I have worked on so many things since the last update that I don’t even remember most of them :).
The most important are the controls. It is extremely difficult to find that sweet spot on which you feel on total control of the character, I had tried so many different approaches/variables/values and none of them was completely of my liking, especially the jump/double jump, often I had this feeling it was too fast/or too high or… whatever.
Finally decided to scratch all I had and start all over again, and now I can say I feel incredibly happy with the results, still a few bugs to fix but nothing major.
I have also reworked the HUD, dialogues, sounds fx and added this funny gibberish talking (like the one on Banjo Kazooie) and also added transition images at the beginning/end of the level.
From an aesthetic point of view, I have modified the shadows and the illumination substantially. Take ages to bake the scene, but you can feel the difference :).
Also, got 2 new animations for the main character (running and kicking). I wasn’t especially happy with the running one, it was ok, but nothing characteristic, Bela Szabo helped me out with those.
Ah, well, joystick support and new logo too :).
You can see all that progress on the following video, hope you like it!
My love for this thing grows fiercer with every video!
I think I saw a flip-jump in there as well?
The more jump moves the better - keep up the good work!
Thanks once again Theon!
Haha, yep, weel, there is actually 2 flip-jumps :)!
1 ) The font dialog is hard to read : Characters are too glued together, even the word "MOVE" can be read "NOVE" , you should use a lot more clear font than this one.
2) The runnning animation is not so good, the head is looking right/Left all the time , just look at Nintendo mario games and keep the head forward instead.
The level design is great.
What have you used for terrain and cliffs ? models or terrain on floor ?
Did you have used lightmapping ?
Thanks for the feedback supragamersupragamer!
I was thinking the same about the fonts, I tried with different colors and wasnt happy with any of them, I will give it another try!
As for the head movement, that's not part of the animation :) is the headtracking code (the character looks at some relevant objects), however, you are not the first one complaining about the headtracking, I'm gonna definitely change it!
For the level design, first I created a basic terrain on Unity, after exported the mesh and worked on it on blender, and yep, I'm using lightmapping along with cascade shadow mapping.
A simple way to make the head-tracking look great is by making it run/walk contextual.
Make it so that the head stays locked in the direction of movement when at full run-speed, and only start tracking (after a short delay) once the player stops (or moves slower than a certain speed).
Other small things I'd like to nit-pick on are
1.General run speed could be faster - It looks a little slow compared to the power and speed of the jumps, and with the huge stages you're making, I'd like to be able to move with just a little more haste.
2.Faster climbing when clambering up a ledge - The slow speed of the locked animation brakes momentum, and feels a little like a short cut-scene.
3.Make the dust-kickup particles smaller and fewer in general. It is a pretty effect, but would work better a little more subdued.
Now, don't let any of this get to you! As you are well aware, I am really hyped for this game, and I'm amazed at the level of quality and the speed of progress.
Oh, and for the sake of simply giving the double-jump a more distinct visual impact I'd add a little pirouette to the second jump, and possibly a tiny splash of shiny particles.
OMG! That's proper feedback, thanks so much Theon! All of them seem pretty valid to me, I'm gonna give them a try and see how they look when implemented :) Thanks again!
No, no, thank YOU!
Whatever you do, I hope you won't give up on this wonderful project!