Waves - September Update with new Video!

[schizoslayer]

It's been a long time since my last update on this but it's still going!

Firstly there is a new video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAOcayM3U0w

There is also a website located here:
http://www.squidinabox.com/

Also Twitter if you are in to that sort of thing.
http://www.twitter.com/squidinabox/

Everything below this point is old but still relevant in some way!

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Everything new is made by myself with the exception of the music which has been provided by the lovely Labcoat and Mac

UPDATE!

Waves now has it's own page on ModDB complete with some screenshots!

Newest Screenshots below. Updated 09-06-10

[Flak]

Thank you Schizo looking forward to playing this again!!

We had the UDK video on the big screen at Triangle Game Conference. Here's a pic!

[Piranhi]

I've been following this since it's birth, and it just gets better and better. Really good work. You could sell this on Xbox Live arcade tbh.

Edit: The slow mo makes me tingle

[KazeoHin]

I like it so far. I think the main reason people (including myself) are comparing it with geometry wars is not because of the old-school gameplay, but rather the hyper-tron graphics. A quick way to reduce "geometry-wars-comparison-itus" is by making the grid in the background a hex grid and not a quad grid (would look a whole lot better as well).

I have other suggestions to really make this game stand out, but honestly: you are doing great so far. PM me if you want to hear my thoughts.

[micahpharoh]

You're doing a great job so far. It looks great!

[schizoslayer]

Minor bump as I added some screenshots to the first post and a link to the ModDB page which is serving as the games home until I get the website up.

[Blade[UG]]

when do people get to play it ..

[Kantham]

Looking tight after the video. Having more enemies would definitively make a good variation in the game.

[theron]

So, where is the download link ?

[junkens]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!!
This looks just ridiculous!

[schizoslayer]

The current release date is "When it's done" but it should be sometime this year. I just spent this week recovering from a scratched cornea so haven't been able to do much on it but I'm currently working on the MetaGame elements like scoring, progression and the bits that make it into more of a game than the infinite sandbox it currently is.

[schizoslayer]

Update with new screenshots and new video:

Latest Video

Also updated first post with latest media.

[Viion]

Looks so damn good, reminds me a lot of Super Star Dust HD, very very cool man, so simple but I can see a lot of fun in it.

[Flak]

Looking great Schizo. We're looking forward to playing it soon!

[schizoslayer]

May beta inspired some playing around with light shafts:

[KazeoHin]

Dude, the May-ta update looks awesome!

[schizoslayer]

Updated with new video of the May build:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5prlMqYFAE

New features:

• 2 new enemies (Virus and Atom)
• New Enemy Graphics
• New Background Graphics
• Collect XP from Dead Enemies to Level Up
• Rechargeable force shield blasts away enemies that get too close. (Recharges faster when not firing)
• Chain Frenzy - Every Kill in quick succession builds your chain multiplier. Hit x25 and you enter a Chain Frenzy and cause an explosion every 50 kills!
• Hundreds of balance changes and tweaks.

[schizoslayer]

Updated with new screenshots. More available at the ModDB page.

[SynaGl0w]

Simply amazing! Keep up the excellent work!

[KazeoHin]

Definately coming together as a unique art style. This game looks damn good. The blend of colors is awesome, as well as the added 3D effects in the background. It reminds me (in a good way) of the games back in the late '90s, back when systems that could render geometric objects were considered 'sooo cool' and nearly every game had jagged, hard-edged objects everywhere just to show off the 3D capabilities. Personally, I think that art style is awesome, and you are definitely bringing it to the next generation. I do have a single criticism when I see it in motion: the slow motion. It seems like its a bit too sudden, I'm not ready for it: the sudden jolt makes the brain re-evaluate what it's seeing, which breaks the SOD for me. The music also gets super quiet, which hopefully is a place-holder effect as changing the volume of the music so drastically breaks the SOD, I would prefer changing the sound effects instead of adjusting volume. This only applies for the first five minutes of play: after that the player gets used to it. But those first five minutes are the most important when selling a game. If I may, I would suggest a ~0.5 second ease-in to the slow-motion, and the music should drop the treble and boost the bass when in slow-mo. However, It's Your game, and I'm just an artist: not a designer. You are doing a fantastic job so far: follow your instincts.

Edit:

PS: I was just looking at your screens: I had my headphones on listening to some heavy techno, and I could swear I saw the 3D objects in the background pulsing up and down in waves with the bass like some awesome WMP visualization. Just a thought.

[schizoslayer]

Definately coming together as a unique art style. This game looks damn good. The blend of colors is awesome, as well as the added 3D effects in the background. It reminds me (in a good way) of the games back in the late '90s, back when systems that could render geometric objects were considered 'sooo cool' and nearly every game had jagged, hard-edged objects everywhere just to show off the 3D capabilities. Personally, I think that art style is awesome, and you are definitely bringing it to the next generation. I do have a single criticism when I see it in motion: the slow motion. It seems like its a bit too sudden, I'm not ready for it: the sudden jolt makes the brain re-evaluate what it's seeing, which breaks the SOD for me. The music also gets super quiet, which hopefully is a place-holder effect as changing the volume of the music so drastically breaks the SOD, I would prefer changing the sound effects instead of adjusting volume. This only applies for the first five minutes of play: after that the player gets used to it. But those first five minutes are the most important when selling a game. If I may, I would suggest a ~0.5 second ease-in to the slow-motion, and the music should drop the treble and boost the bass when in slow-mo. However, It's Your game, and I'm just an artist: not a designer. You are doing a fantastic job so far: follow your instincts.

Edit:

PS: I was just looking at your screens: I had my headphones on listening to some heavy techno, and I could swear I saw the 3D objects in the background pulsing up and down in waves with the bass like some awesome WMP visualization. Just a thought.

I did actually have an ease in and ease out on the slowmo but it had some negative effects on the feel of the game: mostly that it meant that pressing the slowmo button forced you to use 1 second of slowmo even if you just tapped it and the end result was that it felt unresponsive rather than smooth.

It's a difference between watching a video and playing the game I think. Watching it you notice the switch over more but when you are playing the game the fact that you are making a decision to initiate the effect prepares you for the change and it doesn't feel sudden at all and if it spent too long easing into slowmo then you may end up hitting the enemy you were hoping to avoid/kill.

As for the background pulse: Well it actually does do that in game using a vertex shader It's not in time to the music (well not intentionally at least) but they do bounce up and down.

[KazeoHin]

I noticed the pulse, but I was thinking something more like short, quick pulse like a heartbeat. But hey, it looks good no matter what.

[schizoslayer]

Four months later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAOcayM3U0w

It's not thread necromancy if it's your own thread and the first post has changed.

[sueds]

that's really cool. Love the effects and the looks.

[agentfx]

this game could totally work mobile! I wonder how you could get in on that early, since this has got to be portable.

[Piranhi]

Looking better then ever, great work.

[Blade[UG]]

want want want

[Dr Bearhands]

Awesome piece of work

[Bellbird Creative]

Amazing work, mate. Very inspirational to the rest of us just starting on a project.

One little negative is that I couldn't immediately work out the relevance of the larger circle that's around your craft. Is it just there for looks or does it tie in to the gameplay somehow? I eventually worked out it's the HUD so it's not too drastic.

My thought was that you could use it to squeeze some risk-vs-gain gameplay out of the arena and make it so if an enemy is within that circle you get double points for killing it. The temptation of extra points vs the danger of letting enemies get too close. Maybe even have it drag enemies towards you if they're inside. Just a thought!

The only other thing that doesn't seem as tight as the rest of it was the green honeycomb bits. I wasn't sure if they were giving you goodies for shooting them, or acting as dangerous barriers that just needed to be destroyed. The green suggested the first but the +number particles it gave off were hard to see. Maybe make those larger, bolder, and really jazz the hell out of the "This is good for you!" mechanic.

But honestly it's an awesome project. Again, great work.

[schizoslayer]

Amazing work, mate. Very inspirational to the rest of us just starting on a project.

One little negative is that I couldn't immediately work out the relevance of the larger circle that's around your craft. Is it just there for looks or does it tie in to the gameplay somehow? I eventually worked out it's the HUD so it's not too drastic.

My thought was that you could use it to squeeze some risk-vs-gain gameplay out of the arena and make it so if an enemy is within that circle you get double points for killing it. The temptation of extra points vs the danger of letting enemies get too close. Maybe even have it drag enemies towards you if they're inside. Just a thought!

The only other thing that doesn't seem as tight as the rest of it was the green honeycomb bits. I wasn't sure if they were giving you goodies for shooting them, or acting as dangerous barriers that just needed to be destroyed. The green suggested the first but the +number particles it gave off were hard to see. Maybe make those larger, bolder, and really jazz the hell out of the "This is good for you!" mechanic.

But honestly it's an awesome project. Again, great work.

Everything you shoot grows your chain multiplier which is that number you see. If you don't shoot anything for 1 second then your chain ends and you start over.

Mostly the Green ones act as a barrier taking up space in the arena. If they grow large enough one of them will mutate into an orange one and if shot will explode. They are actually much easier to spot in game as even in HD you lose quite alot of detail on youtube.

[sueds]

schizo, I think it's about time we get our hands on it ? No more serioulsly do you have a release date or something ?

[Kantham]

That fixed circle around your unit seems to be intimating at first glance, but then eventually it seems to fit around fine. What was the decision into keeping this?