Platform Masters development (July 20, 2011) - Sentus Mountains overview

[TheRealAntroid]

When you jump that high, the background with all those mountains gets really beautiful! Great job on this!

[ulillillia]

You should see the most recent PM video. I've even posted it on my channel's front page as it's now my top favorite video. I've completely redone the Sentus Mountains world for the ground. You'll see lakes, forests, rivers, roads, bridges, and even a city and train. The orange color comes from the fact the Sentus Mountains world takes place shortly after sunrise, early in the morning.

[TheRealAntroid]

@ulillillia Just watched that, oh wow. You are right, it's impressive, but for some reason my favourite detail was other levels floating there in the distance.

[Guardaviewe3]

Pretty cool :D

[JewTubeUsername]

Arghhh now I have the music stuck in my head.

[serieuzeman]

Have you concidered doing a director's commentary track for this game? Because I would love to listen to that, your voice is very relaxing.

[ulillillia]

Huh? What is that?

[yyoomadtho4]

@ulillillia it's basically what you're doing in this video right now: talking about how you designed certain parts of the game and why you couldn't do this and that, etc. etc.

[ulillillia]

This doesn't make sense. You're asking for commentary when these videos already have commentary. Could you be referring to something else?

[yyoomadtho4]

@ulillillia just to clarify, i mean without the video, and just the audio alone.

[ulillillia]

I have no way to publish or post that.

[Dragon555]

I have a concern if you are selling this as a commercial game what will you be doing for music?

Will you be able to create your own or will you be getting someone to make you some tracks?

[ulillillia]

There are at least 3 that are working on the audio front. Audio is where I have the weakest skill and least experience. I can't tell instruments apart beyond wind (I consider brass the same as wind), string, or percussion and I'm unable to determine what genre any of my songs are despite 20,000+ plays on quite a few of them.

[meganube]

Have you considered trying to bring this to Steam when it is completed?

[ulillillia]

Both Regnow and Steam are likely to get it, Regnow with the greatest certainty.

[ulillillia]

I can't make out what your question is. Could you rephrase?

[andrewnicorn]

This looks excellent, man. Finally a platformer where I can use the terrain and physics to my advantage, instead of just jumping on a preset parabola. I can imagine that this game will have some amazing speed runs. Have you taken that into consideration?

[ulillillia]

There are shortcuts to find, abilities to gain (some of which are infinitely upgradable), and a few others. You could also go for insane speed and insane height along with it.

[wisedude1234]

When you're done, how much do you think you're going to charge for it?

[ulillillia]

No price is official and won't be until the game is otherwise nearly finished (as in, just about to start public betas with the demo version). So far, it'll be anything from $24.95 to $40 with the peak at $34.95.

[Shiba1227]

Do you know if it's possible to add support for say, an Xbox 360 controller, through Platform Masters?

[ulillillia]

I actually wouldn't know in that case. I don't have an Xbox 360 so I have absolutely no way to test it. By the time I get such a system, PM would have been released several months before.

[AndygamesOfficial]

Very, very, detailed work. I enjoy seeing how much work you have put into this project. I enjoy your game development videos the most. Good luck!

[ulillillia]

Jeremy's House is just about done. I've only got the stuff past the hills remaining. 3 minutes ago, I just finished the shoreline. I can't see it in the game engine until I'm done with the entire thing.

[AndygamesOfficial]

@ulillillia Nice! I was reminded of your game today while playing Mario 3 and sliding down slopes. Slop sliding in Platform Masters looks like fun as well.

[PsychoJosh]

How do you decide the names for these levels?

[ulillillia]

The name of the region is first followed by the environment type. That's the basic system.

[nopushbutton]

Nice grass effect—will you add rocks and shrubs and such to the hills for decoration or are you going to stick with the smooth look?

[ulillillia]

That would be quite unlikely.

[HenryVIape]

this looks pretty cool, Got one question though. is the main character design finalized, or will you be able to play different persons?

[ulillillia]

The main character is not final - a considerable redo is in order. The running animation needs major improvement, the death animation is nonexistent, and it doesn't take into account the addition of slopes (it's been a long time since I added slopes and back when I created the character, I didn't have slopes. Solving the color palette issue with the platforms opened up that possibility.

[Bleusilences]

will you be able to have metric measurement instead of imperial?

[ulillillia]

Not only metrics but the game's backend units as well - CU/fr.  There are 9 choices available for speed, 2 of which are metric (km/h and m/s).

[KoRL12]

Are all the special moves such as the ball and the glide available from the start?

[ulillillia]

No.  You only start with basic walking, running, and jumping (and jumping starts at 20 (enough for 3 blocks)). You could actually complete the entire game, including the very difficult worlds 19 and 20, with just the initial skills. The skills open up shortcuts or otherwise inaccessible routes.

[ulillillia]

There is a story to this game, though nearly everything about it is classified. A few details are public though - see the "story" section on PM's site for details.

[SaintIsz]

How strong is the gravity in your game compared to the Earth's?

[ulillillia]

21.9 mph/s is Earth's gravity. My game uses 20 for standard falling (there are reasons for this). The bounce ability jumps this to 80 mph/s and the fall-glide (not yet programmed) is a puny 5 mph/s.

[alakazam9891]

hey ulillillia you wouldn't happen to be looking for someone to compose the soundtrack for platform masters would you? because I would be willing to do it for free : - )

[ulillillia]

I do have 2 that are working on it though the more, the better. The "audio" section on PM's site explains what I need (most of what you see, except the "requirements" section, are just guidelines). Tiny Toon Buster's Hidden Treasure has the style of music I would like to have. When you do contribute something, you will be credited.

[alakazam9891]

@ulillillia sounds good I'll get to work on it right away

[Derek430]

dat music

[keyeske]

Can you please help me with something? how did you program running up and down the slope?

[ulillillia]

It's based on the sine of the slope. If you have a slope of 30 degrees, acceleration from gravity is half. For movement beyond gravity, I have it based on the cosine of the slope instead. For the redirection of jumps, that's a lot more complicated. Just think of it as a ball bouncing on a slope.

[240sx503]

Did you code that? Actionscript 3.0?

[ulillillia]

I'm programming this all in C via Visual C++ 2008 Express. Jeremy's House (world 1) is now just about finished so look forward to that tomorrow or the day after.

[Shugo489]

How is your computer coming? The new one?

[ulillillia]

I don't have it yet - I haven't received any of the components yet. It may not be until Friday or something (I overlooked the CD/DVD writer, adding another day).

[Shugo489]

@ulillillia Doesn't your current computer have a optical (CD/DVD) drive already? Couldn't you use that?

[ulillillia]

My computer does have an optical drive.  There's only one problem with it though - it's and IDE drive. The motherboard I got does not have any IDE slots. Thus, I had to get a SATA optical drive (at least I get a 50% speed boost as a bonus). My hard drives are not affected though - they're both SATA drives.

[Shugo489]

@ulillillia Which video card did you get?

[ulillillia]

I'm not upgrading my video card. For video processing, there is no point in doing so. Thus, I'll still have the GeForce 7600 GT. I'd otherwise lean toward something of the GTX 4xx series if I was after a video card.

[timdrage]

Looking good!

[lonebard]

Looks like you need to make a small transition graphic between the short and tall grass. Good effect though.

[ulillillia]

If I go with more sizes (limited to a maximum of 8), the repeating between textures will get quite bad - just 32 instead of 64. It was the best balance I could come up with.

[NKSPKI]

Is playing your own game fun? I have never made any kind of game, so I wouldn't know. I am just wondering, since you would know all the secrets and stuff...

[ulillillia]

Bouncing around on the mountain slopes is quite fun. There is some fun to be found, though I can't say for sure. I don't have levels (the test level doesn't count), enemies, etc. yet.

[Ketsui]

Is there going to be an altitude meter?

[ulillillia]

There will be a height meter, positioned directly above the speed indicator for the default position. The air and boss HP meters also need to be added.

[fenderjerk]

Can my character be a Muslim in this game? Thank you again for the update. Looks like it's coming along well.

[ulillillia]

There are no references to religion in PM and thus, it can essentially be anything.

[joeyoh9292]

Is there going to be either a public or private beta of this game Ulillillia? I'm really interested in this game, and have been watching you design it since the start :) It's progressed a LOT, eh? Can't wait for the full release!

[ulillillia]

There won't be a private beta but there will be a public beta. The public beta, before release, will only be with the demo version, not the full version. Once released, betas will become available for the full version, but only if the full version is paid for.

[joeyoh9292]

@ulillillia Ok, thanks!

[dunkinbean]

busters hidden treasure music ftw

[ulillillia]

That game has the style of music I'm interested in.

[Bleeep]

Stunning scenery!

[ulillillia]

It'll get better once the forests, cities, and highway(s) are added.

[Microwavish]

Wow, I love that wagonwheel effect!

[BiffJohnston2]

isn't being able to jump like that just from going up a hill going to make any map with a hill instantly beatable by jumping then gliding?

[ulillillia]

Levels in the Sentus Mountains are intended to be highly vertical and very spacious. Thus, this isn't very likely. Sure there might be a level where all you have to do is fall straight down peaking at 200 mph (without bouncing), but some levels might cover a large horizontal distance and others lead up. With the default acceleration, you won't be able to climb the slopes at all beyond a certain point (this is why I kicked up the acceleration for this video).

[FullOnyxProductions]

Cool video again.