The Ancestral Demo v.1.0

Posted By: Leon

The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 00:57

Hi this is Pietro Nifosi (aka Leon),
I've been doing indie development (with the partnership of ArkanaStudios) for the past few years using the GameStudio A6 Engine, this is so far what I've been learning and improving.
The Ancestral Demo you're about to download was made with the license extra along with its limitations.
I believe that most of the game engine is ready, I'd still go for a better AI system though.
I would like to turn this project Ancestral into a profitable one, or join a new one offering my skills as a 2d/3d artist and personal resources.

Here is a few screenshots of the project:

Here is the link to direct download: http://pnifosi.altervista.org/Ancestral.exe (about 70MB - if the link doesn't work, copy and paste it on your explorer bar)

Cheers,
-Leon

PS= For some odd reasons those users that have the Nod32 antivirus will get an alert message saying that the exe application is a trojan. It is because it was packed using Nacasi software.

Posted By: Towelie

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 03:02

The enviornment if flippin creepy, is what I first noticed. Heres a few things I thought of as I played the game:

-The whole game might be a puzzle solver, but we could use more help on the first level. For example, it took me 10 minutes to find the door out of the first room. Something more noticable that red writing o nthe top would be better, I missed the part about right clicking too. A window possibly?
-The character is less than spectacular. His arms stick out too far and is animations are.... weird. I dont know how else to put it, maybe someone else can help?
-The level is too dark. Dark is good, but at least make the places you need to go illuminated so I'm not scaling the walls for 10 minutes...
-The combat system isnt good. I couldnt hit the guy. Maybe going into right click mode to click on the guy would be better, but I died at that point.
-Your hiding system doesnt work, or you need to explain it better. The guy found me right away.
-The games story launches straight into... corny. Not tryign to be offensive but I can't think of any other word (tacky maybe?) Starting wit hthe script, such things as "Oh A noise! A should go check it out." should be replaced. This makes an overall tacky feeling to the game (Do you know where "All your base are belong to us came from? Bad translation, but they'll have the same effect on the player... except we can at least understand yours.)

So much negative so far... Well, my kudos still go to you because this game was Very nicely done. I'm wondering why people arent jumping on this thread. They're probably too busy playing it.
+The games freakign creepy. I always regretted going into the next room (regardless that I didn't see any scary things as far as I got) But the enviornment... Candlelight only, no flashlight to let you see... it really adds up nicely. Very well done.
+The details you put into the level are awesome. Everythings examinable, looks nice, shadows are great... I can go on forever.
+Though the player could move slower, the script all worked nicely.

Good job and keep it up

Posted By: immersionfx

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 14:19

The exe shows a "virus detected" message...

Posted By: Towelie

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 14:29

Quote:

The exe shows a "virus detected" message...

What virus protection program? I have McAfee, and my computer has been virus free since, and it didnt come up with anything...

Posted By: Orange Brat

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 17:23

No virus here. Nice atmosphere, although it's pretty tough to see given the darkness. Others have said my own game is dark for them, but I see it perfectly; thus this might be virtually black on certain monitors. Anyway, it has a nice consistency. I really don't like that sound the main character makes every single time he looks at something.

Posted By: lostclimate

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/08/06 17:48

hey immersionfx, you might want to actually READ his post.

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/09/06 00:34

Hi guys,
thank you for your advices, nothing I haven't noticed by myself though while building.. the thing is.. I'm mostly a 2d/3d artist and after that I can say I have a considerable knowledge when it comes to scripting.
Obviously this was all an indie with me having to take care of the whole project.
Yes the level is too dark.. unfortunately there is big difference when switching the level ambient value from 3 to 2.
I've set it back to 3 and the 'virtually black' has disappeared.
The player token was modeled and animated without spending much time on it since I needed it to test the level and the scripts, so you could think of it as a placeholder.
The combat system isn't good, well I actually think that the AI isn't that smart.. that's why I'd have changed the whole script if had the time and chance.
The game story needs absolutely a rewiew and yes there are mistakes when it comes to grammar. Those cinematics flags were also just for testing the dialog engine, the switching of cameras and so on.
All put together doesn't look like a poor quality project in my modest opinion.
It would be great to be hired by someone or to hire someone else.. whatever not to waste the work done on this demo.
Oh and for the shadows.. dinamic shadows don't work on my extra version as long as shaders.. I've been doing texture baking on max.. pretty nice result I'd say.

Cheers,
-Leon

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/09/06 21:35

I think its a very good effort for an indie game so far, i like the story and the "feel" of the game, atmosphere and such.

Level is much too dark however, as has been noted already. I'm not sure why this is the case but it seems to me that the dynamic lights have much too small a radius, and they seem to fade out VERY quickjly.. like ten feet away form you they get darker.. why is this?

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/09/06 22:24

Oh it's the black fog.. I wanted to clip to a very thick view since it's night.

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 00:11

Oh, i suggest get rid of it indoors, becasue there is no fog indoors

It really is too dark and impossble to find anything.. this spoils the game somewhat, which otehrwise is very nice so far

Posted By: Orange Brat

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 01:49

Quote:

Oh it's the black fog.. I wanted to clip to a very thick view since it's night.

I use a similar technique for my interiors, although I use it to give a nice hazy, smoky look to the interior. I combine this with very transparent smoke/dust sprites in certain places, as well as light halos. In well lit interiors, it works wonders and is a nice "low tech" way to make the levels look nicer. Since, it is so dark, perhaps try using a low global ambient value combined with a higher radius/low color values on the dynamic lights.

Posted By: JimFox

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 16:48

Hi Leon,
This looks interesting, but the link does not work for me.
Regards,
Jim

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 19:19

JimFox could you please write me an email at pietronifosi@libero.it ?
I'll be happy to provide an explaination on how to download the file.

Cheers,
Leon

Posted By: Slin

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 20:26

I�m not very far because my computer rebooted everytime my player collided with a newton physicsobject (It�s an general problem I have with collisions between newton and a6 entitys) and I really try to get around them but I�m not able to see them in the darkness...
But so far I really like it.
It reminds me a lot on Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophethy (One of my two favourite games^^) and Vampire the Mascerade: Bloodlines becauseof it�s darkness and the menu design and so on.
The atmosphere is absolutly great.
Very nice done.

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 21:09

Thank you very much Slin and yeah it's exactly the mark I wanted to give to my game.. I've been inspired a lot just by those two titles Fahrenheit and Vampire Bloodlines since I've played both of them. Obviously there is still a lot that needs to be improved as this is a low budget project.

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/10/06 22:29

Just make it a bit easier to see stuff and it will be great i think.. you have everything else nailed!

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/12/06 15:09

Ok for those whom are still interested in downloading the demo, please write me an email at pietronifosi@libero.it
I've made a few changes mostly related to lighting, now it does look much better.

Cheers,
Leon

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/12/06 22:15

Why not just post a permanent DL link? I'm sure lots of poeple want to see it as it progresses

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/13/06 14:55

Well I thought about doing this way since the beginning.. which is by receiving emails I can count how many people are actually interested and willing to test the demo, so that I can make a final estimation

Posted By: EX Citer

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/13/06 15:55

I think less people like me are willing to send you an email as downloading a demo.

Posted By: vartan_s

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/13/06 16:02

Make a free subdomain, and publish it there, you can count the hits to your site.

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/15/06 13:21

I've been working on a cheap noise effect screen.. obviously not a shader since the Extra license won't support them. I'm not sure even though I like the result if to use or not the filter in this game.

Here is a few screenshots.. tell me what you think..

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/18/06 03:44

Ok here is a few more screenshots about my latest work on the Ancestral project:

-I've added the noise filter along with static cameras instead of the 3rd person view.
-I've decided to adjust a little the model and do its animations again since last one did look a bit robotic (the stand walk run expecially)

I'll try to release a new demo as soon as possible.
-Leon

--------------------

My GStudio A6 Demos:AIMS Medieval & Ancestral

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/21/06 17:42

Ok people here is what you've been waiting for

The new Ancestral Demo download it at http://pnifosi.altervista.org/AncDemo_Eng.rar

PS = As always, if the link doesn't work, copy and paste it on your explorer bar.

Cheers,
Leon

Posted By: Orange Brat

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/26/06 03:29

I like the camera switch, although I liked the 3rd person chase cam, too. Try making the player's turn speed faster because that gets somewhat frustrating. Also, the player tends to get stuck when panning next to another model. I'm not sure if it's all models or the more complex ones (like the chairs in the dining room).

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/26/06 04:02

Frankly i am really not liking the new camera at all, i keep running into walls, in fact it is uncontrollable in my experience. The old way was much better.

Other than that, lots of improvements in the other areas, looks very good so far.

Posted By: Leon

Re: The Ancestral Demo v.1.0 - 11/26/06 12:15

I'm planning to use both cameras actually dipending on level the player will be playing his character differently.. from exploring to stealthing to fighting. That means I use different player's actions (script).
That matches different types of gameplay experience all together

As for collision.. the scripts need a better tuning as well as the character model and its animations..

Once again guys.. I've been working on this by myself so I couldn't afford to take care of details. One of my 'dreams' would be working with a partnership at least and take care of 2d/3d arts while a professional programmer would do the other job. I'm cool with design, cause it's been already studied somehow.

Well waiting for more responses anyway, so thanks again for your replies.