[ACTIVE] Another Story in Halcyon

[purifierunit20xx]

Oh god, this looks incredible! Keep up the good work!

[JMC47]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

About a demo? Well, a demo will come when the engine is complete and we have enough of the resources to make an area of the final game playable, much like a normal demo. I'm not going to be doing any public betas (aside from perhaps compatibility tests) like I did with MMLEx, because it just made a mess of things.

Explosions simply aren't polished, and we have an incomplete (well... we haven't started it yet) particle engine, so, we don't really have the means to make it complete. Two weeks ago, it was a single color collision sphere and we had to make it look at least presentable for the Foo Roo video. I hope that answers your question.

[Deleted]

Looking forward to the demo, JMC47.

So, you won't be doing any public betas, besides compatibility tests? A bit disappointing, but I can understand where you're coming from.

[JMC47]

ASH Development Video 4 is here, and we’re trying something a little bit different. Rather than show more of the random ruins, we decided to do a feature on reaverbots and the potential they’ll have within the game. I hope you enjoy the sneak peek along with my butchering the names of new and old reaverbots alike!



I also wanted to give out some special thanks. Dash, as usual did the music in the video, so if you like it, give him a shoutout. Sonata, also known as Anima here, is the one who came up with the Pocommi Reaverbot design used in the video. You can check out more of their stuff at shining-sun-angel.deviantart.com/gallery/ or in their art thread on the forums if you like it!

I also would like to thank Legends-station for making good shots of classic reaverbots easily available!

Though, the lion’s share of the credit needs to go to MaJoR, who not only modeled and textured all four of these, but also designed the other two new reaverbots featured in this video. I’d also like to note that additional reaverbots for the project have been modeled and designed by Tau, including some on the title card.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments or complaints, feel free to message, email, or post to give me a heads up. Thanks for your time everyone.

[Dash]

www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/439102

Here's the titlecard track for any of you who wanted it. Of course, JMC hardly used ANY of the cover.

[Mikéy]

That's a pretty awesome track, Dash. I could definitely feel Legends within the music, and it sounded so familiar, but at the same time, it was completely new.

edit: That's a pretty interesting music host, by the way. Definitely some entertaining visuals.

Spikucharusu? Or however you plan on spelling it, eh? Definitely made me laugh.

and I'm super psyched that the Pocommi lives, and will be in the game! Having not mentioned it to the public until now makes it all the more pleasant of a surprise! I can't wait for more.

[Dash]

For the record, that's the MM3 title theme, Mikey. XD

[Loken]

I was really hoping you would show off more reaverbots soon, and now you've spoiled me! The Sharukurusu looks great and the enhance variant looks pretty intimidating with that long sword, it's brilliant. The new reavers look great aswell, it's nice that you are making original ideas for this, I'm sure that goes along way to keep you guys creatively stimulated.
Also glad to see Anima's cute little reaver in the game, I hope they are kickable/explodable like Servbots ! I can't wait to see these guys in action and I'm always excited for whatever you have to show us!
P.S. I'm really digging( ) the stealth angle on the game, and the army ant-like behavior of the Reavers.

[MayImilae]

I wasn't able to get the nametags done on that blasted titlecard, so, for clarity, here's the names of the new reavers, and their pronunciations.

Camera Reaverbot --> Mirobisu (Me-roe-be-sue)

Jellyfish Reaverbot --> Yanafujou (yah-nah-foo-joh)

Cute bot --> Pocommi (Po-comb-me)


We've been sticking to the original Japanese naming convention, so they can be kinda hard to pronounce, and even harder to spell. Feel free to try to figure out what those names mean; all the names are based on real Japanese words. (well, minus the pocommi, it was named by Anima)

[player]

Wow, great Reaverbot designs. The Yanafujou sorta reminds me of the jellyfish reaverbots on Nino Island back at Legends 2, but I like this idea more. I get the feeling I'm going to hate the Pirahnas they launch. XD

[Anima]

Aug 11, 2011 17:46:23 GMT -5 MayImilae said:

Camera Reaverbot --> Mirobisu (Me-roe-be-sue)

Jellyfish Reaverbot --> Yanafujou (yah-nah-foo-joh)

Cute bot --> Pocommi (Po-comb-me)


We've been sticking to the original Japanese naming convention, so they can be kinda hard to pronounce, and even harder to spell. Feel free to try to figure out what those names mean; all the names are based on real Japanese words. (well, minus the pocommi, it was named by Anima)

Well the Pocommi name is actually two words from two different languages mixed together: Poco and Pommi

Poco is Catalan for little, and Pommi is Finnish for bomb.

[Deleted]

Dash made a great track. I also like the designs for those reaverbots as well. Different, yet fits nicely in the Legends universe.

[JMC47]

Smaller update this week, I don't think uploading a video would be the best way to show things.

We've been redesigning some graphics and working on the physics - mainly in preparation for leaving the random ruins and making some real ruins to test out. But, we've done a few minor things I can show you, for instance, the particle engine has been implemented on a basic level. Here's a quick comparison between the two using the same graphics texture.

Old Explosion Effect

Particle Explosion Effect

While neither incorporates essential pieces like smoke or debris, I believe the particle engine has more potential than the polygon system for explosions and will look even better once everything is finished up.

I also wanted to talk about some of the gameplay concepts in more detail, since I haven't really revealed a lot about what we're doing.

On the islands, ASH will be much like an action adventure game; people to talk to, stuff to buy and sell, new items to create, and ways to learn about the back story. Not to say no action happens on the land, especially away from town, but you can be relatively safe on the surface world and prepare yourself for the dig ahead.

Digging on the other hand is going to be a very dangerous, risky, and sometimes scary proposition. A lot of people may just think to get to the bottom and grab the refractor... but what if there's more than that. Treasures hidden in collapsed corridors, rare reaverbots with rare parts to scavenge if you can take them down without destroying them and even pieces of art with clues to the history of society throughout; sometimes you may go to a ruin just to search, with no particular goal because there will always be something waiting for you, something to do.

On that note, we're looking for some environment concept artists and designers to help out with ruin design, artistic vision, texturing and anything else you could think of pertaining to the ruins. Any kind of help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Of course, there is a bigger story to things than just digging and getting stronger, but for that, you'll have to wait until you play the game.

[Deleted]

I must admit that I found those explosions to be pretty and well-made.

[MayImilae]

...No video this week? HALLELUJAH! I broke my back with that last one! Cause you know, JMC does absolutely nothing with the videos. He only films them, narrates them, composites them, and uploads them. I get the really hard job: the titlecard!. Great to finally have a break!

Kidding aside, last week's vid was a PAIN IN THE ARSE. Generally JMC tries to handle the videos all by himself (minus titlecard and music) to make sure everyone else isn't burdened by them. But last week was just HARD; practically everyone on the team had to pitch in something for that one. It's the first time a dev video has burdened the team like that. So I'm glad we get a break, so we can keep focused on making the game for a while and not have to worry about a video.






But since there isn't a titlecard this week, here's a little leftovers from last week.



We take our work very seriously.