Pirate Bash Brothers: Gladeators

[Shrooblord]

Hey guys! Currently UV-mapping the Henchman that will be appearing in my other Rayman game. However, he'll be my prime playtesting character for Raybrawl. As soon as I've textured and rigged him, I'll be setting up a little test environment for him to run around in.

In the meantime, does anybody else feel like adopting a character, say, Betilla? Who wants to figure out how Betilla's gonna be fighting the others?

[Shrooblord]

I just thought of a name for the game:
Gladeators

Additionally, I've almost finished the UV-mapping of the Henchman. Just tackling the clothing right now and then I can start giving him some colour! Next stage: bones!

[Shrooblord]

No? :c

Anyway, finished UV-mapping the robot, finally. Next, I'm gonna start texturing him so I can see properly how the bones will deform his mesh and his clothes. And guysh, guysh, GUYSH it finally came out! There's now a Maya DCC plugin for the APEX clothing tool I wanted. Woot! Cloth physics, here I come!

[beebo44]

Shroobie 'Gladeators' sounds so cheesy.. but so good at the same time xD Woo delicious cloth physics!

Oh and I haven't been able to get a start on any concept stuff because right now I'm being pulled in many directions. Hopefully most of that will be cleared up by the end of the week though.

[Shrooblord]

Gladeators cheesy? Okay we'll think about it. I thought it a good name!

[beebo44]

I didn't say it wasn't a good name Shroobie! Like I said I like it. Maybe it's the way I'm saying it that makes it sound weird xD

[Shrooblord]

[Glade-ee-ay-tors]?

[beebo44]

Ah well I got the pronunciation right then.

[Adsolution]

Hehe.

Cloth physics are a sight to behold. They make animations look so much more detailed simply by being present, sort of in the same way having just one or two authentic recordings in a music track can make everything sound real.

[Shrooblord]

I was just listening to the Rayman 1 soundtrack and I got the feeling all of the electric guitar pieces were created through recording, not virtual instrument. Am I correct?

[Adsolution]

It would have to be, yep. However, I think the acoustic guitar is a VST, that, the one being used in Entering the Cavern I think is the same one as the one used in Cloak of Darkness at 0:20.

We can ask Rémi if we like!

[Shrooblord]

Holy shit, we can! I hadn't even thought of that - that's amazing, one of the musicians from R1 on the forum. xD

And a not completely irrelevant post: have now moved on to painting/texturing the Henchman! I'm having trouble fighting the program though, as it's quite a newly released piece of tech that's quite crash-and-bug-prone. Not going as smoothly as I'd like, but already a hell of a lot smoother than if I'd have to paint the whole thing more traditionally.

[ikke471]

Holy goofballs this project is back from the dead.
Shroobie you glorious bastard!

[Shrooblord]

It's technically never really been dead, but it was collecting some dust on the shelf while I was working on other projects and getting used to University life.

Progress on the Henchman model is slower than I'd like it to be, outside of my fault as far as I can tell. My texturing software is crashing on me incessantly - I can only make a few strokes of progress in a day before being forced to give up in order to keep my calm and moving on to something else.

Meanwhile, I've been running thoughts through my head on how to design the first test area to play in. I've got some thoughts you may like:

*The arena is essentially a small, two-storey room cut out in the front so you can look onto the entire arena from a side-on view.
*There's a wall to the left that's like a door, but it's destructible. Killing it opens up a passageway upstairs.
*The right-hand side of the arena has pillars/moving platforms that also allow access upstairs.
*The difference is that the left side has a secret, power-up tunnel inside it that leads around and to either storey, as well as an obvious staircase connecting the two.
*Its design is somewhat inspired by Ly's Palace from Rayman Arena/M.

[ikke471]

The level sounds nice but I think there might be a little bit too much going on in it.
Perhaps that's just how I picture it in my head though maybe a sketch would be more useful than a description?

[Bionichute]

Interesting idea.

Would it be possible to add a few more characters to the character list? If not, would it be possible to get a list of the "unadopted" characters? I have a few ideas for characters not on the list, but I can probably come up with some ideas for the odder characters as well. Of course, this all depends on if you're looking for new contributors as well.

also LacMac lol

[Shrooblord]

Of course - I'm always happy to see people interested in the project. And hey, Bionichute - haven't seen you in a while.

Here's the list of currently unadopted characters. We were planning to stick with these 20 to begin with; no need to make our lives harder from the get-go trying to support a zillion characters (also there was something about the inherent lack of relevance of some characters with regard to others). And yes, LacMac.

Good
1.Rayman
2.Ly
3.Teensie
4.Globox
5.Betilla
6.Polokus
7.Murfy
8.Clark
9.Lac Mac
10.Baby Globoxes

Bad
11.Admiral Razorbeard
12.Reflux
13.Henchman 800 - Shrooblord
14.Jano
15.Lunette (Spyglass Pirate) - Shrooblord
16.Count Razoff
17.Hoodmonger; André form
18.Mr. Dark - beebo?
19.Livingstone
20.Bad Rayman

Beebo, did you want to fully adopt Mr. Dark or only provide the moveset ideas and sketch I posted about on the page before this?

Updated the first post accordingly (some characters were still listed as not taken).

Updates on progress: just went into Unreal Engine to start sketching out a first basic arena to play in. Pictures soon!

[Bionichute]

I feel like it would be a smart idea to replace some of the odder characters like the Baby Globoxes and Lividstone with some more relevant characters. Though, I can definitely come up with some ideas for both of them.

[Shrooblord]

I'm up for debate. What could you suggest?

EDIT:
Came up with a new character idea. This one's a biggy. Please comment if you please!
So the whole idea with Jano is that he consumes. But he doesn't just consume regular stuff. He consumes nightmares. How does he get you to have nightmares? Why, he places them on you, of course.

Jano
Basic Attack: Claw, bite, slam with sceptre, crush underfoot. Basic attacks consume nightmares on enemies and charge Jano's unique Nightmarish Fever.
Special Attack Side: Jano points his sceptre forwards, its eyes glowing with fury. After a brief delay, a bolt of fire shoots out sideways that harms enemies. If hit, their minds are impregnated with nightmarish visions for a few seconds, initially making them flinch but having no other lasting effects.
SA Up: Jano swiftly leaps into the air. He can leap straight up or towards a location to his left or right by holding a directional key during the jump. On his descent, he will swing his sceptre at the potential target underfoot as he's aboat to land to hit them as he does. If he hits, the enemy is left with nightmares.
SA Down: Jano reaches into the ground and produces one of his spawn (Mini-Jano ugh) and lobs it to his enemy, where it will bounce around three times, attempting to bite, claw or spit fireballs at them before it digs back into the ground and disappears. It can be killed with as little as two basic attacks.

Float Method: Ghastly webbed bat wings form between his arms and his body and he gains great speed while he glides in one direction. He is unable to turn so must either sacrifice forward momentum for a downwards one while he turns as he briefly deactivates his glide or trust that he'll land safely somewhere off to the side he's gliding in.
Aerial Attack Up: Jano claws upwards with the sharp tips of his wings, giving nightmares to all he hits. After the animation, he's left gliding in the other direction.
AA Side: Jano beats his wings in the direction he's gliding in once. This creates a tiny swarm of shadow bats in front of him that fly forwards for a short amount of time before fading, giving nightmares to all they hit. Additionally, Jano is propelled backwards slightly by the action but remains gliding in the direction he was facing after the animation.
AA Down: Jano forfeits his wings and performs a somersault backwards. Afterwards, he is left falling to the ground face-down, jaw wide open. Anyone standing below gets eaten. When he recovers, Jano spits out his prey and they are left with nightmares.

Supercharge: Jano tosses his sceptre in front of him and starts chanelling magical energies around it with his hands. It sparks violently and its skull increases in size as Jano holds the charge. These sparks change from vibrantly blue to red as he approaches the Overcharge threshold. The green liquid inside can see frothing and boiling more vigorously the larger it grows.
When Jano stops channeling, he moves his right hand towards the sceptre and rips off the stick from the skull. With a backhand, he sends the skull flying off to the side he was facing when he started chanelling. He pulls a new skull from underground and chucks it onto his stick to form a new sceptre. Where the skull impacts in the wall or on the floor, it creates an area of effect slow where liquid splashes out and meets the ground. The vile liquid enhances Jano spawn that bounce on it. While on it, they remain on the stage for an additional two bounces and their attacks infect the target with nightmares.
According to its size, the skull may have additional effects.
< 25% charge: the skull has grown up to twice its original size. The slow area is minimal.
25% charge: the skull has grown to thrice its original size. As it lands, it coughs some liquid up airborne.
50% charge: the skull has grown to four times its original size. As it lands, it coughs up a cloud of liquid, sending it airborne. Additionally, a Jano spawn jumps out of the top of the skull.
75% charge: the skull has grown to five times its original size. Its liquid vigorously sprays all around as it flies passed, leaving the area of effect slow on the ground for longer than before. As it lands, it coughs up a cloud of liquid, sending it airborne. Additionally, a Jano spawn jumps out of the top of the skull.
100% charge: the skull is just as large as Jano is. Its liquid gushes all around, spraying itself on all the surfaces it can find nearby. Up to two Jano spawn jump out of the top of the skull according to its flight duration. As it lands, it spews a vast cloud of liquid airborne, once again spraying the blight everywhere it can go. Two more Jano spawn exit the skull's top compartment. The liquid oozes a horrid stench that slightly damages all upon it over time.
Overcharge: The size of the skull gets out of control and Jano is engulfed by it as it clumsily somersaults backwards onto him. After a second or so of writhing, he breaks it apart, madly jumping left and right as the liquid sizzles his skin, damaging him over time. In his confusion, he coughs up fireballs that harm those in his immediate vicinity. He promptly loses all and any charge of his Nightmarish Fever.

Jano's Nightmarish Fever builds itself on attacking enemies that have been inflicted with his nightmares. It depletes over time if he doesn't attack anybody or infect them with nightmares and it unlocks his final move should it fill up completely.
Final Move: Jano screams with a terrible screech, stunning everyone inflicted with nightmares at the time. He then buries into the ground, resurfacing on the closest enemy suffering from his nightmares. He then eats said enemy as soon as he's fully resurfaced. If they are below half Energy, they will die instantly. If not, he deals damage to them equal to half their max Energy and then spit them out, inflicting them with nightmares once more.
If he succesfully eats an enemy, he grows in size, gaining power but slowing him down and making him heavier in the process. This makes him fall faster but increases his max Energy and makes him harder to launch off-screen. Whenever Jano dies, he is restored to his original starting size.

Most generally, Jano has trade-offs between being powerful and taking a long time to perform his moves. As he grows in size, it takes him longer to perform his attacks too, giving his enemies a larger window of opportunity to retaliate or evade him.

[Ambidextroid]

I think it's great, though I can see SA down being used much more than the other SAs as it seems to be much more powerful a move.

Also, him having bat wings wouldn't work as
1. His arms are not connected to his body or hands, they all float a few centimetres apart instead of having bone joints, so the wings would not connect correctly.
2. His arms are made of bare bone, so wings growing from them would not make sense.

Jano could be reworked to fit these needs, though I think it would spoil it giving him fleshy/connected limbs.

I propose there be black/very dark shiny blue (or any colour, I think this would work best though) feathered wings, like Howl's from Howl's Moving Castle, but protruding from his back as opposed to having the feathers cover his body like Howl has. If you've never seen the film, heres an image of what I'm on about:

Large black wings protruding from his back, in contrast to his green skin. I used Howl as an example as it's the first thing that came to mind that looked like what I was envisaging