ZerØ Chance of Escape

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TravisN
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ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

Hi All,

Prince of Persia was one of my favourite games growing up, and I've been interested in game development for a long time. I've decided to teach myself Unity, and I though I'd try my hand a building a Prince of Persia-like game!

I've spent about a year on this so far, and it's no where near complete, but I do have a playable demo of the first level, and the first tutorial / training level. I'm developing with mobile in mind - I've purposely left the main game in the 'square' layout (10 tiles by 4 levels). Given pretty much all devices and screens are widescreen nowadays, this gives me room to place the controls and UI elements on the side bars (I don't like having the controls over the actual game). I have also changed the combat system, going for a sword/shield style with high and low attacks/blocks.
I've also added a few different methods to jump/climb; you can run and vault up walls when jumping from a few tiles away from a wall, and you can jump to grab a ledge ahead of the player by holding up just after jumping....

I've concentrated on first getting the controls tight and making the animations look fluid & smooth. I think one of the best parts of the original PoP was the rotoscoped animations and I'm hoping the mocaped animations I'm using will convey the same feel.

What's on my current To Do list:
  • Lighting - the levels are currently lit with the default scene lighting. I'm thinking of changing this to dark / survival horror mood with just point and spot lights?
  • Sounds - I've stared to source some good sound effects and BG music, but nothing has been added yet
  • VFX - I'm trying to get the core controls / animations polished before adding sparks,smoke, dust,explosions etc...
  • Environment models - The only models/ 3D assets I'm happy with so far is the player model and the guards. The level tiles, background etc are just kitbashed out to make the level playable
  • Other levels - I've only finished the layout for the first level and the first training level. I'm planning on doing the rest of the original levels, and adding the other traps etc
I'd love to get some feedback from the community - you can play the game in your browser here:

https://bdts.com.au/game/

Thanks - please let me know what you think!

[Update - v.0.1.022] - 21/11/2019
Player can now use arrow keys on WebGL build in addition to WASD keys

[Update - v0.1.023]- 22/11/2019
Player can now drop down when standing on the edge of a tile facing in either direction

[Update - v.0.1.024] - 22/11/2019
Switch tiles no longer rapidly flip on/off when player is climbing up/dropping down on them

Travis
Last edited by TravisN on November 22nd, 2019, 8:37 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Norbert
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by Norbert »

Impressive!

Any chance you can make the arrow keys work like wasd?
We're all used to using arrow keys; it'd make playtesting a lot easier...
TravisN
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

Thanks for taking the time to have a look!

I've uploaded a new version that adds the arrow keys in addition to the wasd keys - thanks again :)
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Norbert
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by Norbert »

TravisN wrote: November 21st, 2019, 4:22 amI've uploaded a new version that adds the arrow keys in addition to the wasd keys - thanks again :)
Thanks, that's useful.

How - with what key(s) - do I go down from this position?
Arrow down with or without Shift doesn't seem to work.
down.png
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

From that position you need to turn around (right arrow) - the player needs to be 'teetering' on the edge of the tile, then press down.
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Norbert
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by Norbert »

TravisN wrote: November 21st, 2019, 5:20 amFrom that position you need to turn around (right arrow) - the player needs to be 'teetering' on the edge of the tile, then press down.
I'm guessing you have no animation to go down without turning around? :P
It's a little counter-intuitive to have to turn around, so the game will turn the player around to go down. ;)
Do you know what I mean?
You are already facing in the right direction, but the game wants to be the one to turn the player around.
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

Yeah - I don't have a good anim that turns the player around and drops down in one action. I understand what you mean though - it seems bad to have to turn around, then press down to drop. It would be good to just be able to hold down during that whole section rather than having all the extra inputs.

I'll see if I can blend a few animations together to allow you to drop and see what it looks like.

That said - I think the reverse is also true; it doesn't seem right if the player is moving towards an edge but to then go down, you have to turn around first...

Thanks for the suggestions - I really appreciate it!
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

I've created a new animation so the player can now drop down when facing either direction at the edge of a tile. The animation can use a bit of polish, but i think it looks OK for now :)
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Norbert
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by Norbert »

TravisN wrote: November 22nd, 2019, 2:01 amI've created a new animation so the player can now drop down when facing either direction at the edge of a tile.
Nice.

Probably this weekend David will give your prototype a try, and he may also have feedback.
If his old PC can run the game, that is... ;)
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David
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by David »

Norbert wrote: November 22nd, 2019, 3:33 pm Probably this weekend David will give your prototype a try, and he may also have feedback.
If his old PC can run the game, that is... ;)
I forgot to tell, but a few months ago we finally bought a new PC. :)
So I can run the game well.


My notes and remarks:

Jump is Space, but this is mentioned only on the title page, and it's not visible while playing.
The messages on the Training level mention that I can walk with Shift, but not that I can jump with Space. Maybe change this?

Are the spikes made of lightsabers? :)

I can't seem to make the 2-tile running jump on the Training level.
My character doesn't want to turn while running, instead he stops.
Update: Or when he can turn while running, he doesn't jump.
Maybe I'm just not fast enough?
Update: Finally made it!

Changing between rooms is a bit too slow: If I run into the next room and don't release the arrow key, then by the time I see what's in the other room, I already fell into the spikes.

A funny bug: If I stand under a gate then it can push me into the floor when it closes! But this doesn't always happen.

I just realized that the "Respawn" button doesn't restart the whole level, only the current room. That was useful for clearing that 2-tile running jump.
But that's only on the Training level. On Level 1 it's "Reset level" instead.

When I complete the Training level, "Next level" will restart the same level.
Maybe it should start Level 1 or take me back to the main menu.

I see you based level 1 on the level 1 of PoP1 SNES.

Is there any way to toggle Combat from the keyboard?
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Norbert
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by Norbert »

David wrote: November 23rd, 2019, 1:05 pmI forgot to tell, but a few months ago we finally bought a new PC. :)
Hey, nice. :)
TravisN
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

Jump is Space, but this is mentioned only on the title page, and it's not visible while playing.
The messages on the Training level mention that I can walk with Shift, but not that I can jump with Space. Maybe change this?
Thanks - I've updated the hint in the first room.
Are the spikes made of lightsabers? :)
At the moment - yes :)
I can't seem to make the 2-tile running jump on the Training level.
My character doesn't want to turn while running, instead he stops.
Update: Or when he can turn while running, he doesn't jump.
Maybe I'm just not fast enough?
Update: Finally made it!
Thanks for the feedback on this - I've purposely made the timing for the 2-tile running jump reasonably tight - I want this game to be somewhat difficult, and the high risk, skill based techniques (the running vault up walls, leap to ledge when jumping, and the 2-tile jump) will take a bit of practice from the player to execute properly.
Changing between rooms is a bit too slow: If I run into the next room and don't release the arrow key, then by the time I see what's in the other room, I already fell into the spikes.
That's good feedback too - I'm in two minds about speeding that up however - In the original games running was a higher risk move as you can't stop suddenly and I'm thinking that running full speed into an unknown room should be somewhat discouraged - It might add a bit of tension to the players experience (a bit like the Dark Souls games...) I don't want the game to feel unfair, but make the player feel that running without knowing the level can be dangerous :)
A funny bug: If I stand under a gate then it can push me into the floor when it closes! But this doesn't always happen.
Hmm, Thanks for letting me know about that one - I've got a bit of code that should push the player forward a bit if they get stuck under a moving gate, but it seems it's still possible to get stuck under one and pushed through the floor. I think I'll code it up so if you get pushed through the floor, you die?
I just realized that the "Respawn" button doesn't restart the whole level, only the current room. That was useful for clearing that 2-tile running jump.
But that's only on the Training level. On Level 1 it's "Reset level" instead.
Yes - That button is there to aid testing; I'm thinking I'll leave the ability there to reset the room for the training levels...
When I complete the Training level, "Next level" will restart the same level.
Maybe it should start Level 1 or take me back to the main menu.
I've changed the button script to take you back to the main menu for now.
I see you based level 1 on the level 1 of PoP1 SNES.
Yes - I'm thinking of basing the first 20 level from the snes version, but I'm going to change up the traps, health pickups and guards etc. I'm probably going to do something different for level 17 as I feel that boss level could be done a bit better I always felt that boss was a bit clunky and dodging falling pots wasn't really in keeping with the rest of the game???
Is there any way to toggle Combat from the keyboard?
Good Idea! I'm mainly developing for mobile at the moment - I forgot to put a key in to turn the combat on/off!
I've added a key ("C") to toggle combat.

Thanks so much for play-testing my game for me - this feedback is very helpful and I really appreciate it!

I'll post an update soon, with these changes and I'm starting to update the environment models with something that looks better :)

Travis
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

I've made some updates - thanks David for the feedback - I appreciate you taking the time to test it out!

v0.1.025
Added keyboard key C to toggle combat.
Updated hint in first training room for jump key.
Fixed fall from jump doesn't trigger tile wobble.
Experimenting with new meshes/textures to floor & wall tiles.
Adjust end goal lighting.
removed kitbashed lights on level 1.
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by David »

I managed to cause an exception when I was trying to climb down here:
zero_escape_exception.jpg
I could not reproduce it again.
TravisN
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Re: ZerØ Chance of Escape

Post by TravisN »

Ahh, thanks David - it looks like as the hero is slipping off a tile, if you try to climb down the hero doesn't have a reference to the tile you are standing on.

I've uploaded a new version with some minor updates and starting to experiment with the lighting. I'm going to try for a dark, shadowy setting to see how that works...

v0.1.026
Updated hero code to check for tile during drop to hang
Experimenting with lighting (first few rooms only)
Started to design level 2
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