THINGS

Some new footage of ZPF courtesy of my buddy SSK:





The biggest news, though, is that XYX now supports 2 players! It took almost a solid day of GM'ing to hammer out the basic stuff (still working on the rest....slowly.) I doubt it will actually ever be played by two people at the same time; but it's fun to map the controls to the sticks on a USB gamepad and play dual style. :D

(I even put in a handy autofire function if you don't have a gamepad for your PC.)

Yay!

STUFF AND THINGS

New video showing more of level 3 and the beginning of level 4. Thanks again to SSK for helping me with these.

... and here's a dragon enemy for level 5. The background here is only temporary; but the theme will most likely be of the classic hell/fire level variety. Chances are the boss might just be the friendly looking fella from the title screen. :D
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I'm also getting art and page layouts ready for the game's manual... which I intend to have printed for a premium disc-based version of the game. More on that later.

Finally...

New demo up!

Level 1 : about 90% done
Level 2: about 90% done
Level 3: about 70% done

This version has 4 music tracks by Raigon.

To access the debug menu in the options screen, change the "?" value to 1 in the .ini file (after it's had a chance to make one and you've exited the game.) The debug display option shows the stage timeline in steps (1/60th a second) and other information pertinent to how/when each enemy will release the optimum amount of medals.

Thanks to s20-TBL and SenpaiSamaKun from Shmups for help/suggestions on the medals and general scoring stuff (some of which I still need to get around to.) :)

Portraits

Not quite finished with these; but they're getting there.

Lords of Shadow rant..

No updates this time, I've been keeping those mostly to my thread at shmups.

Anyways, my brother was awesome and got me the new Castlevania for Christmas, knowing how big a fan I am of the series. I like it; but being a fan, I have to admit it leaves me feeling pretty conflicted. Here's my take:

I haven't stuck with it long enough to see where it 'gets better' (hopefully it will start to actually resemble a Castlevania game at that point); but my conclusion is that this is basically the Star Fox Adventures of the series.

1: Started out as a different game
2: Given to an outside developer (I'm aware the series has moved many times between different teams; but those were typically divisions of Konami.)
3: As a result of 1 & 2, the game contains characters, environments, enemies, story elements and music that are *totally* out of place, making the entire experience almost wholly alien to fans.

I'd also say it's kind of the Metroid Prime of the series as well, in the way that it tries to build on the mythology of the previous games in... admittedly bizarre (and sometimes unwelcome) ways. Why are there Central American looking ruins in Europe, guys? Oh, an ancient civilization no one knew existed, ok....wait, what? Do we *really* have to muck around with the history of a part of the world that is already pretty mysterious and cool as it is this much to get buff guys in leather whipping skeletons and vampires? Just...come on.

That said, I'm enjoying this one a lot... while I can manage to suppress my inner Castlevania fanboy at least. He rages at almost every plot point (even some of the enemy descriptions want to make me beat my head into a wall) ; but it's still a fun game and very pretty to look at.

The only thing I can't excuse at all is the music. If there's anything that could oust a game from the series despite it saying 'Castlevania' on the packaging, it's a generic and dull orchestral soundtrack like this one. Combined with some of the admittedly out-there architecture that's going on, I feel like I'm playing Lord of the Rings rather than a horror game. :|

XYX Update

Started tinkering with XYX some again.... trying to get back on schedule (and that end of the year deadline...ugh.) These are some neato emblems I made to go along with the pilot portraits. The Yellow Jacket one isn't quite finished (it was supposed to be on a heart); but the bug is, so screw it for now. :D

Happy Halloween!

These are the first images for a horror/adventure game I want to make with a few of my friends (who I collaborate with on small writing projects off and on.) Basically, these would be like those startling and memorable 'YOU HAVE DIED' screens from games like Shadowgate or the Uninvited, where you get a horrific description of your own death coupled with a closeup of the nasty that just did you in.

I love those games for that fact it utilizes your imagination more than any actual visual depictions of gory deaths and is no less effective in creating a horrifying and threatening atmosphere for it.

The actual part of the game you interact with I imagine being much simpler visually.. again, to force you to use your imagination more than you would normally playing a game. That said, I have yet to put down any code on this yet, so there's no telling what it'll actually look like. Here's hoping I can get some good stuff written and this thing doesn't fall off for a few more months (or longer.)

A MANIACAL LAUGH ECHOES
IN THE INFINITE DARKNESS
THAT SURROUNDS YOU .
YOU REALIZE YOU ARE DEAD!