Ninja's Bo, Arcade Platform Game

Hello, i'm working in a platform game called Ninja's Bo, here is a video to show what i have at this moment.

06-04-2017 new level and pickups design

06-03-2017 pause screen

update 06-02-2017 new & final loading screen

update 11-01-2016 armors and improved attacks

update 08-15-2016 level 4 boss, walk cycle, first test

any feedback will be very appretiated

 

Your character controller looks very tight and responsive. Looks good.
I don't really like the pixelated eyeball smoke explosions, compared to the other enemy effects.
The environment could use some prettier visuals. If this is just grey boxing to test functionality - it is understandable.

The character has a dust effect when he jumps but not when he lands. Was this a conscious design decision?

Overall looking good.

 

I would agree with theANMATOR2b and I would also add that the camera only moves left/right (not up/down) so later in the video (2:17ish) the player could easily jump off screen, I don't think its a issue with this level but it could be down the road.

 

thanks for your replys theANMATOR2b and RavenOfCode, very important points.

theANMATOR2b, i totally forgot to add the dust when the player is landing, also i'm planing of change the background and the blocks texture, that are just for testing the game play.

RavenOfCode, you are right, i need to add the vertical move of the camera, i think that will be fixed in the next videos.

thank you very much for the tips/feedback, that really helped a lot !

 

hi again, i have updated the first post with a new video.

some big changes but the vertical move of the camera is still pending.

hope to receive important feedback, thank you in advance!

 

Looks good I like how you added some textures. Makes the game feel more alive.
Heres some things I noticed:
At :55/1:25 the moving platform has a undersized texture, as well as a few other textures 4:46 (around there) you can notice a few that need to be fixed. Also a bit after :55 it doesnt seem a animation for the character plays when shooting the fireball. And the fireball seems to be moving very fast, maybe slow it down to give variation, and keep the ninja stars as fast moving projectiles.
Another thing is maybe have some indicator of the player taking damage (player flashes red, screen shakes, ect.).
Later in the video the leaves were flying really fast, not sure if thats intentional but it looks a little odd.

The game is looking great though, I love the animation style and the art is for the most part really cool. (The white ninja at 1:37 was awesome ). The gui as well looks quite nice, I like the unique style. And the Ai works nicely.

Best of luck with your game.

 

Thank you for your feedback RavenOfCode, i will fix those issues!

 

Raven nailed it.
I'd also include - the added assets at this point are a little disjointed from each other. Since you are going for the stereotypical oriental setting - everything has to match that visual style and theme. The billowing leaves are maple/oak leaves but those don't match the type of trees shown in the environment. I would look real nice if those leaves were changed to cherry blossom petals - or something similar to the pink vine tree flowers.
The green and brown tree seen at :22 and other places doesn't match the aesthetic of the oriental theme nor the graphic style at all. I think I'd swap that out one out for something more bonsai looking.

Lastly I think the foreground (characters and elements) would benefit from a subtle visual graphic separation from the mid and background elements. This can be done numerous ways - color, saturation, tone, lighting fx, blur, etc. A good example I just found is Guacamelee. Watch a game play video and you will see a good foreground / background separation.

 

tank you for your feedback theANMATOR2b, i will try to fix those issues for the next video!

 

i have updated the first post with the second level, still a WIP, but there is some previews of the level.

 

I am digging the background of the earth's mantel. Also the characters animation transitions look on point. I think it would be cool if maybe lava would be dripping from the ceiling in some points as an obstacle. Good work.

 

thank you for the idea Magnumstar, i will add it to the game!

 

I'm liking the new setting, it looks pretty awesome. I would maybe suggest adding some sort of enemies/something, the level looks very empty. Maybe rounding the edges of the platforms would look a bit better and not so block like. Other than that it looks really nice.

Keep up the good work.

 

thank you for your tips RavenOfCode, I'm still working on the level, i will try to round the corners, also i'm working first on the environments traps, after finish them i will move to adding the enemies.

thanks again for your advises! i really appreciate your help!

 

i have updated the first post with a new video, still level 2 (wip) now with some new effects, checkpoint vfx, lion flames trap, red smoke in lava pools, checkpoint message, god mode potion, player's god mode vfx, health god mode indicator.

also i have added some arcade rpg elements to the game, health and sword upgrades, the upgrades can be obtained with a pickup of rare items from the game levels.

the health can be upgrade 5 times and the sword only 3 times.

i want to have these both rpg elements very simple, because the game is arcade - platform, the player can't customize them, just receive the item and the player will have more health and the sword be upgraded.

hope you like the progress.

 

Is it just me or does the landing sound play in mid air when falling from higher platforms? Around 23 seconds of last video. Are you using raycast that's doesn't adjust with player current height?

Could just be the video or my phone.

 

the player character don't have a landing sound, it have only the jump sound, that's what you are hearing.

 

Then it's working

 

Wow, this is looking nice. I am basing this opinion from the video you posted on 02/04/2016

I like the overall feel of the game. Animation of the character looks great and it seems like the gameplay works really smooth. I like the graphics as well, like the health bar, lives, etc. One thing you could work on a bit more is for the weapon icon(the one below the health bar, like the kunai). I would suggest to just use a solid color rather than a gradient(maybe just a plain whit bg, or grey-ish). For me, the gradient is a bit too distracting(or maybe I am just too picky lol). One thing I dig a lot on games like this is upgrades. I love how you are incorporating some of those in here. Will there be like a leveling up system? If you were to do that, that would be sweet!

One last comment is for the change of area. Like for example, at the beginning(at around 0:06), when it goes to the underground, it just looks too rough. Maybe a fade In/Out effect would make it much smoother. Other than those things, this games has very good potential man, keep at it. Will keep an eye on this

 

thank you for the advices u-007, i was thinking what to do with the change of area, thanks man, your are a life saver.

i will try to implement them in the next release

 

hello again, i have updated the first post with a new video with the first boss battle, the ai of the boss needs some tweak but is almost done.

the level still need work, there is not collectibles to pickup but i wanted to have the boss working in game and i jumped to the work of the end of the level.

hope you like the ai and collect some good feedback from this last video.

thank you in advance for your help.

 

It looks quite good, maybe consider making the boss a bit easier, I think many people will not continue playing if they can't defeat the first boss. As the boss seems like a slow dude maybe slow down his ranged attacks and maybe have them effected by a random amount of gravity (that way all the attacks hit different areas making it harder).

Keep up the good work!

 

Looking good man. No lie, you are actually an inspiration to me to really start working on a game. I love games like these and would love to make one, but I am not sure I can draw very well.

Anyways, as suggested by Raven, the AI looks a bit too tough for a first boss. Unless there is a special skill to easily counter his projectiles, this boss will be too difficult for some. My personally, I love challenges, so I would probably no rest till I defeat him lol But in all seriousness, to add to what Raven said, try to limit the attack to only a certain area, since the boss is shooting at you even when he is off screen, so there is no way to anticipate his attacks. You could try to do what Megaman does and just make the boss be in a room(or just section) rather than on the actual full level to avoid that.

Keep it up man. Looking forward for the day I get to play this game.

 

thank you RavenOfCode and u-007 for your comments and advices, i didn't notice the difficulty of the boss until i recorded the video, i will increase a bit the throw rock time, i will let that time for the very hard difficulty.

i'm glad you like the game's progress, until next time!

 

hello, here i'm posting a sneak peak of the new platforms for the lava cave level 2, hope you like it !

 

hoping all of you are having a great time making games, here i'm posting a new video of Ninja's Bo, here i'm showing the new look of the platforms of the level 1, hope you like, soon the new platforms of the level 2.

 

i have updated today the first post with a video from the second level with the new platforms.

 

updated the first post with a new video, also i removed the oldest videos, if someone want to watch then please visit the Ninja's Bo website to get the youtube channel url.

here is a quick overview of the new video: the final version of the player is here, Tsuo Yoki San has now his final look, also he has a set of 4 armors, in the video you will see the player with no armor (armor level 0) but you can see all the armors in the Ninja's Bo website.

The video show a trap, where the player must kill all the enemies without getting one hit to let a teleporter appear to go to a "secret room" with a shuriken and magic max upgrade.

You can see a new magic power called Shadow Ghost, this power will kill any enemy in his path, each enemy killed by this magic will drop an red collective with a auto fly to the player effect, this is a very powerful magic attack.

remember, any feedback will be very helpful

P.S.: the capture software has dropped some frames, you can notice in some parts of the video the player is moving without any animations, don't know why the capture software did that, i checked the game and is running almost at 500 fps and the player is always animated, sorry for the frames dropped, i will try to improved that in the next video.

 

I like the collection system and ghost attack.

 

thank you Magnumstar

 

update the first post with a new video of Tsuo Yoki San getting his armor level 1, enjoy!

 

hello again, i updated the first post with two new videos, worm mini boss and magic totems, hope they like all of you and don't forget the feedback is really needed and appreciate

 

updating the thread with a new video that shows the final Ninja's Bo's Logo, water shield, new traps (spikes, small crater) a big implementation of object activators to increase game performance, a message (for rookies, it can be turned off in the options menu) that will show the new threats in each levels, hope you like the progress, next video will show level four.
if you like the game and want to help, please sign up for the first beta of Ninja's Bo, it will have the first three playable levels, we are offering a big discount on the final price of the game for all the users the sign up, test the game and send the feedback to us, here is the link to the beta sign up

thank you in advance for all the help and collaboration.

 

i have updated the first post with a new video, showing the walk cycle's first test from the fire golem boss from the level 4, this boss is really dangerous! expect more news !

 

sorry for the time without any news, but we are working hard to improved a lot of thing in the game, i have edited the first post with a video showing the players amors and the improved ground, run and air attacks.

(the armors were unlocked using cheat codes because they must be unlocked along the game levels)

we are very close to release our first alpha demo, if anyone want to try the game and give us feedback to improve the game don't hesitate in send me a message to add you the alpha demo users list to send you the url of the game when it is ready for the testing phase.

hope you like the new video!

 

sorry for the long time without any update, our graphic designer is working hard to deliver a great product, we have a screen shot of the first level after a great amount of work, please let us know if you like the look.

 

It looks very good, yet the character seems very out of place. Is he getting an update?

 

Thanks RavenOfCode, we are thinking the same, the player will get an update for sure, after our graphic designer finish the improvements of the game levels that are already finished (by now, the first 3).

glad you like it!

see you soon in the next update!

 

updated the first post with the new & final loading screen.

hope you like it.

 

updated the first post with the pause screen.

 

i have update the first thred with a new video showing the new design of the level & pickups, hope you like.

also we are closely to an alpha release, the game will be release on itch.io to let the player test the gameplay.

this will be very usefull for us to get people feedback to improve and fix many things of the game.

 

hello, here is a quick update for our current project, this is a picture with all the current in game pickups of Ninja's Bo.