Y'all I am stuck in Deep Town and I'm not sure how to make this jump. Btw, amazing game sevencrane! I've been following your work since 2021 or 2022. the progress you have made is insane!! Thanks for your contribution to the amazing metroidvanias group.
Hi Sed, at this point in the game you are expected to learn boost jumps. By dashing up a slope at a high speed, jumping with convert that horizontal momentum into vertical momentum and allow you to gain the height
Found a bug: While you're in the inventory, the game still runs but Val is impervious to damage. This can be used to cheese bosses by pausing, waiting for an opening, unpausing, attacking, and pausing again, repeating this until the enemy is dead. Might want to fix that.
I like this new version very much, even if I had to get used to the changes... If think I found a bug, when I kill the lake monster and I get back to Lauren I have the heart in my inventory but she keeps talking me as if I still had to slain the monster. Or am I doing something wrong? I'm playing from web.
No, that's just where the demo ends for the moment. Go to the training gym after getting all the achievements and there's slightly more, but for now that's all.
Hey, just a random question, but do we have an update on the next big update (for more story)? Totally understand if not, I'm just curious (mostly bc I'm really excited to see where it goes lol).
Hello, there is a glitch such that when I get on the train in the training gym, all the abilities I get are deleted (with my inventory being 'error). Further, when I try to go to the next station (the parkour course), I am stuck in an infinite loading screen.
The game is really fun, though! Wish listed already
Played both versions now and I can confidently say I am absolutely in love. Can't wait to see how this progresses and I'll be sure to show this off to the people I know. I love the story, the gameplay, the visuals, and the music.
(Somewhat related sidenote: my three favorite characters are the killbox, Tunnels Greg, and Steven, but Rob seems interesting and Lauren has a lot of potential judging by both versions. I loved the lil box dude in the non-phys version, it reminded me a little bit of claptrap and I laughed so hard reading it, Steven is amazing, and Tunnels Greg is also awesome).
As for feedback:
I feel like the combat is a bit lacking compared to the non-phys version but this is still quite new so I totally understand why, plus as I saw the main thing I was excited for I saw in another comment response is coming; aerial combos. Also, I will say it feels a lot less cheese-able in this version. Absolutely a step-up so far.
The momentum felt a little weird and threw off the combat for me a little because I was sliding way further than I expected, but that's a skill issue more than likely.
I can't really think of any other feedback, beyond saying that this story deserves a load of attention, it's already better than most triple A games I've played in the last few years! Keep up the genuinely awesome work! <3
P.S.
Take a break. Run to make a snack, hydrate yourself, and take a nap if you need one, if you've read this far. We all need basic self-care :3
Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it! Lauren's probably my favorite character in the game so far, I've got a lot planned for her and I think you can already see some of it in the ending sequence (go to the training gym, then take the subway to the highway terminal and go to the top level).
Oh, I can absolutely see it. She's not quite there for me, but like... Can you blame me? Tunnels Greg is such a funny lil guy lol. And yeah, I was about to go through the training gym stuff but got sidetracked lol.
I used a higher-res rig and then render everything to a low-res texture, then scale it up. The characters are high-res sorta-pixel art, and the backgrounds and almost everything else are hand-drawn. This post is sorta old and out of date, but it covers the basics: https://sevencrane.itch.io/vapor-trails/devlog/214252/tutorial-basic-skeletal-an...
Really enjoyed what I played of the demo, super fun platforming and combat and I ran into very few bugs with one exception
Possible Spoilers ahead:
I beat the Lady of the Lake and then proceeded forward, I ended up jumping off a cliff assuming that was the way forward and now I'm stuck falling forever
I feel like val's air kicks used to be very cool, and then a few crap comments got this ugly, messy, kick. Could you bring back the original kick than val used to do?
It would be cool if divekicking meant you could dash one more time. I don't tink it would make the game cheaty. Also you're going to move the whole old combat system to new physics build right? (Minus the redone attacks).
Val used to be so much faster! Can you still have the smooth physics with the same speed? Val's foward jumps and dash used to have more momentum. I also wish val didn't slide across platforms when we stop moving.
I remember when val had three kick attacks. I agree that three kicks in mid air is op, but couldn't you make mutiple keys to chain in order to attack? And als
Sorry If I asked for a lot or don't make any sense. Really excited for this game to be on steam.
Those comments make sense. I'll address them by paragraph:
do you mean the up-air kick? or the unaimed kick? either way, I'm planning on adding air combos in the future.
I think dash should refresh on a divekick now, I agree that it should give you another dash if you bounce. And yes, I'm going to move everything to the new system.
The forward jumps and dash are actually at the same speed in-game, I think the effects just make it feel different. The platform sliding thing was a bug that I fixed (you still have momentum but it won't carry you over ledges, you'll stop at the edge)
Multiple keys is definitely possible. I added a "Tornado Kick" unlockable for a multi-hit aerial in the early game. You can find it in the Prismatic Graveyard.
Great stuff! Love the new miniboss and the new achievements/easter eggs. Is the crossing the lake via lamps currently achievable? Also wondering if the story has permanently changed slightly in that Val has no memories of Paradise at all, or if that's just a demo thing
It is, yes. The story order has altered but will remain more or less the same, she'll relive the beginning sequence after beating the Lady of the Lake.
speaking of... where is lady of the lake, i did the lantern skip and the normal route and found nothing but walls. The lantern pogo was really fun though.
Looking forwards to remastered dragon robot guy and Lady of The Lake, both the OGs were really good fights that had a lot of further potential, I feel like Lady of the Lake needed a better ranged move, but was really good other than that.
I really enjoyed the new features and changes here.
One issue is that the one shard of the two in the top right of the shrine area is almost impossible to reach, and it would be a relief if it were to be moved closer to the right where the player can reach it.
Another issue is that I am having a lot of trouble finding the Andromeda arena and boss fight. I looked everywhere in the maps and even tried to reach the top of the map with the bottomless pit present (to no success).
Other than that, I like it a lot.
You can go to the Training Gym via the main menu after reaching the end of the demo and getting the achievement for that. Also, I tweaked slope following so the shrine shards should be easier to get if you build up speed.
Amazing! I tested the new updated build and I can’t find the wall climb ability anywhere, which means that I can’t move up to find andromeda. Do you know where the wall climb is? Also, I also found another bottomless pit area just after the train in the training gym which needs to be filled to prevent falling out of the map. The new boost tweak is amazing too, but it might be a bit too much for the final release (demo here is fine).
I also tried to port the entire project to Godot but I ran into issues with loading the assets. I forgot what I did exactly since it was a month ago and my focus was (and still is) on my education. It was only because of that one situation by that one company.
Do you want to have the project ported?
There's no wall climb yet in the demo sadly. But once you get the "explorer" achievement, you can get to the Training Gym from the main menu which will let you take the subway to Andromeda.
Also, porting the entire thing to Godot would be a huge amount of effort.
I took the subway to the Target Course since I checked around Highway Terminal and didn’t find any indication of Andromedia. I can’t reach the top of the course unfortunately.
Also, there are some online tools to help port the game over to Godot in a simpler way, but I guess with the recent updates, maybe having the project stay on Unity is okay.
You have to take it to the Highway Terminal and get to the top level. Lauren will be on top of the station and you can talk to her to begin the Andromeda fight, sorry it's not super clear yet.
P.S. I don't know where else to post this so im putting it here, i realized that in richter's proper boss fight (other demo) he uses Aether from Fire Emblem (just started using Ike in SSBU and realized this)
In my opinion, this is a huge improvement. The combat feels like you're a lot more powerful. The only thing I don't like is that you made recycling dashes gives you less speed, I really enjoyed going fast in open areas.
Combat moves feel more gritty, grounded, impactful. That's great. I don't quite like the new movement, though. The slower average movement speed is fine, but there some specific parts that feel off for me. Warning: this is my personal feedback on movement, which i believe will vary widely from player to player. It's a touchy subject.
I don't like the way she turns around when i switch directions. Shorten the time to do that 180, make her do a slower half-step till she finishes turning, adjust something.
The boost mechanic eliminates vertical momentum. I believe there should be at least a bit of noticeable fall or jump speed remaining during that action.
This doesn't feel like it will match the platforming of the stages that already exist. is it a real mismatch or just my impression from the zoomed-in look of this demo?
Also this might be farfetched and a nightmare to code and design so i'm leaving it as just a remote possibility: Have you considered having separate combat and navigation modes for the character? a toggle button for wing/fight mode switch. It could add variety for each major mechanic but could also increase the ammount of learning the player has to put up with.
- I might add an initial dash state like Smash Bros where you can instantly turn around when you start dashing. - The boost mechanic is actually identical to the other Vapor Trails build. You keep any vertical momentum, but you can't fall while boosting. - I will definitely rework the stages that exist to compensate for the new movement.
The physics are still fun, though I'll have to relearn them to be able to do as much crazy stuff as was possible in the old game-- is it just me or do you fall significantly faster? Andromeda doesn't fight back which is :( Glad the project is still ongoing; I'll put up with either physics system or a much worse one if the character design and story pull through.
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This game got me through some hard times (OG). Glad to see it's still being worked on, I suppose.
Hi Sed, at this point in the game you are expected to learn boost jumps. By dashing up a slope at a high speed, jumping with convert that horizontal momentum into vertical momentum and allow you to gain the height
Found a bug: While you're in the inventory, the game still runs but Val is impervious to damage. This can be used to cheese bosses by pausing, waiting for an opening, unpausing, attacking, and pausing again, repeating this until the enemy is dead. Might want to fix that.
I like this new version very much, even if I had to get used to the changes... If think I found a bug, when I kill the lake monster and I get back to Lauren I have the heart in my inventory but she keeps talking me as if I still had to slain the monster. Or am I doing something wrong? I'm playing from web.
Same, Lauren just keeps denying heart in my inventory. I checked this issue exists in web and desk versions.
No, that's just where the demo ends for the moment. Go to the training gym after getting all the achievements and there's slightly more, but for now that's all.
Hey, just a random question, but do we have an update on the next big update (for more story)? Totally understand if not, I'm just curious (
mostly bc I'm really excited to see where it goes lol).Just found a funny bug, I keep respawning in the Smoking Beast's battle place and he doesn't even do anything unless I go close to the door.
Still getting the save issue, even after the update, just an fyi.
Meant to add it after, but this is what I'm seeing when I open my inventory, all the achievements are gone too.
There was a different underlying issue, try now in the web build
Still the inventory bug occurs, how do i reach beta andromeda in the training gym?
Yep still broken! I tried using the sandbag to hit up there but it doesn't seem to be enough speed :(
game crashing, or just taking forever to load, when dying to lady of the lake
also lady of the lake is a nice step up in difficulty from the og, no longer easy to beat
huh weird, i'll look into it
also how do i get to the training gym in this new version
actually game won't reload after pruning a branch period
Fixed!
Hello, there is a glitch such that when I get on the train in the training gym, all the abilities I get are deleted (with my inventory being 'error). Further, when I try to go to the next station (the parkour course), I am stuck in an infinite loading screen.
The game is really fun, though! Wish listed already
It's a save bug, I have the fix ready and will publish it this weekend. Thanks for playing!
thx!
fix is out
Played both versions now and I can confidently say I am absolutely in love. Can't wait to see how this progresses and I'll be sure to show this off to the people I know. I love the story, the gameplay, the visuals, and the music.
(Somewhat related sidenote: my three favorite characters are the killbox, Tunnels Greg, and Steven, but Rob seems interesting and Lauren has a lot of potential judging by both versions. I loved the lil box dude in the non-phys version, it reminded me a little bit of claptrap and I laughed so hard reading it, Steven is amazing, and Tunnels Greg is also awesome).
As for feedback:
I feel like the combat is a bit lacking compared to the non-phys version but this is still quite new so I totally understand why, plus as I saw the main thing I was excited for I saw in another comment response is coming; aerial combos. Also, I will say it feels a lot less cheese-able in this version. Absolutely a step-up so far.
The momentum felt a little weird and threw off the combat for me a little because I was sliding way further than I expected, but that's a skill issue more than likely.
I can't really think of any other feedback, beyond saying that this story deserves a load of attention, it's already better than most triple A games I've played in the last few years! Keep up the genuinely awesome work! <3
P.S.
Take a break. Run to make a snack, hydrate yourself, and take a nap if you need one, if you've read this far. We all need basic self-care :3
Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it! Lauren's probably my favorite character in the game so far, I've got a lot planned for her and I think you can already see some of it in the ending sequence (go to the training gym, then take the subway to the highway terminal and go to the top level).
Oh, I can absolutely see it. She's not quite there for me, but like... Can you blame me? Tunnels Greg is such a funny lil guy lol. And yeah, I was about to go through the training gym stuff but got sidetracked lol.
I have no clue why, but every time I go to HWT, I get progress reset while loading the Terminal, meaning I can't do anything there.
It's a save bug, I have the fix locally and will upload soon!
How do you know when to stop. Because when I start making games. I when too far. 😶
I like pixel art. But how did you make it look so cool? Did you use a non-pixel art rig and then use a shader, or use a pixel art rig?
I used a higher-res rig and then render everything to a low-res texture, then scale it up. The characters are high-res sorta-pixel art, and the backgrounds and almost everything else are hand-drawn. This post is sorta old and out of date, but it covers the basics:
https://sevencrane.itch.io/vapor-trails/devlog/214252/tutorial-basic-skeletal-an...
And I am so confused of what is the last achievemet.
Oh and is this unity or godot (I see in the chat that you said you might import it to godot so I'm confused)????
It's a Unity game, although if I had to do it all over again I would use Godot or Unreal.
The last (secret) achievement you can only do in a new game - it involves getting an item before someone asks for it
So when will the "new game" be here?
The lantern pogo is cool! But how to I give the lady of the lake's heart to her.
It's not coded yet, sorry! Glad you like the lamps though.
I'm a fan of this game (Love the pixel art!). I always trying to make games like this. But didn't make it. Glad you do! 🙂
Really enjoyed what I played of the demo, super fun platforming and combat and I ran into very few bugs with one exception
Possible Spoilers ahead:
I beat the Lady of the Lake and then proceeded forward, I ended up jumping off a cliff assuming that was the way forward and now I'm stuck falling forever
ha, whoops...forgot to close it off. Thanks for playing! I'll push another update soon.
Some thoughts:
I feel like val's air kicks used to be very cool, and then a few crap comments got this ugly, messy, kick. Could you bring back the original kick than val used to do?
It would be cool if divekicking meant you could dash one more time. I don't tink it would make the game cheaty. Also you're going to move the whole old combat system to new physics build right? (Minus the redone attacks).
Val used to be so much faster! Can you still have the smooth physics with the same speed? Val's foward jumps and dash used to have more momentum. I also wish val didn't slide across platforms when we stop moving.
I remember when val had three kick attacks. I agree that three kicks in mid air is op, but couldn't you make mutiple keys to chain in order to attack? And als
Sorry If I asked for a lot or don't make any sense. Really excited for this game to be on steam.
Those comments make sense. I'll address them by paragraph:
Thanks for playing!
The "WIP" doodle for smoke beast killed me inside, he's also a fun display of how much SSBU has taught me about combos, dragdown tornado kick is cool
Great stuff! Love the new miniboss and the new achievements/easter eggs. Is the crossing the lake via lamps currently achievable? Also wondering if the story has permanently changed slightly in that Val has no memories of Paradise at all, or if that's just a demo thing
It is, yes. The story order has altered but will remain more or less the same, she'll relive the beginning sequence after beating the Lady of the Lake.
I see. Thanks!
speaking of... where is lady of the lake, i did the lantern skip and the normal route and found nothing but walls. The lantern pogo was really fun though.
She's not in the demo yet, it's gonna be a more intense sequence that I'm still working on.
Looking forwards to remastered dragon robot guy and Lady of The Lake, both the OGs were really good fights that had a lot of further potential, I feel like Lady of the Lake needed a better ranged move, but was really good other than that.
Lady of the Lake will have some cool new mechanics that should be fun. I've already started that area.
I really enjoyed the new features and changes here. One issue is that the one shard of the two in the top right of the shrine area is almost impossible to reach, and it would be a relief if it were to be moved closer to the right where the player can reach it. Another issue is that I am having a lot of trouble finding the Andromeda arena and boss fight. I looked everywhere in the maps and even tried to reach the top of the map with the bottomless pit present (to no success). Other than that, I like it a lot.
You can go to the Training Gym via the main menu after reaching the end of the demo and getting the achievement for that. Also, I tweaked slope following so the shrine shards should be easier to get if you build up speed.
Amazing! I tested the new updated build and I can’t find the wall climb ability anywhere, which means that I can’t move up to find andromeda. Do you know where the wall climb is? Also, I also found another bottomless pit area just after the train in the training gym which needs to be filled to prevent falling out of the map. The new boost tweak is amazing too, but it might be a bit too much for the final release (demo here is fine).
I also tried to port the entire project to Godot but I ran into issues with loading the assets. I forgot what I did exactly since it was a month ago and my focus was (and still is) on my education. It was only because of that one situation by that one company. Do you want to have the project ported?
There's no wall climb yet in the demo sadly. But once you get the "explorer" achievement, you can get to the Training Gym from the main menu which will let you take the subway to Andromeda.
Also, porting the entire thing to Godot would be a huge amount of effort.
I took the subway to the Target Course since I checked around Highway Terminal and didn’t find any indication of Andromedia. I can’t reach the top of the course unfortunately.
Also, there are some online tools to help port the game over to Godot in a simpler way, but I guess with the recent updates, maybe having the project stay on Unity is okay.
You have to take it to the Highway Terminal and get to the top level. Lauren will be on top of the station and you can talk to her to begin the Andromeda fight, sorry it's not super clear yet.
This is awesome, my only complaint is that pit at the end of the graveyard area near the bottomless pit i wanted to hop down stopped me from escaping
P.S. I don't know where else to post this so im putting it here, i realized that in richter's proper boss fight (other demo) he uses Aether from Fire Emblem (just started using Ike in SSBU and realized this)
Very true. His moveset was inspired by Ike in Ultimate and Project M.
Edit: In the earlier non-physics build, the bat air attack that Val gets is identical to Ike's forward aerial in SSBU/PM.
not that i can do any better then you but the dropkick looks a lil goofy to me
still really good though
hi.... i am stuck early in the game
... after getting the afterburner, in a platform jump with 3 shard in parabol, before the room with spikes... the jump is too high
nevermind .... i have to afterburn first, THEN jump .... like diverting the inertia
im back after being gone and i see the new stuff added to the game sevencrane its been forever
Great what you have done with this new demo, great to see it’s becoming into the vapor trails we all know
In my opinion, this is a huge improvement. The combat feels like you're a lot more powerful. The only thing I don't like is that you made recycling dashes gives you less speed, I really enjoyed going fast in open areas.
This game is really good. Bit hard to figure out how it determines when you can dash in the base game, though.
When Val flashes blue, dash is off cooldown.
my god this game is so good. I can not wait for a full version - I really hope you end up finishing this!!!!
Wow this is pretty awesome...
can we have the punch and attack combos again?
those combos really make the game unique
thank you
Combat moves feel more gritty, grounded, impactful. That's great.
I don't quite like the new movement, though. The slower average movement speed is fine, but there some specific parts that feel off for me.
Warning: this is my personal feedback on movement, which i believe will vary widely from player to player. It's a touchy subject.
Also this might be farfetched and a nightmare to code and design so i'm leaving it as just a remote possibility:
Have you considered having separate combat and navigation modes for the character? a toggle button for wing/fight mode switch. It could add variety for each major mechanic but could also increase the ammount of learning the player has to put up with.
I did also consider this, but it seemed like too much for the player to think about.
Thanks for the feedback.
- I might add an initial dash state like Smash Bros where you can instantly turn around when you start dashing.
- The boost mechanic is actually identical to the other Vapor Trails build. You keep any vertical momentum, but you can't fall while boosting.
- I will definitely rework the stages that exist to compensate for the new movement.
The physics are still fun, though I'll have to relearn them to be able to do as much crazy stuff as was possible in the old game-- is it just me or do you fall significantly faster? Andromeda doesn't fight back which is :( Glad the project is still ongoing; I'll put up with either physics system or a much worse one if the character design and story pull through.
Andromeda fights back but in the downloaded versions, I'm still ironing out some issues with loading her data on web
I might miss the sliding animation while changing directions, but it always was a bit annoying when it threw an attack the wrong way.
at what point in the game will the new animations and physics be introduced?
Yippee :D
nice
this is awesome, 7Crane!! ^_^