DISMAL DIMENSIONS (Action platformer) | Demo coming soon

pixeltroid

Member
This is my first Gamemaker project that I started during the second half of 2016 (I worked on it on and off, really). As a non-coder, I worked on this by coding along to youtube tutorials and asking for help/advice from people in this forum and the subreddit. I believe that my game (or at least a demo of it) is on the way to completion -- as soon as I resolve some remaining bugs! Anyway, here is what my work in progress game is all about...

Story in brief (from in-game text)
Mysterious forces from another dimension have laid waste to your world. Your cities fell to the endless waves of hostiles pouring in from portals. Most of your comrades were killed. Others became possessed and absorbed into the ranks of the enemy. You have somehow survived everything so far, but its only a matter of time before your luck runs out. As you retreat and scramble for cover, thoughts race through your mind: "Who are they? Why are they doing this? What do they want from us? What do I do?". All those questions might be answered if you can make it to the secret fortress where others like you are regrouping and preparing to launch a counter attack!

Game description in a nutshell
Dismal Dimensions is a semi-open world action platformer with areas becoming increasingly complex and mazelike as you make progress.

Existing gameplay features
- Use a weapon that fires in 4 different mode -- rapid fire, shot, bomb and flame thrower
- Take on 6 unique enemy types and 3 bosses.
- Destroy enemy objects and collect keys to gain access to new areas.
- Use portals to traverse the maze like areas.
- Take on a variety of monsters and bosses
- Unique death animations for each enemy type (contains blood and violence)
- Collect ammo and health from crates and defeated enemies.
- Game save and load


Screenshots from game

dd4.jpgdd2.jpgdd7.jpgdd6.jpgdd3.jpg
 
Last edited:
B

Better Nature

Guest
I like what I'm seeing so far. The concept sounds fun and the art looks pretty nice.

One thing you might want to keep in mind going forward is the color palette. all of your values are a little too close to one another. I can tell that you are going for a dark atmosphere, and that's great, but you still need to differentiate values between characters, backgrounds, and ground/walls so that it reads easily for the player. if you take one of your screenshots and switch it to grayscale you'll see what I mean. I would suggest using lighter colors for the player, enemies and colide-able floors/walls (anything the player interacts with). Make sure it's very easy for the player to read the important information on the screen.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.
 

pixeltroid

Member
I like what I'm seeing so far. The concept sounds fun and the art looks pretty nice.

One thing you might want to keep in mind going forward is the color palette. all of your values are a little too close to one another. I can tell that you are going for a dark atmosphere, and that's great, but you still need to differentiate values between characters, backgrounds, and ground/walls so that it reads easily for the player. if you take one of your screenshots and switch it to grayscale you'll see what I mean. I would suggest using lighter colors for the player, enemies and colide-able floors/walls (anything the player interacts with). Make sure it's very easy for the player to read the important information on the screen.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.
Hey thanks for the feedback. Yes. I will lighten the main objects like you've advised!
 
G

Guest User

Guest
i quite like the aesthetic you have going on. reminds me of sidescroller shooters i played at the arcade when i was little. and the player character looks really cool. good job :)
 

pixeltroid

Member
i quite like the aesthetic you have going on. reminds me of sidescroller shooters i played at the arcade when i was little. and the player character looks really cool. good job :)
hey thanks for your kind words!

the main character is my nod to "skorpion" from mortal kombat (that's why his uniform is yellow and black).
the colors of the enemy soldiers (green and black) is my nod to "Reptile".
 
G

Guest User

Guest
the main character is my nod to "skorpion" from mortal kombat (that's why his uniform is yellow and black).
the colors of the enemy soldiers (green and black) is my nod to "Reptile".
oh ye, i remember. it was sub-zero, reptile, and scorpion who were all palette swaps of each other. that's a neat little theme there :D
 

pixeltroid

Member

Just thought I'd share some footage of the game.

Enemy placements are not final.
Bullet damage has been turned off.
Some objects are out of place.

This video is only to demonstrate some of the background graphics, enemies and weapons.

Also sorry for the terrible recording quality! The screen recording software was slowing down the games frame rate on my laptop so I thought I'd record the game play with my cellphone! Note that there is no sound, only background noise of the street outside my place! :-/

I'll try to upload a better recording if I can this week!
 
Last edited:
The parallaxing looks really great, the backgrounds are so good, very well done. The character animations aren't the best, but still good. I did notice when he jumps, the stripe on his pant's changes legs?
 

pixeltroid

Member
The parallaxing looks really great, the backgrounds are so good, very well done. The character animations aren't the best, but still good. I did notice when he jumps, the stripe on his pant's changes legs?
Hey man thanks for your comnent.
The stripe doesn't changes legs but it seems that way because the leg bends mid air. But youre right it does look like it's changing legs. Will edit the animation.
 
N

NeZvers

Guest
Visuals are nice. Shooting only horizontally seems tedious, certainly need at least 8 directions (45degree increments) - restrict enemy shooting directions the same as your player unless the player can easily avoid the damage.
Game design needs some work - player should be able to have damageless run, but if you set it up it's impossible then the player will have a bad experience playing it.
 

pixeltroid

Member
Visuals are nice. Shooting only horizontally seems tedious, certainly need at least 8 directions (45degree increments) - restrict enemy shooting directions the same as your player unless the player can easily avoid the damage.
Game design needs some work - player should be able to have damageless run, but if you set it up it's impossible then the player will have a bad experience playing it.
hey thanks for your input.
Yes, I need to add at least upwards shoooting, though I dont think I can implement 8 directional shooting at this stage.

I will look into implementing your other points. I think enemy placements and AI needs more work.
 
N

NeZvers

Guest
For 8 directions I like to reference mechanics from NES Contra.
 

pixeltroid

Member
figured out a way to make enemy soldiers (green) chase the player around the rooms! It's made the game a little more fun and challenging. :D


Note: the green soldiers also shoot at the player from time to time. Ive just disabled that feature for now!
 

pixeltroid

Member
Existing gameplay features (UPDATED)
- Weapon now updated to fire in 5 different modes -- default fire, shot, bomb, lightning AND SHIELD. (Changed the flamethrower into a lightning bolt)
- activate anti-gravity fields that help you jump higher -- in order to access new areas!
- save points placed within certain rooms. So when you die, you respawn over there. (earlier versions had you restart from the start of the room you died in)
- 5 new monsters and improved enemy ai
 
Last edited:
Really nice to see how this project has been progressing: the environments are looking a lot richer and varied than before. I've got some Alien Infestation and Abuse vibes from the screens. You had issues with darkness and contrast on your earlier screens too, but you've been ironing those out.

Looking forward to further progress!
 

pixeltroid

Member
Really nice to see how this project has been progressing: the environments are looking a lot richer and varied than before. I've got some Alien Infestation and Abuse vibes from the screens. You had issues with darkness and contrast on your earlier screens too, but you've been ironing those out.

Looking forward to further progress!
Hi! Thanks for your kind words. I'm very flattered that you get "Alien Infestation" and "Abuse" vibes from the screens. :)
 
love the way this is looking so far!
great progress updates with this. I am really interested in the store you have thus far and can't wait to experience it in-game!
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
Cool game. It looks to be metroidvania, what seems to be missing is a minimap for it.
 

pixeltroid

Member
I did some work on the games HUD graphics.
I'm quite pleased with what I've come up with :)

I started to think the old HUD was too colorful and visually distracting. The new one has only 2 colors and simple shapes to represent the ammo items. I also redesigned the ammo and health pick-ups sprites. I'm still fine-tuning the design, but I guess you get the picture.

hud.png

I also made it so that only the selected weapons icon is highlighted in white. I think it looks cool :)

DDhud.gif
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
@pixeltroid Nice that you listened to my feedback. I'm guessing in the next update we will see a mini map, since I was one of the guys participating on your other topic concerning mini maps, I'm pretty sure it'll be in the next update or another. :)
 

pixeltroid

Member
@pixeltroid Nice that you listened to my feedback. I'm guessing in the next update we will see a mini map, since I was one of the guys participating on your other topic concerning mini maps, I'm pretty sure it'll be in the next update or another. :)
Hey I did seriously begin to consider adding a map after you suggested it...at least so that players don't get too lost and give up. It's not exactly a mini-map, as I'm planning to make it appear only when the player presses a button, and even then he only sees the map of the room he is in. But although I now have a map that works, (thanks to the help from @Annoyed Grunt) I'm still not too pleased with how its looking so far. Its just plain blocks right now. I'll have to work to make it look better visually.

Maybe when I learn enough about Gamemaker, I'll be able to make one that looks decent. Like this one:

31405.gif

:)
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
@pixeltroid That is possible with the script I have. It's just that you need to alt + click the wall objects. Might be nice to have different instances with different sizes for the wall objects. Then you can add the rest with big objects and change it to a sprite. Just like the picture you posted. Anyway, heading over to your help topic right now to explain it.
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
Says "The image you are requesting does not exist or is no longer available".
 

pixeltroid

Member
@mikix

youre right. I refreshed this page and its gone.

I was tinkering around with imgur earlier...and must have accidentaly deleted the gif. But I relinked it again to the post. refresh this page! :)
 
Top