Alpha Celaria [First Person Parkour Platformer]

Lewa

Member

Celaria is a first-person parkour platformer with a focus on fast and reactionbased gameplay. You jump from block to block,performing parkour moves like wallruns,slides and rolls plotting your way through the enviroment. The objective: Run to the goal as fast as you can.

Latest update video:

Screenshots:














About the game:

Being a parkour and speedrunning fan myself, i wanted to contribute to the (somewhat lacking) list of already available parkour games.
The idea behind Celaria was to create a skill-based parkour game on which players can battle against each other for the best time possible. This not only includes mastering the parkour system but also finding new possibilities within the level geometry and optimizing routes for the best time possible. Depending on how fast you completed a map you will either get a platinum, gold, silver or bronze medal. (If you were too slow, no medal at all.)

There are also hidden gems (red sphere-like objects) scattered around the maps which can be collected by the player. (A bit of map-exploration is needed to find them all. :) )

Color is also a gameplay aspect in this game. Some of the colors represent checkpoints or the final goal (purple and red) while other can give you buffs to your current abilites.
As an example: Green allows you to jump a lot higher (and reach places which wouldn't be possible without it) while yellow increases your maximum running speed.

Players also have the abilitys to create their own maps with the built-in map-editor. (Already available in the alpha!) Those maps are saved in standalone .cmap files which can be shared with others and simply loaded into the game by dropping them in a specific "custom_maps" directory (which the game then automatically reads and loads.)
NOTE: There are already a few custom maps created by players for the alpha version! (you can find them on the games website: www.celaria.com )


In addition to that will be also able to play against each other in realtime multiplayer modes. (Basically you see other players running around on the same map as you are.)

Leaderboards will be also included so that you as the player can compare your best time with the rest of the world.

Plans for the future:
The game is currently in alpha-state, so not all planned features are in the game (yet).
This includes:
  • Online Leaderboards for ALL maps (including custom maps made by players.)
  • Mapsharing feature (working on an website specifically for this task)
  • Multiplayer Mode (the foundation is already there as seen in this video)
  • Replays

Additional Information:

 
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KurtBlissZ

Member
I played this a little bit and so far I love it. The replays, online hgihscore, and map sharing is all perfect for this game.The multiplayer would be neat for some competitive or coop modes. Is there going to be controller support, and any plans for split screen support?
 

Lewa

Member
Is there going to be controller support, and any plans for split screen support?
Controller support isn't planned. The main reason behind this is that the current control sheme simply wouldn't work with analog sticks on a controller.
You have to be very quick and precise with your camera movement in order to be able to quickly adjust your character movement ingame.
As an example: While doing a wallrun you can adjust your direction in which you want to jump of the wall. And you have (more often than not) only a very small timewindow in order to quickly turn your camera and jump.
Performing moves like this wouldn't be very intuitive with a controller as the analog sticks simply don't provide the same fast and high-precision movement compared to a PC mouse. (Imagine playing something like CS:GO with a controller.)

Split-screen multiplayer isn't planned. But it will be possible to play with others via LAN or Internet. :) (There will be dedicated serversoftware available for download so player will be able to host their own servers.)
 
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Annoyed Grunt

Guest
You know, a thing I've always wondered is: why can't we select the Menu map directly from the single player screen? It's 100% functionant.
 

Lewa

Member
You know, a thing I've always wondered is: why can't we select the Menu map directly from the single player screen? It's 100% functionant.
Yes, the map geometry in the menu background is a playable map. (In order to streamline the code i just load a playable map in the background and use the menu camera to fly around it.)
It was never intendet to be playable though. This map was made back in the day where i was still experimenting and trying to find a fitting leveldesign philosophy for the game.

This map has a horrible leveldesign concept. It's literally only one linear path without any kind of optional pathways which have different difficultys.
It's also way too large. You more often than not have to run in a straight line without having to do any kind of jumps/wallruns/rolls, etc... The current maps are more tightly packed. (So you have to do much more moves in a much smaller space which increases the skillcap and makes the maps much more interesting.)
Instead of scrapping the map completely i used it as the menu background (because it looks quite nice from above.)
 
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Lewa

Member
Since i build my new PC and wanted to test out the capabilities of the new hardware, i took the time to record all custom maps for the game and put them into a little video showcase (which ended up being 8 minutes long...) But finally i`m able to record gameplay footage in 1080p at 60 FPS. :D
What are custom maps?
Custom maps are maps made by players by using the build-in map-editor of the game. (Basically maps made by other people and not me.)
I thought some of you may be interested in what you can achieve with the built-in editor. (And yes, all those maps are available for download on the games website.)

Here is the showcase:

 

GMWolf

aka fel666
This looks awesome! Ill have to play it when i get the time.
Tell you what though, Some AO would do great on this game! And since you mostly have rectangular shapes, you could even use maesh based OA rather than screen space AO!
 

Lewa

Member
This looks awesome! Ill have to play it when i get the time.
Tell you what though, Some AO would do great on this game! And since you mostly have rectangular shapes, you could even use maesh based OA rather than screen space AO!
Previously i had SSAO in the game but removed it due to quality issues (it was somewhat dependend on the angle at which you looked at the geometry.) Not sure if it's still possible to enable it through an .ini tweak in the current alpha. (The code is technically still in the game, but the option to enable it from the options menu was removed.)
I'll look into the mesh based AO technique. :)
 

Lewa

Member
Just released a new Video update about the Beta version of the game. :)

I do plan to start a multiplayer beta in the near future in order to get more feedback for the multiplayer, do more stress testing (need to test if the server can handle 64 players at once) and find bugs which i've overlooked.
 
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ThunkGames

Guest
I'd love to be a part of the multiplayer beta.

Played the game for an hour or two so far and had a lot of fun. It seems like one of those games that is fairly easy to be OK at but very hard to be good at (I forget what this is called).

Good stuff going on here!

Edit:
I had some noticeable screen tearing at 1920x1080 fullscreen.
 

Lewa

Member
I'd love to be a part of the multiplayer beta.
The multiplayer beta will be public so that everyone can get their hands on it. (That's the plan as of right now.)

It seems like one of those games that is fairly easy to be OK at but very hard to be good at (I forget what this is called).
That was my intention while working on this game. :) (Seems that i succeeded.)

Edit:
I had some noticeable screen tearing at 1920x1080 fullscreen.
Enable v-sync in the video options menu.
 
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Lewa

Member
Made a new video update/showcase for youtube. (The last one is a while back.)

Things which i showcase in this video:
  • Improved artstyle (outlines are now rendered around geometry, making it way easier to spot edges and distinguish geometry at longer distance)
  • Medal collecting
  • Replay system
  • New maps
  • multiplayer
 
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dj_midknight

Guest
Quite impressive sir. I think making the world a bit more stylish would really add to the game. Also have you considered a 3rd person camera? This looks like a game I would want to play from an over the shoulder perspective similar to Jet Set Radio
 
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Lycanphoenix

Guest
If that option was added, I would probably stick to first-person. I grew up with Mirror's Edge, and want to stick to that if I can.
 
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dj_midknight

Guest
If that option was added, I would probably stick to first-person. I grew up with Mirror's Edge, and want to stick to that if I can.
Thats my point exactly. Having the option of which cam would be great. I do think there are alot of people who would prefer the 1st person though so in no way am I suggesting to remove that.

We all have different preferences to these sort of things. I tend to favor 3rd person in almost every game. To me seeing my character interact with the world and how the finer movements lay out helps me visualise the surroundings. I even play most of my hard core racing sims from a 3rd person view.
 

Lewa

Member
Also have you considered a 3rd person camera? This looks like a game I would want to play from an over the shoulder perspective similar to Jet Set Radio
There are currently no plans for implementing a 3rd person camera.
The way the character controls is heavily tied to a first-person perspective and simply wouldn't work in third-person. As an example, jumping of a wall while wallrunning requires you to move your camera in the general direction in which you want to jump (like in a first person shooter. But instead of shooting you jump.) and press the jump button. If you would play in a third person perspective you would get a lot of issues with the camera clipping through geometry. (A third person perspective would need an overhaul of the controls in some areas.) In addition to that, the animations aren't really great for todays standards. Playing the character up close in third person would look rather horrible. :p
 
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FROGANUS

Guest
Looks really nice! Reminds of course of Mirrors Edge which I really enjoyed but felt that game could go in a number of different directions but didn't, so glad to see another bright and clear parkour cruiser in development!
But yeah, abt Mirrors Edge, think my main takeaway from that game was- too much stress with the guns and choppers, also too linear- I'd like to see in a parkour game, more open levels with a few different directions, and maybe even a freestyle mode? (might have to check out this level editor for myself..) though I wonder what the challenge would be without it being a race- are you considering any kind of free mode, considering some kind of point system for stunts?

Just a note- the player models look cool, but relatively small on screen. Maybe 3rd person camera would be wonky, but I think you could showcase the player models better by doing some cinematic camera stuff at least like when you finish a level. Given the scale and motion of the graphics, I feel like Mario Kart could be a good reference- they have relatively small characters on big courses, but use great cinematic effects to zoom in on players at the right times to 'flesh out' the whole experience.. 2 cents..

Def plan to try this out soon!
 
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