CGC: Atlantia by Hecticware and ReFlux

Long time no post! But work has not stopped, of course.

After a couple of nights working very hard and sleeping very little, Atlantia is done. Well, sorta.

It has become a nice little adventure platformer, with the emphasis off of instant action and instead on story and setting.

You are trapped in a sunken city, filled with lot's of treasures. Also, there is a sort of mystical power present, able to transform reality.

You can download it here:

Download Atlantia.exe [10MB] via Dropbox

Normally I would reference you to the download page, but after founding a small company, I am in the process of moving my site. Or, well, I have yet to begin. This blog will also see some changes in the near future.

Truth be told, Atlantia is a bit buggy. The platforming doesn't run as smoothly as I had hoped, and people have had some rather bizarre errors occuring. I am not quite sure what to do about this, as there isn't an obvious cause for these problems.

I hope you have fun nonetheless.

Atlantia: teaming up with Cheat Master

Recently, Atlantia has gone through some game design changes. I have been thinking about what I want the game to be. I have come to the conclusion that, taking place in the underwater city of Atlantia, I should make a more tranquile game. Less focus on action, more on setting.

I want Atlantia to be a game about discovering this mystical city. About being alone, being lonely. Darkness, being trapped in a lost city. Hope. Ancient gods, long lost treasures.

That being said, I want to make a game with less emphasis on actual action, and more on telling a beautiful story in an awe-inspiring enviroment. As my graphic skills are less than inadequate, I was chuffed to bits when Cheat Master agreed to team up with me.

He will be doing the entire graphic side of the game. We have shallowly discussed my plans for the game (as far as I have any), but I'm sure we'll work on creating a stunning setting together.

Percy Gameplay with Commentary

I've made another gameplay vid of Percy; this time it's 12 minutes long. I recorded my voice on the spot, so you can hear my anger and utter frustration. It's not that spectacular; I simply fail at doing one jump a hundred times. Still, I'd recommend watching it. I also show you how to ace "Sky High".

At the moment I've been working on a small project for my fathers work (it involves consignments being scanned and then transported); which works out pretty good. I don't reckon it's worth your attention, though.

I am also working a bit on Atlantia. I have somewhat redesigned it's main idea: I've gone from puzzleplatformer to a story-based adventure platformer. I am thinking of a more dark, find-the-exit game with less action than usual.
However, this would require some good tension building, which includes good music and good graphics. I am for instance looking for someone to do some character animations. I'll look/ask around, but if you're interested, by all means, feel free to ask me.

First Atlantia Engine Version

Although it's not much, I couldn't find a reason not to upload an engine version. You can find it at the Downloads page.

The controls are ingame, the graphics are all temporary.

Content:

• Walls
• Water
• Running
• Jumping
• Ledge climbing
• Ledge jumping
• 'Abundancy' can be changed
• 'Frostiness' can be changed

The last two are going to be incorporated into some other mechanic; you won't be able to change them all the time in the final game.

What I need to do next:

• Slippery ice
• Swimming
• Crouching
• Sliding
• Waterfalls

Atlantia Memo: Dimensions

This is a work in progress memo. It may contain spoilers or information that does not represent the content or quality of the final game.

Normal - water, standard, neutral, yellow; the natural state
Frozen - ice, still, barren, cyan; water is frozen and slippery, waterfalls are solid
Steamy - steam, slow, neutral, orange; water is vaporised, waterfalls are gone
Abundant - water, standard, neutral, blue; the waterlevels are higher
Snowy - ice, slow, friendly, white; water is frozen, waterfalls are solid, sprinting is difficult
Barren - dried, still, barren, brown; water is gone, waterfalls consist of a little sand, high temperatures
Thriving - water, standard, friendly, green; plants, grass and moss have grown
Deathly - abyss, still, hostile, black; darkness prevails, no plants survive
Boiling - water, fast, hostile, red; water is deadly, torches are extreme
Flooded - water, slow, neutral, blue; the whole level is flooded
Rushing - water, fast, hostile, yellow; waterfalls are deadly
Insane - ???, ???, hostile, purple; ???
Reversed - water, standard, neutral, yellow; water has inversed gravity

Atlantia Polis Hudrow

Lately, due to lack of working pc's*, I have been bored to death. But, with great boredom comes great inspiration. Not only in the form of memo's for Moonlit, but also as a new game idea.

The University of Utrecht (NL) has started an annual contest for GameMaker users (such as myself), called the Creative Game Challenge (dutch website). Last year the theme was Beasts, this year it's all about Water.

Which got me thinking. Almost immediately, I figured that I want to do something with this water. Some kind of (semi-)real water effects would be great. But not just fancy effects, but water incorporated into the game itself. As ideas tend to, this simple gimmick has turned into an actual concept for a game.

This game - which I have already given a name: Atlantia Polis Hudrow - is going to be somewhat of a puzzle-platformer; as the player, you must travers your way through each level, filled with doors, cranks, traps, steep drops, slow moving gears and of course water. Lots and lots of water. In fact, the game sets place entirely under water. Well, if neither the name nor the fact that there is civilisation under water have been sufficient: yes. The game is set in what is, frankly, Atlantis.

What I can tell of the story isn't much, because, well, it's just an idea; but this I do know: you are a deep see investigator annex treasure seeker (I'm thinking "Nathan Croft"), who happens to find Atlantis and gets trapped. The Atlantian civilisation has ended, leaving you in huge, deserted chambers, that are constantly on the brink of collapse.

Also, it will feature some texts in Atlanteski, the languages the Atlantians speak that I'm going to create. It will be somewhat of a dialect of Lurion. The game title is also atlanteski; it means "Atlantis, the City of Water."

I have until April 2011, so I'll be working on this game on a very low pitch. I am first going to finish TerraScape, before continuing work on Moonlit.

(* While I am typing this, I find a letter from Packard Bell, saying I can get my pc back. As far as I can tell, they did nothing but undust the fans, which probably means it'll start all over again within one or two months. I guess it's better than nothing, though you might have noticed this whole mess is really getting on my nerves.)