• Hey Guest! Ever feel like entering a Game Jam, but the time limit is always too much pressure? We get it... You lead a hectic life and dedicating 3 whole days to make a game just doesn't work for you! So, why not enter the GMC SLOW JAM? Take your time! Kick back and make your game over 4 months! Interested? Then just click here!

Demo The Tarnishing of Juxtia (Dark Souls inspired platformer)

Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
I have been working on a Dark Souls inspired platformer for a few months now and thought it was about time I make a thread to track progress.

NOTE:
Currently looking for an sfx artist. If interested, please contact me.

UPDATE: Jacob V is redoing all of my bad artwork into something professional and immersive to play alongside with. I am currently in the process of implementing the new assets into the engine. When I have something worth showing, I will update this thread with a preview including screenshots and videos. Thanks again Jacob.
JacobV said:
Hello GMC! I recently teamed up with Online Handle to head the art side of Tarnishing of Juxtia. I'll be handling environmental art, enemy design, spritework and animation, etc. Our current project is updating the game's art assets, a process which is going along very well. We've made a lot of progress, but I can't share all of it with you just yet - however, I can showcase a few of the enemies you'll face in the game. These hunched, skull-masked
hunters endlessly stalk the valley, but for what purpose?

View attachment 15967View attachment 15966​

There will be more updates soon, so stay tuned to see these enemies (and the new environments) in action!​
Click to expand...
(As shown on the title screen)

The Gods in their fortresses of power, who rule over the world, often squabble with another.
Through pity, jealousy, and desire, wars have been waged.
The feud between Juxtia and Drelium is one that spanned an unknown time. Its cause, almost lost to the ages, has been located in the wastelands between their two domains.
Juxtia wished to create a beautiful race of mortals, one that mirrored the many races created by her kin.
She wove a song, a never-ending tune, made entirely of her heart and soul... it was ultimate beauty. And from her song, Juxtia sought to establish a foundation of creation. Her mortals would forever be created in sync to the fabric of song.
Drelium, ever jealous, seized the early mortals of Juxtia, corrupting them into ugliness.
He went to his kin, the other Gods, and presented the corrupted mortals. Drelium argued, that for all of their intended beauty, the mortals of Juxtia would always grow into indescribable ugliness.
The other Gods, many in jealous disdain of Juxtia, blindly accepted these explanations.
Darkness had always been the only trait never used by Juxtia in her creations.
With the betrayal of her kin and the smearing of herself, she looked to the curious powers of darkness. She crafted a warrior, whose sole purpose was to exterminate the fortresses of Drelium and injure the God himself.
This warrior would only be known as the beautiful darkness.

IMPORTANT: For those who do not have a controller to use, please refer to this document.

Latest Demo Date: 2.10.2018
Download Here

NOTE: If the download link does not work for you, please navigate to https://github.com/anpoulos/TTOJ_Builds and download the latest build (usually named The Tarnishing Of Juxtia.zip)

2/4/2018 : 1.0 Tralium

2/4/2018 : 1.0 Passages (Fly-Through)

1/26/2018 : Jacob V Art Rework WIP










I will be updating this thread periodically with big updates such as screenshots and videos.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks everyone.


Note: Help is always welcomed, I am looking for other people to collaborate with in any areas.
  • The project is being developed in gamemaker studio 2
  • Animations are done in Spine
 
Last edited:
DividingByZero

DividingByZero

Member
Looks like a great start to a game. I would try to enhance the combat a bit with some types of feedback, such has knockback and/or knockdown and screen shake when hits connect. The text boxes could use some work too (larger font, dynamic size based on content, etc...).

There are other things, but they are more minor that I am sure will fall into place as you develop the game further.

Good work!
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
DividingByZero said:
Looks like a great start to a game. I would try to enhance the combat a bit with some types of feedback, such has knockback and/or knockdown and screen shake when hits connect. The text boxes could use some work too (larger font, dynamic size based on content, etc...).

There are other things, but they are more minor that I am sure will fall into place as you develop the game further.

Good work!
Click to expand...
Appreciate the feedback. Adding a screen shake is a great idea, I will definitely look into it.

There are knockbacks/knockdowns dependent on the force of hits, stamina usage, poise usage, and armor absorption (you can see me get knocked down a few times).

The UI is all dynamic, except for the text. That is something I will be implementing in the future as well.
 
DividingByZero

DividingByZero

Member
Online Handle said:
Appreciate the feedback. Adding a screen shake is a great idea, I will definitely look into it.

There are knockbacks/knockdowns dependent on the force of hits, stamina usage, poise usage, and armor absorption (you can see me get knocked down a few times).

The UI is all dynamic, except for the text. That is something I will be implementing in the future as well.
Click to expand...
Ah, I totally missed the knockdown - my bad :). But, yeah - something for less intense hits is needed. Even a color flicker, a blood splatter, slide back, etc... Screen shake is good too, but I think it needs to be reserved for big hits mostly (or change intensity). You don't want the screen shaking crazy with every hit.

Will be watching for updates *thumbs up*!
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
I'm not a big fan of unforgiving dark souls like game. I had problems on the first platform mechanics. Pretty painful in the beginning of the game and you respawn in the last room you were in. It made me not want to continue. But there is a huge fanbase around these kind of games. Good luck!
 
Ladi_Pix3l

Ladi_Pix3l

Member
I like it so far. Obviously it's still an early build so I won't judge it to hard. I did find a bug. In the mist of raging, I paused the game when I died and got this error while the game was spawning me.
Code: 
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of <Unknown Event>
for object obj_gui_window:
Unable to find any instance for object index '100145'
at gml_Script_scr_gui_player_start_menu_close
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Script_scr_gui_player_start_menu_close (line 0)
gml_Object_obj_gui_window_CleanUp_0
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
Ladi_Pix3l said:
I like it so far. Obviously it's still an early build so I won't judge it to hard. I did find a bug. In the mist of raging, I paused the game when I died and got this error while the game was spawning me.
Code: 
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of <Unknown Event>
for object obj_gui_window:
Unable to find any instance for object index '100145'
at gml_Script_scr_gui_player_start_menu_close
############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stack frame is
gml_Script_scr_gui_player_start_menu_close (line 0)
gml_Object_obj_gui_window_CleanUp_0
Click to expand...
Glad to hear it made you rage :D
That's the objective!

I appreciate you finding and reporting that bug, it has been fixed!
 
F

FROGANUS

Guest
looks good so far, based on the vids!
i like the style of the artwork, though the animations look a little rigid for now. i feel like it could use more 'follow through' on the sword swinging? i know its early but also if you show player's back for a few frames it could depict a little more 'torque' or 'inertia' or whatever..

dark souls is a great game to draw inspiration from. curious, how closely do you plan to follow the style?

ds has really clever gameplay (the way dropped souls and limited saving sort of force you to go 'out on a limb' to face the next challenge). i think that kind of progression would easily translate to a 2d, more 'platformy' game.
the formidable challenge (and fortunately as i see it, the fun part), would be creating a combat system that's dynamic enough to make it fun to go through that progression, despite the indeed, 'unforgiving' nature of it.

i'll see what i can do about trying it, but is it really gamepad only? keyboard would be convenient for testing..

looking forward to more updates!
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
I appreciate the feedback, let me try to answer your questions.

FROGANUS said:
i like the style of the artwork, though the animations look a little rigid for now. i feel like it could use more 'follow through' on the sword swinging? i know its early but also if you show player's back for a few frames it could depict a little more 'torque' or 'inertia' or whatever..
Click to expand...
My animations will always be getting updated until they result in a product I am satisfied with. I can agree with you 100%, some things are rigid, others are much smoother.
As time goes on, I only get better at making the animations, so you should definitely know that they will get better.

FROGANUS said:
dark souls is a great game to draw inspiration from. curious, how closely do you plan to follow the style?
Click to expand...
Very very very closely.

FROGANUS said:
i'll see what i can do about trying it, but is it really gamepad only? keyboard would be convenient for testing..
Click to expand...
At the moment it is gamepad only. It would not be too difficult to set keybindings on the keyboard. I might look into doing this in the future.
Unfortunately it is not a priority right now, considering I have so many other things to do first.
 
F

FROGANUS

Guest
cool, yeah i don't mean to nitpick artwork at an early work in progress. I like the look, i guess i'm eager to see more.
and i'll see if it runs on my laptop, where I can use gamepad. (first time playing darksouls i remember wasting some frustrating time trying to learn with wasd and mouse at first, lol. gamepad definitely can be a different world..)
 
E

el_Dife

Guest
So no Keyboard support nor any other joypads except the Xbox Controller?
 
kupo15

kupo15

Member
If you are using 1.4 you can use the joystick_ functions to support non xbox and xbox controllers. If you have 2.x you have to use a dll to do that. Search around for joy.dll to for that
 
E

el_Dife

Guest
Online Handle said:
I am not sure if gamemaker can recognize any other gamepads except an xbox controller unfortunately. If it can, then it should be usable.
As long as it supports all the buttons necessary as outlined in their documentation.

Edit: Looks like a PS4 controller would possibly work
Click to expand...
It actually can. Usually 0 to 3 slots are for xinput gamepad, 4 to 7 for dinput ones.
Anyway, mine (an old PS1 gamepad used with USB Adaptor) doensn't work with your game. It crashes at start.
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
el_Dife said:
It actually can. Usually 0 to 3 slots are for xinput gamepad, 4 to 7 for dinput ones.
Anyway, mine (an old PS1 gamepad used with USB Adaptor) doensn't work with your game. It crashes at start.
Click to expand...
Interesting to know, I only have it scanning for slots 0 through 3 currently.
I have a few other controllers that never worked before, possibly because I didn't look through 4 to 7.
I'll most likely increase the range for 0 - 7 and expand compatibility.
 
kupo15

kupo15

Member
el_Dife said:
It actually can. Usually 0 to 3 slots are for xinput gamepad, 4 to 7 for dinput ones.
Anyway, mine (an old PS1 gamepad used with USB Adaptor) doensn't work with your game. It crashes at start.
Click to expand...
Really? I just tested that out using an old logitech controller and the gamepad functions still didn't detect it in those slots. It only detected the xbox controller, any idea why? You aren't thinking about the joystick_functions are you? They work differently than the gamepad functions Online linked to

Online, did you test it and did it work for you?
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
kupo15 said:
Really? I just tested that out using an old logitech controller and the gamepad functions still didn't detect it in those slots. It only detected the xbox controller, any idea why? You aren't thinking about the joystick_functions are you? They work differently than the gamepad functions Online linked to

Online, did you test it and did it work for you?
Click to expand...
Haven't tested yet.
I read elsewhere that since I am using GS2, I can acquire a dll to handle alternate controllers.
So, that is probably what I will be looking into in the future.
Unfortunately, configuring alternate controllers is not a top priority, I have so much else to do.
 
E

el_Dife

Guest
kupo15 said:
Really? I just tested that out using an old logitech controller and the gamepad functions still didn't detect it in those slots. It only detected the xbox controller, any idea why? You aren't thinking about the joystick_functions are you? They work differently than the gamepad functions Online linked to

Online, did you test it and did it work for you?
Click to expand...
Well, actually I`m using GMS 2, and it works with the gamepad function, like the documentation page says: https://docs2.yoyogames.com/source/_build/3_scripting/4_gml_reference/controls/gamepad input/index.html
I don't know if GMS work the same as well.

Online Handle said:
Haven't tested yet.
I read elsewhere that since I am using GS2, I can acquire a dll to handle alternate controllers.
So, that is probably what I will be looking into in the future.
Unfortunately, configuring alternate controllers is not a top priority, I have so much else to do.
Click to expand...
Well, didn't blame about all kind of gamepad support, but at least the keyboard.
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
el_Dife said:
Well, actually I`m using GMS 2, and it works with the gamepad function, like the documentation page says: https://docs2.yoyogames.com/source/_build/3_scripting/4_gml_reference/controls/gamepad input/index.html
I don't know if GMS work the same as well.
Click to expand...
I hadn't referred to the GMS2 documentation - I was only looking over the documentaion from GMS 1. Thanks for the reference, this is great.

el_Dife said:
Well, didn't blame about all kind of gamepad support, but at least the keyboard.
Click to expand...
I'll probably add it in eventually, maybe this weekend.
 
kupo15

kupo15

Member
el_Dife said:
Well, actually I`m using GMS 2, and it works with the gamepad function, like the documentation page says: https://docs2.yoyogames.com/source/_build/3_scripting/4_gml_reference/controls/gamepad input/index.html
I don't know if GMS work the same as well.
.
Click to expand...
oh great thanks for this! Silly me I tested using 1.4 instead of my 2.0 like an idiot haha Makes sense for the 1.4 gamepads to not support dinput since it has its separate function. Can't wait to test this out again, have it work and then reimpilement dinput
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
UI Update, finally finished the equipment upgrading interface.
Ended up taking a few days.


Soon to be released in the next demo:
-NPC Dialogue
-Voiceovers with the dialogue
-New map
-New NPCs
-New items (upgrade materials)
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
It's been a while since I've updated this thread.
I have released a new demo, that has significant updates.
Other than the ones listed below, many major bug fixes were addressed.

Some new things that are available in this demo :
-One new map, consisting of two areas (Border Keep and Floating Ruins)
-Saving and Loading (saving happens whenever servants are used)
-New NPC (Forest Protector) which showcase some elements of my ai
-NPC projectile improvements
-Destructible scenery
-Lots of new animations and many animations were redone
-Stat and combat calculation tweaks
-Game options added

Note: If you are having any framerate issues (in the demo), such as drops, then I would suggest the following: at the title screen, go into options and turn off map particles.







 
Last edited:
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
Last update on this thread was Dec 26th. It's been a little over two weeks since then.
The current demo version is 0.45
Some big updates:
1. Ranged combat (bows and arrows)
2. Offensive magic
3. Controller vibration
4. Destructible scenery
5. UI Scaling improvements
6. NPC ai improvements

Besides these larger updates, there have been a vast amount of back-end improvements and bug fixes.

Some recent videos taken with demo 0.45:



 
X

xesphoj721

Guest
It looks really nice, but I think it would look far better if the "people" were a tad bulkier. You know, having proportions similar to real world people. Though Dark Souls is completely inaccurate in that regard, the bulkiness and girth of frames in those games speaks volumes. If you can do that I believe you'll have something really special.
 
JacobV

JacobV

Member
Hello GMC! I recently teamed up with Online Handle to head the art side of Tarnishing of Juxtia. I'll be handling environmental art, enemy design, spritework and animation, etc. Our current project is updating the game's art assets, a process which is going along very well. We've made a lot of progress, but I can't share all of it with you just yet - however, I can showcase a few of the enemies you'll face in the game. These hunched, skull-masked
hunters endlessly stalk the valley, but for what purpose?

forest protector walk.gifBow Guard walk.gif​

There will be more updates soon, so stay tuned to see these enemies (and the new environments) in action!​
 
Fern

Fern

Member
I recommend adding a vignette effect or some shading on the top/bottom of the screen to give the scenes more atmosphere. Hope this game turns out looking/playing amazingly with @JacobV onboard.

Your persistence and passion is very inspirational.
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
Update: Recent video showcasing plenty of new things.
There's also a very short demo out, refer to the main post on where to download.

Notable:
1. More Jacob V Art Rework Progress
2. Lighting
3. Charge attacks
4. Various combat fixes and improvements
5. Improved NPC ai
6. Combat attack displacements



 
F

FROGANUS

Guest
looking slick, looking smooth..
except now the gui bars look way too bold (next to the dank new level atmosphere).

something else i notice- the camera is pretty rigid on the player- perhaps a subtle driftiness to the camera might be nice?
 
Online Handle

Online Handle

Member
FROGANUS said:
looking slick, looking smooth..
except now the gui bars look way too bold (next to the dank new level atmosphere).

something else i notice- the camera is pretty rigid on the player- perhaps a subtle driftiness to the camera might be nice?
Click to expand...
Both very good ideas. I'll add them to the list.
 
kupo15

kupo15

Member
Looking much better...good work! Now the next challenge for you will be to solve your sound design problems which arguably is even harder to solve. Uhg! :p

Keep it up! :)
 
E

el_Dife

Guest
Still no keyboard controls?
Just to clarify, I'm not arguing against, I'm just want to try it pretty bad, expecially with the new gorgeous pixel art ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top