Some interesting news on Ashley Ao. We have a talented new artist on board by the name of Rahime Knight. So he'll be helping us with some of the story aspects of the game. Here's the first piece he's done. Really excited to have another great artist working on Ao.
First off,I think you've got a really promising game here! But there is one thing that's been bugging me every time I see the video, and it's the angle she is running at. It just seems a little unnatural, I think if you tried to run at that angle in the real world you would fall on your face. I hope you dont take this the wrong way, as I am only aiming to give you constructive feedback.
@Fal01 - Cheers. I always welcome feedback, so no need to think I'd take it the wrong way A few people have mentioned the running angle. So that's something we may have to review as we go along.
@Fal01 I agree that it looks unnatural. It looks as though the angle would fit if the character was running at a very high speed. If there is any part of the game where the player runs super fast that might be a good time to use it.
@Fal01 - Cheers. I always welcome feedback, so no need to think I'd take it the wrong way A few people have mentioned the running angle. So that's something we may have to review as we go along.
Some people can be a bit oversensitive when critiquing!
i think the art style is great, its different.. most of us here stick with that cartoony style... i had a few people look at it (although they are fans of sci-fi and anime) and they thought it looked great so ryan has been doing a great job.
@Fal01 - Haha. Actually as soon as I read your first comment I broke down in tears and then went on a rampage destroying every video game in the local Tesco.
@Saz_1 Ok cool, glad to know some anime fans are liking the art style - thanks for showing it to them
@DanDaMan123 - Ok, I've heard that comment one too many times! Now working on adjusting the standard run animation to make her more upright. Will post a vid here soon.
@VentoraStudios - Cheers Max Absolutely! I'll be spending some time making sure all the music is really cool for this one. It's gonna be a blend of tribal, electronic and atmospheric/cinematic.
Some more new art from our new artist. This character is 'The Agent'. He brokers the deal to send Ashley off on her mission. And he sells you items in-game too. So glad to have Rahime helping us to visualise the story of Ao. His art style is really cool.
Ok, so quite a few peeps thought the run animation didn't look quite right. So we changed it. Here's a vid showing the update. What do you all think - does it look better now?
Been a while since I updated this thread. Actually there were a few set backs and development had slowed and then stopped for while. I'm sure a lot of you around here know how it's sometimes hard to devote the time and money you need for your own games.
But things are back on track and I'm focused on finishing Ao. Feels good to get back to it. Been showing it around at dev events I go to in London and feedback is always really positive so I'll take that as a good sign.
So here's where the gameplay is at the moment:
I've been playing a few tower defense games over the last year or so and I like how they use upgrades to draw you in and enjoy making your abilities more powerful.
So all the moves and the variables for the hyper-sprint are now linked to upgrades. You start on a default power level of 1 and can upgrade to 10 as you progress.
Here's a list of what you can upgrade
Attack 1 - barge Attack combo 2 - kick Attack combo 3 - uppercut Air to ground attack - stomp Air attack - triple jump kick
Another recent change is that new environments will be reached when you get to certain distances. In testing it feels really cool when they switch over.
Next I'll be making the hazard system. So how often hazards appear on screen and how many hit points they have. I'm thinking that eventually it should get pretty frantic!
Made loads of progress the last couple weeks. Very much re-energized for this game so steadily adding loads of new elements.
Got the upgrades page finished, all fully working. Screenshot attached.
The gameplay is turning out really well. The original gameplay intention was to make the player feel like an anime hero, enjoying the sense of speed and agility, pulling off crazy maneuvers with ease and feeling powerful.
Well I'm glad to say it is hitting that objective. The controls are feeling good and you can combine moves to do some really cool stuff.
If anyone is going to Apps World in London I'll be there on there on Wednesday 23rd Oct at the Pocket Gamer thing. I'll be hanging around that area and will have Ao on the iPad mini. If you want to say hello and give it a spin drop me a message!
I added a tutorial for 1st time players. After watching people play at a local dev meetup I go to it was clear that new players are overwhelmed and don't know what to do. But once I explain the rules and controls they get the hang of it and quickly get good. So that' a good sign.
So I went back and tested the tutorial at the same meetup and... it needs adjusting. At the moment it does show how to do all the moves but is a bit "lifeless". So I'm going to adjust it so that each segment is a mini challenge. This should make it more fun and also make it easier to remember everything as all the moves will be in context.
Comments
EDIT: Forum mods - please change the video in the first post to the newer ones below - cheers
Meanwhile the IndieGoGo crowd funding campaign is still going on.
First off,I think you've got a really promising game here!
But there is one thing that's been bugging me every time I see the video, and it's the angle she is running at. It just seems a little unnatural, I think if you tried to run at that angle in the real world you would fall on your face.
I hope you dont take this the wrong way, as I am only aiming to give you constructive feedback.
Cheers.
It’s not a bug – it’s an undocumented feature
I agree that it looks unnatural. It looks as though the angle would fit if the character was running at a very high speed. If there is any part of the game where the player runs super fast that might be a good time to use it.
I do think it's a great game though!
It’s not a bug – it’s an undocumented feature
@Saz_1 Ok cool, glad to know some anime fans are liking the art style - thanks for showing it to them
@DanDaMan123 - Ok, I've heard that comment one too many times! Now working on adjusting the standard run animation to make her more upright. Will post a vid here soon.
Loving the game my friend! Im sure it will have great music in it
Cheers,
Max
But things are back on track and I'm focused on finishing Ao. Feels good to get back to it. Been showing it around at dev events I go to in London and feedback is always really positive so I'll take that as a good sign.
So here's where the gameplay is at the moment:
I've been playing a few tower defense games over the last year or so and I like how they use upgrades to draw you in and enjoy making your abilities more powerful.
So all the moves and the variables for the hyper-sprint are now linked to upgrades. You start on a default power level of 1 and can upgrade to 10 as you progress.
Here's a list of what you can upgrade
Attack 1 - barge
Attack combo 2 - kick
Attack combo 3 - uppercut
Air to ground attack - stomp
Air attack - triple jump kick
Hyper sprint - duration
Hyper sprint - stamina
Hyper sprint - speed
Hyper sprint - chance of replenish
Another recent change is that new environments will be reached when you get to certain distances. In testing it feels really cool when they switch over.
Next I'll be making the hazard system. So how often hazards appear on screen and how many hit points they have. I'm thinking that eventually it should get pretty frantic!
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
On the positive side I now know a lot more about gameplay design.
Got the upgrades page finished, all fully working. Screenshot attached.
The gameplay is turning out really well. The original gameplay intention was to make the player feel like an anime hero, enjoying the sense of speed and agility, pulling off crazy maneuvers with ease and feeling powerful.
Well I'm glad to say it is hitting that objective. The controls are feeling good and you can combine moves to do some really cool stuff.
If anyone is going to Apps World in London I'll be there on there on Wednesday 23rd Oct at the Pocket Gamer thing. I'll be hanging around that area and will have Ao on the iPad mini. If you want to say hello and give it a spin drop me a message!
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Having a lot of fun working on this at the moment. So hopefully that will come across in the gameplay experience.
I added a tutorial for 1st time players. After watching people play at a local dev meetup I go to it was clear that new players are overwhelmed and don't know what to do. But once I explain the rules and controls they get the hang of it and quickly get good. So that' a good sign.
So I went back and tested the tutorial at the same meetup and... it needs adjusting. At the moment it does show how to do all the moves but is a bit "lifeless". So I'm going to adjust it so that each segment is a mini challenge. This should make it more fun and also make it easier to remember everything as all the moves will be in context.
My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx
Darren.