Superku reboot

I'm proud to present my Superku reboot, what's basically a spinoff of my long-time Superku project. Where the latter one is a jump'n'run action adventure, this project is a hardcore platformer:
One hit death, no checkpoints, unlimited continues, 50+ levels from easy to incredibly hard, including destructible and fully ROTATING levels, some boss fights and special stages.
All graphics are WIP or placeholders:


(click to enlarge, ignore the colors)


(click to enlarge)

Even though Superku only has ~1/4 of the abilities he once has had, the gameplay is way better than before and I won't stop improving it until the game is released.


(click to enlarge)

A pretty long gameplay VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOZVFg9PAFU

The "old" Superku (which will be renamed to Superku World) is on hold until this one is done, the adventure is just too big and takes too much time currently. It is not abandoned, I already have a rather complex story for three Superku World titles (even though it's astronomically unlikely I will get to make all of them). (This title does have a (simple) story, too.)



Please tell me what you like and esp. what you dislike!
(The levels are too empty, I know.)

This is amazing! Really enjoyed watching it . Great job!
The movements look perfect.

Wow! The gameplay looks amazing! The acrobatics look fluid. The swimming looks like an absolute pleasure (whereas many games make it a chore).

Please finish this.

Jibb

Wow, am not a fan of casual games but i like this, the art style seems to be missing something to me though, idk, maybe some PP effect ?

love the swimming, overall great looking game, btw:

- do you ever plan on redoing the superku model ?
- if you need music, lemme know, free ofcourse, composer trying to build a portfolio, trust me, hes good

i think this game has what it takes to make it very far, just wondering if the art style is complete as is, its ok to me but you know how people are

Wow, This looks awesome. As mentioned above, the movements are VERY smooth, the swimming made me laugh when I first saw it because it is so unique. I also really enjoyed the rappel where you can change the ropes length. To be honest I actually like the graphics the way they are now.

I really enjoyed every last second of that video. Outstanding work man!!!

Can't wait to see it finished.

Amazing !

The best 3DGS platformer i've seen in terms of gameplay.
Even like that the graphics seems good and original , special style.
If you can polish the graphics, you'll have a winner title , ready for steam !

Perhaps add some background level ??


Be insired :

Sonic Remix

I would like to have your programming skills to produec such great gaemplay

what collision system do you use (physics, C trace ??) ??
Keep it up !

It will not beat Super Meat Boy but even taking a comparison in consideration is a tribute to your work.

Pure awesomeness.

Thank you all very much, I appreciate your support!


Haha yes, I've tried it at least five times, but they all looked stupid.

Yes, the background needs to be changed - Sonic Remix looks awesome!
I only use c_trace and c_move, no physX.

I really like the current Superku model. It is so cool. And so unique. Really! Focus on your game rather than on the model. One note, though: are you scaling the model on the z-axis when it ducks? That looks a bit cheap, but the rest is really charming!

I also like a lot the other Superku video (don't know if it is same game ??) :
Superku vid 2

For your character model, it's alreday original and great like that ! Caus it is little on screen, no need to change it i think personnaly !

(If you would want some cartoon characters and have concepts i'll be able to help you next month if you need !)

AWESOME gameplay! I hope that the game is not so hard to play as it looks.
xxxxxxx

Your particle effects are probably the best and most professional ever made with GS.
Some more chars with slightly other movement behaviour and tricks would be cool (Super Meat Boy like ).

I took 15 seconds of the video for the GameStudio Trailer that I`m currently making for Conitec. Just wanted inform you

The game looks awesome. I think this could be a commercial success if you manage to get it on Steam.

I think this could be a commercial success if you manage to get it on Steam

It's really quality , even more on last video i posted about the graphic side !
With some world maps and diversified difficulty ,easy to hard level , indeed it will be on Steam

-----------

Perhaps the maain way to get on Steam is adevrtising a lot ??

A running demo published on Indie sites and PC sites , posting videos on sites like Gametrailers, Ign.com ... !
Or ask at people that made "Aahhahahahaha" 3DGS game , or
minecraft maker on it's forum.

But i'm sure Steam will be interesting, they have lot of great quality entertaining Indie games in tehir indie section

Find the hidden message

fantastic
unorthodox
creative
keen
inventive
nifty
great

gorgeous
outstanding
originally
dilly

I like the special style an the incredible variety of fancy ideas.
I want to play it!

It is a fantastic gamplay. Do you actually have these "50+ levels"?

Maybe, you should even stay without colors.
Remove the colors of the cow, as well, maybe let remain a touch of red in the cloak.
put grey to white fantasy landscapes in the background.
Limbo-alike - or do the opposite like in Braid full of bright changing colors...

Just some ideas.

Jesus christ, this looks amazing. And REALLY, REALLY hard.

Two words, buddy: Absolutely Fantastic.

I'd just watched your video ... it's amazing ... the player movement looks great.

Nice job.

Gotta agree with all the comments, Great work matey!

This is awesome.... Please finish it !

It's Super Mario World for A8.
Will it have ice caves, chocolate mountains etc ...

Should be named : SuperKu World !!

This is absolutely great. I love the art style, though the black and white is a bit irritating.
Movement looks amazing, I cant imagine the amount of work you must have put into this.

What I love most though is that you really captured the principle of an arcade platformer: Taking a few simple elements, and then combining them to create a never ending variation of gameplay. For example, I loved the huge wheels with the saw elements and that stuff. Also, every level seemed to offer a new, unique idea and solution, what I think is absolutely amazing. If all 50 levels fit the quality of what is shown in the vid, I'd even pay for that game. Really amazing work.

This is really incredible gameplay:) The game seems to be very intense & interesting:)

I like the simplified graphics but you could also go for more advanced visuals. If you intend to finish it by yourself then I would leave it as it is & maybe just polish up a few things, it's very catchy in b&w:)

Thanks again for your feedback and thoughts!

Correct, that animation looks pretty bad, it will be replaced, soon.


See my first post!


No, not yet. Development started in February, so far I have ~30 rough (playable) level sketches, but I'm not happy with the old ones.
I've added color only some days ago, pure black & white was a bit boring, but most of the game will stay grayscale.


Good idea, I totally forgot about pp. Here's a decent bloom I've written yesterday, hope you like it:
Without Bloom:

With Bloom:

The gameplay video made me speechless. It looks so professional and fun to play. You really shoud keep up that game!

The game dynamics are WOW!
All good things are already said, so here some things you could improve:

The animations of SuperKu are a little bit stiff. Don't get me wrong, his movement is very dynamic, but his body is not!
Also the grafic style is kind of boring... Your old SuperKu design looked far better to me

But it's already a fantastic work! Keep it up!

I rally prefer old videos with color , in some sort of Sonic generations colorfull world or Nintendo Mario Galaxy , Little big planet !
Whay you need is just good textures materials







Well just my personnal taste !

I actually agree with ratchet, (hear hear!) some colours wouldn't hurt. I know you've said that most of this stuff are just placeholders, and you really should focus on finishing the coding first, but even your old superku project was a little bit on the brown side, if you know what I mean. Don't be afraid to make it colourful. Use a bright palette, using colors also makes important objects (like switches, mechanisms and such) stand out more if you pull it off right.

Just my two cents though.

Thanks for your input.
@ratchet/ all: I would love to create such amazing art assets but it's simply not possible (for me), I'm the coder, level designer, modeler (and animator), texture painter and play tester of my game. If I had more time, I myself would go with a colorful game. It's not (just) an art decision.
@achaziel regarding Superku World: I think it's pretty difficult to handle a bright and colorful scheme, esp. if you're not the best artist. Btw. the game was never meant to a bright platformer like Mario, more like the old Metroid side-scrollers.


EDIT:
First version of new effect/ gameplay element: hidden areas:

Two question just because I`m interested:
- How do you do the effect with the destroyable level elements and the rocket launcher (as seen in the video)? Is every square really a cube model in that areas, or do you calculate this somehow with mathematics?
- How do you do that new hidden area effect? Is this a shader?

@Superku:
I understand you very well.
Great indie games also privileges gameplay and artistic direction and not overdetailled graphics to be able to finish the game.

But really some materail textures would do the job, some 2 or 4 seamless textures per theme would od the job i think !

It's not big work t ochange the texture you use by just another one


In fact simple seamless material texture instead of actual texture would do the job !
And i think you can find free ones on internet to use !



Anyway , amazing ... keep it up !

I've done a paintover with one simple seamless texture :

It feels lot more engaging than the simple gray texture

It's even more clear and less confusing that the grey texture !

Nice try, but I won't do that, ratchet, for multiple reasons. Be aware that, with colourful/ standard textures, I cannot stand the direct comparison to Mario, Sonic, Trine, Braid and the like. The simplistic style could set my game apart, although some/ many may dislike it.


No, there are only small cubes where they need to be. The hidden effect is a shader, yes.

Btw, a new "trap": elastic ground makes you slow and prevents high jumping:

Great job Superku! In addition to the fantastic gameplay I think you do not have to worry too much about graphics . The game already looks great! Just make a good level structure, and keep already existing style, but with something more diferent decorative that the levels would look monotonous.

Gameplay is really fantastic and this is one of my flavorite 3dgs projects. I see many new inprovements in gameplay and effect! Simply great!

But one question. I can see many version of Superku games (Superku skateboard, Superku soccer, Superku World, Superku...) why you simple not concetrate only on Superku sidescroller, is pity to waste time on something else. I think this will be one really serious and profesional game. You already have gameplay who can follow Nitendo Wii standard, and commercial PC games.

A pleasure to watch!

Yes, you're absolutely right. I was just creating them for fun and wanted to try multiplayer games, I do not plan to continue those (except maybe Skater) or develop even new ones.

A new gameplay element: Ice (cubes) and slippery surfaces:

(without bloom)

Ok so you'll have a new video for us ??

Well for colors , why not putting in otpions a color we would want ? Caus i have perhaps some difficult with grey variations ?
But if we could pick up the main color for example : Green ,and your texture would be cubes but this time with green variations !

Jut my personnal taste !

rewatching it, i think the style is quite fine, i think its just the character that sticks out as a sore thumb and because of that we're trying to get balance back by blaming the style, it just needs a different character maybe? your gonna use superku?

maybe you could do different superku versions ? to me this style screams space, i was thinking maybe you could do some wall-e looking character


a lil space drone with as much motion as you have in superku, or having a superku like design, i think it would be awesome in completing the scene if done correctly, u know, a superku robot so to speak, just like how theres doctor mario and regular mario


and idk if bloom alone is whats needed, maybe it needs more background elements and a DOF shader or some

dont change the style, just experiment with it

I would prefer other textures, some others would prefer another character ... someone will prefer another gameplay ...

I realize that we should let Superku finish the game, and just suggest ideas at the end perhaps.

----------

I prefer the character like that compared to a robot.
It's somewhat cute and cool , more alive !

I may redo the player model but only to refine it and improve animations, I won't replace Superku. I don't think that a robot would be a good choice, too, thanks for the tip, though.


Some updates:
- The game has a new look. The whole setting is now a really old film, including a sepia color scheme, random film scratches (not so easy with post processing), subtle screen flickering and noise:



- There are now unlimited levels - parts of them repeat unless you go the right way.
- A reworked menu.
- Detailed statistics and best times.
- A ghost script: Complete a level successfully (with a new best time) and a ghost file will be saved. When you try the level again, the ghost will run along and show you how you got the best time.
Because the default transparency does not look good when it comes to overlaying faces, I've written my own "smooth" transparency effect:


(just noticed that bright model parts are too opaque)

Very impressive keep up the good work
WFG Progger

ok well the robot wouldnt fit this style, plus i only suggestd robot because i had opened a screenshot of your game and i was wondering what level style would fit, then i noticed the star-like in the background and i got this space theme in my mind and figured a character with a whitish/grey/ black and white theme would look nice, hence i thought of some robot or atleast superku in a space suit with a bubble helmet...

you are the designer afterall, was only sharing my thoughts, see the thing is with the digital checkbox looking style, it looks like it was done to avoid doing alot of work in that area rather than to look simple, it looks simple but maybe its because i cant tell what each background is that it doesnt work well with me

am liking the newer screens though and hey if am the only one with this opinion then it doesnt mean much

Great , but just my taste :
Like in Mass Effect could we choose options for the post processing effect ?
I would like to play it with that color and grain effect only , but i wouldn't like to have :
- random film scratches
- subtle screen flickering and noise
Just my taste, i hope it will be on otpions.Perhaps also choose a color for the grain among 4 or more ?

Keep it up !

damn I want to play a demo version of that!

Absolutly superb work Felix ... Cant wait to play the Final Version.
Gameplay looks alot like New Super Mario Bros and you did a great work on that.

I would stick with the simplistic art style. Perhaps add coder style effects and such, but I wouldn't worry too much about color.

The old film / sepia effect looks cool, but I'm not sure if the entire game should look like that.

So far so good. Keep up the progress and good work.

Yeah, a new video is here (3 levels, basic menu):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHH2qqW7kwE

Make sure to click [HD] and again, it's full of placeholders.

looking awesome! great work! really liked the ghost showing previous best on the level

Wow, i really like it! It´s very unique! But i have one question: Does it also works with low fps?

WOW !! what else to say, looks fantastic and really polished, especially the first level. I like the effect of wind, looks really cool and tress is also nice. Great job!

I tend to think, ah its Superku's update, so it is magnificent, no doubt - and, it is!
Just a short note on sometihn that doesn't fit: the pixelated blocks should get something more organic, because everything else in the level is sort of organic.
The tree, woow, did you make it yourself? That style is definitely something that you should expand through the level. Wonderful.

Thank you for your kind words!
It works fine running at 25-120fps, but below 20-25fps the game gets unplayable.

I've already tried several times to create a fitting look for the outdoor levels, but they all looked pretty bad. Yes, I've made the tree in MED - that took a whole evening though, and thus I'm currently not willing to create another one for more variation.

I like the blocky style, imo you should keep it, the trees look just fine with it.
Btw, great video, like always.

The trees are great and since you dont use many of them (as far as we´ve seen it) there is no reason to create more of them.

No news about this fantastic game ?

Thanks for asking, progress was slow because I've had exams until last Wednesday. Meanwhile I've re-implemented the jetpack I've written one year ago and added vines:



You only have the jetpack at the end of the game, it's pretty powerful.
Additionally, I've cleaned up some important parts of the movement code and added configurable gamepad support.

Looks pretty good, is there a video of jetpack in action?

just great

I have some technical questions :
how is managed collision on levels where you can destroy blocks with bazooka or some other weapon :
-Are they physic objects or just square collision objects ?
-Are they glued together in WED , or are they put together by code ?

don't you have some ligtening issues like different ligthenings on corners that are "glued" ?

Anyway, great work, keep it up (i feel a Steam indie game) !

Thanks, I will upload a clip when I've made a jetpack level.
There are big cubes placed in WED that seem to be, I don't know, approx. 8x8 small blocks because of the texture. When a rocket explodes, I simply delete and subdivide big cubes (that is ent_create smaller ones), nothing too special. I don't use physX for my game.


Again, a new video. It shows the first 5 levels of the game before you enter the big main tower (they are lacking details, I know). If you have watched my previous video, you can skip the first level (~80secs) because I didn't change a lot there, and I don't expect that you watch the whole video. Nevertheless, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUlX44uJXs&feature=channel_video_title

Ha i love it Just two or three points..

1) 3:01: jumping hiding dogs: could be pretty demotiving.. do you have saving points?
2) 1:49: it really looks strange that the textures of moving cubes change according to the position they are in.. i think it would look better if they stay the same.. just my opinion..
3) 2:50-2:56 actually a pretty cool idea but: is there any challange to keep on the rotating wheels? otherwise this section could be made a little bit more "challanging" by adding moving parts (e.g. jump distance will be higher if jumping away from a wheel rotating in the correct direction)
4) 3:40: i really love the tight battle with the "shadow" :-) Do you also have this as a kind of game mode? (so a race against a computer enemy?) - sorry if you've already posted that, i've only read the last post!
5) 5:00-6:00 love the "glide" idea!

overall looks like a lot of fun, though the most important thing isn't visible: the controls.. it's pretty obvious that you are really used to them, but for a beginner playing the game the first time, this will decide if the game makes fun or not (and if it's challanging enough or not, because honestly according to the video it's pretty easy if you play it often )

so keep up the great work!

and: i really hate the jumping sound.. just switched on the sound (and directly switched it off again )

I've appreciable respect for your development (and playing :D) skills and your ideas! Go on with that... I think you can find a good publisher with that project.

Thank you very much for the detailed response!
1) No, I don't have checkpoints, but I don't like that part of the level, I will redo it (for the 4th time).
2) Yes, looks strange, will be "fixed".
3) At 2:33-2:36 you can see that the rotation affects the movement and the jumping distance. They are rotating slowly because it's only the second level.
The levels contain some spots where the challenge is reduced (here f.i. 2:50-2:56). I think it's important to give the player some time where he can just run through the level without being in great danger.
4) Haha you probably know that it's the ghost from your previous best time? I have a level where you are hunted by a dark/ red glowing copy of Superku that mimics every move you make, though:


I think the controls are very good, just two buttons (you could even play the game on an USB NES controller), easy to learn, hard to master. And that's the motto of the whole game, I highly doubt that anybody who wants to finish the game will be able to complete it as it becomes so difficult.

Do you plan a level editor for it?

I like it alot. The video is full of good stuff.

The only concern I have for the moment is, that looking at the levels for a longer period of time might become tiring, because the colors are rather drab and don't change between levels.

But other than that it just seems to be a great peace of work, programming and game design wise.

Great work. Is there a story though? i never understood the character...

support.. some kind of color / texture change would be reliving (so not in general, but for certain levels).

I'm also not a fan of the grafics. Add a bit more variance, otherwise players will be bored.

Gameplay is good, as always

i love the gameplay but i really wish something would change with the visuals.. is this visual style due to lack of artwork/resources ? and if you had an artist, what visuals do you think you would employ ?

A little too monotonous, but maybe better add some pp effects that change, when the enemy attacks and more enemies also.
Although, an interesting gameplay mechanic, which I like it.

Thanks again for the feedback!
Level editor is planned, but probably not for the first release. Story is existent but more practical than deep.


As the original game and esp. its visuals take so much time, I've decided to create this spinoff. Thus a simplistic style is a must for me. If I had a lot more time, this game probably would not even exist at all and I would go with the following style (and game) instead:



I've already implemented that I can change the whole color scheme dynamically, so water levels can have a blue, boss fights a menacing red tint and so on.
There will be 4+ levels that have a different look and a few bonus levels in color, but I guess that's not enough. I will see if I can come up with a different look, at least for some levels.

EDIT: Yes, the levels need more enemies! Birds are next.

screenshot looks cool.. though i do not see a real problem to apply those textures dynamically to your level? you already have those "squares" and could use a better looking texture instead

I already said it looks lot more better than the grey without colors
Make me remember all the first Next Gen gameswhere people in industry maked all games grey or very dark to avoid taking risks !
Only keep these colored textures. For Lava you don't need thousand of laval texture, you have already one.

For Water just modify it a little and put a blue color.
Simple textures patterns like that are not so extravagant in terms of Work ? or i'm wrong ?

Just make some variations on colors or patterns above the basic texture to make textures for next levels !
Its perfect, keep it simple !

just so you know, i really like that colored shot though

That highly detailed shot actually doesn't look that great to me because there is a hard clash between the cartoony main character and the realistic world. The blocky style you're using for this project looks much better IMO.

So here's my two cents: the style you've got looks good. It's unique and pretty. But more color wouldn't hurt it at all. In fact the lack of color is hurting it. Giving each level a different hue would be a step in the right direction, but it would still look somewhat monotonous and boring. You really shouldn't be afraid to use many different colors across a level - your style is already unique enough that adding color variety wouldn't detract from it.

Trust me when I say that color is not your enemy here. IMHO you're actually losing style points for throwing out the color in favor of a more unique style.

+1 to Redemeer´s opinion. Either change the look of superku (would be bad imo) or use more colors.
Maybe you could use some sort of random skins that are picked from a palette.
Or some sort of definition files which defines designated textures for every entity through ent_next.

Try to enhance the look with clever coding.

It´s a great project!

You were right, all of you. The whole game is now in color!
1st level:

6th level (new):

(right click to view in full size)

Tell me what you think!

Improvements look fantastic!

Wow!

AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!

Looks much better now. Nice work!

Awesomeeeeee!
I especially like the first screen, it has a great atmosphere.

_________________________
Now 20% hotter

looks awesome!

Wow, the first screenshot looks amazing.
1000% better than in black and white. Also the tree looks very good.

But I do not like the green color of the 2nd screenshot. I think it's too bright.
Also the brown background-pixels do not look good. The background of the first screenshot is much better.

Looks fantastic!!!

I am of a different opinion to Harry regarding the second screenshot. The brown pixels in the background tell me this is an underground scene -- if that's the case, then they're doing their job. The green pixels in the foreground (as opposed to a more realistic rocky colour) work well as they stand out from the background without looking ugly or monotonous, but perhaps they could be dulled or be another colour to accommodate more tastes.

Well done! This is gorgeous!

Jibb

I like the second screen some less, because the green color feels a little out of place in my opinion.
the overal color is pretty warm (red, yellow, brown)
but the green is more towards blue, which makes it a colder color.
but still, these screens look awesome!

I wonder... how have you done those water/lava effects?
it seems like it has a vertex shader to animate it, am I right?

Fabulous, fabulous! This is just what I was talking about. I would pay for this!

First screen is fantastic!

The second one is less great because it looks like the texture quality isn't as good as in screen 1. But still better than the old black and white style.

Btw. the water effect is amazing!!!

Woooooooooooooo YEeeeeeee....SSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Fantastic, the next big Killer game on Steam !

(I repeated lot of times one of the fisrts version with colors was wonderfull , less sad )

I agree that in second screen ,you should choose like in the first some sort of color theme :
like RED : lava, Rocks with a little red tint for Blocks , or/and Yellow with red soft tint ?
Very Green and very red are too much opposed
And red lava should throw some red emissive color to the rest of the level ? Anyway amazing now !

I'll do a paintover if i have time !

Now we need a new video

Agree with all this, i think what you should do is add a detail layer to all walkable surfaces like how you did with the grass, you could add stones atop the rock layer, hope you get what i mean, other than that, looks great

[quote=Superku]Thanks again for the feedback!
Level editor is planned, but probably not for the first release. Story is existent but more practical than deep.

I've already implemented that I can change the whole color scheme dynamically, so water levels can have a blue, boss fights a menacing red tint and so on.
There will be 4+ levels that have a different look and a few bonus levels in color, but I guess that's not enough.

it'd be cool to change this based on your location in the level as well, that way its got even more variance

Am not sure his new direction will still do the color changing scheme, though i could be wrong, i just dont see color filters as being practical anymore

Or he can keep actual colors, it's really ok , and lot more better than Grey colors !

Thank you all, I'm glad you like it.
Yes, water/ lava is a vertex & pixel shader. There's still a fullscreen tint active but I will probably only change it for bossfights, lostclimates's idea is nice, though. There may be a level where you have to adjust the tint (with switches) to pass certain areas, let's see how that will work out.

EDIT: The detail layer for the walkable area sounds nice, however all levels are already designed in a way that you can easily distinguish the 3 layers foreground I (walkable), foreground II (unreachable, 1/2 color saturation) and background.

Haha. An update:
I've improved the movement, in particular you can now combine vertical wallruns with all other moves, and I've switched the control scheme from two to three buttons. Additionally, I've worked on the jetpack:



It's now fuel based and you have more control than before. Now there is a long range attack, too (you don't have jetpack & attack at the beginning of the game), that really expands the gameplay possibilities, you can see it in the new video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvowYy3jldM

Really great work. Jetpack is really cool new thing in game, and i like how you use jetpack with time limit, gret idea.
About throwing light balls on enemies, how you navigate cursor target, with mouse?

Maybe instead of FuelDriven, you should work with Overheating?
For the gameplay it doesnt matter, but currently the fuel refills o.O.
With overhheating its more natural that the device has to cooldown and will stop working when to hot

Greetings
Memnarch

I haz a question: Why is this project not on the frontpage of the Gamestudio website?!

Why not but after Supercan ?
Superku is lot more about gameplay and animations/particles than pure static pictures compared to SuperCan !

I love the way this looks and plays! GREAT JOB!!! looking forward to getting my hands on it

You control your crosshair with the cursor keys or the gamepad. Once you point to an enemy, a subtle autoaim assists your crosshair movement. It takes a little while to get used to it, though, esp. when you use the jetpack simultaneously.


Yes, that makes perfect sense.


Update:
You may have seen this shadow effect before in the other thread, but it took a lot of effort to get it work correctly and to make it a pixel shader 2.0 effect (it's now mostly model based):


(particle effects are missing)

I know that the block shadows do not align correctly to the block's corners and that the penumbra used to look better when it was shader based, I guess I won't (be able to) fix that but I think it looks pretty good in motion (I will upload a video today/ tomorrow).

Realy good work but i think better than good future

i want to ask a question; are you using a special animator for this game?

I love it, the screen looks gorgeous!

@Superku: if you removed some commands from the PS to get it down to PS2, you might think about a checkbox

"Use PS3" (or whatever requirement)

With an optionmenu for this type of things you can create great effects while not a must have to run the game. Since you said that ps2+ requirements kilss a given amount of possible users.


Greets
Rackscha

He also said that it was crucial for some levels...

@JustSid: oops, didnt read that^^"

Thank you, guys.
Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbuW5pwXKsg

I've recorded the clip on half speed and speed it up in a video program, thus the movement got a little hectic, sorry.
Next are creepy creatures that hide in the dark.

About control fire-balls, first i was afraid that you put the mouse in the game but i'm glad that you did not. This game was definitely born for the gamepad .

Shadow effect is totaly great! Great job like always .

Like always, just great !
this is the new Mario Bros challenger !

Thanks! :>
Finally completed the shadow level or at least the first of two, it's time to move on to different things for a while. Thus this is the last light & shadow update for now:



Gameplay:
The light of your torch slowly decreases. As its lightrange gets lower, the enemy with the red glowing eyes (he blinks on the screenshot) that only moves in the dark comes closer and closer until he gets you. The black smoke monsters don't harm or attack you directly, but when your torch gets covered by smoke it rapidly deceases. There even are two spots where you have to drop your torch to progress, this way your movement won't be limited anymore because you have both hands free, but you have to move through the darkness and run from the glowing eyes, uh, scary! :-@

nice, but the difference between player's and walls' penumbra and shadow darkness is too noticable in my opinion

I find shadow player really nice and enougght and don't mind about others shadows.
Just my personnal taste !

Yeah I've tried an opaque and hard-edged player shadow first, but it looked really odd, thus I've increased the shadow's brightness and blurred it multiple times. (I cannot make the wall's penumbra smoother/ bigger.)


I thought I could increase the fps by a rewrite of the effect layer rendering (for heat haze, water and other refractions and effects), but in the end it did not support transparent objects very well and so I've returned to the old system
(a week of code, shader and level changes lost...).

Nevertheless, a post in Showcase I (how this forum once was called in the good old days) without a screenshot is boring, so here we go, nothing special though:


(I need to implement FXAA)
A Kuball-only level, smooth movement in pipes was a bit tricky, pipes still look a bit ... bad, even though I've already spent enough hours on them.


Oh and btw, Superku has approx. reached 50% completion (excluding music and sound), I hope I can start beta testing in May.
Additionally, I've got a plan now for all 50 levels including the finale that will be kick-ass, I promise!

Pretty cool

For the pipes: MAybe for entry and exit you should add thick rings(like those in Mario). Thought it might look a bit better as transition.

Amazing effects !
Simple but with great materials and effects, somewhat like Mario Galaxy 3D style in some sort !

Keep it up !

i like the variation in level types, the gameplay must be really immersive already. i think that an outer space with flying asteriods and gravity switches is a 'must have' setting for a couple of levels (not sure whether you've already made it, too lazy to look through 12 pages atm)

besides, some surrealistic levels would fit in perfectly in my opinion, kinda like salvador dali's early work

Thanks for your input.


Haha that's a nice idea. As I've stated in my previous post, all levels are already somewhat designed or at least planned. There are two levels, though, that dissolve as you move through them, I guess that's a good place for a homage to his most famous work.




Hm yes and know, you jump on (and through) little planets and esp. on the moon at the end of the game. I would love to be able to realize a Super Mario Galaxy like gravity system for those small planets and a support for various gravity directions (like those special gravity rooms in the Mario game), but it's simply too much work to adapt the whole movement code.

Update:
Superku now is on indieDB:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/superku
There is not much information right now, but stay tuned!


Working on Superku's brother, don't laugh but it took me a long time and multiple tries to get him look right, even though he's only built out of geometrical shapes like everything else in the game.

Image link appears to be broken.
IndieDB! I'm now tracking Superku.

Yeah, thanks, should work now! :>

Again, a new video featuring some gameplay and level impressions. The sound is still very bad, often shadows are missing and all white objects without textures are placeholders, of course. Esp. the beginning contains known levels, but I like to include them anyway to record my progess over time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5qHbgvhwbc

I've used music from the official GStudio Showreel made by Rondidon.

Great Stuff Dude ^^
I like the walljump... i´m still stucking with that xD

Any chance that you give me an idea how you´ve done that lava animation? Is it a model?

Great video again, keep it up!

The next big platform game
Even Mario don't have such big and varied gameplay and moves.
The metroid and plane driving phases are great, i hope it will be more playable and hidden secrets !

The wind effect on the biginning with fast moving clouds and leafs in the aire is just amazinggly good.

Once youll' get lot of levels or games very advanced, you could advert on FaceBook , and other 3D game making sites !
By bringing up advert, you will increase the popularity, and your game will indeed be very appreciated i think.

Keep it up !

Impressive, dear Felix, simply impressive. Everything looks awesome and already very polished. Gameplay looks sometimes very hard. I hope you won't get into too much trouble adjusting the difficulty level.

looks great, hope it has a ridiculous amount of checkpoints though because it certainly does seem challenging

could have different difficulties or offer achievements/badges/trophies for level complete without dying? or challenges with time mode?

Boa... Ich möchte auch so gut sein wie superku!
Mal ganz abgesehen davon das es richtig cool ist,
bist du inzwischen wirklich, WIRKLICH(!) weit gekommen mit dem game.


Das verdient einen
kräftigen APPLAUS!



*neidisch sei*
OTTER

i dont think difficulty settings would help much for alot of those levels, because its not the "enemies" that bring the challenge but the platforming, however i wouldnt suggest you change it, games have been getting to simplistic lately, spoonfeeding even the most hardcore of gamers

It Looks Fantastic. Very Nice.

I would play it for free....
Ok I Would Buy IT. ....
Or test it for you for free?
Ok ill pay you to let me test it.....

Haha thank you guys and girls, I appreciate your support.
Yes, the lava is made of a set of models that I put together in WED and animate via a shader.


Haha the game does not have any checkpoints because this makes the coding a lot easier and so I don't have to design long levels (that's harder than you might think).
Instead, the game focusses on short but challenging levels that can be completed in about 100 seconds, while some are even shorter or much longer.
Although it's correct that the challenge lies in tricky jumps, future levels will focus on fights with agile and deadly enemies, too.

Yes, there will be achievements and one hidden Pelzku per level and best times are recorded (including ghost data), but a given time that you have to beat is a nice idea.

Btw. I've just posted a paid job offer for a composer, see here:
http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=391176&#Post391176

Btw. 2, the game now has a tutorial level that teaches you all the basic moves.

Man, it's simply awesome!! I wish you the best luck mate!!
One question, if someone asked already, I'm sorry. Destroyable blocks, are they voxels?

hey
really great game! looks good, also gameplay is cool
reminds me a little at the good old Super Mario World from the SNES (I'm playing it from time to time)
easy gameplay and controls, hard levels
this is a really cool concept!

@3run:
Not everything looking pixelated are voxels
They're only a lot of models i think

Yepp.. looks like the best Jump'n'Run I've ever seen. I'm really no fan of that genre, but Superku reboot looks like real fun!
Only with the character model I still couldn't become sympathico ^^

Nope. Best Jump`n`run is and will always be Commander Keen. Period.

Turrican 2!

He would spank Commander Keen just for fun.

Rayman ftw!!!!

Some scenes reminded me [from the level elements and from the difficulty] on Super Meat Boy [which of course is 2D, and so on]

I really liked the video, though I disliked those jump-sounds

For me best one is LIMBO! So Superku at least for me isn't the best, but one of the best platformers I've seen so far.

Rondidon is right. Nothing beats commander keen. The last level of Episode two (the earth explodes!) was very devilish yet very fun to beat.

By the way, I stand by Superku in that there should be no checkpoints, even if the levels were longer. Checkpoints kind of take the penalty out of dying, and while that's fine for certain games, I really wouldn't want to see it here.

you can always put the checkpoints into an optional easy mode or into the options menu...

Metroid on Snes was great also !
It's good Superku having the morph ball , lot of possibilities

Hm I thought I've had replied... thanks again for your feedback!


That's not a simple task IMO. If you want to implement checkpoints, you have to code a save system that can restore f.i. destroyable levels, recreate pointer relations, start actions at certain positions (many actions consist of multiple consecutive while loops) and so on. (Then there's the balance in gameplay and level design that has to fit both options, too.)


Can someone, preferably in a deep voice and with a high-quality mic, record SU-PER-KU like this FUS RO DAH? The sound effect is not necessary, but of course would be a nice addition. I can only give you credit.

Just steal that sound clip and rename "Superku" to "Fusrodah." Problem solved!

I don`t think this matches to your style of game to be serious. It sounds like a sweating man fighting animals.

I`m not sure if you need a voiceover at all. I would keep the game in 8-Bit sound style. This is what makes it unique.

Ever thought of something like this? No voiceover, but great and unique presentation (and music ).

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZAh43I3Qk

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seEU8xdxUfo

Get inspired by this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRr7ngMfN04&feature=related

The game does not get a voiceover, I only need this sound for a single moment in the game.

Surprisingly, in addition to the current similarities to Super Meat Boy (and I did not know the intro), my game, as it was black and white, was supposed to be presented as such an old film. The main menu still plays a projector that shows gameplay footage with an old film filter.

deep voice solution:

1) free:
if you have a SoundBlaster Live sound card, or Audigy, there are built in hardware effects on sound card control panel, like convert female to male voice, i.e. make voice one octave lower. the reverse is also available, and many others. thus no software needed just set recording mode to "what you hear" in SB's mixer.

2) free:
send me sounds in .wav and I can make any effects with Cubase, if you tell me what you need... (even manage throat shape to alter voice)

(my microphone is crap, the old good one was crashed on a concert...)

use a vocoder with a lot of noise as excitation. Should work

Superku has a Creative Soundblaster Recon3D since yesterday. I`ve got an X-Fi but I didn`t find voice conversation features anywhere . Where can I find those options?

New Superku model and shader:


(bell will be replaced)

The cape is fully animated and painted via a shader (for now), the model is just a black plane/ grid (however, I'm not yet happy with the result).

I've improved the movement again (bug fixing, smoother transitions, changed values) and added the possibility to push crates. You can now hold onto a ledge even when there's not enough room to stand on. When you climb the ledge Superku will automatically morph into Kuball mode.
Additionally, I'm working on a secret boss fight level and a special (temple) level that focusses on exploration:


(old player model)

Nice Modelupdate.
Fits perfectly for the style

Really nice looking game, I like it alot. They dont seem to make games like this anymore.
I was bored and came up with a version of the character model. Maybe it gives you some ideas, I dont know, but it was fun to make. Its basically just a sketch, not polished at all.

I wasnt sure weather it was some kind of monkey or bear or what.
Anyway Good luck with the rest of the game!

oh, ps: i know you cant do a video with every update, just felt idle i guess, but honestly, am really liking how the style looks now, really comming together, model still seems lacking something though, maybe you could try some hair using planes and translucency? not sure though...

really nice, personally i think it'd fit perfectly but lol i doubt he'll use it ^^, secondly he'd have to start worrying about animations now too...

i think superku is actually a cross between a COW and other animals, notice the beak? lol

@superku, as cute as your little character is, he looks perfect in-game but when i see him up close in screenshots, then i get a little lost, but his weird visuals may also be apart of what makes your game successful, i just always wonder how it could be made to look more detailed, with such an odd design in mind ^^

Thanks, Yeah thats part of why I wanted to try to make a version of the character, its such a strange yet interesting design. I think the original version was more interesting than the one I came up with anyway.

@ryangregory :
your sketch is really good.
But for Sodoku , i prefer the original Sodoku character, it is lot more cartoon, un realistic, lot more special with little legs, more appropriate to it's gameplay than detailled model.
just my personnal taste

sodoku? O.o

sodoku? o.O

Haha thanks for the feedback and the cute bear model sketch! I like the bell, too, and will probably design it like that.
And yes, it's mostly a cow, but I don't know why game models always have to resemble animals or humans, I prefer fictional creatures. Additionally, the character has a nostalgic value for me, I've used to draw Superku comics since I've been a kid and made games with this character (design) since 2001.

There's a problem with thin characters, they don't fit platformers very well. For a good movement and feeling the feet resp. the "bottom" have to be rather wide.

Imagine Super Mario Bros. had a character with regular proportions. I think the gameplay would feel much worse then e.g. because as soon as the feet leave a platform, you'd lose ground contact and fall down. The same goes for landing a jump, wider characters forgive misplaced jumps and make platforming a lot easier.

Superku: whats actually up with your Superku character, thats like the figure you did not change for years.
(and also dont change/adapt the looks when you change the graphical style in your games)

If you look at Mario, the char got adapted to the graphical
style, while retaining the same general look thoughout the games.

Well... there is at least some evolution in the "design" and quality of my Superku character:



There have been many versions inbetween (including a few tries with fur shaders) that have had a different look, f.i. a more evil version with more detail:



The next version (for the adventure game) will probably be a mixture between the current version and the one from Sculptris along with a fur shader.

The Superku character from 2006 was even a popstar.
Popstar Superku

Hehe wie lustig . Echt nett animiert.

Can't express how glad I am you abandoned that approach...

Haha I had already forgotten about this clip, thanks.


Update:
I've written a basic simulation for cape physics, almost everything is calculated inside the vertex shader (2.0). I only use ent_animate to bring the cape into a basic starting situation, pan-rotations of the player/ Superku are taken into account (compare second screenshot).




The most difficult part was to implement a smooth transition between a cape that simply hangs down, e.g. when Superku holds on to a ledge, and a cape that touches the ground (see the end of the video).

Video: http://youtu.be/0qps3cxqWEQ

Cool.

@Superku :
You are becoming some top one indie developper !
Amazing, this cape will bring on lot of pleasure to the eye of the player

That's little details like that, that brings a lot to games ! (Metroid 1 on gamecube with little touches on the visor
helmet of the player and all other stuff)

How many levels do you plan ? do you have planned diversified ones ?
If you need some fast ideas, i can give some to you like for example :
Desert with some gameplay mechanism using the sand for physic or simple puzzle like filling something with sand to make the weight trigger some mechanism.
Or some levels requiring water endurance life bar, where you should replainish some bottle to survive.
Or why not some level using,

Bring it on to Steam , and i'll have no choice than buy it !

Thanks! There are 50 levels (of course not yet done, but planned) and after the first 5 levels I try to give almost every level a different (gameplay) element or different focus so it won't get boring too soon.


This is just a minor update to tell that the development is still going on. I've mostly worked on the code and finally fixed 3 old very annoying movement bugs. I've had a lot of trouble with the implementation of the cape physics (and the new player model) into the game but it works now pretty good.
I've rewritten the animation system that now automatically detects the movement state and blends between the most important states - previously, as the movement code mostly is a state machine, animation was a little difficult to handle and esp. to blend. At first I've tried to use ent_blend(frame) but I had to notice that vertex blending obviously only works with integer frame numbers, so it wasn't smooth at all. (That's why I had to animate the transitions manually.)
I've always wondered how I could make a crouch animation because Superku's body/ design is so inflexible, and I finally had the idea to let Superku slide on his side instead when you press crouch, that works quite nicely.
exile is doing a great work with the composition of the score, he listens nicely to critique and I can only recommend his work!


(not much new here, except for the new model in action)

Btw., just for fun, the statistics of my playtesting (accumulated since my last reset):

(level 10 and 20 are the only levels that cannot be finished for now, even though some best times say 999999)

Perhaps you'll make some start rating system (gold, silver, bronze) depending on how many time the player put to finish the game ?
(I hope you'll put a new video)

Yes, that is already implemented, but thanks for the suggestion.
There will be a new video when I've completed a few more levels, probably at the end of this month.

wow, ten years, congratulations on your record!

10 years
I know it's not the time to make the game Superku, but you could
use it as an advice for programmers !
Take your time , don't rush, don't dream too much to finish in two months your game

I´´The interestong thing:
From 2002 to 2012 the cow starts smiling more and more

Was that a hint to a Space game? ^^


perhaps cause superku is still alive, while other cows are made into Steaks ^^


I like the game idea and the graphics. This minimalistic style is funny

Have you guys ever seen a cow?

is it a cow? I thought a bear

It definitely is not a cow, I guess their confusion comes from the title Superku, because Ku is similar to the german word for Cow; Kuh (but not the missing h!). So the name can be falsly translated to Supercow.

Haha originally it really was (supposed to be) a cow, but now it's just... ehm... Superku. I'm not sure why most platformers (and many normal games), especially the old games, only feature bats and other default animals as enemies/ characters, is it because of the players or because of the developers?

A little homage to Sonic:

cool, i love the old sonic games

sonic + superku = supersonic

Dont you think it would give a more interesting look if you add a 'cloudy' pattern to the background instead of a rather simple gradiant? Also, you are not using a gaussian blur for your bloom, do you?

EDIT: sonic + superku = supersonicku

Yes, of course. A few months ago I've started to work on simple and fast 2.5D clouds, but sadly they still look like crap. There were scrolling foggy mountains but I've removed them for now because they don't look good currently.

No, I'm using two separate vertical and horizontal blurs that are applied to a scene which only contains the bright areas of the screen (with an emphasis on red>yellow>green colors). It's self written and probably not the best/ cheapest way to achieve a bloom, but I think it looks ok/ pretty good.

I've never written a Gaussian blur before but I think I understand its principle. Let's say I implement this blur technique, would you apply it to the whole screen in one stage or would you extract the bright colors, blur it while working on half the screen size and add the result in a final stage (as I do right now)? Is the Gaussian blur worth the effort?

No, you can use it like your box blur. It´s just an other kernel and happily separable too. For a 7x7 blur you can try these weights: float gauss1D_weights2[7]={0.015f,0.083f,0.235f,0.332f,0.235f,0.083f,0.0015f}; but you can compute your own of course, depending on the width and falloff you prefer. Not much effort as you can see.
Just give it a try. You'll notice that your bloom fates out more smoothly.

I've tried to implement gaussian blur, the falloff is really smooth now, but maybe a little too smooth as I want the bloom to stretch nicely and wide across the screen. I will keep experimenting, though (maybe something like "cosinus blur").

I've rewritten the clouds, first screen is without shader:


Second screen is with cloud shader applied (I need to create better cloud models, though):


And the last screen shows the start of a lightning:

Cosinus is most likely not separable. But you can use any falloff you can produce with a Gaussian bell curve.

What do you mean with "not separable"? Well the problem is I don't like the form of Mr. Gauß's curve for a bloom effect.

"Separable" means you can blur in x- and y-direction separatly while (theoretically) getting the same result like filtering directly. O(2n) instead of O(n²), but I guess you know that.

Ok now I get what you mean with separable.
I now have two different switchable blurs implemented, the gaussian blur and one where I simply use the weights {0.25,0.5,0.75,1,...,1,0.75,0.5,0.25} (and divide by their sum). It works quite well with the blocky geometry and both blurs look much nicer than my previous box blur, so thank you very much for the tip!

(double-posting for more attention)

I've just removed a level (where you mostly progress using airscrews/ upwinds) because it wasn't fun, so I'm in need for a new one (or two, if you have good ideas). It has to be indoors and should not contain ice/ snow and little to no lava.
If you have an idea or know a nice level from any side-scrolling game, I ask you nicely to share it with me!

Great
It seems that each level or group of levels will have their own particular ambient touch and effects ?

Sadly I don't have the resources to create an individual look for each level, I'm already struggling a little with the content creation, but I try to give most levels a unique gameplay twist.
With that in mind I'm still looking for a new level idea!

A lush mine? An insanely twisted shadow cave!

Thanks Joozey, the second game is just beautiful! But I'm rather looking for a gameplay idea/ twist than a visual setting.


There's a new video that demonstrates the evolution of Superku's visuals by reference to the 1st level:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnlaDB8JZV4
New footage begins at 3:43. The level is still not final, esp. the last platforms (and the models). I may change the bark texture, too.

OMG mate, it looks so much better now I mean, it was perfect, but now even better!
You game has it's own unique style, keep it up! I wish you the best luck with it in future!

Hey Superku,
Just watched this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUlX44uJXs
It has no soundtrack but is GEMA blocked o.O

Haha, the wind is recognized as "Callalily - Susundan" (the beginning of the song is a wind noise) ^^

Nice video however!

Thanks!

Yes, they are a little retarded. I made a complaint some time ago that the video does not feature any music at all and a few days later the video was unblocked again, but it only took a couple of days until it got blocked AGAIN.

Very small update: Working on a few characters (including Superku's teddy) and the intro sequence:

Just wonderful. I love the teddy I really do.

This project is so awesome. I really hope you`ll get it on Steam.

Thank you!

Juts by seeing old videos :
INDEED IT WILL BE ON STEAM !!!!!!!
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

Will we have some new video soon ?

Sadly no, at least not soon. I don't want to spoil everything, too, in particular not the last 4-5 levels. Thanks for your interest, though.

Yeah the teddy is cool ^^

How do you planed the teddy in story? I think player plays the teddy at some point(s) in the game right ?

The teddy is a nice idea
( but the mouth seems to be edited )

I'm also interested how it will be integrated in the story

I 've gonna to Steam, but no Superku game to buy for the moment

Thanks!
The mouth is not edited but uses a separate transparent skin that is changed dynamically.
The teddy puts a dangerous development in motion and then gets captured by the game's main villain. Midway through the game you manage to rescue your bear and then play him in an airplane level. He plays a role in a few bonus levels, too.

On Friday I have my last exam for now, then Superku's development finally will continue.

Here is the airplane level, you might have seen an old version in one of my previous videos:



The screenshot shows the first BEAM + STREAK effect, too. A big thanks to jcl for the implementation of this feature!

I like what I see. Me Superkusta!

Superb

The new rope effect:



It is animated and flys from Superku's hand to the energy sphere and attaches it's tip to it. Thanks to JustSid for consulting.
The second (sub)shot shows the start of the effect of Superku's primary attack.

I've written a simple but IMO effective motion blur that you can see in the following screenshot. It never blurs anything that is ahead of you (that means in the direction you are running/ flying/ swimming in) so the effect does not interfere with the gameplay experience.




I've finally implemented the Nvidia FXAA 3 shader, too - thanks to Slin's contribution which got me started:



This is the last update for now, I will be on vacation soon until the 14th of September, but I will most likely have internet access. At the end of that month I will try to put up a new video.
Superku out

Wow! Awesome update! Looks great!

The rope effects looks awesome. Reminds me on ghostbusters. Great work !

I like the way the tree is smoothened, but I think Superku himself has still some jaggy's, especially on the borders of the fur and the background. But I don't know how that looks in realtime without zoom ;-)

really amazing!

Hey guys!
I've uploaded a new video which shows the changes (hopefully they are improvements) that I've made on the first few levels (excluding level 1) and on the non-linear exploration level 25:
http://youtu.be/_zmCAIsWPqs
The airplane in level 3 will be replaced by a raven soon as well as some details and a scrolling background layer will be added, too.

Awesome graphics and gameplay.

I am jealous.

+1

All is great

But the soldier and plane are very out of place, instead there should be more cartoon ennemies (flying cartoon bad or bird, cartoon pig soldier for example).
These ennemies make some sort of 4th dimension touch to the game and make it looses it's cohesive world design.
It's your game so do like you want.

Einfach klasse!

Hope you read the video announcements. They say that those models are placeholders, not actually game content

Absofuckinglutely awesome, Felix. Fantastic. Incredibly polished. I see myself dying very very often in the future.

Thank you all very much! And yes, those models are of course only placeholders, probably for quite some time because character design + animation is not my favourite aspect in game development.
Btw. I've decided to vamp up the difficulty a little as it makes room for more interesting jumps, platforms and obstacles. Sadly I am not able to balance the levels so that the difficulty increases consistently, that means sometimes after a hard level follows an easier map but I guess/ hope that's ok?

I have already made some characters for some people here.
Don't hesitate to bring me some character design i would be happy to help your game making one or two characters for you !

You've got quite some feedback already, and I can echo the general sentiment: It looks pretty great, with nice gameplay!
So here's some criticism, then, in no particular order:

Some animations , mostly the hanging-and-climbing-on-the-ceiling, seem... off. And I'm not talking the nonexistant transition-animation from Superku to Totally-Not-The-Morph-Ball-From-Metroid-Honestly-Guys. I'm not an animator, and thus my feedback can't really go more detailed than this. In my experience, you can either get lucky and get away with just adjusted animation speeds (sometimes, if the animation speed is a bit off compared to the corresponding character movement, things look off and wrong on a more subconcious level), or you'll have to face redoing the animations. I know animating is difficult and I am sorry.

The turning speed is too slow. Can you increase that? Compare with how fast Mario turns around. I think it would help make the game feel more responsive.

Superku seems a little too symmetric. It's not very clear from it's silhouette (which is what we see at a glance) which direction he/she/it is facing. The way I see it, you have two options: Making the cape much thicker, or making it's face bigger. As it stands, those two things are a bit hard to make out.

To help with those things, consider adding some particles that highlight certain positions. Consider a few smoke particles coming up whenever Superku lands after a jump, or a particle effect when you grab a ledge - especially the ledge grabbing seems hard to notice. Perhaps there is a sound, but there should also be a visual cue thats much less subtle than the animation. Also, particle effects when Superku runs up a wall would help with judging how much longer he/she/it can stick to that wall.

The sine wave ropes ... don't you think their amplitude is a big large?

Does the wind affect gameplay? It's hard to tell from the video. I mean, it's not a stretch to assume it does, so make sure to convey it early in a safe, controlled environment whether it does or does not. And once you decided on one thing, stick to it - either all wind-effect-levels have the gameplay effect, or none do.

I am still unsure what to think of the square-landscape-effect. Hmm.

Why can the doors marked "5" be destroyed with that laser-thing? This doesn't seem intuitive. Also, the power-blocks -- is it really necessary to move those two spaces? Yes, this is nitpicking.

Also, some levels seem insanely convoluted and big. It's fun to watch you play through it, since you know where to go, it seems fluid and like theres good progress being made at all times. But I bet if I were to play them, I'd get lost, miss some elements and generally spend some time idly wandering, destroying the flow, one point of criticism I have with Dustforce as well. Consider the room at 4:43 in the video. First, there's no signal or sign to go there first. Second, once you there, I'd probably press the button and think that's it, but no! I have to go upwards to a room I couldn't even see before and do a button puzzle there.
I'm not saying that you'll have to redesign all those levels, but you should probably add signs or other elements that guide the player more or less subtly around the levels.


Okay, that's all I can think of for now. I hope I didn't come across as too mean!
Remember, I do like what I'm seeing, and I think by fixing the above issues you could improve this game quite a bit!

Thank you very much for the detailed feedback! I will think about all your points but I have to disprove some of them:

I've changed the animation speed of the ceiling mode multiple times and I like it this way the best, but I am aware that the animation itself is not very good. I may try to improve it soon. As the note says the effect of the Kuball transition is currently deactivated because I don't like how it looks, if activated Superku bursts into many brown, green, red and white particles that orbit around the Kuball like a small galaxy, but I don't get it to look right.

Well... the turning speed. I have to completely disagree here as I've worked on the values since 2009 including acceleration on ground/ in air, gravity, turning speed on ground/ in air, at wall jumps and so on and I think it all is at the best state that I can produce. I hate it in platformers or movement codes in general when there is no inertia and you can easily change the jumping direction in mid-air. Inertia and direct control IMO are not mutually exclusive.

Hm I see your point but I think it's obvious in which direction Superku faces when you play the game yourself. Btw. the visual model, its rotation and the like does not affect the gameplay at all, the player in fact controls an invisible cube that does not rotate and the visual representation aligns to the walk direction, it's not the other way round.

Yes, that's a good idea, I will add some subtle effects here and there to improve the responsive feel of the movement.


Nope. :-P


Yes, totally! When you are in open-air, you will be pushed to the left accordingly to the current strength of the visual wind effect. The wind does not push you, though, when you are in front of a background block, you will notice it instantly when you play the first level.


It was supposed to be an "S", not a "5" and will be replaced with the Superku logo (that will be on the cape, too) when I finally have decided on one. And I have to disagree again, once you gain the ability to shoot your energy spheres (in the same level), the "S" starts to glow and it will be the first thing that blocks your way (and if the attack key is pressed, the auto-lock target will show that the block can be destroyed). I'd say it's perfectly intuitive, at least if you see it in context.
Regarding the power-block, I think you mean the part at 3:40? Yes, again this happens on purpose, there is a secret hidden at exactly this position.

Normally the levels only take 70-90secs. to complete and are linear and easy to understand. The sand temple level from the video is the 25th level (of 50) and is supposed to be something special, that's why it's a 4:30min non-linear exploration level. I can see that it's not completely obvious at 4:43 where you have to go but players are not stupid. I hate it how almost all modern games treat the player as a non-imaginative being. If you have played the game this far, you will have run enough walls to get the idea to use the ability here once again.

Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

Rock on little cow, rock on.

I found the switches in this desert temple something level not obvious enough - they need some other style to make them better catch one's eye.

Hey Superku, I was finally able to view the video! The gameplay is great, it is a great fun to watch - and it also looks very polished so far. I don't care if the music is licensed; here are my main remarks:

• The swinging signs are funny! Great!
• About the wheel with the black arrows going down: I don't know what happens there, I can't „read“ from the arrows what should happen or what I should do there.
• When running straight to the right, the cape is like a red „line“. I thought you threw in some cape physics? Maybe you can make it flap a bit.
• The squids are awesome! But I would add some electricity/flashing as an effect, maybe when the player is near them.
• In the level with the sand I would add lots of particle action when the player runs through it or jumps into it, as well as when he pushes boxes through them, or when he jumps through the falling sand. Generally this section looks unfinished. And what I find disturbing are the unstructured bright-blue unicolored areas – because it looks so different than the levels before. I like the glass cube and maybe you could replace the bright-blue texture with the glass, in a slight bright-blue tint and a normalmap with the structure of the „blocky“ texture instead.
• When hitting the „5“ Boxes, I would rather place the red dot at the side of the box instead of the origin.
• At the 4:15 passage with the vertical beams, you have to turn to the left and jump through the gap. Is that intended? Are the beams vanishing if you don't look at them??

Keep it coming!

Thanks! I will change the switches and have a look at all the other stuff, too.
As you suggested the jellyfish now have an electricity glow around them when the player gets close, the area looks and feels much more vivid now!
Yes, the temple level is unfinished but I probably won't change the blue colored areas. It's a transparent glass with a few subtle light reflections over a sand background (maybe a little hard to see in the video, I think I will decrease the alpha value of the glass). The problem with the other glass effect is that it looks pretty bad on a larger surface, IMO there has to be "low structure" on those big surfaces or it will look a little disturbing.

As you've mentioned the target marker (on the "S" boxes or at 0:15+ in the video), does anyone have an idea how it could/ should look like? Because I don't...

Didn't work much on Superku for the last month for various reasons but I've deactivated the isometric rendering for fun/ testing because I will/ have to use perspective rendering in one special level:



Obviously there are some issues as the level, the shaders, shadows and the like are built for an isometric game but do you think that the look has potential/ could look better than the 2D version? I'm not going to change it for this game but I think I will use the perspective rendering for my next project.

I've deleted three more levels and now need ideas for 4 levels! They should be something special from a gameplay point of view, thus a suggestion such as "a level where you fly around like a cannonball" is much more appreciated than one like "a snow/ ice level".

Thanks for every input!

the shader looks great.

a level were your constantly falling and need to somehow freeze molten blocks to use as platforms temporarily before they melt again. iknow it's kinda vague, thought it could be something you could run with maybe.


edit: predictive text said men instead of molten. lol

Giant leaves you have to timed jump across to avoid falling into a bottomless level? Or something along the lines of a bottomless level. Are there points you can collect in the game? Or any kind of items?

Thanks for the suggestions, I will think about it.
Well usually there is only one item you can collect per level. However, after you complete the game once, you unlock a new game mode that lets you play every level again but in a much harder version. In most level this includes a lot of items you have to collect to stop Superku from exploding/ burning.

Exploding/burning? Lol. Perhaps a homer simpson style high pitched screamed to go a long with it lessen the morbid factors of a cute teddy bear coming to an end by immolation with humor. I'm not sure if its the video quality, but I cant see if the character has pupils? Just blank white eyes. Kinda eerie. I'll be honest, I cant wait to play this. It looks really fun!

A small update:
I've worked on quite some stuff, mostly on levels and enemies but I will only show the skate level for now. I don't know if I ever posted the old one but I did not like the movement/ handling and the code so I've rewritten it from scratch and recorded a short video of it, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1jqE11R-w



It's not the most beautiful level but I won't change it much anymore (except the color and the shadows) because I've already invested so much time on it.

EDIT: Btw. there is a problem (probably a bug) with the normals that is sometimes visible on the skateboard and the reason for wrong lighting.

To be honest i don't like the background color, it is very dull and death, you should work alot on it.

Which one, the black outside or the background texture in the skate hall? The black color on the outside will be replaced by a sky system with clouds but it is not yet finised.

I've uploaded the first WIP version of the Superku intro cinematic (no sound+music yet) that is supposed to motivate you storywise to play the first 5 levels, check it out here: http://youtu.be/bTQhnJeBsxo

EDIT: Btw. a few facts:
The game will feature 41 levels (all of them with an unlockable alternative, even harder version), have an approximate playtime of 5h (or until the player reaches the final 3-5 levels) with 45+ collectibles and it will require Shader Model 3.0 graphics cards.


(the villain)

awesome!
Your signature says around 70% finished, is this up to date? ( I'm really looking forward to the release )

Thanks!
Yes, sadly the progress currently is only at about 70-75% completion but it is hard for me to estimate because the really time-consuming stuff (except two of those levels) is done.

I really like your project Superku. I've been watching it develop for some time now and I wish you the best of luck with it in future.

Something though, I've been wondering is how many years have you been working on it?

Just curious how far back does the "Superku Project" and Superku go?

Good luck and keep up the good work

Super Zeug, freu mich schon darauf das mal zu spielen!
Aber wer sind der Affe und der Bösewicht? In welcher Beziehung stehen sie zu Superku? ... Oder ist das noch geheim?

Thank you both!
I've started to work on the game back in 2011, early February to be exact. Some parts of the movement code are even older, i.e. from late 2009 (it's horrible to work with such an old code, I guess some of you know that, and that's why I rewrite most old things), but it will finally be completed sometime this year.

The teddy bear which oddly enough is in fact an ape once was Superku's plushie but was made alive by Superku's mind and love.
I cannot say much about the villain yet, however a while ago I've posted a screenshot of Superku's brother ("Superbro", see here) and as you can see they don't look alike in the slightest.

Concerning old code: Just wrap around a modern interface...

The real joy comes when you start writing shims for your shims

(For all the youngsters here, don't fucking take this as advice! Refactor your code and don't write shims (unless you have to deal with horrible third party vendor code, but then again, why are you even bothering working with it?))

Still alive and kicking, no video though!
Check out the screenshot compilation (Harry Potter (Thomas) style) below to see some of the new things:

Great work!
I see many new improvements. New boss enemy looks very cool, also shadow/light code looks great now. I think next video will be really interesting .

Just wow....

Thank you guys! =)

Amazing!
Here you have a customer

Awesome work as always Superku!

Are you going to post the finished game to a distributor? Or are you going through yourself?

I really like its overall style, the combined gameplay is unique (at least for me), graphics quality is great, what else could I say?

Thanks again, I appreciate your nice words!

Steam will be my first and ultimate goal, but who knows how the approval procedure will be by then.

While the previous compilation has been of gameplay scenes the following two (/ three) screenshots are from cutscenes in the game, the first one showing the backside of one of the bosses and the second one being Superku's father facing yet another arch enemy:


(the room/ background is not yet done)



Superku's father is looking old, mean and different on purpose, so is the respective world/ scene designed as a contrast to Superku's child world, but I think I may have overdone it a little as I'm not yet happy with the result. I don't know about the character but concerning the map I may even go with the default blocky look/ world but then the scene will stop paying (an obvious) homage to a certain movie scene... I need to think about that.

Looks really impressive.

sorry to ask but are you the only one working on this project?

Thanks!
Yes, it's only me doing everything except the music. There are a few old rock models from DexSoft and one other bought model but I plan to replace them with my own models some time in the future.

well... that's even more impressive

really looking forward for this beeing finished and greenlit

I wish you best luck with this. I'd really love to see this on Steam one day - it is so impressive!

game development is a neverending hobby if you do everything alone (it does not mean never finished games of course)

Superku's Father?

Thank you Firo!

Nooo! Not grumpy cat. :<
Someone has already told me Superku's father reminded him of grumpy cat which is why I have already redesigned the face a little but apparently I will not get rid of the similarities.

Why? I like the design from the screenshot, it has personality and looks "harsher" than normal Superku. No need to change it IMO, but in the end, you have to be happy with it

...did I kill this thread?

SuperKu himself is on vegetation.
And i miss him

Vegetation?!? Klingt so, als ob er ins Gras gebissen hätte?!?

(sorry, it's a german joke and cannot be translated into English).

Damn i meant vacation of course. lol

Hätte auch noch mal anders gedeutet werden können ^^

Haha yes, I was on vegetation.
Before that I worked on a boss fight level for 2 weeks and thus sadly do not and will not have something to show for a while now. However, I will keep you updated so stay tuned!

nice work

Thanks!
A small update, some new screenshots (you may know some of them already, though): http://www.indiedb.com/games/superku/images

whooooaaaaaa

Nice work!

Thank you! =) (EDIT: @Firoball below, too.)

Those reactor screens... http://youtu.be/ajGI-P3x8iM?t=1m36s

They look great

Hey hey!
I need some ideas for a level for the last time because I've merged two levels into one which were too similar previously. If you want to see anything in particular in the game, this is your last chance (and I'm grateful for any idea)!
Right now my best idea is a submarine level where you move rather ponderous but can shoot torpedos. However, as this is still missing the certain something and I already have quite a number of vehicle levels/ levels where you don't control Superku directly I am looking for something else instead.

Additionally, I need ideas for a lot of reusable (and preferably easy to create) background art assets, things like torches, statues, portraits to fill the levels with some more details where necessary.

A screenshot of the level I'm currently working on (and yes, it's pretty difficult):



Thanks in advance!

I wanted to remake an old C64 submarine game what I loved as a child, but after making some sketches, I found it too difficult to make an exciting and long enough level for it, so finally dropped the idea. maybe with limited amount of torpedos and bombs, and with some strange large deep-water animals (like a mutant octopus) could make the level exciting, discovering underwater labyrinths, requiring breaking through walls by explosives (causing self damage if wrongly used). but probably a non-vehicle idea would be better.

Thank you for your input, it's much appreciated!
However, I've thought about the idea for a few days and now decided to go for a non-water and non-vehicle level instead (it will be a regular platforming level with a focus on an abundance of deadly lasers).

Deleted the finished but old and uncool snow level which I'm creating currently from scratch (if I stopped deleting stuff I would have completed the game multiple times by now):

I've loved this game since I first seen it come to the forum. Always loved watching your youtube videos - and the skateboard minigame is Epic (The N64 Controller makes me happy).

Outstanding work!

Thank you, my friend!

@Superku: Never delete, just move to "put on ice" folder

I've thought it's about time for a new video so I've recorded me playing the snow level from start to finish (except a secret area): http://youtu.be/yBnlP91KGoY



(btw. the ski sequence does not look hard but it is, took me 15+ tries to complete it on video)

This snow level looks incredible. Everything fits together very well. How long did it take to create this level?

I like it very much, just one note: around 1:15 it is not very logic for me that you can jump up onto nearly imnvisible platforms.

Thank you both!
Hm I don't really know, worked on it in my spare time over the last ~12 days.

Yes, it's not logical but this section was never meant to be realistic. The thing the player has to notice is that Superku's reflection on the giant ice block is off to the point that it mimics the player's movement mirrored at the middle of the block. Then you will have to use your own reflection to navigate across the invisible blocks, thus with left-right-inverted controls.

Things like this are rather common in my levels, esp. seemingly solid blocks which you can pass through and oftentimes reach secret areas or find shortcuts this way (similar to 2D Metroid games).

Will the final game support Xbox360 controller input?

it's good to hear that there are some secret options to discover, good idea, not an easy game

Sure, full controller support and rebindable keys. The default gamepad layout is "optimized" for XBox 360 controllers. I will check soon how stressful it is from a legal perspective to include XBox controller buttons in your game (if anyone knows about this please tell me).

Xbox 360 Controller Button Images
Here you go

EDIT: Licence is included as well

Neat, thanks!

Hey Superku,

I'm following your project for quite a long time and everytime I watch one of your youtube videos I'm very impressed. You're doing a great job on this. I really like the way your player moves through the level, the collision detection, wall jumps, using ropes, climbing on ceilings etc. The player control code must be very complex and many lines of code, isn't it?

Keep on with this great work.

Thanks a lot!
Yeah, the player code has grown quite a lot over the time, especially because it has to support many special cases and situations which may only appear a few times in the whole game (I could of course create multiple copies of the relevant parts and subfunctions but that would be a pain to maintain).

Ninja EDIT: Thanks Uhrwerk! (^.^)

I somehow totally overlooked your last video. You should already know that by yourself, but just in case: The level is awesome and so are you!

A new video has arrived, including gameplay updates and new levels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGv6-kM7ug

Really awesome! I like these moving platform thingys in the last two scenes, they look really cool. The last platform seems really hard to play in combination with laser, that's good The jetpack particle effects look also pretty nice.

I personally don't like the new deatch animation, but I can't tell why.

Thank you!
Yes, personally I'm not overly convinced by the new death animation either but I think I can manage to make it look better over time.

Great work, everything is perfectly polished.
In the video at 2:28 is the effect of the enemy explosion. I would try to replace this squares with something softer, maybe circles or somethings else. For my personal taste squares is too sharp for this, all other explosion effects for enemies is perfect and much better fit than this.
Death animation for player looks good, but yes, maybe not fit very well in the game at first look.
All other is perfect, i like all effects, new enemy battle and new wall movement looks really cool - great job!

Yeah, this game will surely be a gem in the jump ´n run genre

great!
and yes the death animation is too unique
I'm sure you don't want to make it bloody, maybe some electricity-like effect could do the job... (I always think of how to avoid too much death and blood in an RTS, and I only saw a similar solution in an old game called Knights and Merchants)

Yes, thank you! The squares are only a temporary effect for some of the enemies which don't have a death animation yet, it's as old as 2011.

Previously there was no player death animation, instead the gameplay froze (as it does now) and oftentimes you could see inaccuracies with the collision detection so I decided to make the character model invisible on death.
Generally I like the concept of an explosion into multiple spheres as it's inspired by Megaman (and Super Mario Sunshine) and as a result reminds me and hopefully other players of those games. I will try different or advanced approaches, though, and I'm open for suggestions.

it's so awesome
great job

Felix wenn du auf Greenlight oder Kickstarter gehen würdest, ich würde dich sowas von supporten!

Much appreciated! I am indeed targeting Greenlight (or whatever Valve will have when I'm ready).

Wird immer besser.

Die Todesanimation könnte vielleicht noch besser und lustiger aussehen, wenn die Spielfigur kurz vor der Explosion so "wackelt" wie früher bei den Lemmings.
Siehe Youtube-Video AmigaLongplay Lemmings, bei 4:15.

my favorite gamestudio project!! This game gets slicker and better with every update!

Keep it up superku!

Thank you! (^.^)

@Thomas: Thanks for the idea, I will at least try to implement that when the player gets electrocuted.

EDIT: Btw. only 4 levels (of 40 in total) left, then all of them are playable!

EDIT2: Thanks old_bill and DevoN!

Great Progress, count me in for a Greenlight sale

Amazing work Superku, I find myself compelled to watch more, and can't stop!
Everything is just so perfect! Can't wait to see more

It is very good. As for the death animation, that reminded me a bit of megaman on 0:27 -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5NwDATt6o0. Maybe make the body parts (/current death anim) one single color (like in Megaman), but than e.g. white or brown instead of blue or maybe flickering? gl

Oh man this game is so hard and unforgiving... I mean it's not unfair, when you die it was your fault and 99% of the time you can see it coming on the first try (no trial and error) but esp. the later stages are brutal like old NES games.
However, to make the game less frustrating some (more) levels now have checkpoints.

I've changed the game around a little, you now can and have to collect coins in each level (50%), they are not hidden but sometimes hard to get, to pay someone who lets you advance through the portal at the end of the level to the next stage. It's not only there to provide some replayability and liveliness in each level but as a gameplay device because I can guide the player through the stage that way like in Mario games.
I've added a first version of a hub world too (thanks to JustSid for consulting!) from where you can access each level individually and as often as you like. In the screenshot below you can see the new portal (and thus level end) graphic. Behind each portal there will be a small version of the level or notable elements from the stage as one would expect from a hub world.


(If anyone has a better idea where to put or how to include level information please post it here.)

The main reason for my post/ update: There is only one level left to create (and 1/3rd of a bossfight), then the whole game will be at least completely playable!

Whoo good news! Hub world looks cool, i like the swirl effect

Thank you!

You could show a preview image (or multiple ones fading) when you select a level.
also you could highlight the currently selected level a bit.

regarding the level information: placing them in 3d space with some nice animations would be cool... however I don't have any specific ideas (and maybe it's not worth the effort)

edit: almost forgot ._.
looks great, can't wait for the release (yeah I know, you get that a lot but I'm really looking forward to it)

Woah awesome!

Have already made plans about selling?
Like Steam, Desure etc.
I would definitely buy it!

Thanks again!

At first the portals showed a simple preview of the level using render-to-texture but somehow this did not work out and it looked pretty bad. Now I will just put a level preview in the background as stated above (I used to have preview images before the hub world but I found that to be too old school/ antiquated).
You cannot really "select" a level in the hub world, instead you move around freely and when you want to enter a certain stage jump into the corresponding portal (and hold Up + Action key).
I've tried my text3D approach which I posted some weeks ago first but the text was either too huge or too unreadable (because of no/ FXAA, in both cases bad), especially on screen resolutions below full HD (EDIT: The stage and coin numbers are still text3D, though). As a result I had to draw it onto the screen instead. The level info box visible in the screen shot fades in smoothly when you approach a portal but I don't like the placement of it yet. Maybe I will try to implement a vertical information bar at the left/ right side of the screen (which could look disconnected and/ or inconsistent, though).

The ultimate goal of course is to get the game on Steam first, then add other options such as Desura and the like later, one at a time. This is obviously no easy task, especially the former, but I have some sort of plan I build my hope on to get enough publicity.

How about a swirl portal effect around the level info box too? Or some other kind of portal / draw in effect.

Oh and those portal effects are superb.

Hey Superku! Looking GREAT!

Regarding getting on Steam - KarBOOM ISN'T on Steam, but that doesn't mean I can't give advice

Once your game is on Greenlight, its Greenlight page will get an INSANE amount of traffic in the first few days as Steam automatically funnels the Greenlight community to new pages.

KarBOOM's Greenlight page, for example, received 2167 unique visitors on day 1, 2039 on day 2, down to about 200 on the 7th day, and it just dropped further and further after that down to an average of about 1 per day (this obviously has a lot to do with KarBOOM's lack of attention in the press and my lack of work in that regard for a long time). Maybe you'll get more than that through press, but that can be unpredictable; your Greenlight launch days basically GUARANTEE you a lot of traffic, regardless of what else you do.

It got lots of "no" votes from users who wanted something playable (there was only a very outdated demo available then, I think), and from the fact that I didn't put much effort into the Greenlight page at first (I didn't realise the traffic it'd automatically get, and I planned to only try to draw attention to the page later after spending more time on it).

So, I strongly recommend you take great care in setting up your Greenlight page, you already have a well-thought-out-demo available, and you already have your game available for sale at least through your own website. Seriously. You'll get a LOT of one-off impressions quickly. These can turn into sales and word-of-mouth.

I know you want to get your game on Steam first, but I also strongly suggest you get a "Humble Widget" set up so you can sell it through your own website (see their application form to see what it's like). You'll get 95% of the sale price, which is much better than the (approximately) 70% you'll get from most other distributors.

Finally, regarding "Desura and the like" - Desura is GREAT. Others... Well... any distributor will only send you money once they owe you a certain amount. At least one of my distributors has sent me no money, because not enough sales of KarBOOM have gone through their website. Plus you have the obligation (perhaps even contractual) to get updates/patches to all your distributors in a timely manner, each of whom prefer the game is sent to them packaged in different ways or by different means. This can be a huge hassle with updates (this hasn't been a huge problem with KarBOOM, as it hasn't been updated since launch, but I am working on changing that).

So in summary, there are TWO big things I wish I'd done differently with KarBOOM's launch, which could be worth thinking about for your game:
1) Launch the Greenlight page at the same time as the game's release - (even if I didn't improve the page, this would've been SO much better)
2) Only distribute via the game's website and Desura (and, of course, Steam, but that'll wait for a Greenlight - you'll need around 4400 "yes" votes to crack the top 100 at the moment, and that's still not a guarantee Steam'll pick you up)

I hope that's helpful!

Keep up the great work with such a fun looking game!

Thanks Jibb. Your post needs to be an article on AUM or something. Knowledge is power. Please help out on this thread http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=441957&#Post441957

@Reconnoiter: That's a nice idea, thanks. I will give it a try.

@JibbSmart: Thanks a lot for that highly informative post! I see, less is more, I didn't even think about selling it myself/ on my own homepage. However, although they seem to be your biggest points and "regrets", I cannot sell it or make a demo available before a potential Steam release/ during Greenlight because of the type of planned promotion. I realize that my approach is risky and I'm potentially losing some sales there but I simply have to try to go big or go home.

@tolu619 (below): Estimated release window is November-December (I hope!).

@Superku: Fair enough As long as I can buy it one way or another!

@tolu: I don't wanna derail this topic, but just so you know, I haven't used GS in a very long time now, and don't think I'd be able to help with that issue. Sorry!

Thanks. I solved the problem with help from forum members.
@Superku, When is the estimated release window for Superku?