Zordak [NEW DEMO - 2022-04-23] [WINDOWS/LINUX]

Apapappa

Member

Zordak is a game heavily inspired by Super Metroid.
You explore, find items that help you along the way, discover secrets and more.

You wake up from an unexpectedly long cryosleep, only to discover that this place is not what it's supposed to be.
Everyone is dead and the facility has been abandoned.
You seem to be the only survivor.
You now have to do what you must to survive and embark on your journey in the search for another human being.










Minimum System Requirements:
This means running the game at 60FPS with frame skipping on (visually 30FPS) and the lowest possible graphical settings.

Processor: 1.8Ghz Dual Core
Memory: 1GB RAM
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500M

The specs above are just similar to what my test computer has.
(Acer Aspire 5332 from 2009)
So they are not necessarily required, test the demo for yourself.

OS:
- Windows 10. (untested on any other version)
- Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS. (tested in a VM, info in README file)

Windows:
- 32bit executable. (only 64bit will be supported next release)
- DirectX 11.
- Keyboard and Controller support available.

Linux:
- 64bit executable.
- Required dependencies are listed in the zip file.
- Keyboard support available.

- Controller support is mixed, you may have to use the keyboard to re-bind certain controller buttons and some buttons might not be detected properly.
This all depends on controller type as well since all controllers are different.

- Frame Skip does not behave properly so minimum system requirements will be higher.

Install instructions:
1 - Download the zip.
2 - Extract.
3 -
Windows: Run Zordak.exe / Zordak_YYC.exe, info in README file.
Linux: Follow instructions in the README text file.

Misc Links:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ApapappaGames
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ApapappaGames
Itch.io: https://apapappa.itch.io/
Game Jolt: https://gamejolt.com/@Apapappa
Discord Community: https://discord.gg/fTTEUNZ
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ApapappaGames

Looking for any kind of feedback!

 
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Niels

Member
looks cool!

I just finished the demo and these are my first thoughts on it:

Pro:
-The blueish tones paired with scanlines give the game a sort of 2D system shock looks.
-The water shader and lighting is also cool (maybe some flickering lights or darker hallways could add even more to the feel).
- love the little details like mice/rats and moving plants
-the setting and short demo grabbed me enough to want to find out more.

Con:
-The player character looks pretty good (love the little droid helper), but maybe a bit generic.
Unless she finds some kickass spacesuit later on, she could have a bit more detail to maker her unique.
-The crouch animation looks very off (she seems to shrink instead of crawl), and also the other animations could look a bit more dynamic (especially the kick doesn't look like it really has any force behind it).
-NEED MOAR!!!! ;)
 
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Apapappa

Member
looks cool!

I just finished the demo and these are my first thoughts on it:

Pro:
-The blueish tones paired with scanlines give the game a sort of 2D system shock looks.
-The water shader and lighting is also cool (maybe some flickering lights or darker hallways could add even more to the feel).
- love the little details like mice/rats and moving plants
-the setting and short demo grabbed me enough to want to find out more.

Con:
-The player character looks pretty good (love the little droid helper), but maybe a bit generic.
Unless she finds some kickass spacesuit later on, she could have a bit more detail to maker her unique.
-The crouch animation looks very off (she seems to shrink instead of crawl), and also the other animations could look a bit more dynamic (especially the kick doesn't look like it really has any force behind it).
-NEED MOAR!!!! ;)
Thank you for trying the demo!

Improvements to the lighting system is planned for later, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

You will get a suit later. :)
I'm probably not going to change her appearance that much (if at all) since you're going to have the suit pretty much the whole game.
I just decided to leave the suit part out for now, the way there is not fully complete anyway.
I'm probably going to release another demo at a later point in time, which will include more gameplay such as:
the suit, enemy creatures, shooting, upgrades etc.

Yes, I agree with the crouching, it looks more like she becomes a dwarf rather than crouching, so I'm going to try and fix that later.

I will try to improve the kick animation.

Thanks again for playing!
 

Field Magic

Member
Loved the demo, the art style and animations are on point. I loved the red laser sections, I thought they looked great for some reason lol
The only thing I noticed which might help, maybe exaggerate the electricity (The electricity that damages you) that comes off the wires a little more, so it stands out. I mistook it for ambience and got hit a few times lol

Great work, look forward to seeing more.
 

Apapappa

Member
Loved the demo, the art style and animations are on point. I loved the red laser sections, I thought they looked great for some reason lol
The only thing I noticed which might help, maybe exaggerate the electricity (The electricity that damages you) that comes off the wires a little more, so it stands out. I mistook it for ambience and got hit a few times lol

Great work, look forward to seeing more.
I've added some more light effects to the electricity to try and make it stand out a bit more.
(demo has not been updated yet)

Thank you for trying the demo out!
 
Alt + Enter = Full screen doesn't stretch out the surface. Full screen via the menu centers and stretches it. You might want to disable to alt + enter method.

Kick needs a bit of work.

Great art, great effects, great atmosphere great bloom. It all blends together to make a great, short experience.
 

CMAllen

Member
So.. I've tried to improve the crouching animations.
Hopefully these new ones look more like crouching than shrinking:

OLD:

NEW:

Still looking for any kind of feedback!
The crouch reads more clearly in the new one, but it's not *quite* there yet. It only becomes truly obvious that the character is walking crouched after standing back up. But I'm not sure what to change to make it more obvious. I think you need to change the way the legs move. It looks too much like walking, just lower. You can't move your legs the same way while crouched as you do when walking upright.
 

Apapappa

Member
Alt + Enter = Full screen doesn't stretch out the surface. Full screen via the menu centers and stretches it. You might want to disable to alt + enter method.

Kick needs a bit of work.

Great art, great effects, great atmosphere great bloom. It all blends together to make a great, short experience.
I have supposedly fixed the alt+enter issue, the window does not seem to work the same as doing it without alt+enter.
(the demo has not been updated)

I'm going to try and add a bit more punch to the kick animation after I finish fixing the crouch animation.

Thanks, effects and atmosphere are some of my favorite things to create. :)

The crouch reads more clearly in the new one, but it's not *quite* there yet. It only becomes truly obvious that the character is walking crouched after standing back up. But I'm not sure what to change to make it more obvious. I think you need to change the way the legs move. It looks too much like walking, just lower. You can't move your legs the same way while crouched as you do when walking upright.
Yes, that is true. You can not walk normally when crouched. It's just kinda hard to get it right using this amount of pixels. But I'm gonna give it another go and try again.
 

CMAllen

Member
Yeah, the new one is better. For the standing kick, it looks like someone trying to kick a ball (soccer/football depending on nationality). If that's what you want, then it should work. I might move the leg up a pixel, because it still looks a little low for where the hip socket should be on the body.
 

Apapappa

Member
Yeah, the new one is better. For the standing kick, it looks like someone trying to kick a ball (soccer/football depending on nationality). If that's what you want, then it should work. I might move the leg up a pixel, because it still looks a little low for where the hip socket should be on the body.
It's fine if it looks like she tries to kick a ball, the "naked" part of the game is only a small portion anyway.
I did move the leg up a bit and it does actually look a little bit better.


In other news..
Here's one of the "passive" enemy types, a very metroid-y crawler.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5f1oe1k20v28fj/ZordakCrawlerResident36.gif?raw=1
 
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Apapappa

Member
I'm trying to decide what color the suit gun should have..
Currently leaning towards #3.. maybe #2.

(super metroid sprite there for reference)

Anyone got any suggestions?
 
S

smashingparadox

Guest
Very Nice!

The game looks professional and has a feeling of completeness to it -- or almost!

I just played through the demo / tutorial. My thoughts:

Positive: The time to complete the demo is pretty good. It's long enough to get a feel for what the rest of the game will be like.
Negative: There wasn't enough introduction to the story line inside the game itself. However, I think the implied story line works well. There should be at least one upgrade in the demo - preferably a weapon, and maybe something to shoot at.

Great job! This has a lot of potential. I can definitely see this on Steam one day. Good luck!
 

Apapappa

Member
Loving the Super Metroid vibe so far.
Thanks! I'm trying to catch some of the feel it had when I played it back in the day.

Very Nice!

The game looks professional and has a feeling of completeness to it -- or almost!

I just played through the demo / tutorial. My thoughts:

Positive: The time to complete the demo is pretty good. It's long enough to get a feel for what the rest of the game will be like.
Negative: There wasn't enough introduction to the story line inside the game itself. However, I think the implied story line works well. There should be at least one upgrade in the demo - preferably a weapon, and maybe something to shoot at.

Great job! This has a lot of potential. I can definitely see this on Steam one day. Good luck!
Thank you for the feedback!

This is just the first demo, it's mostly a "does it run on other computers" check with some gameplay.
I'm going to release another one with combat later.
That demo will probably last for about 30min or so. (nothing set in stone yet tho)

About the story..
I'm probably going to do a cutscene with some still images and text before the actual game starts.
I've also changed the story up a little from what it says in the main post but I'm gonna edit that later when it's a bit more final.

There will be shooting in the next demo. :)
 

RangerX

Member
I tried the game. I like it as I am a fan Metroidvanias anyways and as with Journey of Johann, I think you really look like you know where you're going.
The game doesn't have any major boo-urns and is probably worth a much more complete and detailed play time (wich I would reserve the for full game). The real concern might be that its too much like Metroid but then again, I wonder where the full game will go.
Keep up your great work! You definetely are talented.
 

cidwel

Member
- Cool menus!
- The environment is great, and adds some burden atmosphere specially with earthquakes
- I feel the animations clear, specially now that you have improved them.
- I like the feeling of no knowing where exactly to go. This is something that was lost in newer metroidvanias
- Boobs!

The only issue I see is that, if no one tellsI would say I'm playing with Samus Aran. Anyway this is nothing exactly bad to say. I like the kind of difficulty-related progressive helpings you get while playing it. I feel it like a well balanced map design.

I'll be following your next steps :)
 

Apapappa

Member
I tried the game. I like it as I am a fan Metroidvanias anyways and as with Journey of Johann, I think you really look like you know where you're going.
The game doesn't have any major boo-urns and is probably worth a much more complete and detailed play time (wich I would reserve the for full game). The real concern might be that its too much like Metroid but then again, I wonder where the full game will go.
Keep up your great work! You definetely are talented.
Thanks for trying the game!
I mostly know where I'm going with the games I make but I also just "wing it" with a lot of things aswell.
Since I'm going for the metroid look and feel, I don't mind it being much like metroid.
But I guess there's also the question: How much "too much" is too much? :p

This is so cool! I love the whole grass growing out of sci fi metal theme, its something I've always wanted to do but couldn't think of a good way of doing it lol
Maybe this will help you get some inspiration and make that grassy metal themed game!
I've also added some more grassy patches to make it look more like it is growing out of the metal aswell. :)
Thanks for the feedback!

Love the atmosphere! The main menu is very nicely polished.
Thanks, I thought the menus might be a bit clunky at first but maybe not it seems. ^^

- Cool menus!
- The environment is great, and adds some burden atmosphere specially with earthquakes
- I feel the animations clear, specially now that you have improved them.
- I like the feeling of no knowing where exactly to go. This is something that was lost in newer metroidvanias
- Boobs!

The only issue I see is that, if no one tellsI would say I'm playing with Samus Aran. Anyway this is nothing exactly bad to say. I like the kind of difficulty-related progressive helpings you get while playing it. I feel it like a well balanced map design.

I'll be following your next steps :)
I definitely want it to have the feeling of not knowing where to go so that's good to hear.

"if no one tellsI would say I'm playing with Samus Aran" - This is a good thing to me as that is the feeling I'm going for! :)
I guess this also falls into the "how much is too much" question.

Hopefully the rest of the design will be well balanced later aswell.

Thank you for the feedback!
 
G

Guest User

Guest
looks fantastic. don't overwork yourself to finish this, but i will be waiting to see it done. hope you are proud of your work here :)
 

Joe Ellis

Member
I really love all the graphic effects you've done, especially the cold mist, but the water effect is really nice, and the bendy grass is great aswell, that definitely adds a nice touch to it
 

Apapappa

Member
looks fantastic. don't overwork yourself to finish this, but i will be waiting to see it done. hope you are proud of your work here :)
The game looks amazing, keep up the great work! Little touches like the grass bending will go a long way.
I really love all the graphic effects you've done, especially the cold mist, but the water effect is really nice, and the bendy grass is great aswell, that definitely adds a nice touch to it
Thanks everyone!


Progress Update:
I've kinda been avoiding the thread for a bit because I haven't got much work done in a while.
I've been/still am in one of those slumps where motivation barely exists and last week was a bit annoying overall.
Hopefully I can get some motivation back soon.
I will try to post a gif of some wip/final cutscene parts in a few days.
 
B

Better Nature

Guest
I just finished the demo. I really liked it. The art, effects, and sound all come together to build up a really compelling atmosphere. The only gripe I can think of is that, as others have mentioned, it could very easily be mistaken for an actual Metroid game, possibly to a fault. That being said, I'll never scoff at more Metroid.

I look forward to the next demo.
 
I just finished the demo. I really liked it. The art, effects, and sound all come together to build up a really compelling atmosphere. The only gripe I can think of is that, as others have mentioned, it could very easily be mistaken for an actual Metroid game, possibly to a fault. That being said, I'll never scoff at more Metroid.

I look forward to the next demo.
There are quite a few games out there that fall into the "looks too much like Metroid." I think that's part of their selling point even if the backlash is "not as good as Metroid." Zordak feels far less like Metroid even with a blonde female protagonist, but it nails that haunting Super Metroid atmosphere.
 
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Apapappa

Member
I just finished the demo. I really liked it. The art, effects, and sound all come together to build up a really compelling atmosphere. The only gripe I can think of is that, as others have mentioned, it could very easily be mistaken for an actual Metroid game, possibly to a fault. That being said, I'll never scoff at more Metroid.

I look forward to the next demo.
Thanks for trying the demo.
Atmosphere is definitely one of the main things I like working on!

"it could very easily be mistaken for an actual Metroid game" - This is a good thing to me. :)




Progress update:
WIP intro cutscene snippets.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bucwl010br84q3j/ZordakWIPCutscene3_web.gif?raw=1

Still no clue when the new demo will be complete.. It's done when it's done I guess.
 
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Joe Ellis

Member
It's always done when it's done, just focus and work hard as you can, s'what I always do

Looks great. You are reallllllllly talented with the graphics, I need to play to demo, gonna download it now..

Just played it... it, is, A - mazing!

Seriously, it completely lived up to the hype I'd got in my head from the screenshots I'd seen, and more, it was just amazing, right from the start I was immersed in it, and the background sounds\ambience are perfect,, it really feels like a finished game,, and this is the shareware version of it, I was sad when the demo ended, I actually said out loud: "Awww!" so I played it again

I love it.

I have a couple of things for feedback,

1. The graphics setup by default is perfect, I tried messing around with 400% instead of 200.. it didn't look as good

2. The Tv filter is perfect, when I turned it off, it didn't feel like that game anymore..

So my suggestion is that you make these 2 things always on.



One more thing, this is just out of interest, the game really reminded me of Quake II, and The Heart of Darkness, I was just wondering if you've played either of these?
 
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Really wanted to give this a go, but get the following error straight after the opening text "Apapappa Games (2018)" fades out at the very beginning:
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: sh_VertexSway

D3DXCompile failed - result

at gml_Object_o_TileSwayBatcher_Draw_0
############################################################################################
Shame it happened as I was hoping to give it a quick go this evening.
 

Joe Ellis

Member
That is probably a problem with your pc, OR antivirus (I have a theory that the antivirus stops the exe from accessing the data pak(win) so try disabling that
 

Apapappa

Member
It's always done when it's done, just focus and work hard as you can, s'what I always do

Looks great. You are reallllllllly talented with the graphics, I need to play to demo, gonna download it now..

Just played it... it, is, A - mazing!

Seriously, it completely lived up to the hype I'd got in my head from the screenshots I'd seen, and more, it was just amazing, right from the start I was immersed in it, and the background sounds\ambience are perfect,, it really feels like a finished game,, and this is the shareware version of it, I was sad when the demo ended, I actually said out loud: "Awww!" so I played it again

I love it.

I have a couple of things for feedback,

1. The graphics setup by default is perfect, I tried messing around with 400% instead of 200.. it didn't look as good

2. The Tv filter is perfect, when I turned it off, it didn't feel like that game anymore..

So my suggestion is that you make these 2 things always on.



One more thing, this is just out of interest, the game really reminded me of Quake II, and The Heart of Darkness, I was just wondering if you've played either of these?
First of all, thanks man, it really means a lot!

This current demo ended a bit abruptly.
A lot of changes have been made to the starting area and some changes to the story.
I thought the teleporter was a bit lazy so it no longer exists and more rooms have been added.
The starting area is no longer a ship but a facility. (will be explained later)
I might also add a bit of "spice" to that area. (undecided as of yet)

The render scale option has been removed quite some time ago so no need to worry about that anymore.
It is permanently at 200% now. :)

TV Filter needs to have a turn off option in case the shader doesnt compile or someone has a really slow gpu.
Default will remain "On" however.

I have definitely played Quake II a long time ago, I played more Doom though. :)
I have not played The Heart of Darkness, but I've seen a "Let's play" on youtube of it.

Thanks again for trying the demo out, hopefully the new demo will be even better.

Really wanted to give this a go, but get the following error straight after the opening text "Apapappa Games (2018)" fades out at the very beginning:
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: sh_VertexSway

D3DXCompile failed - result

at gml_Object_o_TileSwayBatcher_Draw_0
############################################################################################
Shame it happened as I was hoping to give it a quick go this evening.
I guess there are some missing shader compile checks in the current demo.
Not much I can do about that right now.
You are probably going to have to wait until the new demo or find some other solution.

It seems like your computer can't compile the shader so I think that means:
Your computer can't handle the shader, some DirectX9 library is missing or maybe the anti-virus thing Joe mentioned.

Sorry it didn't work for you, hopefully the next demo works better.




General project update:
I'm going to update the main post screenshots to some newer ones and maybe add a few, give me a few min.

Edit: main post screenshots and story have been updated.
 
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Orak

Member
Hi! i just tried your demo and i really enjoy it! the artstyle is consistent and i love the vibrant atmosphere. Im looking forward what you 'll come up with!
Just one thing, not very important thaugh: when you go to an upper room,there is a transition (you can't see what's in the room and that s normal) but if you miss the platform, you fall down (loading room again), then you have to go up again(another loading). i find it a bit frustrating. if there were the kind of thin platform wher you can go threw pressing the down button, or a door, that would not happen (just my feeling about it).
Except this little thing, i want MORE of this game!
 
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Apapappa

Member
Hi! i just tried your demo and i really enjoy it! the artstyle is consistent and i love the vibrant atmosphere. Im looking forward what you 'll come up with!
Just one thing, not very important thaugh: when you go to an upper room,there is a transition (you can't see what's in the room and that s normal) but if you miss the platform, you fall down (loading room again), then you have to go up again(another loading). i find it a bit frustrating. if there were the kind of thin platform wher you can go threw pressing the down button, or a door, that would not happen (just my feeling about it).
Except this little thing, i want MORE of this game!
Thanks for trying the demo and the feedback!

I don't think I'm going to add any jump-through platforms but I may try to improve the room transition experience.
I do think this might be a thing you get used to after playing a bit though, but maybe I can improve it in some aspects.



Progress update:
As I've mentioned before, my motivation has not been that great this month, but now I feel like it might be coming back a bit.
The "secret" is progressing at a decent pace, it's mostly done but I forgot a quite vital part... audio.
So there's that to do aswell.
I'm gonna try to refrain from posting predicted "completion" dates in the future as they will most likely not be accurate.

But anyway, here's some random screenshots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2he2w80mdp0l85/Screenshots1.png?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vw8v9ibpsyaxpij/Screenshots2.png?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayusxzaeea0r9uz/Screenshots3.png?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8er1pi6dss4btro/Screenshots4.png?raw=1
 
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T

ThePandaSenpai

Guest
That looks really good. It really gives a metroid vibe. I can't wait to play the full version. Good job!!!
 

Apapappa

Member
That looks really good. It really gives a metroid vibe. I can't wait to play the full version. Good job!!!
Thank you! And sorry for the late reply.




Update:
I've been slacking a bit..
I'm stuck playing some Path of Exile right now since they released a new league.

I also remembered a few other things I want add to the game before I release a new demo.
I know I've basically been sounding like a broken record for a bit now but the demo WILL be released sometime.
I'm probably too much of a perfectionist when it comes to these things that's why it's going a bit slow right now aswell.

Anyways, made a gif of the evolution of this game since 2010:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ggqcxt1r5tvnw39/OldScreensCollage2.gif?raw=1

Got more old screenshots if you guys want me to post them.
 
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