The Hero's Journey - A Sidescrolling Swordfighter!

The Asvarduil Project proudly presents...

View attachment 49402
(Strict Time Limit: 31 January 2014!)

This thread and the dev webplayer are updated weekly!
GitHub Project Site
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Development Webplayer (1/5/2014)

The Hero's Journey is a side-scrolling swordfighter that combines 3D locales with 2D graphics of yesteryear, all in pursuit of poking fun at JRPGs, and providing resolution for gameplay issues that plagued The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link.

Tim the Knight has just acquired a suit of crystal armor, but his father was injured in the process! Wandering to the nearby kingdom of Aylea, Tim discovers a duty conferred by his heritage: maintaining the seal of an evil lord who needs to stay sealed for 1000 more years. Of course, some local Evil Lords have appeared and began wreaking havoc on the Kingdom!

Tim will need all his reflexes and wits to brave this challenge; an expansive selection of seven enemies will challenge Tim on, under, and through the Kingdom of Aylea, while dealing with Evil Lords ranging from brutal, to sinister, and even clever. Tim isn't alone, though: he has the aid of various Aylean villages, who provide healing, guidance, and cellphone reception! (Yes, that is how JRPG characters manage to make news of you travel faster than you.)

Can you defeat the Evil Lords before the Supreme Evil Lord breaks his seal?

Controls:
Left/A: Move Left
Right/D: Move Right
Space: Jump
L-Ctrl/LMB: Attack

Feedback, ideas, and cake are always welcome.

Screenshots:

The Kingdom of Aylea. As it is a kingdom, you can wisely assume they will not be conquering the world or be controlled by a villain. (Development!)


The Castle, Tim's main hub of information during his quest, before King Roderick Broderic Mervin Garvan Aylea XXXIV.(Development!)


Two villagers were chilling at home, when this heavily-armed guy decked in sweet armor came right in the front door, looking for the family's ancient magical heirlooms. They were pawned off two generations ago. (Development!)


Tim in a random Aylean cave, surrounded by strange crystals and awesome underground music. Yet, I get the feeling he's not seeing something...

 

What was the 2D plugin you used to make it, I'm looking for one.

 

Looks great so far! I love the graphics. What things are you planning to add? Maybe you could add a block or something that you move slower but can dont get damage? I love the graphics though! Maybe add a mini map or something too?

 

Two things to fix so far from the webplayer...

#1 Floating when jumping into a roof.
This is fairly simple to fix, just set your upward motion to zero when an above collision flag happens.

#2 Run the entire attack sequence.
Right now, if you hit the attack button real quick, it does the attack, but it doesn't do the entire duration of the attack. While this would be fine if it were reset on the key up, the problem it isn't. This is a problem because half of the animation, no damage is done, and no visual is displayed. Simple fix is either force the entire animation do display and not allow another attack until that's done playing, or reset the timer for the attack animation to 0 when the key is released.

Beside that, I couldn't get past the first set of stairs, cause I kept dying. Maybe increase the gravity and jumpspeed, so you still jump as high, but fall much faster or something. The bullet things are kind of hard to see as well.

You know me. I'm not trying to be hurtful in any way, but these are some things you need to look at. For this art style and type of game, the jumping and floating when hitting a roof may be planned anyway, but I highly doubt the attack thing is planned. As usual, keep at it. The art looks great and I can see where you are wanting to go with it.

(Oh, and one last little bug, you can walk off into infinity if you go left )

 

I'm actually hand-rolling the 2D component. I wrote my own sprite manager that's probably not as good as what I could find on the Asset Store. However, it'll improve.

This is going to be a relatively short game (only three Evil Lords before the final Evil Castle), but there's some sword mechanics you can't access in that webplayer! First, there's underthrust and overthrust, which allow you to attack directly above or below your character, in addition to the high/low-side/side fighting that dominates the game.

Something that's already in, but not in that webplayer, are Health Crystals. Enemies occasionally drop them, and I leave them in crevices where I have reason to suspect you will need them. Walk over them to regain some health. Simple, but useful.

Additionally, something I'm working on right now are breakable blocks that will serve to impede progress in some locations, and lead to digging puzzles, much like The Adventure of Link. One of the boss fights will be based around block-manipulation, sort of like an Action-game meets puzzle-game meets real-time strategy game...as I've conceived it so far, that is. I'm working out the fine details as I go.

The enemies are where this game will shine. Already in the webplayer I've introduced you to Slimes and Shototos. All of my deep, vibrant variations of seven enemies will have their own emphasis on your swordfighting skill; Slimes jump or run, Shototos force Tim to use that shield he brought along and set up some interesting jump puzzles. There are others, like the Steelguard/Blackguard/Deathguard I am working on, and some suprises that all fit inside this game's swordfighting idiom (palette swaps indicate increasing strength...just like any other JRPG!)

Something already in the game is a deep emphasis on exploration. There will be a world map to encourage you to poke around and check out the mini-dungeons I set up for you. I want Aylea to feel like a deep kingdom, without getting bogged down with things like the need for AAA-graphics.

Finally, there are achievements that encourage alternate play styles. I forsee 90% of my audience playing through the game 'normally', which means as directed by the story. Of course, that 10% out there composes some interesting gamer types: completionists, speed runners, masochists who like beating heart-HP system games with the starting heart count. I'll have achievements in the game to accomodate that. I'm considering a scoreboard, because I want people to compete for who can clear the game in a given way the fastest.

That, and I'm really just curious. Being a gamer, I have an odd urge to study other gamers...

As to minimaps, we're going oldschool here, and this is an adventure. I am considering including some sort of Mapping system, though...just not on the main HUD. Not really sure what I'm going to do with it, or even if it will get in the game at all.

Glad you two like it, I'm working on more of the game every night!

...I still haven't done up the World Map at all...

The bullets fired by the Shototos have been slowed down from 6 units to 4 units in my personal build, funny enough (enemies also drop Health Crystals occasionally.) As for the physics, I'm working that one out, I have noticed the inconsistent fall speed. Stop feeding Tim the cake, he dosen't need it!

Thanks for the crits Caliber! I'm working on the Jump issue, and I'll probably add a One-Shot play setup to my sprite system. I've been thinking I need that for a while now...

 

Oh you are making it on your own, nice... I did the same thing for Kingdom Hunter, I would have continued if I had access to the animation component (animation.Play("YA YA")).

 

Just played in the web player. When I died, I had to reload the page. Is that right? Is re-spawning not written yet, not working right, or did I miss something?

Hitting the slimes with the sword seems hard. I'm right by them swinging, but it seems to be missing, then it hits and the slime dies. Is it doing damage on the other swings, or just missing?

The movement seems off to me, but may be that's part of "poking fun at JRPGs"?

Looking forward to seeing where this goes, thanks for sharing!

 

The movement is something I'm working on here and there. My joke has been so far that the character movement will cause me to lose most of my hair, and so far that's become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Jumping in particular is something that as of right now I know I don't have right.

As for the attacks, I need to update Tiim's sprites; your attacks should reach a few pixels beyond what is shown in the attack animation. Some of these issues are resolved in my latest and greatest webplayer, which I'm planning to upload probably tonight.

Finally, and an important point of order: other than my artwork, nothing in this game is intended to be low quality as satire. I've got way more clever ways of poking fun at stuff than lack of quality. Bear in mind I've only just started this game. Quality is the reason I'm making this game a shortie. The six month time limit is to encourage me to deliver.

 

Ah, just realized my sound was off when I was playing last time. With the sound on, I can hear the hits, and that it takes several to kill the slimes. Without sound, I thought I was just missing.

I haven't played many JRPGs, so I honestly didn't know if the movement was a style thing. I do hate trying to get movement right too, I'm still working though issues in my game, and think I always will

 

One thing on my list is to add a 'hurt' animation to entities, too, if that helps You bring up a great concern in that however- what about my hard-of-hearing/deaf users? Thanks

Purely a self-criticism from me: I think I made the guards' Bronze Armor marginally cooler than Tim's Crystal Armor...

 

Updated the webplayer! Slower bullets, health crystals are in this build. I'm working on the control issues, when I'm not working on art assets.

 

Week '1' (It's really more like week 7, but I'm starting to count now)

First, thanks for the outpouring of support, criticism, and ideas! FloatingCoder, Caliber Mengsk, and Sherlock Turtle in particular had great observations and ideas that I'm implementing in the game. Be sure to check the development webplayer for some of the fruits of their ideas.

Graphics
In response to Floating Coder, I've began adding Hurt animations and physics to all game entities, as a visual clue that they...well, got hurt. In the uploaded webplayer you may not can see the Hurt animations just yet, but you will notice upon hitting something or being hit, they will knock back slightly, though there are some slight bugs with that.

However, a treat from fellow forum member Gigabeat:



After posting in the art thread looking for a spot of help on the title pane, Gigabeat came through with this mildly-updated version (not to mention, more accurate kanji.)

I also created a more muted Castle wall/floor 3D tile. I'll have screenshots up with the monologue text system, as that will be pertinent. Expect that sometime this coming week!

Music/Sound
This week, I got to write two short MIDI pieces that will be rendered to MP3 later this week and embedded in the original post. The best one is 'Under the Canopy', the theme for the Illusionary Wood. The other is the World Map theme, which may evoke a bit of nostalgia from anyone who's played Final Fantasy IV.

Bugfixes/Known Issues
Sadly, the controls still need lots of love - as many have pointed out, in a sidescroller, controls have to be good and responsive. I've implemented some slight performance improvements, but there's still problems that I need to solve behind the scenes. As always, I'll have a webplayer up as soon as I do, but I won't comment on it until the next Sunday Evening post after the fact.

However, with some help from AustinK, I've fixed the bug that caused players to be unable to take partial jumps. Now, the longer you hold the jump button (space bar), the longer you will jump, up to the maximum allowed height. Enemy AI has not been affected by this change.

New Features
The new features for this week are ones you can't see, because they aren't in a scene that is accessible in this build.

First, I've added a monologual text system, so that those NPCs you pass in the Castle and in towns can give you helpful hints of where to go, what to do, or more efficiently make fun of JRPGs. I'm working out the kinks, but I want it to have its own little showtime next week if possible.

Further, I'm designing a new enemy, the Steelguard. Unlike the Shototo and Slime, this guy makes you use your sword and shield, but not jump button. His role is to engross you in a sword fight.

The webplayer link in the original post has been updated! Until next week, friends and fans!

 

...A wild screenshot appeared!

This is me showing off my text-window. I'll try to keep the amount of text in this game minimal (true to the inspired NES roots), but effective (I won't have an NPC that tells you that Health Crystals restor...wait a second, I can make fun of that, damn straight I will!)

Anyways, you get the point. As always, critiques, ideas are appreciated.

 

Week 2

Graphics
This week, I mostly created extra doodads for Aylea Castle, as well as some re-work on the castle block textures. The Castle - for players not attempting the Suicidal Achievement - is important!

Also, created a sprite for King Roderick Broderick Mervin Garvin Aylea XXXIV. I'm working on Princess Nelda's two sprites right now. Why is this significant? It led me to...

(EDIT: It led me in part to this pretty screenshot: )


Systems
...beginning work on the Game Phase system. As objectives are completed, NPCs will change their text to better direct the player what to do. As such, I've created a really simple means of checking the Game Phase, and a scene-level script to tell all the NPCs what their lines are. NPCs are horrible actors!

I'm also working on implementing a slight bit of inertia to the player controls. Not only does a bit of this help with ensuring that the jumping looks right, but also recreates some of the more tactical nuances of The Adventure of Link.

As of April 15, I got the jump in, though the tuning of the decay is subject to some tuning until it's just right.

Music
You can hear the world map theme in this week's webplayer!

Dude, where's my webplayer!?
It's totally here! (4.1 MB) Have a play, and a look around the castle. Right now the text update, or scripted events aren't working, but that's coming.

 

This seems an opportune time to show that I've updated the webplayer (this one is in Aylea Castle...no enemies to fight this time around...) You can hear some new music and see the improved jump system in action. Enjoy!

 

Week 3 (Be sure to read the bottom!)

Graphics
I've started some basic work on the towns of The Hero's Journey, including some NPCs:



Work on them is continuing, but they follow the same rules as the Guards and the King: text to guide you and provide world flavor. Nothing special.

Of course, since you see those new blocks (and the way I've done the house interior, for that matter), let's talk about my level design. Originally I was doing a pure cutaway. Nope, not anymore. I felt it more effective that, as I'm using a marriage of 3D and 2D to use my 3D tiles to emphasize the fact that this is a 3D world. With only a few more polys to my scenes, Aylea Castle now looks like this:



With some positive feedback from snowconesolid, I decided this is the way to go with my level design in the game. Caves may or may not still use the old setups, I haven't decided.

Webplayer?
Unlike usual, I updated it a couple of days ago (4/20/2013), but it's quite playable. As always, feedback is loved.

What's next for this week?
I'm planning on having a playable town for this week's demo so that I can demonstrate that functionality. I'm dragging my feet on the world map because I have two possible directions I can take it.

...

.....

Voting: Top-Down World Map, or Side-Scrolling Wilderness?
This one's up to you, fans - which would you like to see?

Top-Down World Maps are a staple of the JRPG genre. In a game like this, it wouldn't be complicated, either...just require some more frames for the hero, and a scene. Given that I'm copying much of the mechanics of Zelda 2: Link's Adventure, this would reinforce the intellectual inheritance.

Side-Scrolling Wildernesses, on the other hand, would require more scenes to be created, but no additional work done to the player's sprites. I would replace that work instead with a few scenes, possibly with randomly spawning enemies. While this would get a little away from my JRPG-parodying intent, it would perhaps provide a more cohesive experience, with everything being side-scrolling.

Fans, cast those votes! Let me know what you want to see!

 

Very retro lookin good.

 

I Like it! keep up the good work.

 

This is really cool! I like the blend of 2D and 3D!

Hmmm, I feel topdown would be more interesting, just because it will open up the world and give you the feeling you can go wherever you want, rather than the backwards or forwards feeling a side scrolling wilderness will give you.

 

I vote top-down : )

 

I vote for the side scroller

 

I like it, keep it up, bro!!!

 

Suggestion... import all your images as point instead of bilinear/trilinear. This will remove the blur from your textures, even if they are scaled. (You can get the pixels really clean like this: http://cmte.us/cm/RunAndGun_concept.png if you set it to point)

 

Point taken, will make that change when I get home!

EDIT: No offense for the intended helpful tip...but it didn't go quite as planned. Something is messed up with my graphics in a Web Player, it seems.

 

Updated webplayer per discoveries made!

Apparently, Unity is having issues with rendering Textures - they come out all funny, like they used to. When I changed the level blocks to being Advanced textures, with generated mipmaps, everything started working just fine (except for the GUI.)

 

I vote top-down and to render the textures properly, you have to set all textures like this


then go to render settings and make the quality the best


either this or save some time and effort and get a 2D Framework (I like 2D Toolkit)

 

Keep it up Asvarduil.

A lot of people are saying top down and side scrolling. I like it the way it is at the moment but heres an idea. Why not make it both top down and side scroller?

like have the major parts of the game side scroller and then like the bigger open areas as top down?
Just like how Zelda II was designed for the nes?

see examples:

Zelda II top down mode area


Zelda II side scrolling mode area in game:


What do you think? this way you get the best of both worlds. Just a suggestion. But in the end it all comes down to you the developer. You do what you think is best for your project.

 

@tylernocks - I'll give those settings a shot now, and edit with how it goes!
@Snowconesolid - this is exactly the style I'm going after. Going top-down (which is winning so far, 4-1) will do exactly this.

EDIT: It worked great! I updated the settings to Lv.4/6 (Good) from Lv.1/6 (Fastest), and it worked great. When I implement settings, the player will still have some room for adjustment.

EDIT 2: Current score as of this post is 4 in favor of top-down, 1 in favor of side-scrolling wildernesses. I can count, honest!

 

This game looks great so far. Sadly I don't know how to get out of the castle, but I've enjoyed what I've experienced so far. I vote side scroller is the way to go. Keep up the good work.

 

So far there is no way. I haven't linked the Castle to anything (or, anything else for that matter.)

 

Week 4

First, Your Feedback
After much discussion and feedback, it has been decided by you, fans: The Hero's Journey will feature a top-down world map. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

A Tale of One Cities
I've been working on the Village demo this week, and to my great dismay found some bugs in technology inherited from my old project, Thora! While I resolve the map-change bug, I do have a screenshot for you...

I walled off the entrances to the town due to an interesting side effect of the scene change bug, but I'm particularly proud of the small village of Dunamne. This will merely be the first of the game's awe-inspiring collection of three cities!

(Re-Attached)

I'm also challenging myself to work on the progression of the NPCs. While they have a necessarily limited selection of text (I'm not taking a lot of time on them A) because I'm not a writer by trade, and B) I want to work on actual gameplay,) I also want to flesh them out to make them more effective characters and sources of JRPG satire.

Webplayer wa doko desu ka?
This week, I'm working on two things - resolve the Scene Change bug, and actually implementing the game-phase change system from the week before last. The final demo - presumably to be released next week - will feature the village of Dunamne with a sample story scene, that causes the entire town to say different things.

Until next week, fans!

Question: Add YouTube update videos?
This question is as it sounds - while I truly enjoy typing the text updates, is anyone interested in my updates taking the form of videos on YouTube? It's something I've never tried before, but would allow me to show the game in motion. Each 'episode' would take perhaps 5-6 minutes (if that).

Interesting? Or should I just stick to plain text? You decide!

 

Week 5

A Venture in Adventure
While working on the town demo, I walled off the entrances to the town of Dunamne. But, this got me thinking: what the heck am I doing? Yeah, I have a town that proves that I can bind a door to a scene, but is that really all I want to demo to my fellow developers?

Nah. I want to do more. Part of what pumped me up to do The Hero's Journey in the first place was doing something a little different than what I'd done before, a little riskier. So, this week, I set out to do the second part of my demo: the dreaded world map.



The premise is simple - as other devs have put it, the world map adds a sense of exploration to the game. Now, this isn't a long game - in fact, I conceptualized it to be Nintendo-short. However, the overall idea is there: it's a way to tie together challenges and deepen the player's understanding that this game takes place in a wider world than the side-scrolling environments that are easily encountered.

Blah blah blah. Webplayer?
Not yet...patience, my fans/apprentices...all will be revealed soon enough!

 

Hero's journey, hmmmmm

i have heard this name before,

isnt it the same name as Hero engines prototype mmorpg hero's journey too?


no wonder it sounded familiar. unless i am confused.

anyways, i would not name my game same as other existing game ie: world of warcraft. AION etc...

just my .02

 

but I want it naow

 

This one?

 

World map looks really good! Keep it up

 

@meta87: no prob!
@CaptainExtra/Blacklight: Interesting. When I searched on Google for 'The Hero's Journey game', I got a ton of things about the literary pattern, but not about a MMORPG. Still, I'll consider a rename. I do want to make more than $5 on this game, and don't want to be sued.

@tylernocks: Too bad, come back next week!

 

A friend of mine has actually been working on a game with the same name for a long time now. I don't know if he's ever actually going to finish it. He's restarted it like 3 times now. That said, I don't think it's trademarked or anything.

 

You could always check ustpo.gov to see what kind of trademarks there are that may be related to any names you want to use.

 

Great tip Austin, thanks!

EDIT: No rename necessary! The Hero's Journey is not TM'd or patented.

 

You should be careful though. If a name is VERY POPULAR, and it seems like you're naming a product after that name, or to sound like that name, there is still that small possibility that if things went to court that a judge would rule in favor of whoever owns the right to that popular name. I only read about this specifically with music (let's say you named your game "We Are The Champions", well whatever label owns Queen will probably win in this case. But if you named your game after some song that isn't HUGELY popular, then you should be okay), but I would think this same thing would work in other areas as well (books, stores, etc)

 

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/174

yup, that is it,

game project started by the creators of HeroEngine mmo platform,
the project seemed to be cancelled, but no official note has been release.

So, more than likely the name hero's journey may be still trademarked.

this same engine wwhich was licensed by BioWare from EA games to create "SWTOR" StarWars the old republic

so, we talking about big dogs here.

 

Hero's Journey: Not trademarked
The Hero's Journey: Not trademarked

If someone else trademarks it first, then I have no choice but to rename. Until they do, however...

 

I think you're doing the search wrong according to your links, so I did it for you. But, from what I see... everything dealing with Heroe's Journey or The Heroe's Journey is "DEAD"

Go to http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4810:hug24n.1.1 and in the "Search Term" just type in "Heroes Journey" and will see all alive and dead TMs.

"a dead or abandoned status for a trademark application means that specific application is no longer under prosecution within the USPTO, and would not be used as a bar against your filing. It does not necessarily mean that there are not other marks that the trademark examining attorney would cite. It is also possible to revive an abandoned application (for example, if the USPTO declared the application abandoned for failure of the applicant to respond to an Office action, but the applicant later proved that a response was sent and the USPTO simply failed to match it with the file in a timely manner, then the case could be revived). Also, regardless of the status of an application within the USPTO, the owner may still claim common law rights, i.e, the mark may still be in use in commerce. "

 

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfiel...h&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query

Which if you look at #6 (at least in my list) it brings you to http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4807:wxy4a9.2.6

Also, I know the people at simutronics. They didn't just license the game engine, they sold it, and if I remember right, they said they sold hero's journey with it. Either way, they definitely don't have anything to do with the engine.

 

Looks cool. What do you plan on releasing it for?

I found Left-Control to be awkward for an attack key. I use a Mac and control+Arrows is a shortcut for Spaces so that is kind of wonky.

Can you do anything in the webplayer demo? Couldn't find any place to go.

 

I'm looking at Android, Mac, and PC for the time being. Sadly, I have no Mac machines to test with (they're a bit pricey). I'll look into customizable control schemes as I close on my deadline.

Finally, no, the webplayer in Aylea Castle that's currently up has nothing you can do right now. I'm actually working on parts of that piece this week. You'll see on Sunday's progress post!

 

Week 6

Louis, Lois, and Clark
So, I've continued work on the World Map. Given the comments and critiques on the Small Works Art thread, I've changed a thing or two since last time!




The first screenshot features none other than an Evil Castle, where one of the Evil Lords is basing their efforts at reviving the Supreme Evil Lord!

The second screenshot is an update of my first world map screenshot. While making it look more 'natural' (I still need to add some tree sprite variants), I'm trying to preserve the shape and color consistency.

On that note, let's talk about that. While I am a programmer, and obviously not the go-to guy for art styles, my art has a clear 'retro' influence, but from far before the days of the NES, Dragon Warrior/Final Fantasy I, or even The Lord of the Rings. No, the driving force behind my style is actually European medieval art!



Notice how flat everything is? How the more important structures/people are bigger, with more detail put into them? Go back and look at my prior screenshots. Notice anything similar? Sure, one may be more pixelated than the other, but you should see a few conceptual similarities. Given how intentionally 'flat' the Kingdom of Aylea is, this also reinforces the story of the game, and the deconstruction of the RPG tropes I will be exploring.

Prithee, hast thou a legendary Webplayer?
Egads! Thou hast caught me flatfooting! Mine webplayer still seeketh not the light of daye, as the world map controller hath not the maturity nor the purity of form to present, lords and ladies. But fear not - like the game itself, it shall be come when thou least expecteth it.

 

lol, its starting to look like my game a little, did I start a trend :b

 

Actually I went public with this project (barely) before you did. Close enough to chalk up to parallel evolution.

Also, I have learned to hate player control systems. Retrospective item: if at all possible, buy a player control system.

No, scratch that - I will sell the fully-debugged player control systems on the Asset Store when they are finished, hopefully concurrent with the game's release. Then, others will not have to deal with these sorts of issues, and I shall profit.