Logo Update and Wallpapers!

Hey guys, you may have noticed that since the last Pic of the Day update, I’ve updated the game’s logo! It’s not entirely different or anything, but I’ve made a lot of subtle (and a couple of not-so-subtle) changes that I think make it look both better, and more appropriately fitting with the in-game style.

A while ago I posted a mini-update where I provided you all with a simplistic wallpaper version of the game’s logo, and based on the click-data I get from WordPress, it was surprisingly popular, with that update STILL being one of the more frequently viewed pages on the site. With that in mind, I’ve created another version of that wallpaper using the new updated logo. Of course if you prefer the old logo, that version of the wallpaper is still available. You can find those both below:

New Logo Wallpaper

Old Logo Wallpaper

And in a bit of unexpected free time last week, I’ve also created an entirely new wallpaper, based on a sketch of the game’s main character. I’m really happy with how it turned out, so take a look!

Robot Sketch Wallpaper

And that’s all for today! It’s also a Thursday, so be sure to check out today’s new Pic of the Day, and as always, stay tuned for more info.

Close-Range Combat

This is the Bumper attack that you start the game with. It’s something your robot has built into it, and even if you remove all of your Microchips, you’ll always have it as a last resort to defend yourself with.

It charges up by itself, so if you wait long enough, it can even be powerful enough to kill weaker creatures:

 

Even when charged up though, it’s still just a Bumper Bar, so it’s a close range weapon. But it’s not the only one…
Enter the Hammer Arm! See, while I’ve talked about Microchips that upgrade your Bumper, I haven’t until now talked about the Microchips that remove it entirely in favour of a different kind of close-range attack.
So what about Microchips that are for upgrading the Bumper? Do they just become useless if I have a different close-range attack equipped? Not at all!
In a past update I showed a Microchip that allows your Bumper Bar to charge up faster, so you don’t have to wait as long between uses to have a powerful weapon on your hands. But the Hammer Arm doesn’t work like that.
The Hammer Arm can charge too, but it’s a little different. You actually hold down the attack button to charge your hammer, which you can do while moving around. The longer you charge, the more times it’ll swing around you.
So with the Hammer Arm equipped, this Microchip would still speed up how fast you charge, just in a slightly different way. Basically what I’m getting at is that none of the Microchips will just cease to work because you have a certain close-range weapon equipped. They might affect each weapon in a slightly different way, but they’re still going to be in effect.
An icy Bumper Bar and an icy Hammer Arm! The same Microchip was used in conjunction with two different weapons.

So I guess there’s still one more question you might have. What happens if I equip two different close-range weapons at the same time? The Hammer Arm and the Whip Coil for example? Well…
…It’s worth experimenting with different combinations. I’ll tell you that much.

Pathfinding Preview! [VIDEO]

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks of work focusing almost entirely on the AI. In other words, I’ve been trying to perfect the behaviour and intelligence of the game’s wildlife. They’ve started to do a lot of really cool and interesting stuff, and there are several neat features that I’ll definitely make an update about at some point in the future. Finding wildlife in Deep and observing its behaviour is really exciting, and it’s worth exploring the world for.
I really wanted today’s Pic of the Day! to show off all this new stuff, but it’s pretty hard to capture any of it in a still picture, so I thought I’d upload a little video to show you how smart some of those enemies have gotten!

So basically this is the system that allows enemies chase other things. Whether that’s you, another enemy, or something else all together totally depends on the scenario. As you can see, you have to be pretty speedy if you want to get one of the smarter enemies off your tail!

Picture of the day page is up!

In the last update, I explained that from now on I’d be updating the site with a new screenshot twice every week. Those pictures are going to be posted on a new page, which you can find the link to up the top of the website. You can also get to it by clicking here. I’ll post on Twitter whenever I update with a new screenshot, but you can rely on at least one of the updates being on Thursday afternoons, back when the weekly blog posts used to be posted. Stay tuned!

HUD Preview #2 [VIDEO]

Remember how last week I mentioned a new aspect of the HUD that showed items as you pick them up? For this week’s update, I’d like to show you guys an actual video of that system in motion, because I’m really happy with how it looks.

You’ll notice that the little bar with your ammo and Amber microchip stuff has been rotated to sit flat along the bottom now, this is to allow for more room on the screen when you’re picking up a lot of stuff at once. I think it makes the screen look less cluttered in general as well.

With this update, I also have an announcement to make. Due to my desire to get Deep completed and available for purchase as soon as possible, I’m going to have to stop doing lengthy explanation updates, as it’s taking too much time to actually write them. However I will not be stopping updates! I’ll post new screenshots of the game twice a week. Once on Thursday afternoons, at the same time these updates have been, and once earlier on in the week, probably on a Monday but it may vary a little. I’ll post on my Twitter as soon as I have a new screenshot to share, so I highly recommend following me @CaptainTid if you want to be informed right away. It may seem like this means you’ll be getting less information about the game, but in the long run all it means is that you’ll be able to play the game yourself even faster, so don’t go anywhere!

Collecting! (Microchips and more)

The only way to get more powerful in Deep is to collect and equip more Microchips. This makes them pretty important things to collect, but where does one actually find new Microchips? There are 3 primary ways and I’ll be going through them in this week’s update.

1) Terminals
I already explained in the Terminals update that upon discovering a new Terminal, you’d be rewarded with a new Microchip for your efforts. What’s convenient about this method is that you’ll already be at a terminal so you’ll be able to equip your new Microchip immediately and test it out.
I also recently updated the HUD to show you items you’ve recently collected, and as you can see here that also includes Microchips. I’m really happy with how this looks in motion and I’ll upload a video at some point to show you guys.

2) Collectibles
This is a collectible. A collectible what you ask? A coin? A token? Neither. Both. This is the physical embodiment of the very concept of a video game collectible.
They come in different colours, depending on the environment you’re in.
Thanks to the new HUD design, as soon as you find your first collectible, you’ll be told that there are 100 in total. That’s 100 of each colour, so to find all of them you’ll have to explore all of the different environments.
Sometimes if the game is feeling generous you’ll find a couple of them close together…
…But the inverse is that some of them will be somewhat hidden, or otherwise difficult to reach/find. Why do you want collectibles though? Well, whenever you find 25 of any one colour, you’ll be rewarded with a random Microchip. With 100 in each environment, that’s a total of 4 new Microchips to be collected in each environment, which is quite a significant upgrade.

I’ve enjoyed the game a lot more since implementing the collectible system, it makes the exploration feel a lot more driven and rewarding. If you’ve ever played one of Rareware’s Nintendo 64 titles, you’ll know how satisfying this kind of collection can be.

3) Bosses
You could probably have guessed this one! When a boss dies, they’ll generally drop three things:
One of them is a golden heart. These both add an extra maximum heart to your health bar, and refill your health. It’s very refreshing to pick one up after a tough boss battle.
The second thing they drop is a Microchip. Generally it’s a random microchip, but there are a couple of instances where certain bosses will always drop certain Microchips. Bandit for example, the first boss, will always drop the Drill microchip I’ve shown in so many previews.
…Oh, I said they dropped three things, didn’t I? Well, that’s true, but that third item is something I’m still wanting to keep as a surprise. It is yet another kind of collectible though, and it’s one you’ll maybe find even more exciting than the microchips.

It’s been a while… (BIG update!)

Hey everyone! It’s only been a matter of weeks but it feels like forever since I’ve written an update. Like I said in my last post, I had a really busy couple of weeks between work, school and just living my life in general. But that doesn’t mean Deep has suffered! I’ve revised and refined a good portion of the game and implemented a lot of new stuff, to the point where I feel like the game I left you with a few weeks ago is totally different to the one I’m working on right now as I type this. So in today’s update I’d like to catch you all up on a few of my favourite additions and upgrades!

It’s maybe hard to tell in a screenshot but this revamped title screen is fully animated.

Let’s start with the look. Over the break, I completely restructured the graphics engine. That means three main things:
First of all the world looks a lot more interesting now, with random variations and details added to make the levels look less like a grid of tiles and more earthy, natural and detailed.

Secondly, the game is rendered with different layers of depth. See how the robot and the drill are going through the blocks now instead of just in front of them? This depth rendering also makes moving through water and lava a lot more colourful and attractive.

Finally, I have a lot more freedom with the few parts of the game that aren’t randomly generated. Specifically, boss arenas:
It’s just a preview, but it’s much nicer looking than the version I showed off in the Bosses update at the start of this Blog, right?

And while this isn’t really a part of the same engine overhaul, projectiles also have trail effects now. They need tweaking but I’m pretty content with them for now.

 

That’s enough graphical stuff though, let’s talk about gameplay:
That Bumper attack you start with is a little different now. That bar at the bottom automatically charges over time, and the strength of your Bumper increases with it.
It’s actually quite potent if you let it charge fully! This makes the Bumper a useful tool throughout the whole game rather than just the start, and overall makes the combat more interesting and strategic.
Naturally I’ve added Microchips to the game that expand on and work with this new mechanic. That’s what Deep’s all about after all.

Oh and the world map has been remade! I’ve taken a few cues from Metroid in how this works.

In a previous update I mentioned that you won’t have a world map until you access a Terminal for the first time in that area. Now you’ll start with the one shown above. Yeah, it’s blank.
But see as you progress, it gets automatically drawn for you, so you can see where you’ve gone and keep track of the layout. This change came after extensive playtesting, I found that trying to explore new areas was too frustrating without any sort of map, but this new system solves that problem.
You’ll still get Map data when you access a Terminal for the first time in any given area though.
You’ll acquire that particular environment’s entire map, so you can see all there is to explore! The map still automatically keeps track of where you’ve already been though, it gets highlighted in orange, while unexplored areas are that dark red colour.

Enemies have changed a lot since I last updated too. I felt like I wasn’t achieving what I needed to with their design, so I played a lot of older games where the focus was on clever enemy design. Special mention goes to the original Zelda, which I’d never played through to the end until very recently. I have to say I was very inspired by the amount of thought that clearly went into the enemies in this game.
Above is a Cite, one of the MANY new enemies I’ve added to the game in this big design overhaul.
I’ve also completely replaced the old AI system with a new one, that allows creatures to have more dynamic reactions to what is going on around them. I’ve even stumbled upon two Spiles so furious with each other that I could just let them fight each other to the death and sneak by unharmed. I saw a Taal pop up and shoot a seed at an Oxy, who promptly flew away as fast and as far as possible. It’s the kind of stuff I can’t show in a screenshot but it really makes the game feel that much more organic and constantly fresh.

I have so much to show with this game but I have to be careful to not spoil much of it so that there’ll still be surprises for you when you play the game. I guess I’ll give you this one last screenshot… But I’m not going to explain what it means just yet!

Hey everyone, an apology

Tonight there’ll be no update when there usually would be, and there won’t be one next week either. I have my half-yearly exams over the course of the next week and in addition to studying for and completing those, I’m also working quite a bit at my real non-video game job during that time period. As much as I love being the only developer and having full control over what goes in the game and on the site, it does mean that when something like this comes up, there’s no-one to take over for me and I have to have the occasional week where unfortunately no Deep progress is made. I’ll try and prepare something awesome to show off when I get back in two weeks time though, so stay tuned!

Ice Cavern

Here’s the second part of the environment update series! Last time I talked about the Subterrain, and this time I’ll be showing off the Ice Cavern.
The name certainly isn’t an exaggeration. You’ll be finding more ice down here than any other terrain type. It’s very slippery and turning around is slow, especially when you’ve built up speed.
You’d also do well to remember that the low friction means that using powerful weapons will result in more serious kickback on you. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve fired a weapon while standing on ice and it’s launched me backwards off the edge of a cliff.
See right now would not be a good time to use this.

The Ice Cavern also features a lot more water than most of the other environments you’ll find yourself in. It’s not especially dangerous, but it certainly gives this part of the world even more of a unique feel.
You’ll also find that the various creatures that are native to the Ice Caverns are actually capable of swimming in water. This is a Slath, and it’s my favorite creature in the Ice Cavern.
Fully grown, they’re big and heavy, so it hurts quite a bit when they ram themselves into you at high speeds. Which they’re more than willing to do. Luckily they’re also kind of stupid, and they certainly don’t get any smarter when they’re mad. Once they start charging in a direction, you can usually count on them to keep going until they hit a wall, even if they’re no longer chasing anything in particular.
But yes, as I mentioned earlier, they can swim, so you probably shouldn’t try and confront them in water.

So by now you’ve definitely noticed the icicles hanging from the roof throughout the area. You can almost certainly guess what kind of hazard they impose:
Yep, they fall right down onto you. They aren’t alive or vicious, so they won’t directly try and fall when you’re under them, but sometimes it certainly feels like that’s the case. It’s not all bad though, if you’re lucky, they’ll release a rock or two upon shattering on the ground.
If you’re even luckier though, they’ll time their falling down just right and give you one less enemy to worry about.

Death & Progress

I’ve been asked a few times both in the comments section on this site and through e-mails about how saving and progress works in Deep. Do you have to start again when you die? Can you quit and come back later? This week I want to address all those kinds of questions, and essentially explain the structure of Deep.
This is where a new save file will start you off. In mid-air, just barely not high enough to land on those platforms around you. You’ll fall quite a distance and then find yourself in the Caverns environment, with nothing but your basic bumper attack.
It’s good for shoving boulders but not much else. Anyway, at this point, if you’re defeated at all, you’ll reappear up in the air where you first started your adventure. What’s important to note though is that while your health will have fully recovered, nothing else in the world willhave changed. Anything broken or moved will still be broken or moved, anything that died will still be dead. The only thing that’s happened is that you’ve been teleported out of harm’s way and had your health restored to maximum.
This is the case wherever you go in Deep, but the location you teleport back to (known as your save state) will change as time goes on. If you use a terminal, your save state will get set to that terminal. If you enter a door, that’ll make a new save state as well.
Doors like the one pictured above are how you get between the major areas in Deep.

You don’t ever need to worry about saving your game, either. All progress is constantly written to your save file, and if you quit the game and come back later, you’ll just get reloaded at your save state as if you’d been killed.
As you can see above, there are three save files in Deep. Right now there’s no way to enter your name, but that’s definitely something that will be included in the game. The save file shows you how many terminals you’ve accessed, how deep you currently are and how much max hearts you have. It also shows which Amber and blue microchips you have equipped.
This I think tackles most of the questions regarding this subject that I’ve received. However obviously if there’s anything you feel like I haven’t covered, feel free to contact me and I’ll do what I can to clarify matters.