z_bill

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Posts posted by z_bill

  1. Posted

    Wow cool! I nearly didn't play due to Zombie Aversion, but this was smartly done. I love the simple cinematic presentation and clever bits like joining the zombie passengers when you die. It was a cool moment, "Oh no, I'm one of them!"

    The style of the charaters was cool too, like a mix of Brendon Chung and South Park that works super well. I'd like to see more in this vein.

  5. Posted

    Has anyone used the term "Lynchian" to describe this yet? If not, allow me. LYNCHIAN!

    It was weird and fascinating and I didn't get the ending.

    That's one vote for "didn't get the ending." Well, the ending makes no sense really (my friend described it as "da-da"). But didn't get the reference I mean.

    Hint on reference:

    the crying and the Sonic game over sound are not the reference. And you may have to refer to the podcast episode itself.

    Uh, don't look too hard. It's not that cool.

    Edit: Also, thanks for the Lynchian comparison! It's cool to be Lynch.

  6. Posted

    To those that have "won" the game (aka got the credits splash image):

    Did anyone get the "joke reference" of the endgame. I'm thinking it's too obscure, haha.

    It's great how the strangeness is not only a surface level thing (unusual look and sound) in your games, but that the mechanics and progression feel peculiar too.

     

    From the beginning I was very curious how the "20 year old" part of the title would be incorporated into the game, so when the text just abruptly declared: 20 years later (with the house staying the same), for some reason I found it really funny.

      

    Thanks! You remember my old game? haha, awesome. It's definitely "of a piece" with Pause Screen From Battletoads. I did some design things here that, in my mind, make it a quasi-successor. Weirdness comes naturally to me, and that's how I knew this was the episode title for me!

    I nearly ditched "Twenty Year Old" early on and just was gonna use it as an excuse to have a weird house main character. But a story idea hit me, so I kept it and am glad I did!

    Just played through almost all of this one, I really found it quite charming (like atte, when the '20 years later' came up I grinned like an idiot).

     

    It felt strange, but quite calming sucking up all the bits and pieces. And I really like how you designed around the problem of physics, that's a pain in the arse in GameMaker. Well done on the release!

      

    I was a little worried that the sucking up would get boring. But then thought of Viscera Cleanup Detail. It's a meditative thing!

    I dodged the physics thing really. This made me realize I've got a ways to go with Gamemaker. Thanks, man!

    I played this after losing a game of Paragon(which was quite stressful) and just cleaning up all the stuff was a pleasant way to reach a more relaxed state.

    Yes! That rules. I love that I made a stress-free game!

  8. Posted

    Super extreme! I don't know how you are so good. Everything just looks, sounds, feels great! And just like effortlessly fluid.

    I missed the controls screen cuz I'm dumb and it took me several tries to beat the boss (I didn't know you could hit upwards!). I see from the gif that you can hit the title screen too. What an awesome detail!

    I liked that you put the enemy key at the end as well. It's important to know that all these guys are Thumbs refs in some way! That Drifter's fireballs are OP, haha.

  9. Posted

    I think that mentioned bug with the mouse is preventing me from playing. Or I'm dense and need a "How to Play." But I really like the meta story: maybe Dot Gobbler shouldn't be played/exist. We've got all this weird forgotten art and broken game fragments that pretend to be a game...but no real game. Haha.

    Edit: ah, I'll grab the new version (saw that after I posted).

    The 3d render splash image is freaking incredible. Also, that Dot Gobbler theme. Holy crap, was that on a Thumbs episode or?...Where does that come from? It's a revelation. And hilarious. It may sound reductive, but you've knocked it out of the park with the title screen/theme song combo alone!

    I love that Dot Gobbler is pretty much the mascot of Wizard Jam. It's got this addictive quality to it, and I was similarly obsessed with atte's dungeon crawly Dot Gobbler. It makes me want...more Dot Gobblers. And like a Dot Gobbler Compilation with some overarching framework/plot that ties them together! Haha, I may be rambling here...

  10. Posted

    I'll post here too...

    RELEASE!  TWENTY YEAR OLD WEIRD HOUSE IS HERE!

     

    Download here on itch.io!

    Here's what I wrote on itchi.io:

     

    Use Your Mouse to EAT EVERYTHING!

    The original pitch was Samorost meets Katamari meets Limbo...something like that.

    All you need to use is your mouse to play. Well, and the escape key...which will bring up a help screen (and also quit). The game does have an ending! And a secret or two.

    This was created for Wizard Jam 2016. Special thanks to Idle Thumbs podcast & community!

  11. Posted

    I got it done! Let me know if you run into any bugs so I can ninja-fix it maybe...

    RELEASE!  TWENTY YEAR OLD WEIRD HOUSE IS HERE!
     
    Download here on itch.io!

    Here's what I wrote on itchi.io:
     

    Use Your Mouse to EAT EVERYTHING!

    The original pitch was Samorost meets Katamari meets Limbo...something like that.

    All you need to use is your mouse to play. Well, and the escape key...which will bring up a help screen (and also quit). The game does have an ending! And a secret or two.

    This was created for Wizard Jam 2016. Special thanks to Idle Thumbs podcast & community!




     

  18. Posted

    Thanks for the comments and advice, thumbsmen!

    Essentially I was trying to get the debris (pieces of building, people being sucked in, etc) to react, bounce off, stack, with each other. But I've decided: forget that! I've rethought some things and am gonna make it waaaay more simple. Since essentially the radius of "suckage" is super close to the house, all that in-depth collision stuff would be a waste of time. You'd never see it really. Plus, all the colliding trash would get in your way when you start moving around (spoiler).

    Also (more spoilers) I'm paring down the "leveling system." When you eat junk a meter fills, you gain a level, and evolve into a new form. There were gonna be 5 levels: 1) immobile, 2) snail (move across ground), 3) feet (gain jumping), 4) elevator (infinite vertical movement), and 5) flying. But I'm axeing jumping and flying. It's just a 4 room game ffs!

    Thanks again. Hopefully my pace will be better since I curbed my ambition.

  21. Posted

    I am currently failing at making progress at this.

     

    The physics stuff is....too dang hard. I'm trying to get the debris to all react and bounce off each other.

     

    Here's a gif:

    vzKKYrV.gif

     

    Going to chip away at it, but I'm afraid this game may just be a few cool gifs by the end and that's all. 

     

    Help me, #wizardjam. You're my only hope!

  23. Posted

    RELEASE!  TWENTY YEAR OLD WEIRD HOUSE IS HERE!

     

    Download here on itch.io!

     

     

    I'm just gonna put up some teaser art I whipped up real quick to let it be known: 

     

    TWENTY YEAR OLD WEIRD HOUSE IS COMING.

     

    2pFi8CQ.png

     

    The "Meets Meets Meets" is Samorost Meets Katamari Meets Limbo.

     

    A point & click sorta deal that transforms to a physics platformer starring A Weird House.

     

    QCM3To8.png

     

    I am super grateful for #wizardjam for being the thing that motivated me to finally get started with gamedev last year. And I think I might follow along again with Tom Francis's Gamemaker tutorials like I did then to see what all I've learned. The main things I want to nail down for this one, stuff I haven't learned yet, is a lite physics system and dealing with swapping rooms/making a 2d world.

     

    Video Games!