Project Dark Woods: Platformer in the Works, Check out some Screenshots !

butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
edited November -1 in iPhone and Android Publishing
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8379/darkwoods1.png

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/9065/darkwoods2.png

I've been working on this for over a month, and it's still in the works. I'm hoping it sees an early Summer release for the iPad and iPhone, stay tuned for more screenies :)

This is the game where I'd love to have a swinging rope, but it involves trig and I'm not ready to conquer that just yet!

I've got her movements, pouncing, and jumping down, so now I'm onto working on building the levels, then deciding what other elements I'd like to add to it.

This game was inspired by Castle of Illusion which is one of my all time favorite platformers for the Genesis, as I think that game was flawless for it's time :)

Comments

  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    That yellow jewel in screenshot 1 looks vaguely familiar =)

    Looks good as always BB.

    Not to high-jack your thread, but Blighted Lands is finally in review as of 10am this morning =)

    I'll send you a promo code when it's up.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    lol look like Planet Cute to you? :) I haven't yet decided if I'm going to keep those in there, but for now they'll stay :)
  • JamesZeppelinJamesZeppelin Member Posts: 1,927
    amazing!
  • fuzzeemicfuzzeemic Member Posts: 47
    Looks great!
    Not to nit pick as it's just a preview, but I couldn't help but notice in the 1st pic the background tile (trees) don't line up.

    I really like the look of the trees by the way :-) It sets the mood very well. Is the artwork your own?
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Yes, there is a seam, and I need to fix that :) Appreciate the feedback, and I am definitely going to fix it, I'm just starting to build levels now, but once I get rid of that seam, fixing those backdrops will be easy :)

    No this artwork was done by a fabulous artist I've known for over a year now, and he's very reasonable! :)

    Some of the backdrops are from istockphoto and other image sites as well :)
  • spaceneedlespaceneedle PRO Posts: 93
    Planet cute is a great image set ... its too bad its mostly unfinished to be of real use for prototyping.
  • ChaserChaser Member Posts: 1,453
    Very nice! Looks like fun. And I'm sure it will be a top seller
  • jkanalakisjkanalakis Member, PRO Posts: 49
    Looks great, I like the smoothness of vector graphics. Looking forward to more images.

    John K.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Thanks! Appreciate it, I need to work on the graphics being more "Seamless" and integrated, but working on the level design at the moment :)
  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    Very cool. Ilm looking forward to seeing it in action

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  • nulonulo Member Posts: 315
    this looks really nice. cant wait to see it in movement.
    just one question. why this proportion!?
    is this just the layout for the game, not the actual game running in gamesalad?
  • QuinnZoneStudiosQuinnZoneStudios Member Posts: 452
    Real nice! Take your time and get it just how you want it and it will be a winner! Are you doing iPad and iPhone?
    I had to scrap my platformer for iPhone as it stuttered too much on the iPhone, so it will be just for the iPad. However I was able to adapt some of it for a simpler iPhone game and it's running okay so far. I noticed it was acceptable on the simulator but not on the actual device, which was a good lesson to learn.
    I'll be curious to see how yours will run on an actual 3G iPhone and hope you can succeed where I failed lol!
    Take care and good luck. Looking forward to it!
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Mike :)

    I'm doing an iPad version first, then I'll translate it over to the iphone. I find it's easier to deal with images and sizing them down than having to size them up.

    I hope it runs well ! I have yet to test it on the iPad, once I have the touch screen controls on there, then I'll test it :)

    @ Nulo: It does look like the characters could be bigger huh? I might leave it at that proportion, but I"ll be testing it first, and maybe make the girl a bit bigger.

    I find that the player can see more of what's on screen, rather than the character being big and hogging up so much screen space, so we'll see :)

    Thanks guys!
  • SparkyidrSparkyidr Member Posts: 2,033
    looks really nice so far
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Thanks! I fixed the seam in the first shot so you can't see those seams now :)

    I think platformers are the toughest, not just programming wise, but keeping the game fresh, and fun the whole way is difficult.

    They can become very boring very fast, and it's good to mix it up :)
  • QuinnZoneStudiosQuinnZoneStudios Member Posts: 452
    Sounds good Buttery-bean ;)

    I was finding I really needed to think about the size on my character vs. the environment too. I came to the conclusion that my scales and sizes would be totally different on iPhone and iPad. Typically on a platformer the character stays fairly small to give the character somewhere to go on screen.
    Here's an example of a game I worked on last year that did just that. I was lead animator and you'll see he's quite small on screen. I think it's supposed to be released this summer some time:


    Hope that helps.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    OMG you were lead animator on this game? I LOVE the bonk series, and had a turbo express with both bonk games! LOVE the series, and also have the Wii version :)

    Looks really cool, and I can see how you did the proportions in that game.

    I tend to like it better because you have a better view of your environment.

    I see that iphone games tend to do the opposite and make the characters quite large, which to me, makes the levels seem plain because your focus is the main character.

    I like being able to see the level with all the powerups, and items you can retrieve, gives you a better perspective :)

    I'd also love to see Joe and Mac come to the iphone, very cool!

    Good luck with your game! I'll be getting Bonk for sure!
  • QuinnZoneStudiosQuinnZoneStudios Member Posts: 452
    Thanks Butterbeanz!

    That's exactly what I found. My damned fly has to be quite large on the iPhone to see him nicely and I'm so looking forward to making the better proportioned iPad version.

    Those original Bonks were pretty whacky. We'll see how the new one is received in a few months I guess. The thing I dislike about this new Bonk is there's so much repetitive button mashing I end up getting sore thumbs. Something I'll try to avoid in my games.

    I expect I'll have to get a Wii eventually.
  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    looks good, are they your graphics or someone you know?

    the style looks similar to that cool tree background in your mini games game... Oh how did sales for that go?

    Input..

    Love the visuals,
    on the 2nd pic, would help set your character on the ground if you added a shadow that tracked the characters X position. Then if they jump it wont follow them....make it semi alpha, same goes for the big evil looking tree...

    Just my initial thought on seeing it.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    A grapics artist of mine did them, I've known him for awhile now and he's very reasonable! :)

    Appreciate the feedback draper :) Wouldn't be a bad idea at all to have a shadow underneath her as well as the tree, thanks! :)
  • mrfunkleberrymrfunkleberry Member Posts: 424
    Very nice
  • rdcuberdcube Member Posts: 361
    very nice butterbean, really looking forward on this sequel...I still have 'The Mystical Woods of Darkness' on my iphone.
  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    You will delete that one when you get this one Rdcube :)) Much better controls, I've learned a lot along the way!
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    butterbean said:
    They can become very boring very fast, and it's good to mix it up :)

    This. For most games.

    Mix it up. Settle on a few variations on enemy types, environment types, challenges, player abilities etc etc. Introduce basic stuff in the first level. Make it easy. Then on subsequent levels, keep what was in the previous level if it's appropriate, and ADD to that with new stuff.

    Additionally, mixing things up halfway through a level works wonders too.

    Wish you all the best with this latest one BB - it's looking very nice :D

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  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    Thanks Quantum, I'm definitely going to try my best to make things interesting in this platformer! :))
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    I love the new quote feature...
  • SingleSparqSingleSparq Member Posts: 1,339

    This game was inspired by Castle of Illusion which is one of my all time favorite platformers for the Genesis, as I think that game was flawless for it's time :)

    Looking good - My wife and I have fond memories of Castle of Illusion - something magical in that title that I guess were all trying to capture.
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  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    SingleSparq said:
    Looking good - My wife and I have fond memories of Castle of Illusion - something magical in that title that I guess were all trying to capture.

    I've played Castle of Illusion at least 100 times, and finished it countless times

    I think it's one of the best, most flawless platformers out there, something magical about it :)

    Trying to recapture it will be difficult :)
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