Hey there, good looking people!
Here it is! Here it finally is, after postponing this article for a couple of weeks we are finally going to give you our alpha build.
There are a lot of work to be done, especially in the art department which needs to be worked on and later implemented in the game but for now, this is what we have to show you
Let's start with Boss Jump animation. This is a visual hint for the player at the beginning of the game. The player, seeing the bottom portion of the boss and then seeing her jumping to the next area, will know that he needs to ascend to advance in the level.
This is our beloved shop, which still hasn't the final design in general but our shopkeeper has, and thanks to some people at our twitter the sprite for him has been decided and will be later on implemented in the game.
Our shop works also as a customization center, in which the player will be able to spend his currency, the "Orbs" in some new attire, and equip it if he so desires. In the video, you are able to see that in action, with the rectangular shape gaining a pointy end and reverting back to his former appearance.
This next vídeo shows a battle with a common enemy, one of the shapes. This is our gameplay portion of the alpha build, in which you can see one of the main mechanics in action: the combat system! We will explain it once again but in a resumed form. Our combat system works similarly to a game of blackjack, where we get a certain number of cards, to our liking, since we can call for more or stop, and then the enemy does the same. The difference between the scores is the damage the individual with the smaller number gets hit with.
The gameplay is a bit more complicated and lengthy than we initially expected but it still has the overall feel we were going for.
If the player loses he ends up being consumed by the magic trick and dies "in real life" since the game happens inside a dream. Since that's the case in the narrative portion of the game we decided to implement something like that in our game, making the player start all over again from the beginning of the first level even if he is several levels deep into the game.
There are two ways you can die in this game, you either lose a battle against one of the shapes or a boss, or you fall into the darkness.
A way to avoid such tragedy is by choosing a path with fewer enemies, as a way to lose less health, but the other one and the more exciting one is by using one of the hearts that are scattered by the levels. As you walk by one of those you regain your full health, giving you the ability to try more difficult paths or even give you a chance in defeating the boss since most of these hearts will be present before the boss room. But greediness will be the downfall of some people and the chests that are also scattered around the levels will look tempting and people might choose those in place of the hearts.
Speaking of which, here are the chests, another interactable element of our game.
You can press "E" to open them and they will give you more Orbs for your customizations. They aren't the only source of Orbs in the game, the enemies and the boss also give some but both of those don't give nearly as much as the chest does. The Boss, being mandatory, will give a good amount of Orbs considering its difficulty, the shapes will give fewer Orbs than the Boss and they will most likely go from a certain number to another just to keep things a bit more different, and last but not least, our chests will give the most amount of Orbs but these will also be inconsistent.
The other part of this vídeo is the dialogue mechanic. This was implemented as a way for the player to get some more lore and story about the game. The supposed final version would have, between levels, cutscenes showing more story and giving more information whilst staying as mysterious as possible.
There aren't many dialogue options occurring along with the game but we are thinking about also putting one on the shopkeeper as a way to get some more insight into the game.
In this build, the player, colliding with the bed, will win automatically the game, but the idea is to make him interact with it just like he does with the chests and sleeping on it. By doing so he will wake up in his own bed and this is will be the start of the new cutscene.
So, this is our Alpha Build. If you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to ask them. We love being able to talk with you and since we are giving you the opportunity to do so, to converse, one could take it and do as such, so go ahead and let out what's on your mind.
Thank you for all the support, be good people!
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Twitter: @nigh7maresgame
