Hello everyone,
It’s been a while since the last demo, and I’ve worked on many visual improvements, so I decided it was enough to publish a new version of the game. As usual, don’t be surprise as the main quest is more or less the same (see details below to learn what’s new).
So here is a new demo of A Thief’s 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.
Beware: This is the alpha (=NOT FINAL) demo of May 2018. If you want to get the latest demo for sure, just check the official website.
Feedback & bug hunt: As usual, if you want to tell me what you think about the game, or if you find bugs, contact me at contact at oneiricworlds dot com
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Install Notes
- Linux
Under Linux, you have to change the execution rights on the game file:
chmod +x aThiefsMelody.*
- Mac OS
Haha… I didn’t test on Mac, because I don’t have a Mac. But the beauty of Unity is that I can release on Mac from a Windows/Linux system anyway.
So, if Mac users out there want to give it a try and tell me what’s wrong (or what’s right, hopefully 😉 ), you’re most welcome!
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.
Since July 2017, lots of improvements have been done:
- Work on atmospheric effects (clouds, fog, flying particles, …) on many levels
- Whole new vegetation system, all details here for the curious reader
- Density of the vegetation system can be controlled for small configs
- A new cloud system for the world skybox
- A whole redesign of the pirate warehouse level
- Design upgrade of Eagle islands
- New gameplay for the shield
- Water reflections can now be turned off for small configs
- Camera sensitivity is now in the options
- Better toon shading on characters
- Heavy optimization of the Link and especially the map
- Various post process for a better “anime” feel: oil paint & line edge, which also improves readability (at least to me 😉 )
- Various technical tests for better character modeling and animation
- Simpler UI to leave the screen almost empty for a better immersion
- You can now sell flowers 🙂
- UI improvement: icon positioning, optimisations, a few redesigns, better 3D & 2D mixing, better map rendering
- Lots of fixes & code cleaning
- Last but not least: my whole production pipeline now runs entirely under Linux. YES! I use Unity Editor on Linux, and it has been a bit difficult, but I really like the new workflow. More on that later I hope!
What’s broken ?
You didn’t expect everything to work perfectly, did you? I’m aware of a few bugs/regressions/problems:
- Controls are displayed in English, whatever language you choose.
- Spanish is not implemented yet (even if it is choosable in the options)
- Some assets still need work to be done or polished (Audio, Graphics, UI, Dialogs, …)
- Some areas are still a bit empty
- The game seems a bit dark on some devices, especially with high quality graphics that handle shadow casting. It might be some gamma issue, I’ll have to check this out.
- Under Linux, it seems the keyboard controls sometimes get “stuck” for a few seconds… I know it’s a crazy thing to say, but it might work better with a Xbox controller :p