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[GREENLIGHT] Otem's Defiance - A circular dodge-and-shoot reminiscent of the N64 era

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by aunymoons, Oct 3, 2015.

  1. aunymoons

    aunymoons

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2014
    Posts:
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    Hi all! So, i've been programming this game in unity for the past months and i wanted to know what you guys think of it since we are very keen in listening to the community feedback now that we can still make changes to improve it further ( i get a bit more specific about this at the end of the post). We also just recently launched a greenlight campaign ( link below ) as we are very close to finishing the game ( you can read more about what´s still a WIP right now in the greenlight page ) :D Hope you all enjoy it and if you do, don´t forget to vote for us!

    Here´s the Link:

    Otem's Defiance on Steam Greenlight

    The trailer:



    A Brief description:

    "In Otem's Defiance you run around a circular stage as you're attacked by enemies sitting at the center of it. They stack one on top of the other, like totems. The stages vary with traps and platforms forming unique movement patterns (and they get insanely hard on later levels! )



    As you advance you'll unlock power ups but you'll also face new and ever stronger enemies, with several different attack patterns, traps and debuffs that you'll have to decipher as you progress

    To defeat them, you must collect Spirit orbs and shoot them on their weak spots. When you destroy one, another falls from above, until none are left and the challenge is complete."

    And Some pictures of the stages ( rendered in-game to appreciate the art style ):

    The Crystal Ring


    The Vortex Ring


    The Treetop Ring


    The Volcano Ring


    The Ringods


    It might look quite finished but i didnt want to post it yet on the completed games showcase since its still missing some small stuff we are still working on ( Unless any moderator tells me otherwise, in which case i´ll move it accordingly). Ill post some of the more WIP shots soon, as well as some of the old Ideas that made it into the final production ( we´ve really come a long way from the first ideas hehehe and its nice to see the whole progress, and i thought it might inspire some people ).

    As for the feedback i would like to know more specifically:
    • Does the trailer makes it clear what the game is about and how its played or is it still to cryptic? (we´ve received this feedback from more casual gamers but cant decide if its the trailer or something else )
    • Is it clear that what´s shown on the trailer is actual gameplay? ( some people actually thought the entire thing was rendered when only the title sequences are the rendered ones, the rest is in-game footage)
    • What do you think about the overall art style? ( is it coherent? does it give the N64 aesthetic with a modern twist we were aiming at? does it look like poorly made cause its a bit intentionally low-poly?)
    • Do what do you think of the design of the main character?
    • Does the gameplay look repetitive? ( this one is the biggest concern of mine, since once you start playing it the differences between stages and the difficulty in which it progresses and shows new items and abilities doesn´t make it feel repetitive to me, even thou you are always running in circles )
    • And lastly, does the sountrack match the aesthetic? Luckily we have a composer helping us with it that can still edit some of it, but we´ve been told it could be more "tribal" cause at some moments it sounds a bit too "medieval fantasy" ( i personally do not hear it hehehe)
    Thanks in advance for the feedback! Will be posting more stuff soon :D any questions let me know!
     
    KatK likes this.
  2. Huknar

    Huknar

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2015
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    40
    This game looks incredible. I love the art style and the trailer was very, very well made. You've done a great job on this!

    "Does the gameplay look repetitive?" - This is my only concern too. I think this could be avoided with a variety of game modes and interesting new developments as the game comes on. (Maybe you could consider arenas that are not just circular, and start to form more crazy shapes.)
     
  3. aunymoons

    aunymoons

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2014
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    Thank you so much for your feedback! glad to see you liked it ^^

    Different game modes will come for sure, so far we have made the main story mode and we are currently starting to develop what´s specified on the greenlight "currently in development" section.

    We have some crazy ideas we are playing around with, none of them set in stone ( as much as i wish to have them all, we have limited resources to develop it, hopefully that will change if we get greenlit ) but they will most likely help to dissipate that repetitiveness. Honestly, IMHO once you start playing it, killing the Ringods and deciphering their attacks becomes so challenging that you sort of forget that you are running around in circles, specially at most difficult levels. But we´ll see once we launch a public beta what the public thinks.

    Thanks again for your time!
     
  4. aunymoons

    aunymoons

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    Aug 4, 2014
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    As promised, here´s an update:



    we just released a gameplay trailer, you can appreciate a bit more some of the attack patterns and levels, as well as the reaction of our testers ^^
     
  5. theANMATOR2b

    theANMATOR2b

    Joined:
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    Aesthetics are very pleasing. Very nice colors, animations and effects.
    The one thing I really don't get from the trailer is - the theme/point of the game. I might be a little tired or something, but does the character circle the totems and destroy them, or is he attempting to climb up a circular platform? I just can't figure it out from the trailer. It doesn't make complete sense to me. But I love the graphics.
    Also - I really like the look of the character in the still images. It looks like he has some type of outline & solid shader/filter applied, and can tell it is the in game character asset based on the 3D look.
    I actually really think the character in the still images might look better in game than the textured character.

    Nice work.
     
  6. aunymoons

    aunymoons

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    Thanks a lot! as for the goal of the game, if you see on the top right corner of the gameplay videos and trailer you can see a small number, that indicates the amount of Ringods you still need to kill in order to complete the level, once you kill them all, you advance into the next stage and so on, although only 3 Ringods appear at a time, its not just 3 you have to kill in each session.



    There is a story that gives more coherence to all that is happening, and shows an overall goal, but this is more of a teaser trailer and we didn´t want spoilers, there´s a bit more information on the story in the greenlight description if you want to read more about it ^^
     
  7. theANMATOR2b

    theANMATOR2b

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    Cool - thanks for the reply.
    Maybe in your primary marketing or release trailer consider showing the end level / reward / theme. Where the goal is completed and fireworks explode and the character is triumphant with a cheery unique animation.
    Whatever happens at the end of the goal - similar to when Mario jumps onto the flag pole and the fireworks explode. Just to show off success for the character - and what is involved with success.
    With the nice cartoony aesthetics you will probably encounter several prospective players who are interested in the game but not interested in reading words. :)
    Information delivered visually is important for this type of interested player.
     
  8. aunymoons

    aunymoons

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    You are absolutely right, we will surely release another trailer once we finish with the "currenly in development" features and showcase a bit more about the game. As for the story is told mostly in interactive comics, and quite spread throughout the game, we also don´t like reading huge chunks of text either hehehe.

    Thanks for this really good feedback :D i really appreciate you taking the time to reply to us
     
    theANMATOR2b likes this.
  9. aunymoons

    aunymoons

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    Aug 4, 2014
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    So, as i promised some days ago here is some of the original concept art we made originally for the game, hope you all enjoy it!



    We're most likely keeping some of these character designs for later expansions or sequels if possible:




    The Ringod's artwok was the one i enjoyed the most, our concept artist, Ricardo Zerpa is truly talented IMHO, too bad some of my favorites didn't make it into final production, but is fun to see the progress.








    Also, color played a huge part in the art style, its slightly inspired in instagram filters i must admit.


    Remember that you can support us by voting on out greenlight page
     
    theANMATOR2b and Debhon like this.
  10. aunymoons

    aunymoons

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2014
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    Hello all!

    So we created this mailing list for any user who would like to beta test our game, if anyone is interested you can subscribe here:

    http://eepurl.com/bBKcqb

    Don´t worry, we wont spam, Only if you tick on the last checkbox you´ll get sporadic notifications on the development of the game once every 2 or 3 weeks.

    Cheers!