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May 2015 Demo

And here is the last demo of A Thief Melody, a 3D cartoon adventure/stealth game with a contemplative atmosphere, somewhere between “Zelda” and “Beyond Good and Evil”. Don’t hesitate to test/share/reblog/comment/like if you want to help me!

 

Survey: Don’t forget to complete the online survey after playing the game!
Bug hunt: As usual, contact me for bugs or any feedback.
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What’s new since the last demo?

You have to know the demo quests are more or less final at the moment. The next official demos (including this one) will only provide bug fixes and graphics/sound/music enhancement. I now focus my work on adding levels and quests for the final release, which won’t be visible in this demo (especially new content).

The main new things I’ve done since December are:

Content

  • 3 new levels: Desert pagoda, Aqualums counsellor villa, Water Dojo, and a prototype for the slingshot Dojo.
  • 2 new bosses + physics optimisation: Sand and Water guardians
  • new items: rocks, plants/vegetation, doors, windows, kitchen items, stained glass, ramps, lights…
  • new title and logo
  • updated design of the robots and the guild guys
  • light rigs for new levels
  • new climbing moves and new item: the magnetic gauntlet
  • update of climbing tutorial
  • update of vegetation shader for a better wind effect
  • update of Zephyr Island
  • update of the main character: assymetric hair, holster for the bo, magnetic gauntlet and graple armlet
  • mini cutscenes for some of the switch mechanics
  • music selection menu for the flute item

Code & optimisation

  • upgrade to Unity 5
  • upgrade to DirectX 11
  • upgrade to deferred shading, which enables lots of active lights at the same time
  • shader bug fixes among which reflected fog in water
  • physics and clothes bug fixes
  • creation of 2D and 3D noise texture for various effects (vegetation, smart auto uv mapping, …)
  • better cutscene and dialogs coding
  • big physics collision matrix optimisation
  • big reflection optimisation by disabling shadows and point lights with forward rendering
  • animation optimization for lianas, ropes and chains
  • gameplay mechanics code factorisation
  • update of all mechanics in Blender levels to take into account the code refactorisation
  • draw call optimisation for new levels
  • armature animation optimisation for pirates and guards
  • new official landing page for the game
  • lots lots lots of minor bug fixes.

 

What’s broken ?

You didn’t expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I’m aware of a few bugs/regressions:

  • Environments are still a bit empty
  • Some sounds must be re-designed
  • The game lacks some music/sounds
  • Some camera moves are a bit harsh

Controls

 

  • ZQSD or WASD: move the character. It’s both AZERTY and QWERTY compatible
  • Space: jump and climb
  • Shift: crouch, fall and block
  • Mouse move: move the camera
  • E: weapon selection menu
  • Left click: main weapon (Bo) or contextual action
  • Right click: secondary weapon
  • Tab: inventory/map/missions

Have fun! Peace!

 


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