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Project Valhalla

Started by ben_g, January 28, 2016, 07:22:35 PM

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ben_g

This project isn't that new and it certainly isn't anywhere near being complete yet, but I don't make nearly enough posts here and decided to finally overcome my laziness and post about my projects :P
Anyways, introducing......
Project Valhalla(The name is still temporarily, it will eventually be changed to something better or just to 'Valhalla' if we can't come up with anything)


What is 'Project Valhalla'?
Project Valhalla is a project I'm working on together with 2 cousins. The goal if this project is to learn how to use almost every part of Unreal Engine 4, so that we can use it well when we start on future projects, and hopefully to end up with a nice game as well  ;)

Storyline
The main storyline is very simple: Months ago, a group of Vikings set sail to a nearby island in search of a cursed sword from a legend (the legend will be explained during the 'intro'). Recently, their ship came back, but it was completely empty apart from a single sword that was lying on the deck. You then sail to that island to find out what happened to these guys (and you crash your ship on the way there), but it turns out that the entire island was cursed and it is now swarming with undead monsters. It is now your quest to save that island by lifting it's curse.

It will be explained in slightly more details in-game, but that's basically the only part of the story you'll be forced to listen to. However, there will also be a lot of backstory that you'll be able to uncover by talking to NPCs. Most NPCs will behave in a certain strange way (usually during dialogues and quests, I don't think I'll be able to give them all unique idle behaviours), and their backstory will explain the cause of their behaviour. It will need to be mostly pieced together from dialogues from multiple NPCs though, not simply by asking NPCs about their origin story. This is an attempt to give the game more depth and optional storyline, while still being easy to program.

Gameplay
The gameplay will revolve mostly around combat and puzzles, with possibly some platformer elements in it as well.
The current plan for combat is to give the player a standard attack, an attack that's more effective against armour and a way to dodge attacks, together with a locking system that points the camera at the monster you locked on and a way to change the locks (to make aiming your attacks easier. The player will also be able to obtain a crossbow that can be used for attacking at a distance, though it won't be very useful in most areas and is mostly intended as a puzzle element. Most monsters will also behave differently based on their kind (for example: zombies are weak and move slow, but they'll generally appear in large groups and if they manage to surround you, then you're pretty much dead). (the goal is to keep combat simple and intuitive, while still having it be quite varied)

During the game, you'll be able to explore 10 different areas, with 2 of them (a beach and a village) acting basically as a hub where you'll be able to do sidequests, talk to NPCs and find secrets. The 8 other areas are each protected by a simple puzzle for which you'll need a certain items. Those items are hidden at the ends of each area, sometimes protected by a boss fight (assuming we manage to program boss fights). Off course, the puzzles are made so that you'll only be able to complete the areas in one fixed order.

Planned features and other stuff
Planned The concept is worked out Somewhat functional, but not complete Finished programming-wise, but not graphics-wise (Almost) finished

  • The storyline
  • NPCs (Only some have complete concepts, but they are already somewhat functional programming-wise)
  • Conversations (graphics may be reworked in the future, they look fine, but they currently have a modern style and I may eventually give them a more viking-ish theme)
  • Combat (currently working: locking and 1 attack)
  • Monsters (zombies are pretty much finished, but I still need to think of some concepts for more monsters)
  • Boss battles (though there are concepts on what the bosses may look like)
  • Improve the lighting (or make it worse, depending on how you look at it, because now the lighting is realistic and I'll probably go for a more cell-shaded look eventually)
  • 3 minigames (one even has some programming basics already, more may be added eventually if we can think of good ones)
  • Graphics (I still have LOTS of modelling to do, also I should improve the viking's face sometime)
  • Puzzles (There are a few concepts, and some elements already work, but I still need to add a lot more elements to be able to make them interesting)
  • Post-processor effects (the outlines and water)
  • Death, respawning and level handling (though there are a few small glitches with that)
  • Item handling (apart from the models, and his does not include an inventory screen)
  • Sound effects
  • Lots of other small, internal stuff
  • Menus (main menu, inventory, ...)
  • Intro cutscene (a tiny bit of the graphics has already been done)
  • Side quests and minigames
  • A store

The 'maybe' pile
This is a list of stuff I may eventually add, probably late in development, depending on my skills at that time and on how lazy I'll be.

  • Music (though I may just use the theme song that was meant for our other project)
  • Voice acting (not because it's needed, but because it would be fun)
  • A multiplayer gamemode (though very unlikely, and not before the rest is finished)
  • Achievements
  • Some other stuff I haven't thought off yet
  • Make the lists on this topic tidier and more readable :P

Any suggestions are welcome. This project is currently closed-source, but I hope to make it open-source when it's either done or dead. Some assets can be downloaded here though, with more becoming available as the project gets closer to release. Expected release date: not anytime soon, but hopefully on this timeline instead of only on alternate ones :P

alexgt

Nice, can't wait to see more! And the picture is broken for me :P
  • Calculators owned: Ti-84+, Ti-Nspire, Hp Prime, Broken HP Prime, HP 48SX

Yuki

Well, sounds fun! Can't wait to see more either.
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Dream of Omnimaga

Those are sure some interesting and strange graphics, but when I first saw a video a year ago, I liked the style and originality. I am glad this project is still a thing.

I assume it's a JRPG, right?
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
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alexgt

Wow that looks really cool, what is that thing in the background btw?
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Dudeman313

It's either a printer or a sail behind a rock. This is so cool!
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ben_g

#6
Quote from: alexgt and juju
Nice, can't wait to see more!
I'll try to post updates here regularly. So instead of videos appearing on my youtube channel once in a while, I'll bother the entire CW community with my progress :P

Quote from: alexgt on January 29, 2016, 01:54:14 AM
Wow that looks really cool, what is that thing in the background btw?
It is a drawbridge I tried out. the white rectangle is the bridge itself and it's attached by ropes on the other side (which are for now also white since I didn't make the models/textures yet). You can slice the ropes with your sword or by firing arrows at it, and they're meant as shortcuts to make it easier to get to places you've already been. The ropes may eventually be used for some physics-based puzzles, if I manage to make them more reliable since they can get glitchy sometimes, especially on low framerates.

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 29, 2016, 12:04:16 AM
I assume it's a JRPG, right?
I don't think I've ever played a JRPG, so I don't really know how they work. The most similar game I know would be the Legend of Zelda series (the drawing style is also loosely based on Wind Waker). It's definitely not intended to be a clone though.

Jokeriske

I just updated our games page + the page of valhalla at our website, ive added some pictures and currently working on the media page

alexgt

Nice :)

It is not up to me but it would be cool if we were affiliates with Velocity games ;)
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Dream of Omnimaga

#9
Aah ok, Zelda style. Glad to hear. Also, the difference between JRPG and Western RPG is that JRPG storylines tend to be less dark, less depressing and more humoristic, with less character customization and looks less like MMORPGs. Typical JRPGs are Final Fantasy, Tales of series, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, etc, while typical Western RPGs are Borderlands, Skyrim, Diablo, LotR, Dungeon Siege, etc. Also the western RPG definition is much more broad than JRPGs in the way that some people even consider Bioshock 2 to be an RPG. The typical JRPG will have a character with disproprortionate body parts, a giant sword, a cheesy story and girls with big breasts.
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ben_g

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 04, 2016, 06:59:29 AM
Aah ok, Zelda style. Glad to hear. Also, the difference between JRPG and Western RPG is that JRPG storylines tend to be less dark, less depressing and more humoristic, with less character customization and looks less like MMORPGs. Typical JRPGs are Final Fantasy, Tales of series, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, etc, while typical Western RPGs are Borderlands, Skyrim, Diablo, LotR, Dungeon Siege, etc. Also the western RPG definition is much more broad than JRPGs in the way that some people even consider Bioshock 2 to be an RPG. The typical JRPG will have a character with disproprortionate body parts, a giant sword, a cheesy story and girls with big breasts.
It's more of a western RPG then. The storyline isn't that dark or depressing (though some parts of the backstory will be), but it isn't cheesy or humoristic and the characters have realistic body proportions ... at least as far as my drawing skills allow it :P

I also have a new feature to show to you guys, and it's also not the fact that this video is HD unlike most other video's on my channel :P :


As you can see (or can't see because of the laggyness of the video, my recording software had a lot of issues and this was the best video I could get from it, sorry), the sword combat is pretty much completely functional (apart from bugfixes). The combat is a very important mechanic in the game though, so it also needs to be fun. The system I'm using is pretty generic, but it also has a weird stamina part added to it, which could make the combat a bit more tactical and less button mashing, or completely ruin the experience. To determine if the mechanic is good or bad, and to be able to balance the damages and stamina costs of all attacks, I'm planning to release a simple combat demo this weekend.

Because the game is still in pre-alpha, I'm not comfortable with just making the demo available to download for everyone, because then everyone who doesn't understand the concept of pre-alpha will associate Valhalla with a "glitchy game in which there's nothing to do". So if you want to try the demo, please let me know, through whichever way you want (posting here, PM, email, telling me IRL, ...), and I'll send you a copy when the demo is playable. Keep the following things in mind though:
- The game is still in pre-alpha, so a lot of features are still missing (like sounds) and there WILL be glitches.
- The demo will showcase the combat only. More things are being worked on and I may eventually showcase that in other demos, but for now, combat is the only thing that's complete enough.
- The demo will be quite repetitive. Multiple monsters with different behaviours are planned, but only the zombie is finished. The demo will thus probably consist of an arena where you fight against waves of zombies with the settings of the combat system being slightly altered between waves.
- The demo will be Windows-only for now, because I don't know how to compile for Linux and don't have the hardware to compile for Mac. Sorry.

Dudeman313

Quote from: ben_g on March 03, 2016, 11:09:16 PM
I also have a new feature to show to you guys, and it's also not the fact that this video is HD unlike most other video's on my channel :P :


As you can see (or can't see because of the laggyness of the video, my recording software had a lot of issues and this was the best video I could get from it, sorry), the sword combat is pretty much completely functional (apart from bugfixes). The combat is a very important mechanic in the game though, so it also needs to be fun. The system I'm using is pretty generic, but it also has a weird stamina part added to it, which could make the combat a bit more tactical and less button mashing, or completely ruin the experience. To determine if the mechanic is good or bad, and to be able to balance the damages and stamina costs of all attacks, I'm planning to release a simple combat demo this weekend.
Yay! More demos! I think it looks pretty good, aside from the glitches in the video. I do think you could make the health bar look fancier, though. :P
I recommend Screencast-O-Matic ;).

Quote from: ben_g on March 03, 2016, 11:09:16 PM
Because the game is still in pre-alpha, I'm not comfortable with just making the demo available to download for everyone, because then everyone who doesn't understand the concept of pre-alpha will associate Valhalla with a "glitchy game in which there's nothing to do". So if you want to try the demo, please let me know, through whichever way you want (posting here, PM, email, telling me IRL, ...), and I'll send you a copy when the demo is playable. Keep the following things in mind though:
- The game is still in pre-alpha, so a lot of features are still missing (like sounds) and there WILL be glitches.
- The demo will showcase the combat only. More things are being worked on and I may eventually showcase that in other demos, but for now, combat is the only thing that's complete enough.
- The demo will be quite repetitive. Multiple monsters with different behaviours are planned, but only the zombie is finished. The demo will thus probably consist of an arena where you fight against waves of zombies with the settings of the combat system being slightly altered between waves.
- The demo will be Windows-only for now, because I don't know how to compile for Linux and don't have the hardware to compile for Mac. Sorry.
Understood. I love fighting zombies! I just hope it'll run on my system. Microsoft sent out a new Insider Eval. Build, and I have it installed. I can also re-record the video for you. ;D
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aetios

Glad to see this coming along so well, @ben_g :D The game looks really nice so far, just needs some touchups here and there but overall pretty good, I'm confident that you can fix that before release (unlike EA or Ubisoft <_<) . Regarding linux compatibility, what is this written in? If it's c[++] with opengl, it shouldn't be all too hard :)
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ben_g

#13
Quote from: aeTIos on March 04, 2016, 11:29:16 AM
Glad to see this coming along so well, @ben_g :D The game looks really nice so far, just needs some touchups here and there but overall pretty good, I'm confident that you can fix that before release (unlike EA or Ubisoft <_<) . Regarding linux compatibility, what is this written in? If it's c[++] with opengl, it shouldn't be all too hard :)
Unreal Engine, programmed mostly with Blueprint (the built-inb visual scripting language) and I think I've also used a few lines of C++ somewhere. It should be possible to compile that for linux, but I haven't figured out how to correctly set up the toolchain for that yet.

All glitches in the game that I know off are just graphical glitches. Since the demo is meant to get feedback on the current combat mechanics and to see if things should change. Because there's still a big chance that things should be changed completely or even removed, I'm not going to put a lot of effort into polishing and removing every single tiny graphical glitch for the demo, but I'll definitely try to get rid of most of them when the game is nearing completion and most of the features are final.

ben_g

Double-post for project update:


It's there. 50 minutes late for the intended 'weekend' release (building the project repeatedly exposed new problems that weren't visible when running it from within the editor), but at least it's fully working now.
Currently, only Dudeman has applied for the demo, and I could use feedback from more people. If you are interested, tell me and I'll send you the links to the demo. The download size is only 102MB for the 64bit version or 92MB for the 32bit version.

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