Aetus:Vita

[alimpo83]

Hello all. For a while I was out of ideas for creating a game. I picked up many influences, tried many plots, but nothing seemed to work for me. I then bought Myst III: Exyle(I had never played any Myst ou Riven series) and played for a while. The beautiful set seemed to inspire me. For the final touch I listened to the soundtrack of one of the most beautiful games ever, Outcast. And voilá! I created a plot for my game, called AETUS:VITA (it means "Life Age", read further to know what I'm talking about.) I need critics and some help.

THE STORY(without telling much )

The year is 2212. Life on earth is becoming unbearable. Wars, pollution, pillaging... our dear planet is dying. Somewhere in Asia cientists discover four stone discs with engravings. After careful studying of the hieroglyphs they find them to be portals that lead to wormholes, leading to strange planets and dimensions. Only by going to those places human civilization will find the answers and the cure for earth. You need to start a new Aetus,a new age, the Aetus:Vita.

Now I have some things I would want you to help me with.

- Do you people prefer 3D render characters or characters based on real people(like photos)?
- What do you prefer: Earth, wind, water,light or darkness(don't ask questions just answer ?

Now I needed some more help on creating intelligent puzzles like in the Myst, Riven series. I would like you people to make some rough sketches and description for me to use in my game. Of course everyone who helps will be featured in the credits. For the first world, "Ignis", I already have the puzzles defined and don't need help there, but feel free to help for the other worlds! Remember that the game setting is based on different worlds, each one with it's culture: so make a puzzle that can be adapted by me to any of those worlds, don't make something refering to the "real world".

Here take a look at the first (low res) image of Aetus:Vita.



If the link doesn't work go to http://alimpo83.blogspot.com, it's the first image

[2ma2]

Inbetween 3d characters or photos, I'd say photos.
And on the other question; earth.

It is hard to say anything about your first piece. As a title screen, it conveys some nice Escher-feel to it, and it works. The composition between the text and content is nicely placed, with room for "New Game" etc on the bottom right. However, I am no bigger fan of 3d art, so the piece feels generic and fabricated. Nothing bad about it, the color schemes are nice, and I assume every sphere leads to aformentioned worlds, so there is thought behind the contruct. It is just.. 3d.

Welcome to the forums. 

[A�rendyll (formerly Yurina)]

I'm glad you got inspired by the Myst series (I never played them though, but I heard they're awesome). Playing games is always inspiring, at least for me. As for the questions:

Characters: 3d renders (if it's high quality), otherwise photo's
Element: Darkness!!! *evil grin* 8) (And secondly, if you need a second one, wind. )

The plot sounds nice! I'd say, go for it!

Cheers,
~Yurina

[fred]

If there's a wind world or dimension you could build a puzzle around the sound of the wind sweeping through a canyon or a building or a wind-organ of some type - maybe the pitch of the wind changes when the player opens or closes doors and he will have to play a certain tune in order to achieve something  - like alarming or waking up inhabitants of the dimension that he can't otherwise communicate with.

[alimpo83]

Thanks to all! Please continue giving me ideas please 

[alimpo83]

Here's another promo screen of the first world, "Ignis"(means fire). Tell me what your think, since this screen is pretty much(without of course the characters and anims) the first in game screen of the game.

[fred]

Looks good, here are a few crits:

* The ground looks *very* hot, so I would expect a lot of steam where it meets the water.

* Also, think about how heat distorts or ripplesÃ, perspective in the desert, maybe you could use a similar effect.Ã, 

* The rock in the foreground needs better texturing.

*The edges of the pillars and tower look too sharp - give them some bevel - bump mapping can only take you so far. Right now, the erosion on the pillars seems strangely selective, not affecting their outlines at all, only their surfaces.

*How about giving the floating spheres a halo of sorts, or something to make them more magical looking?

*Perhaps give the sky another color?

* It's not good that the POV leaves you speculating whether you're in the water or standing on molten rock

That said, I think it's an interesting picture that raises some questions and makes we want to explore. More details would help, though. Also, the text effect is very good imo.

[monkey0506]

Somehow this reminds me of old DOS games where you'd get an awesome looking cover with a text/low-res adventure game.

It looks wonderful I think, but I agree with what fred said...except the sky...I like the sky.

[Vince Twelve]

Is this game going to be first person, myst-style or third-person?

Either way, I would highly recommend some paths on the screens.  If I had to navigate through that non-descript field of repetetive pillars, I would certainly get lost.  Paths on the ground or barriers in the way make it easy for the player to know where he can and cannot go. 

Room exits that aren't clearly defined are one of my pet-peeves in AGS games.  If I can't find my way out of an area because I can't find the exit or if I totally miss an area because the entrance isn't clear, I'll usually quit a game right away.

I'd recommend a foot path on the ground and some (burned out?) shrubbery or more rocks and fallen ruins as barriers.

Also, what fred said.

[alimpo83]

Well, the game is going to be myst-style first person view. And it will have an arrow(or hand, haven't decided yet) to help the player know where to turn too. I agree with the pillar edges, I noticed it, and I am going to work on it. As for the ground, it's hot, but it's not like lava. This world is beginning to fall apart(as you can see by the pillars positions) and it's being "eaten" by some sort of being. The island itself is another living being, it "breathes", and as I said, it's dying.Please continue your reviews.

PS: By the way I decided the characters to be 3D rendered, I'll use Poser 5, which is available for download free for a few days.

[Xellie]

- What do you prefer: Earth, wind, water,light or darkness(don't ask questions just answer ?

I'd go for light... there are lots of interesting puzzles you can generate with light as a theme. Just a few ideas:

- light and shadow play, turning on light sources and shadows in a sequence, that might change as one sequence opens certaing things (doors etc.) and closes others... I don't know your plot, but it might change events on one of the other worlds you're talking about.
- reflections / rainbows, bending light & time at the same time... ?

Just a few fluffy ideas, maybe they'll help!

Concerning 3d, I would just try for a bit more detail (understood, it still a work in progress), but getting objects in there just to set the scene (even if you can't interact with them) will greatly add value to the gaming experience...

Good luck!

[alimpo83]

Well, as I said, I worked on the pillars, a bit on the rock on the front(which I like as it is) and gave the image a softblur effect, to make it look like it's hot/diffuse and I think the effect also adds some "magical look" to it.As for the sky, I like it the way it is.

Tell me what you think.



Xellie, I am going to add some vegetation and stuff to Ignis to make it look more real, thanks for the reviews.

[alimpo83]

Well, I've been doing some work on my game, Aetus:Vita, and decided a few things. Since Poser 5 available for download in www.contentparadise.com seems impossible to get, I decided to do all the 3D characters work in Daz Studio. As for the modeling I keep using my good ol' Anim8or and for the rendering and 3D terrains I use Bryce 5.

As for the worlds, I decided:

- IgnisÃ,  - will be the first world(that was decided from the first day)
- Terra (earth world)
- Ventus(wind world)
- Aqua(water world)

And the final world will be Crystallus, the light and crystal world.
I thank all that helped with ideas(not many I might had, but the necessary ones are the ones who want to helpÃ,  ) and please continue to do so! I will use most of them!

Another screenshot, with a character in-game. I still have to work on the light, but it's just for you to get an idea how it will look in-game(ps: the scenario is an old render, it's been changed).Tell me what you think.

[A�rendyll (formerly Yurina)]

As for the worlds, I decided:

- Ignis  - will be the first world(that was decided from the first day)
- Terra (earth world)
- Ventus(wind world)
- Aqua(water world)

And the final world will be Crystallus, the light and crystal world.
I thank all that helped with ideas(not many I might had, but the necessary ones are the ones who want to help  ) and please continue to do so! I will use most of them!

What happened to Darkness??

[alimpo83]

I had to choose between light and darkness and chose the light world but since the worlds are beginning to die, It will have darkness characters.

"Join the dark side of the force"

[SinSin]

i like the concept of this game it could go far !!!
The only thing im not keen on PERSONALLY (Oh no not another opinion from sins archive of opinions) is the whole 3-d meets 2-d characters if that is the way it will be i just dont think  it works anyway im sure you guys can change my mind  ::)prove me wrong  : Do it now

I like the 3d graphics tho

[fred]

Great that the game is progressing. I still think the ground looks very hot, more than it looks polluted. Maybe you could try a different color scheme. Otherwise you could tone down the bright yellow to a sand color, which would look natural with the red rocky parts, or maybe give the ground a blackened crust, with the red and yellow veins showing through cracks in the crust. Also, consider putting paths in there like suggested by Vince Twelve. That would allow you to put all kinds of fire effects outside the paths and still have somewhere for the player to stand.

I like what you did with the pillars, they look much less artificial now. However, it would add some 'musicality' (word?) to the composition if they weren't all flat topped and the same height - if some of them were broken or such.

[alimpo83]

I'm still working on the first world, and choosing theme songs and so. I've found some very cool artists who share their music, you'll like the ambient mood of it. As for what you said, I'm still finding the right colors and as for the paths, I don't know if I'll use them, because the mouse cursor (it is only used a interact/look one) animates when over a hotspot, so it wouldn't be so difficult to find paths.I'd like some ideas for the Terra world(the second one, that means "earth world"). I need to make a decision : desert or forest? Please help!

[MarVelo]

[alimpo83]

Just some more details on the game, it will feature:

- 640x480 backgrounds
- 32 bit colours
- full-talkie game (I WILL NEED help here, on the voices, I'll ask later for help and hopefully people will help!)

The final game will feature CG movies to add some depth to it. When I release a demo I won't put them so it doesn't become very large for download.