DREAMBOUND - Bound to the dream of releasing before 2037

[Shrooblord]

Hmm - I rather enjoyed the thought of this being 2D - your artstyle was exquisitly sublime. However, if you're planning on making it 3D like in that picture you show, where it actually looks like everything is still drawn in pictures (and aren't models, or don't look like models), I think that could make a very, very interesting and cool-looking artstyle.

Either way, I'm sure it won't lose that magical touch you bring to your art whichever way you take it. Hope to see more of it soon!

[Rulez]

Bump so I can show off the music variety in the game. Make sure to read the descriptions too so you know where the music plays.
Can you find the Rayman music reference in each of these new songs? ^^
https://soundcloud.com/byvar/dreambound-falling-leaves
https://soundcloud.com/byvar/dreambound ... ters-dance
https://soundcloud.com/byvar/dreambound-sparring
300 Tings to the first one who can list them all!

1: Sanctuary of Stone and Fire
2: The Desert of Didjiridoos
3: Inside the Dragon Chef's Belly

My guesses, though I am not really sure of those, I'd have to listen more closely, and also remember the Rayman tunes I like those though, especially the second one!

[Droolie]

Hmm - I rather enjoyed the thought of this being 2D - your artstyle was exquisitly sublime. However, if you're planning on making it 3D like in that picture you show, where it actually looks like everything is still drawn in pictures (and aren't models, or don't look like models), I think that could make a very, very interesting and cool-looking artstyle.

Either way, I'm sure it won't lose that magical touch you bring to your art whichever way you take it. Hope to see more of it soon!

I liked being able to just draw it in 2D too, but I just can't execute the story and the world properly in 2D. I'm currently thinking about creating an art style like the one in the picture - much like Okami's actually, but less blurry and more detailed. It'll be difficult but I think I'll be able to do it and it'll probably save me a lot of time with textures.

1: Sanctuary of Stone and Fire
2: The Desert of Didjiridoos
3: Inside the Dragon Chef's Belly

My guesses, though I am not really sure of those, I'd have to listen more closely, and also remember the Rayman tunes I like those though, especially the second one!

Thanks! Inside the Dragon Chef's Belly was a secondary inspiration for Sparring (this being the primary inspiration), so I have to give you that one, but I was thinking of something else.
I guess the references I was talking about were a bit too well hidden. It's:
1. Uses various Rayman 2 samples
2. The piano at 0:35 plays the main Rayman 2 theme
3. The intro and the part at 0:35 are the same melody as the intro of Deep Forest, since that was the track that reminded me of Livingstones the most.
Ah well, I should probably make my references less obscure next time

[MrMcMelonLord]

I was going to have a mental breakdown if this project was stopped! I hope this gets finished by 2015!

Edit: I also have some advice. Make the graphics cel shaded! I think that would look AWESOME!

[Droolie]

Thanks! ^^
It definitely won't be finished by 2015. 2025, well... maybe.
Whatever the release date may be, I'm pretty sure it's coming sooner or later. With all the work I've put into the revised version so far, stopping it is impossible.

About the graphics, yes, cel shaded seems like the way to go. I'd go for stylized cel shading though, like Okami for example.
I haven't quite decided yet, as I'm currently more focused on finishing the game on paper completely - not only the main story, not only the script, but also all the little details like camera movements in scenes, details about the backgrounds, etc. Like a huge storyboard for the entire game, except written instead of drawn.

Some of it is really hard to write properly, as I want the game to be easy to grasp for those who have no knowledge about Rayman whatsoever. That and a lot of rewriting is why I'm still at about 20%. I still work on it every day though, so I have to finish it sooner or later. Hopefully, the people who have signed up for it will read it when it's finished so they can help me improve it.

[MrMcMelonLord]

Oh, I almost forgot to ask what you are planning to make this game in. I've seen that you had used GameMaker for the original 2d concept and I wanted to know if you were still going to use GameMaker.

[Adsolution]

On Drolpiraat's behalf, I am going to say no, because GameMaker.

[MrMcMelonLord]

Looks like its time to edit my post

[Droolie]

Adsolution speaks the truth. No more GameMaker for me. I'm thinking about using UDK4 whenever that comes out... as the design document probably won't be finished before then.
I think I'll prefer UDK4 because it will have both C++ and the ability to program your game from the ground up. CryEngine would be the next best choice, but its capabilities for stuff like cel shading are actually very limited, and the games you make are basically mods for Crysis. UDK3 is great too, but it has that annoying UnrealScript. :/

[Adsolution]

but its capabilities for stuff like cel shading are actually very limited

To expand upon that, the shaders are locked if you don't have the licenced version of the engine, which is pretty dumb indeed. I literally see no reason why this needs to be the case, when the purpose of getting a licence should be the want to work commercially, not to make your project better than those without it. However, this is the only actual limitation, and as of the 3.5 release, all things that point towards this still being a 'Crysis ModSDK' have been abolished.

[MrMcMelonLord]

I think that Unity would be a good thing to use too.

[Hunchman801]

I liked how Unity can build on so many different platforms.

[Adsolution]

Unfortunately, I've found myself and have heard from many others who use it as well that Unity is incredibly unoptimised, extremely non-dynamic, and it basically fails when you try to do anything above make relatively simple games in it. I quote a highly agreed-upon post of a friend of mine:

Unity breaks when you put anything good into it. Over 1m poly in the scene? Welcome to 5fps. Want to add a big asset to a scene? *IMPORTING ASSET* (please wait 40 min). Assets don't occlude automatically (gotta "bake" occlusion). Real-time shadows are horrifically unoptimized (so you gotta bake them). No Time Of Day System.... While asset quality is absolutely a major factor in making a game, you still need a decent engine. Anything made in Unity would look at least 10x better on Cryengine, UE3/4 or Torque. The only thing it's got going for it is the Mobile/Mac stuff.

True, its widespread compatibility indeed quite awesome, but the engine itself really kind of sucks.

[Droolie]

While I do like how Unity can build for so many different platforms, I really didn't have a good experience with it. I tried it out once and had a lot of problems with performance, while the demo I was playing shouldn't even have been demanding at all. Some of the problems Ad mentioned about baking lighting and the lack of a Time of Day system can be said for UE3 too (to lesser extent), but that still performed and looked a lot better than Unity for me.
It's possible they have improved Unity now, but I'm not going to keep trying it out just to see if it improved.

Anyway, I'm not aiming to release Dreambound for anything else than PC (and if possible consoles). CryEngine/UDK offer more than enough compatibility for that at the moment and that can only improve in the future.

@Ad: I'm glad to hear that CryEngine's not a ModSDK anymore. I tried it and played with it before 3.5, but I was slightly disappointed by how the starting point was basically just source code for Crysis. It would have been a lot better if the code was documented properly, too.
I really haven't decided yet between CryEngine and UDK4... I still have to see how good/bad UDK4 is when that comes out, and how much of the engine you can modify in CryEngine. I'll probably do so when it comes out.

[Adsolution]

UE4 definitely looks wonderful in my eyes, I'm very curious as to see what the new UDK will then look like, as they've apparently started heading the mostly-realtime route as well.

[Droolie]

What happens when I put too much time and detail into one piece of concept art?
This.

That's Blue preparing to fight one of the Koi in a shrine in the Golden Woods. But what is that they are worshipping... ?

[Master]

That looks positively sublime, Droolie. And Oriental, seems like the Rayverse might be seeing it proper yet!

[Shrooblord]

About the graphics, yes, cel shaded seems like the way to go. I'd go for stylized cel shading though, like Okami for example.
I haven't quite decided yet, as I'm currently more focused on finishing the game on paper completely - not only the main story, not only the script, but also all the little details like camera movements in scenes, details about the backgrounds, etc. Like a huge storyboard for the entire game, except written instead of drawn.

That's what I'm doing for my game too. It's an exact representation of the image of what I have in my head at the time of writing a level. Then I can always recall it. And of course I could always alter it if I don't like it.

Love the artwork! It's fun to get carried away in drawings. |D

[MrMcMelonLord]

I have no drawing skills what so ever

[Droolie]

That looks positively sublime, Droolie. And Oriental, seems like the Rayverse might be seeing it proper yet!

Thanks! Yes, as the enemies are Oriental-themed (just like those in R2 were robot-themed), there will be quite a lot of that in the game.

That's what I'm doing for my game too. It's an exact representation of the image of what I have in my head at the time of writing a level. Then I can always recall it. And of course I could always alter it if I don't like it.

Love the artwork! It's fun to get carried away in drawings. |D

Thanks. I'm glad to hear you write the same way. It takes quite long, but it's definitely worth it. In the end we'll have basically the whole game on paper!

I have no drawing skills what so ever

I have no replying skills what so ever