[TriWeekly Challenge]The UnderWorld: Through the Door

[Luthur]

For the TriWeekly Challenge, DeadWater Productions Presents...

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour."
I Peter (ch. V, v. 8)

Dear Tom

How's life back home? Our new house hasn't changed anything for us. Mum and Dad still argue more than anyone should, and they're paying no attention to me. I often wonder if they care about me at all. But I hope that's not true... I wish we'd never moved...

Oh, but you'll never guess what I've found here! Something that may at least keep me intrested for a while! In my room, there's a door that was hidden behind some wallpaper! I've no idea where it leads, but I'm going to find out! Give me a day or two, and I'll write back with what I find! At least it can get me away from my parents for a while. At least, it can't be worse than here... Can it?

Nicholas

Nicholas is a 14 year old boy who has just been forced to move from his home to a new house miles away. Leaving all his friends behind, Nicholas feels depressed and lonely, for his parents argue constently from the moment he arrives. Having no need to leave his room, he spends most of his time there, and finds a strange shape in the wall. Ripping away the wallpaper, he uncovers a door which, to escape his parents for an hour or so, he enters. In the dark, he trips and falls. And falls. And falls. And falls, until he crashes onto a stone floor, which, he concludes, must be miles below ground. He wonders how he hadn't died...

Nicholas finds himself in the Underworld, where he narrowly escapes a confentation with Hades, the Devil. On his escape, he gets caught up with Ghost, a spirit who has forgotten his name, who agrees to help him escape. Ghost remembers little of his past, but feels that, being in Hell, he must have done something that he must correct with a good deed. That, and the fact that Nicholas saves his unlife...

About the Game

The UnderWorld: Through the Door is being made for the TriWeekly Challenge, which has a deadline of the 22nd of April. So the game will have to be released by then if it's going to be entered. It's a short game, with hopefully about 30-40 minutes of storyline, with maybe 20 more minutes or so to find all the secrets. The game takes place in Hell, and you play as Nicholas, a boy who fell a long way down (read the character discriptions for more info on that). The game is basically (as the challenge requires) one big dungeon, with all sorts of puzzles and platforming features you don't normally find in RMXP. As it revolves around a dungeon, I've created a custom battle system and HUD system that reflects the sort of game it is. Think Zelda.

There will be a number of things to collect through out the game, mainly the 3 Seeds of Persephone which you need to escape (more on that in-game). There are also Souls dotted around the dungeon which you must free, and there should be 20 in all if you want to really 'finish' the game. The souls won't be easy to find or free though.
As well as the actual gameplay, UnderWorld also has a farily firm storyline that plays out throughout.

So, get ready to brave the UnderWorld, on April 23rd. The game will be posted in the TriWeekly Challenge thread, here on that day, and then in this thread the day after. In the mean time, please leave comments here about the game (I need all the comments I can get!) and check this thread for updates.

(Offtopic: For those worried about Last Man's Stand, I'm STILL working on it! This is just for a competition, and after, I'll be back to work on it! Don't panic :P)

 

[kqurmiz]

Heh nice...You are great story writen man...Please more time spend for LMS :D I can't wait ;( so long.

 

[Luthur]

lol, thanks. I will get round to LMS, i promise :P. Just gonna get this done first.

 

[Admiral David]

you got me wanting to play this just by the story. and I like that you're using a zelda style display, thats really cool. i started my dungeon with zelda in mind also! well as far as items sort of go but youre pulling it off great. will your battle system be in the zelda fashion or will you switch to the traditional rpg fight?

 

[Luthur]

Thanks. I think Zelda's a firm starting point for dungeon style games, as it executes them so well.

will your battle system be in the zelda fashion or will you switch to the traditional rpg fight?

Niether :P. Well, kind of. As the game focuses so much on puzzles and platforming rather than fighting, UnderWorld has a very simple equip weapon/tool, go close to enemy, press space, game rolls a random number, that's the amount of health taken system. I didn't have time to work on anything more than that, but it works fine for what I want. The twist is that enemies don't actually 'attack' back, as they're undead and you're not, so they can't touch you, but standing in or around them slowly drains your hearts. So if you don't like combat, you don't even have to kill them, just avoid them. If you do, they'll be pleantly of oportunities to bash a few hellhounds, zombies and traditional hellish things on the head .

 

[Pokémaniac]

This looks intriguing. That wall doesn't tile very well in the 3rd screen though.

 

[Luthur]

Good point, hadn't noticed that.

Better?

 

[Pokémaniac]

Sure is! Although the edges could use some sort of outline or depth so they don't look like they just cut off.

/pedantic

 

[Luthur]

Yeah, good point again. I suppose it would help if they rounded off, but that would mess up the jumping system when you have to jump over later on.

The UnderWorld isn't just fall of Lava you know
Thought I'd post that to prove that there are different changes in scenery, so you don't get bored of looking at the same tiles all the time. So, there's lava areas, massive dark areas with big drops like above, then there's also broken and crumbling hall ways of stone that are falling apart, and any combination of the above three on the same map (like I might have lava in a destroyed hall falling into nothingness).

Also, I've decided to add a kind of difficulty system in. At certain points in the game (mainly in the middle of all the main puzzles) your companion, Ghost, will appear and ask you what you should do next. You'll then be given a choice as to whether you know what you're doing, or that you need his advice. If you 'know what you're doing' he'll disappear again, and you'll gain an Intelligence point. If you need his help, you loose an Intelligence point. The more you ask for help, the more points you loose, and at the end of the game, just for a bonus, you're given a score of how well you did. You can also ask Ghost for help through the menu system, which becomes availible when he joins you near the start.

 

[kqurmiz]

hey nice!.Can you add some new screens from LMS? please :D

 

[Numb]

This game looks interesting. The screen edits look nice but the maps seem rather empty. Was this your intention? I recommend making the maps smaller or adding more stuff to make it look less empty. Otherwise, it looks pretty good. Keep working!

 

[Luthur]

@kqurmiz: Seriously man, please, stop pestering.
@Numb: The problem is, this has to be finished on time, and there's a hell of a lot of maps to make. I haven't got time to expand on the tileset, except for things I absolutly need. As I said in the screenshot thread a few days ago, I'd rather stick with just ok graphics and a complete game, rather than a really good looking one, and no complete game. If I have time at the end (which I'm afraid I very much doubt) I'll do a bit of polishing, but I hope you'll agree it looks good enough to play if it means a complete game.

 

[Numb]

Aww, yes. I understand. Pokemaniac is actually having the same problem. I'm trying to help her by making tilesets but she is worried that she doesn't have time to import them.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Wow, those fog overlays look really nice! Gotta say, this is looking very impressive considering the time limit. I feel like I should leave some sort of critique, but I honestly can't think of anything.

 

[Luthur]

@Dadevster: Thanks. I've spent so much time working with overlays on my other two projects that I know what opacities and what colours look good. I just hope I don't spend too long working on those and not on the gameplay :P.

Introducing the

Enchanting Rod!

I mentioned earlier that in the game you get to use a variety of tools to solve different puzzles, once you've found the tools themselves :P. The Enchanting Rod is the first of these after your default weapon, and you get it at about 12 minutes into gameplay (discounting the introduction cutscene which is about 6 minutes more). It can be used to enchant any objects in the UnderWorld that sparkle (convenient) so that you gain control of them. So the first puzzle using it is a series of pads that you must enchant a ball to land on to make bridges appear. Pretty simple stuff, but while you're controling the ball, your character still moves as well, so you have to judge how far you need to move the ball so you don't put yourself in a position where the only way out is you walking off a cliff so the ball gets where you want it...

Yesterday I got this system working, and mapped two new areas, so I'm on track so far

 

[Luthur]

OK, a third of the game is now complete, and we're halfway through the time limit :O
Should still make it

Nobody got any comments on the enchanting rod? Good idea, bad idea? Anyway, new screen:

That's the first Seed you have to get. The screen is meant to be dark around the player, because this room restricts your vision so you only have a split second to decide what to do when you're presented with 3 moving platforms infront of you, and the one you're on's about to drop .

 

[kqurmiz]

lol I cant see image ;DD

 

[regi]

Wow, looks quite interesting for a small dungeon cooked up in a few weeks! Though you stole my idea of copying Zelda puzzle-solving with tools :P

Nah, the enchanting rod sounds like it could produce some awesome puzzles. And as this contest revolves around dungeons, the gameplay better be good I'm interested to see what other ideas you come up with.

 

[Luthur]

OK, bad news... On wednesday a cable snapped inside my charger for my laptop as I was charging it up. I hadn't realised what had happened until I went back to it and found it dead, with no charge at all. I've ordered a new cable, but I don't know when that's going to turn up. And now I just don't see how I'm going to get the time to finish this how I wanted before the deadline, what with school starting on monday as well. I'm going to try and get a shorter version of the game done, but I dunno. I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[kqurmiz]

OK, bad news... On wednesday a cable snapped inside my charger for my laptop as I was charging it up. I hadn't realised what had happened until I went back to it and found it dead, with no charge at all. I've ordered a new cable, but I don't know when that's going to turn up. And now I just don't see how I'm going to get the time to finish this how I wanted before the deadline, what with school starting on monday as well. I'm going to try and get a shorter version of the game done, but I dunno. I'll just have to wait and see.

OMG OMG OMGGGG! I want try this game with full version ;// fucking cable It's like reunion lol ok bye.,