LENS | Demo & Steam Greenlight [WIP]

Demo ALMOST available!

 

Please don't forget to check out my new asset - Sykoo Shafts
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/sun-shafts-for-unity-free.296608/

 

The first test build was actually done in order to check how everything is working out!
Under these couple weeks, I'll do the last touches needed and apply new settings, then build DEMO for all three platforms, following: Windows ,Linux and Mac!

 

The coil has been replaced and looks better now when swinging Demo almost done!

 

Built the first demo (v2.4). It works fine, but needs some last couple touches - then it's more than fine!
I'll either release an initial and general DEMO, or just make it private DEMO as if it were BETA for some online game (closed beta / closed demo). Please let me know your suggestions!

 

Updated title of the topic

 

CLOSED DEMO OF THE GAME HAS BEEN RELEASED!

Please PM me if you want to apply for a Closed Demo!

 

Good idea with a closed demo, there are some interesting articles out there why you should never release an official demo if you want sales : )

 

Hey! Thank you very much
I'm doing a Closed Demo first for debugging purposes, as I want to receive as much feedback as possible before the official demo ^^ Thanks, I am glad you like the idea! If you would like to play it and report any bugs you notice - please let me know by leaving a PM!

 

REWORKED LIGHT SHAFTS IN CLOSED DEMO!
You can still apply for a closed demo by Mailing me at vspygaming@live.com or PM me here!

 

https://mega.co.nz/#!gppShZwY!zJWnhwgnZnqx8XMhOq5pm17gt-Vn6GULQ9UCTAkul5E

"Closed" Demo. Looks neat.

 

That is because I'm sending files to people who only applies and wants to play it (such as close friends). The "open" demo will be released on my website etc. so I kind of do consider this as a closed demo
Thank you.

It will become officially open demo soon (I rather call it only for demo), and with soon I mean in a few days

 

Light Shafts has temporarily been disabled in Closed Demo 2.9!
Reason: they made the performance very crappy on Intel HD graphic cards.
I'm now testing my own shafts (Sykoo Shafts), they're applied to the menu and the performance changing can be seen very well. I'll soon implement it the game itself as well (hopefully), but first I need to rework on the player physical animations a bit!

 

To answer the question that many people have been asking me under the development of Lens:
Yes, I do work on Unity Free. And to prove it, here's a comparison picture of Image Effects that I made including Sykoo Shafts!

This picture has disabled Image Effects:


This picture has enabled Image Effects:


Image Effects includes:
Noise, Light Shafts (Sykoo Shafts available for purchase), Bloom, Vignette, Blur, Motion Blur

 

very nice looking, well done, keep it up!
I also think its brilliant that you made your own reusable tools up for the light shafts, brill

 

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the kind words and will make sure to keep it up as long as I get nice comments from you guys!
Yes, I decided an asset that people also can use in their projects, which will also allow me to use it in my further projects was needed

 

Update 2.9.1
2.9.1 version of the Closed Demo has now lots of stuff fixed. This is also considered being the last version of Closed Demo to be released. If anyone wants to get a link for it, please PM me here on the Forum! If there won't be huge problems spotted on 2.9.1 that disturbs the gameplay, then I'll release Open Demo either tomorrow or next day!

Patch notes:
• Light Shafts are back in-game and enabled
• Collision bugs fixed on several parts of the map
• Audio Volume on different triggers are now fixed
• The game runs now at 30 FPS on an Intel HD 4000 (MacBook) with high quality
• Reduced the Quality Selection Menu (at start up) to 2 options (Low & High)
• Reworked the animations a little bit, now it won't play "running" animation when you jump and run
• Better grappling hook physics
• Fixed the huge tree in wolves' cave that you're supposed to grapple to (now you won't get stuck on the rock)
• Fade time for your brother's illusion in the cave has been extended and the trigger has been positioned better
• Development Build text is now perfectly re-sizing itself automatically after the screen resolution chosen
• Updated terrain quality and unnecessary tree's won't be rendered anymore
• Wind for trees updated slightly with more realistic movement
• Many upgrades to tint colors of the manual god rays for specific objects, the background plane and more!

Please be sure to send me a mail at vspygaming@live.com or PM me here for a link to the closed DEMO of LENS!

 

UPDATES ON UPDATES!
Huge day for me...
The OPEN DEMO is finally released and can be downloaded (for free obviously) right here!
Tons of bugs have been fixed for the open demo. Also my website is done (though the domain is not permanent, I'll try to buy .com domain soon enough). Here's the link to the website: http://www.sykoo.tk

Also, the thread has been updated very well!
Please be sure to play the DEMO and let me know what you think

 

PLEASE NOTE:
The DEMO is out there mostly for debugging purposes, meaning that I want to give you guys a taste of what the gameplay will be like. Please do not forget that this is not the initial copy, meaning there'll be much more fun gameplay instead of the current 'walking to the right' part. I want to give you guys a very simple and quick showcase of the graphics, environment, the powers available in the game and obviously the grappling hook physics! In the initial copy, you'll be the one ruling the game's world as a player!

 

Thank you for all the downloads of the OPEN DEMO so far!
If you haven't downloaded it yet - you can download it here:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-lens/downloads/lens-demo-v30

 

Any suggestions on domain names for my website?
www.sykoo.com is not available sadly, so I was thinking of www.sykoos.com where the last S represents "Sam" my name or like "Sykoo'S website".

 

will this looks neat..

 

Hey! Thank you very much, I really appreciate it
Did you also play the DEMO? If so, were there anything like bugs that you encountered that annoyed you? Or maybe if you have some feedback about the game?

 

I'm currently downloading and see if it works on this old machine (I don't have access to my main PC right now)

EDIT: Well it turns out this old machine is x32 and the demo version is only x64 bit..

 

Ah that's sad to hear :/
I did build the DEMO for x64 and x32 though so I do not know why it wouldn't work :O
Thank you for informing me, I'll check that out later!

 

if you mean you built it for x86_x64 then tha means its only x64 bit, but I'm guessing that's not the case...

 

Oh, so it does not build for x32 bit? :O
Hmm, isn't there an option where it'll build for both? I mean that's a pretty annoying build solution they've got in this case...
What do you think may be the problem then?

 

That's just how it is for now, you either build for x86 or x64,
that being said x64 bit Operation Systems can run x86 application but not vice versa.

at first I thought you did build for both x86 and x64 and i thought i didn't see the x86 download.. but it seems like you just built the x64 edition, you can create a post-processing script to build both edition and a launcher to copy-replace required files to have both x64 and x86 without the need of having to copies of all your shared data files..

 

Hmm, that's quite weird :/
I plan on building the game's demo for Mac and Linux tomorrow. Then I'll also build for x32 bits of Windows.

 

My website is temporarily under maintenance and therefore won't be up, therefore the website links are down for the moment. But you can download the LENS demo via IndieDB or mirror links that I'm laying up on the Thread now!

PS: No estimated time for when it's coming back up is not yet set, and I have nothing in mind.

 

UPDATED!
Now there are links up for Windows, OSX and Linux versions of the DEMO!
Hope you guys download it

 

LENS is now at Steam Greenlight!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=398629332

 

Topic title is now updated with the topic itself
Also don't forget to vote YES on Steam Greenlight!

 

New update to DEMO (v3.1) will be available soon with lots of bug fixes such as collision errors, tree collision detectors becoming better (bigger in this case, easier to hook to) and better sound effects!

 

This Game has a beautiful art style. You have quite a large amount of visual effects added to it and you also have made sure the world feels interactive by making plants sway when you collide with them. Obviously it looks similar to limbo, however I think that's ok. The thing is you have a good amount of glitches that should have been looked into way before these visual effects were added, and certainly before you release any demos. I see you have fixed the jumping glitch which is good. However you should look at your moment scripts because Ive noticed if you run one direction and then the other while holding both keys down. You can move twice as fast. There are also some bugs with the camera not being able to keep up with you, and some strange bugs that occur when buttons are mashed. Ive noticed you can lose control of the character if you press too many buttons too fast. Look into these game play glitches before you add anymore content or art. Trust me they will only get more complex the more you add. Also I would consider changing your character rigid body collision detection to continuous to avoid having him clip through other objects.

 

Hey there!
First off, thank you so incredibly much for your amazingly in-depth feedback where you report the issues, but give constructive criticism too and tell me how I can fix those issues! I can't find words to tell you how much that is appreciated!

I've set a 'mission' on fixing as many bugs as possible and there's lots of fixes in v3.1 that's upcoming! Such as some collision bugs/glitches, the tree collision box is increased in order to make it easier to grapple onto. Then there are the ones like when you click on both directional-movement, the character moves at a double speed. I'll fix that in 3.1 too, and it's very good that you reminded me of that one because I could have forgotten

My main priority for 3.1 was to fix some bugs regarding the Motion Lens, which are all now fixed and ready-to-go! Now, I'll be focusing at the ones that remain, like the doubled movement speed and rest of the ones you told me.
I have a method in my mind that I'll apply, which is that whenever you encounter a object enough, you'll stop moving until you want to move to the opposite direction. This will make the game more realistic as you can't run into a wall and keep "playing the animation of yourself" that you're running, while you're just staying still. This method will also fix the player clipping inside of objects, which is a huge plus!

The camera was actually working properly, but I realized that it gets slower at following up with the player if the FPS runs below 30 FPS. I'll either make a new Camera script which will constantly follow the player without any specific speed, or I'll just add a modification to the current script where I'll detect how far away the camera is. If it's too much, I'll make it follow the player faster. This way, the camera will never be behind what it's supposed to be!

Once again, I really want to thank you for an amazingly in-depth feedback where you inform me not only about the bugs but also what I should be targeting as my main priority! That's absolutely awesome to hear from one of my game's players, and I can't find words to thank you enough!

I'm glad that you like the visual quality of the game. Yes, I did put alot of work at it because of the fact that I'm running on Unity FREE and therefore I can't use the ordinary post-processing effects. So I had to make them myself and then obviously optimize the game as much as possible to make it run smoothly (around 30 FPS). Before I jump on to the initial release now, I'll fix the remaining bugs on the DEMO to make it as playable as possible!

Thank you and sorry for such a long post ^^

 

300 YES votes under 1 day!
This is an incredible milestone for me, I really didn't think there'd be that many votes in just one single day! Over 900 clicks by unique visitors.

Thank you all SO much! If this game goes on STEAM, that'd be a dream coming true!

 

LENS DEMO 3.1 is finally ready and published!
This update is huge and took a whole day for me! There are new features, all the bugs until now are fixed, all collision errors are gone and much more!

To download, either click on the link in the main post or click here!
PS: Now you can download the DEMO 3.1 for all three platforms (Windows, OSX and Linux) from one single website, which is IndieDB! You won't have to struggle finding links anymore, they're all there!

Don't forget that you can go ahead and vote YES to LENS on Steam Greenlight, so it can be sold at STEAM!

Here is the full patch notes:
Full Patch Notes:
• Holding down both movement keys won't multiply your movement speed anymore
• Running sound will absolutely stop when you jump
• The audio when walking at the rocks in the cave is fixed
• Player won't clip through objects anymore by walking into them
• Rope won't invert / flip out anymore when changing sides while swinging
• New animation for swinging has been added
• Newly written Camera Script! More smooth, won't lose track of player anymore
• When player dies, every other sound will stop playing
• Sound will be playing automatically whenever an object falls now (specifically great for using motion power then letting go of the object)
• Added a grapple model for the hook in-game
• Tree hooking collision boxes are now bigger (easier to hook to)
• A new 'puzzle' has been added to the long way in the cave
• Improved the quality of coil (mesh quality)
• Positioned the rope model again, now it won't look like you sit on it
• Worked a little bit more on animations
• Added drowning animation
• Fixed tons of collision bugs and played around with the lightning a bit

These changes were applied at this patch that you can download now, which is LENS DEMO 3.1! Please go ahead and download it. There are files now here for all three platforms supported (WINDOWS, OSX and LINUX)!

 

LENS was in the TOP 100 GAMES list today in IndieDB and ranked #70! It got tons of reputation from there and the votes on GREENLIGHT keeps raining! Thank you guys for everything so far, it really is a dream coming true and I hope it won't stop until the end!

Click here to vote at Steam Greenlight now!
Click here to check LENS out at IndieDB and download DEMO now!

 

3.2 RELEASED!

• Footstep sounds will keep playing when game saves
• The checkpoint system has been reworked and saves now one time only whenever you collide with the trigger, which saves lots of performance and won't lag as much as it did before
• God hazes positions and rotations changed dynamically, now they don't clip the terrain
• Lots of grass has been re-positioned in order to look more dynamic
• Increased the size of the rock in the cave (you can't jump over it anymore)
• Increased the detail rendering distance required, now it's more beautiful in the background
• Audio won't bug anymore when you walk into an object
• Dying in wolves cave will also stop the background audio now, not only drowning
• Camera will detect and calculate the distance between itself and the player object. If the camera is too far away in the X axis, then it'll move straight to the player's position
• Damping for water fixed, now the weird waves won't be generated

 

DEMO Gameplay will be up sooner today!

 

Gameplay trailer is being made by someone else, a little patience and it'll be up on YouTube!

 

I'm planning on a pre-ordering status for my game LENS. Please let me know what you think.

 

So I'm having some trouble transforming the file into Unity 5 as it gives errors on LevelSerializer (saving functionality in the game). I may continue the development of LENS in Unity 4 just to skip issues, and then convert it to Unity 5 as a remastered version after!

Ideas?

 

I think you should start porting the game if you don't have PhysX issue, what you're getting for what you're giving is priceless IMO

 

Hmm, I think I'll have to do that (literally forced). There are now some errors with the serialization in Unity 4 too... god damn it ^^
But yes, I'm extremely happy, satisfied and shocked with what's coming up in Unity 5! The performance of LENS will be incredibly high due to the post-processing Image effects being in the "personal edition" now, meaning I won't have to use different methods such as PixelRead.
Do you have any suggestions on any assets etc. for saving and loading game that works in Unity 5? I got no idea how to fix the current errors as they appeared after porting the game to Unity 5. :/

 

I haven't used any asset store projects for that case, but I do serialization in XML (System.Xml.Serialization) for Standalone games, and if you want more security you can just encrypt and decrypt the xml data, you can PM mre for any detail you want regarding serialization, I'll be happy to help

 

Thank you very much, I'll send you a PM now!

 

Alright, the porting of the game has begun!
Things that requires a rework because of critical errors:
• Rope physics and swinging mechanics
• Saving and loading game
• Textures for bending grass (for some reason it all became pink)

Only three things that gives critical error right now, and probably there'll be tons of bugs. The game is planned to be initially released in 2 months - let's see if I can win this race against time!
The issues mentioned above might sound 'little' but they take tons of time to fix! Because there are so many other scripts that uses those parts and they'll all have to be reworked a little bit too!

LET THE GAME BEGIN!

 

Don't go so hard on the image effects.