Thanx George

...
I finished the second version of my level solution for J, J & BUM Fortress Chapter Level 7. The zip is on SkyDrive (Ganderoleg C3 L7 V2.zip)

In this version I have switched to Superku's (Felix) new movement code (Movement051210) & made some minor design changes. Redphoenix's (Martin) script is also included but I couldn't test compatibility because there are no entities that use script in this level.

The level is not fully playable but all missing solutions are listed in Toodledo board.

Any feedback on what should be changed & modified is welcome.









http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/11/34/97/23/jjbum710.jpg
http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/11/34/97/23/jjbum713.jpg
http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/11/34/97/23/jjbum711.jpg

Professionnal grahics

My personnal idea :
- the spider monster is hard to distinguish caus of colors , textures and lightening that mixes it on the level like a
chameleon.
Why not using special colors for a non existing monster ?
Colors or a shader that pops it up from the level ?
Just my opinion.

Keep up the work !

This was a very, very good idea I actually realized it after reading your post & started few experiments. After a while I have found that the toon shader was just the thing I was after. It really opened up a completely new level of thinking about the model coloring & design for this game.

I have made a few modifications on spiders with standard Toon shader from GS 7.84, here are some screens..













What I need is few toon shaders, I was thinking of trying out different things and maybe even have older & newer shader versions so that even older computers can process the whole thing.

Very good

The green and Blue verions of spiders are those that really shows off from the level, the other versions are colors that matches or mix too much with level colors !
Once agains only my personnal point of view.

Keep it up !

I found a cool video, it seems to be a different prototype game,but it has some similar ideas :

Youtube platform game

You could propose some bonus after beating the game, like some VR misions a la Metal Gear solid.
With a look similar to this video or the video game Portal.

I'm not convinced by the toonstyle, it doesn't fit. Better, use a stronger color and attach it to parts of the model. The model doesn't have to be all blue to be distinguished from the level. Strong, somehow glowing, color at some parts should do the thing. Just my two cents.

(BTW, ratchet, the video is from the same project. Felix Pohl = Superku )

@Ratchet
Yeah, the Untitled Platformer is J, J & BUM This seems to be visual presentation of the update of the movement code. Felix (Superku) is the author of the movement code (& all entities that can be seen in the video) for J, J & BUM.

@Pappenhaimer
I must admit I decided to use red, it gives it a sort of flaming thing You may be right about toon shader, similar thing can be achieved with stronger colors but I do like shadows & outlines. They are not so visible though..

...
Rework of the level 8 (Ganderoleg C3 L8 V3.zip) is done & uploaded to SkyDrive.

In this level I used Superku's newest movement code. There are some (minor) things I changed in code & some suggestions that I will put on Tooldeo board.

The thing that we should consider is that we will probably have a number of different enemies in the game that must not play violent 'slash' or 'shoot' animations when they caught JJ's. This means that we would have to have some sort of 'caught' animations for every different type of enemy and, unless we recruit a very good animator, this will not be possible. So my idea was to have a fadeout sequence every time enemy gets critically near to one of the JJ's. I implemented standard fading with black panel but the sequence can be more toon-like with circle or stars & maybe even have a accompanying music? I believe that this approach is suggestive enough & it saves us the trouble of animating the caught-act. If someone has a better idea we can always switch to it.

In this level I have two different enemy models, the lower one is my redesign of Dexsoft Fantasy Warrior model that I did for my project Blade Of Power & the upper is Dragon Knight model that I downloaded from 3d Game Studio site. It seems that, when compared, models that are less realistic by proportions are more adequate for levels. I don't know if the rest of the team will also see it this way.

Hi,

Second version of J, J & BUM Fortress Chapter boss-battle arena level (Ganderoleg C3 LBossB V2) is uploaded to SkyDrive.

One of the problematic thing about this level is the Boss (spider-like monster). While chasing the players, monster just goes through arena wall & falls down through the wooden path

The small action that triggers the battle music ones player enters the arena is no longer active since Ivan asked me to wait until he composes a new battle theme.

Also I've made a video that shows first solutions of level-fail (followed by level restart) sequences for J, J & BUM..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Tm1rO2Lr0

..my favorite is No.2 but they are all just an early concept with lots of room for improvement:)

Any feedback on what should be changed & modified is welcome.








http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/11/34/97/23/jjbumb13.jpg
http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/11/34/97/23/jjbumb11.jpg

About the death sequence:
Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles could be an inspiration. Unfortunately I didn't find the death sequence itself, but the walk of the hero in the beginning of the following video is sort of what the animation in this sequence is: A slap to get the dust off the trousers, and then the walk with slowly weighty steps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njWXshgRkQk

Another game, the style of your levels reminded me to it:
the ugly prince duckling
http://www.adventurespiele.net/module-pnvideos-view-vid-432.htm
Maybe, it give additional overall inspirations

@Pappenheimer
Thanx for links. The Ugly Prince Duckling looks very nice, it has a very unique visual concept, I like it

Yeah, the 'death' sequence should be just like you described in Evil Twin: non-violent & a bit casual. I was thinking that maybe scene could look like this..

When cought:
1.The player surroundings are getting more red & after 1sec all but player is in high sepia color.
2.At the same time there's a zoom similar to the one we already have, zooming on the player.
3.If it's brother his crying, if it's sister she's crouching frightened.

..or something similar to this.
I believe that the part where everything is getting more red, except for players, can be achieved through use of customized shader.