Misty Castles

[mice]

Got depressed with my collection-thread, so I started a new one...

And now when I've put my latest c64 game on hold (for the second time) I've started fiddling with something I wanted to do for quite some time.



A shmup were you can solve puzzles for the fasted clear-time and largest bonus.

Calling it Misty Castles, since, well...box2d lights kind of makes me call it that.
The game is in a way higher (640x480) resolution that I'm used to with pixel art, too.

Well, glad to be doing a shmup again.

[Rozyrg]

Looking good so far!

I was playing Sanvein recently (yay for PSN slowly catching up) and it made me think about that kind of unique level structure, not unlike what you had going on in Birth Order. Will this have something similar?

[mice]

Was thinking about a more linear progression thing.
But maybe like Darius, for longevity.

Will hopefully make a small movie later, it looks kind of nice when moving.

[mice]

More screens, going forward this is. Now all I have to do is figure out what puzzles to make and the overall stage designs...

[BulletMagnet]

Final boss: the guy from Shinobi, who demands you return his scarf.

[mice]

Because of this I just turned it into a chain that he holds in the other hand...didn't turn out good. Reverted to scarf again.

[Lord Satori]

I think he was just teasing, not asking for an actual change.

[BulletMagnet]

Heh, yeah, I was just being silly, in case that wasn't clear enough. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this project.

[mice]

Yeah, I got that, but still I want it to be useful, not just being a...scarf.
Originally was going to use the sword for a melee attack, so I thought having a chain for that instead would be cool.
Kind of like a Spawn thingie.

Trying to make another stage now, not going too good. Kind of have no ideas for new "puzzles".
Thought it would sort itself out once I've done the first one. But no.
Think it's the size of the orb and the fact the the thing to destroy is an orb that is the problem. Nothing comes natural around an orb, right?
So, changing to a dragons head instead, maybe?

[mice]

A really short YT movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkcYx4A ... e=youtu.be

Maybe all stages don't need to be puzzles, just destroying a castle wall could be fun, maybe?

Edit: Spot the "strange thing".

[MommysBestGames]

Cool, I'm digging it! I had to watch it twice to understand how the stage was beaten.

[mice]

Yeah, I think it got potential but it's not going forward as I much as I want it to. Been trying to do a catapult for a week now, for instance...
Planning and executing interesting stages are way harder than I thought.

One thing is certain, though, bricks are the perfect popcorn enemies.

Edit: Forgot to mention that is's converted to wide screen, replaced orb with a throned king and we have loads of "blood"...

[mice]

The physics part wasn't working. Too cumbersome to work with. Maybe I'll do my own physics engine and reimplement that part later. But for now, we have a home made cloth system instead.

A vid, showing how the bosses in the game will be supported. Different trees for different seasons, is the idea. L-system generated (now at runtime but will be in the build step when finished)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obGWTXraZW8

The game now it scrolls and you can destroy the curtains - it's really what you want to do, admit it.