Topic: Cave Punk Demo is Ready!

[h3adlin3]

Find the game demo here:
Cave Punk Demo

h3adlin3.com is proud to present:

CAVEPUNK: an adventure in an alternate reality.

The Story:

CAVEPUNK began as an attempt at the October 2009 MAGS competition (steam punk), but after missing the deadline, and realizing his game was more involved than he first thought, the creator decided to not rush things, and try to make a good game.

The game begins after you (the Inventor) have created a steam powered flute for the Temple. It is stolen in the night by the rival tribe across the mountain valley. They some how manage to jury rig your invention, and turn it into a weapon that launches small stones at the upper caves. In the morning you are dragged before the Chieftess, accused of colluding with the rival tribe, and threatened with execution.

To prove your loyalty, the Chieftess orders you to complete three inventions that will help your tribe defend itself against its new enemies.

You are given one day.

Screen Shots:






Walk Cycles:




Idle Animations






Development Progress:

Story: 95%
Scripting: 85%
Graphics: 70%
Music/Sound: 30%

Expected Completion Date: December 2010

Development Team:

Game Creation: Tom 'h3adlin3' Head
Music: Shauna Head

Development Diary:

November 20th, 2009
Posted Inventor's walk cycle. Continued work on inventory items' interactions.

November 18th, 2009
I'm confident enough in my progress to begin promoting my game. Created this post, and a signature graphic.

July 17th, 2010
Back on track with the Demo. Focusing on one invention (a spying device) for the demo. All major walking animations complete. Five character idle animations remain, as well as some incidental main character animations. One part of the puzzle has been made more challenging.  
I'm 95% confident that a end of July demo release is achievable.

July 24th, 2010
Demo is 99% complete. Doing run-throughs, looking for bugs, errors, and such. Hope to be able  to post in the next day or two.

July 25th, 2010
Demo is posted! Find it here: Cave Punk Demo

August 10th, 2010
Back to work on full game, coming up with some interesting ideas to make the other puzzles more challenging, as well as an alternate ending or two. Readjusted the progress meters accordingly.

[Helme]

Looks interesting and I like to see that I even inspired more people to create a game  than I already did

[PuNKKoMmANDO77]

nice style 

[Atelier]

Excellent, I like the fact it is in black and white, and the plot sounds very good as well. Good luck!

[h3adlin3]

Thank you all for the kind words. Having been a fan of adventure games since Monkey Island, and Sam and Max, I was thrilled when I ran across AGS and all of the great games being made by amateurs. I've hashed around with Flash and its action script, and Python, but I think Chris' development environment is something special.

Thanks again! I'll see if I can't get a Demo together in a couple of weeks (Holidays are harsh for getting work done though.)

[red runner]

I'd definitely play it. I like the graphics, and the story sounds intriguing.

[Goldfish]

Check out his blog- not a mention of it. It is coming soon, soon being an indo-sudetenish word meaning "at the same time as the second coming of Christ"- which is ironically the current project he's working on.

A big shame too because it looks really REALLY cool and fresh.

[h3adlin3]

Sorry, fell off the edge of the earth, and have been climbing back up for the last few months. Back to work on Cavepunk. Shooting for a workable demo by the end of July 2010. Final game? AGS is definitely a great prog, but games are a lot of work. I'll do my best to finish the game by X-mas 2010, but in case you haven't noticed I suck at personal deadlines. Don't get your hopes up, keep a sensible "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude, and you'll be fine.

[Sslaxx]

An eminently sensible attitude! Hope you can get this out by then, though, does look interesting.

[h3adlin3]

Feel free to leave comments/criticisms of the game demo. I would appreciate any feedback.

[CaptainD]

Feel free to leave comments/criticisms of the game demo. I would appreciate any feedback.

Hi there!

Some thoughts...

Love the character graphics - very Albert Uderzo (is that what you were aiming for?) - nice animations.  The backgrounds were a little indistinct, but I don't know if they're the final versions?

The puzzles were good, though I couldn't check whether my idea of breaking up the window by putting it where the stones were falling heaviest because the game crashed at that stage.  (Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to fun 'hCliffEdge_UseInv' (Room 4)

I loved the idea of the idea icon, and the slowly dawning idea that could then be used.  Great stuff.

Dialogues were funny and just pointed enough to hint the player in the right direction.

I often found it difficult to know where the hotspot of inventory items was - usually a matter of trial and error.

I always prefer it when games give you at least some sort of visual clue when the mouse cursor is over a viewable / interactable object onscreen.

Wasn't too sure about the music - kooky style fitted the game, but it made me turn the sound down after a while (to whoever did the music - sorry!  :o)

All in all this seems to have great potential, I look forward to the finished game.

[h3adlin3]

Love the character graphics - very Albert Uderzo (is that what you were aiming for?) - nice animations.  The backgrounds were a little indistinct, but I don't know if they're the final versions?

Although I was aware of the Asterix comic, I've never read one. I was aiming for a 'Steam Boat Willie' era of early B&W cartoony character design. The background design is fuzzy/indistinct on purpose. I was going for a watercolor effect, high key for the exteriors, and more low key for the interiors. As well as trying to evoke a camera with a short focal length like early silent film.

The puzzles were good, though I couldn't check whether my idea of breaking up the window by putting it where the stones were falling heaviest because the game crashed at that stage.  (Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to fun 'hCliffEdge_UseInv' (Room 4)

Thanks for finding that error, I'll get it fixed asap. Hmm, that is an interesting interaction that I hadn't considered, could be a quest killer. 

I loved the idea of the idea icon, and the slowly dawning idea that could then be used.  Great stuff.

Dialogues were funny and just pointed enough to hint the player in the right direction.

Thank you, and thank you.

I often found it difficult to know where the hotspot of inventory items was - usually a matter of trial and error.

I always prefer it when games give you at least some sort of visual clue when the mouse cursor is over a viewable / interactable object onscreen.

I thought about adding the hotspot, but didn't want to use any colors, and I thought any black, white or grey would get lost on the graphics.

Is there something that didn't change when it could interact? Are you referring to the inventory items? If so I admit I hadn't considered animating them. But it's a possibility.

Wasn't too sure about the music - kooky style fitted the game, but it made me turn the sound down after a while (to whoever did the music - sorry!  :o)

My daughter is working on more music for the game. She only had a couple of songs done when I was ready to post the demo. But she is planning on having something different for each room.

All in all this seems to have great potential, I look forward to the finished game.

Thank you for your comments, CaptainD. But more importantly thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts and feedback. It is very much appreciated.

[h3adlin3]

Okay the bug CaptainD brought up has been fixed. And an updated Demo posted. Just a simple matter of having removed some code from the script page, but forgetting to take the link out of the actions menu for that room.

Thanks again CaptainD!

[CaptainD]

Okay the bug CaptainD brought up has been fixed. And an updated Demo posted. Just a simple matter of having removed some code from the script page, but forgetting to take the link out of the actions menu for that room.

Thanks again CaptainD!

Your's welcome! 

Glad you fixed the bug, I'll go back and play it again, maybe working out the real solution to that particular puzzle this time!!  8)

[CaptainD]

An idea for highlightling when the cursor goes over a hotspot area -  you could have a negative image of whatever sprite the cursor is at the time.  That way players would know something was there, you would still have your b&w screen, and you wouldn't need to create new graphics, just invert the colours of what you've already done.  8)

[Ryan Timothy]

Either that, or a double thick white outline on the cursor when you're over something.

[h3adlin3]

I've set up a topic in the Critics Lounge to handle game criticisms and feedback, here:
http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=41513.0
Thanks!

[h3adlin3]

Two excellent ideas CaptainD and Ryan. I'll see what I can come up with.

[CosmoQueen]

This looks really good. It kinda reminds me of a cartoon I've seen but I can't recall which one.