Hexoshi

Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 08 Dec 2016, 15:25

MCMic {l Wrote}:For people cloning the git repo to try the game out it would be good to have instructions somewhere.

The instructions are here:

https://hexoshi.gitlab.io/download.html

The fact that down shoot down is a bit weird at first too. I’m used to games where you can only shoot down if in the air, and on the ground down allows you to crouch to shoot low. Like metal slug.

The Metroid games don't let you shoot down while you're on the ground either, but I didn't see any particular reason to add in this limitation to Hexoshi. ;) Hexoshi's controls are designed to give the player as much control as possible, and also to be consistent (so you're not aiming in a completely different direction based on whether or not you're on a floor).

It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just something which bugged me when seeing it. Maybe just the same effect than now but where the enemy was instead of next to it would be enough for it to feel ok.

I added a fade-out effect last night. It seems to look `good. Let me know what you think.

Hum maybe, but it would help the game if when looking at a screenshot I was able to say «Oh, that’s hexoshi». This is not the case right now, first thing that comes to mind is «that’s a metroid» and maybe «it looks like the libre one I can’t remember the name of» :-P
Using Metroid gameplay and using Metroid aspect are two different things.

I was speaking from experience. SuperTux and ReTux star a character that looks nothing like Mario, but people still see these games as Mario clones based on trivial similarities to the Mario games' gameplay. This is simply a battle you cannot win. If it wasn't that Anneroy has a space helmet, it would be that you can aim in eight directions the same way Samus can in Super Metroid, or the fact that there's a map, or the fact that it's a maze of rooms.

As for screenshots, Hexoshi will start to look more distinct as the graphics are more refined. Even Milestone 1's graphical improvements will help a lot, because right now it's just a dull black background (like the original Metroid had) and a couple basic enemies taken from OpenGameArt.org. A background and the more inspired/custom enemies will go a long way.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby c_xong » 09 Dec 2016, 00:15

If you put all the dependencies in requirements.txt then people can just run pip install -r requirements.txt. This is standard for python projects.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 09 Dec 2016, 01:11

I wasn't aware of those. It won't quite do the job properly, but I'll add one.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby charlie » 09 Dec 2016, 10:56

I think you should add some extended goals to the campaign. I know you have a question briefly addressing it, but clearer goals (and a nice info graphic showing them) would increase the chances of extra funding.

Start with simple and achievable, just like the campaign, but add some more extreme ones too. Like: "$20,000 - onpon4 takes time off work to code full time for 6 months and release on Steam"

onpon4 {l Wrote}:
andrewj {l Wrote}:A screenshot or two in your post would've been nice.


Seems a tad redundant, but alright. I've added it.


Screenshots are never not-relevant. First impressions etc!
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 09 Dec 2016, 15:42

charlie {l Wrote}:I think you should add some extended goals to the campaign. I know you have a question briefly addressing it, but clearer goals (and a nice info graphic showing them) would increase the chances of extra funding.

Yes, but the problem I have with that is it would be inflexible. I'd rather miss out on the extra funding and get a chance to modify the plans and give Milestone 1 backers input, than get the extra funding and be more or less stuck with that set plan.

The only thing concrete I can say is that Milestone 2 will involve completing the second area and adding whatever powers Anneroy will gain there and whatever enemies will appear there. I can't even concretely say how much funding will be required for Milestone 2's goals; it could be more than, less than, or the same as Milestone 1, for all I know.

Start with simple and achievable, just like the campaign, but add some more extreme ones too. Like: "$20,000 - onpon4 takes time off work to code full time for 6 months and release on Steam"

You say simple and achievable, but $20,000 would be a pipe dream. xD I don't think any more than $4000 can be expected, and $2000 is more likely.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby charlie » 09 Dec 2016, 23:33

onpon4 {l Wrote}:You say simple and achievable, but $20,000 would be a pipe dream. xD I don't think any more than $4000 can be expected, and $2000 is more likely.

The $20k was not "simple and achievable" - it was intended as a pipe dream.

I'm not saying map out Milestone 2 precisely, but you can add things like:

$1500 - enough funds to create the basic graphics and initial level ideas for Milestone 2 including a draft map of the 2nd area
$2000 - a demo of the 2nd area and 2 new actions for Anneroy, chosen by contributors from a list yet to be drawn up by onpon4
$2500 - an introduction cinematic full of pixel graphical goodness, designed by Julie and scripted by onpon4 with the input of contributors
$5000 - basic Steam support
$10000 - full Steam support
$20000 - I will mow your lawns (ok now I'm being silly but you should be writing these!)
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby charlie » 09 Dec 2016, 23:36

Other ideas include extra music, wallpapers, and mini games.

You're the one in charge, you decide what you'd like to work on subject to funding. If nothing else, consider it a scratchpad for 'things I'd love to work on in the next few months'.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby Lyberta » 10 Dec 2016, 04:49

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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 10 Dec 2016, 05:14

FaTony {l Wrote}:I'd vote strongly against Steam support. It is proprietary software and it has zero useful features.

I disagree (there's nothing wrong with a libre game being on Steam), but I can't do it anyway because Steam Greenlight's media upload Web page is broken (I can't upload screenshots, the button that's supposed to do it just jumps me to the top of the page).

I wouldn't consider it to be worthwhile to integrate Steam features into any game I write, though. It would be extra work for the benefit of only extra audiences, and something that would immediately disqualify the game from being hosted on Savannah.

@charlie, I can write a page on the website outlining some ideas I have for Milestone 2, but I can't really attach concrete dollar amounts to them, it'll just have to be a general suggestion of what will be done for Milestone 2.

On a side note:

designed by Julie and scripted by onpon4

That makes it sound like I have a split personality. ;)

Another update was posted today:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... es/update6

Over the last few days, I have been updating Hexoshi’s rooms to use some new edge tiles I made a few days ago. This improves something about the tiles that was minor, but really bothered me: the walls an ceilings looked unnaturally straight. Now, they look more jagged, as they ought to:

Image

Another graphical improvement that has been made, which cannot be shown in a simple screenshot, is to make the enemies fade out rather than just immediately disappear. This seems to work well despite its simplicity.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby Julius » 11 Dec 2016, 08:25

onpon4 {l Wrote}:
charlie {l Wrote}:I think you should add some extended goals to the campaign. I know you have a question briefly addressing it, but clearer goals (and a nice info graphic showing them) would increase the chances of extra funding.

Yes, but the problem I have with that is it would be inflexible. I'd rather miss out on the extra funding and get a chance to modify the plans and give Milestone 1 backers input, than get the extra funding and be more or less stuck with that set plan.


Sort off... the amount of times crowdfunded projects have broken their milestone promises (especially regarding Linux support) I have stopped counting. BUT after all they are only tentative plans or at most promises and if you explain to your backers well why after all you decided otherwise later on, I see little reason why anyone would complain. In the end everyone is investing in you to make a good game, not to blindly follow some earlier plan.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 11 Dec 2016, 16:10

Right, I'm starting to draw up a general outline of what will happen for Milestone 2 (like an ideas page). I'll post an update when it's up.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 12 Dec 2016, 05:55

That ideas page is up:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... es/update7

Some people have suggested I outline some of the plans for future milestones. That isn’t quite possible because there currently aren’t any concrete plans past Milestone 1 (Milestone 2’s goals will be determined when it’s time to start working on it), but outlining some general ideas I have for what to do in the future is a good idea, so I have done so in the following page:

https://hexoshi.gitlab.io/ideas.html

Please feel free to let me know what you think about these ideas, and if you have any ideas of your own.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby charlie » 12 Dec 2016, 11:02

It's a start. I just think you are wasting an opportunity to identify a couple of clear features or development tasks and get funding for them, now that you achieved funding with 3 weeks to spare. There's still eyes hitting the funding page, still opportunities to fund features. I know you are not ready beyond Milestone 1 but you could do things like fund custom written music or art sketches (like Overgrowth) that are less concrete but still add to the project.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 12 Dec 2016, 16:14

Yeah, and those things could happen. It all depends on what the backers vote for.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 18 Dec 2016, 02:05

New update: Special characters

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... cial-chars

Over on Hexoshi’s GitLab page, I and a volunteer have been working on extending Hexoshi’s font to support accented characters. As of today, most of the major characters are now available for translations, although most of them just look like their nearest unaccented equivalents. This will be worked on in the coming days.

It’s technically possible to also add non-European languages to Hexoshi’s font. However, since each character has to be manually added in, it’s unlikely that full support will be feasible for many non-European languages. Still, if you are doing a translation for Hexoshi and need to use non-Latin characters, feel free to add them in and submit a pull request! :) I would also appreciate additional help putting the actual accents on accented Latin characters.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby Lyberta » 18 Dec 2016, 08:38

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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 18 Dec 2016, 15:22

Nothing prevents that, but a sprite font such as this looks much better.

Using a vector-based font wouldn't solve the problem, anyway, because there isn't any single font that has every character. At the OS level, typically a main font is used and then other fonts are used when the main font does not support the characters (e.g. you might be using some basic font for most text, but then falling back to a Mincho font for Japanese text). SDL_ttf doesn't support that, though.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 24 Dec 2016, 04:49

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... /busy-week

I unfortunately haven’t been able to do much this week with Hexoshi because of a busy week at work. This highlights why crowdfunding campaigns such as this are necessary, especially for large games such as this: we all have bills to pay, and that means that work that we’re paid to do must take priority over work that we are doing for free, such as the extra work on Hexoshi I have been doing for free until the campaign ends. At some point, when you depend on such unpaid work to get a project done, development stagnates and ends up taking years, if it ever gets completed at all.

But since Hexoshi’s development is being funded, we will not have this problem as we work on Milestone 1 in 2017. Thanks to this funding, we can guarantee that we will at least reach the goals of Milestone 1.

Of course, additional funding will guarantee more development past the goals of Milestone 1, so if you want to see that happen, please consider making a contribution to push us further over the edge! While I can’t make any precise calculations from this vantage point, I suspect that $2500 would probably be sufficient to blast us through both Milestone 1 and Milestone 2 in one fell swoop.

And happy holidays, everyone!
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 30 Dec 2016, 21:56

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... inish-line

As the year 2016 comes to a close, so does this campaign. I am glad that it has been a success and look forward to completing Milestone 1 in 2017. But it’s not over yet!

Since the last update, I have done some extra (unpaid) work on Hexoshi in my spare time. It’s not much, but it includes two new rooms (one of which is currently inaccessible), some code tweaks, and adding accents to more of the special characters in the font. One particular code tweak involved making it so that Anneroy can stand on slopes without sliding down them, which allows slopes to be used more liberally without causing problems for the player.

I am considering also making a video showing how one of Hexoshi’s rooms is made, for anyone who either is curious or wants to build their own Hexoshi world. Please let me know if you would be interested in this. Making a room for Hexoshi is somewhat complicated due to the nature of the game and the tool being used (Tiled), but not difficult once you understand how it works.

The next update will probably be an announcement of the first vote, which as I said will be on what Milestone 1 goals we should work on first. Stay tuned for that!
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 05 Jan 2017, 23:26

https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexo ... fun-begins

Boy, do we have quite an update today! Lots of stuff is going on.

As I said in the last update, I was considering making a video showing how a Hexoshi room is made. Someone on the Goblin Refuge showed support for the idea, so I went ahead and did it. It's rough and not at all meant to be a tutorial (just a demonstration), but it's here:

https://archive.org/details/HexoshiTiledDemonstration

To be clear, I did not count that toward the 20 hours of paid work I will be doing on Hexoshi. That counter will start once I actually receive the funds raised.

I have also received the list of contributors and the perks they chose, so those who chose the $30 pledge level are now listed in Hexoshi's credits as promised. This also means that the first vote can be announced. I will do that in a separate announcement to make sure it has maximum visibility.

Of course, because of how Crowd Supply works, you can still contribute to this campaign if you like. Don't be shy; after all, the more extra funds are raised here, the easier the next campaign will be. But now it's time for the best part: developing Hexoshi. This is where the real fun begins, and I hope you enjoy this process as much as I do.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby DGMurdockIII » 10 Jan 2017, 02:15

co-op would be nice like the what the old TMNT games had
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 10 Jan 2017, 02:25

Co-op would have to be more like the Sonic games, where there's a lesser character that a second player can use to help you out (that just follows you around otherwise). I'm open to the possibility if someone wants to draw and animate the second character. I'm imagining some kind of exotic alien pet.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby MCMic » 11 Jan 2017, 11:59

The new rooms mess up badly with the map, is that on purpose?
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby onpon4 » 11 Jan 2017, 14:49

I'm not sure what you mean. In what way is the map messed up?

If you're referring to the fact that some doors lead to nowhere, that's just because of the incompleteness of the world.
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Re: Hexoshi

Postby MCMic » 12 Jan 2017, 08:58

The rooms are not next to each other on the minimap, as if the doors were teleport, but the same place on the map can match several rooms depending where I come from :-/
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