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Evolution is a puzzle-based game where the user must place various parts and gadgets strategically in order to succeed.

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After a pretty long delay of no news, I'm glad to announce that Evolution is back in action, with a new look as well!

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After a pretty long delay of no news, I'm glad to announce that Evolution is back in action, with a new look as well!

So what happened? Well, let's face it, the original concept for the game sucked. I went back to the drawing boards and began work on a new concept for the game back in March, however I recently ditched those plans since a flash game came out with the exact same concept (basically there was a set amount of platforms in a level and you rotated the level around to get the ball, or balls, into the target goal).

Therefore with two games down the drain I started again on Evolution, and came up with a new formula that's quite fun. Basically you move and spin around platforms, gadgets and such, in order to create a path for a ball to follow. Then press a big red "Start" button when you're ready. If you placed the objects right you'll now see your ball go down the objects you placed and into the goal area. There's a video up demoing World 1, Level 1 to show how this mechanic works.


The main thing lacking in the game is music. So if you're a music composer and are interested in Evolution, please contact me!

For those of you who are following Darkness, this doesn't mean Darkness is halting production. Evolution is a quick game I can work on in my spare time, Darkness isn't. So Darkness is still being worked on, just at a much slower pace compared to Evolution.

That's all for this update. Look forward to more news in the future!

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Elementalist
Elementalist

Looks like a simpler The Incredible Machine for kids. That game was always good though, will be interesting to see what you come up with that's different.

On a sidenote, setting at it 1024x768 is alright, I guess, but yeah it's going to get blurry (or worse, stretched). Aren't a great deal of people's screens either 1) Netbooks, in which case it's 1024x600 (16:9) or 2) Bigger in general? or 3) Different scale (1024x768, 4:3) as opposed to any widescreen resolution? I personally don't see a lot of 1024x768 these days doing tech support.

And lastly, my only suggestion going off of what you said so far is maybe a mouseover effect for the main menu? Would make it more appealing. :)

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wbokunic Author
wbokunic

yeah, still a WIP. I chose 1024x768 based off the Steam hardware survey. Resolutions below 1024x768 are below 0.1% of the Steam user-base, while 1024x768 still has a pretty decent amount of users (roughly 10.5% of all Steam users). So that's the target resolution.

Another issue that crops up is Unity's horrible GUI management. They've been improving it over the years, but it's still a pain in the rear to use. It's quite hard to get the GUI to proportionally scale up and position correctly with different aspect ratios. So that's another factor in the resolution lock.

As for the menu bit, I plan on adding a highlight effect for when the mouse goes over menu items. That way you can tell you're over it. The menu was something I quickly added in before the video was done. Just glad it worked at all.

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Anddos
Anddos

Crayon psyhics uses what you're trying to achieve , have you tried that game out?

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wbokunic Author
wbokunic

Crayon physics has the user drawing stuff. This has a different set of mechanics. Similar, yes, but different. The video shows the most primitive idea of the game (drag, rotate and drop objects). There are a few more ideas I plan to utilize. I'll list a few for you:

- Jump pads : place and rotate these, when the ball hits them it will launch in the direction the jump pad is face, however gravity still affects the ball.

- Gravity shifters : When the ball hits one of these, the gravity shifts in the direction the shifter is facing. This can be used to get around obstacles or get the ball into otherwise impossible areas of the level.

- Level-rotation : I always liked the level rotating idea. Even though a flash game now uses it, Evolution will add a third dimension in that the user themselves setup the platforms, then must rotate the level for further dynamics. (This may or may not be added, but it will definitely be tried to see if it works well).

There are a few other ideas I'm pondering at the moment, but you get the idea. At the very primitives of the game, it is similar to Crayon physics (just without the drawing). But I plan on expanding the game play to be fairly diverse.

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