Update #009
by Jake
Hello! If this is your first time, there is already lots of content to explore with updates every Wednesday and Saturday live on Twitch. Go follow and get notified as I begin the stream. All development streams are uploaded to the Baby Duka YouTube Channel. DASH stands for Danger Action Speed Hero - the ultimate 2D, low-res platformer creation tool. The official reveal of the prototype was on 1st of February 2018.
Water Shader:
I've played around with a water shader (originally by Dodozen) and I really liked this one. It's hard to control but I like its atmosphere.
(The Level Editor: the new water shader implemented into the jungle building set)
In this example I'm in the jungle set, and the water level is set to 1/5. Setting it to 0 will remove the water (or lava, toxic waste etc.) from the level. In this way you can have levels with or without water. No matter how tall the levels are you can never make the water deeper than one screen height. This design decision is based on asking questions such as 'will the player ever be able to dive deeper than 360 pixels?' or 'should the underwater world ever take up more of the program than one room height?' and answering 'no this edition is not an underwater game, yet we need the water to swim and land into. I think one room height is perfect for the game's level design. Then (with the right attributes) a good diver would be able to dive all the way from the top to the bottom of one screen. Otherwise drown and respawn.
(In game water: no water effects, physics or animations applied yet, only shader)
The next will be to create the water-physics, bubbles (particles) and swim animations. But that's not this week.
Hero Stats:
Since I currently have more than one hero to play around with I have experimented a bit with different strengths and weaknesses and how the game feels when you change character and play the same level. It's good. You feel closer to your Hero when you're able to control the Hero's stats. For now I won't post screenshots of the Hero customization but here are some examples of how the stats work when altered (in the Hero room you will have points to spread out in the way you like your Hero's stats (i.e. Speed = 3/5; Jump Power = 3/5; Quickness = 2/5 - just an example but the right update will explain it in images soon).
(1st Hero stats: Stats set to be faster overall as well as good jump power but she is less quick to change direction on ground and in air)
(2nd Hero: Stats set to be slower overall, less jump power but quick to change direction)
This is going to be A LOT of fun to play around with once we have our Hero room.
Save and Name Level WIP:
I don't want to go deeper into the case, but I've come quite a way with the new Save and name level system. Solid as hell. The UI and polishing (filenames, thumbnail etc.) takes some time but it sure is worth it! I'm using JSON encoding for now but will be encrypting the save-files when the game is in alpha mode.
(some sketches for the overlay and UI)
So these were some Wednesday-updates for you all, and I'm super happy to see that more and more are checking out the devlog, subscribing to the newletter and following both on Twitter and Twitch. Thanks everyone and let's have another cool opendev session later today!
PROJECT STATUS: The slice is coming together
DASH is going through major changes because we're now out of the prototype and a teaser trailer is slowly on the way. As you can see the process is very organic, fun and intuitive. Of course there is a production plan and design document, but the feeling of freedom and creativity is very solid during these work days which is good because that's what you, the player, should feel when playing the game!
Next week I'll be solidifying the Hero room and the ability to choose and edit heroes.
Watch the development LIVE on the Baby Duka Twitch channel every Wednesday (8pm GMT) and Saturday (6pm GMT)! Updates here on this blog both days as well.
If not DASH then what?
- Jake, Baby Duka studio
NEWSLETTER on the new website ► babyduka.com
Open development stream ► twitch.tv/BabyDuka (Wednesdays 8 pm GMT, Saturdays 6 pm GMT
