SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

I'm going for another interactive style menu.

I can  put messages on billboards anywhere in the level which is handy to provide tips and info as you progress. I also attempted to do a water based font, not great, but will do for now.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_09.png

So, you select Play which takes you to the stage select screen. I wanted to avoid redefining keys in the options so you are told that the next key/button you hit is your control button. The camera zooms in a bit and you then take control of Blue Gill to select a level or get used to the controls.  If you're shite at controlling him then you might not be able to play. Harsh but fair I think! 

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_08.png

Menu's fully finished as is the main game loop (failure, replay, complete etc..  ) so you can now play a game from start to finish.   I generally leave them until last but glad they're out of the way as Menu's are a real chore.  I can now focus on enemies, levels etc..

4 levels complete, including the ending level which is just a well done.  I'm aiming for 15 but we'll see how that goes as have lots of ideas for challenges, new enemies and objects.  I'll need to prioritise I think.

Started adding basic sounds and a fade between over/under water seems to work well.  Lots to do and only a couple of weeks to go! 

This is the options menu. All the fish just going about their business.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_10.png

Here is the latest (not quite finished) level zoomed out. The waste coming from that pipe is toxic and will slowly kill you and 9ther fish. The eggs are quite tricky on this one.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_11.png

This is the ending (spoiler).  You get to swim around with your spawn and the Mrs. I think it looks pretty good but has some room for improvement.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_12.png

Looking forward to playing this one.  A really good graphics aesthetic, some subtle physics and interesting gameplay it seems too.

QuoteA really good graphics aesthetic,

I agree. Patapon underwater. Brilliant!

Thanks Steve and Blink, really appreciate the feedback - keeps me motivated.

I'm spending too much time watching the fish swim around and all the emergent gameplay coming from the physics.  2 fish eating the same fish while one of them is being eaten by another bigger fish. A beached fish flapping around, catching a fly, eating it and splashing back into the water  There is no AI other than random forces being applied when underwater and jumping forces if beached. I think I might leave it this way.as its unpredictable.  Hunting is pretty tricky as some fish appear to be avoiding you and others are oblivious. If they all scarpered you're never catching one. Also, the other fish already have an advantage in terms of their movement so this probably evens things out.

I did a  bit more work on the final scene today. I wanted choppier water so originally just applied random forces at random points. Looked OK but decided to just make it rain. The rain hitting the water made it choppy enough, it made is clear that you were no longer in a cave and fish love the rain (don't they?), so killed three birds with one stone.    Four birds maybe as used the rain as random drops in the caves too. I stopped at adding a big ship moving in the horizon and adding in Wilson from Castaway for your kids to play with. Maybe after deadline. 

I've started adding more sound fx too. The fading between over/underwater ambience works quite well in that just under the surface there's a sweet spot where both over/under fx are playing at 50% volume.  I should be able to apply the same effect for one off sounds where I'll have a muffled one and a clear one. For the muffled version I just apply a low pass filter at 24db in Audacity.  The base volume will be distance from the listener (normally your grouper) but this will then be further adjusted depending on your distance from water level. I think it'll work. I hope it works. 

I'm getting good with the controls, probably too good so need to get a few friends for guinea pips to see how intuitive they find it.

This is turning out to be one great looking entry. Very impressed with the style and going on your previous games I just know the gameplay will be there too.

One small, tiny, minuscule tip. If you could put in a little less effort to give of mortals a chance, that'd be great

I love these gfx, takes me back to 'stramash'

Quote from: 3DzForMe on October 09, 2021, 08:54:18
I love these gfx, takes me back to 'stramash'

Most of the physics came from there and the aesthetic with a bit of colour thrown in. I always planned to do something more with the fish in that and this was a chance I couldn't pass up.

Quote from: Qube on October 08, 2021, 02:48:11
This is turning out to be one great looking entry. Very impressed with the style and going on your previous games I just know the gameplay will be there too.

One small, tiny, minuscule tip. If you could put in a little less effort to give of mortals a chance, that'd be great

Cheers. The proof will be in the playing. Just hope we get a good amount of entries this time! 

The idea for the sound mixing works really well for one off water based effects, not so much for other spot effects so decided to stick with single sounds with no distortion for those (for now).  There's no music but I hope to add some scary ambiences at places around levels or attached to the bigger fish think jaws tune getting louder as bigger fish approach.

Need to add new enemies and edibles next which can be tricky and time consuming as all animations are driven by forces, there are no key frames.

Made another couple of levels today and a new enemy - the Snub Nosed Piranh. They are annoying little bustards as instead of eating until they're full they'll take nibbles at you and then pull away. A bit like death by 1000 cuts.    God help you if there's more than 1 

I've also added in eggs that float which gives me more scope with egg placement. One of the levels will have a fly carrying an egg and you'll need to time your leap to get it.

The starting level.
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_13.png

In this level you start on the rocks so need to start leaning how to jump.
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_14.png

The Snub Nosed Piranha twins
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_15.png

Another 2 enemies done. The Tiger Shark took longer than I expected but pleased with the results. It takes a while to get hungry but when it does... run! The Box Jellyfish will sting you if you hit it.

A week to go 

Last screenshot of the main protagonists..

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_16.png

Ok, I,lied. 

Got into a bit of feature creep yesterday.  Designed a new character- Uncle Seamus. Maybe I'm not right but spent too much time watching him battle it out with other predators, some of which grabbed and pulled his dodgy eye out. Nature is cruel 

Old Unc ..
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_17.png

Also, designed the final edible - the Eel which I can set to any length. Really pleased with how this one turned out. It coils up,  swims like an eel and eats small fish or plants.

Breach Practice ..
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_18.png

Managed to finish 15 full levels and most of the other bits I wanted to do.  There were a few things I wasn't happy with but it will have to do for now! 

https://stevieg.itch.io/super-grouper?secret=u9rwjrjhbhi2xHbVzSHN5GBlv2w

https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTI0ODMyNy83Mjc1MzY4LnBuZw==/original/f8wKle.png
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTI0ODMyNy83Mjc1MzcwLnBuZw==/original/1g7wV9.png
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTI0ODMyNy83Mjc1MzcyLnBuZw==/original/gNvdwQ.png


A challenge to all pretenders .. the Full 15 stage journey without losing a life! 
A good few hairy, close to death moments.

https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTI0ODMyNy83Mjc1MzcxLnBuZw==/original/jb6Xqe.png

Been working on new title logo for post comp. Wanted to keep it really simple but incorporate the main character.

I think it's better - any thoughts?

Old
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_19.png

New
http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_21.png

I really like the half-submerged title of the original (clever!) - plus the main character of the new version...

Never thought of combining. 4 more variants  .. think I like the last one best.

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_22.png

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_23.png

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_24.png

http://www.steviegoodwin.plus.com/images/Super%20Grouper/SG_25.png