Hello everyone -- I'm happy to announce that I released Episode 0 of "Dexter Stardust - Season 1" for free today! It's made completely with AC and I want to thank this great community for the posts, comments, and questions asked. Even combing through older posts is super helpful. A special shoutout to @kloot for helping me with the speech AssetBundles. Thanks!
It's available for MacOS and Windows and you can download it here:
Itch = https://tinyurl.com/y7x8kcvz
Gamejolt = https://tinyurl.com/y6v9kq9r
And just FYI, the rest of the episodes are all completed and debugged, just finishing up all the voice overs. At that point, it's just a matter of recording, editing, and plopping them into Unity thanks to AC. Thanks Chris for making AC!
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Comments
I totally recommend this one! 👍
Thanks. I downloaded, played it and enjoyed it. The graphics are great - reminds me a lot of the style used in Rick and Morty. The puzzles are simple. It's a nice length for a demo and the rest of the game looks intriguing. The tune is also nice and catchy.
I don't know if you're interested in constructive criticism at this point in your development, but isn't it fairly simple to get the picking up and putting down a bit more aligned with the graphics? Should just be about tweaking the 2d markers, no?
When is the full release due?
@smokeincaves Hey, thanks for playing! I'm happy that you enjoyed it. Yes, the puzzles are specifically designed in Episode 0 to be very very simple. More challenging puzzles in the full game!
I'm always open to feedback. That's how to make it better. Could you clarify what you mean? **You said that it's "fairly simple to get the picking up and putting down a bit more aligned with the graphics"... **are you saying that the player doesn't always arrive at the marker correctly? Uh oh... If so, I definitely want to fix that bug.
Full release -- Well, if I had the rest of the voice overs done, I could release it tomorrow. It should already be out, but the pandemic has really affected what I'm able to get done. We are actively working on those VOs. Definitely out this year. You can check out any updates on my twitter; https://twitter.com/DexterStardust
You're welcome! I'm very curious about the full game. The music and images have stayed with me. Your use of space in each scene is very elegant.
I totally understand about slowdown. One realises how many things one relies upon to function normally at times like this, no?
More clarity - I am saying that the animations for picking up, putting down and interacting with stuff sometimes seemed to be a bit 'off':
The one that stayed with me was when he is by the tentacle and he picks up a bamboo-like stick. The hand grabs at the first stick but it is the second one that is removed / disappears. There was also at least one other occassion where he made a 'put down' gesture but it was not aligned with the object... I think when working with the larger scanner device inside the building...? I had the feeling it was probably just about tweaking the markers a bit...
Another more specific observation - I had the feeling that the hotspot for the sunlight could have been bigger - I had to search around for it whilst already hovering on what I thought was sunlight.
Sorry I can't be more precise. I have deleted the demo again already. But I hope that is some help.
Good luck with it!
@smokeincaves It's wonderful to hear that certain elements have stayed with you! Very encouraging.
First off, the sunlight HAHA. Yeah. I can't believe I thought that hotspot was big enough. That has been changed. I made sure that it covers the complete sun-ray.
About the animations -- I totally understand now. Yeah, I get it... It's difficult to match those animations spatially when taking into consideration the size of the navmeshes and where those markers are placed.
But I very very very much appreciate that feedback! I'm going to take another look at the navmesh sizes and marker placement. Certainly there are places I can tighten things up. I definitely don't want something like that to be so jarring that it removes a player from the experience.
Thanks again!
*Chooses Option at end of demo:
"Good - It reminded me of my childhood!"
You're welcome @DexterStardust. If you want someone to look over more of the game, feel free to let me know - I guess PM? It'd be interesting for me to be involved in helping you refine it. I'm early on in game development so I'm sure it would help my process.
@heyitsjayy Haha! Yeah, my favorite line so far is when Aurora says back, "That's the best part about an adventure". The way my friend Lola says that line is so endearing. She really nailed it.
@smokeincaves Totally! I can send you over the full game once we finish all of the voice overs (that's all we have to do really, the rest is done). I know I have another developer willing to assist as well. Definitely having other developers comb over the final product should allow me to go in and make some small tweaks here and there. Iron sharpens iron. Even if I've made a mistake too big to fix this late into development, you can avoid it altogether in your own project! I'd be happy to know that my errors have helped others avoid making the same ones.
Cool. Looking forward.
Congrats!
Thanks @JacobJanerka ! BTW... I really hope they allow you to publish that Seinfeld game. It's looks sooooo well-done (and I love that you can't control Kramer. Brilliant!) My favorite show as well. Could you imagine if the actual actors came in for VOs? That would be insane!
How is the game progressing? I downloaded the demo and had a blast playing through, really well done.
@monotonic thanks! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it. Good question -- so, the gameplay is done. I'm just finishing up the voiceovers. The pandemic has really affected coordinating that... like really really really badly. We would have already finished it months ago had it not been for that. I could honestly publish the finished game this afternoon if I had to, but it wouldn't have any VOs, which I think really takes away from the gameplay. I'll definitely post here when we release it. You can also keep up with all things Dexter Stardust here https://twitter.com/DexterStardust. Thanks for the comment!