Archive: 22 posts

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The concept level is now live! You can queue it up HERE (http://lbp.me/v/x6etx9) http://ia.lbp.me/img/ft/86a02a3963daf1f292312fde8e7dff9a6922cbec.jpg Say hello to Thane! http://i3.lbp.me/img/ft/193af09693bc1f7d7efda1960dc9353a495deed2.jpg Throwing Axe http://i8.lbp.me/img/ft/908749c4c3d25f8d0cabd3274ae2afbaee34f1cd.jpg Wolf's Charge http://ia.lbp.me/img/ft/74acdbca0a18ffdd17a83804965ede7ae6999878.jpg Tectonic Slam http://i0.lbp.me/img/ft/5403f8c8453c6f0561af3ee7daebc7eb6e9de4f9.jpg Charging the Inferno Cyclone http://i4.lbp.me/img/ft/7944bcb5804155280042b73a9becc932a71e2c05.jpg Inferno Cyclone http://i3.lbp.me/img/ft/f63d8888ce3ac8236c06e79f0eeecc630c24b8b6.jpg Combat!!! For quite some time now, I've been developing a story-driven, top-down rpg based loosely in the Elder Scrolls universe and set in the nation of Skyrim. *I am a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series, and I find the setting ripe for some good story-telling. Now, I know what you're thinking - "Another lame top-down rpg? *The community is flooded with enough of these already!" *I agree with you. *There's a plethora of similar levels out there that range from bad to worse with very few exceptions. *So what makes Project Skyrim different? *Why should you pay attention to it? *For several different reasons! 1. *Instead of using a sackbot seated in a controllinator as the main character, I have painstakingly constructed the characters using a combination of holographic material and decorations in a manner never before seen in LBP (at least to my knowledge). *All these characters animate realistically and feature detailed arms and armor. 2. *The devil is in the details and this game has a LOT of details. *I'm talking realistic collision detection, particle effects, clever enemy AI, you name it. 3. *One word - STORY. * While there are several LBP levels out there with eye-catching visuals, addictive gameplay, or ingenious logic, one aspect that almost always seems to come up short is story. *I hope to change that (or at least do my best to). *My plan is to humanize the main character and have the player develop alongside him. *I also am working to have the setting be dynamic and react to the player, not the other way around. *Also, the story will be mature in its themes - things like painful loss, revenge, personal sacrifice, and morality will play a large part. Be on the lookout for a proof-of-concept level to be published very soon. *Until then, here's sort of a broad overview of the project. STORY - The story takes place in the village of Greenthaw, just north of the Nordic city of Falkreath. *You play as Thane, a young Nord and son of a blind and crippled warrior. *As is custom in his clan, the caring of a cripple is considered weak and frowned upon. *Because of this, he is shunned by most of the village, and only by the recognition of his father's revered former status are they allowed to stay in the village and be somewhat tolerated by its inhabitants. *Thane's lot in life is decided, however; he will never rise above his lowly station and certainly will never become a full fledged warrior of the clan. Life within the village is relatively quiet and peaceful, though unrest grows. *Several villagers are dissatisfied with the current Imperial rule, a sentiment that is shared among many Nords, who wish Skyrim would return to its roots as an independent sovereign nation. *Word has spread of a vast rebel warband, comprised of renegade Nords who have disavowed their allegiance to the emperor and now wage a war of destruction and terror across the countryside, burning and pillaging any villages who remain loyal to the empire. *They are led by a massive Skaal warrior known as Black Heart, a man whose cunning and battle prowess is matched only by his ruthlessness and cruelty. The story starts when Thane returns home to find his village under attack by Black Heart and his band of marauders. *Thane valiantly tries to save his father but ultimately fails, and is forced to watch in horror as his father is murdered by Black Heart right before his eyes. Beaten and left for dead, Thane awakens to nothing but emptiness and the smoldering desire for revenge. *Disregarding his people's customs, he dons his father's armor, takes up his sword and shield, and sets out with but one goal - to find Black Heart, and kill him. Along the way he meets an old hermit named Ulgreth, who cautions the hot-headed youth that marching into Black Heart's camp unannounced will earn him nothing more than a swift and sure death. *Getting the intimidating warlord alone in single combat would prove nearly impossible. *However, Ulgreth thinks there may be another solution, and tells Thane of an old Nordic legend called "The Challenge of the North". In ancient times when Ysgramor, the first king of the Nords ruled Skyrim, *he wanted to ensure that his rule was just and fair. *He felt that if a clansmen were unhappy with the rule of his king, and could prove himself the worthier man, that he should have the right to challenge his king to a competition of that which Nords revere most - combat. *So Ysgramor petitioned the Nordic god Ysmir, who then spread across the land of Skyrim three mystical tokens of worth. The first was the Speed of the Wolf, representing both quickness of arms and of mind, the second was the Strength of the Earth, representing physical might and mental fortitude, and the last was the Fire of the Heart, representing determination and passion, as well as a desire to lead others. *Each of these was accompanied by a specific trial, and if a man so wished he could take it upon himself to venture out and acquire these three mystical tokens that, once acquired, proved him worthy enough to challenge the king for the right to rule his clan. *This challenge came to be called "The Challenge of the North" because it is said that no Nord, honorable or not, can refuse a challenger bearing all three tokens. Upon hearing this, Thane embarks on a quest to obtain the three tokens of worth and challenge Black Heart to a duel to the death, and avenge the murder of his father. GAMEPLAY - This game is (obviously) played in the top-down perspective. *And, seeing as how it is an action RPG, the combat will not be turn-based. *Instead, it revolves around a simple yet engaging stamina system. *Essentially, everything you do consumes stamina. *Swinging your sword, blocking attacks, using your powers, etc. *If you run out of stamina, you can't block, can't attack, can't do anything except move around (very slowly). *You also move slowly while holding down the block button. *Blocking prevents all but the strongest of attacks from damaging you. *Stronger attacks drain your stamina faster than weaker ones. *Also, attacks have a physical knockback effect as well. *Stronger attacks knock you back further than... well, you know the drill. In addition to your basic sword attack, you have a ranged throwing axe, and a special *power that is unlocked after you find each totem. *Speed of the Wolf grants you the Wolf's Charge, which is sort of a dashing shield bash. *It allows you to cover short distances in the blink of an eye and also pushes enemies back. *Strength of the Earth grants you the Tectonic Slam, a jumping slam attack that can break certain barriers and damages all enemies within a certain radius (plus it looks really cool). Finally, Fire of the Heart gives you the Inferno Cyclone, which is a charged sword attack that causes you to spin around and light everything near you on fire. The idea here is that each of these powers not only augments your combat abilities but also provides a utility option which can be used to interact with the environment and solve puzzles, etc. *I'm hoping to incorporate these elements in a way that feels seamless and organic. SCOPE - My initial goal is to just get this level finished and published. *If after that there is a significant demand for a sequel, then I will look into doing one, possibly featuring a different protagonist. Sooooo, that leads me to my final statement, which is I NEED HELP. *At first I resisted the idea of recruiting a team, but this project has outgrown me, and frankly if I kept it solo it would likely never get published, so here we are. *I would like to keep the team small and focused if at all possible, just to cut down on confusion. *Here's what I need: 1. *Assistant Creative Director - A second-in-command, so to speak. *Responsible for setting development milestones and overall quality assurance. *Will work closely with me to ensure that everyone is on the same page design-wise. *This needs to be filled by someone who has a strong eye for visual design and a creative imagination capable of both generating and adapting good ideas. 2. *Character Logician - Responsible for developing and organizing all logic utilized by the player character and assorted NPCs including A.I., collision detection, health logic, etc. 3. *Environment Logician - Responsible for developing and organizing all logic utilized within the environment, such as puzzles, doors, environmental hazards, scripted sequences, etc. 4. *Effects Wizard - Essentially a special effects guru. *Will be responsible for planning, prototyping and implementing all visual and auditory effects. *Will work closely with both Logicians to ensure that everything functions on a logical level as well as aesthetically. *Will also most likely be in charge of things like cutscenes, intro videos, etc. 5. *3D Environmental Designer - Responsible for designing and constructing the physical environments. *Will work closely with the Environmental Logician. *Must have considerable experience utilizing 3D layers. And that's about it. *As for music, I will leave that up to the greater community. *If anyone out there would like to donate an Elder Scrolls appropriate tune, your efforts will be vastly appreciated (and you will be duly credited). If you'd like to be considered, simply reply to this post using the following template: PSN: (Your PSN) Position Applying For: (From one of the five above) Strengths: (Such as logic, character design, environments, etc.) Weaknesses: (same as above) Levels that I worked on: (If you have any levels published, list them here.) Mic or keyboard: (yes/no) Please note that as soon as other people join the team, it ceases to become "my" project. *I hope to incorporate everyone equally and certainly have no intention of bossing people around. *However, I would like it to stay as true to the spirit of the original idea as possible. Please let me know what you think! *And if you read this far without skipping, you get a million hearts! *Yay for you http://lbp.me/v/x6etx9

2011-02-24 12:19:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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Wow this looks really good. http://grabswitch.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/queued.png

2011-02-24 12:34:00 Author: TehUberZac Posts: 587

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I like the idea, Look forward to seeing a bit of story driven RPG and action. One thing that was a bit off putting was the first enemy you encounter. Just a bit of a pain killing him, time consuming.

2011-02-24 12:42:00 Author: TimeH33 Posts: 51

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I like the idea, Look forward to seeing a bit of story driven RPG and action. One thing that was a bit off putting was the first enemy you encounter. Just a bit of a pain killing him, time consuming. Yeah, there's still plenty of bugs to work out and stuff to tweak (like resizing hit-boxes, changing stamina drain percentages, etc). I was trying to make the fight long enough so that the player gets a feel for the stamina system and how it works. Did that aspect come through for you at all? Or should I just make the enemy easier to kill to keep up the pace? Also, queued your level. I'll give it a go later today.

2011-02-24 13:06:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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First off I would like to thank you for taking the time to write all that info in your original post. I am one of those creators who believes if one spends countless hours making a level then taking an additional 30 minutes to provide players with insight into the creation isn't going to kill them lol. I had the chance to play this earlier, here are some thoughts: I was immediately impressed with the character itself and appreciate the fact that you built this thing from scratch independent of the controlinator seat, sackbots etc. Nice detail in the armor, sword looked great. Things really started getting exciting with each new ability I unlocked. Great special effects on all of them, I liked the camera shake of the tectonic slam in particular. Particle effects when sword hits shield were very cool. I thought the overall look of the environment was solid, nice lighting, loved the dragon glyphs on the ground. I know you are basing the gameplay around the stamina system which I think is unique and definitely reminded me of carrying too much weight in Oblivion lol (slowing down bit). However, I would suggest modifying it so that when stamina runs out movement speed is not decreased. The player is already "punished" by losing access to all of his attacks and I think - in certain battle situations specifically - that making the player move at snails pace could lead to unnecessary frustration. Overall I was really impressed by this and I think you are on to something special. I hope you can get a good team of people together and create an epic RPG (I might suggest creating a PSN exclusively for this series ala Hansel and Gretelbot. I can imagine other creators being reluctant to put in all the work if ultimately it is only published under your name...). Nice work once again, level has been smiley faced and hearted

2011-02-24 16:23:00 Author: OCK Posts: 1536

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First off I would like to thank you for taking the time to write all that info in your original post. I am one of those creators who believes if one spends countless hours making a level then taking an additional 30 minutes to provide players with insight into the creation isn't going to kill them lol. I had the chance to play this earlier, here are some thoughts: I was immediately impressed with the character itself and appreciate the fact that you built this thing from scratch independent of the controlinator seat, sackbots etc. Nice detail in the armor, sword looked great. Things really started getting exciting with each new ability I unlocked. Great special effects on all of them, I liked the camera shake of the tectonic slam in particular. Particle effects when sword hits shield were very cool. I thought the overall look of the environment was solid, nice lighting, loved the dragon glyphs on the ground. I know you are basing the gameplay around the stamina system which I think is unique and definitely reminded me of carrying too much weight in Oblivion lol (slowing down bit). However, I would suggest modifying it so that when stamina runs out movement speed is not decreased. The player is already "punished" by losing access to all of his attacks and I think - in certain battle situations specifically - that making the player move at snails pace could lead to unnecessary frustration. Overall I was really impressed by this and I think you are on to something special. I hope you can get a good team of people together and create an epic RPG (I might suggest creating a PSN exclusively for this series ala Hansel and Gretelbot. I can imagine other creators being reluctant to put in all the work if ultimately it is only published under your name...). Nice work once again, level has been smiley faced and hearted Thanks for your input! This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for Yeah I kinda went back and forth about the stamina thing, my original intent was to make maintaining stamina very important for the player, but I agree. Moving slow is no fun. Btw, I queued your Legion level and will give it a playthrough later today.

2011-02-24 19:10:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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Played this one with Gilgamesh today. I love how you've taken this outside of the box approach to your design. Everything is visually polished and I think you've managed to nail the feel of the Elder Scrolls games. I was spectating, so I can't comment too much on the controls, but they seemed to work well. Some of the animations were a little fast, but this could have been due to online lag. I will be following the development of this project closely. Great job!

2011-02-25 17:38:00 Author: Thegide Posts: 1465

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Thanks for all the feedback guys! I was hoping people would like the concept and not just be like "Whur iz da sackbot? Ur lvl sux!" Good to know that people like the same kinds of games I do I'm hoping to go much bigger and much more ambitious with the actual finished product. This demo is just a taste. Here's some of the things I'm shooting for: - Swappable armor and weapons (Maybe 3 sets of armor w/ accompanying weapon. I'd like for the player to be able to mix and match armor pieces, but that would mean I'd have to build a separate character model for each possible combination, and building just one takes a LOOOOONG time) - Mounts for faster travel (Probably horses, but maybe I could get into something a little more exotic. The problem here is that each character takes up two thick layers; one for the torso and one for the head, so if I stuck them on top of a mount, they wouldn't be able to jump.) - Enemies who use abilities and work as a team (packs of wolves, spell casters who use magic to support their warrior bodyguards, etc. - An alternate ability for each token (Something like maybe Speed of the Wolf lets you summon wolves, Strength of the Earth turns your skin to stone to mitigate damage, stuff like that) - Different ranged weapons (probably a bow and something like a chakram or boomerang) - Epic boss fights, including at least one dragon (this one's gonna be hard; how do you make a giant, dynamic boss with only three layers to work with? - Side quests (stuff like hunting, gathering, exploring dungeons etc. If any of you talented people out there have any ideas on any of theses topics, by all means let me know! I need all the help I can get!

2011-02-25 20:37:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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You must be putting a ton of work into this. The custom character was cool and the special attacks were incredible! I was hoping I'd get to clear out a room of enemies with that last inferno one. My suggestions: -- Make it so that you only jump once per press of X. Right now if you hold it down he just keeps jumping really fast. Actually, maybe slow the jump down if at all possible, also. I discovered this not because I was purposely holding down X, but because he's so fast I pushed it once and he jumped twice. -- If you're going for a slower paced, Elder Scrolls style of combat, you might want to slow down the sword attack, or make it have just a little lag in between when it allows you to swing. As it stands there's a great discrepancy between movement speed and sword speed that's a little strange. And if you rapidly tap the button you run out of stamina in about half a second. I think if you slow it down you might get people to plan their moves more rather than just button mash like in most games. This certainly sounds like an ambitious project. I look forward to seeing more.

2011-02-26 06:45:00 Author: Roo5676 Posts: 62

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Totally playing this in the morning! screenshots look amazing. best of luck with this level. i'll add my 10 cents tomorrow

2011-02-26 12:11:00 Author: Anomandaris Irake Posts: 10

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Played this level this morning and I have to say I'm very impressed. I thought the visuals and animation were great and really captured the feel of The Elder Scrolls series (I'm a huge fan of TES). I thought the fight was kinda tough but it did get me to understand the stamina system well, and as someone said earlier I think slowing down the person and stopping them from attacking when the stamina goes down may be too much of a punishment, maybe you could either slow down attacks a bit, or just let the person be normal speed with no attacks. BTW (sorry if you already said this in your original post) will the final version have any sort of leveling up system (will your attacks becomes stronger, or magic improve, etc), will it be an open world like in TES or linear, and will it have skills (long blade, destruction, etc) like in the TES? Sorry I don't mean to bother you I'm just very interested in what you can do with this concept. My F4F is in my Signature, thanks for your time

2011-02-26 14:46:00 Author: Dr_Vab Posts: 134

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Played this level this morning and I have to say I'm very impressed. I thought the visuals and animation were great and really captured the feel of The Elder Scrolls series (I'm a huge fan of TES). I thought the fight was kinda tough but it did get me to understand the stamina system well, and as someone said earlier I think slowing down the person and stopping them from attacking when the stamina goes down may be too much of a punishment, maybe you could either slow down attacks a bit, or just let the person be normal speed with no attacks. BTW (sorry if you already said this in your original post) will the final version have any sort of leveling up system (will your attacks becomes stronger, or magic improve, etc), will it be an open world like in TES or linear, and will it have skills (long blade, destruction, etc) like in the TES? Sorry I don't mean to bother you I'm just very interested in what you can do with this concept. My F4F is in my Signature, thanks for your time Those are actually the sort of design questions I'm still puzzling out at the moment. The thing is, while I am setting this game in Skyrim and borrowing heavily from TES universe and lore, I envisioned this project as more of a spinoff than an actual recreation. So, here's a list of staples from the series that probably [i

2011-02-26 17:30:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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Queued your lvl Played this level this morning and I have to say I'm very impressed. I thought the visuals and animation were great and really captured the feel of The Elder Scrolls series (I'm a huge fan of TES). I thought the fight was kinda tough but it did get me to understand the stamina system well, and as someone said earlier I think slowing down the person and stopping them from attacking when the stamina goes down may be too much of a punishment, maybe you could either slow down attacks a bit, or just let the person be normal speed with no attacks. BTW (sorry if you already said this in your original post) will the final version have any sort of leveling up system (will your attacks becomes stronger, or magic improve, etc), will it be an open world like in TES or linear, and will it have skills (long blade, destruction, etc) like in the TES? Sorry I don't mean to bother you I'm just very interested in what you can do with this concept. My F4F is in my Signature, thanks for your time Those are actually the sort of design questions I'm still puzzling out at the moment. The thing is, while I am setting this game in Skyrim and borrowing heavily from TES universe and lore, I envisioned this project as more of a spinoff than an actual recreation. So, here's a list of staples from the series that probably won't make it into the actual finished product: 1. Creating your own character - Since this project is so story-driven, I'm going to stick with a singular protagonist. This is Thane's story, after all. I also probably won't include every single different race, most likely just Nords (humans), Altmer (elves), and maybe some khajit and an Orc or two. 2. Skills - This would just be too thermo heavy and time consuming. The individual character logic is already an unwieldy beast as it is, and adding skills would only exacerbate the problem. 3. Leveling up - I'm still toying around with this idea, though it will likely not turn out the way you're thinking it will. I might go with sort of a Monster-Hunter esque system, where your armor and equipment determine how powerful you are, rather than stats. The "leveling up" feeling is going to mostly come from unlocking all your different abilities. 4. Spell Casting - Yet another I'm still undecided on. I like the idea of it, but at the same time I feel it doesn't fit the character well and kinda makes his abilities redundant. We'll see. It will be an open world, however, (well, as open as you can be in LBP). What I will probably end up doing is have each individual region of Skyrim be it's own individual level, and then just level link them together to form the world (think early Baldur's Gate). This means I'll probably have to invent some sort of fast travel system, which I imagine will be a pain in the ***, but so be it *EDIT* Whoops! Sorry for the double post!

2011-02-26 17:47:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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I hate to be a spoil sport to a interesting concept, however the one thing that earns a instant dislike from me is when a level malfunctions. When I played against the first baddie, I first felt like I was getting badly owned, but then my controls froze completely and when I died, I seemed to get stuck between the entrance gate and the scoreboard (I suspect an overheat problem of some sorts but that is a guess). So needs alot more technical work to be more functional. p.s. I got your comment, thanks for the acknowledgement. here is a picture to what when wrong with me: http://www.ddrencore.com/craigfolder/lbp/othercreations/projectskyrim00001.jpg "Could someone please let me out? I am trapped and cannot get out!"

2011-02-26 19:11:00 Author: WyomingMyst Posts: 101

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Can I help you bloomchild? I played the level and I LOVE it!!!!! I am also making a top down RPG level but I would also like to help you! Can I join in on the project??? I have a mic, USB keyboard, I am a fast typer, I am great with logic, and I like making RPG levels.

2011-02-26 20:29:00 Author: Unknown User

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I will play O_O my level is in my signature aswell as the thread. i will play today and if you are looking for help my name is AngelGozen Applying for: 1,2,4 Strentghs: Mechanics Weakness: Visual Levels that i worked on: Little Big planet origins (level and thread in my sig) and i got mic

2011-02-26 20:36:00 Author: Angelgozen Posts: 286

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Wow. This looks like a big project. I never worked on a team, but might as well try to get in. >.< PSN: Patrickp3 Position Applying For: Environment logician. Strengths: I have a good understanding of logic. I have fiddled around with the logic for about a month now. I'm actually an Electrical Engineering Technician and I work with Counters, Timers and the sort in real life. Weaknesses: Errrr...This one is hard. Levels that I worked on: In my sig Mic or keyboard: Both Anyways, if you want to add me.

2011-02-26 20:41:00 Author: creator22 Posts: 162

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when i saw this on lbp central i thought, meh, why not. but when i played it... its... its... spectacular. its so detailed and, and just amazing. this is, by far the best level i have ever played on lbp!

2011-02-26 22:00:00 Author: keanine Posts: 114

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I'll queue this up for great justice, as the screens look phenominal: also, I might cram in my resume here too: PSN: ohlookadeer Position Applying For: Assistant Creative Director Strengths: Cutscenes and character/environment design. Weaknesses: Anything higher than intermediate logic Levels that I worked on: Steampunk Plaza The Mechman Saga (also Top-Down) ohlookadeer's Music Gallery Top Down Shooter Tech Demo: The Demo-Mechs (Version 2) Mic or keyboard: Keyboard Also, for F4F, could you check out my Steampunk Plaza? It's in my Sig, if you're interested thanks heaps EDIT: And I'm back that was quite possibly the awesomest thing I've played! The combat system was pretty smick, though my only niggle was the health of the first enemy and that I couldn't test my awesome new abilities on them :C but apart from that, a top job on an awesome level! <3

2011-02-26 23:50:00 Author: XFennoX Posts: 82

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This is hardcore awesome, if I could help, take a look at my levels and see theres anything you think i could do to help, i also do songs so if you wanna hear a certain type of song, tell me what type of feel and stuff you want and i could try tomake somethin cause this rocks so hard.

2011-02-27 00:00:00 Author: reiko57 Posts: 115

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I just played it and this is insanely good. Nothing like I have played before.

2011-02-27 00:47:00 Author: creator22 Posts: 162

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Wow, thanks for all the feedback guys! Sometime tomorrow, I will be starting a development thread that will outline the design process and sort of announce where the project is heading. Between now and then, I will take a look at some of the work you guys have done and make a final decision as to who is on the team. It is my sincere hope that this project really takes off and sets a new standard of quality within the LBP community.

2011-02-27 02:23:00 Author: bloomchild Posts: 74

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