Demo The Life Ruby (metroidvania platformer) -------- Still lives!

RangerX

Member
@RangerX
Also you can be as good of a programmer as you want to be! If you hold yourself to a high standard like you mentioned, your game will show it. If you say to yourself, "I'm not that great of a programmer, so this code isn't that great..." It will almost assuredly become a self-fulfilled prophecy. Thanks for the compliments though :)
Thanks! I guess you're right. I push myself to reach a satisfying quality standard, this game is my first one afterall but I want to make it feel pro. This said, I am redoing the attack code soon. Right now there are collision problems but I am gonna make the knife another objects, the hero and the knife their own objects. I will be able to manage this whole thing much better that way.
 
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RangerX

Member
NEWS && UPDATE

Look like this weekend has been a great benefit for the game. I fixed a couple of things that were quite annoying:

- Attacking Vs collision logic has been entirely redone
(no more jerking when slashing the walls and no more attacking canceling when near the wall)

- Better slopes
(no more jittering when entering an upward slope)

With this out of the way, I will now dive into level design and pull out those 4 remaining levels in the Challenge Mode's first world. :)
 
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GM029

Guest
This looks great! I will def give it a go tonight if I have a little extra time. I'm going through the same thing with my game - at first I wasn't going to have an attack/fighting mechanic but now I am building one in.
 

John Andrews

Living Enigma
Oh wow now this is a good WIP, I found a funny bug at the boat that lets you fly infinitely, and the 1st temple is coool! a bit hard but cool, and I liked a lot the music and the red mage battle, very entertaining game it is pointing in a very good direction :)
 
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GM029

Guest
Really nice platformer! I will say it took me a bit to get used to the controls, especially the jumping. But I did and it's a fun game. I really like the parachute game mechanic.

One minor bug I came across, somewhere a textbox came up underneath the ground/wall tiles, when I get back to my laptop I'll post a screenshot. Just a minor depth issue most likely.
 

RangerX

Member
Oh god that's a platform! I got stuck there and was thinking for about 4 hrs XD
Am glad you liked the game. There's quite a big update coming in a month or so. I want to put out another entire section of the temple.
What did you think of the Challenge Mode?

Oh and for the pipes... you can swim under them... :p


Really nice platformer! I will say it took me a bit to get used to the controls, especially the jumping. But I did and it's a fun game. I really like the parachute game mechanic.

One minor bug I came across, somewhere a textbox came up underneath the ground/wall tiles, when I get back to my laptop I'll post a screenshot. Just a minor depth issue most likely.

Thanks alot for the feedback. I would like to know wich text box because I did spot a couple of those since the last update and want to be sure to have them all covered. ;)
If you finally liked the controls, I would be curious to know how you like it when the character is having more power ups on. If you want to temporarily add power ups, press 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. You'll see what you get thanks to the HUD.
The game will readjust itself when you change rooms though. :)
 
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GM029

Guest
Here is the screenshot:


The keyboard layout works well to me, I think the I just needed to get used to the little jump, it felt much better with the double jump. I like that the character builds over the course of the game!
 

Tryin Ryan

Member
Wow! Really looking forward to see more! I'm really liking your enemy AI and level designs. I'm a sucker for platformer exploration games.
Hopefully I can get a demo of my game going, so you can check it out, but for now I only have screenshots.

Keep up the good work! I'll be following you for sure.
 

RangerX

Member
Wow! Really looking forward to see more! I'm really liking your enemy AI and level designs. I'm a sucker for platformer exploration games.
Hopefully I can get a demo of my game going, so you can check it out, but for now I only have screenshots.

Keep up the good work! I'll be following you for sure.
Hey, am glad you like it! :)
You're getting me curious about your own game now. Be sure to let me know when you have a thread going on.
 

KurtBlissZ

Member
Good game so far; but one thing is missing is music. Seems a bit off with the music in combination with like the first boss.
Otherwise so far of what I played seems interesting.
 
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brokenjava

Guest
Why not just host this file on google drive? sorry if someone else posted this already i didn't read tghe thread.
 
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mariospants

Guest
So far, I love the retro Amiga-like feel of this game even down to the music!
Noticed in the tutorial, right before the stone-man thingy where it instructs you how to interact, it says to use "ArrowD" when interaction (for my choice in controls, at least), is ArrowU...
 

RangerX

Member
So far, I love the retro Amiga-like feel of this game even down to the music!
Noticed in the tutorial, right before the stone-man thingy where it instructs you how to interact, it says to use "ArrowD" when interaction (for my choice in controls, at least), is ArrowU...
I understand you modified your controls with the key config right?
I will re-test that feature a little bit and try to reproduce your bug there. The controls in the tutorial are dynamic and I what's written on screen is what you chose in the key config or simply the default setting you chose at the beginning.
 
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mariospants

Guest
I understand you modified your controls with the key config right?
I will re-test that feature a little bit and try to reproduce your bug there. The controls in the tutorial are dynamic and I what's written on screen is what you chose in the key config or simply the default setting you chose at the beginning.
no, just chose the bottom option.
 

RangerX

Member
NEWS & UPDATES

Bear with me, the next update (500) is taking a bit longer that I would have wished for.
I am going through some tuff times in my personal life and it slowed the thing down a bit.

I received a bunch of official music for the game though. This is really awesome and will plug them in the game for the next version. There will still be placeholders though here and there.
I am waiting for the first batch of sound FX now. I should get them soon and will also plug them. It will make the game much more lively.

:)
 
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RangerX

Member
I did rehost all the images in the opening post.
Can you guys tell me if the images aren't appearing for you?

Thanks all.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
When this game is done, do you intend on uploading it to gamejolt, itch.io, etc?
 

RangerX

Member
NEWS & UPDATES!

Version 500 is slowly but surely getting along. The songs are plugged in now and I am currently designing an extra zone for the adventure mode. I think I'll wait for that new zone to be playable before pulling out a new demo.
Can't give an schedule though. It's going to be sometimes this summer. It will depends on how fast I am at reorganising my life... 'cause I went through a divorce!
Oh well, life happenings. This will free up more time for The Life Ruby. lol


These 2 secret lovers there though, they don't seem to be on the verge of divorced and I think they didn't really want to see me there... I dunno, they have this look on their faces, don't you think?



:)
 
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Eklips_Studios

Guest
Just finished the demo and it was great! Really looking forward to version 500. I will save my thoughts and critiques until then.
Keep up the excellent work!

EDIT: Two quick things before I forget:
1) When you have the parashoot and double jump power-ups, there is a possible unwanted behavior:
When you jump, then use your parashoot, then jump again, you will perform the double jump. I'm not sure if that is intentional or not.
But also, when you walk off a ledge, then use your parashoot, you can jump and then double jump. Again, not sure if this is intentional or not, but it was just something I noticed.
2) Bug: (See image)


Again, keep up the great work! I think you have something special here. Just replayed it again, but used the numbers to get all the power-ups, and I must say it feels excellent to play when fully powered up. Traversing the levels are a joy. Very fun game!
 
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RangerX

Member
oh, nice catch there! Thank you for reporting!
I'll fix that for the next version.

As for the parachute, its intentional that it doesn't "kill" the double jump. However when walking of a ledge, you're only supposed to be able to double jump. I'll have to take a look at that! :)

EDIT: all fixed !
 
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elsi11

Guest
Hey, I tried your game. It's way past my bedtime. :p Here are my notes:

The first text shows up for just a milisecond. (The second time it stayed for like 3-5 seconds, so I guess it's ok)
In the second keyboard layout, changing ZXC to ASD would be nice. The whole of middle europe uses the QWERTZ keyboard, and not many know about the Windows+space shortcut to switch to english. It would also be more natural for the hand having the thumb on space.
While it wont matter on a controller, I, personally, prefer having a dominant side on a keyboard. Meaning, that if I press left AND right, that the character will go either left or right, not stand still like the classic hsp= (kb_left-kb_right)*hspeed

I love the death animation in water. Like super mario.
In the tutorial, after the water, I hit the zellow idol with the sword, and it told me that I got it, but the blue text screen doesnt seem to want to go awaz *xD changed lazout(. The blue box has no text.. just stays there, with the read arrow, and doesnt go away until you pick up the next thing.

In the intro, second panel, it says "he been at the wrong place at the wrong time". I guess it should be "he had been" or "found himself", or just "had been". "and had been at the wrong place at the wrong time"
The water is nice, has nice splashes.
Movement is really smooth and nice.
The damage animation is really nice, really retro.

Max falling speed seems a bit low, but it goes well with the smooth movements. You dont appear heavy, so terminal velocity isnt that high, and it might be good when falling off cliffs to get treasure.

I really like the damage animation :D
The first boss is so cool, I knew meleeing him would be tough, and the way to do it was using zelda tennis :D Death animation is nice, and the wall shaking when going up is a nice touch. And all the particles springing about.. really nice.

Good luck with your game :)
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
In the second keyboard layout, changing ZXC to ASD would be nice. The whole of middle europe uses the QWERTZ keyboard, and not many know about the Windows+space shortcut to switch to english. It would also be more natural for the hand having the thumb on space.
And the French-speaking communities usually use AZERTY keyboards, so using ASD would give awkward controls for France, parts of Africa and probably a bunch of people in Quebec as well :p

Ideally keyboard keys should be remappable, it's impossible to use a layout that's not awkward to SOMEBODY if you only have a set layout.
 

RangerX

Member
Thanks for this precious feedback Elsi11. I am glad you like the game. Every game who likes it makes my day :p
Your comments on the keyboard layout is very interesting. Not many devs are talking about it on the web but its a delicate issue. There's at least 3 important layouts in the world (Qwerty, Azerty and Dvorak) and making a game perfectly adapted to everybody is impossible. This is why when you create a game you try and plan a strategy for this.

For this game I said to myself well, I sure first need to accomodate the most people as possible. Therefore it made sense to "think out" the game with the standard used in America, the current biggest videogame market in the world.
Since its a retro styled games, I also wanted to cather to that audience, so I dug out the 2 most classic keyboard layouts that where there even before it became popular to game in a "keyboard+mouse" fashion. In the times of Commodore 64 and even before, the "ASD JKL" (similar to the typing position) was the most popular thing, followed closely by the "ZXC + Arrows". So I choose to use those 2 styles as the defaults ones in the game (which you choose at the beginning at least in the version I have now). Lastly, to accomodate all the rest, I thought it was absolutely mandatory that I create a key configuration so basically the player can use any keys he wants (almost).


Hey, I tried your game. It's way past my bedtime. :p Here are my notes:

In the tutorial, after the water, I hit the zellow idol with the sword, and it told me that I got it, but the blue text screen doesnt seem to want to go awaz *xD changed lazout(. The blue box has no text.. just stays there, with the read arrow, and doesnt go away until you pick up the next thing.
:)
That's a good bug. I am happy that I am not able to reproduce it at the moment. I remember lately I've fixing some bug that could occur and related to how my text box object was getting destroyed so.... I think its fixed for the next version I will pull out. But if ever you can find some repro steps in the future and with a new version. That's be great to really fix it.
 
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elsi11

Guest
Hey, I'm glad you liked my notes. I have some time before work, so I'll play the game a bit more :p

The first name popped up for just a second again. Maybe has something to do with the game loading for the first time. The second time I start the game, it worked normally.
After 10 tries, I managed to replicate the golden idol in the tutorial level problem. When you hit the idol with the sword, the text pops up, and when you press enter to get to the next page, it just stays blank, and the blue text screen stays blank. If you wait 1-2 seconds, the idol and the blank text screen will dissappear. BUT, if you manage to physically collect the idol in those 2 seconds before the blue screen disappears, it will get stuck until the next popup screen :D
ruby1.jpg

The beginning of level 2 was a bit hard. The bat alwazs got me for 3 hearts, and then the fireballs finished me off. Took me like 5 tries :p A big difficulty spike with the fireballs. I thought it hurt me for 3 hearts, so I went back, but all take just 1, so I guess it's managable.
The red idol is kinda missable, dunno If you can get one later. Or if that is just a bonus. Edit: I see, it's a circular dungeon, so you can go back to get it.
When you get the running boots, you feel like a hacker for doing the left-right jump
And thne I jump down the hole and go to main screen xD

In the challenge mode, first level, I got the time, but didnt get the trophy :p Must be a rounding issue
ruby2.jpg
The "falling for it" level shows why such a low terminal velocity is actually good

When I go from adventure mode into challenge mode, I think my pearls stay (see picture), so I "have" more than needed, but I dont have enough of that special type that the challenge mode gives you. Maybe you could just add "x/70". Or "70, x needed (smaller letters)". Or just reset the count that stayed from adventure mode.
ruby3.jpg

Hey, I can go right back to adventure mode. That's a cool feature
Oh, you sly fox, you can stand on the water pipes, and get the map with the long jump...
But I can't get the thing (yellow book) on the left because I have the red idol and the blocks collapse :p Edit: I got it! Took a loooong jump and mashing of space to get the character to jump off the crumbling red block

Hmm. Since I was unsure if I was supposed to go back to the village, I went back out of the temple to the first boss room (where I couldnt jump high enough, so I went back). The RED IDOL respawned. Let me try to do the tutorial glitch on it :p (can't, this one doesnt let me move while the textbox is active, and the idol dissappears with the textbox)

Challenge mode: in the first text, it says that you enter levels with arrowD, but you enter them with arrow up, I think.
Also, I noticed now that the worlds are linked, and I can't do challenges without having enough pearls. The problem with me having 120, and not being able to enter 70, remains

Ok, I dont know what do do next. Guess that's it. Gotta go to work. :p
 

RangerX

Member
You know what elsi11, I hope you will try the game but on the next version I will pull out. You are good for reporting stuff and I love it. However, its all stuff I think I did fix since I uploaded that version here.
Anyhow, I have a question for you though. That first screenshot from the tutorial version.... is that how the game appears on your screen? (all messed up lol) or its only the screenshot that is like that?
 
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elsi11

Guest
Glad I could help.
Hopefully I will play your next iteration of the game :D
I made the first picture waay smaller to lower the file size. My screen is 1920x1080, and if you take away the black border, the game size on my screen is 1600x900 :) Game looks perfectly fine.
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
Ooohhh I really love it. Very atmospheric. The only thing that stands out to me is the water, which is a bit "spiky-er" then I'd expect

I think the gold lettering looks great
 
I like the title screen, although I'm curious as to what it would look like if the background was blurred a touch and/or darkened, just to add some more pop.
 

RangerX

Member
Other stuff worth noting (that the image obviously can't convey)...
- The fog is obviously moving, fading, etc
- Fire is animated and with little fire particles coming out of it.
- There's a shinning effect that passes through the Ruby at random from time to time

Maybe I should make a gif of it actually

EDIT:
So there's the GIF!
 
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darkfalzx

Member
Played the demo and reached the second zone. It's definitely a good start. Here are my thoughts:

  • Very solid overall presentation and stability. I only hit a few minor visual glitches (one of them being: talking to a cultist near hidden treasure produces a dialogue box partially obscured by terrain)
  • Good front end - you don't see those on WIP games very often.
  • The music choice isn't the greatest. It's way too somber for such a colorful game. The dreary music also made the complete lack of sound effects very conspicuous. Please find a musician or use better, light-hearted royalty-free stuff.
  • There are way too many pixel-perfect jumps needed almost from the very beginning. I think pixel-perfect jumps are a big no-no of game design, especially if the punishment is insta-death (or restarting the room from a checkpoint, like in this case)
  • The movement was just a little too slippery for my personal liking, but that might be subjective.
 
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Anonymous the Nothing

Guest
I have encountered a problem. I am running this game on a Windows XP and for some reason, after about five minutes into the game it crashes. This problem is constantly occurring so I am wondering if it is a bug, although it could be the hardware I am running it on.
 

RangerX

Member
I have encountered a problem. I am running this game on a Windows XP and for some reason, after about five minutes into the game it crashes. This problem is constantly occurring so I am wondering if it is a bug, although it could be the hardware I am running it on.
I guess it is worth looking at it. I did not test the game running on Windows XP at all because I don't have such a computer or know anybody that does.
So first of all am glad the game is running at all. lol
Can you try playing with the application surface turned off?
Press P key (pause) as soon as you can like when the initial cut-scene starts or something and then in to the advanced options, turn off the app surface.
 
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mockgames

Guest
BTW @RangerX I tried the demo and I was immediately drawn in. Good controls, good story line, good graphics and very addictive music which is still playing in my head. I look forward to update revisions. I think you may have a hit on your hands here. I love the graphical style and use of colors.

Firstly I want to say the non game screens were very nice. The title, the control selection, and even the detail of idling for a few seconds and you tell the player where they can find help or pause. Very thoughtful, and well done. The controls were overall very nice, although I think (just my opinion, take it for what it is), I think when jumping, some folks may like an "extended" jump effect, just slight one even when holding the jump down. Or maybe there is one but too slight for me to notice? I don't know. Also he slides a bit when you move in a direction initially. That part may have been my imagination as I am very tired. Anyway, again, I am very impressed with this work. Thank you for offering the demo.
 
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SpecTre

Guest
@RangerX Just been looking through this thread being new to GM2 coming from AGK and have to say this looks very impressive. I can't play it unfortunately as I have a Mac but the graphics and menu look superb. Giving me inspiration for starting my own project. Good luck with this game.
 
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Mike_

Guest
Really enjoying the demo. I think the movement feels good. I tried the main game before the tutorial and got a little stuck. . . .but then I suppose that's why there is a tutorial! All became clear after going through the tutorial and found the game really immersive. I felt the tutorial would be a good first 'level' of the game to help ease the player into the game and play around a bit with the mechanics...I understand the point you made earlier though that some people just like to get stuck in, and admittedly its a while since I've played similar games so maybe I'm just rusty ha. The enemies are well animated and think the look of the game hangs together really well. When the player bounces on the spring, could the animation show the character looking upwards? (bit like in sonic?) just a thought. Really looking great!
 
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Necavare

Guest
Pretty cool game. I like the pixel art. I have a few suggestions. The controls are a bit weird. I feel like you could use the mouse buttons for some of the controls. Also this game uses a lot of memory and cpu so I feel like the optimization needs to be priority. Another thing is there is a lot of text. Like on the help menu. You could probably simplify that up a bit. Otherwise its a pretty good game. I didnt get to far into it but im planning to play a lot more later.
 

RangerX

Member
Pretty cool game. I like the pixel art. I have a few suggestions. The controls are a bit weird. I feel like you could use the mouse buttons for some of the controls. Also this game uses a lot of memory and cpu so I feel like the optimization needs to be priority. Another thing is there is a lot of text. Like on the help menu. You could probably simplify that up a bit. Otherwise its a pretty good game. I didnt get to far into it but im planning to play a lot more later.
Well, the game is near the size it will be at final I think. Right now it takes more memory than what you expect for a short demo but, per example, I have placeholder music for each final songs and stuff like that.
I'd be curious to know what kills your CPU though. I run the game on my side on some old Compact PC (a 10 years old dual core that came out when Vista came out) and the game runs pretty good...
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
So I realized I never played your latest demo, so I played it today. I defeated the red mage and made it a bit further before dying and come back here to post.

What struck me the most was your attention to detail to all sorts of things. *Lots* of cool animations, like the red mage himself, the shark jumping from the water. Even the sword swing animation was sharp, and I like how you auto-disable it if you're too close to a wall. I found a few secrets which felt great - boy I love secrets in games like this.

As a platformer I wish the controls were tighter. Your horizontal momentum gives you a certain weight, but some of the platforms and obstacles I had to navigate didn't seem tuned to my momentum. Those short stone platform (with the fish?) were pretty hard to land on at times.

Similarly, if I had to guess I'd say your drop speed is a constant change - meaning that no matter how far you fell, you dropped at the same speed. This made it tricky, as a lot of platforms use acceleration-based gravity.

Finally, some of the dialogue wasn't the greatest. Obviously that's not a priority in a metroidvaia, but there was a lot of it. Maybe something to consider.

But beyond those things it's really obvious that what you have already shows a lot of promise.
 
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