LDC Studios's Forum Posts

  • Here is a gif of the rain system for Part 2. It's too bad the gif file is too small to see the splashes of water bouncing up off from Miki and her environment very well.

    But yeah, things like walking through puddles, running, dodging, will all send water splashing up from under your character. I thought it was a kind of neat extra visual effect to have. Plus it makes the backgrounds seem a bit less static and boring.

  • I'm not sure what the Ys games are. I would like to check it out though.

    The AI was pretty easy for this game. Since the characters move freely on the map instead of just left and right, I put an invisible arrow at the feet of each enemy that is programmed to point at Amber's collision detector at all times, and the enemy will move in whatever direction the arrow is pointed. There is also an invisible attack range box at the feet of each enemy as well, and if Amber's collision box overlaps that box the enemy will attack. And then there's the special attacks that are set to a randomly generated variable. As long as the enemy is not in mid attack animation, or mid damage or death animation, they can use their special attack if the variable warrants it.

    I wish I had even a vague idea of when Part 2 will be ready, but I really don't. It is certainly already much more visually appealing than Part 1 was, as lots of work is going into the environment. Miki will be outside in the rain a lot of the time, so I'm getting to play with particle effects a lot more in this episode, and they are looking very impressive without affecting performance. This game will cover Amber, Miki and Gabriel. Gabriel will be more of a side character, but depending on how everything turns out after the entire game is complete, I may release a DLC where you play through Gabriel's story and learn about what he was doing while Amber and Miki were doing their thing.

    I haven't seen your post. Send a link and I'll check it out. I'm so busy with the project that I only get online to check on the pages I've posted the game on.

  • Here is a combat demonstration video I made for Grave Prosperity: Redux. Basically it was made to show many different approaches to fighting, and also serve as a guideline for those who have already bought the game but are having a hard time picking up the system.

  • The points I made are true for myself, but maybe not for everyone else out there. I mean, most gamers don't like to pick up a game and immediately get ninja kicked in the teeth as soon as it starts. As for me, however, I enjoy games like that. The beginning village scene from RE4, pretty much every second of Ninja Gaiden... Those kinds of games really appeal to me as a gamer, and that is the sort of experience I am trying to give with Grave Prosperity. But then of course that is also why I made that combat demonstration video also. At first the game does seem pretty insanely hard! But that video shows the skill that practice can bring. It shows how rewardingly easy and fun to play the game can be if you really learn the system.

    On your second point, yes, the previously visited locations will still be open to exploration in the future episodes. In fact, The very minimal parts of the town that Amber got to explore in Part 1 will be greatly expanded upon in Miki's scenario.

    Don't sweat the combat though. Practice makes perfect, and I've had a lot of practice since I am the only game tester I've got! The first time I fought the Scavengers after creating them I got my ass kicked numerous times! I was thinking to myself, "What the hell have I created??!!"

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  • Oh trust me, I play test every aspect of the game many many times as it is being developed. Which is why I know the difficulty is fine where it is. As you level up your strength and find new weapons, the enemies hp will not be a concearn. You have to remember that your character is encountering these creatures for the first time, and Amber really isn't a physically strong person in general. She isn't even 120lbs. But the more you level up, the stronger she'll get and the more the monster's hp will make sense. Plus once you get ahold of guns and your powers, things will really start to fall in place.

    I have played all the way through episode 1 more than 20 times using both the gamepad and the keyboard just to make sure that every action and every interactable object works properly. That being said, there are still glitches that pop up on different computers that i cannot duplicate on my own computer. So no matter how much play testing I do, there will always be those random freak bugs that will occur on different systems from time to time. Kinda like the hp being depleted when it wasn't supposed to be.

    Enemy difficulty and spamming attacks are actually random. the teleportation move the Scavenger uses is set to a randomly generated variable, same with the Dweller's attacks and the Berserker's dash attack. This means that they could potentially use their specials 5 times in a row, or not at all during an encounter. I won't change that though, as that is what keeps the fight organic and unpredictable. Nothing ruins a fighting game worse than having enemies with a patern. Once you figure it out the fight may as well be over. Plus I taylor my games to myself. Personally I could care less how many people like it or not. Not to sound like an ass, but I won't make a game that doesn't appeal to me. As a lone developer, I will have the most time with the game and if I don't like what I am working on then I will not put the passion my work deserves into it. I know the game isn't that difficult because I know that I can run through it without taking any damage at all. And if I can do it then many other gamers out there can pick up the system as well. It is probably a poor sales approach to say that I don't care about the gamer's issues with the difficulty, but then again I am not a sales man. I am a developer, and I am not even really doing this for the money, I am doing it out of the love for making video games. I just happen to be making money while doing it.

  • Actually, scratch that last statement there. Miki's scenario will be much closer to Parasite Eve 2, for anyone familiar with those old titles. Which is also a hint toward future game mechanics. In fact, while I'm on this subject I may as well toss out some interesting points of interest on the origins of the game.

    Grave Prosperity originally started out as a Parasite Eve fan game back in 2007 on the RPG Maker. I was such a huge fan of the series that I wanted to continue the story where Parasite Eve 2 left off. Amber Ridge was originally going to be young Eve all grown up (Yes, she was a blonde in her first concepts). But as time went on, the story began to evolve into its own thing and Eve became Amber and then Miki was developed as a part of the new story. The city of Prosperity was going to be a deserted town similar to the Dry Field in PE 2 as well.

    As the years went on and the story grew, Grave Prosperity eventually came out of the whole thing. Some of Amber's history in Redux is based off my own, Gabriel's character pretty much is me (Hell, I even voice his character) and the leading source of power (and evil) in the story is also an idea influenced by my own past experiences. It's kind of funny that I'm divulging all this info all of a sudden. I just got home from work, and for some reason it just felt like good timing.

    Anyway, there's some fun little facts surrounding Grave Prosperity!

  • Who knows? Maybe she did leave the Grumps playing while she went out of town? People do weird things all the time haha.. I am suprised that the audio was loud for you though. I actually had it turned down pretty low compared to other videos from Part 1. That whole audio bit was meant to be a sort of an easter egg anyway, so for anyone who doesn't know who was being referenced there, it is going to seem out of place. Much like the Markiplier Cheezits poster in Part 1. It looks totally out of place, and rightly so, as it is an easter egg and meant to be silly.

    Anyway, as far as the EXP system goes, yes they will transfer over to the next parts that are released. That would just be straight up bad game design if they didn't. And the difficulty will remain the same for Amber. The game will do absolutely no hand holding and difficulty will be based around skill. The better you become, the easier the game will feel. However, the combat system that you have become familiar with will not be same one that Miki uses in Part 2. She will not just be a re-skinned version of her sister, so everything from her combat system to her menu screen will be very different. Even the attitude to approach the enemies with will be different. In short, Amber is a seasoned badass, Miki is not. Plus Miki deals primarily with firearms instead of bladed weapons. So expect more of a classic Resident Evil sort of feel from Miki's scenerios.

  • Alright, a good amount of progress has been getting made on the making of Part 2! Here is a clip from the intro showing how Amber's sister Miki finds herself in Prosperity. Anyone who has played through the first episode may notice a trend of appearances and/or references to famous Youtubers. I thought it was a sort of fun and silly addition, so in each episode there will be something relating to some of my favorite channels that do LPs!

  • I'm thinking I'll have some updates on it within a week!

  • Finally!

    Grave Prosperity: Redux part 1 is now available for purchase at its main site http://www.graveprosperityredux.com/ for $1.99 USD! Part 2 will begin production 2/17/2015!

  • Alright everybody, part 1 for Grave Prosperity: Redux is now up on Steam Greenlight! We need votes to get this title off the ground and officially onto Steam! Show your support by upvoting this title!

    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =391796953

  • UPDATE!

    These are the two official trailers for Grave Prosperity: Redux part 1

    One graciously created for the game by Luka Arambašić, and the other right here at home by LDC Studios. Part 1 will be available on Steam by 2/20/2015!

  • Great I'll be looking into that tonight then! Thank you!

  • No kidding? I'm gonna have to check that out. Can the Browser object save specific data, like object Variables and Global variables? Also, I'm using the Node Webkit. Will the Browser Object still work for it? I've never touched it before.

  • Great tips, and thank you for the quick reply! I actually just found out that if you use the quick save function it will still load everything up on the next games as long as the .exe files are the same name. Tried it out and sure enough...

    But I'm still gonna look into doing it the way you've suggested as well. That way does seem like the more secure method in the long run. Thanks again for your time and help!