Mirage of Dragon 4th Month End

Just a quick update. The second part of the month wasn't as active as the first - as to be expected. But still I've made some progress.

Here's a small part of the Dragon #6:

The platform is temporary of course

I like this one - a Genie:

I have more, but I'll save it for later...

Ark,
...

Mirage of Dragon 4th month started...

This month I'll post my "progress reports to nowhere" twice. (Really, this blog feels like a masturbation, but I do hope that someday it will change.)  I mean, I have a LOT of progress this month. Some pics:

The least impressive visually, but the most important for me is the final plan (map) of the game I did on paper. (I'll add only several connecting rooms to it later.):

the "yellowness" is a visual effect - the original is perfectly clean :)

I'm getting closer to the final version of the cover art (to me it's important to have one). I tried another dark version again, but I never liked it that much - still it's good enough to have it in the art book:

And this one is my final choice (I may improve it a little later):

More locations: a small room from Necropolis:

This room is used to switch the character's form.

And as planned I have started to work on the dragons - the best looking so far is Dragon #3:

Next few days I'll be working on the final 12-screen size giant - this monster will be tough to make, but I absolutely need it.

Ark,
alone on the internet;

Mirage of Dragon 3rd Month: Shaitan

Shaitan (Arabian Satan)

Above you can see the first actual screenshot of the game. It looks as good as the mock-ups I was posting earlier - just as planned. Even better - I added some particles, parallax scrolling and animation.

3rd month was all about coding, so I don't have a lot to show, but overall it was super successful for me.
Other than the normal running and jumping, the character(s) can climb ladders, ledges and some walls Ninja Gaiden style (and in the end of course they will climb the giant Dragons (can't say how many yet)). May be I'll add ropes and wall jumping later. By default you can jump only once, but some objects on the walls allow you to do a double-jump (like a sculpture or a column - haven't decided yet).
I think I'm very close to my perfect platformer engine now.

I'll dedicate the next month to the graphics again - this time the Dragons. After that I'll try to make an impressive demo with a trailer in 3 months. Sounds realistic but you never know...

Also, I must improve my English somehow. I don't have that much human contacts be it on the internet or the real world and I never been anywhere outside Lithuania, so I can't really tell how good or bad I am at talking. But it becomes obvious even to me I'm not so good at writing. Time to get my textbooks and write a good story.

Ark

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...