Thanks to the boards

About a month ago I came to the boards at The Daily Click looking for advice on some graphics for a few areas I knew I wanted to include in the game. Thanks to all their helpful suggestion I came up with some great mock-ups. Below I've included my original and revised graphics.

Original:

Revised:

Original:

Revised:

Saying goodbye to Karma

It's been awhile since I've updated here but much progress has been made on UTAG (untitled treasure adventure game).

Sadly, I've decided to end development of Karma. However, just about every part of Karma will be used in UTAG. Some of the game-design decisions I made for Karma made it difficult to progress with the game they way I ideally wanted it. However, I feel that I've resolved those issues with UTAG and I'm going to implement all the areas and puzzles in Karma so far, into the new game. Many of the game-play elements will be enhanced with the new engine.

These screen shots show some of the areas of Karma I've integrated into UTAG.

I want to thank everyone who helped with Karma, and assure you that none of that work went to waste. UTAG is going to be a much superior game to Karma as I've learned so much while developing it.

Introducing: Treasure Adventure Game

Here are some of the "mockups" of how I originally perceived the game to look:

Here is the first "real" in game screen shot:

I'm looking for advice, criticism and help. Seriously, if you have any ideas, advice or graphics let me know and I'll probably implement it.

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking

I can't believe I haven't updated this in 3 months. Well, even though you wouldn't know it, progress on Karma is still coming along nicely and I wanted to share a few screen shots with you.

In my non-Karma life, since my last post I lost my job, fought with unemployment and lost, got a part time job, graduated (I now have an MBA degree ... too bad I don't know what to do with), quit my part time job and moved to a new apartment.

Being unemployed has many benefits for the development of Karma, but unfortunatley only negative consequences for the rest of my life. And with the economy, sales have been really slow at my online t-shirt store (robitstudios.com). Boo.

But enough about me... I decided Karma will definitely be released in chapters. The first release will include a prologue and the first level. I don't know if I'll release each chapter as a separate executable or build one complete file that contains each chapter as they are completed. Either way, the game will read your save file to ensure that you completed the previous chapter in order to move on.

Also, I don't think the game is going to have 100% original or used-with permission graphics. Graphics are a weak point for me and even though I have a few artists helping out with stuff I am going to rip some from commercial games. For example, a couple of the screen shots I posted on this update have graphics from some 16-bit Disney games.

I implemented a dialog system in the game which works well for my needs. However, I can't find the right sound effect to go with the scrolling text. I wan't something to the effect of Cave Story but I can't seem to find a sound that gives the right tone. Can anyone help out with that?

Level 1 Progress

Motivated by all the  positive feedback on the demo I got straight to work on the beginning part of the game. 

I also received some good criticism that I'm going to attempt to work on as well. In fact, I'm going to list a couple of the common complaints and some solutions right here:

• Too much is left to guess work 

Since the demo is actually the second level of the game I've made sure that the first level will introduce the game play mechanics to the player. Also, I'm adding dialog to the game which will help solve this problem and others.

• Needed more direction
• Some things were not obvious enough (hidden passageways, the point of the karma system)

As I mentioned, I'm adding Dialog to the game  which will help give the game more direction, explain game play mechanics and develop the plot. I wanted to avoid doing dialog originally because I though if it sounded cheesy or contrived it could ruin the experience. But I think it's the only way I can make the game work. 

• NPCs and enemies look too similar

This was partially a game design choice and partially because my graphics abilities are very limited. I chose to have enemies and NPCs look similar because, like in life, evil is not black and white. One's appearance can often be deceiving. There is a way to tell who will attack and hurt you and who won't and that will be explained in the game, via dialog . :)

More later...

Demo released

Karma: The Game is a retro-styled platformer where moral choices guide your progression through six lifetimes. This demo represents just one of those lifetimes. 

I'm calling this a demo but it's more of a beta-test. I'm looking forward to getting feedback, criticism, new ideas etc. I'm planning on releasing this game in chapters. This is actually the second chapter (level) of the game. My plan is to take the feedback I receive and work on the first part of the game. Then eventually re-release this chapter as a final version. 

I'm really looking forward to what everyone thinks about it. I'm going to take all feedback very seriously. One thing I'm interested in is how long it takes people to run through the level the first time. 

I've been working on this for over 4 months. Hope you enjoy it!

http://robitstudios.com/karma/karma_the_game_demo_v1.0.zip

Trailer

The demo should be released soon. In the meantime here's a quick trailer of the game in motion:

A greenhouse

Level 2 (which is actually the only level I've worked on so far) is coming along amazingly well. I have all the puzzles worked out and coded. The only thing left is some tweaking and the boss room. There are now 4 global (meaning they can be taken anywhere) items in the level. There are also a number local items which can't be taken out of the room they're found in. Some items are just used as a "fetch this item" type quest, but a couple have an action associated with them which will help you solve the puzzles throughout the level. 

I figured out how to make some professional looking shading and lighting effects. You can see the difference in the two screen shots below. This has opened up a lot of new possibilities for the game's graphics. 

Before alpha channel

After alpha channel

BTW, the flowers in these screen shots are from RPG Maker XP and are placeholders. Does anyone want to help me come up with some originals? Message me and I'll definitly give, in-game credit to anyone who helps. 

Second Level Overworld

Here is the outside portion of the second level, so far. I blurred the inside of the tree because I don't want to give too much away. This level is about 80% done.  Notice the tiny blob labeled "You". That should give you an idea of the size of the level.

1600 pixels tall.