BLACKHILL

Black Hill is a story about a lone pig’s journey. Living alone most of his later life, young Bo (lead character) has only known his parents, both farmers born and raised. Unfortunately, life has a way of making us feel alone, and cold. Bo’s parents passed away a few years ago. Out of fear of the outside world, Bo stays on his little farm home, though still often wonders what is out there.

Inspirations:
The games that inspired BlackHill are, Hollow Knight, Celeste, and The Legend of Zelda.

GAMEPLAY!
The game is a mix of two perspectives, Platforming and Topdown
I know, kind of weird right? We chose to mix these two because we wanted to bring a different feeling to the game. Platforming will deal is most of the combat, and puzzles, while topdown will deal more with exploration of the world and what it has to offer. There are a few things that we cant say yet, but we will update on any new features we add.

Here are a few Gifs from development and testing


We are just testing some dialog stuff. We are working to make conversations as enjoyable as possible, and not just walls of text.



While this game is still in development, we hope to keep everyone updated on new stuff that we add to the game.
 
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Fredrik

Member
Looks great!
I like the mix between platformer and topdown perspective. Reminds me of the old Zelda games.
 
Forgotten Forest Update

So after working with the mock up I slowly started to export all of the assets to the engine. Added a new section to the engine labeled "Forgotten forest" or "ff" for short.
Then I started to work with the Parallax background and the way it moves.
The forgotten forest is one of the first areas piggy (Bo) visits and while there is still more to do in terms of the rooms for this area, updating the games progress is something I will do as much as i can!

As always feedback is always welcomed (good/bad) and I look forward to all the feedback given!



 
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pixeltroid

Member
Hey! The visuals looks really nice! Animations are smooth....tile and background art are all very appealing. I like how you've used simple forms and flat colors to represent objects. Good stuff so far.
 

Pfap

Member
This looks really good! I am really curious as to what's in the main characters backpack?
 
This looks really good! I am really curious as to what's in the main characters backpack?
Playing with a bunch of different idea's but there will be things you can collect to learn more about the world and better understand some of the folks who live in this world as well. Thats something that I constantly think about since the game has the two perspectives.
 

Pfap

Member
Playing with a bunch of different idea's but there will be things you can collect to learn more about the world and better understand some of the folks who live in this world as well. Thats something that I constantly think about since the game has the two perspectives.
Yea, I thought it would be an integral part of the game and I just noticed the chicken has a backpack too. One of the first things that stuck out about the character was that he had a blue backpack and my mind instantly went to thinking about Banjo Kazooie.
 
Yea, I thought it would be an integral part of the game and I just noticed the chicken has a backpack too. One of the first things that stuck out about the character was that he had a blue backpack and my mind instantly went to thinking about Banjo Kazooie.
There is a story reason why certain characters have them. But it's a great observation you made.
And Yeah I love banjo kazooie as well. One of the best 3D platformers out there!
 
Hello Everyone!
Another new update on project BlackHill. For those of you who do not follow me or my studio, i release updates on there as well! You can find me on twitter at https://twitter.com/CreativeJon90 or the studio at https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks .

For this one I was basically up for the majority of the evening. [till 5am] I was creating the background, adjusting colors and implementing the assets into GamMakerStudio 2.



aside from character interaction this area is pretty much completed. Piggy (Bo) will be able to do a few things here. Thanks to everyone who has been following so far, a new update will be coming out tomorrow as well.

Any and all feedback (good/bad) is greatly appreciated and welcomed!
 
Fantastic game with a lot of charm and pigs! I look forward to seeing a lot more. I think this will go places with how adorable it is.
 
Hey everyone!
Been almost two weeks since last update and I apologize for that.
In this update I want to show the progress that I have made when creating Sammy's Swamp.



With the changes that were made, I had a lot of fun with it. I admit the first time around I was just throwing things around to get a general idea of what I was trying to make. Now that it has more of a defined look, it will be that much easier to create assets for it. Within GMS2, we are still working on the programming and getting things the way we want them to.




I have also added a new character to the already long list of characters.

Meet MaXi, she a fun little cat who loves to stick her nose in anything that smells like adventure. She will probably often get in Piggy's(Bo) way.


In terms of music, our composer has created a preview to share. You can find it on soundcloud. So far he has been doing an amazing job with capturing the feel of the game. (https://soundcloud.com/broduxofficial/blackhill-ost-preview)

Here is also the link to the tweet that was posted, and if you haven't already follow us on twitter too keep up with all updates!

https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks/status/1146500692779130881?s=20

Always we appreciate any feedback given.
Thank You!
 
Update!


With this update I started to play around with the feeling of the area and how piggy (bo) would travel. while certain areas of the swamp can be traveled on foot, other you will need a guide!

Here in the swamp, Bo (piggy) will meet klaus. he will assist Bo in areas that cant be traveled by foot. What creatures will they see? Would they be friend or foe?


Sorry that the image isn't animated -_-
I try to update with Gif images as they become available. Cant wait to update everyone soon!
 

Attachments

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Edwin

Guest
Update!


With this update I started to play around with the feeling of the area and how piggy (bo) would travel. while certain areas of the swamp can be traveled on foot, other you will need a guide!

Here in the swamp, Bo (piggy) will meet klaus. he will assist Bo in areas that cant be traveled by foot. What creatures will they see? Would they be friend or foe?


Sorry that the image isn't animated -_-
I try to update with Gif images as they become available. Cant wait to update everyone soon!
Looking great! Can we have a demo?
 
Looking great! Can we have a demo?
thanks for the feedback, unfortunately there is no public demo for it yet.
Its one of the things we are working on. However I will make a post about a demo once we have one ready for testing.
 
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Hey everyone! As most of you know, myself and a few others have been making the BlackHill game about piggy. This project is something I have been working towards since I first started pixel art. Now I need your help! Please take a moment to fill out the form. It will better help me understand what those who are looking forward to the game would like to have in support of this kickstarter. [Plushies, stickers ect.] Hope everyone has a great day/night. See you in the next update!

Here is the link to the survey. Cant wait to see what everyone submits!
https://forms.gle/hTZoax1tttk2KtRD9

On another note, we managed to make it all the way to 600+ followers during the weekend. We hope everyone has an amazing Monday and if you haven't already, be sure to follow us to be updated on the project status on there as well!

 
Hey everyone New update!

Before I did say that I would make an announcement regarding a possible demo when more information is available. Currently there is a demo in the works but it is not yet stable. We want to make sure that when we release a demo test build, that it has as few bugs as possible. It wont be bug free but we don't want that to hinder your experience when playing

For those who are unaware we do have a discord server where we post updates on the game as well. We also hold contests for certain things like character creation, and in the future beta access rewards. If you like, feel free to join here ( https://discord.gg/Fs2PHe )

Currently this is what our main menu is looking like for the demo. We plan to keep it simple and effective for the moment. As far as duration it isn't clear on how long the demo would be, but we hope to have a clear answer by sometime in the future as well!


The world of BlackHill is an interesting one, and we want to fill it with as many interesting characters as possible and each one having its own story background, and personality. (especially when you speak to them) This is a new character (of an existing character edit ) that I started to play around with. Not sure if it will be a exploration character you meet along the way or a townsfolk blacksmith.


Aw man this was actually pretty fun to create. We have hired on a new artist to assist with character creation and animation. though currently in an early state, here is a little example of some of the enemies you may come accross in the game. [ Design is WIP and does not represent final look]


LASTLY!!!

I hope that everyone has had an amazing day/night. Thank you for coming back to check up on updates and I look forward to updating everyone on what we are working on!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!
https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks
 
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Hello GM community!

Back with another update! Sorry that It has been a while since the last update. Just some irl stuff to be taken care of.

Recently I have been working on revamping areas, and adding in a new one. We also have a new enemy to show. Its one of the smaller enemies piggy will encounter, but we want to make sure its something that will be fun to go up against.

Demo is moving a bit slower than expected, but that's because I want the demo to be something that's truly fun and overall a great experience. Even if its only 10-20 minutes long. Sorry that its such a short update, but here is what myself and the team have been working on!


 
Deep Dive into BlackHill
Creating piggy [Bo]

BlackHill was first thought up in 2016 i believe while I was working on a project called Bounty Nalia's Tale. (https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/bounty-nalias-tale-devlog.20841/)
The originals style to piggy was very simple and was solely inspired by the game FEZ.


As you can see, I wasn't where i am now in terms on pixel art. while the piggy was made by me, the fox character on the right side was a hired character. When coming up with the concept I really wanted to just make something that has a simple story and took place on just one island. Where piggy was stuck and wanted to find a way off the island. Here is a side by side look at how piggy looked and how piggy looks now.

The changes were made for the better. I wanted to stay with the simplistic design, however a friend suggested a more refined look would be overall better and give piggy more character this way. I was 50/50 on it at first but now I 100% agree.

I would like to do more of these but in short bursts. Hopefully I can!
See you in the next update!
 
Hey everyone!

I would like to thank everyone who has followed/checked up on the game so far! We are really trying to build something special and fun. There are some new updates to the project, I will be discussing them below. (this will be a text based update, no images) …maybe

Website
First is the Dinobyte website. After a long time of trying to get something together, Dinobyte Softworks now has a website you can visit it at www.dinobytesoftworks.com. There you will be able to get updates on the project as well via blog posts. There is also a section for Jobs whenever we will be hiring for extra help, feel free to check it out as well!

Game Update
The game itself has seen better days. We (me), hit a designer block recently and it kept me from making regular updates to the game. I had to step away from the game for a little bit. Now recovered and at full force with the game.

The demo is what we are still working on. We want it to be the best that It can be. Soon we will be looking for testers so we can ensure quality for everything we put out! Providing us feedback and reporting any bugs seen in the game.

General Updates
Once thing that this project needed was a set time to give updates on all our major sites that we give updates to. (yoyo games, tigsource, amino app, discord, patreon) We will have two different types of updates. If you are a patreon supporter, you will receive the updates first. Then later would be the regular updates to all the other websites we update the game to.

BlackHill Webtoon
This is a bit of exciting news for us. We will be launching a WebToon series for BlackHill in the near future! We are excited to tell other stories within the BlackHill universe. More details on this will come soon!
[SPOILER/]

And that is all everyone! Sorry that it didn’t have any images this time We will be continuing to update everyone on the status and development has we make strides towards the release of all things BlackHill!

Thanks you for taking the time to read this!
 
Hey everyone!
Yes this game is still in development! We are actively working on new things.

For this update we are working with the Sammy Swamps location! We are currently adding things like fog and other wildlife that our piggy can interact with.




Within the next few updates we will be showing more of the topdown and platforming. We want to make sure they both are as balanced as possible and that everyone enjoys playing in each perspective!

Follow us on twitter to keep up to date as well! See you in the next update!
https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks

P.S if you have any questions for feedback feel free to post. All feedback is welcome. (good and bad) :)
 
Hello again everyone Update time!

Been a rough few days but we have added some new things to the game. We are getting closer and closer to having all the things we need in the game! This first Gif is just showing the different ways piggy can interact with switches in the game.




In this next Gif I have been testing some new tiles for a frozen cave location




Team is getting closer to where we want to be with this game. Only a few more things we need to tweak/create. We cant wait to show everyone some more updates in the future!

Follow us on twitter to keep up to date as well! See you in the next update!
https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks
 
Happy Friday everyone!

Im here with some new updates on the project. There are a couple of things that were updated since Sunday and I would like to take a moment to show what was updated.
First off we updated some of the dialog. While the UI will remain simple we did find a new position for the dialog while in platformer view. The topdown dialog placement is still in the works!




Up next is another feature I haven been thinking about adding for some time. Though its a relatively simple camera adjustment. We feel it would make it easier on the player when going near a ledge and being able to look before they leap. (depending on the level and where.) We will continue to work on this with the levels we are designing!



SOOO
That's early Friday News! I want to thank everyone who has stopped by thus far and checking the project as it develops. Exciting updates are on the way and we just wanted to lay down the ground work for all of the things before we continue!


Follow us on twitter to keep up to date as well! See you in the next update!

https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks
 
Hey everyone is Screenshot saturday!
I know a lot of you are working on your gamejam game atm so I will make this brief. This is something I worked on/submitted for #screenshotsaturday on my various accounts. I wanted to share it here as well! Hope everyone liked in and have a great rest of the morning/day/night!

 
Hello yoyo community!
Been working like crazy the last few days to change things up in the games overall world design and feel. Today I wanted to show you what has changed in the most recent update in the BlackHill Game.

Firstly we were able to get a great image for the game. There will be more on the way but to check it out, go to https://twitter.com/DinoByteSftwrks

Next up is piggies home area.
In the past it looked a bit bland and needed a facelift. It went from this
1588107113197.png

to this

There were also some changes to the way the dialog box looks and the size of the camera. I feel like this is a proper step in the right direction.
The camera is backed up a bit but still keeping it within the same ratio!


Thank you to everyone who has been following so far! Remember to follow us on twitter for more updates!
 
Hello GMC,
I have some news! Well not really exciting news but I hope everyone understands.
This year hasn't been the greatest year game dev wise fore. With Covid-19 and everything else going on it's been hard to keep working on Blackhill day to day and even week to week sometimes. I haven't been updating the game pages or any of the social stuff with game-related updates because I felt like if there was nothing to show how can I post an update.

However, the GMC and anyone else who is looking forward to this game deserves to be updated even if the update doesn't have any images or gameplay to show. As a developer, it is my duty to keep everyone updated and I haven't been doing such a good job of that.
So those who are looking for a game-related update here is!

Blackhill Update "Once more, but with feeling"

The game as it stands is playable and can be tested. However, with the game's codebase has been I and a programmer I am working with. Have decided to start the game's code over. In its previous state, the game wasn't future proof. I want this game to be as enjoyable as possible, with as little issues as possible.
The wait won't be much longer, as we have already made changes to the game that will enable us to add things to the game much more easily.
Streams will also continue in the near future.

I again do apologize for the miscommunication and hope that you keep looking forward to Blackhill!

Thank you for taking the time to read through this update!
Catch everyone in the next update!
 
Hello GMC,

Been a while since I updated this thread.

Changes of life
A lot has changed in the last 2 years. As a result of certain life factors, the project had to come to a complete stop. It really hurt to do this, as I wanted to keep working on changes and be as active as I could be. I was no longer able to do this project full time and started working full-time at a retail company overnight.

Game Update:
Now that things have more or less settled and I am able to dedicate time to the project again I have been working with a programmer on getting the game back on track. Learning how to program was fun and I'd love to dive back into it one day. However, for the state of the project, it is better to have someone who is more experienced work on it from now on.
We have been working on the project again since September 2021 and are on track to deliver a short demo around August 2022. This brings me to my next topic!

Kickstarter!
This is something I have been wanting to work towards for a while. Kickstarter is one of the best ways that I can get the word on the game out. The money would definitely help with development and speed up development time. However, I would also like fans of the game to have a chance to be part of the experience. The Kickstarter community is a very vocal group and that kind of honesty would help with the development of the game. We are still working out the details but, we would love for backers of the Kickstarter to have hands-on experience with the game and provide feedback.

You can follow along with the Kickstarter pre-launch page here: BlackHill Kickstarter
If you would like to be emailed, you can also sign up to be notified via our website: https://www.dinobytesoftworks.com/blackhill-game.html

No gifs in this update. As we get closer to the Kickstarter launch we will share different features that we are working on as well as changes to some of the character's designs.
We look forward to hearing your feedback! Thank you again for your past support!
 

FoxyOfJungle

Kazan Games
Hey! I think your game is really cool! :D I believe it has a certain originality in the art style, I really liked it! I will be following the progress of this game. :)
 
Hello!
We had to stop the project for some time. Some personal stuff that was going on.

Will me making and update as soon as we can. For now, please enjoy this latest piece by one of our artists.

Larry:
He isn't sure if he is a llama or an alpaca. He enjoys inventing new things, gardening and grass!

1684339551378.png
 
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