Topic: Inspired by Mega Man X - Constancy: Roa (Kickstarter)

[crisis]

Except Constancy:  Roa will not be a plain Mega Man clone.  It has its own unique gameplay, and many things different from RKS.

holy crap it's Abster, where the hell have you been? long time

[Abster]

Yes, and we recently were able to fix it to accept new members.  For the longest time we had to manually add people and I didn't really know why.  I played plenty of Harmony of Despair, but was pretty much gone during the David Cox era because the Lords of Shadow trilogy just didn't really interest me.

[Damian]

Hello thanks for your interest in our project!

Fou-lu, I know him (I only doesnt have much memories about him xD), its good to see more familiar faces here.

Yep, same Fou-Lu I was on the old board not this one.

The game itself is interesting. I'd like to give it a go when it's ready. Also what this game does that many do not, is give each character friend and foe alike, a deep and personal back-story. If the old build is that good-looking then I can't wait to see what the new one will be like.

Every level is a mini contained story centering around the current sister, which come together as the full story evolves.  This allows the game to be non-linear while not losing it's focus.  As for the build we changed the colors of enemies to be more unique, added explosions for enemies dying, more areas so people can see more of what Roa can do, and we gave Roa the ability to air dash, this opens up even more combo opportunities for her.  Air dashing is an ability you'll get later on in the full game.

I see what you mean now    Yes the mega man series is not known for having women robots featured often. So this game will be a turn for the opposite.

The cyber-genesis process involves injecting "U" into the bodies of people.  This allows inorganic materials to fuse with their cells.  The computer in the back of their brain then allows them to control every cell in their body.  The effect of that varies per candidate.  Other then this though they are essentially human.  The focus around women is just my preference I guess.  I like spriting female characters and find that depth is easier to achieve in story with them.

Dunno why I failed to notice this until now, but they have a forum if you feel more comfortable asking questions there:

For those interested in pledging we also have a poll for a third figure.  We're offering it to those people who pledge 60 dollars more then their pledge amount.  Currently Aria and Roa will be available and the poll is for a third figure that backers would like to pledge for.  You can find the poll at http://infinityark.piiym.net/forum/index.php?topic=59.0

[VladCT]

Video's been updated, check the Kickstarter page.

[Kale]

I sort of want to pledge, but I just really don't like the art style. Might be a reason why others arne't backing it. Aside from the style, it doesn't seem.... professional, and screams Indie. Kind of like looking at X-Com and then looking at Xenonauts, their art screams indie as well.

And a comment on kickstarter, I think you chose a really bad time to start it. With all the bad press it's been getting lately.

[Pfil]

Why bad press? I live outside the US and I'm not aware of it.

[Lelygax]

Why bad press? I live outside the US and I'm not aware of it.

Second on this.

Also their art doesnt look professional because they arent pros, the only thing that really bothered me is that when a enemy explodes his body disappears instantly and its noticeable.

Even so I understand that Kale is only giving them his feedback without restraints, thats a good thing and is needed when done gently like this.

[Abster]

The tiles are a work in progress obviously.  I'm looking to find a way to make things less flat looking.  Dynamic lighting is one option we're exploring and has always been intended.  We were talking about it as such with our producer today.

[Kale]

Why bad press? I live outside the US and I'm not aware of it.

Second on this.

Also their art doesnt look professional because they arent pros, the only thing that really bothered me is that when a enemy explodes his body disappears instantly and its noticeable.

Even so I understand that Kale is only giving them his feedback without restraints, thats a good thing and is needed when done gently like this.

I understand that they aren't pros. But it does put people like me off.

As for the bad press, it's not really Kickstarter being bad. It's just pledges going bad. Double Fine for one, after getting 8 times what they said they needed, and ending up saying they need more money. I think they're going to try to secure more money elsewhere? Publishing or something.
A board game failing completely, where they got I think 5 times what they asked for, and then failing. Apparently, they were deceiving people with bad/nonexistent updates as well. And though, they were advertising the kickstarter, that they'd use the money to make a game, they were actually using it to start a company to make the game. As it stands, the guy who started the kickstarter is saying he'll work to get the money back to the backers (I don't see it though)

I think there are some others, but those 2 were the ones i heard of. It's not at a point where people are avoiding KS, but I think people are a lot more wary.

EDIT: Hmm, just read around again, and it seems DoubleFine isn't asking for more money, but plans to get the money themselves... though that might still might mean publisher. A question that popped in some people's mind though, mine and an article here or there, is that if they were gonna use the money from their second kickstarter. >.>

[Abster]

Yeah, we saw Tim Schafer's little kickstarter disaster.  Rest assured we surely aren't going to pull that.  When you were talking about not looking professional, were you speaking on the sprites/animation or the backgrounds?  Because right now it's our priority to make the backgrounds better.  We are technically indie but we are working with a professional studio, so we're definitely capable of putting something of higher quality.  We switched our producer from Heavy Cat just recently due to a family emergency with who we were working with before, so she's catching up to speed on this, but is doing pretty well so far.

[C Belmont]

The backgrounds are not the only aspect requiring a bit of work I think the run animation looks quite off balance (the body looks as though it might be bent too far forward), most of the attacks look good though.

[Kale]

Yeah, we saw Tim Schafer's little kickstarter disaster.  Rest assured we surely aren't going to pull that.  When you were talking about not looking professional, were you speaking on the sprites/animation or the backgrounds?  Because right now it's our priority to make the backgrounds better.  We are technically indie but we are working with a professional studio, so we're definitely capable of putting something of higher quality.  We switched our producer from Heavy Cat just recently due to a family emergency with who we were working with before, so she's catching up to speed on this, but is doing pretty well so far.

Oh, I never thought you were gonna do something like DoubleFine. They had an overly successful KS, and I think that got to their heads... that and Tim Shafer is supposedly known for using a ridiculously large sum of money for virtually anything.

As for what I think about the graphics.  It's both. For me, Backgrounds are more forgiving, I like fluid HQ character animations over HQ backgrounds. HQ Backgrounds are nice too, as it does help with immersion.

Art style, maybe it's just me. I think it looks like the older or fan-like anime style. Not my type, maybe it's okay for others and it's just my preference.

Animation actually looks a bit smooth, but it seems off... I'm not an artist, so I probably don't know a good way to describe it. It does look a bit generic though. A simile would be like describing it as an animation that would be put on a random bystander in something like Prototype. rather than one you would use for the main character.

Background, from the video, of course, it is very plain.

But like you said, it's a work in progress, which I expected, but when you show off gameplay, it should try to show some of the better stuff you got to give sample of what people might be getting into.

Just my thoughts on it, but I'm hardly the professional on the subject.

[X]

Art style, maybe it's just me. I think it looks like the older or fan-like anime style. Not my type, maybe it's okay for others and it's just my preference.

I draw anime art myself as well. But what I'm seeing is not an older style of anime. It's just rough around the edges, especially with their heads & faces. The art style is fine, but it could use a little bit of a clean up/smoothing out here and there. Maybe that's what's catching your attention in a rather undesirable way? I'll admit it does make them seem Indie in that way, but a little more fine tuning and they should work just nicely.

[Kale]

That might be it...

But when I saw the characters... it really reminded me of Slayers.

[Damian]

Hello thanks for your replies.

Kale: First of all I appreciate that you would consider donating at all thanks for that.
It might be that you just won't like the art style even when it's done.  I hope you can get past that and enjoy the gameplay if that ends up the case.

X: You are correct the art is a bit rushed, specifically Heavy Cat did it all in about one month.  I'm aware there's some shading and line problems here and there but all and all?  I think it came out rather well considering the restraints.

C Belmont: I suppose it's a bit stylized but I like the run, we've had some comments directed at the stance tho and feel we need to change it up.  Perhaps that will fix things a bit in terms of flow.  If not altering the run isn't out of the question, I'm wondering if her head moves to much during it personally.

Overall we really appreciate your comments guys/gals, we're working on improving the presentation of the game and the length of it's current playable version.  We want to wait to push things until then and hopefully we still have enough time with the resources we have available to us to succeed on this.  I hope you'll wish us luck.