling it yet. Building up an army to take on raids is pretty cool though, but I'd like to see more of the filler stuff between the showpiece battles.


  11. To me it reads more as an exploration of how things could get fucked up in isolated communities. That's the strongest reaction I had to it, realizing how people in these situations start thinking of arbitrary rules in service of structure that do more harm than good. It's no wonder Aloy doesn't want to be associated with the Nora. But I'm not that far in yet. So far I've found the Carja to be surprisingly nuanced; they are made out to be assholes at the start, and then you get to their outpost and they're super accommodating and gentle. But maybe that will turn on its head later too.

    I think I'm about 15 to 20 hours in now, just reached the Carja gate that leads to the second biome. Holy moly this world is huge. I still feel pretty inadequate so I'm going to spend more time practicing on the bigger bots. Although I did survive taking down all four gators on that island in the west. It's nice when you feel like you're starting to get a grip on the big bots and then go back to striders or grazers, they're so easy.


  12. I wasn't really going to pick this one up (I also didn't have a PS4 yet) but I watched DigitalFoundry's tech analysis and holy moly that game is pretty. Then a local game store hit me with a big PS4 discount and long story short it's waiting for me when I get home. I'm excited to check it out (also because a bunch of people I know worked on it). Might stream some over the weekend.