Copycat, Cee Ann (Game Preview)

Bluetail7

Member
That big hi-res image looks wonderful. The way you are handling fullscreen is cool.
Thanks!

Now on the news with this post:


I don't know how many of you are reading this, but I am aware there are plenty. All I want to say is that I've put a lot of effort and time in this project, sometimes I was feeling down and sometimes I was happy to continue with this.

A mix of feelings were involved: Sometimes depression would push me forward to become a better person, since I learnt from my failures. So is the game development: I grew from mistakes and yet I can't accomplish most things I wanted to do.

There are many who won't speak and are lurking, I know it. You have been following for a long while...

if you used to be a close person to me, who ended their friendship or companionship in bad terms: I want to let you know that I'm sorry for my mistakes and if there's something that I should forgive: Stop worrying about it. I have made my choice to let things go for good.

I might still be a mess of a person, but I am doing my best to keep myself focused and in line. I worry about most people's opinion and I try hard to fix everything that needs to be done.

I hope I can find peace with you my old friends... or if you want to call it: random strangers, I'll be fine if you want to stay that way.

This game is the mix of all good things I can make and put together: getting help from other people too as I aim for the highest quality, yet I won't make it an AAA game: I'm afraid.

The project is about to be finished sooner or later, please enjoy the things that are to come and the stuff that has been released already. I wish you the best experience and good memories.

Perhaps I punish myself too much from my past and for the things I am still ashamed, but I think I should keep it that way until I find peace within myself.

Sincerely yours, Bluetail7
 

Bluetail7

Member
Copycat, Cee Ann has turned into a project being developed in 3 years and more!


Today I present an early version of the story.

Feedback is highly welcome.

Let me know you thoughts.
 
S

Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
Everything looks fantastic, except the mountain range in the background during the gameplay looks very rushed and sloppy, especially when comparing it to the preciseness and neatness of the foreground and the level of detail you put into the mountains in the story scenes by contrast. Other than that 1 tiny thing, this looks all around fantastic to me. Keep up the great work! Also really like the animation smoothness of the main character a lot. The story artwork reminds me of old sonic games for the Sega Genesis, which is a great aesthetic. :)

P.S. please do not be discouraged by my feedback. it's obvious you or whoever does the artwork has the ability they need to polish off that small detail.
 
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Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object orb_ventisca:

DoAdd :: Execution Error
at gml_Object_orb_ventisca_Draw_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_orb_ventisca_Draw_0 (line -1)
 

Bluetail7

Member
Code:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object orb_ventisca:

DoAdd :: Execution Error
at gml_Object_orb_ventisca_Draw_0
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Object_orb_ventisca_Draw_0 (line -1)
Line -1???
I'll work to find the solution. Thanks for letting me know :)
 

Bluetail7

Member
No worries. I forgot to mention that happened almost as soon as I opened the game. Glad you sortedit and I will try it out again later!
While reading the documentation I found that your system might require of Direct X9 to play, note that I have run on this problem as well on a clean install of windows. So try doing that.
 

kupo15

Member
Yeah I like the hi res versions too, why not make the whole game that way instead of reverting to pixel art ish? I think the character is too small and zoomed out and the resolution of everything is just too small.
 

Bluetail7

Member
Yeah I like the hi res versions too, why not make the whole game that way instead of reverting to pixel art ish? I think the character is too small and zoomed out and the resolution of everything is just too small.
Indeed, the resolution is small because it was aimed to portable devices. There's an in-game option to scale the window screen twice and a fullscreen mode that changes the HUD into other aethestics (will be customizable later).
About the hi-res graphics, they are only aimed to cutscenes for now. Those suggestions are being reviewed slowly and implemented on trial-error.

On another note: the skill list is available in the Opening Post.
 

Bluetail7

Member
The game has been modified to experience basic skills and a tutorial was added.
I will try and make more changes, but I'm afraid that this game lacks of updates as I no longer feel the passion I had for it.
 

Bluetail7

Member
Updates:



Boss fight in the works, with an advanced combat system that will chase into you with no breaks.



Water flow system updated, now the game supports these kind of traits as the character is affected by it without major consequences.​
 
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Bluetail7

Member
I decided to bring some context of the game development and its delays.

My motivation was very big when making this project, in fact, I wanted to put all the known platformer mechanics into it.

By 2016 I met a "composer" which turned out to "make" nice compositions for the game in a style I was looking for.

After a couple years of development I decided to upload them publicly, so people can get a sneak peek of what's in the game. Soon after that I got a DMCA notice that stained my motivation and trust.
It dealt a big damage to what I was making and what motivated me at the time, so I spent some time away from this project.

As you can see, I had to leave these tracks on hold since I can't tell of they were genuine after such events. Even what I picked as the character's theme had to be put behind.

With this said I dedicated my time to find and polish what I can't achieve myself, started smaller projects and the such.

Some time later I brought myself into the project, starting with the music since its the spirit of the game. I have met a nice composer around 2018 that was able to bring a new soundtrack, and with them I can relate my experience and feelings on how I step into the project once again.

I can say its the main theme of the game and introduction of my feelings, as the story that was written here.

I cannot express with words how this music feels to me, but its like "I fell down... now I step back up and I will keep going forward learning from these mistakes."

The sentiment is there and if you compare one with the other, the first says how I was fulfilling the dream.
While the other speaks about "keep going, no matter what happens".

Yes, the emotional damage is there. But this train keeps going and I got to lead the path.

Hopefully I can bring the consistent updates back again.
 

Bluetail7

Member

The game has been updated to the 2023 release.

Its the Demo update for the GameMaker Community.

This version adds a new menu where you are able to choose your INPUT controls and a langugage between English or Spanish.

Fixes:
Slowdown on main menu due to bad coding
Control customization: crashing if there was no gamepad plugged
Backflip mechanic making a softlock in the water (you had to disable swimming to make it reset)
Tutorial placement corrections.
Functional multiplayer through a keyboard and a gamepad connected together.

Changes to the gameplay.
Skills can now be unlocked through future bosses

Changes in graphics
Controller and Gamepad images were polished on early menu

Download was changed on OP to itch.io due to cloud service limits on another platform.
 

Bluetail7

Member


Copycat is getting an update soon!

The following changes are as follows:

New enemy included: a gargoyle that chases and hunts you until they take you to the skies and crush you on the ground dealing damage.

Correction to tutorial messages: the order was misplaced in some.

Option to skip tutorial with a button.

Save points being added as a prototype: might be unstable or delayed as the level design isn't completed.

Health recovery items will be added into the game, making it easier to heal the character while playing.

Enemy's progression is shown below:

 

Bluetail7

Member
Update:
Download: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gbof...1.12.exe?rlkey=29yq8nx1ksi91o287ocmb7xni&dl=0
Mountains background was reversed.
Corrections to sword and water mechanics.
Added gargoyle.
Added first boss.
Added placeholder for second boss.
Small redesign on levels which might be a little broken in visuals (not fatal)
Correction on detection input and standard controls mapping for third party controllers.
Added camera gimmicks, in beta phase.
Added healing items on levels.
Correction on menus not working properly based on input.
 

Repix

Member

Tried to skip the intro xD whops

Alright got into the game.

I'm a keyboard user only, I have tried with controllers, but damn things.. argh! can't use em proper.

All the good things I noticed first:

Borderless window is cool man!
Menu is sweet!
Character animations are stunning! You made those yourself 100%??! Very impressive.
Sounds a great, fits well
Music is not bad at all, seems to work well in a loop, doesn't get tiresome all that fast I could imagine either.
Bridges move a little when you stand on them
Water is cool, diving is a cool mechanic (I'll mention that again)
Using melee when not aiming is always a great mechanic, I like it!
Skills menu is really well made!
Love the custom border around the game that you made, looks good and stays its welcome even when playing, not distracting.
Enemies and collecting points is always fun, I like that too.


I'd love to see the menu getting streamlined a bit, being able to use Enter and Space for selecting options would be really neat! I had no idea originally you had to press D since it never told me that was an action key :D (Well before getting into the game)
Diving again seems cool, but somehow it felt clunky in an odd way, either that or I'm really slow at figuring it out, cause when I used that rope to jump over, I got stuck, didn't know how to swim properly.
(Ignore my old comment here, forgot about the custom controls, my bad, I'll try the game tonight again with modified ones xD Sorry, again I'm slow. Gimme a chance! I'm old.

I don't see many negatives so far, other than some things that could be streamlined, everything else is really cool. Could see myself playing the final product in a few years time! Well played!
 
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Bluetail7

Member

Tried to skip the intro xD whops

Alright got into the game.

I'm a keyboard user only, I have tried with controllers, but damn things.. argh! can't use em proper.

All the good things I noticed first:

Borderless window is cool man!
Menu is sweet!
Character animations are stunning! You made those yourself 100%??! Very impressive.
Sounds a great, fits well
Music is not bad at all, seems to work well in a loop, doesn't get tiresome all that fast I could imagine either.
Bridges move a little when you stand on them
Water is cool, diving is a cool mechanic (I'll mention that again)
Using melee when not aiming is always a great mechanic, I like it!
Skills menu is really well made!
Love the custom border around the game that you made, looks good and stays its welcome even when playing, not distracting.
Enemies and collecting points is always fun, I like that too.


I'd love to see the menu getting streamlined a bit, being able to use Enter and Space for selecting options would be really neat! I had no idea originally you had to press D since it never told me that was an action key :D (Well before getting into the game)
Diving again seems cool, but somehow it felt clunky in an odd way, either that or I'm really slow at figuring it out, cause when I used that rope to jump over, I got stuck, didn't know how to swim properly.
(Ignore my old comment here, forgot about the custom controls, my bad, I'll try the game tonight again with modified ones xD Sorry, again I'm slow. Gimme a chance! I'm old.

I don't see many negatives so far, other than some things that could be streamlined, everything else is really cool. Could see myself playing the final product in a few years time! Well played!
Hi
I'd see and check if I can make a single button to confirm through the menus since I use Enter in the beginning and the the D key without telling about it.

Diving probably feels a bit weird when changing directions, hopefully I will look into it and make the transition smoother.

For the controls, the programming on the keyboard input is complicated because its easier to press many directional keys at once while in a joystick there's more control about it.
Also if you feel like playing a second time with different controls: in the main menu, in settings: there's an option to change the mapping so you can customize to your fit. This also affects the menu controls.
 

Bluetail7

Member
August's last update is here:

Make sure to keep your settings at top.
if you are using an XBOX or PLAYSTATION controller make sure to select this option for extended features.


The key mapping will change accordingly to these settings.



Directional pad has weapon selection in THIS update




Fixed some dialogues position and added a few for introduction to the controls as well

Download:
 

Bluetail7

Member
Not a version update but some things I'd like to show.

Game manual can be found at the following link.

Implemented a smooth transition between cameras (WIP)


Did a small update to the graphics on the mugshot and First time window.

 

Bluetail7

Member

I am glad to present the october updates!

So far the game has implemented many features most of them visuals and helpful to the gameplay mechanics.

#The old main menu has been renamed to MENU SELECT
The following has a couple features changed, see the later information for more.

#Main menu is now able to detect player's input and setup the language from the beginning.
the language settings can be edited by going to the settings menu for different locations.

#Main menu will display a demonstration with basic gameplay mechanics.
Please let me know if the timing differs or doesn't finish the stage.

#Lives implementation
Lives were added into the game as items, now you can collect and stack up to 5 or more depending of your gameplay style.
if the item in question can't add up to the count it will refill your health instead. Which is perfect if you plan to do a single run without loss.

#Lightning
Lightning system was fixed when walking into caves and stepping out of them.

#Game mode is now functional:
You can select between 4 game modes.
The following act as such
  1. Complex​
    1. This mode allows for the player to run through the stage while refillings it's healthbar when defeated, once you reach the boss you will put yourself on test. Your lives system won't refill against a boss, instead you will have to start over behind the boss room in the last CHECKPOINT.​

  2. Challenge​
    1. This mode allows for you to get the patterns and movement as you get defeated, the lives system will make you start the stage again from the last CHECKPOINT. The only time your healthbar gets a refill its when you are against a difficult enemy that such is the boss battles.​

  3. Arcade​
    1. This mode is for those that are used to play where you get defeated and respawn on the last checkpoint, same with the boss. Like the standard back then, you are given 3 lives but can raise up to 9.​

  4. Casual​
    1. This mode is the most fit for the starting players, due to the game speed it should be considerated at first glance. It allows you to refill your depleted healthbar no matter the situation, you will be given 7 lives just like a cat.​
All these modes end up to the same screen when its a GAME OVER:
You will be sent to the MENU SELECT where you can load your last save from the last time you went to the MAP.

#Demonstration after powerup
Each time you defeat a boss or get a powerup, it will run a demonstration to show how it works.
Sometimes there will be decent gimmicks you can learn from those, keep in mind those are a WIP and its planned to be able to skip with a button press.

#Screen modes
Screen modes were an option you could find the MENU SELECT.
Now they are removed and instead they will be added as function keys for F2 to F4 with the following order
F2: Window mode, Base resolution.
F3: Window mode, Base resolution X2.
F4: Fullscreen mode.

#Camera transitions
The game now features camera transitions (prototype)
They will help you see your sorroundings as it scrolls to points of interest where there could be paths to lead the way
The same could be said as they focus on scenes as well.

#Filters
Scanlines were added as an option (yet to be implemented into keys)
The following are as such.
Horizontal scanlines base X view
Horizontal scanlines base X GUI
Vertical scanlines base X view




There's no download file yet.
Keep in touch for the next update.


A game started by Bluetail in June 8, 2016
A game about Speed, Power and Accuracy!



Latest preview

DOWNLOAD

August 31 2023.
Reach a hybrid game of speed and fighting with a level of RPG components. All in a platform where you have to master all the elements from the stage to win. Use energy cores to unlock or exchange skills, up to you which suits best at gameplay. Mix and craft your own style, create dynamism as you build your character through every scenario, every enemy counts!

Game info:
Code:
Platform: Windows PC.
Game genre: Action, Platformer, Puzzle.
File size: 20 - 30 MB
File type: dot EXE
Beta build: 1.1
Released versions: 16
Original:
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox 360
Generic:
  • Playstation
  • Snes
  • Turbo Controls
Download - Feedback is welcome
Online Game Guide: Link


Additional info:
Code:
This is the third official platformer in development.
This is a beta download.
Thanks for reading!
 
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Bluetail7

Member
Update:

Filters are now able to switch in-game through Functional keys F5-F8

Images are in spoiler due to size.




So far the Functional keys are like this:
F1 - F4 Window Modes
F5 - F8 Filter Modes
F11 - Respawn
F12 - Hard Reset

Escape Key is only functional through the demo.

Scanlines quality may vary depending on the screen.
Taking the pevious note in mind, make sure to test it yourself since the resolution may vary from what is displayed in the spoilers (top and bottom)

 

MeBoingus

Member
I've been watching this on and off for ages and it looks really nice. I saw your profile post earlier and it reminded me of some feedback I've been meaning to give, but keep forgetting to.

The camera is a bit static and it'd be nice to have a bit of dynamics. You can travel pretty fast in this game, and one nice thing to offer players to help improve reaction times is a bit of lookahead (it's basically free, too!). There are a few ways to implement this:

1. Have the camera scroll to favour the direction you're facing.
2. Have the camera scroll between the player and the direction they're facing depending on whether they're moving.
3. Probably a few more, but those two are the most applicable here.

So, if your camera is currently this:
1699388170655.png
(black shows the center of the screen, red shows the player + direction)

Option 1. would be this:

1699388279372.png
(Look! It's an enemy we couldn't see before :D)

And option 2 is basically the same thing, but the camera would center back on the player when they're not moving, and slowly "zoom back" when they start moving.
 

Bluetail7

Member
I can do that!

I remember hearing this concept before, the camera can change the speed feeling of it. Which I am gonna test while working on it.

there would be some camera changes related to the aiming and movement.
 

Bluetail7

Member
I'm opening a devlog so I can show the vision I'm looking for the project

I decided to refer to Cee Ann as the character with adaptability while Riptide is the one that evolves.

With that in mind, Cee Ann's vast skills/moveset/mechanisms are taken into account for said word (Adaptable) which allows the player to customize the gameplay to its style. It also means that the character has no limitations on mechanics such as double jump and others dynamisms, but he would be facing evolution since he's unable to upgrade physical traits such as character statistics.

Something that Riptide is able to, being able to extend its defense and endure large combats as he grows in combat, speed and strength. But as his opposite, he's very limited to his body traits where he can learn a limited amount of skills that can be either innate or possible with practice.

To Cee Ann's disadvantage, he's unable to regenerate over time like a living being, unless an external source is there to aid. He as well takes advantage of his traits such as combining his moves to perform large chains of attacks and leave little room for possible treats. Making good use of combos to balance an unfair opponent with large health.

Riptide's strength is that he can break through most enemies defense, the spear along with his attack power is able to perforate through the barrier or shell that the enemy would use to protect themselves.
 
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