The Aftermath - Part 1: Cliffhanger *new screenshot aug 17*

Nixxon · Fri 19/08/2016 07:23:41

Hey gang! I thought this may be as good of a time as any to unveil some gear.

Mechanical Bat Studios (it's really just one dude) bestows to you:

The Aftermath - Part 1: Cliffhanger
This vignette-esque episodic adventure follows the trials and tribulations of our good friend Clive as he must pit his wits against the perilous trials of the night within the small town of Firmwood.
Be it a kilted deviant or the most unfriendly neighborhood mutt, this journey will certainly yield a night no budding adventurer could forget!

Features:
640 x 400 resolution (just like mother used to make!).
Yummy classic Point n' Click "action"
Hand drawn colourful graphics
Acapella soundtrack
Voice acting
It's humorous (if you're a dry bastard).

Some screenies below (Note: still very much work in progress, particularly the GUI & character sprite).

Development Progress:
Backgrounds: 70%
Story/Puzzles: 100% (part 1)
Dialog: 70%
Music: 50%
Scripting: 60%
Animation: 20%
*I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE*

Pushing for a ~~2016~~ 2017 release.

I now have a development log on game jolt and will be updating this thread simultaneously.

Obligatory Links -
twitter: /mechbatstudios
gamejolt: http://gamejolt.com/games/the-aftermath-part-1-cliffhanger/180011

I would inevitably love this to be a commercial franchise, not sure I could justify charging for part 1 as this is a relatively short endeavour. If anyone has any experience or suggestions pertaining to this I would be all ears.

ThreeOhFour · Fri 19/08/2016 07:35:06

I have the same grin when I walk around with no pants on.

This looks cool, and I wanna play it!

Stupot · Fri 19/08/2016 09:30:01

This looks grand. All the best :-)

Nixxon · Fri 19/08/2016 09:49:04

Cheers guys! Means a lot

Gurok · Fri 19/08/2016 10:46:34

Hi.

I really like the look of the art and will be looking forward to the game's release.

Good luck!

AnasAbdin · Fri 19/08/2016 10:51:16

Love the style of this

I want to play this game badly

Mandle · Fri 19/08/2016 15:38:03

Firmwood!!!

There must be a town named that somewhere in real life...I demand it!!!

Also: LOVING the Swiss-cheese moon with the clouds going through the holes! That is such a great image!!!

I need to play this game!

Cassiebsg · Fri 19/08/2016 16:54:33

Lovely graphics! Good luck with the project!

@Mandle...

Spoiler

I guess you'll have to settle with this: https://www.google.dk/maps/place/Firmwood+Sdn.+Bhd./@3.0087776,101.4332181,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x31cdac9d14a462f3:0xdda549b172caa27d!8m2!3d3.0087776!4d101.4354121?hl=da

[close]

Nixxon · Fri 19/08/2016 23:39:31

Thanks heaps guys. Glad you like it thus far.

BunnyShoggoth · Sun 21/08/2016 20:53:11

Firmwood is actually from the universe of Jimmy Jam

"Notorious for wreaking havoc amongst his home town of Firmwood, Jimmy hosts a mass array of elaborate pranks, mischievous demeanors and inhumane violations upon citizens far and abroad."

SilverSpook · Mon 22/08/2016 02:17:32

Awesome art style! I also like the fact that you can use the CBS logo as a verb in this game. It's about time you can bring out Steven Colbert to satire a jackbooted door guard into such a state of roasted shame that he gives up his keycard.

Nixxon · Mon 22/08/2016 03:08:29

@ BunnyShoggoth, you are correct sir

@ SilverSpook. LOL. That is a placeholder graphic, however, I might just keep it now.

Matsui · Mon 22/08/2016 21:06:13

The art style is really nice. Very distinctive. The clouds remind me of curse of monkey island.

I like the story concept too. Knobs at night.

Sent from my E2303 using Tapatalk

CrashPL · Tue 23/08/2016 09:22:40

Yup, the art style is truly lovely. I especially like that moon with huge holes and clouds just casually passing through them.

Keep up the good work!

Bishy · Thu 01/09/2016 22:02:30

Quote from: Nixxon on Fri 19/08/2016 07:23:41I would inevitably love this to be a commercial franchise, not sure I could justify charging for part 1 as this is a relatively short endeavour. If anyone has any experience or suggestions pertaining to this I would be all ears.

Well, it's not unheard of for an episodic series to have a free episode to draw players in. Case in point, I remember Sam & Max season 1 having a free episode (I think it was episode 4), and playing through that convinced me to buy all the episodes. The newest Kings Quest has also made it's first episode free.

So you could keep the first episode free and then charge for the others.

Nixxon · Fri 02/09/2016 01:31:21

Cheers guys

@BishyT

This is exactly what I had in mind to be honest. Would it be worth registering for steam greenlight on something like this?

Bishy · Fri 02/09/2016 02:52:29

Quote from: Nixxon on Fri 02/09/2016 01:31:21
Cheers guys

@BishyT

This is exactly what I had in mind to be honest. Would it be worth registering for steam greenlight on something like this?

Well, Steam does allow non-sexual nudity just as long as it's not in any of the promotional material (trailers, screenshots, etc). I recall Shower With Your Dad Simulator having some issues with that, and their penises were literally two pixels.

Personally, i'd wait until the first episode is out and you've got some feedback on it first. Because then you could make any necessary changes/updates to it, squash any bugs in it, and then when you make the Greenlight page for the series you can link to the first episode on GameJolt so the voters can play it for themselves before voting.

Nixxon · Fri 09/09/2016 01:32:22

Solid advice mate! I think this is the way to go.

Thanks again.

Bishy · Sat 15/10/2016 00:10:53

So how goes development? Also, are you going to wait until the full episode is completed before you release it, or will there be a demo?

Nixxon · Thu 20/10/2016 05:08:56

Great Bishy! I'm finalising some animation which has proven more time consuming that I initially had planned for.

I will release this episode in full for free

Nixxon · Fri 18/11/2016 05:05:47

Quick bump on some recent updates. (Updates are listed up the top).
I've redrawn the GUI and stealth replaced the original images

. There's also a preliminary title screen. More to come!

Nixxon · Mon 21/11/2016 00:41:58

New screenshot in the main post.

Bishy · Mon 21/11/2016 03:07:23

Nice. Your background artwork is gorgeous.

SilverSpook · Sat 26/11/2016 20:10:55

Everything looking top-notch!

Nixxon · Thu 01/12/2016 04:16:00

Cheers lads, I'm sporadically polishing some of the backgrounds and re-uploading every now and then.

Nixxon · Tue 03/01/2017 04:05:44

Hey Gang,

Happy new year! New screenie below -

Cassiebsg · Tue 03/01/2017 09:51:55

It's the yellow asphalt road!

Lovely! I just want to follow it to the end.

Blondbraid · Tue 03/01/2017 10:37:19

Nice screenshots, I like the art-style, it looks like Psychonauts crossed with Tim Burton!

Bishy · Tue 03/01/2017 15:42:08

These backgrounds are gorgeous.

KyriakosCH · Wed 04/01/2017 12:53:19

Looks very cool, but... r-rated?

Day of the tentacle-vibed (or just the tentacle i suppose)

SilverSpook · Wed 04/01/2017 19:23:46

The new stuff is awesome! Keep it comin'.

Nixxon · Wed 04/01/2017 20:47:36

Thanks guys, really appreciate the support and kind words.

I am hoping to have a trailer out next month!

Nixxon · Wed 01/02/2017 01:03:24

Hey All,

Another screenie! Progress is steady

I'm still polishing the older screens sporadically.

Bishy · Sun 12/02/2017 00:45:37

Another great background. Keep up the good work.

Cassiebsg · Sun 12/02/2017 07:52:31

Looking very dreamy!

Nice job.

Nixxon · Mon 13/02/2017 23:27:32

@ Bishy - Thanks Mate!

@ Cassie - Thank you

I feel the environments are becoming more surreal as I go. Not sure if that's a good thing lol.

Nixxon · Mon 20/03/2017 04:06:17

We've got a bit of preliminary box art happening.

I'd like to add some more details and well as incorporate the 'Part 1' moniker.

EDIT (04 April - 'Nother one!)

Chicky · Mon 20/03/2017 09:50:07

Loving those backgrounds Nixxon, the poster has a nice flow, I agree it could do with a couple extra details.

Also, is that our first glimpse of the 'most unfriendly neighborhood mutt'?

selmiak · Mon 20/03/2017 11:17:59

give the dog a different eye color, took me way too long to get what the guy had hanging there. The red eyes sure look vivious but it also looks like more bloodstains. The black dog looked like an alien first, the black of the dog is also overlapping with black road, makes it also hard to recognise. Other than that it's a cool poster, very dynamic

Nixxon · Mon 20/03/2017 22:46:27

@Chicky. That it is, that it is

It's missing a couple of coats. I can often over do it, I have no gauge

@selmiak. Yep! I've had too many people say the same thing. Back to the drawing board on our urban pup.

revisions, revisions

Creamy · Mon 20/03/2017 23:38:48

That's some crazy shapes. Can't wait to see this world in motion.

Cassiebsg · Tue 21/03/2017 18:26:03

Loving it! Very dynamic cover, sure to grab and eye or two!

Oh, is that a dog? I thought it was a rat.

Bishy · Tue 21/03/2017 21:56:17

That cover art is great! That said, I can't help but notice how different the protagonist's design is when compared to his game sprite, specifically his shirt's colour and sleeves.

Blondbraid · Tue 21/03/2017 22:52:03

Nice cover, kind of psychedelic with the purple sky and bent shapes, very dynamic!

But yeah, I agree with Bishy that it's weird that he's different from the screenshots,
and his shirt looks odd, like it's glued to his body or something. Hate to be a nitpick, but I wanted to point that out.

Nixxon · Mon 27/03/2017 01:24:19

@Cassie - Thank you

Yep! the mass consensus is that it doesn't really look like a dog at all. Animals have never been my forte`! But I will keep on trucking.

@Bishy. Cheers. You know what? I'd never really considered that too much as often official artwork takes some artistic license over in game sprites. In saying that, I see no reason why this can't be easily revised. I'm still refining the character sprite too. Chicken/egg

@Blondebraid. Thank you sir. I'm all about the shapes. Completely agree regarding his shirt!

I'm going to give this another go!

Bishy · Mon 03/04/2017 22:58:22

Oh hey, I see you updated the cover art. Looking a lot better now!

Nixxon · Tue 04/04/2017 08:07:09

Thanks Bishy,

I just updated to another iteration. I'm still playing with the composition and toying with adding more elements from the actual game.

Cassiebsg · Tue 04/04/2017 16:16:19

Oh, nice! Now it looks like a dog!

Good job!

Nixxon · Tue 08/08/2017 05:15:14

Hey hey, it's been a while! Life etc.

I've got another screen shot (below and in the original post).

Cheers.

xBRANEx · Tue 08/08/2017 07:12:23

It seems like this will be a great game! Very cool!

How much animation will there be in the background? Will the mushrooms flicker a little bit?

Nixxon · Wed 09/08/2017 04:23:39

Thanks xBRANEx! The plan is to most definitely cram as much ambient animation into the backgrounds as possible

SilverSpook · Wed 09/08/2017 06:24:28

Looks most excellent, as always! Really cool trees, and the eyeball icon is awesome.