Game
Rock Beyond Time
4 years ago

Why does this game need a game controller?


Hi. If you're new here, I'm making a game called Rock Beyond Time. It's designed with an XInput game controller in mind.

Why?

Well, first off, I was considering selling this for real consoles. I'll probably do that much later, but for now, the game will be a free HTML5 game.

Secondly, I didn't consider touchscreens.

However, I have the common courtesy of adding keyboard support, in the style of '90s Shareware games. That's why you move with the Arrow keys and use A/S/D/Shift/Z/X/C for the buttons.

whitecontroller.png

So... what are the controls?

Left Stick/Control Pad (Arrow keys) - Move Player

  • You know why. Players gotta move.

Right Stick (I/J/K/L) - Move second character

  • Since we can't guarantee two players with two controllers, I've made it possible to move your partner around if there's no Player 2.

Bottom Face Button (Z Key) - Jump

  • ...doesn't work over little rocks or other solid objects, but it's effective against bad guys.

Left Face Button (X Key) - Attack

  • You'll be using this one A LOT.

Right Face Button (C Key) - Talk/Run/Pick Up/Throw

  • Expect to talk to a LOT of NPCs.

  • If you want to throw certain objects, you must move while holding it over your head. If you want to set it down, DON'T MOVE.

  • You can only run if you're moving. If you want to run without throwing an item, push the Right Shoulder button.

Top Face Button (V Key) - Use Equipped Item

  • Heal, use magic, or do the time warp if you have the right item equipped.

Left Trigger/Right Trigger (A/S Keys) - Change Equipped Item

  • You can switch between healing items, magic rings, and even NO item to avoid any item misuse.

Left Shoulder Button (Shift) - AI Control

  • This is its own bag of worms. While holding the trigger down, push a direction to determine whether or not a character will follow, not follow, attack, or not attack.

  • Used for single-player, mostly.

  • Up/Down on Left Stick - Follow/Don't Follow

  • Left/Right on Left Stick - Attack/Don't Attack

  • You can just tap it to get your AI-controlled buddy to just follow you.

Right Shoulder Button (D Key) - Run

  • If you want to run without dropping something, use this.

Select Button (Spacebar) - Switch Characters

  • If you have a second controller, this lets the other player jump in/drop out of the play session.

Start Button (Enter) - Pause Menu

  • Contains Minimaps, stats, an item menu, options, and the Save feature.

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I realize some players just want to play the game and see the story, while others may actually want to use those revival items, so here's a little compromise for you all.

Also, yes, I NEED to put on that "Pro" flag everywhere.

Just a reminder. It's coming on the 16th, assuming nothing goes wrong.

Well, this might give you an idea of the kind of scope my cutscenes will go.

I probably should hire voice actors, but I think I'd rather do what I can without money first.

First, I hand-draw it and ink it with a felt-tip pen. Then I scan it, making an HD image. Then I save it as a 16-color BMP, then clean it up and crop it. Then I add color and transparency effects.

For games, I shrink the HD version for the game's window.

I just scanned in some artwork. I do a lot of hand-drawing for reference, but there is a bit of a gap between the hand-drawn stuff and the pixel art.

Again, I hand-draw with my left, and do pixels with my right.

As part of the process, I learned that my new dialogue-scrolling system isn't perfect. It's possible to break it if you can push the button faster than humanly possible.

I guess I'd better dig out the Turbo controller for further testing.

He's coming back. ...but just this once.

Coming soon to another update.

Lemme get some work done with it first, then we'll talk.

Shocking.

Positively shocking.

As part of making this game, I have to do a lot of animation without a lot of drawing, if you can believe such a thing is possible.

For one of the opening shots, I'd like Pinafore to clean up this photo on the wall, then see her reflection.