Vertico by UltimateWalrus
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgVHVJCoRo
Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpn-veZnE_4
Postmortem: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/14/vertico-postmortem/
A 2D isometric "three degrees of freedom" shooter. Dive beneath the ice and fight creatures while moving in any direction in 3D space, navigating a vertically-oriented coral reef.
In normal mode, you'll need to return to the surface for energy --- make sure you make a trip whenever your energy gets below half.
Made in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 (which you'll need to view the source code).
=======================
More of my games are at ultimatewalrus.com.
NOTE! I do plan on expanding this game a little bit because, while I feel the contest entry is a complete product, I really enjoyed making the environment and creatures and want to do more in the future. If you want to hear about it when I develop this game further you can follow me:
Facebook: facebook.com/UltimateWalrus
Twitter: twitter.com/UltimateWalrus
Newsletter: ultimatewalrus.com/newsletter
You can also support me by going here and buying Beat Bros, or at least wait for it to come out on Steam :]
beatbrosgame.com
=======================
POST COMPO VERSION NOW AVAILABLE!
If one of the people who found it hard to navigate in the 48-hour compo version, could playtest the post-compo version and leave a comment about it, I'd be very grateful! I've worked hard to make it very easy to navigate in 3D space.
Changes in post-compo version:
* Various bugfixes and optimizations.
* Much better lighting effects.
* Player has a shadow and side-radar that aid in positioning.
* HUD improvement
* Ambient track volume tweaked.
More to come in the future. This game's permalink is: ultimatewalrus.com/vertico
Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpn-veZnE_4
Postmortem: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/14/vertico-postmortem/
A 2D isometric "three degrees of freedom" shooter. Dive beneath the ice and fight creatures while moving in any direction in 3D space, navigating a vertically-oriented coral reef.
In normal mode, you'll need to return to the surface for energy --- make sure you make a trip whenever your energy gets below half.
Made in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 (which you'll need to view the source code).
=======================
More of my games are at ultimatewalrus.com.
NOTE! I do plan on expanding this game a little bit because, while I feel the contest entry is a complete product, I really enjoyed making the environment and creatures and want to do more in the future. If you want to hear about it when I develop this game further you can follow me:
Facebook: facebook.com/UltimateWalrus
Twitter: twitter.com/UltimateWalrus
Newsletter: ultimatewalrus.com/newsletter
You can also support me by going here and buying Beat Bros, or at least wait for it to come out on Steam :]
beatbrosgame.com
=======================
POST COMPO VERSION NOW AVAILABLE!
If one of the people who found it hard to navigate in the 48-hour compo version, could playtest the post-compo version and leave a comment about it, I'd be very grateful! I've worked hard to make it very easy to navigate in 3D space.
Changes in post-compo version:
* Various bugfixes and optimizations.
* Much better lighting effects.
* Player has a shadow and side-radar that aid in positioning.
* HUD improvement
* Ambient track volume tweaked.
More to come in the future. This game's permalink is: ultimatewalrus.com/vertico
| Windows | http://ultimatewalrus.com/games/vertico/vertico_v03.zip |
| Source | http://ultimatewalrus.com/games/vertico/vertico_23.mfa |
| Full playthrough [SPOILERS] | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsyYBAxcKMc |
| Post-compo Windows (DO NOT RATE) | http://ultimatewalrus.com/games/vertico/vertico_beta_01.zip |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=175 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 78% | 2 |
| Overall | 4.05 | 28 |
| Audio | 3.83 | 53 |
| Fun | 3.45 | 230 |
| Graphics | 4.29 | 50 |
| Humor | 2.54 | 476 |
| Innovation | 4.09 | 40 |
| Mood | 3.67 | 134 |
| Theme | 3.96 | 56 |
Two small points: When I died I couldn't figure out how to reset without quitting and restarting the game, and the six directions of movement is kind of confusing. Not sure how you would do any better with the movement thing on a keyboard thought, I feel like it might work better with an Xbox controller, might be an interesting experiment.
That was fun. I got my up/down mixed up a lot though, but you made the game forgiving enough. :D
I'm worried by those who say they found no enemies. Can you tell me what settings you used when there were no enemies, and if it happens when you just leave everything at default? I wonder if this fits into LD's allowance for game-breaking bugs.
Some critic. It's a bit tedious to go back to surface all the time. And controls are quite hard, sometimes I wasn't able to figure out where I am at all
My favorite entry yet!
I'm going to try and respond to all issues people have had:
Naouak, John Drury :
Did you get past the part where you have to shoot through the green blocks to progress? This part was intended to teach you how to shoot before you encounter enemies.
I'm scared about the possibility of a bug, so if I can figure out how to message you guys individually I'll try.
mtinkerhess:
Only way to restart currently is to quit and relaunch the game. Controller support (as well as better restart) is planned for the post-compo version.
whalebot:
What probably happened is you grabbed so many energy tanks, you actually had more energy than the bar will show. I didn't have time to tweak this.
Huder:
You probably got stuck because you didn't realize there is a hole right in the middle of the jelly blocks (it's like a tube). I didn't realize until after that this doesn't read well visually.
deadarius:
You're right, Normal mode can be very tedious, though from the start I intentionally wanted to try and work in some backtracking so the player gets better, can let the environment soak in, and appreciate how deep they are going. As for figuring out where you are I'll add a shadow in the post-compo version which should help wuit a bit.
mactinite, shuanDang:
Have you tried Very Easy mode? It's best if you just want to explore. I'm contemplating a "peaceful mode" in the post-compo version which would be unlocked after you beat the game.
rubna:
The shadow should have been a no-brainer but in my haste I forgot to put it in. It will definitely be in the post-compo version.
jsmars:
The goal is to get to the bottom and destroy something down there.
Great Game! I like your graphics style (though i find it confusing on which tile i am standing and where the other blocks on the maps are).
Sorry to say, but the music did not fit the gameplay. It reminds me of some holiday at some nice beach and not of some deep see diving operation with some hazards.
But otherwise it is a great game with a solid gameplay!
As for the music, I was trying to create an emotional contrast between the shallows (which I actually did kinda want to feel like a holiday at a nice beach) and the deep, which switches to a more melancholy ambience. One atmospheric point I really tried to hit was the loneliness of diving into really deep water, something I've experienced while scuba diving, and I don't think it would've hit quite as strongly if the music was melancholy from the get go.
I'll have to go back to it in order to finish... I died a little after the music change. >_<
Also just wanted to apologize for dissing Whack-a-meme as I felt bad about it later. Honestly I wasn't even able to get it to run so for all I know it could be amazing.
I think it would be even better with controller support.
When I have a little time I'm going to tweak the lighting and add a shadow for a slightly tweaked post-compo version with hopefully a better sense of depth, for those who had trouble.
I'm hoping to find time to add a little bit more to Vertico in the future, for a significantly more fleshed out version 1.0. I don't know if I can get it on Steam but my other game, "Beat Bros," got greenlit for it so who knows maybe I can get my foot in the door.
If you're interested in the future version please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Email, via the links in the game description. :]
tha acutal gameplay is a a bit difficult, due the isometric 3d. we can get used to, but still very disorienting.
I'm a big fan of isometric stuff, I experimented with similar graphics a couple of years ago (including similar lighting effect) and this is really the kind of game I would've liked to create myself if I pushed my experiments further!
QubedStudios: you might be interested in watching the lighting demo which I did in the engine for my other isometric game, Isopark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgwnCcSaOYc
Everything in this video is 100% 2D. The smooth lighting with realistic shading on each surface was achieved with hand-drawn normal maps and displacement maps, and a custom shader.
More than that, this game really is a full-3D game executed in 2D! It's a good thing you made navigation so clear, because it really lets the gameplay reach its full potential. Multitasking between attacking enemies and dodging them is a lot of fun and just the right amount of challenge, too.
The navigational puzzles were also great, and leaving the more tricky ones as optional with health upgrade rewards was a good call, as it kept them rewarding without forcibly slowing down the action (unless the player chooses to tackle them, of course). The level design also escalates at a steady pace and showcases the gameplay step-by-step, giving the player a chance to familiarize themselves with the controls and visual cues in a risk-free environment before presenting the real challenge. Nice job on that!
I'm ecstatic to hear that you plan to expand on this game! I can't wait to see what you have in store.
For those who wondered how I got so much done, be sure to check out the new postmortem (link in the description).
I think you'll find plenty of excitement, challenge, and action once you've gotten through the first floor (by shooting through the green stuff). Especially in normal mode, which most people cannot beat (that's why it defaults to easy).
It wasn't obvious at first, that the air tanks gave more air capacity (I didn't even identify them as air tanks at first).
You did a good job at helping the player to see where everything is, although navigating was still confusing sometimes, but that's typical for isometric 3D games.
As for readability: I don't believe that isometric games are always doomed to have readability problems. While some have no trouble at all navigating the compo version, others encounter difficulty; through playtesting I've created a post-compo version that is much tighter and easier to read. I still have some tweaks to make to it, though.
I know some people had trouble navigating in the 48-hour version. I've worked hard to tighten up the gameplay, lighting effects, and radar so that the 3D world is even easier to navigate. I'd be really grateful if one of you who had trouble could try the post-compo version, and leave a comment describing if it was easier!