Thief's Roulette

Update - New Stuff
almost 6 years ago – Sun, Feb 10, 2019 at 05:01:49 PM

This won't be too text heavy, I've been working more on Environments and 3D Assets so I've just got some pictures to show. Let's begin.

I've started work on some new Puzzle Assets. These aren't in Engine so they don't look exactly the same as they will in the Game. I'm also using simple colors on the models to separate the parts of the mechanism, they are not accurately textured just yet.

On this device and the first one (the Lever), there is a black panel. These panels will be used to display information when the mechanisms are in use. The Rotating Device will have symbols marking the face of each of the 4 rotatable wheels.  To solve the puzzle you will have to rotate the wheels so that the correct symbol is facing you, on each wheel. At that point, the black panel would display that you got the code correct. 

This one is a simple Key Card Device. You place a Keycard inside, and the black panel will readout whether you are using the appropriate Card.

These are (mostly) pretty simple devices. They are also pretty simple to code. I could doll them up as much as I want but at the end of the day they're essentially turning something on and off. That's not where I want the Puzzle Mechanics to peak, of course, so I occasionally work on Challenges that exist further into a playthrough. Meaning I'm not developing the game in order of what comes first. This helps me get a better feel for what would be an easy puzzle and what would be a hard one, and lets me manage that curve better. It also allows me to get the most interesting ideas I have, out of my head and into the game sooner rather than later. Because I'm sure people are tired of seeing all those Blue Locations, I have been working on a Challenge Room that would be found near the midpoint of the game.

I will say, this Location, much like the Devices I showed, are not final. Both in terms of their structure and  the textures and materials used. Many materials are placeholders and at worst just solid blocks of color. But what else would you expect being this early into development, almost everything is subject to change. :)

This room will use some of that verticality that I mentioned wanting to introduce to the game's level design. You can also see that this Location feels a bit more abstract than what I've shown this far. One thing that I want to be very clear when playing the game are the themes of gambling, wealth, greed and whatever else comes along with being Thieves. As the Thieves progress through Lady Luck's game, the Challenge Rooms themselves reflect these themes in different ways. What I've previously been showing a lot of has been the Blue Train Zone. That will become the very first Challenge Room. When it's all polished and just right, I want it to give off an underground, poor, back alley feel. From that Challenge Room, you go UP, figuratively speaking, Reflecting a different mood. That progression will eventually lead here. 

It's actually pretty hard to put exactly what I want the game to become into words. As an artist I like to keep things visual whenever I can, so I hope these things come across well enough on their own. 

The Update schedule isn't very precise, but expect the next one to include Thief 15. From then on, we can really get rolling.

That's all I got for now, later.

Update! MC Redux
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 03:35:21 PM

Well, this wasn't exactly a week from the last Update, but it also wasn't 2 Weeks! I didn't have this finished last time so I just teased it then instead. The Main Character finally has a new look:

Just to compare, here was his first draft:

I didn't exactly have his look down at the beginning. I was even playing with the idea of having a female MC instead (or potentially having that be a choice). But there's no way I could have put the game on Kickstarter without a Main Character, so I quickly put something together and out he came. His look didn't exactly mesh with the rest of the Cast even when it was much smaller, and he was even drawn at a tiny resolution. I think the look he's got now is much more in line with the rest.

The next Character I reveal will be Thief 15. I will hold off on anymore Character redo's until the 15th Thief is finished. 

Regarding the Demo, it's still coming lol. I also won't be doing anymore Character redo's until the Demo is out. If someone needs minor polishing I will do that, but don't expect anything major until after the game is playable. 

I'll be setting up a Youtube Channel for this game, and hopefully many more to come. It will have trailers, gameplay, and whatever else could be interesting regarding the game's I'll be making. The Youtube channel that currently hosts the 2 Thief's Roulette trailers is just one I've had for awhile so it's got a lot of junk built up. I'll let you all know when the new Channel is ready. I also still want to do Twitch streams of Development and Art, but that will be a little while later. I need to get a more proper setup, and I personally want to be further along with the game. Maybe when the Demo is out. 

I'm most active (but still not very) on Twitter! Follow if you like: 

 https://twitter.com/hiromu656 

I wanted to end the "New MC Update" off with the Character Concept Art but I decided to put it on the previous one because I was late! So this will be a short update.

But, I'll at least repost the art!

That's all for now.

Quick One - Another Update coming Next Week
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 07:18:43 PM

An actual Text Box. It's simple but it's a step in the right direction. At the moment it is just a static image, but what I want to do is have it animate into place. I also want to have something either moving in those smaller panels to the left and right of the main Box, or just put something interesting in them. It still needs some work overall but I can be happy with it for now. 

The Text Box is pretty similar to the Character and Options Buttons at the top right of the screen, so the HUD is beginning to work nicely together. The HEM Buttons don't quite match with these elements so I will touch them up as well so everything is in sync.

I had more than this to show but it will take a little bit longer. So this is gonna be a short Update, and I will have another one just next week. 

I do have some Concept Art at least. Going from left to right we have the first Sketch of Isaac. He's pretty much the same. If there's any artists out there that know the struggle, I'd really like to get these dudes to look more similar to their sketches but it just doesn't come out that way. Sad!

Next is actually the first sketch of M (formerly known as K). I got one message on Facebook once that asked me who the Character on the right side of my first KeyArt was:

Scarf Girl there actually turned into Lillian! But, I still wanted to put a Scarf on a character for some reason, so I tried to put one on Thief 13. In the end she's nothing like that first sketch, and to this day no one has been worthy enough to wear the Scarf.

Next up is the first sketch of Roger. He is pretty close to this design still, but he's objectively much cooler sketched out.

Finally we have the first sketch of the Protagonist. I may have been going for a Persona 3 look with him. He is similar but not quite the same now, and again I like the sketch version more. Fortunately for him, his design is not complete. Like I've said in a couple past Updates, he will get a design change one of these days. 

That's all for now. Another Update coming just next week. Bye.

Alise, the 14th Thief
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Dec 28, 2018 at 03:04:04 AM

Alise, the 14th Thief. Thinking I will forgo the Character Bios for these last two Thieves. Look into that as you will. Every character's role in the story is really coming together now. It was pretty scary at first thinking how I could get the Player to be invested in 14 whole characters but I feel like I've got something good right now. So now there's just one last Thief to reveal. 

I've been doing environment work for the most part and attempting to fix performance issues here and there. In terms of a playable prototype the Challenge Room is all there. You can play through the first Challenge Room from start to finish, but visually and aesthetically I want to make it way more interesting. For instance, the ESCAPE! scene is distinctly animated and nice to look at (I think!), and that's something I want to do more of throughout the game. 

I'd like to bring some visual flair to the game. It's in way too basic of a state visually at the moment. For instance, the text boxes, which you will see for a large majority of this game, are incredibly dull right now. They're just a name, some text and a transparent black box. That was okay at the start, as it got the job done, but it's time I started getting these things more polished. 

Back to Environments. 

In a previous Update I spoke about my desire to create interesting environments to explore. I want them to play with the Player's expectations of both the Casino itself and what you would traditionally expect from this sort of game. The 3D traversal gives me the freedom to make environments that will stick with the Player. Pictured above, are 3 locations. The bottom right is the first room of Challenge Room 1, which has been shown many times before. To the left of that is one of the "Entrances" to Challenge Rooms. These Entrances will look distinct from one another and represent the different locations of the Casino. What they all share are the 3 Doors that lead each Team to their Challenge Rooms. Above these two locations is a simple room with a Pit. This is just a small look at the sort of Challenge Rooms I'd like to do. In this particular Room, the group comes upon a Pit that reads as the clear Exit. From there you'd be tasked with finding a safe way down, eventually making your way to this same Pit and being able to look back to where you started the Puzzle. A physical sense of discovery that I feel would make this game stand out among the games that inspired it.

The Casino should also help build the world that Thief's Roulette exists in.

The next Update won't be nearly as long of a wait. But, that's all for now.

[Backer Only] Update before the good Update
almost 6 years ago – Mon, Dec 03, 2018 at 07:13:30 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.