64Digits

[s]Game[/s] - The Abyss Of Dreams :D

Posted by spike1 on July 13, 2013, 3:35 a.m.

Download here: Link

Hello! Seeing how this is a website primarily made for games, i figured i should hurry up and post about one :D. So, i present to you, The Abyss Of Dreams!

You have been sent into a dream(while the lateral prefrontal cortex(the logical part of the brain) is still active), because the "Abyss of Dreams"(Temp Name) has been destroying all good dreams. The "Dream Seeker"(Temp Name) has summoned you because of your ability to re-awaken your logic during a dream(lucid dreaming). You will have to go through all types of bad dreams and find a solution to them while learning about sleep itself.

I am doing this as part of the Science Talent Search, and i have about a month left :D. Most of that time was spent working on a different version of the idea, but i figured i didn't have enough time, so i made this instead :).

Although this has many normal puzzle elements to it, I have a few new ones which i would like your opinion on :).

The first one is more of a level type. In the game, when in the third stage of NREM sleep, the character will begin to sleepwalk, and so the screen will split in two showing the real world and the dreamworld, having the real world affect the dreamworld. During this, the puzzles will have to be solved on both ends to progress allowing for some interesting designs :)

The Second one is an area swapper. During the second stage of NREM sleep we begin to loose awareness of our surroundings, and so i figured i could show this in the dream world by having areas of the game world swap around, player included. At first this would be automatic, until the player is in full REM sleep, in which they will have the power to control when the areas switch.

I have also been working on a soundtrack, here's the first piece of music I have made for it :).

Theme1.wav

So yeah, any feedback would be appreciated, about the art style, level design, music anything :D. I will have a gameplay demo out fairly shortly :D.

Edit: Gameplay demo is out :D. The link is in a post below.
Edit:
Heres a link to the post

Comments

spike1 11 years, 4 months ago

Quote: JID

First off, I went through about 4 levels. At first I thought the platforms in the levels were all invisible because of some weird Windows 8 glitch, then I started thinking it was done on purpose. After level 3 I finally realized that the platforms weren't invisible, and that they were the weird purple mist.(I originally thought the mist was just part of the background image) Please make the mist more visible/more obvious that it's actually a platform for the player to walk on.

To be honest I thought the mist was obviously a platform, but ok. What would make it more obvious without ruining the effect do you think, would making it brighter be enough? Or maybe I could have Rem state that the mist is a platform(although not so bluntly lol :D). Thanks :)

Quote: JID

The next problem I have(a rather small, but noticeable problem) was that when you jumped, the character's animation kept moving mid-air as if he was swimming.

With the current platform system I am using, I am not sure if I can fix that without the code being hacky(I don't know if thats a word, i think not lol :D). I will have a go at fixing it though. Its quite amusing if you hold up while moving around on the ground, it looks, interesting…. :D

Quote: JID

The slopes and platforms are too hard to get up(Paraphrase)

For the platform, would just moving the ladder over a bit help? I would prefer not to add the jumpthrough as that would mean some big engine changing(I think at least, haven't done it before), and I am nearing the deadline and would prefer just to work on the levels. Most of the time if the slope is too hard to get up it is on purpose, but I'll check and fix the parts where it isn't :).

Quote: JID

Lastly, on the fourth and final level that I played, the music started getting obnoxiously loud, while the voice over was instructing me on how to get past the level. Make the music become quieter while the voice over is being played. Do that by using sound_volume(SOUND FILE NAME HERE, VOLUME HERE) 1 being the max volume in that line of code, and anything smaller than 1, makes that sound more quiet.

Yes, that is rather important lol :D. I'll try and make the music not change volume to much, so that way it is always lower than the voice.

Just wondering, when you say level do you mean puzzle or screen? Just wondering because you said that you played four levels when there are 7 screens, so i'm not sure if you played it all or not lol :D. If you didn't what made you want to stop?

One more thing, did you figure out how to use the Item Creators, because i forgot to tell players how to use them and it is the only item that uses the mouse. Should it continue with how it works now, or should it use the keyboard like the rest?

Thanks for reviewing the game, I hope I can fix all the problems! :D

JID 11 years, 4 months ago

Quote:

both actually. try making the mist just a bit brighter and add a bit more contrast.

Quote:

you're probably looking for the word, "glitchy". haha

Quote:

well - if you think it'd be too much of a change, then just move the ladder, i guess.

Quote:

Are the item creators those weird looking snail things? If so, that's the same level I quit on, I forgot to mention that in my previous post. I didn't know what the hell they were, and I kept pressing "E" to use them, and nothing would happen. lol

I just ignored them and tried to cross a pit with spikes at the bottom, I fell down the hole, but got stuck on a wall to the left. I continuously tried to jump up the hole from there, but then I fell on the spikes and I died. I kept trying to get past that part 3 or 4 times before I eventually gave up.

spike1 11 years, 4 months ago

Ok, thanks :D. I will fix the mist, ill add the jumpthrough platform, just need to think of a good way to add it in(with the current level format i use). Ill also make the item creators work with E as well as the mouse :D. Thanks!

spike1 11 years, 4 months ago

Ok, all the platforms are now able to be jumped through(Although it is kind of glitchy depending on the layout). Ive also added some tutorial text to explain the Item Creators and general stuff. I also added some smoke to the destroyed Item Creators for effect :D.

Right now I'm going to go through and make the platforms/mist more obvious, as well as have Rem state that they are the ground :D.

Anyway, i have a question. At the moment the music is fairly simple and sort of dreamy. Near the end of the game things get epic, and so I tried to create that feel using the same style and it didn't work. So I was wondering if its a good idea to use a more orchestral music during the epic sections or not. Here's a link to the sort of music I mean(and also what I will use if you say yes lol :D).

Ill upload a new version after a few more things are fixed :)

spike1 11 years, 4 months ago

Hello again! Another update will be out soon after I fix some bugs. I've made the level file size smaller, have added in the ability to place actors and tween various variables across time allowing for cutscenes where the player is involved. I've created two more levels, have introduced the main bad guy, and added the ability to shatter the world after cutscenes and such. Have also added some more puzzle elements, like Flythings(need a better name lol :D) which allow you too fly for 15 seconds. Some tweaks in the engine have made the jump through platforms less buggy and laggy.

Anyway, I have a question which hopefully someone will answer as this post hasn't seen to much action lol :D. I tried to post this in the QDB, but the form dosn't work properly, so here is the origional question:

Quote: Spike1(In QDB)

Hello! In my latest game I have created a level file which when loaded, loads external resources such as the level itself(its a .png), the collision map, and several other things using sprite_add.

At the end of each level it deletes everything it has loaded with sprite_delete, and I have verified it does using a bunch of show messages. However, at a certain point in the game it would not accept any new images and would not load them, meaning no more levels could be used. I noticed that if I scaled the level image down, it loaded, so I assumed it had something to do with memory and the loaded images, except they should all be unloaded.

So my question is, do you guys know of any alternatives to sprite_delete that actually de-allocate the memory properly, or is there a solution for the bug?

Thanks!

Btw, sorry for the measly member points, I only have 50 and seeing how thats the only one above 10 i could afford, I had to go with 10.

Edit:Btw, i use GM8 if that is important :)

Thanks! :D

EDIT: Dont worry, i fixed it myself. :)

EDIT: Just fixed a game breaking bug :D. Just need to make some more levels and a new demo will be out :).

spike1 11 years, 4 months ago

Ok, heres another update :D.: Link

New features in this update include:

Cutscene support

Smaller collison sprites

Proper memory handling

Jump through platforms

A main menu with several settings

4 new levels

FlyThings

Tutorial Text

Smoke

And AREA SHIFTERS! :D :D. They have been remade with a different idea, and they are awesome. They appear in the last two levels I think :D

Also, when you hit start you can choose which level to start off with, so if you are new just type 1, but I guess JID you would type 4 lol :D. Hopefully I get some more people reviewing seeing how its almost done.

Have fun!

Edit: Btw, thanks JID for being the only one to play and comment so far :). I hope you feel like playing the updated version as its a big improvement, but if not thats fine. Thanks, you have helped me tons :)