Mors Cerebri - Developers - Facepunch Forum

So, since a few months I'm working on [B]Mors Cerebri[/B], which is supposed to be some top-down grid- and turn-based game inspired by the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike"]rogue-like[/URL] genre, though it will most likely never reach such a deep complexity. It started out as a graphical remake for an ASCII rogue-like I did some years ago (never finished), but went in a different direction since then. Some information about the game: [B]Graphics[/B] It will be a graphical tile-based game, but it is planned to support ASCII tile sets for nostalgic reasons (if I can figure out how to make certain game mechanics work with limited presentation). I'm not a good graphical artist, so the graphics are currently quite... mediocre to say the least. But I do implement some algorithms to "make the game prettier on-the-fly", like basic drop shadows, some wannabe ambient occlusion and more or less dynamic lighting. The lighting is designed to not only look good, it will also influence game play, as the game is always aware of how well lit areas in the map are. At the time I'm also working on a particle emitter to implement some neat effects. [B]Audio[/B] This is the first time I'm dealing with audio in a game I make, so everything is quite experimental (but there were guys in the WAYWO thread saying that it sounded quite good so far, thanks :v:). So yes, there will be sound. [B]Game play[/B] Game play mechanics are inspired by rogue-likes. The game is turn-based, you act, then the "world" acts. You have a limited field of view, everything outside of it gets "frozen" until you look at it again. The maps need to be discovered while playing. I am working on both, predefined maps and procedurally generated maps/dungeons. Maps do not need to be "baked" or how you want to call it, they can be modified at any time during game play. There are items and weapons to find and utilize, world objects to interact with, enemies, etc. What is planned but not yet implemented is some skill system to evolve your character. [B]Story [/B]Totally unknown at this time. [B]Status[/B] Not even alpha I guess. Building the basics of the engine currently, with some minor features in place and test levels. It's just myself working on it, and there is not much free time, so development is quite slow. [B]Screenshots[/B] [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_screen_01.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_screen_02.png[/IMG] [B]Videos[/B] An older video showing some of the lighting (which now looks slightly different) [video=youtube;ZViUgWBGgN8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZViUgWBGgN8[/video] A small game play video with sound, showing a very tiny map (maps can get much larger) [video=youtube;QoWGi3rSBPc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoWGi3rSBPc[/video] Now, I don't know if this is allowed here or not (if not, let me know) but I created a development blog for Mors Cerebri where I plan to show some technical stuff about ongoing development: [URL]http://mors-cerebri.tumblr.com/[/URL] Right now there is an article in which I describe how the lighting system actually works under the hood, might be interesting for one or the other. There's also a link to a small website for Mors Cerebri giving some news, info and media. [URL="http://dienes.di.funpic.de/cm/"] [/URL]I do not know how often I will be able to update these, but yeah. By the way, does anyone know a good source for free sound samples? I currently get mine from pdsounds.org and remix it... found some good stuff there, but it is also missing a lot. Any ideas?

This looks really fun.

Looks good. Any particular reason you went for a tetris inventory system? I find they just end up really frustrating and prefer everything to just take one slot.

[QUOTE=HTF;31254146]Looks good. Any particular reason you went for a tetris inventory system? I find they just end up really frustrating and prefer everything to just take one slot.[/QUOTE] Well, the first rogue-like I attempted to make back then was supposed to be based on the Resident Evil series, and as such it needed to have a similar system as the original. The idea stayed because I also find it more interesting and "challenging" than a basic system. Changing that just means limiting every item to 1x1. I thought it's better to build a flexible system and limit it afterwards than having a basic system that is not extendable.

[QUOTE=Dienes;31254665]Well, the first rogue-like I attempted to make back then was supposed to be based on the Resident Evil series, and as such it needed to have a similar system as the original. The idea stayed because I also find it more interesting and "challenging" than a basic system. Changing that just means limiting every item to 1x1. I thought it's better to build a flexible system and limit it afterwards than having a basic system that is not extendable.[/QUOTE] Yeah that is a good way to do it. You could always make it an option when you start the game but if you keep the items to the shapes you have shown so far it shouldn't be that hard, no mind numbing re-arranging of stuff to fit in that one potion or whatever.

Wow, great work. I look forward to seeing more of this.

Reminds me of being a Miner in SS13, good work!

That's some of the prettiest lighting I've seen in a 2D game, I'd like to see this when it's done, definitely.

Dayum

[QUOTE=Tark;31262407]That's some of the prettiest lighting I've seen in a 2D game, I'd like to see this when it's done, definitely.[/QUOTE] I actually added support for colored lights by now. :) It's not perfect but still I like how it turned out... [video=youtube;cy9-XQ32EoI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwXco7U0VnY[/video] (Watch in HD, otherwise it's strange looking...) If not used too excessive (like in the video), it's working quite well.

This looks fucking awesome. I'm keeping my eye on this.

New game play video: [video=youtube;PL5oRU-yBtk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL5oRU-yBtk[/video] Contains some new stuff: * Use of colored and directional lights * Explosions/particle effects * Basic combat * Decals * Animated tiles * Door/terminal mechanism

I had my ear phones on when I watched this, and I need to say that sound fx are great. Pretty atmospheric.

Looks awesome. Also the fact that Dredmo rhas introduced some of FP to the roguelike genre means that you could get a small playerbase pretty quickly if you advertise to them. Would be nice to see animated player movement but great job so far!

[QUOTE=Dienes;31294386]New game play video: -video- Contains some new stuff: * Use of colored and directional lights * Explosions/particle effects * Basic combat * Decals * Animated tiles * Door/terminal mechanism[/QUOTE] The footsteps sound like they're isolated to the right channel. Could be my headphones.

[QUOTE=cwook;31328547]The footsteps sound like they're isolated to the right channel. Could be my headphones.[/QUOTE] Experiencing something similar myself, will investigate, thanks :)

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_screen_03.png[/IMG] Have been working on several things in the meantime, many of which cannot be shown visually. Items now can be combined, allowing for things like reloading weapons with ammo, mixing chemicals, things like that [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_inventory.png[/IMG] Nightvision goggles to see in the dark [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_nightvision.png[/IMG] A map item that you can find and "read" to reveal the general structure of the dungeon[B] [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_screen_04.png[/IMG] [/B] Other things I've been working on: * Basic support for character attributes, so far I have implemented: * * Perception - affects FOV, e.g. the goggles in the inventory picture above has +2 Perception * * Hunger - you need to eat, otherwise you starve, the mushrooms in the inventory picture above satisfy hunger * Basic support for character conditions, so far I have implemented: * * Starvation - tied to Hunger obviously * * Dementia - the player stops "knowing" areas he visited, so those out of view will vanish as if you never been there * AI improvements * * Time management - Enemies can act faster/slower than you * * Enemies now can interact with doors * * Enemies now use a A* path finding algorithm to chase you * * Enemies now can operate weapons, either melee or ranged * * Two enemy types so far * * * Zombies - they are slow and bite you * * * Photophobs - they try to avoid lit areas, too much light sets them on fire and they will burn to death * Added simple movement animations/transitions to let the game appear more "smooth" * Improved random dungeon generation * HUD elements (so far health and condition as seen above) * Minor graphical and performance improvements Also, I played around with a different tile set to achieve some "retro" look, I hope I get this to work right sometime... [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_retro.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Dienes;31712297]Also, I played around with a different tile set to achieve some "retro" look, I hope I get this to work right sometime... [IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1453576/mc_retro.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] So awesome.

I like the sound in general, but the footsteps drive me crazy. Will there be an option to either turn them off? or at least lower the sound of the footsteps?

As much as I like having everything as an option, it is planned to have sound as a gameplay element, with different materials producing different footsteps, enemies hearing you walk by, sneaking past enemies, shoe items that let you walk more quietly, etc.

It would be pretty amazing to include some sort of texture pack changer in the game (think minecraft!), and allow people to create their own for others to download. You could add a few packs that you made, whether they be "original" or "retro" or whatever.

This is fucking awesome! Keep it fucking going you fucking piece of fuck! I think you should make a list pop-up, which you choose that where you want to hit the enemy.

[QUOTE=juGGa;31877941]I think you should make a list pop-up, which you choose that where you want to hit the enemy.[/QUOTE] Might become annoying very quickly. But I like the idea, maybe as some sort of special ability? Aimed shot?

[QUOTE=Dienes;31882090]Might become annoying very quickly. But I like the idea, maybe as some sort of special ability? Aimed shot?[/QUOTE] It wouldn't become annoying for me but you could make hotkeys for different body parts so it'd be faster.

[QUOTE=juGGa;31884316]It wouldn't become annoying for me but you could make hotkeys for different body parts so it'd be faster.[/QUOTE] Having a "what do you want to aim at?" prompt pop up every single time you do an attack would not be annoying to you? I doubt it :) Also, I want to keep key bindings as simple and intuitive as possible. It's typical for rogues to have thousands of key(combination)s do certain actions, but that's something I want to avoid, as I hate to learn complex input methods myself. Currently, you walk with standard WASD, switch to combat mode with F, then again move the target indicator with WASD and confirm your attack with F. I'm thinking about having the popup only come up on demand when you press [I]and hold[/I] F when attacking. So, no every-time annoying popup and not a single key wasted.

[QUOTE=Dienes;31900385]Having a "what do you want to aim at?" prompt pop up every single time you do an attack would not be annoying to you? I doubt it :)[/QUOTE] Nope. I am playing a roguelike right now where you have to choose from blunt/edge/point and body parts and I think they are more intense than just whacking enter and wait that the enemy dies. But that hold F thingy sounds good as well.

[QUOTE=juGGa;31900959]Nope.[/QUOTE] Alright, different type of gamer then :) I could make it optional to always show it... we'll see.

[QUOTE=juGGa;31900959]Nope. I am playing a roguelike right now where you have to choose from blunt/edge/point and body parts and I think they are more intense than just whacking enter and wait that the enemy dies.[/QUOTE] Unreal World, at a guess?

How's it going? if I may inquire.

Well, I've been working on some stuff like level transitions, but due to exams and other stuff coming up, working on it became too time-consuming, so I needed to put it aside for now... :( I thought about providing a pre-pre-alpha, but there are currently a lot of game-breaking issues and the game's content is... insufficient to say the least. Pretty bad, because I'm the only guy working on it... I hope to come back at it later (and still grasp my extensively commented code *cough* :D)