Incline Das Geisterschiff - turn-based cyberpunk dungeon crawler

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

OK, finishing the design for another segment in the first chapter (city streets). A few more segments to go and the first chapter will be done.
The first chapter is more linear and ackshun-focused since you're literally going into the gangland to solve a few 'issues' your corporation has w/ the local gangs and also serves as a setup for the meat of the game (the ghost ship). Also it's a good way to test one's wits -- the demo levels are somewhere in the middle of a chapter, so you bet it'll cause extreme butthurt unless the player learns how the game works.

At least Age of Decadence and Wizardry IV were kind enough to kill you quickly (in most cases).

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Moar WIP screenshots.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I'm in the middle of the design of another area. Earlier I wanted to put it above ground but met certain design challenges along the way -- implementing an abandoned district full of tall buildings w/ a cool environmental puzzle (avoiding direct sunlight by hiding behind buildings and various wreckage) proved to take too long for an area that's supposed to take 5 minutes to beat. Now it's an area right below the surface w/ cracks at the ceiling where one needs to plan a relatively safe way to bust through the area. In some cases it means finding another way, in others -- just running through the lit areas while seeking ways to minimize damage taken.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Last plans for the ghost ship chapter are finalized and now this chapter is slowly going through early stages while I finish the Earth levels and test the whole darn thing once again. I really like that you can end up half-dead before you're through the first 10% of the level unless you play it smart and ditch unnecessary encounters. As for the ghost ship chapter, it is more compact in terms of levels because most of the planning was done when I managed to pick that sweet spot between the level size and horsepower my laptop can offer, but each one of them is more detailed, so it shouldn't take too long to make them. There's some prologue/epilogue stuff left as well, but I'm positive I'll reach the feature and content-complete status in early May.

Been thinking about changing the game title to something easier to recognize and memorize. Apparently German is teh hard for an average joe and jane.

 

[AdolfSatan]

Oh come on, don't go Disco Elysium on us. Das Geisterschiff is fine.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Oh come on, don't go Disco Elysium on us. Das Geisterschiff is fine.

Damn, I was one step away from calling it UNTERNEHMENSKRIEG: DAS GEISTERSCHIFF...

Screenshot dump coming in 3... 2... 1...

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Some good news: teh gayme is half-beatable now, which means I can stop playing other games and just polish the living shit out of existing content while building the rest.
I'll probably need a guinea pig or two to run through the whole chapter on their own and see if everything is fine -- I think the difficulty is just right, but that's me.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Submitted the demo to another showcase, will see how it goes. The last one brought enough lulz to keep me entertained for the entire evening. Speaking of which, I should write an update on that on IndieDB.
I planned to not update the demo until the full game is out to make sure all of the pre-release improvements are in place, but due to another showcase I'm going to update it anyway so I can get up-to-date feedback.

Grab the updated demo here.
IndieDB and GameJolt pages will be updated shortly.

Current changelog:

Spoiler

-- Shift key can be used to move faster, useful for backtracking/cleared areas while maintaining the intended pace of the game. Thanks to HobGoblin42 for the suggestion.
-- Additional visual and audio details added.
-- Added the ability to analyze certain details on the walls.
-- Doors can be damaged w/ explosives when they're open, rendering them inoperable.
-- Tweaked audio components for the enemies.
-- Removed the ability to move from level to level during combat.
-- Removed unused files from the demo.
-- Signs translated to German due to lore requirements. Try analyzing them.
-- Changed the demo ending. Now you can get a short glimpse of other areas.
-- Fixed rendering issues on SM2.0 hardware.
-- Fixed a bug where door would render cracks if it was open.
-- Fixed an issue where text typing effect would be affected by FPS. Thanks to barker_s and Duckard for making me double-check the old code.
-- Fixed an issue where event flags wouldn't revert to the earlier state upon reload of the current map.
-- Fixed a minor inconvenience when the player's facing direction would change while travelling between levels.

Also, one of my friends who helped out w/ playtesting before agreed to make a guinea pig run through the first half of the game while I was busy w/ other tasks and couldn't allocate enough time to beat it in one sitting while keeping track of time.
Results: took him roughly three hours, although he was trying to make a completionist run and already knew his way through the Tunnels/Hideout. Going to take a nap and see how long it'll take for me.

 

[Ninjerk]

Call it Mein Kampf. That should do well with SEO.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Latest WIP shots.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun.

 

[agris]

i love your texture work zwanzig_zwoelf

 

[Burning Bridges]

I actually had worked on such shit on the C64 but abandoned the idea because it's stupid.

But I remember there was a pretty cool game, and unfortunately I could never solve it https://www.c64-wiki.de/wiki/Das_Grab_des_Pharao
I was pretty much near the end but for some reason it always crashed.

 

[Ninjerk]

Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun.

Atmospheric as fuck. Are you going to ruin it with music?

 

[agris]

Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun.

Atmospheric as fuck. Are you going to ruin it with music?

Agreed, please don't. Has a very Duskers vibe.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun.

Atmospheric as fuck. Are you going to ruin it with music?

Maybe some ambient stuff that blends with it.

 

[Ninjerk]

You're on the precipice of god-tier ambience, but I suppose if you have to maybe something that recalls MGS since your aesthetic is kind of in that ballpark.

 

[agris]

Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works 85-92

edit: but I agree with Ninjerk. The ambient sounds as they exist are already great. Something as melodic as 'true' ambient would be too much imo, although some of the Aphex Twin tracks are dope. A bit more hiss, variance of creaking metal structures and electrical buzzing.. all very quiet mind you, is preferred to actual ambient music. imo.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I've been thinking of stuffing this track into that location, since it goes unused in the game apart from the initial loader screen.

Or something closer to this.

 

[Ninjerk]

That's a badass track. If you do play it there, be sure to post it and let us have a listen to how it actually plays.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

That's a badass track. If you do play it there, be sure to post it and let us have a listen to how it actually plays.

I'm surprised how calm and relaxed the gameplay feels when there are no encounters on the map. Maybe I should make a walking simulator and cash in on that to make real incline happen.

 

[Ninjerk]

You should have the music cut off when the jammer starts and start again when you turn it off.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

You should have the music cut off when the jammer starts and start again when you turn it off.

Will think about it. Right now I'm mostly focused on finishing the levels and event scripts.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Did more music for the game. The soundtrack is already over 40 minutes long, but I remember hoping to make 2 hours of music, though. Maybe I should release early & discarded tracks later too once I do extra work on them.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

So, good news and bad news.

• Full release postponed until roughly July 1st so I can finish, polish and test the Ghost Ship and Epilogue chapters at a comfy pace.
• Imma craving for your $$$ so I'll release the first half of the game (Intro and Gangland chapters) on itch. Right now I'm thinking to do it on June 1st after I double-check everything.

The first half of the game should be bug-free and offer roughly 3-4 hours of gameplay... which was roughly the planned length of the full game.