I think it’s time for a brief update on my new superhero project, Truth, Justice and Spandex. I was planning on having a 0.1 version done by September but – as always – things get delayed. This is not 0.1 yet, but I definitely think I have made some progress. (Click the images for bigger versions.)

Ah, the title screen in all its splendour! Yes, the art styles clash…but I think I’m going for this version anyway. “Gallery, what’s that,” the observant reader may ask. Inspired by Freedom Force, that’s going to be a gallery of all the heroes that the player has created, and all supervillains that he has encountered.

I’m slowly getting to where the game scenes are looking…decent. This picture is lacking a falling piano/plane/meteor that the hero needs to deflect, but I think the GUI and game board works.

…And this is what the hero says after he’s successfully vanquished the evil piano. I started this project with a clear image of how the hero should be “over-the-top in a subtle manner” and I think this comment reflects that idea. (If you’re wondering what I mean by over-the-top…how often do you see pianos attacking a city? The hero is anthromorphosizing the piano, resulting in a ridiculously heroic comment.)

Another game screen! This time the hero needs to save a poor old lady from getting run over by a speeding car. Of course, the lady is lacking in this screen, but you get the idea!

Ah-hah! En garde, Blizzard Wizard! I love how he looks suitably creepy. This is an example of a dialogue from the game…of which there will be many. Have you noticed the red squares? Those are citizens running around the city; in a couple of weeks I’ll have proper little men and women instead.

With all this progress, why am I not calling this version 0.1? I called a much less polished version of Sheeplings 0.1 earlier than this! Well, I’ve decided that 0.1 means “playable from the beginning to the end, within the levels and constraints present.” In Sheeplings there were discrete levels that were very separate from each other. Once the main mechanism was there I could start churning out levels (and add polish and whatnot later). But with Truth, Justice and Spandex things are more difficult. The hero can level up. Levelling up gives access to skill points which can be distributed to the powers. Higher power ratings make you receive higher token values from making matches in the puzzles. So, the difficulty level must scale according to the player level. But the player also has a reputation and other parameters, and all of these must work intimately together to scale appropriately. And on top of this, I have to weave everything in with a storyline.

Sure, I can make individual minigames work by themselves, but not until I have a balanced stat/levelling/difficulty/reputation system will I call it 0.1. By then you’ll actually be able to play through the game as it’s meant to be!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Indie Games, Spandex Force. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.