Rayman: Revenge of the Dark

[Adsolution]

- Lightning sound at 14:27 : how did you get it ? Sounds nice !

I got them from a variety of sources, and randomised them together in FMOD.

The move sequence of the charging/throwing/backing fist is almost perfect for me. Does Rayman put his left hand on the ground at the middle of the movement to allow himself not to fall ?

Indeedly!

The only thing that I don't like is that in Gemstone Temple, Icy Volcano and Temporal Palace it's so dark that I can't see a thing.

That was a problem with rendering the video to a WMV before uploading it. For some reason it cut down to 16-bit, making everything in the shadows fall almost pitch-black. I didn't want to re-render the video though to fix it, since that would take about sixteen hours.

<SKYSCRAPER>

That review was cool. -- Haha, thanks! Though we already talked about stuff on the IRC, so I don't really have anything to say here. Also, good job on getting in the band.

Dude, do you have conscience of how much I want to test the game when it gets close to a final release?

The intro, oh my, the fluid animations... Rayman himseeeeeeeeeeelf.... Urgh I can't hold... he's too perfect, just like how I wanted to see him in a freaking game.

Love this love thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!111

Thanks a lot, Haruka! Don't worry, you're one of the people who gets access to most of the pre-alpha releases before the public. You can upload whatever videos you want, too.

Just a quick question, will you be using the Rayman 1 or Rayman 2 style of respawning? Will Rayman merely reappear at the last Green Lum or will he have an animation?

That's a good question actually, I don't know. I want him to have animations for both dying and spawning, though I'll need to ponder on how I should do the spawning animation. Any ideas?

1280x1024

Get rid of that 5:4 assiness

but Rayman looks a little squat to me. His body is just that tiny bit too compressed vertically and his feet are just a little too big in proportion. The head itself is an amazing model and the hands are quite brilliant too. I did think, however, that this may be exactly what you intended to do - the way he looks now, he appears to be a cross between the R1 Rayman and the R2 one. It is a sort of hybrid, a transition, if you will, between a more kiddy version of the hero to a slightly more adult one. But then that's just how one interprets his age across the games.

I partially intended that actually. Does it look odd though?

Also, I have a tip for the cartoony animations. When he's leaning back, swinging his telescopic fist around, you may want to increase the amount of motion. Cartoon is all about exaggeration, especially in the motion. Have his body swerve up and down more (and maybe fold in on itself a bit more) as he leans back, and maybe even let him lean back more and more as he charges the fist. You could also make him pick up his foot to a higher point and then have it swing up and down between two high points at level of and below his body.

I'm aware, though the reason I didn't do that is because it wouldn't feel as responsive as if it were instant like it currently is. Imagine having to wait that 1/4 of a second from when you let go of the fire button to when he actually throws his fist forward, it would greatly diminish the purpose of the attack.[/quote]

and actually the more and more I see of this, the more and more I want to make a contribution. However there's nothing I think I can really do, my microphone's awful so I wouldn't be much use as a voice actor, I can't make a decent 3D model to save my life, so I would be much use in making miscelaneous models, besides I can only really sort of use blender, I tried the trial of 3ds max and the best thing I got awas a retexture of that rayman 3 model everyone has.. I am highly doubtfull my computer could run the game, so I couldn't really be a tester.

You can make a contribution if you're able to come up with something good to contribute, and in that case, I'd love to see what you can do.

I have an idea for a character that I plan to put in the book. Would you like me to PM you the idea?

Yesir!

The current pb of ROTD if i'm not wrong is the power required to play it in a certain quality, not the OS u are using ...i don't think W7 is the pb but, as we saw it before with comments about the stresstest, the capacity of each computer to play the game.

Indeed, u won't play it with most of the computers which have been made for XP. But i think it will be possible with W7 (if you don't have only 1 GB RAM, a fucking bad graphic card and processor ...).

The engine's built to run solidly on XP, Vista and Se7en, 32 and 64-bit. Whatever problem that's being had isn't one to do with the OS.

I think the main point with these many reports on 'how low the framerate is' are based on results gotten from a laptop tests. Laptops are known for not being very powerful, with some very expensive gaming laptop exceptions. That's all fine - I'm sure RayFan would love to know whether laptop users can also play the game or not, but we should also remember that this doesn't necessarily means no-one will be able to run it.

I'm actually surprised by the amount of laptop gamers there are here. It's good to know that so many of you are getting playable framerates (I consider that 20 and above), I thought that most people wouldn't actually be able to even run it properly. Maybe it's my part of the city that's getting to me.



Also, Ice Volcano not Icy enough? Problem solved:

[Shrooblord]

I partially intended that actually. Does it look odd though?

A teeny bit, but it's also a good style, so I guess I could get used to it. It's just surprising to see that R2 head and then not having the proportions I'm used to.

I'm aware, though the reason I didn't do that is because it wouldn't feel as responsive as if it were instant like it currently is. Imagine having to wait that 1/4 of a second from when you let go of the fire button to when he actually throws his fist forward, it would greatly diminish the purpose of the attack.

Right. This makes sense, but you could maybe exaggerate the motion when Rayman is indeed holding the attack for an extended period of time. It looks a bit bland this way, but only because it looks like it's attempting to be toony, but just doesn't take it one step further to actually get there. If it hadn't been such a typically cartoonish motion, there'd be no problem.
Not trying to tick you off, of course, but then, I think you're not that much of an easily offended person.

1280x1024

Get rid of that 5:4 assiness

I'd love to. I guess that'll come when I get a new computer though (which is not any time soon, since I'm already very happy with my current one).


Also, the snowy scene looks beautiful.

[saerleiya]

Nice ! Good review of the reviews ...
i think tihs is normal that many of us got a laptop because we are still students, and, like me, always on the move. Btw if my shitty laptop can run it (even at 20 fps at low graphism) i'm satisfied.

I promise i'll give you a lil' Fan Art this we (but il will be in black and white and on a picture else if i buy some coloured pencils).

See you.

[Rayfist]

@Rayfan 'dawwww can I also get early access?
Kidding, though it'd be cool, I'm really interested in trying this out no matter at what point!

[R3fan2]

I've sent you the character idea.

[Adsolution]

@Rayfan 'dawwww can I also get early access?
Kidding, though it'd be cool, I'm really interested in trying this out no matter at what point!

Of course you get early access. You're Rayfist.

[Rayfist]

@Rayfan 'dawwww can I also get early access?
Kidding, though it'd be cool, I'm really interested in trying this out no matter at what point!

Of course you get early access. You're Rayfist.

What is a rayfist?

Also thanks a ton!

[TeensieKing]

Icy Volcano looks a thousand times better now but will it have any lava/fire?

[Rulez]

cn i haz a fhree eerly axes ass wel!???///one////

The Ice Volcano looks much better now!

[Rayrobi]

*checks out the video and the pics*

OMG WTF THESE LOOK SO AMAZING!

[Droolie]

Looks like I'm late. I just watched the video for the first time and wow. I'm as impressed as everyone else here. You put a lot of work into this and it's clearly visible.

Besides the fact that most of the worlds look way too big and empty (which is logical as the game is far from finished), my main issue is with the colour palette.
The overall game (at least what's shown in the video) looks really dark, desaturated and blue (as in, most of it is night). That's kind of monotonous.
It's partly because you let the lighting do a lot of the work. Think about how the worlds would look without lighting and then try to make them even better. I think more details/ornaments would help (but of course they're only not there because the game is far from finished).
But that's not the only thing you can do. Since the lighting is so strong, it feels like all of the other colours are drowned in it. For example, in the Ice Volcano (but also in other places), everything is coloured dark blue, because the lighting is dark blue. Even Rayman's colours are drowned in the dark. Don't you think it would be a lot more interesting if you added other colours? Not many, but at least some.
The Dream Forest and Music Mountain look better but in my opinion too vibrant - or it feels like some of the colours don't fit together. Less colours there would feel better, I think. Again, that's just an opinion.

Also, from everything I've seen so far, it looks like the game will be very dramatic. Just some advice: don't forget to put enough breaks between all of the dramatic atmosphere. The pacing will suffer if you don't... I know that from experience.

I also kind of miss the "mysterious ancient things"/mythological element from Rayman 2 (and 3 in some parts). Gemstone ruins doesn't feel like that at all to me - I think it's because of the combination of the colour palette, the music and the lack of ornaments there.

Don't take me only listing negatives badly, there are too many pluses to comment on and a lot of them have already been listed by others anyway
Well done! =D

[saerleiya]

As you said it Drol', the game is far from finished : worlds seem empty because no lums (or tings) or no enemies. They are just a part of what we could see in 6 months or in a year.

Colors don't fit together ? For me this is a part of Rayman's universe design : colours don't necessary need to be fit together especially in this type of game...

Many parts of R2 were dark too the global light was just as strong as it was necessary not to let the gamer in the dark. Look at that :

The only thing that I don't like is that in Gemstone Temple, Icy Volcano and Temporal Palace it's so dark that I can't see a thing.

That was a problem with rendering the video to a WMV before uploading it. For some reason it cut down to 16-bit, making everything in the shadows fall almost pitch-black. I didn't want to re-render the video though to fix it, since that would take about sixteen hours.

For me the darkness of those worlds is linked to the fact that this one is in a darker ambiance than the other ones because of the presence of Dark Rayman (the missing part of Rayman Series to my mind i would enjoy a dark opus ...). Because this is not simply a bid bad guy : this is the greatest antagonist for Rayman, himself but bad.

[Master]

Just a quick question, will you be using the Rayman 1 or Rayman 2 style of respawning? Will Rayman merely reappear at the last Green Lum or will he have an animation?

That's a good question actually, I don't know. I want him to have animations for both dying and spawning, though I'll need to ponder on how I should do the spawning animation. Any ideas?

One theory I've had, is that the reason why Electoons spout from Rayman in the first game is because they carry his energy and help him reform, in the second game, Rayman has become skilled enough to "refocus" his energy himself at a Green Lum, thus eliminating the need for Electoons.
Since your game is a halfway point between these two, you could gradually change from using a R1-esque animation of Electoons aiding Rayman reform to having him do it himself as in Rayman 2.
Of course, I don't understand game development and the limits it holds, so I don't know if such an idea is capable of being realised.

As for the Darkness factor, I don't really mind it, but I've always felt that there was a balance, one of the reasons why I enjoyed Rayman 2 was that it had a good mix of humour and darkness, while titles such as Rayman 3 and Origins have slipped a little too much into the humour category.
If RoTD is going to be more on the darker side of the spectrum, I won't mind, but a little ol' touch of the humour would be nice.

[saerleiya]

One theory I've had, is that the reason why Electoons spout from Rayman in the first game is because they carry his energy and help him reform, in the second game, Rayman has become skilled enough to "refocus" his energy himself at a Green Lum, thus eliminating the need for Electoons.
Since your game is a halfway point between these two, you could gradually change from using a R1-esque animation of Electoons aiding Rayman reform to having him do it himself as in Rayman 2.
Of course, I don't understand game development and the limits it holds, so I don't know if such an idea is capable of being realised.

Good theory (like Mister Dark's theory) i've never thought to this before but the type of respawn will be important in the game thx Master...

[Adsolution]

Colors don't fit together ? For me this is a part of Rayman's universe design : colours don't necessary need to be fit together especially in this type of game...

Heh, artistic misconception. Colours always need to fit together, else it looks bad. It's like saying that a drawing with horrible anatomy isn't bad because it's "their style."

Looks like I'm late. I just watched the video for the first time and wow. I'm as impressed as everyone else here. You put a lot of work into this and it's clearly visible.

Besides the fact that most of the worlds look way too big and empty (which is logical as the game is far from finished), my main issue is with the colour palette.
The overall game (at least what's shown in the video) looks really dark, desaturated and blue (as in, most of it is night). That's kind of monotonous.
It's partly because you let the lighting do a lot of the work. Think about how the worlds would look without lighting and then try to make them even better. I think more details/ornaments would help (but of course they're only not there because the game is far from finished).
But that's not the only thing you can do. Since the lighting is so strong, it feels like all of the other colours are drowned in it. For example, in the Ice Volcano (but also in other places), everything is coloured dark blue, because the lighting is dark blue. Even Rayman's colours are drowned in the dark. Don't you think it would be a lot more interesting if you added other colours? Not many, but at least some.
The Dream Forest and Music Mountain look better but in my opinion too vibrant - or it feels like some of the colours don't fit together. Less colours there would feel better, I think. Again, that's just an opinion.

Also, from everything I've seen so far, it looks like the game will be very dramatic. Just some advice: don't forget to put enough breaks between all of the dramatic atmosphere. The pacing will suffer if you don't... I know that from experience.

I also kind of miss the "mysterious ancient things"/mythological element from Rayman 2 (and 3 in some parts). Gemstone ruins doesn't feel like that at all to me - I think it's because of the combination of the colour palette, the music and the lack of ornaments there.

Don't take me only listing negatives badly, there are too many pluses to comment on and a lot of them have already been listed by others anyway
Well done! =D

Thanks a lot! I was actually waiting for a comment like this, because I had started to feel this way towards the end of making the update. I agree very much with you on everything, I just wanted someone else to point it flat out for me (since I've been working on them for a while, I start to not be able to tell, you know what I mean). I think this especially effects Gemstone Ruins, Canyon of the Lost and the Ice Volcano, in regards to the monotony. I actually have played with some artificial lighting in a few places such as that spot in the Dream Forest from 5:10 - 5:30.

Like usual, right after posting the update I get the motivation to do a whole bunch of work, so refer to the top of this page to see the progress on fixing the monotonous lighting and textures. I know it's still very blue, but that's just the specific mood for this area here. Probably the next thing I'll be doing is recreating the 'mythological' atmosphere for Gemstone Ruins.

About the drama, don't worry, there are plenty of gaps. When you start in the Dream Forest, it's very lighthearted and rather happy, which is reminiscent by the vibrant atmosphere. But then when you're "chased out." it sort of turns mysterious and intense, and somewhat dark, though it comes across more magical than dark, since Rayman is still more like he was in the first game, which is presumably younger, where he isn't so in tune with what the dark actually is. It sort of feels like the game is guiding you through then through the Memory Realm and Dream Forest Depths, and then you're eventually totally on your own when you reach Gemstone Ruins. From there it starts to become happier, especially when you see the sun rise in Windmill Hills - you get reminded of the beauty of the light, and it becomes very casual from then, the kind of atmosphere someone could laugh through, and maybe have a picnic. It then continues to get brighter and happier as you continue on to Music Mountain, where it's as if all the notes are dancing around you, cheering you on. By the time you get through the Ice Volcano and to Starlight Peak, you hit the first drama point: when you meet Raven. This isn't a sad moment, but it certainly grabs hold of the 'mood,' or what not and is a big point in the story, so it qualifies as a drama point. You brush off said drama through Valley of Illusion and Mount Kollapso, until you meet Ly and her band of misfits, where you hit another story element (drama is too big a word for the mood here).

It goes sort of like that, but it gets progressively darker as you journey. You see scenes with Dark Rayman in the sort of like you did with Razorbeard, as well as breakaway gameplay sequences where you control someone from back at the Dream Forest, and those actually set quite a lot of the mood. It really hits a noticeable 'dark' turning point when you're going to save Flips and Moskito from The Prison Ship/Glassdrop Grove (they're very consecutive and they intertwine), as you begin to find out what Dark Rayman's really up to, and how he treats his prisoners. The whole theme of 'time' is hinted at with the whole concept of the Memory Realm, but really kicks in when you reach Fort Night for the first time (about half way through the game, which is right after you save Moskito). It just darkens from there, up to when you reach the Temporal Palace, and then following through Penumbra Ocean, Fort Night (II) The Crying Moor, The Shadow Factory, The Shutter Cave, Into the Blaze, the Darklands and The Final Act.

Bah, that was way too detailed.

[saerleiya]

Colors don't fit together ? For me this is a part of Rayman's universe design : colours don't necessary need to be fit together especially in this type of game...

Heh, artistic misconception. Colours always need to fit together, else it looks bad. It's like saying that a drawing with horrible anatomy isn't bad because it's "their style."

Sry i maybe misunderstood :s...

[R3fan2]

Rayfan there is a problem that I have had for a long time regarding the book. Even though it will probably be a long while before I have to face this problem I feel that I should ask for your help. You are really the only person that can help me solve the problem and it is very important, if I am unable to solve it then the novel is no more. Although I don't want this discussion here where everyone can read. Please post back after you read this. If you are willing to help I'll PM you my problem. Also on a side note have you read my character idea yet? I was hoping you could help me come up with a name for him.


EDIT: Do you hate the novel? Do you think that I'm just wasting my time trying to think of all these ideas for it and that I should just give up? I'm asking because shortly after I posted this I thought of you posting back that you wouldn't help me because you wanted the novel to be no more (though I might just have been being a little paranoid.) So if you think that I should give up on the book just say so alright. I have to know, i can't get that thought out of my mind.

[Adsolution]

You are being incredibly paranoid. I really like the direction you're taking with it, and it's for the most part very well written, and I've told you that a million times before. I'd love to see you continue if possible. If there's something wrong, you can rest assured I'd tell you right away, because it's not fair to act so passive-aggressive in these situations. Given that I haven''t complained at all, you're doing a good job.

And sure, send over the PM.

[Robotic Teensie]

Wow those new screenshots of Ice Volcano are great! Now it looks like a very cold place!
Will there be lava as well? It is a volcano, after all. At the moment it looks like an ice mountain. Lava could provide a good contrast with all the ice to make things less monotonous, and create very nice lighting effects.
Or will the lava appear in a later level?

[saerleiya]

If there is lava on the Ice Volcano, you should leave it away from the ice, because ice is at less than 0°C (sry for those who use fahrenheit i don't know how to convert instantly) and lava is at least at 700°C (most of the time more about 1000 or 1100) so with heat movement lava can't be close to ice else it will be very strange even for that kind of game :s.

My opinion. Is there an underground level in the Ice Volcano ? So indeed lava could be there ...