After 3 days of major bug fixing, I finally see the light at the end of that tunnel. Hopefully, this is going to be the last day of work on Code: Evolved Windows 10 bug. What was the major problem with the game on Windows 10? I already wrote on this subject. So you can read all about that on http://www.indiedb.com/games/code-evolved/news/cod...
While all this was happening I was contacted by voice actor Marsuves Black http://www.indiedb.com/members/marsuves576
He wanted to voice characters in Code: Evolved game. Thus Dreamwalkers voice is born :)
The game is in English and Serbian but for now, I can only afford voice on English. Also, Dreamwalker will have voice only in intro sequences. If you like what you see and hear you can help me adding Serbian voice over. How? By buying a bundle with 4 of my games on https://itch.io/s/6549/code-evolved-voice-over Any financial support is welcome. Thank you in advance! :)
Starting tomorrow I will be back on track and hopefully, in 2 months I will have Neo Semidori Wolf side of the game done. See you all soon with more news and thank you for the patience :)
Code: Evolved DEMO: https://mmmfree2dwindowsgames.blogspot.rs/
#screenshotsaturday
It's time to talk about influences on White Wolf world. There are three major influences. And all 3 are games from PSX.
First influence is an obvious one... Final Fantasy 7. The whole concept of life energy is based on life stream in FF7. But consequences and the way that life energy works in White Wolf is much more different than in FF7.
Secund influence is Tomb Raider games. The way that the world and stages are designed. White Wolf and Code: Evolved are Metroidvania type of games but the player doesn't explore one big world. Instead, every stage has his own key items, beginning, and ends. And every time you enter the stage key items will be reset. This way the backtracking is much shorter (the same purpose teleport have in big world Metroidvanias but I think this is a much better way). Also, when you get to the end of a Metroidvania game everything is open and you don't have much more things to do. Whit this system every time when you enter the stage you can explore it again.
The third influence is the best RPG ever created (in my opinion). Parasite Eve. I love the stories that explore the dark side of biology. And Parasite Eve is a master of that. It's a perfect blend of fantasy and sci-fi. This game didn't directly influence on White Wolf world but it inspired me to make dark fantasy sci-fi Metroidvanias in general.
So, that are 3 big influences :)
As for the Code: Evolved current progress, I am working on a boss fight in stage 7 and on stage 7 in general so, see you all soon with more news :)
Code: Evolved digital art by Andrija Drenovakovic.
The first half of the game is almost done (Neo Semidori wolf side of the story. So, let's talk about gameplay. Code: Evolved in his core is a Metroidvania type of the game with very dark fantasy/sci-fi story. But there are a few things that separate it from a usual Metroidvania games.
TWO PLAYABLE CHARACTERS - Game will have two playable characters. Neo Semidori Wolf and Neo Semidori Owl. But every character will be game for himself. Wolf and Owl will have their own set of weapons, stages, and story. Thay doesn't even exist at the same time. But which story is the first in Code: Evolved timeline? That... I can't tell you :) Also, the player will be rewarded with a bonus after credit scene if he beat the game with both characters.
PLAYER WILL PURCHASE UPGREADS AND ABILITIES WITH EXP - Exp in the games is nothing new. You kill enemies and you gain experience points. But, in Code: Evolved you won't be leveling up. Instead, EXP will act as currency that you can spend in your inventory by buying new special attacks or upgrading your stats.
CHAPTERS / STAGE DESIGN - Altho Code: Evolved is a Metroidvania game player will not explore the whole world at once. The World is divided into chapters and every chapter has his own key items (that will be reset every time you play that chapter again). This way player will not find himself in a situation where he needs to do a massive backtracking to progress. And also he can explore a stage again even he found and unlocked everything in it (since key items are reset).
CHEAT CODES - This is a reward for every player that explore stages thoroughly. The more % of the map you unlock, the more cheat codes you will unlock. Not all of them will be useful of course but most of them will be just for fun (no head, no body, pot mod, evil face, big head, enemies scream...) I loved tons of fun cheat codes in old PSX games and I thought it would be nice to include something like that (as a reward for persistent players) in the game.
KNOWLEDGE - If you wish to find out more about Code: Evolved the world you can find white crystals that will expand your knowledge and you will be able to find out more about Midori, Semidori, Life energy, Dreamwalker and much more by entering into inventory.
TWO BONUS STAGES FOR EACH CHARACTER - Speaking of white crystals, if you collect them all you will unlock a bonus stage. But if you manage to kill all 5 side bosses you will unlock a second bonus stage where you will fight most difficult boss in the game and as a reward, you will get one of the most powerful weapons :)
Beyond all this, there are also some standard features like map function, joystick support, joystick mapping, 2 languages (English and Serbian), 5 save slots ... I am working hard on this game and hopefully, it won't disappoint. In the meantime, you can check out DEMO and tell me what you think. Every feedback is welcome :)
Code: Evolved game story is told from the perspective of two main characters. Neo Semidori Wolf and Neo Semidori Owl. Each of this characters will have their own stages and weapons. And today I finished making the last stage for Neo Semidori Wolf and started working on final boss stage. This means that the half of the game is done... right? Not really. Each character has his own 10 stages open for exploration. But only eight stages are the story stages. This means that I still need to make two bonus stages for players who have discovered all the secrets in the game. On the other hand, I already finished the first stage for Neo Semidori Owl when I made Code: Evolved DEMO. So the game is very close to being 50% done.
This looks like the game is going to be in a development for one more year. But that is not the case. Every major thing for the game (enemies, weapons, story...) is already completely done for both characters. That means that I only need to make stages and boss fights for Neo Semidori Owl. Hopefully, the game is going to be done by the end of the year, or at the beginning of the next one.
You can check out trello table and find out exactly how far in the development the game is and what still needs to be done https://trello.com/b/Dm1ACF4e/... :)
In the mean time check out Code: Evolved DEMO (3 wolf stages and 1 owl stage) and tell me what you think and see you all soon with more news. http://mmmgamesindie.blogspot....
Just one last thing. This is my first commercial game (and hopefully my first game on Steam) But don't worry. It will be a very affordable indie price.
I just finished Code: Evolved final stage! Now comes the hard part. Making of the last intro :)
Here is a list of things for this game that are done and that still needs to be done:
You can also check out trello table and see how far in development Code: Evolved is :)
Neo Semidori Wolf last cut scene is almost done! Very emotional scene. Not only for the Wolf and the Dreamwalker, but for me too. I worked on Wolf side of the story for almost a year and now it's time to say goodbye to the Wolf and to start work on Owl side of the story.
Owl side of the story will be done much faster. Why? Because it's a side story. So, there are no big cut scenes. All I need to do is to make 8 stages. And after that 4 bonus stages (2 for each character). So in total game should be released by the end of the year or very early next year :)
Until then try out Code: Evolved DEMO and tell me what you think. Every feedback is welcome :)
Today I finished drawing and animating all sprites and designing all frames (on paper) for the last Code: Evolved cut-scene (none of which I can show you because of the spoilers) :) Now all I need to do is to put all that togeather in the game and the ending for the Wolf side of the story should be done by the end of the week :)
Code: Evolved Wolf side of the story is finally done! And I started working on first (out of two) bonus stages for the wolf. And after that only 9 more stages for Owl side of the story remain to be done. But while I tested Wolf story I found out that there is a massive lag on Windows 10 (again). So after one whole day of work, I finally found underline problem. I still don't know why only Windows 10 had difficulties properly loading the game but... it doesn't matter. Everything works fine now! :)
This was a good thing because I found out that White Wolf 1 game has the same problem on Windows 10. So I will fix and upgrade White Wolf 1 (smoother controls, better animation on wolf, lower hp on some enemies...) and I will upload new version by the end of the next week :)
Code: Evolved Big upgrade changes!
The first round of game testing (full Wolf side of the story) is done. And I got tons of useful feedback! But one of them stands out the most. There was too much grinding in the game. This is especially problematic because Code: Evolved is a Metroidvania type of game. So grinding for EXP really does not mesh well with exploration nature of the game. For that purpose, I redesign EXP system.
First, there is no more EXP. You can now upgrade your skills and status with EP (evo points). A system for upgrading your character is the same. But enemies won't give you EXP anymore. Now You'll have to find EVO orbs in stages. There are 19 Evo orbs and some of them will give you 1500 EP, some of them 3000 EP. This way player can upgrade the character in which order he wants, but the exploration core of the game will be preserved.. :)
So, what are the future plans for Code: Evolved? well... this is a big change. I will make stage 2 for Owl side of the story and I will upload DEMO v3. This demo will contain 2 Owl stages, 3 Wolf stages, and the new Evo orb system. This demo will fix small things too. Like better jumping, some enemy changes and so on... This is also going to be the last demo for Code: Evolved. So I hope you will like this new system and see you all soon with more Code: Evolved news. :)
