Mulver - 3D platform game (Update 2008-08-11)

JoJoBo · Post by **JoJoBo** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:11 am

Really cool game

reminds me Mario Galaxy on WII.

You could use simple cartoon textures for your level and why not some animated character ?
If you plan commercial game : textures ,also very simple and cartoon
can boost your game.

Anyway , great game , changes from all War/FPS games (even if i like to play them sometimes).

keep the good work !

Glenn101 · Post by **Glenn101** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:11 am

Very cool idea's, it's good to see the good ol' 3d platformers back in action!

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:17 pm

a Work in Progress version of Mulver can now be downloaded and installed. I will probably release a full game later with additional levels. It will most likely be a free download.
Any feedback on this version is welcome

Controls:

ESC to go back to menu

Arrow keys to navigate

Space to jump

... and there are other keys as well, mostly for debugging purposes

Last level cant be completed btw

I will get back with an update on that which will also mention Ogre and other tools used in a more "prominent" way.

Download link: http://www.spelagon.com/mulver/download.html

Brocan · Post by **Brocan** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:19 pm

Very simple geometry, but very very cool result. Congrats

I'll download your demo tomorrow

PolyVox · Post by **PolyVox** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:28 pm

Hi, I gave it a go - cool game! I think you should add mouse control though, or at least the ability to look around with the mouse to work out where to go next. Apart from that it was good fun

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:03 pm

Looks really nice! Had fun playing. It reminds me of the colourful games I used to play when I was little.

Maybe you should add some more scenery, such as trees, grass etc., but I think you should leave that for later.

Best of luck!

Post by **sinbad** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:45 pm

Hehe, looking really nice. I don't know if you could play with adding more 'inertia' to the movement. I'm thinking Mario here, where he always felt like he had a 'weight' somehow. Just a thought, but nice work.

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:03 pm

Thanks for the feedback!

I think you should add mouse control though, or at least the ability to look around with the mouse to work out where to go next.

Well, you can look around if you switch to free flying camera mode using the E key (go back to normal mode with P), but that is not very obvious right now

I will look into this.

Maybe you should add some more scenery, such as trees, grass etc

Yup that will be solved once I get an artist involved I hope.

I don't know if you could play with adding more 'inertia' to the movement.

Yes Im not entirely happy with the movement right now. Unfortunately it is *very* difficult to change that now without risking breaking alot of the level design. This was an important lesson for me, make sure that youre avatar code is 100% complete and thoroughly tested before spending time making levels!

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:56 pm

Borundin wrote:Yes Im not entirely happy with the movement right now. Unfortunately it is *very* difficult to change that now without risking breaking alot of the level design. This was an important lesson for me, make sure that youre avatar code is 100% complete and thoroughly tested before spending time making levels!

Reminds me of a game involving a rolling ball I saw somewhere... Hmm...

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:07 pm

A new version of Mulver is now available from here: http://www.spelagon.com/mulver/download.html
Any feedback is welcome

Change log
Version 0.82 (2008-01-12)

Three new levels: Easy, Bridges and Fire

Rewrote life system, you cant lose anymore

Profile system

Added a few extra background tracks

Solved a problem with jumps that would sometimes be too small

Added a Credits screen

Increased the font size to make text more readable

Replaced the text "n/a" with "Score:" in level menu

More prominent particle effect when grabbing a coin or gem

Created a base beneath thorns

Removed shadows from blinking arrows

Added goal flags above exits

Increased timer limit on purple gem hidden bonus level

Mouse lookaround implemented, will revert back when moving

Repositioned particle effects on main menu

Added WASD keys as move controls

Repositioned unlock message on Classic level

and much more...

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:12 pm

After some constructive feedback from this thread and the indiegamer.com forums I decided to improve the game feel by adding animations, particle effects etc for the main character.
Here is a new YouTube video showing off an improved Mulver. Includes Indiana Jones "look", animations (idle, walk, jump, land), sound and particle effects. Hopefully these changes will make the game more enjoyable.

Mulver - new animations (video)

Next I will add sound effects for walking/landing as well as effects when bumping into something.

skoruppa · Post by **skoruppa** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:52 pm

....Ogre of course and a couple of other open source libraries out there ODE, LUA, OIS, FMod....

Hmm all runs on linux. And what about linux version of Mulver?

Im also like Super Mario 64 and i want to test your game on my box

theatrus · Post by **theatrus** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:25 pm

Great work on the character animations!

Tinnus · Post by **Tinnus** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:41 pm

My 3 cents:

- A little inertia (again :p )
- Don't return the camera to behind when moving, sometimes we just want to look from above for a jump, for example, or maybe make this an option
- Shadows pointing down, at least for the main character

I know the shadow thing would be "ugly" or "wrong", but I just cannot see where the heck a character is going to land in a 3D platformer if the shadow isn't directly below him *and* I can't move the camera up while jumping :p (actually I couldn't finish a level thanks to that, heh) Moreover, several big 3D games (example: I'm currently playing FF XII for PS2) have environment shadows "obliquous", and just a shadow circle below the character. My personal opinion about realistic (as in direction) shadows is they have their place to enhance aestethics, but sometimes "old school" shadows have their uses

Again, that's all just my impressions. Maybe I'm crazy and everyone else thinks different

Other than that, it seems very nice, and the new little animations and sound effects make a big difference!

Chainsawkitten · Post by **Chainsawkitten** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:25 pm

This looks like a cool project.

freegamerblog · Post by **freegamerblog** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:41 pm

I hope you consider releasing this game under an open source license so that it can be ported to Linux. It's a very promising looking game and it would be a shame to see it bitrot as just freeware when I bet lots of people would love to help improve it.

scriptkid · Post by **scriptkid** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:05 pm

Hi,

i just played the game for a good bit and really enjoyed it already. The game feels polished with the camera movement and the transparency when it's inside a mesh. Well done

Coincidently, i notice that you have licenced music by Bjorn Lynne. I also bought songs of his for my own (snake) game.

Good luck on finishing this!,
Patrick.

Post by **pjcast** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:20 pm

freegamerblog wrote:I hope you consider releasing this game under an open source license so that it can be ported to Linux. It's a very promising looking game and it would be a shame to see it bitrot as just freeware when I bet lots of people would love to help improve it.

I agree with this point. If you are planning on releasing something as Freeware, and not selling it commercially... might as well make an open source project out of it so it does not become closed source abandon ware! Afterall, it looks spectacular

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:02 pm

@scriptkid: Glad you liked it

Next version will contain new animations, monsters, levels etc!

@pjcast: Yes, I still havent decided on Freeware vs commercial. It would be intresting to learn the business side of game development so I might use this as a first project. On the other hand, should I ever lose interest, Mulver will be released as open source

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:53 pm

Yup, after hours upon hours of design, programming, scripting, testing, BLOCKED, wrestling with Blender and GIMP and after reading hundreds of forum posts searching for answers, tips and tricks etc etc I finally released Mulver today.

I decided to try the commercial route in the end. I might release it for free later but its kind of fun learning the PR, marketing, stuff right now. Yes I am a little crazy

Anyway, big thanks to the Ogre Team for this great engine, I couldnt have done this without Ogre

I used a lot of other OS tools and libraries but Ogre is still "home" in a way.

There is a Trailer up on YouTube showing off a couple of new levels etc that went into the final version.
Here it is http://www.youtube.com/v/kkBkSVzRwEU
There are just so many changes since the last version so wont list them here. Many of those were made after feedback from this forum and others which Im grateful for.

If you want to try the demo (unlimited playtime, 4 levels included) you can get it from the Mulver Homepage here: http://www.spelagon.com

Post by **Jabberwocky** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:12 am

Congrats on finishing it off!

Are you selling it exclusively through your website, or are you on any game portals?

Borundin · Post by **Borundin** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:46 am

Thanks, and yes Im only selling from my website for the moment.
I havent contacted any portals yet. Im not sure that Mulver is "casual" enough (3D, no mouse control etc) to be intresting for them but we will see

Nauk · Post by **Nauk** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:06 am

Looks very good, congratulations on finishing it

scriptkid · Post by **scriptkid** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:57 am

Hi,

congratulations on finishing it. I'll try the new demo asap, as i enjoyed the earlier one

I havent contacted any portals yet. Im not sure that Mulver is "casual" enough (3D, no mouse control etc) to be intresting for them but we will see

IMO starting from your own site is the best option, since portal owners won't probably even reply to your emails

(Speaking a bit from experience here). However if you sell some copies, you can at least show them some potential 'proof' for success.

You might read up on the forums at indiegamer.com for more information. There's some interesting threads on such matters. Good luck!