it's just one page :) try to find anything lol
So a little while ago, i released choke b gone on newgrounds and itch.
I've had the idea for about three or four months, and i worked on it for around two. It's kind of the same brand as mgs, i suppose.
(i mean, pretty distinct style, more slow gameplay, and also made by myself.)
And a lot of depth went into this tiny game, so i want to talk about it a bit. If you don't want to read this because of my grammar or something, then that's fine :3 fuck you
So firstly, i really wanted to underscope if anything. But i had also been playing donkey kong country...
of the games i've made with distinct levels, most of them have been pretty long. Most of my experimentation just made it feel kind of stupid to finish a level in two seconds.
That was how i originally thought about this game, though. Each flat plane would've been distinct and disconnected, but i didn't even prototype this.
The player would literally be able to just jump from a to b. Each plane would either be boring or short, so i put in the rails system.
pretty sure that this fixed the problem. the gameplay wasn't really segmented and you could tell that pretty easily- you could still see the guy you play as.
That's a problem i have with some games. Like, in dkc2 it's pretty important if you're playing as dixie or diddy, and it's even more important in dkc3 with the stupid move where you throw people around.
and while there is feedback that you can tell from a single glance, the player is really small, and my eyes hurt, and the moves are confusing, and, and, and, it didn't used to be like that...
rhythm heaven (which came out 15 years after donkey kong country...) has a kind of different approach. what you're looking at will change minute to minute- the graphics don't really speak a language that you've learnt.
and this isn't a bad thing. imagine if the clappy trio had the same cinematography as space soccer.
space soccer runs on audio cues, whereas clappy trio sets up a rhythm of changing speed for you to complete. so in gameplay, they'd still be distinct. but we are literal fucking monkeys, and looking at something different is kind of fun sometimes.
and that's another thing that's interesting about super mario bros. almost the entire game is depicted in universe, which means that anyone can look at it and understand it.
the gameplay has mario on screen, running around. so do the cutscenes. even the title screen!
it would've been definitely easier for them to just pan the camera to the right after you defeat bowser, to see toad. but then mario would disappear, and that would be kind of awkward for the player.
the one part of the game i can think of that isn't "in universe" would be the cards between each level. mario is on screen but it's pretty obvious that you can't control him, and that he doesn't move like in a cutscene.
now if i were directing super mario bros, and remember, if everything was perfect then everything would be the same, mario wouldn't be on that screen. it should be really really clear that the adventure hasn't started yet.
i'm also gonna call these game states- "title", "cutscene", "level cards"- i'm gonna call them "screens". i do think that visually moving the camera is what would make a new one, and some of them are literally just blank screens to show a transition.
anyway, back to the game i've made. there's two gameplay screens (moving on a rail or on a plane), a title screen, an extras menu, and a reused transition. also every shot in the cutscenes could be considered a seperate screen, because there's a lot of different sprites on screen in under a minute.
except, the extras menu and title screen have text formatted the exact same way. the background colour is different (and the title is missing...) but if you understand the title screen, you can understand the extras menu too.
in fact, if we want to play match-up here we can pin together the gameplay screens. the plane screen is identified by how close the nearest plane is to the camera- if it's further away then you're probably on a straw.
but the rail screen is very very similar to the plane one, and the player still has control no matter which one they're in.
and i think that's what was missing from some of my older games. with faster levels, you'll have to sit through some user interface to get to the next one- and the ui is definitely faster than going on an empty rail, but that's just what's more engaging.
that's what i learnt from making this- lightweight game direction will have one distinct screen for gameplay and another one for ui.
and i did try and carry this over to the cutscenes, but i didn't do that great. there's a shared shot between the first two, where you see the person you save as a kind of wide shot, with what they were choking on and the player on the ground.
it's nice to have both successes correlated. but it was a little silly.
overall, i do not like this game. and i wish i hadn't spent so much time on it.
but if you read this whole blogpost, you probably deserve a treat, and you probably like this game much more than i do.
so type "nonbelievable" on the itch version's title. there's a secret for you <3
oh and by the way, i am really really happy with how the music came out. i wrote it in openmpt, as always, but im really getting better at this. it feels nice.
i understand that listening to it ingame it doesn't sound so special. but to me it really was a lot of work, haha.
p.s i started this out by capitalising stuff and ive stopped doing it now :)))))))))))))))) what a waste of fucking flesh i am
aaaahm its taking longer than i thought it would....
probably expect it to never come out actually! i have decided to take a break from making games
(because im 15 and this shit is taking a toll on my SOUL i dont NEED that today)
it's been super fun and i might resurface for short demos or something but i will extremely not publish them.
i'm about to go post a version of this on my mastodon!!
so i dont want to get anyone too EXCITED. but im currently working on an update for super mario odyssey.
with the original game after i made it people asked me stuff about mgs that i actually hadnt put in.
"are the cardboard boxes in it?" "what about codecs?" "vr missions?"
no, sorry family....
but i thought for a while on how to put the new stuff into the game?
new levels could be fun but the game is already saturated. these new mechanics need to go somewhere.
then i remembered thinking about video game structure is dumb and for babies-
so youll just unlock some extras once you beat the game.
this also means i get to try writing music again (yay...)
ive said it millions of times the ost is NOT perfect but i STILL think its kinda cool
but what if it WAS perfect...
so when this update comes out expect a bunch of remade tracks.
i think the crushy soundfont works pretty well but some of these compositions are actual poopoo.
and O-B-V-S the update will polish up a bunch of rough edges in the original game.
before i patch it out, you can actually just skip the last section of level 3 by nonstop running har har
tldr EVERY GOD HAS HIS GAY. xoxo bye
ps i actually came up with the idea for meowtal gear solid (not the name) i think in march of this year. i really was biding my time with this one so i wanna make it the best it can be. vr missions were even something i wanted out from the start!
also i hope to have the update out in january. itll hopefully have ~15 longish vr missions and a bunch of new music and ideas. (do not) expect mgs2 substance levels of wackiness.
GLASSES OUT!!!