Chasm [work in progress]

Hi everybody!

(hi dr nick)

I've been working on a game for... 2 days now. It's called Chasm, and it's gonna be good.

It's a remake of a very old game I made a few years ago using Megazeux. That game was extremely hard and not very good, however it looked nice and had some good ideas. This remake will lower the difficulty, and build on those ideas.

Chasm will be a 2d platformer action adventure game. The story is this: You (the player) are a slave miner in an immense network of caves deep underground. Your masters rule over you with an iron fist, armed with electric batons and coil machine guns. But you don't want to work as a slave in the mines until you die. One day, at the opportune moment, you strike back against the guard with your pickaxe, killing him, and run into the darkness of the mines. From then on, you are wanted. Your aim is to fight your way out of the caves to the surface. You don't know what's up there, but you have to take the chance for freedom.

In the caves you'll fight spiders and bats, and also the human enemies out to get you. The original Mzx game had 3 weapons (pickaxe, gun and grenades). The new version will probably add alot more.

Now, this is in the creations forum, so I better show you what I've created!

I've knuckled down to try and get what I've made to a presentable and playable standard that will hint at what the game will be like. I'm fairly pleased with what I've produced. Here's the .cap: (updated) http://www.sendspace.com/file/j4yzsh

The controls: Left/right to move, Z to jump, up/down to climb ladders.

Tell me what you think! I've created this thread to give me some pressure and some motivation to keep working on it, and I'd love to hear your criticism.

Oh, and here's a screenshot. (updated)

<img src="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2802/chasmscreen.png">

Can't check game yet but the graphics look pretty classic tbh Maybe a bit more variety to ground (some rocks, skeletons etc) and it will be like those old mine platform games ^^

Yep definitely, my aim is to add detail to every little corner of the game. Things like rocks and patches of plant growth, fungus and webs etc. And more leet rock pillars

Looks good so far.

The animation need some work. Your character feels backheavy when he walks. Much because he doesn't move his torso while walking and his legs doesn't move equally far away from his torso.

The difference between his walking and climbing speed is quite jarring. Either slow his walk down, or speed his climb up. Maybe a little bit of both.

There's not much else I can comment on.

Thanks for the criticism. I'll edit the walking and climbing speed to be less jarring. I also see what you mean with the animation. I'll edit the walking animation to not look so unbalanced, in the legs at least for now.

I'll have an updated cap up (hopefully) later today.

Sorry for the delay, I got a bit sidetracked. Here's an updated .cap: http://www.sendspace.com/file/j4yzsh I've also updated the OP with the updated .cap.

I've edited the animations so that they're more balanced. I've also added head bobbing. I hope the animations are acceptable now, as I want to move on to more gameplay orientated things (however, I may revisit the head bobbing if there is criticism of that)

I have also changed the speeds of the player to be less jarring. Running is slightly slower than before, and climbing is slightly faster.

Lastly, I've added more visual detail. I've updated the screenshot for those who just want to look. I won't stop there though, I want to fill the whole screen with lots of detail.

To tackle next: Water and swimming

Please, your opinions/thoughts/criticism!

(PS: I do have a bug... for some reason the body and legs sometimes go out of proper sync in their animations, usually after jumping or falling. If anyone can find out the reason for this, I'd be grateful)