Monday Screenshot 3/2
In addition to being fully 3D, the new Keep engine is capable of both more complex rooms (stairs, ups and downs, cliffs, bridges) and better lighting. I had a lot of complains about the dungeon not being interesting or varied enough, and I plan to address those complaints in the new version. In addition to the Keep itself and ramparts, some part of the journey upwards will have you clinging to the cliff outside the castle, as well as side forays into the various caves Solomon has dug back into Mt. Awful to conduct his infernal experiments.
Comments
That chessboard floor looks neat. Are those tiles with skulls traps? You know, seeing the game with beefed up graphics and so much content makes me sort of "worried" that the game won't have the charming feel of the simple yet clean and addictive classic version of Keep. But I guess what the hell right? Technology advances to be used :p
Btw the warrior really doesn't stand out much in this shot.
As I said elsewhere, the intent is the game is winnable in an hour (still going to have that Annalist challenge!) but that if you want to explore every single side path and side quest, it'll take longer to do so.
The biggest style change is moving to 3D, which means reduced polygons, and it means things won't quite have that "tabletop figurine" look that I was going for with Dark. But, since it's my personal art style, things won't change *too* much, just things will be a little more angular. The move to 3D gives me a lot more freedom because instead of rendering all the rotations for each creature, I can rotate dynamically, which gives me a LOT of extra texture space. This means more monster variety, more spells, more unique looking items in inventory, etc...
For things standing out, there's a final pass render that I will code in in the end to make sure players themselves stand out.
But of note to the complaints about the darkness and grimness-- this was always my intention for the Solomon games. The games are supposed to look utterly serious and humorless while at the same time having ridiculous things going on. The graphics, music, etc, are supposed to evoke an epic desperate struggle of good vs evil while you're on the ridiculous quest to rescue the town's head cheerleader from Solomon's "Chick Crusher." I seek a tremendous disconnect between the subject matter and the look.
"The games are supposed to look utterly serious and humorless while at the same time having ridiculous things going on. The graphics, music, etc, are supposed to evoke an epic desperate struggle of good vs evil while you're on the ridiculous quest to rescue the town's head cheerleader from Solomon's "Chick Crusher."
That's a pretty awesome description there ;) btw is the music still made by whoever composed for Keep and Boneyard? It's really, how to say, quest-y!
Basically, any phone that runs iOS7. Possibly iPad2's might be left out, or I might put in some settings for people to dial back the effects. Android will be supported this time too. As with Dark, testing will first happen on PC and Mac. When I have a full playable demo all going, top to bottom, with the Paladin character, I will attempt a steam Greenlight.