Time to reveal my second Caanoo game, which currently is in early development stages.
It's called Skylark and is basically a RPG platformer with lots of monsters and lots of items and stats advancement.
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/logo_small.png)
Story (spoilers left out)
A man by the name Borealis, finds a young boy out in the woods, alone in the night, forsaken to his own dreary fate. The man takes the child in and cares for him. The boy seems to have an odd relation to birds, which all around befriends him where ever he goes. Hence, he names the boy Skylark. Twenty years later, Borealis gets brutally murdered by an unknown assailant. Once Skylark discovers the murderer's identity, he traces the assailant for days to an old castle, far out into the ancient woods. Skylark ventures deep into the castle, to hunt down his father's murderer. Not knowing what secrets and dangers that awaits him, he will soon discover his higher purpose, and that he is the only one who can seal the dark force that is stirring in the heart of the old castle.
Gameplay
Your goal is to advance further into the castle, through each of the rooms, but you can always backtrack to where you have previously been. Skylark has your normal RPG stats and level progression system, and as you kill monsters you will gain experience and level up. Your stats determine your attack and defense rate. You can also find items through out the game like swords, shields and armors that you can equip to enhance your basic stats. There are several magic Tomes hidden in the castle that you will find, and these Tomes are used as skills/magic. But to use a Tome it costs Action Points and another resource called Eyes, which are basically human eyes that are used as vessels for magic energy to cast Tome spells. These eyes were infused with magic by an ancient order of black mages, that practised their rituals inside the castle, in order to contain more energy for their rituals and spells. The eyes came from human sacrifices to the Dark One.
Ultimately, you must find the 3 magic Lenses, hidden in the castle, that can be used to restore the Dark One's powers or seal them in forever.
Inventory and items
You can carry 30 items in your inventory, but will be able to sell items that you don't need. All items in the game are dynamically generated within 6 categories (swords, shields, armors, helmets, consumable, accessories). So, you might find an item in one game run that you didn't find in a previous, due to the unique way they are generated.
Video
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUb0r_MzLEg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUb0r_MzLEg)
Here's a better quality version of the video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=181996415184162 (http://"http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=181996415184162")
Another video:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=182601285123675 (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=182601285123675)
Screenshots
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_0.png) (http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_3.png)
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_5.png) (http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_6.png)
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_7.png) (http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_10.png)
very nice... this game remember me this (http://wireninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Land_Sorrow_by_Orioto.jpg) any relation?
Quote from: SplinterGU on May 05, 2011, 04:06:12 PM
very nice... this game remember me this any relation?
By the looks of the pic, it's Castlevania inspired, yes :) Though it has no connection what so ever, more than being a platform game.
nice... I already see the video, I think that in my caanoo it was more faster that your video... maybe I'm wrong.
Quote from: SplinterGU on May 05, 2011, 04:11:47 PM
nice... I already see the video, I think that in my caanoo it was more faster that your video... maybe I'm wrong.
Yes, I have reduced the speed about 3 times since the version you tested :) It was too fast.
Awesone it's look like a Castlevania, i'm sure this title many people buy it!
Thank you. Castlevania is my favorite platformer, so I can't deny it has inspired me to make this game :)
Here's a better quality version of the video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=181996415184162 (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=181996415184162)
EDIT: Corregida la url
Another video:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=182601285123675 (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=182601285123675)
it looks good i have a feeling you edited soma cruz's sprite from aria of sorrow for the main character though.
Quote from: DoctorN on May 11, 2011, 01:38:08 PM
it looks good i have a feeling you edited soma cruz's sprite from aria of sorrow for the main character though.
Believe whatever you want, if that makes you happy. Nevertheless all sprites and backgrounds are original, and made by me. Heck, I spent a straight week i Photoshop only animating the player sprite. Backgrounds are rendered in 3dStudioMAX..
The sprites are yours, ok, but believe me, it's very very similar at castlevania series for GBA, like a clone, and maybe you got some problems or comparations, i hope there is no problem, but your game is very interesting and the fans of castlevania love it ;)
Quote from: FreeYourMind on May 11, 2011, 05:11:06 PM
The sprites are yours, ok, but believe me, it's very very similar at castlevania series for GBA, like a clone, and maybe you got some problems or comparations, i hope there is no problem, but your game is very interesting and the fans of castlevania love it ;)
I've never even played any GBA Castlevania titles. I will check this game out that he's talking about.
My greatest inspiration source is Castlevania "Symphony of the Night", which is the only Castlevania game I've played.
And this is no clone, it's an entire different game and has no relation to Castlevania whatsoever. Any resemblance is purely coincidence, because as I said, "Symphony of the night" is the only Castlevania I've throughly played.
I don't say it is a clone, i said the people can interprete that, is not the same :)
Another personal opinion, you have anuncied the game to soon, a game with these features needs many time to complete.
Quote from: FreeYourMind on May 11, 2011, 09:16:25 PM
Another personal opinion, you have anuncied the game to soon, a game with these features needs many time to complete.
Perhaps. I just wanted to make sure people knew about the game before it was finished, unlike Arora Rift.
QuoteI just wanted to make sure people knew about the game before it was finished, unlike Arora Rift.
yea better policy
Here's the title screen. The grass in the background is animated, waving in the wind.
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_26.png)
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/screen_27.png)
Biutiful
Thank you :)
The Skylark demo is now available for Caanoo and Pandora.
Caanoo release: download (http://linus.jobbprofil.com/other/skylark/Skylark_demo_CaanooRelease.zip)
Pandora release: download (http://linus.jobbprofil.com/other/skylark/Skylark_demo_PandoraRelease.zip)
Secondary Caanoo download (http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/caanoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,22,737)
Secondary Pandora download (http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/pandora.cgi?0,0,0,0,22,425)
NOTE: As the Pandora is a much more powerful device, it have allowed me to use nicer graphics filtering in the Pandora version, which makes the graphics look a lot smoother. It also has twice the in-game resolution than the Caanoo version.
is the same of the riotdigital contest???
tomorrow is the last day for present the games, good luck but no win to my game:
panta vs dragon
lol
(http://forum.bennugd.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2276.0;attach=2034)
I no haz them what about the pc?
Yes it's the RIOTdigital competition.
The PC version can be downloaded here (http://linus.jobbprofil.com/other/skylark/Skylark_demo_PC.zip)
good job on it. like I said earlier alot of the sprites remind me of castlevania. 1 of the frames looked exactly like this scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMECce89QBo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMECce89QBo) I could not jump across this 1 gap (which is above what i was talking about). The jumping seems a little too fast and should be palced to another key like the space bar or z(for the pc version) and have a key like x the attack. Why is it when you pull your sword the character literally moves aside a couple pixels? I found there to be a little too many of those guardian things once you enter the castle and they are far too easy to kill (just crouch down and attack them). I found in a couple rooms there were too many hoards of enemies spawning at a time. and entering the save room didnt seem right, you enter in from the right, yet you enter from the left of the screen. animation could be more fluid.
This shows promise, improve upon it please.
So what if it reminds you of Castlevania? The scene you talk about look nothing alike. I can show you the source 3d models that I have modeled and rendered the sprite off.
Rendering from 3ds MAX:
(http://www.blackcurtainstudio.com/blackcurtain/skylark/scene7.jpg)
Satisfied?
Nice rendering, did you model it in 3ds max? I also model (architectural) buildings in google sketchup and revit, but making a good rendering
is tricky. Revit uses some new rendering system that's easy to use.
Quote from: handsource-dyko on July 11, 2011, 09:20:50 AM
Nice rendering, did you model it in 3ds max? I also model (architectural) buildings in google sketchup and revit, but making a good rendering
is tricky. Revit uses some new rendering system that's easy to use.
Yes, it's from 3dsMAX. There's where I've modeled and rendered all of the background sprites.
Honestly I explain it's very easy to understand:
Skylark is not a Castlevania
HERO is not a Wonder Boy
Pollo Pollo is a Puyo Puyo
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: FreeYourMind on July 11, 2011, 11:24:39 AM
Skylark is not a Castlevania
He's free to think so if he wants to but I'm in no way trying to copy or create a clone of Castlevania. I'm honored that he thinks it looks similar, that means the quality of the graphics meets my demands.
I tested your game yesterday on the Caanoo. Man, that demo was too short. I wanted to keep playing :P
The game is really good polished. After watching the short intro, ended by the menu with the beautiful background I knew something cool was coming. The animations and gameplay are fluid, although I would prefer a little more freedom to move to the sides while jumping.
Being used to RPG like Ultima Underworld or nethack/slashem I normally don't care about graphics. I really liked your sprites, though. The backgrounds were good ( Commercial good actually ), but I wasn't astonished. However when I entered into the castle I become speechless. The columns in the distance gave a great immersive feeling . I could barely fight while watching at the effect XD
I didn't find a shield yesterday, so the only suggestion I had was to add the ability to use a shield with a button. Today I played it again and I figured out that is already implemented :) The movement is a little slow, though.
Thank you for sharing this great game. I'm eager to play the final version.
Quote from: Kloppix on July 11, 2011, 02:47:19 PM
I tested your game yesterday on the Caanoo. Man, that demo was too short. I wanted to keep playing :P
The game is really good polished. After watching the short intro, ended by the menu with the beautiful background I knew something cool was coming. The animations and gameplay are fluid, although I would prefer a little more freedom to move to the sides while jumping.
Being used to RPG like Ultima Underworld or nethack/slashem I normally don't care about graphics. I really liked your sprites, though. The backgrounds were good ( Commercial good actually ), but I wasn't astonished. However when I entered into the castle I become speechless. The columns in the distance gave a great immersive feeling . I could barely fight while watching at the effect XD
I didn't find a shield yesterday, so the only suggestion I had was to add the ability to use a shield with a button. Today I played it again and I figured out that is already implemented :) The movement is a little slow, though.
Thank you for sharing this great game. I'm eager to play the final version.
Thank you. I will make sure the game gets finished asap, so that you can play more ;) I didn't have more time to make it longer as I needed to submit it to the competition.
There are some "hidden" items in the castle like the shield and the armor, which are in the blue flame and the flashing globe (far left on 2 separate floors in one of the last few rooms). You need to hit them to break them and get these items.
Some fun with bombs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMzVgJ8ZQlA
FYI I'm still working on this and am making cracking progress, but I'm poor at keeping all the topics updated about it so I'm mostly posting stuff on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BlackCurtainStudio.games).
Quote from: BlackCurtain on April 06, 2012, 02:31:23 PM
FYI I'm still working on this and am making cracking progress, but I'm poor at keeping all the topics updated about it so I'm mostly posting stuff on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BlackCurtainStudio.games).
just posted this info in the official twitter feed. It's looking great!
Quote from: josebita on April 06, 2012, 03:49:44 PM
Quote from: BlackCurtain on April 06, 2012, 02:31:23 PM
FYI I'm still working on this and am making cracking progress, but I'm poor at keeping all the topics updated about it so I'm mostly posting stuff on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BlackCurtainStudio.games).
just posted this info in the official twitter feed. It's looking great!
Thank you! :)
Long time no see everyone. Skylark is still alive, it has just been put on ice while I've been working and releasing other games. One of them is http://onelatenight.com/ (http://onelatenight.com/)
I'm planing on porting Skylark for OUYA and am currently checking out the Android ports of Bennu.
you made the modeling ? it looks amazing, I will try it on pc.
I still waiting for Skylark and the other game of your friend, the clone of monster world, this project is still alive ? I only see a demo.
This morning I receibe my OUYA, I will work for this console too, but right now i'm working on some game ports for the original XBOX, when I finish it I will start work with Bennu for android and OUYA.
Quote from: FreeYourMind on July 06, 2013, 02:27:16 PM
you made the modeling ? it looks amazing, I will try it on pc.
I still waiting for Skylark and the other game of your friend, the clone of monster world, this project is still alive ? I only see a demo.
This morning I receibe my OUYA, I will work for this console too, but right now i'm working on some game ports for the original XBOX, when I finish it I will start work with Bennu for android and OUYA.
Yes, everything down to the sound effects and every single texture is custom made. It's free to download and play, but it's a pretty short game. Working on the sequel at the moment.
I believe that project is no longer alive, and I think he doesn't even develop with Bennu anymore which is a shame. Though Skylark will be released, I've just been putting it on ice, but it's very close to complete.