Another Quick Update

Not much to say this week, been playing the same games, working on similar stuff to what I've already talked about so I'll just leave it here for this week.

Next week I'll add an updated version of Revolver to itch.io and talk about what it is I've been working on. But for now enjoy the rest of your weekend.

-Beau

twitter.com/Bocodillo

The Wonders of Undertale

Today I'm going to write about why Undertale is now one of my favourite games and why. Firstly though a quick update on Revolver and other such projects. Progress is going steadily along with Revolvers graphics as more and more levels become less gray and start looking like actual levels rather than bizarre collections of dull squares. So I've probably got about 33% totally completed and most of the rest started, making new tiles is what takes the longest time to "get right" so going through each level and working out what needs to be added is what's slowing this process down a bit. Still most levels are starting to look much better, so it wont be much longer until I'm done with all that!

What's next though? After I've gone and tiled all the levels I'm going to continue with the writing side of Revolver. Adding all the juicy flavour text and story elements to the terminals and notes you can find in each level to build the world up. This bit should be quite fun and I'm already looking into a way to make the text less, what's the best way to phrase this, absolutely horrible to read. At the moment activating a terminal or collecting a note pauses the game and sends the player to a screen like this:

NASTY BLAND SQUARE!

Let's be serious here, no one wants to look at that every-time they pick up a note. I don't, you don't, the pope don't, we all don't. So what to do? The plan is simple but currently I must admit I have no idea how to execute it. Simply put the game should pause as usual (don't want you getting hurt while reading right?), but instead of this nasty ass square popping up I'm think of simply darkening the screen and having the text appear dynamically, aka letter by letter like in every other game ever. It'll be nicer to look at, probably easier to read and it'll make the whole experience nicer. That's the plan at least.

Now with Revolver talk over lemme throw some words at you:

-Skeletons

-Dating

-Homicidal Entertainment Robots

-Spaghetti

-A Kind Flower

-Genocide

-Puzzles

This is what the fantastical game, Undertale has to offer you.

THE WORLD/STORY:

Undertale is set in a bizarre underground world full of monsters. With locations ranging from ruins, snowy towns, beautiful caverns and lava fields it's a world that feels much large and full of life. The story goes that this world of monsters has been sealed underground for a very long time after a war with humans. The barrier itself can only passed or broken by a being with a "powerful" SOUL. What this means of course you learn as you progress through the story. You play as a human child who has fallen into this world and must now try to find your way out, meeting many interesting & diverse characters along the way and choosing whether to kill them or become their friend.

THE ART:

Just look at it. Ain't it pretty!

Ok, so the game isn't JUST really nice looking vistas but still the whole game has a nice charming retro look to it which unlike some games, doesn't feel like a artistic crutch. It feels like the game was chosen to be made to look like this and often throughout the game the retro graphics are messed with a way that appears quite technical. It's hard to explain but this this game just wouldn't look the same if it were actually on a 16-bit console. It has a modern touch that leaves it looking fresh and often the game has animations (usually during battles) that look really nice.

THE CHARACTERS:
This is one of the many areas where the game truly shines. Undertale is chock full of wonderful, interesting characters, many of which the player can interact with in meaningful ways. From the hilarious skeleton brothers, Sans & Papyrus, the deadly Undyne and the kindly Toriel (not mention many others) Undertale is host to some of the most fantastic characters I've seen in a long time. They all avoid the overly common pitfall of feeling 2 dimensional. Almost all the characters have interests and fears and some have hidden agendas all of their own. It's especially interesting when you the player get to interact with them or get to observe them interact with one another.

THE MECHANICS:

Undertale doesn't play like all those other RPG's. In this game the player has an option to end pretty much every fight peacefully. Get to know the enemy you're fighting and you might be able to get them to lose the will to fight by hugging them, or singing or just cheering them up. The cool part of these mechanics though is the fact that you don't HAVE to do this. If you want to you can just go about murdering everything in sight. Bear in mind that if you do this however you might end up having "a bad time".

THE MUSIC:

Okay, I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. Games like Transistor, Chrono Trigger, Phoenix Wright and now this. Just give it a listen, you will not regret it.

Sans' Theme

Waterfall

Spider Dance

Hot diggedy damn are those some good tunes. For more either head on to this youtube channel (where I got the above from) or grab the soundtrack either on Steam as DLC, like I did or from Bandcamp here. Learn more about Undertale (and grab a copy!) here: undertale.com.

-Beau

twitter.com/Bocodillo

Graphical Slog & Getting My Payday

Been busy this week doing TWO WHOLE THINGS! Firstly I've been continuing on with the slog of tiling all of Revolvers levels. So far I've fully finished the first level 100% and got about 90% done of the next couple. After that I've mostly been experimenting with bits of tiling here and there but I'm progressing quicker and quicker as more I make more tiles. Secondly I began an online course in Unity which for those that don't know is a development platform for creating similar but more technical than Game Maker. The main reason I'm learning it is that it has a wider range of capabilities than GM and it should allow me to make more complex games easier. That said I will definitely still be using GM for simpler projects. At least for now. As for Revolver you can download this fortnights update here as usual to take a look at the improved graphics. I'm also still looking for feedback so once you give the game ago head here and fill this out, you'll be doing me a huge favour!

-----=====THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AND OPINIONS WE'RE WRITTEN BEFORE CRIMFEST 2015 WHEN OVERKILL ADDED AN UPDATE INVOLVING MICROTRANSACTIONS (SOMETHING ONCE STATED WOULD NEVER BE ADDED). BECAUSE OF THIS I NOW TAKE BACK ANYTHING SAID IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS. THIS IS GAME DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE PLAYED, AS GOOD AS IT ONCE WAS.=====-----

For more information about overkills bullshit head here to hear first hand what people think. It's not pretty!

Do you like robbing banks? If you did you probably wouldn't tell anyone to be fair, but if you've always felt like staging a bank heist then Overkills Payday 2 might be the game for you. In Payday you take the role of one of many heisters and take part in a multitude of robberies ranging from banks, nightclubs, a private military storage yard or two, many armoured vans and even a train. But you will not find it an easy ordeal to steal everything in sight. In your way lies the police, FBI and a nasty security company called GenSec. Oh and don't forget about the deadly array of special units:

-The Taser, a git who can stun players and make them waste ammo spraying bullets all over the place

-The Cloaker, who sneaks about, hides under stuff then leaps out at you when you least expect it kicking you to ground while insulting you (real piece of work he is)

-The Shield, which is pretty much just a bloke with a riot shield
-The Bulldozer, a giant of a man wearing bomb disposal armour who stomps his way around the area slaying anyone in sight, be careful of these!

If you see one of these coming your way you run.

Seems impossible now to rob even a little jewelry store, no? Never fear for you have at your disposal a massive array of weapons ranging from shotguns, sniper rifles, LMG's and a freaking rocket launcher to blow the living hell out of anything in your way! Or perhaps, for the more discerning, you can get some silenced pistols, smg's and crossbows and sneak your way around stealing everything that isn't nailed down (and even some stuff that is). One thing of note is that many weapons are DLC only but that said DLC isn't required for a fun time and many DLC are pretty cheap for what you get, especially on steam sales.

Now you've got your guns but do you have the skills to rob many a bank? Payday has an awesome levelling system that rewards you with tons of skill points (120) that you can spend in five trees each representing a different style of play. The part that makes the system great is the fact a player can dabble in multiple trees allowing them to fill more roles effectively or access certain skills from certain trees to buff their armour to an incredible rate, or make them as quick as possible or max out their dodge chance. It's a really, really good system even though there are a few skills that absolutly suck, I'm looking at you Daredevil. You can give the system a quick look here: pd2skills.com/

I can't really give much more information other than you should check out some trailers (they are all excellent) and really, really give this game a go.

-Beau

twitter.com/Bocodillo

Continued Graphical Improvements

Again not much to say this week as I've been continuing on improving the graphics of Revolver so here are a couple of screenshots to give you a quick look at what I've been working on. That said I will be making a second video log sometime in the next week to cover the changes that have been made since the last log and to go over the features that Revolver offers.

-Beau

twitter.com/Bocodillo

NEW AND IMPROVED OFFICE LEVEL!

NEW LEFT HAND SIDE OF WAREHOUSE LEVEL!

NEW RIGHT HAND SIDE OF WAREHOUSE LEVEL!

I especially like the addition of a shit ton of crates to the warehouse level. They work as actual blockades allowing players to dodge enemies effectively by weaving through them.