Saturday, November 29, 2014

Who is Aziz

Name: Aziz
Age: 35 Earth Solar Years
Class: 4D
Occupation: Technician
A.S: Marsi-3
Location: Jupiter Orbit


Aziz is the pneumatic technician on Marsi-3. Always 'rushing' to fix any problem with the system.
Aziz's boyfriend is hundreds of miles away on Titan. Communications seem to be a problem due to solar activity within the region along with Jupiter's magnetic field. He is coping with this situation by playing his favorite music instrument: The Recorder.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Endless Worlds in Point and Click Games

Since the player in Epoch has the ability to go for a spacewalk outside Marsi-3, it was inevitable that I needed to use an 'endless' room for simulating the infinite space he drifts in. Something like the desert of King's Quest V but with a little twist: you can mark a place you already visited in a specific part of the screen. I've used water for the space map, it vaporizes immediately and then freezes as little water crystals.

On the other hand, the deserts of Titan are marked by little marking flags that the player is supposed to find earlier in the game. Of course due to the non-linearity in Epoch, you can find a map of the worlds in alternative puzzles solves, or make another character do some of the tasks you need to perform on different locations on the maps.


Monday, November 24, 2014

Initial Gameplay Demo


Here's a short [initial] gameplay video making sure not to show any spoilers. As seen in the video, the player may chat with characters individually, or invite whoever is available in the room to a group chat for different topics and more clues. 

Puzzles have more than one way to solve depending on your intuition, and sometimes physical skills like handling the mouse clicks at specific times.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Alien Rage




I don't know where did my mom get this idea from... actually I think she got it from her mom who got it from hers... anyway, she used to 'encourage' us to finish off your plates by threatening us that the remaining food would be dangled off our eyelashes in Limbo!

AND IT WORKED.

It worked really good that as I was growing and watching the Alien movies, the alien sometimes used to kill people and leave parts of their bodies... so you know...

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Who is Moon?

Name: Moon
Age: 38 Earth Solar Years
Class: 2A
Occupation: Engineer
A.S: Marsi-3
Location: Jupiter Orbit


Moon is an engineer. Working along with Kat, they make sure the engines temperatures are within nominal ranges.




Despite being diagnosed with Down Syndrome, Moon showed higher IQ levels than his colleagues and aced his Engineering School back on Earth

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Lock Picking

Let's say you are now facing a locked door, a safe or a box... There are several ways to get them opened: If you know that a character has the key and you've been 'nice' to them, there's a chance you can get the key (of course it's not that easy to get them happy to give you the key.. at least not only by talking nice to them...) OR, you can pick the lock. And I'm not doing Hero's Quest lock picking thing, it's real lock picking methods. 

I've made a room specifically for that purpose, of course each lock in the game has a different randomly generated combination so every time the game is restarted the locks are different... Locks usually need a very sensitive ear to hear the soft clicks of the mechanisms inside them, so for those players with hearing problems I am using the shake screen function instead.

Deli

Back to Earth, Swenett, the crew of Marsi-3 are kicking back and relaxing after staying for months in space. Carter is busy with his own adventures and investigations.

Carter is chatting with the old deli owner, while Simon is focusing on the meat delights next to him.


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Kitten Purrs

Simon Pegg is my real kitten. He is the most playful cat I've ever seen in my life. Notice the dialog with Aziz changing depending on Carter's position whether he is standing next to him or laying on bed. Also Topics responses change depending on characters' moods, in the video you'll notice two different answers when Aziz is asked about his personal life before and after being insulted. The player has the complete freedom to manipulate other characters moods in order to find different approaches to solve puzzles. This doesn't mean you have to be rude or nice to other characters, there is a solution either way.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Camera Position

I always felt this room lacked something. I thought about adding more details but it kept asking for more. So I decided to pull a little trick since the camera is positioned so far near a corner: push the camera a little further as if it was outside a large window. Not only it worked great, but I also have an extra room for the player when floating outside Marsi-3Notice the changes of the game's interface as well here.

Aswan Resort

The week's #screenshotsaturday



The background is still under construction and missing some elements like a boat, the antique store sign and more plants. It is though fully animated: light reflection on water, wind moving plants and awning, little kid swimming.