Son of the Game...

So for a while I've been hard at work on KJInt's first game project.

However, its not the game I started out making or that I described in the previous posts.

Instead I was testing out a simple idea, and it took on the life of a project of its own.

And so here we are, with the first post about it being all about Version 2.

Following Vavles sort of 'Build Destroy Build' philosophy.

I've ripped out the guts of Version 1 and I'm a good way through the 2nd version of the prototype.

I'm easily seeing the benefits of the method.

Its like how most franchise sequels get better and tighter in the 2nd game as its a more concentrated version with all the crap scooped out.

Only this way the first game starts out as a pure concentrated version.

This time around, the focus is on getting a 2nd player in the game.

I looked into doing it via networking, and I cant make sense of it.

However split-screen play is still on the table. Unfortunately its practically going to require that people who want to play it from the same machine have at least 1 gamepad. Because theirs just NO WAY that 2 people can share a keyboard/mouse to play.

(On that note... Thats probably why the PC game industry constantly yields to the console industry. Local Multiplayer sessions are scarce, and people generally don't crowed around a desktop/laptop anyway, which really limits is social value when compared to a console.)

Anyway...

Before I get to the Split-screen Co-op Features, 

I'm focusing on making the game just play smoother than it did.

In v1..

Their were lots of different things you could do, but you were generally had to do them independently of one another. The major culprit being the Aggressive Mode. when you went into an Aggro state, you couldn't do anything but walk around and swing your weapon. you couldn't pickup new weapons or items, use items, or interact with people until you manually turned Aggro off. It was all very rigid.

In V2..

Everything you could do in V1 will probably still stand. However You'll be able to do most things regardless of whether you're, in a Relaxed state or Aggro state. Additionally theirs no more manual switching between the two. As of right now, your character will remain relaxed, until you hit an attack button, then he'll seamlessly go aggro, If you don't hit an attack button for 3 seconds and/or aren't currently near any aggressive enemies, he'll automatically return to his chill mode.

The different states do more than just turn his fighting stance on/off though.

You can tell if your character is in aggro mode no matter what your doing, as aggro is coming with a complete set of its own animations.

So standing, walking, running, etc, will look different depending on the characters state.

This is what allows you to do everything from any stance.

In addition...theirs also a "Hurt state" complete with its own set of animations too.

It replaces the general relaxed animations if your health falls below 50 hp.

why?

1. If you're not paying attention to the health bar (which I might get rid of) you'll still know when you're in critical condition.

2. It's just so fucking cool...

It really helps the player become immersed in the game when the character is giving you all the information you need and not some colored bars at the edge of the screen. It goes right along with the whole reason I started making the game in the first place... to see if I could make an "inventory system" without using lists or menus.

Having all of these states flow into each other means that I have to animate 3 to 4 versions of the same action, in most cases. Thats not fun, but seeing it all working together and looking very natural is worth it. Knowing that any future players will just "Get It" without a bunch of tutorials and button combos is worth it.

So, so far all of the movement and smoothly flowing between states is currently working, but having ripped out everything and starting from square1, movement is just about the only thing it does right now.

I'm also reworking the weapon system.

back in V1 everything was either a Sword...or a Staff...even if it clearly was a Mace (or Chainsaw)

So this time around weapons will be able to have individual names.

And if I can swing it, they'll also come with simple damage modifiers too.

The damage stats wont be visible to the player. I think making them visible makes it less of an action game, and secondly it takes a lot of the guess work out.

Which is stronger? Excalibur or Masamune?

Wouldn't you rather try them out for yourself instead of having some jerk with a calculator show up and just tell you? Yeah...thought so.

When it comes down to actual combat, I'm not entirely sure that I can really create a combat system in such a short amount of time that really compares with most other games out there. So I imagine its going to be very simple. 1 regular attack, 1 strong attack, and no combo system at all.

So I'll try and make up for it by putting more of an emphasis on exploration. always keeping in mind that "someday" I'll put together a better combat system.

Pics? Videos? Playable Demo?

I've got all that. but at this stage, I'm only sharing them with a select few of people.

I'll put something up when it looks better. when its less Prototype and more Beta.