Mirage of Dragon: Opening video and new logo

 This month was active. Finished the opening video:

 

Also, I have started redesigning a lot of stuff (already...). New logo will be this:

 

It's much more fitting for the game's mood. 

More stuff to come in January (by the end of it I should have a micro demo).

Ark

Mirage of Dragon: New areas in progress

Since nobody cares I won't comment anything. Here's the proof I still exist (as well as my new project):

Here goes "page 2" (the resolution is smaller than original):

 I have some time left til 2017. I'll continue my work. 2016 was horrible.

Ark

Mirage of Dragon: Environmental battle system

I'm a super active blogger these days :). It won't become a habit, but these days it just happens that I have stuff to say.

I'll try to explain what this "environmental battle system" of Mirage of Dragon is.
See the picture below:

Have in mind: it's only a concept art!

The most basic example of a good environmental battle would be the Bowser fight in the very first Super Mario Bros on Nintendo. The key difference is: you don’t attack the enemy directly; instead you change the state of environment using a certain “switch” object. You don’t kill the enemy – you create a situation in which the enemy can die naturally.

As you can see on the picture there are several Prince of Persia style buttons on the ground – you activate these just standing on top of them. Each has a certain effect. It can be anything, but the standard “reactions” can be categorized as:

*Attack

*Counter-Attack

*Resist

*Move

It’s like implementing your normal RPG-style menus directly in the environment. You don’t choose “fireball spell” in the menu – you run and jump to “attack button” on the ground, which creates a fireball for you. “Resist” type buttons can create various shields or walls even. “Move” type can create a teleport or extra platforms (this will be used often...). Some buttons can transform you or summon creatures. The number of all possible reactions is nearly infinite.

The “switches” can be anything too. In a science fiction game I would swap the buttons with some kind of energy fields. There are many ways to use it.

I think this system is perfect for puzzle platformers (or any other puzzle+action combos). Mirage of Dragon won’t be able to show you even half of its potential, but as an introduction to this battle style it should work well. (I got to leave something for the sequels :)).   

Ark,

X-mas coming...

Mirage of Dragon: new cover art and story intro

First of all, I have a new cover art, which is this:

<*[X]*>

Mirage of Dragon. Second month in development. Probably a good time to start talking, even if there is no one to listen. I’m used to this more than anybody, so it’s OK. Besides, I need to prepare some text for the art book (I love art books).

  

<[!]>

*Story (I).

>Post-apocalyptic fantasy.

I wanted to tell a story about a period in between the so-called “high fantasy” and the so-called “low-fantasy”. A painful period of a dying fairy-tale… The time, when all the magical creatures become extinct naturally – like trilobites and dinosaurs on earth. 

 Meeting the last elf, fighting the last dragon, finding the last magical weapon… this “last”-ness (if that’s a word) makes everything much more significant and dramatic.

“...most people don’t even believe in these things anymore – just surviving is enough”.

...but of course there is one idiot left who believes. He (or she) is our perfect protagonist, chasing the mirages of the past. Supported by no one, crazy and noble as Don Quixote, saving nobody and changing nothing in his quest. Unwanted and unforgiven hero in the time of cowards and conformists.

This is what the Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy is all about. 

It’s about eternal frustration of a man who wasn’t given a chance to save a world from an ultimate evil.

Because of this natural frustration, video games became so popular I believe. Most of us would give everything to have a real 30-second fight with an actual dragon. But no… we are boring people, building some cheesy democracy stuff that never works.

 Arghh… the frustration.

To express this frustration I’ve started working on Mirage of Dragon, a video game set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world.  

*

(To be continued…

(I hope now it’s easier to see why it’s called Mirage of Dragon… 

Ark,

story-telling...

Mirage of Dragon: concept arts

Finally I have started working on my new project "officially". It is in the earliest development phase now, so I don't have much to show at the moment. I have started working on: 
-November 1 2016
And I intend to finish it on: 
November 1 2017.  


Considering the amount of work it may seem impossible for a normal human being, but not for me. I'm not normal. The only thing that can stop me is the damn financial difficulties - I always have them. I hoped to improve the situation with my previous project (which is an adventure game Ghostdream), but I was too naive about this probably... Well, I'll be looking for some other ways to fund myself.

*Here's the Cover Art Version 1 (I'll do another version later):

One of the angels above and the young version of Akeem below

*The very first sketch of Dragon Castlefuse - literally a fusion of a dragon and a castle. Naturally it's the final boss of the game. I'm not going to spoil the actual thing even in the final trailer, but this first sketch is OK for the suspense:

*Demonic Da Vinci Tank as one of the early bosses of the game:

That's all I have for now. + Some early screenshots on the game's page (you can see it on the right>).
Not bad for 3 weeks. It was intense. I'm tired.


Ark,
the ultimate. 

----------------------------
*UPDATE 2016/12/02:
I have decided to concentrate on the dragon bosses only, so no Da Vinci tank this time unfortunately. That's a cool boss fight to have in mind for another game...  

Ghostdream: The Book And The Guide

This is probably my final post related to Ghostdream. Already have some stuff to show from my next game, so I hope my blog will be more lively the following year.

>The puzzles in Ghostdream might be difficult, so I have written a short guide for it on Steam - you can read it here:
Ghostdream Short Guide

>In case you want to read the game's book and you haven't found it on the Steam page (I had difficulties finding it myself to be honest...) here's a link:
Ghostdream Black Book

Ghostdream Black Book Cover

 ~<<XXX-X>II<X-XXX>>~

That's it for now. 

No need for parting speeches or postmortems... because I'll make a prequel in about 3 years from now on! I hope this next time I'll have all the time I'll need.

It will be awesome

...I hope.

Ark