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Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #105 on: June 22, 2015, 03:26:48 PM »
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Another thing I'm curious about, are you able to tell us what programming language or software tool you're using to build this game?

It is being built in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 Developer.

Offline Gren4

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #106 on: July 05, 2015, 03:41:03 PM »
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Hey guys!

As promised (although considerably late), here is a medley I composed of some of the themes I’ve written for Anathema. Hopefully you’ll get a decent idea of what the game will sound like musically.

While listening, you’ll hear a few arranged pieces of stage music - some of which can be found in the game’s trailer with different arrangements - as well as the themes of the main character and primary villain. My aim is to make the score as epic and memorable/catchy as possible, and hopefully this medley conveys that aim.

Hope you enjoy! Also, thanks again for supporting us with the Greenlight campaign and in general!

Btw, I saw some stuff last night that Pisces has been working on and… well… I don’t know when he’ll be ready to let everyone in on it, but start getting yourselves ready for some pretty major (and awesome) reveals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4eB2pxfns

-Gren
« Last Edit: July 05, 2015, 03:52:48 PM by Gren4 »

Offline BLOOD MONKEY

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #107 on: July 05, 2015, 04:52:13 PM »
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To be honest, those pre-rendered graphics would've looked nice... 20 years ago.  :-[

The poses are awkward and the animation looks stiff, as well as it not having many frames.

I'd suggest using nicer shaders, then looking at Maria's sprites, artwork, and stock photos of women in battle poses to get the posing down.

I hope I didn't come off as rude.
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Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #108 on: July 05, 2015, 04:55:25 PM »
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To be honest, those pre-rendered graphics would've looked nice... 20 years ago.  :-[

The poses are awkward and the animation looks stiff, as well as it not having many frames.

I'd suggest using nicer shaders, then looking at Maria's sprites, artwork, and stock photos of women in battle poses to get the posing down.

I hope I didn't come off as rude.

Nah, it doesn't come off as rude. As a matter of fact, I definitely agree about the animations and poses. All I will say right now is stay tuned, things got a whole lot better. :)

Offline BLOOD MONKEY

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #109 on: July 05, 2015, 05:02:29 PM »
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Nah, it doesn't come off as rude. As a matter of fact, I definitely agree about the animations and poses. All I will say right now is stay tuned, things got a whole lot better. :)

Alrighty, I will. You always seem to put out good work one way or another.
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Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #110 on: July 05, 2015, 05:10:04 PM »
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Alrighty, I will. You always seem to put out good work one way or another.

Thanks very much!

I've implemented new rendering techniques, have been redoing graphics using new shaders and using motion captured animations (for the most part). The new graphics are still pre-rendered, but now they look modern and not like 1996. I guess I said more than I intended, but that gives you an idea.

Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #111 on: August 08, 2015, 11:10:16 AM »
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My apologies for the long silence. As previously mentioned, I am implementing new rendering techniques. Here is a render of Aurora's new outfit. We wanted her new outfit to be more functional. I love scantily clad ladies in video games, but I wanted her to be more practical than sexual.

Gone is the bone whip. Now players whip using a scythe on a chain. This gives more options for attacks besides just a whipping animation. Not only that, players can now use the scythe to stick into walls and slide down, while also allowing for wall (double) jumping. Notice the wrist mounted crossbow on her left arm. This is a permanent secondary weapon that shotgun blasts bolts in a huge spread, though ammo will be limited. More powerful than the knife subweapon, but doesn't use a subweapon slot.

Regarding the game itself, I am totally revamping the engine to make gameplay faster and more intense. I'll give a quick breakdown and touch on a few of the changes...

While this game started out as a Castlevania clone, it is our desire to make a game that stands on its own legs now. There are still many influences retained from Castlevania, such as the whipping, subweapon slots, item crashes, etc. Instead of the usual subweapons as you previously have seen; you now obtain interchangeable powers throughout the level that give players offensive and defensive abilities. Offensive subweapons (for lack of a better term presently) include swinging your whip around the player sprite in a circle, firing a projectile from your whip or adding extra hits to your attack, basically auto combos. Defensive subweapons include creating a shield to absorb projectiles and unleashing a horde of souls to possess enemies onscreen and freeze them in place. (instead of just copying the stopwatch)

Item crashes are now known as Deathbringers. They now act independently of your subweapon and are obtained in a different manner. These will have many new mechanics ranging from summoning the ye olde dragon as you've seen, to an auto-revive should your health be depleted if it is selected in your HUD. With the new method of obtaining Deathbringers, once a player obtains them, they always have them and can select from their inventory at will in real-time.

With all of the new changes you will soon see, I will be updating the website, trailer and everything related. The game now draws influence from not only Castlevania, but Mega Man and Ninja Gaiden to name a couple. Since the story names Aurora as the new angel of death, the intention is to make the player have a multitude of empowering abilities that, simply put, make you feel like a nearly unstoppable death machine.

Oh, and stairs are gone. Because they slowed the flow of gameplay down way too much.

The changes may come as a shock to many, and I understand completely. We no longer want people to look at Anathema and call it a copy-cat, even though that was the original intention. Now, we want people to play a game that is more like Shovel Knight; a game that obviously has its influences, but can 100% stand on its own without being called a rip-off.

Thanks everyone for reading! There won't be any updates for a while due to the revamp, but rest assured, the ante has been upped.

(and yes, the techniques used for the image you see are the same that are now used to render in-game graphics. Let me also say I realize the hood looks a bit large here, it is the angle and the in game sprite looks proportionate.)

EDIT: I am considering doing a devblog per DarkManX's suggestion. Let me know if that's something you guys and gals would like to see.


« Last Edit: August 08, 2015, 11:25:21 AM by piscesdreams »

Offline Claimh Solais

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #112 on: August 08, 2015, 11:27:07 AM »
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I've been only sorta following this since you first announced it, but I gotta say, it keeps looking better. I'm really digging the new outfit there. And while I thought it was cool for being a Castlevania clone before, I really do appreciate the fact that you're trying to make the game it's own entity, rather than a copy of something else. There are plenty of copies of Castlevania out there, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table with these revamps. :D
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Offline X

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #113 on: August 08, 2015, 11:44:42 AM »
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Ooooo another image  :D

Look 'n good! Although compared to her top she's lacking some armor for her pelvic region. That's just me of course, but you could add something of an armored skirt something like this;

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Offline theplottwist

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #114 on: August 08, 2015, 11:54:26 AM »
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This costume is muuuuuch more delicious than the last!

I also like very much the changes you added/plan to add! Castlevania clones are nice and all, but you're putting so much effort on this that I actually would like it to be its own thing, just like you said :)
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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #115 on: August 08, 2015, 12:02:05 PM »
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I agree with Claimh and Plot about the originality of the game, but just don't stray too far from what you've already established. The game itself looks good already and I want to play it as I've seen it in your previews.
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Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #116 on: August 08, 2015, 01:22:40 PM »
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I've been only sorta following this since you first announced it, but I gotta say, it keeps looking better. I'm really digging the new outfit there. And while I thought it was cool for being a Castlevania clone before, I really do appreciate the fact that you're trying to make the game it's own entity, rather than a copy of something else. There are plenty of copies of Castlevania out there, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table with these revamps. :D

Thanks very much! That was kind of the realization that we had too after the game was greenlit on Steam. Moreso, Gren brought it up and we spent weeks hashing out new designs and mechanics to make it stand out on its own.

Ooooo another image  :D

Look 'n good! Although compared to her top she's lacking some armor for her pelvic region. That's just me of course, but you could add something of an armored skirt something like this;



I considered giving her something feminine for her outfit such as the skirt, but when I tested it, it just looked too cobbled together and didn't belong. Another reason this design was chosen was so that a skirt doesn't have odd animations happening with its flow. The skirt Aurora had in the previous design had to be animated on each plate, and it was a major task to do and make it look right. So the shorts make animations look better without odd physics. This was an old test when I was tinkering around with a celshaded look that was ultimately scrapped because I didn't like the shading and colors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VreAL1h0sNo

This costume is muuuuuch more delicious than the last!

I also like very much the changes you added/plan to add! Castlevania clones are nice and all, but you're putting so much effort on this that I actually would like it to be its own thing, just like you said :)

:) Glad you like it! The more Gren and I talked about it, the more I realized the original version was basically a fangame with a new coat of paint. If I were going to do a fangame, I might as well just do a straight up Castlevania fangame. But since I'm out of that type of thing now, these changes are for the best.

I agree with Claimh and Plot about the originality of the game, but just don't stray too far from what you've already established. The game itself looks good already and I want to play it as I've seen it in your previews.

The biggest changes are the mechanics mentioned above, the new design and faster gameplay and that it will be a straight on 2D view instead of the angled view of the original game. That presented a lot of issues in level design and I had trouble getting a shadow to work the way I wanted it too. So without the angled view things look much, much more cohesive. The core is still the same, but with these changes it will be much more identifiable as Anathema, instead of a Castlevania ripoff. Don't worry, I'm a huge fan of old-school Castlevania and that influence will be felt throughout the game. :)
« Last Edit: August 08, 2015, 01:25:50 PM by piscesdreams »

Offline ProjectDread

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #117 on: August 08, 2015, 05:35:04 PM »
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Update Stuff

A much welcome addition! The chain scythe seems like an interesting idea, I had always pondered using something like it on some of my own projects seeing as you can do some insane mobility related stuff with it in addition to offensive attacks. People will hate me for this but I seriously think removing the Castlevania-esque stairs was the best decision here. I totally agree that they slow the game down for no real reason and seem like an extremely antiquated design. After all, stairs are essentially just slopes so why does the player have to treat them like some sort of special interactive object in the ClassicVanias? It never made sense to me.

The character redesign is interesting, overall I'd say I like it more than the previous one you had but I do feel like the legs, thigh, and waist  can use a bit more.. flare, perhaps? I don't know, they just seem very plain compared to the more decorative hood, torso, and shoulder armor. I'm excited to see where this is headed, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #118 on: August 08, 2015, 06:36:44 PM »
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I do agree, the stairs are from decades ago game design and leave you vulnerable. As part of the method to get away from being called a copycat, and from all of the feedback we felt it best to remove stairs. They never really bothered me, but I can see where gamers today would hate them. Plus, double jump is in, so stairs are unnecessary.

Regarding the design, I can see why you feel that way. For us, it doesn't seem so drastic when in game. There were originally some knee and thigh guards but they looked too bulky and like they would bounce off of her every step she took.

Offline piscesdreams

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Re: ANATHEMA - Official Announcement + Trailer (1080p)
« Reply #119 on: August 21, 2015, 10:02:20 PM »
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Slight tease with the website...http://www.anathemagame.com