ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
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After some weeks, I'm getting a better idea of how to use the stream and what people might be more interested in.

The Sunday 3pm PST session will be for demo-ing, game design discussion, and more visual and lively things. I'll still do live-coding, but those will be in other sessions.

This coming Sunday (tomorrow, May 5th), I'll demo a new kind of pushable block. It flies across the room with a single touch. It stacks. It can never get stuck. It can be used to form words that unlock things. A whole set of puzzle opportunities has just opened up, and I'm unexpectedly excited about of all things... pushable blocks.

So I will show you some actual puzzle levels, and try a group-solve with anyone on chat.

The link to the event is in my signature.



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

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[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 12-31-2019 09:20 PM]

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5199
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Fascinating!

Pushable blocks are a classic. Maybe they'll never go out of style.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

mrimer wrote:
Pushable blocks are a classic. Maybe they'll never go out of style.

They do seem to be a staple of a certain grid-based type of puzzle game. I was quite reluctant to add them. Iinitially they were just going to be an object supporting the story where the main character expresses her disgust for pushing blocks, but...

I found some twists, and suddenly they seem brand new to me as a game element.

Last night I finished a complementary element called "Letter Gates". This is a little like the Baba is You type of wordplay, but it just opens/closes gates instead of altering the rules of the game.

Have got 4 levels ready to demo in a few hours on the stream. Will see if I can make a few more before then.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I will demo my latest creation, Beamers. And maybe group-solve or create some new levels with Beamers.

Beamers are quite a bit like Aumtlich. I've made a comparison below:

Aumtlich / Beamers
* emits a beam / emits a beam
* beam stuns player / beam kills player
* does not affect other enemies / kills enemies
* 8 directions / 4 directions
* rotates one direction per turn / immediately rotates to target direction
* 2D / 3D
* wears robes / does not wear robes
* creepy / creepy

I also made a complementary element - tracks. When a Beamer is on a track, its movements are limited to staying on the track and not rotating its beam. This lets me design levels with Beamers set up more defensively to patrol/cover areas.

I'm on a business trip this weekend, but nevertheless, I'm gonna livestream, out of pure stubbornness, from my hotel room on a laptop. This will be at 3pm PST today (Sunday 5/19) at https://www.twitch.tv/erikh2000 . Stop by, chat, see the Beamers!

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

This Sunday, I'm recording voiceover for DROD as well as The Godkiller. For the former, it's Arky dialogue going with rooms from the recent Arky's Revenge contest. For the latter, it's the voice of God (fictitious) from the first 5 minutes or so of The Godkiller. Mild spoilers, I suppose.

You can join the livestream and chat with me. It's happening at the usual Godkiller Gamedev Sunday time, 3pm PST at this link: https://www.twitch.tv/erikh2000

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

averagemoe
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 492
Registered: 03-22-2012
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I've been thinking about what you said a while back about how not having the ability to move the camera keeps the game fair for the enemies because they don't have that skill.

Well, actually, they do have that skill. Or at least, they are aware of the player's position from an unlimited range. And I can believe that they've supposedly memorized the level's layout, but it can't be just that they're predicting the player's moves, because the player is the definition of unpredictable.

So really, that actually gives the enemies an advantage over the player. Let's not have all that playing-field-leveling be one-sided.

____________________________
The internet is no place to act like a wild animal.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

averagemoe wrote:
I've been thinking about what you said a while back about how not having the ability to move the camera keeps the game fair for the enemies because they don't have that skill.

DROD, and even The Godkiller, is so riddled with inequality between the player and enemies, I don't even know how to fix it at this point. I tried to balance it out, but I dunno... very difficult to do.

The main injustice seems to be that the typical human player is much, much smarter than any of the creatures. In DROD, we sent our best, the Slayer. Still, people have found several ways to kill him beyond what we intended.

But seriously...

In The Godkiller, I've recently created a compromise with the limited information caused by use of camera panning over a larger area. There is a "fling guide" that searches beyond the camera view to show where the player can fling to. And there is another guide that helps show where the player will fall to if they step in any of the four directions.

Will demo the new guides in the first 15 minutes of tonight's live-coding stream if anyone is interested. And if you haven't seen the game in a while, it's looking beautiful these days with animations and better art.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I have been pumping out The Godkiller streaming vids for a long time now, and I figure no need to announce every single one. But this latest, I think DROD players will like in particular as it demos levels with puzzles in them, and talks about design decisions. The game has many similarities to DROD - grids, stepping behavior, weird story.



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

This last stream talks a lot about DROD and writing stories for games, including a regret I have about DROD. I launch the first part of TSS and lovingly chide its outpouring of exposition. (spoilers)



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

---

[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 12-31-2019 09:38 PM]

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5199
Registered: 02-04-2003
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It's possible that being utterly faithful to Erik's guidance on storytelling was a sin like unto how George Lucas was upheld in directing the Star Wars prequels.

Edit: Although, there seem to be some who think there are worse alternatives...

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 02-01-2020 01:24 AM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

mrimer wrote:
It's possible that being utterly faithful to Erik's guidance on storytelling was a sin like unto how George Lucas was upheld in directing the Star Wars prequels.

Yes, this can be a problem.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Pearls
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 777
Registered: 12-21-2009
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At least we backed up such an extravagant quantity of exposition with an equally extravagant number of puzzles.

____________________________
Hey, w-wait, that's the guy who shamelessly promotes his own...

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I'm back to streaming on The Godkiller. For anybody that wanted a Deadly Music of Death Volume 3, this might be the closest thing to it - about 30 minutes of new music I wrote for The Godkiller with the sounds of typing and mouse-clicking in the forefront of it. (Ah well...)



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I make so many of these streams. So I'm only going to post about the ones that are more DROD-oriented. This one, DROD people may enjoy as it talks a lot about stepping mechanics and calls back to DROD in the first 10 minutes or so.


-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Of course, I am streaming nearly every day, so I don't bother to update this thread for each stream, but...

The Godkiller is taking a small number of early alpha playtesters. If you aren't familiar with GK, it has the same stepping mechanics as DROD and the same emphasis on solving puzzles. But it's in 3d. Also, it's made by the original creator of DROD... me!

If you're interested in becoming a playtester, you could watch the video below. Overly efficient people should just go directly the website - http://seespacelabs.com/the-godkiller to get the info quick-like.



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

The GK streams these days are largely about level design, with many DROD-overlapping concepts as I mull over things like: what does the player know at this point in the game? How do I obfuscate the solution? Is this easy, repetitive task going to be boring for the player?

I am enjoying the level design more than any part of the development so far. It is easily the favorite part of my day, every day.

So some here may find the current streams more accessible than past. I invite you to have a look. Links below in my sig for Twitch (live) and YouTube (archive).

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Illusionist
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 172
Registered: 05-27-2020
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Pearls wrote:
At least we backed up such an extravagant quantity of exposition with an equally extravagant number of puzzles.

As a person, who recently had finished the second sky, I would say that it was a very wholesome experience both storywise and gameplay wise. I mean, DROD became one of my all-time favorite games, so that's a helluva achievement.

One more thing I have to say, the videos certainly look more interesting and eventful than my job for sure.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Illusionist wrote:
One more thing I have to say, the videos certainly look more interesting and eventful than my job for sure.

Well, my day job is less interesting too. I work on my game after I stop earning a paycheck.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I try my hand at creating a Larry Murk puzzle idea. He emailed me a spec that served as the basis. I like the end result!



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

The streams continue. (They never stopped, really.)

But as a complement to them, I've started a dev journal. It's not bad way to figure out if you want to watch some part of the stream.

The latest one is about creating an interactive song that plays as you solve parts of a puzzle. I wrote the song and it has me making stupid bird noises in it.



-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5199
Registered: 02-04-2003
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I enjoyed reading through your dev journal entry. What a fun idea you shared here! I like the level of care and polish you're adding to make the experience more of what you dream it can be. The structure and format you're using here works nicely for me.

You've probably already thought of this: please consider releasing GK on one or more consoles at some point. I would like your game to be a breakout hit, and there appears to be a significantly increased level of exposure (i.e., likelihood of success) when a title is on multiple gaming channels.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 04-10-2021 04:00 PM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Thanks for the kind words, Mike.

mrimer wrote:
please consider releasing GK on one or more consoles at some point.

Definitely. It's fairly likely I'll get GK on consoles, though don't know when. The game is in Unity and the player inputs will work with game controllers, so console options are open.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5199
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Mr. Burns: Excellent!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2796
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

We're seeking alpha playtesters for The Godkiller - Chapter 1. This article I wrote gives you an idea of what it's like to play. (Hint: very much like DROD but 3D and with pushable blocks) http://seespacelabs.com/2021/05/02/the-basics-of-gameplay-explained/

The Godkiller is in a late-alpha stage right now. The puzzles are basically complete, and the story will be complete by the time you start playtesting. Most of the voice acting is missing, and most levels need some scenery, but you can quite happily play through the full game from beginning to end.

We're looking for puzzle aficionados to do some playtesting before we start the beta in earnest in July. We'd like you to play the game and post bug reports, unintended puzzle solutions and other feedback in our Discord channel. If you can record videos of your play sessions, that would be great!

Volunteers will get:
- The full game as it stands - beta phase testers will only get a slice of the game
- A copy of the finished game when it releases
- No money (sorry!)

Playtesters must be 18+. Please be aware that The Godkiller contains mature themes, swearing and violence. A full content warning can be found here: http://seespacelabs.com/the-godkiller-things-that-might-offend-you/

If you're interested, please join our Discord and introduce yourself. Hope to see you there!
https://discord.gg/Z24KJSWg

-Erik (and Alex, who wrote most of the above announcement)

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)