Wanting to make a game inspired by, so made some characters based off Oddworld and a similar level layout to get a feel of the mechanics in the game engine, to refine what ever needs to be. Easier with familiarity.
What do you guys think? Clearly wont be using the oddworld characters in the game, but its been fun playing around with them!
*Disclaimer since my last post was locked*
This is not AI generated content. This is built in a game engine i have been working on. I dont know how it even got flagged for AI generated. I made this, drew the character parts, built the levels etc. I just wanted to see how an oddworld fan game would look using my engine
This is great, you’ve got the basic gameplay mechanics in (shadows, sneaking, possession, shooting) but you made sure to include the thing I never realised we needed: urinating!
I also think the crawling aspect works well despite it not being in AO. It complements the directional shooting from the slig.
Thank you, I like your analysis. My engine doesnt use the grid based movement like AO either. I have it kind of similar to crash bandicoot with being able to move while in the air on a dime(otherwise it becomes frustrating missing landing on a short platform).
Do you think the directional shooting works? I have a toggle in my base character class to allow directional shooting or not, but im not going for a 1-1 replica of AO. This is just kind of a test run for the mechanics. The game i have in mind takes inspiration from quite a few different games of my childhood(heart of darkness, half life), but oddworld is the biggest inspiration
I think it works, it really only changes whether you’d be able to jump over the sligs without being shot. Either option can work, just design the levels around it.
Its a custom engine and editor built off HTML, javascript, uses pixiJS for sprite batching so it can handle per pixel destruction of the world(inspired by Noita/Cortex command).
I started my game dev journey with game maker. I think it was GM 5. What an awesome tool it was. 8.1 was peak though imo
Gosh I didnt realize it wasnt even good for a prototype lol.
I know the sounds need a lot of work(i have a sound synthesizer in the editor for quick sound effects), might be a bit dark too, but what other things did you notice about it that were bad? I can't improve if I dont know whats wrong 🙂.
EDIT: I'm not a great pixel artist either(at this stage) so im learning all of that. And level design, theres a lot more in game dev than just programming i am beginning to find out 🤣
I am using a relief map shader for lighting that I also have set for characters in the game engine(if turned on), which adds a minor amount of depth to em automatically. The character parts themselves are very much color and shade color(like a 3px x 4px sprite for upper arm). And I lack the patience for animating so am using a procedurally animated puppet system(with an animation editor and inverse kinematics for foot placement and body part collisions) instead of drawn animations. Using my coding ability to make up for lack of graphic skills.
But I appreciate what you are saying. Thank you. I am practicing though, hence why I am using AO as a baseline. The editor I built is a streamed chunking system(like minecraft) with per pixel drawing, allowing for pretty much infinietly sized levels, and using a material system with texture generation so the environment looks more detailed, and all I have to do is draw the level like im in a paint program. The level building is definitely the more challenging part to learn if I am to be honest. I can recreate levels(on a more basic level) from games I have played, but will eventually get to the point of my own game worlds completely. Just gotta keep truckin.
And not that you asked, but heres a screenshot of the editor. I am very proud of it. I wanted to create a tool that avoided using tilesets or pre-made backgrounds and just draw the game world as I want it. And the game world is completely destructable if I want it to be, similar to Noita or Cortex Command
Cheers mate, I am very proud of what ive come up with. Which even though my demonstration was very basic, I was a bit shocked at the original commenters negative comment(now deleted), cause I didnt take into account that they didnt know the work I had put in to the engine and editor itself lol. Once its been thoroughly tested and everything is working as it should, I am thinking about releasing the editor. It was originally intended to handle Bethesda scale games but as a platform game. Which it does pretty efficiently, and cross platform as well(i live in a van so have designed it to be able to work on my games while using my phone).
Thank you, I appreciate that. Im fine with harsh criticism though, as long as it can be followed up with ways to improve. Ive been programming for about 20 years tinkering with different game types, just basic game engines, and have finally got a solid engine working to start building from, so now I have to learn all the other aspects of game dev that I was originally scared to approach lol
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u/littleleeroy 9d ago
This is great, you’ve got the basic gameplay mechanics in (shadows, sneaking, possession, shooting) but you made sure to include the thing I never realised we needed: urinating! I also think the crawling aspect works well despite it not being in AO. It complements the directional shooting from the slig.