December 16, 2015

The Child Spirit Demo

Hello there,

This week-end I took part in the Ludum Dare contest, a video game creation challenge that lasts 72 hours. I haven't been able to work for the whole duration, but I found some time to create a little game for the contest: "The Child Spirit". The theme was "Growing, two button controls". I made everything from scratch (except the soundscape) in more or less 25h.




Goal

The "Child Spirit" is a simple non linear runner game where you play a fox. You must find animals and get back the Forest Spirit who is leaving. The goal is more or less in line with the "growing" theme, as you're supposed to grow a herd of the forest animals.

Controls

  • Space or S : jump
  • Return or D : switch direction
        

Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
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December 1, 2015

(Toulouse Game Show) November Demo

And here is the last demo of A Thief's Melody, a 3D cartoon adventure/stealth game with a contemplative atmosphere, somewhere between "Zelda" and "Beyond Good and Evil". Don't hesitate to test/share/reblog/comment/like if you want to help me!







Beware: This is the alpha (=NOT FINAL) demo of November 2015. If you want to get the latest demo for sure, just check the official website.
Feedback & bug hunt: As usual, if you want to tell me what you think about the game, or if you find bugs, contact me at contact at oneiricworlds dot com
Get all the news: if you don't want to miss anything, subscribe, or follow me on facebook, twitter, or google+


Install Notes

  • Linux

Under Linux, you have to change the execution rights on the game file:
chmod +x aThiefsMelody.*

  • Mac OS

Haha... I didn't test on Mac, because I don't have a Mac. But the beauty of Unity is that I can release on Mac from a Windows system anyway.
So, if Mac users out there want to give it a try and tell me what's wrong (or what's right, hopefully ;) ), you're most welcome!


What's new since the last demo?

You have to know the demo quests are more or less final at the moment. The next official demos (including this one) will only provide bug fixes and graphics/sound/music enhancement. I now focus my work on adding levels and quests for the final release, which won't be visible in this demo (especially new content).

The main new things I've done since October 2015 are:

Content
  • 1 new Boss : the Wind Guardian
  • Prototype of the new Boss arena
  • Upgrade of the hero design: now the character has a face and you can see the wind moving his hair and clothes. And his eyes blink too.
  • Master Josh now tells you to look in the 1st tutorial
  • More dialog lines for Tal and Iris
  • Upgrade of the Bo Dojo graphics: water stains with moving plants behind, lights, lanterns, light rays and fireflies
  • Update of the link messages HUD, now showing avatars and enabling a better browsing among messages.
  • Graphical update of the Eagle level: texture variations and adding an eagle-shaped rock on top of the level.
  • Adding small secret coves in the demo levels

Code & optimisation
  • Fix of the mouse wheel controls on the map
  • Fog issue fixes for various shaders
  • Fix of the bug where the character jumps on the edge of a cliff and stays blocked in the walking animation preventing him to climb
  • Lots of minor bug fixes
... And a lot of work for the Toulouse Game show too (banners/kakemono design, tee shirt, booth preparation, visit cards, ...)


What's broken ?


You didn't expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I'm aware of a few bugs/regressions/problems:
  • You can't change the default controls (because of the newly supported joypads). I plan to add a configuration screen later. If you try to change the controls in the popup screen appearing at the start of the game, you might totally break joypad support.
  • Joypads work, but the UI help is still designed for keyboard/mouse. So... just test buttons if you want to play on the joypad!
  • Some shaders don't work correctly on Linux and MacOS, among which the tree rendering.
  • Environments are still a bit empty
  • Some sounds must be re-designed  
  • The game lacks some music/sounds 
  • Some camera moves are a bit harsh/weird

 

Controls




Have fun! Peace!

        

Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS



November 13, 2015

Next events

Hi!

This November month is extremely busy! For people who want to know more about the game or how I create it, you can find me at the following Events:

Toulouse Game Dev meeting 


November 18th at 19h at Etincelle Coworking (Toulouse)
https://www.facebook.com/events/156203508066244/
Free Entrance!

I'll talk about the challenge of creating a video game, the ups and downs, the tools I use and how I tackle all the issues I encounter.


Capitole du Libre

November 21st & 22nd at ENSEEIHT (Toulouse)
https://2015.capitoledulibre.org/
Free Entrance!

I'll make a conference on using Blender for video game creation (on Saturday) and a workshop/demo on creating simple cartoon assets for video game with Blender and Krita (on Sunday)

There are LOTS of other cool conferences on libre/free/open source softwares, so check them out on the link above.


Toulouse Game Show

November 28th & 29th at Parc des Expos (Toulouse)
http://www.toulouse-game-show.fr/

I'll have a booth in the Indie Game Zone with lots of my friends and colleagues of Toulouse Game Dev. You can test the game, talk with me and meet awesome indie game developers! And of course there are tons of other things to discover.



See you there!
        

Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


November 5, 2015

Patreon!

Here a quick post, but an important one!

For those of you who want to financially support me, I can now say that it is possible through my brand new patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/oneiricworlds?ty=h

For those of you who don't know, Patreon is a website where you can support many creators (youtubers, musicians, artists, comics authors...) by giving them money regularly. There is absolutely no obligation, and you can stop at any moment. Depending on how much you give, you get various and cool rewards. Check it out, everything is described on the page!

It took me quite some time to set up, but I'm happy with the result. Oh! And don't hesitate to share it around you! I'm sure you all have geek friends and family who could be interested :) The more support I get, the more time I can spend on the game!

Thanks a lot folks!
        

Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


November 1, 2015

October 2015 Demo

And here is the last demo of A Thief's Melody, a 3D cartoon adventure/stealth game with a contemplative atmosphere, somewhere between "Zelda" and "Beyond Good and Evil". Don't hesitate to test/share/reblog/comment/like if you want to help me!







Beware: This is the alpha (=NOT FINAL) demo of October 2015. If you want to get the latest demo for sure, just check the official website.
Feedback & bug hunt: As usual, if you want to tell me what you think about the game, or if you find bugs, contact me at contact at oneiricworlds dot com
Get all the news: if you don't want to miss anything, subscribe, or follow me on facebook, twitter, or google+


Install Notes

  • Linux

Under Linux, you have to change the execution rights on the game file:
chmod +x aThiefsMelody.*

  • Mac OS

Haha... I didn't test on Mac, because I don't have a Mac. But the beauty of Unity is that I can release on Mac from a Windows system anyway.
So, if Mac users out there want to give it a try and tell me what's wrong (or what's right, hopefully ;) ), you're most welcome!


What's new since the last demo?

You have to know the demo quests are more or less final at the moment. The next official demos (including this one) will only provide bug fixes and graphics/sound/music enhancement. I now focus my work on adding levels and quests for the final release, which won't be visible in this demo (especially new content).

The main new things I've done since July 2015 are:

Content
  • 1 new boss: the Robot Kraken
  • Chapter 2 is now fully playable, including 2 dojos, 2 missions and 1 additional quest. Not everything is perfect yet, but at least, it's playable! It's more or less 1h30 of gameplay.
  • New chapter title screens
  • More ill animals on Zephyr Island and Eagle Island
  • Enemy state (KO) is now saved
  • Finally a trailer for the game! Check it out on the official website.
  • More cutscenes are skippable
  • The map now has a legend
  • 1 new level: the Governor's villa, fully playable, but still lacks lot of graphics.
  • Lots of new assets: spider webs, marble pilars, windows, carpets, furniture, cardboard boxes, shelves, chairs, tables, maple trees ... and as usual, wood crates of course.
  • The mouse is more sensitive now
  • Shorter delay before magnetic gauntlet reloads
  • Full new official website for the game with a clearer information display, in English and in French + updated portfolio
  • The game should now be compatible with 20+ classical joypads, including Xbox 360 pads. Sadly, this new update removes the possibility to change controls, at least for this release. I'll add a configuration screen later.
  • New screenshot feature capturing images up to 12000 x 9000 px (just for me ;) ). I use it to get graphical material for huge posters (yes I'm preparing for the Toulouse Game Show...)
  • New option to invert the camera Y axis
  • "New game" available from the in-game menu
  • "A Thief Melody" becomes "A Thief's Melody", because it was a mistake from me... Thanks to everybody who notified me.
Code & optimisation
    • Fix calling turtle in closed water zones
    • Optimisation of the mines level
    • Lots of bug fixes on the climbing system 
    • Bug fix of the hero walking on jars when attacking
    • Better fog rendering in the main menu
    • Fixes on available action during tutorials
    • Lots lots lots of various bug fixes


    What's broken ?


    You didn't expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I'm aware of a few bugs/regressions/problems:
    • You can't change the default controls (because of the newly supported joypads). I plan to add a configuration screen later. If you try to change the controls in the popup screen appearing at the start of the game, you might totally break joypad support.
    • Joypads work, but the UI help is still designed for keyboard/mouse. So... just test buttons if you want to play on the joypad!
    • The mouse wheel behaves weirdly in the map. Prefer the keyboard or joypad for zoom.
    • Some shaders don't work correctly on Linux and MacOS, among which the tree rendering.
    • Environments are still a bit empty
    • Some sounds must be re-designed  
    • The game lacks some music/sounds 
    • Some camera moves are a bit harsh/weird

     


    Controls




      Have fun! Peace!

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      October 26, 2015

      After the PAGS

      Hello,

      You might already know about it, but I've done my first real video game show/exhibition! It was very nice to meet so many passionate people! I know it was a month ago, but I wanted to share info about it!


      The Pau Anime Game Show


      I was a bit stressed about how people would perceive my game, but it went very well. Everybody took the time to explain me what was cool or not about my game and what I could do to make it better. So thanks a lot to everybody who took the time to drop by my booth.

      Now I know what I have to improve for the next releases!

      By the way, thanks a lot to my colleagues and friends of Toulouse Game Dev and Toulouse Game Show for all the organisation. It was great! Now the next deadline is the Toulouse Game Show at the end of November.

      A photo of the PAGS. It gathered 6000 people. Not that bad!


      My booth, with 2 young testers! Thanks a lot to them!
      Yeah, I know that I should do better on presentation. I'm going to improve for the next show!


      And you know what? Spending 2 days speaking all the time to explain the game to everybody who comes by... it's really exhausting! What a job! And the PAGS is supposed to be a "small" show... :S How lucky I've been!


      Let's Play


      During the PAGS, I also met many young youtubers who wanted to make playtests/let's plays of the game. So if you want to have a look at the game with player comments, check out those links (in French):
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_kTZhbo94
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSSR2cJiKA
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvLZEd22-hU

      Thanks to you all guys!


      Press releases


      And for the first time of my life I was interviewed by 2 press teams about the game. This was pretty surprising for me; I wasn't really prepared for it, but that was a very nice experience. So here's a link to my first press article (in French):
      http://www.jessica-f.com/geek/pags-gaming-thief-melody-kaaarot/

      That's a nice start :)


      Bonus: improved website


      That's all for today, but I'm working on lots of things that I should be able to share very soon.
      OK, you read until here, so I can tell you there's a new website that I redesigned after the show, to take into account all the questions I was asked. Check it out:
      http://www.oneiricworlds.com

      See you soon!


              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      September 22, 2015

      Pau Anime Game Show

      Hi there,

      Just a quick post to tell that I'll be at the Pau Anime Game Show (PAGS) in Pau (France) this week end. Don't hesitate to come in the Indie Zone and have a chat or test the demo!

      More info about the PAGS here:
      http://www.pags-pau.fr/

      See you soon!

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      August 26, 2015

      Finally a trailer!

      Hi!

      Finally! I took the time to create a trailer to showcase the game. It took me quite some time, but first I had to work on the game to have something to show! So here it is:




      I hope you'll like it! Don't hesitate to share it if you want to help.


              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      July 29, 2015

      Explosive Plant - Timelapse

      Hello everybody,

      Here's another timelapse video of me creating some kind of explosive plant for "A Thief Melody". I used Krita and Blender.




              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      July 11, 2015

      July 2015 Demo

      And here is the last demo of A Thief Melody, a 3D cartoon adventure/stealth game with a contemplative atmosphere, somewhere between "Zelda" and "Beyond Good and Evil". Don't hesitate to test/share/reblog/comment/like if you want to help me!







      Survey: Don't forget to complete the online survey after playing the game!
      Bug hunt: As usual, contact me for bugs or any feedback.
      Get all the news: if you don't want to miss anything, subscribe, or follow me on facebook, twitter, or google+


      What's new since the last demo?

      You have to know the demo quests are more or less final at the moment. The next official demos (including this one) will only provide bug fixes and graphics/sound/music enhancement. I now focus my work on adding levels and quests for the final release, which won't be visible in this demo (especially new content).

      The main new things I've done since May 2015 are:

      Content
      • 1 new level: Pirate Island, and little evolution of the Slingshot Dojo.
      • Rewritten climbing gameplay (after all the feedback I had! Thanks guys!). Now the hero use magnetic claws and has cool and smooth climbing moves
      • Polish of the Thief Guild level: entrances for all the dojos, path and grass additionnal textures, torches, obelisks, trees, stairs ...
      • Chest redesign
      • New gameplay mechanics for the pirate island: cannons, wood bridges, weight switches...
      • New assets: palm trees, coconus trees, pirate crates, explosive plants, ivy plant, ...
      • New mini boss in the Pirate Island
      • Vegetation shader with automatic color variation 
      • Multi texture auto uv mapping shader with smooth transitions for large funky terrains and floating islands
      • Integration of the Aqualums Counsellor villa and the Pirate Island in the world map
      Code & optimisation
      • Better IHM while climbing
      • Vegetation shader optimisation
      • Vegetation meshes optimisation
      • Big code cleaning/rewriting on the climbing system. Now the climbing system is more robust and enables to move almost everywhere.
      • Lots of various bug fixes

      What's broken ?


      You didn't expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I'm aware of a few bugs/regressions:
      • Environments are still a bit empty
      • Some sounds must be re-designed  
      • The game lacks some music/sounds 
      • Some camera moves are a bit harsh/weird

       

      Controls


      • ZQSD or WASD: move the character. It's both AZERTY and QWERTY compatible
      • Space: jump and climb
      • Shift: crouch, fall and block
      • Mouse move: move the camera
      • E: weapon selection menu
      • Left click: main weapon (Bo) or contextual action
      • Right click: secondary weapon
      • Tab: inventory/map/missions


      Have fun! Peace!

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      June 12, 2015

      Wooden crate - Timelapse

      Hello there,

      It's been a a while :) It's always difficult to keep posting regularly. So, today, here's a timelapse of me creating a wooden crate for the game. This gives a good idea of how I work to create all the 3D art in my game.



              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      May 23, 2015

      Greenlit & Presentation in Paris

      Hello,

      Here's a quick post to tell you about 2 things.

      I - Greenlit


      First, I've recently been greenlit on Steam! This is a very recomforting news for me, as it provides me a great online platform to distribute my game. For the record, I submitted my game to Steam Greenlight one year ago, and, after 1300 positive votes from the 9000 players who checked out my game, Steam accepted to distribute it.

      This is a huge chance for me, because Steam is THE leader in online PC game distribution, reaching more than 30 millions gamers. It's the equivalent of the AppStore for PC. Now... I have to finish the game :)

      II - Presentation in Paris


      And more recently, I've been kindly invited in Paris by my old school friend Jesse to talk about my job at the Gamelier, a weekly meeting about video game creation. So I made a little talk session about being an indie, and how my everyday life is. So, for the curious people, here's the video IN FRENCH:



      I hope you'll find something interesting in there!

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      May 3, 2015

      May 2015 New Demo

      And here is the last demo of A Thief Melody, a 3D cartoon adventure/stealth game with a contemplative atmosphere, somewhere between "Zelda" and "Beyond Good and Evil". Don't hesitate to test/share/reblog/comment/like if you want to help me!






      Survey: Don't forget to complete the online survey after playing the game!
      Bug hunt: As usual, contact me for bugs or any feedback.
      Get all the news: if you don't want to miss anything, subscribe, or follow me on facebook!


      What's new since the last demo?

      You have to know the demo quests are more or less final at the moment. The next official demos (including this one) will only provide bug fixes and graphics/sound/music enhancement. I now focus my work on adding levels and quests for the final release, which won't be visible in this demo (especially new content).

      The main new things I've done since December are:

      Content
      • 3 new levels: Desert pagoda, Aqualums counsellor villa, Water Dojo, and a prototype for the slingshot Dojo.
      • 2 new bosses + physics optimisation: Sand and Water guardians
      • new items: rocks, plants/vegetation, doors, windows, kitchen items, stained glass, ramps, lights...
      • new title and logo
      • updated design of the robots and the guild guys
      • light rigs for new levels
      • new climbing moves and new item: the magnetic gauntlet
      • update of climbing tutorial
      • update of vegetation shader for a better wind effect
      • update of Zephyr Island
      • update of the main character: assymetric hair, holster for the bo, magnetic gauntlet and graple armlet
      • mini cutscenes for some of the switch mechanics
      • music selection menu for the flute item
      Code & optimisation
      • upgrade to Unity 5
      • upgrade to DirectX 11
      • upgrade to deferred shading, which enables lots of active lights at the same time
      • shader bug fixes among which reflected fog in water
      • physics and clothes bug fixes
      • creation of 2D and 3D noise texture for various effects (vegetation, smart auto uv mapping, ...)
      • better cutscene and dialogs coding
      • big physics collision matrix optimisation
      • big reflection optimisation by disabling shadows and point lights with forward rendering
      • animation optimization for lianas, ropes and chains
      • gameplay mechanics code factorisation 
      • update of all mechanics in Blender levels to take into account the code refactorisation
      • draw call optimisation for new levels
      • armature animation optimisation for pirates and guards
      • new official landing page for the game
      • lots lots lots of minor bug fixes.

      What's broken ?


      You didn't expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I'm aware of a few bugs/regressions:
      • Environments are still a bit empty
      • Some sounds must be re-designed  
      • The game lacks some music/sounds 
      • Some camera moves are a bit harsh

       

      Controls


      • ZQSD or WASD: move the character. It's both AZERTY and QWERTY compatible
      • Space: jump and climb
      • Shift: crouch, fall and block
      • Mouse move: move the camera
      • E: weapon selection menu
      • Left click: main weapon (Bo) or contextual action
      • Right click: secondary weapon
      • Tab: inventory/map/missions


      Have fun! Peace!

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS


      March 14, 2015

      "World of Thieves" becomes "A Thief Melody"

      Hi there!

      It's been a while since the last post... I must post more often!

      I - New Name


      OK so the first and main news is that World of Thieves (which was a temporary name... ) will now be known as



      Yes! This will be the new official logo/title of the game.

      I spent quite sometime thinking whether I should change the name or not... And finally I thought that "World of Thieves" might not be very well suited for a game where you don't see that many thieves. Plus, I wanted something that conveyed the idea of music, because I like it, and moreover because it will be a part of the gameplay, and maybe of the story too.

      I wanted an efficient and simple visual, and I hope this one is clear enough. And as you might get it from the picture, yes, the hero will be able to play the flute.


      II - New Site


      Well... not a whole new site! I can't afford to make a new site for each post ;)
      I recently watched a conference about "marketing for indies with 0$ budget" from Emmy Jonassen (aka Indie Game Girl). Here, for the curious guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkEQtMP2CuA


      I already read a lot about the subject, but having a new name and new screenshots, it motivated me to create a real "official" landing page for "A Thief Melody" (Yes, get used to it). From now on, it will be the default page for the "Oneiric Worlds" website:


      www.oneiricworlds.com


      Or you can use the "A Thief Melody" menu on the header. (Don't worry you can still get to the dev blog from this new homepage).

      Basically, there are dowload links to get the latest demo (which is always the same by the way), social network links and a few screenshots and info about the game. I also plan to add a trailer, but I still have to create it, so this will be for later.

      Until now, the Dev Blog was the homepage, and the somehow chaotic and numerous information might have got most of the visitors confused about the game, especially if their are not into tech stuff.

      So, I hope this page is clear enough to get a good overview of the game. Tell me what you think about it!


      III - New Networks


      If you watched the above web page, you might have noticed new icons for social networks if you want to get the latest news: Twitter and Google +.
      I'm not sure if I'll be able to post everything on all the communities, but I'll give it a try, see how many people respond to it/are interested, and see what I can handle.

      The thing is, old school RSS and mail subscriptions are not that many (but a big thanks to you guys, who were the first followers!), and I reach more people through sites like Facebook or IndieDB, which are easier for people to follow.

      And of course, these accounts are new, so there is not much to read at the moment, but I will repost at least every blog article and new demos on these sites.


      OK so this was a post mostly centered on communication and marketing stuff, but don't worry, I still work on the tech and artistic side and the game is slowy improving. Check out the last screenshots on the new homepage! More on that on another post!

      Peace, and thanks for your support.

              

      Game Demo & Info: www.oneiricworlds.com
      Follow me: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, IndieDB, Steam Greenlight, Mail, RSS