Tartarus

[timtipgames]

Awesome stuff already! Love the atmosphere.
Got stuck between a block and the water surface (at least that's what I think) once, maybe there was a block right beneath the surface that I didn't see during my jumping attempt.

[Snuti]

Very creative controls, takes a bit of practise! Good job so far. Looks beautiful when you jump out of the water.

[AnomalousUnderdog]

I was half-expecting to see an angler fish as I got deeper and deeper. Really nice.

[nesis]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys It's pretty encouraging to hear people enjoying this wacky control scheme and the environment.

Just throwing up a few development pics of some models going into the game

I'm using Sculptris for the first time for this, and wowsers is it easy to get used to. It's a free 3D sculpting program made by the guys who made ZBrush. You hardly need to know 3D modelling to do well with this - you just need to know what shape you're going for. It does have a bit of trouble sculpting low-poly models, but if you're ok with a poly count in the 1000s, it's pretty reliable. I can see the turnover time being being 2-5 hours for the kinds of models I want to make being constructed + textured in this, depending on complexity.

A fish model:




I've got a couple of other models made in it for this, but you'll need to play to find them and hopefully jump out of your seat I'm planning on uploading a new version in a couple of hours. I'll make a new post to announce it.

[nesis]

New version is up! Let me know what you think This one's a big update!

You can play it here
http://llnesisll.blogspot.com.au/p/unit ... s-var.html

Stuff added
- Hunger system implemented! You start at 100% energy which runs down over time. You can replenish it over time by eating food (either from bait or from actual food... which hasn't been included yet, so it's all bait for now). As your energy runs down, your vision gets more and more red, until you die.
- Struggle-for-your-life minigames you enter when you get attacked by something (hooks in bait, stingrays lunging at you, etc as I get around to implementing it tomorrow night). You'll know you're going into one of those minigames if you go into a 3rd person view, so wave the mouse fast if that happens or all your energy will deplete! D:
- Starting area pretty much as finished as I can be bothered making it for now
- Eels modelled + textured (not animated yet, but that's tomorrow nesis' problem )
- New fish modelled + textured
- Bait now has an eerie glow around it to highlight it like it's the holy grail or something Creepy 2001: A Space Odyssey-style vocals to be added when nearing it... (for reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPKg2c_bRCs)
- Introduction to controls added at start of game
- Death screen + restart-on-click added when you die

Controls
Move mouse left + right to flick your fishy tail and swim (or if you're beached, flop forwards).
Move the mouse faster to move faster.
WASD to control turning.
To turn in tight circles, move the mouse gently and use WASD.
To escape when you've been attacked / caught by something, wave the mouse left + right vigorously for 3 seconds (exactly the same speed you'd need to wave it to flop about if you're beached).
R to reset if you get stuck.
F to refill your energy completely (use this to stay alive as long as you want, you should only need to tap it once every 200 seconds unless you're attacked).
K to kill the fish you're playing as.

Info
You are the fish, being fished. You are trying to survive in a deep ocean, where vision is limited and food is scarce, hardly distinguishable from bat, and often attracting bigger fish. Every time you eat, you'll be risking your life. What dangers lurk unseen, unknown in the darkness, laying in wait?

[nesis]

I've finally had a solid day to finish off the game with some animations and a (tiny) bit of level design.

You can find it at http://llnesisll.blogspot.com.au/p/unit ... s-var.html

[Anne Green]

Sound interested, thanks for your share. Really hope to have a chat with you.