My name is João Vasconcelos and I'm a hobbyist pixel artist/game designer.
I love fantasy and sci-fi and my current project is an isometric space game.
Don't be afraid to say hi!
“The Palace” from Rage of the Dragons
Practicing some portraits a bit to refresh myself after all the animations
Back at it!
When shit goes terribly wrong…
Oh, and btw, started playing around with another idea. Trying to keep it as simple as i can.
Started working on the character generator!
So, the urge to gamedev is back but I don’t really have the time and energy to spend making fancy pixel art… That means I won’t be continuing my Space Game right now.
Instead I jumped on the roguelike wagon (seriously, there’s millions of these…) and decided to work on a small project that you can check in the video above.
It’s still in the very beginning but you can already explore a small map and find creatures along the way.
I’ll be sure to post this on itch.io as soon as I add any interesting content.
The multi-character system is still a work in progress but is slowly getting somewhere.
Not yet sure about the panels graphics though… I think it occupies too much of the screen when you have 4 characters (like in the video). But I do need the space to show the character’s information like HP bar, EXP bar and statuses (sleeping, burning, etc)…
Also, the enemies side panels are now red for better readability.
I’ve also been thinking about the inventory system. I want the player to be able to equip weapons on their characters and swap them freely each turn.
I’ll be making an inventory mockup as soon as I’m happy with the multi-character stuff.
Started coding the “multiple characters” feature.
Still full of bugs but the very basic system is in. Basically, you can now deploy another character when on battle and you control them on their turn.
How it’ll work:
You have a main character wich will be the only one controllable/visible outside of battle. But when a battle starts, you’ll have the option to deploy your other characters on any visible tile. You choose where, when and wich characters you want to deploy.
So, for instance, if you have injured characters and nothing to heal them with, you may choose not to deploy them.
You CAN’T remove a character from battle after deploying them.
You can deploy them at the very last turn, though, so that they win EXP without having to fight. (I might change this so that every character wins EXP even if they were not deployed. Not sure yet)
If your main character dies, Game Over. If any other character dies, no worries… go hire another one!
Back from vacations and already working on the next build.
There’s already a few new things you can see on this video:
- a placeholder player portrait;
- enemy side panel’s look improved and cleaned up;
- improved tileset;
- cleaned up HUD;
These are minor things though… The big features I’m hoping to add on this build are:
- multiple controllable characters
- on-battle weapon selection/inventory system
- character customization (this one is not top priority though, so may not be on this build)
Build 0.1.4 is finally out!!
With a revamped hud, turrets, new enemy abilities, new bugs, etc…
- 28/07 Changelog:
- Gameplay
- Fixed a rare bug with combat turning the screen all black (what the f%$#…)
- Fixed bug with Larvas and their line of sight (again…)
- Improved fog of war! (some walls were acting weird but i told them to stop!)
- Added sound detecting mechanic: if you’re hiding, you can now listen for nearby enemies! (still working on this…)
- Graphics
- Completely revamped the user interface (and it’s sexy!)
- Added skill animations (most are placeholders still)
- Changed mouse icon
- Combat
- Added basic new weapon: the turret (yeah baby!)
- Added ability to move 1 tile per turn during combat (also allowing you to get OUT of combat!)
- Enemies gain experience points and can now LEVEL UP during battle!
- Changed how ARMOR works
- Creatures now have more than 1 skill
- Added side pannel that shows information on all creatures in combat
- Larvas Eggs now only spawn 1 larva per turn
- Larvas no longer need to move 1 tile in order to enter combat
- Larvas may now reproduce without neighboring other larvas (still thinking about this one)
- Reduced missed bullets spread angle
- Known Bugs
- If 2 enemies enter combat at the exact same time their side panel wont show up
- The HUD shows messages at the wrong times
- Mouse pointer may switch image at the wrong occasions
- Enemies may not use their first ability after receiving the Burning condition
You still there?? Go play it on itch.io!
Test it, tell me what you think and spread the word!!
All the feedback is much appreciated!
Thanks!
Tomorrow is the day!
Build 0.1.4 is right around the corner!
AND it’s a huge upgrade from build 0.1.3 (wich you can play here)!!!
Creatures can now level up in battle if you don’t kill them fast enough!
They also have new skills, and there’s also a side panel with information on every creature in battle.
That plus the newly revamped hud!
Can’t wait for you guys to test it out! Tomorrow!!
I’m going on vacations next week for 2 weeks (whohoo!) wich means I’m not going to do shit for 2 weeks, but I want to release build 0.1.4 on itch.io until then.
I’m still working on the UI and there’s still a handful of panels I want to add (enemy info, current weapon info, etc…), but I’m not sure they’ll all be ready for the next build.
Anyways, I’ve finished the loot panel (image above). (Looks good, yes?)
Working on the Enemy info panel now. It’ll show the selected enemy HP, ATK, ARMOR, etc…
Making the UI is a tedious task:
Draw a panel in photoshop -> add it to the game -> test it in-game -> place text in aprox. coordinates -> see where it appears in-game -> its nowhere near where it’s supposed to be… reposition text - > test it in-game again -> reposition again -> test in-game… looks cool! -> repeat for the buttons -> don’t like them in-game after all the work of putting them in-place, redraw buttons -> look good. on to the next panel -> repeat.
Anyways, I’m gonna sound like a noob… but I’m really proud of the current game ui. It’s a slow process and as you can see in the video, there’s still parts of the old one there (the purple and white stuff in the middle) but it’s coming along very nicely.
Oh and ignore those blue rectangles. That’s placeholder art for the loot.
What do you think?
I’ve been a bit quiet but I’m still working on the game!
Still revamping the UI, but in the meantime I’ve also added Stunned, Sleeping and Burning as conditions that your bullets may apply on enemies.
I’ve also added “modules” wich change how your weapon works. Some will make it shoot 3 shots, others will make it shoot only 1 that applies burning, other might make it shoot 3 shots that apply burning… etc…
Modules can be picked up as loot from enemies.
Yes, I’ve also added loot!
The next build is taking a while to be released mainly because the UI is taking so long to redesign… But it’ll look GOOD!
Slowly but steady!
Meanwhile, play the last version here!
Reworking the user interface.
It’s not finished, bugged and still a mix of the new one and the old one…
But I think I like where this is going.
You can check the old version on itch.io
Newest addition: Turrets!
No larva is safe if the turret is in place. - Einstein
For 40$ this beauty will shoot whatever is in front of them… 3 times! Pew pew pew! You can also change its direction any time… wich is also cool.
It’ll be released on the next build (in a few days).
Meanwhile, you can test the last build (0.1.3) on itch.io - it has lots of bugs so it should be fun!