Twinsen - Pilot Episode Demo

[.TakaM]

As some of you may or may not know, Ive been working on a platformer with my coder for about the last two months, we're very happy with how everything has progressed and the time has come for the first public demo.

but first, why is it called the 'Pilot Episode Demo'? because this game is a TV show, and features the first level as the pilot episode, the first level may change in the final game, just how the first episode in a TV show may be remade if the show gets picked up, time will tell. 

so, let me get on with it.
here are some screens:




what does the demo feature? play it yourself and find out!
the controls are as follow:
    * f4 - toggle full screen
    * shift - run
    * z - jump
    * x - sword
    * c - magic ball
    * enter - start
    * arrow keys - move
but, if you have a controller, I highly suggest downloading joy2key and playing the game with that

spend some time mastering the controls and how Twinsen moves and attacks, there are also a few secrets in the demo, if you don't figure them out after a few days, I'll tell you them

Okay, heres the demo links
www.crimsonproductions.com/Twinsen.exe
http://jessetyler.net/files/Twinsen.exe
(windows only sorry)


crit the pixels if you wish, report an errors also please
ENJOY!!!!

[Darien]

This has great atmosphere.  Great pixels all around.  Gives it a unique feeling.  I really want to play more.

I'm not going to get into why I don't think you should use Twinsen, you can just go to that Link thread you had earlier.

I'm not sure what this gains by being a TV show?  I guess just an arbitrary way of starting an adventure?  Seems contrived to me.

Great work though, I'm looking forward to more.

[.TakaM]

lol, Im kinda expecting a bit of a beating for continuing to use IP.. well atleast twinsen is a lot less famous than link
and honestly, the TV show aspect hasnt really been intergrated all that well, its just when I made the tiles I was thinking, "these tiles look like theyre of an ant farm, how am I going to explain that?" then i thought, why cant the world just be a giant ant farm? then why? alien reality TV show seemed to fit
all the TV show aspect explains is why its a platformer (couldnt be anything else really) and the points in the bottom right (viewer ratings)
in the future the viewer rating's numbers will determine which direction the show gets taken, play stealthfully and the game will become more stealth based, play aggressively and there will be more enemies to kill etc
also planning on having special effects if you have higher ratings, since it becomes a show with a bigger budget

glad you enjoyed it

[Helm]

You know my opinion on it more or less. I think the 'tv-show' thing is very tacked-on and really spoils the idea, though. Why is it a platformer? Because. Why are the tiles cut-out like that? Because. It's aesthetics, man, you don't have to explain shit. Do you see Shadow of the Beast dropping a disclaimer on you on that somebody robber the world of its third dimension so now people can only walk about on one plane and punch each other off of it or anything? It's a game. A level of abstraction is fine without far-fetched theories to make it 'realistic' again. Perhaps it would be a better idea if Twinsen wasn't in a TV-show, because why would Twinsen be in a TV-show? If it were your own original character it would be less absurd. But Twinsen is an established character that has... nothing to do with TV, or reality shows.

[.TakaM]

valid points, but do you think having a reason why the tiles are cut etc is a bad thing? I dont think it really detracts from the game..
and why would he be in a show? well, say by this point hes quite famous in his universe, the aliens know he'd be a good character to base a show around, especially if they seperate him from his family and the rest of his world and consider the glass has pushed sendels power to the surface giving everything life

at the least I intend on using the TV show aspect for presentation and some of the gameplay, I wouldnt go as far as say viewtiful joe though

[Darien]

viewtiful joe makes sense to use the movie because the style is meant to draw from B movies, here you only seem to have pulled the TV show out as a way to justify yourself.  Maybe it doesn't detract from the game but I don't think it adds to it.  You don't need the TV show to justify the points (and I don't understand how a linear measurement like that would account for stealth and aggression)

Personally I'm not a fan of the TV show in also that instead of having this character that goes out and does something he is forced to do something... which makes him not a character but a puppet.

I mean the way Viewtiful Joe gains from the movie theme is that that's what the game is about, they take it all the way.  Like Helm said, the TV show here seems tacked on.  Either really take advantage of everything a TV show premise has to offer and design your game around it, or don't do it.  Don't half ass it.

[.TakaM]

what would you suggest to make the TV show aspect not seem tacked on?

[ptoing]

what would you suggest to make the TV show aspect not seem tacked on?

axe it.

[snake]

Not sure I agree with totally removing the idea. Tested the game and the sequence where the world is split into a single plane is great. Gives a more dramatic sense to the idea, rather than just being backstory filler in text. However, I don't like the idea of it being done by normal TV station people working on some reality show, drinking coffee. The dramatic split scene contradicts it. If you abstract them a bit, make them aliens doing mouse-maze experiments on humans for example, or doing a show of some sorts. The TV guy's don't seem to have the power to do such a thing.

The controlls handle great for now. I'm not sure I like his jumping speed as it's a little slow and allmost makes you have to plan tactics in order to figure out where to land. I died a lot of times simply because I over estimated his jumping, falling off the ledge I was supposed to be jumping off or just missing or falling over the next ledge. Just needs a little tweaking.

I hardly know anything about Twinsen's Little Big Adventure.. adventures. Only time I've run into him was through a demo of LBA1. Still, I'll add to what the others have suggested of making your own character. You could just tweak what you have so far. The visual style is allready very different from LBA and you're still early enough on in development to make the changes.

Apart from that, there's only praise. Good game. 

[Frychiko]

I played until I got to the bridge, and was that the end of the demo? It just didn't scroll any further.
Anyway I like what you got so far. The game tune got stuck in my head and I was whistling it at school and one of my students started humming the tune also.