Woah. It's been so much since the last time I showed myself in front of world. I did made some other games before this one, but also this kinda like a "hard reboot" of an older game that I made, it was for the Pixel Stuff Game Jam where the theme was "Memory", and well the first thing that I thinked was like those scenes in The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild where you were watching the memories of Link when you found the place of the photo with Sheikah thingy. And then I thought about the thing about collecting memories like, in a literal sense and you could place them back in another position (at that time I didn't realize that was just a inventory system so -___-).

So yeah I did that, the game I mean. Aaaaand I got 6th place, not actually a good place since there were only 8th places in total. So yeah I even tried to remade that game, but the scope maybe it was over the roof and stuff. So yeah, here I am, trying again, but now it's very different now that I have more experience in game development. Now in 3D!!!

Also, I think there's someone who maybe or not is wanting to meet you.

Woah I can't even believe it! You met Camila, now that's awesome.

Also she can't actually go that fast, I just messed up the timing of the GIF and I didn't want to make it all over again (like it's very tedious doing it for all of the frames). Well there's also the thing that she maybe wants to go fast but she can't do that right now. So.

Sometimes I can't believe that she gave me hope for the future.

Oh yeah. Also I wanted to show some of the progress I made since, well the start. So let's get going.

The time targetter

That's how I called... them internally, since also I want them to be like a character like FLUDD in Super Mario Sunshine, but also I want them to be more important for the plot of the story, since I already know how this all ends. Whoa. It's like I'm going to be the prophet of an inevitable future that I'm not going to tell. How charming!

So yeah their name is Kamy (I really have no other name but?????? it fits???? I think???) and well, they help Camila using something called; time stopping (not actually time stopping more like changing the time state of objects, characters, places and enemies if you know what I'm saying)

First world and tutorial

So one day I decided that I wanted to show my friends about the progress in my game, so I did just that. The tutorial world was unfinished and so it was the first world, I realized that they barely had time to use and familiarize with the time stopping mechanic, so for now I been trying to get more focused in that aspect and try to vary the uses for the time stopping and time starting stuff

Camila's moveset

Camila can do a lot of things, like: jumping, walking, wall jumping, wall sliding, ground pound, balance herself in and out, roll, roll jump and throwing her hat and picking it up.

There's probably something I missed but eh. Who cares?

Music

I love music. And also I also like making it myself, so I already have a couple of tracks varying in length and quality about the game. I even made the final boss music and then showed it to a friend, they told that the song was "peak" and that I "cooked", whatever that means but I think they liked it. Well anyways here's an unrelated song that I made for when Camila meets her friend.

I literaly just realized that I can't put music right now, like Neocities says that's an unallowed file for me and that I need to become a supported for unmaking the unallowence, like ow .-.

Maybe try imagining the music, I bet it sounds cool.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can say a lot because we (as a person that wears skin) talk a lot. Also it's very late for me right now like I'm getting really sleepy, like really really sleepy and I want to finish writing this so I'll end this almost now. In another day, I'll keep updating this, it will be a really difficult time in trying to make everything look nice, but I'll get it someday. So yeah this is me, signing out. Ciao!

I still can't believe Christmas was a couple a weeks! Like wow! That was really awesomesauce. Yeah it's been a while since my last post, but don't worry! I'll keep posting stuff at least every month. Soooo let's get to the main dish!

The first world

Camila in an unfinished world (see image 1)

Well as the name says, this is like the first world where Camila can explore many of the wonder of her new circumstances. For now I have like the spawn area (that's still looks a bit barebones), that right now it looks a bit creepy, yep; the heebie jeebies 0-0, I really stil need to work on that. So I have almost ready my plan of the NPCs that are going to be here, and the mini boss. I'm like pretty I'm going to have a difficult time especially with the mini boss, because like you know, that's like the only thing I apparently forgot to try in improving, you know like making good boss fights, sooo for now my objective for that it's that it doesn't feel clunky to, well; fight.

A considerable amount of spikes

Point in check

Showcase of the time freezing mechanic

So yeah, not a lot to show in that aspect, but I hope the next section is a bit better

The start of a story

So basically, there's Camila and her friend Liz, they're like friends since childhood. The two have to make a school project with someone called Michael and all three reunite in the park to make it. Stuff is done and they go to Liz's house, which is quite big, like really really big in the inside, more stuff happens they get to know more about Michael (which he prefers to be called Leo), the next part... I'm not really sure how it will go but just imagine something something uhh magical happens and like; oh no a mirror, It's broken and then stuff happens and Camila is transported to a weird place that looks a bit like fantasy and stuff and then that's where Camila meets Kamy, then explains to Camila about their cool powers of time freezing and time melting and stuff and the place they're currently in. Then they exit the place just to find themselves in Liz's house but, there's no one here and that Kamy explains that maybe they were also transported to other worlds just like Camila, this is time that She and Kamy go to the first world to find clues about the whereabouts of the others. Finally starting the adventure that Camila wanted to do in her life.

Dialog

I have a couple of dialog events already in the game but they lack a bit more of refinement, and also I need to finish their personalities, characteristics, mannerisms, etc. But for now Camila, Liz and Leo are the most complete right now.

I can show you a dialog snippet of some dialogs.

First Blessing Dialog

(It says...)

FIRST BLESSING

ONE AGONIST WAS GIVEN FOREMOST

A FRIEND

BOTH ARE GUIDES INTO THE EACH OTHER'S DESTINY

Home Passage Dialog Snippet

Liz: Are you awake?

Liz: ...

Liz: Ah. There you are.

Liz: The kid is already here.

Liz: I couldn't get a lot of insight about him.

Liz: His name is Michael.

Liz: ...He prefers to be called "Leo".

Liz: And that's all there is to it.

Liz: Look.

Liz: It's really exciting to meet someone else.

Liz: But this could also be really...

Liz: Will "Leo" join us?

Liz: Or will he remain as Michael?

Liz: Let's see.

Liz: What fate will say.

Liz: Just.

Liz: Have faith in me.

Conclusion

So now I'll keep working on the first world and also start working on the tutorial level (aka that place where Camila meets Kamy and also the dream sequence that happens on the start of the game and stuff). Someday I could show you all about my music and art for this game, so I hope it'll be someday. So yeah, this is me saying "see ya!"

Another month, another update. There's a lot of stuff I want to show you! Music, new mechanics, polish, art. The cool stuff. So let's get going!

Music

I started uploading some of my music in Youtube, there's a song that truly marvels my ears in such a way, that maybe is your turn to hear it!

This is literaly the 6th version of this song because all the other ones didn't convince me that much

I think the last section sounds really cool

Not as cool as the others but it's still kinda interesting to hear

The time targetter

I now added the ability to customize the abilities and effects of the TCT, now you can do some cool combos! I also plan in making like a group system where you can quickly change between ability combos that you choose to put. It's like the quick select of Pokémon.

Woah

I also added two more time states. You can now speed up a target (with a higher cost of energy), and slow down an target (where you recover a bit of the energy that you used). This would look really cool in speed runs and stuff, quickly changing between combos...

Also I added so you can change how much time you have before the target's in it's normal time state. More time, higher the cost; normal time, normal cost; lower time, lower the cost. I really want it so it's a bit more like you need to think a bit and try to minimize the energy use.

Also also I added so you can delay the effects of the changed time state. Perhaps there's something that is interfering with the TCT and can't signal reliably the new time state of the target. So you can basically give the signal and then the effects come to fruition.

There's also the thing where you can select if you want to change the time state of a single target or many targets (higher cost).

The only two that aren't implemented right now are the ability to select if you want to target something of your environment (the default), yourself or something related with the UI (imagine that there's a countdown timer, you could choose if you want to stop it briefly or try to slow it down (recovering a bit of energy that you used), but you also can't use it all to try stopping the timer because you also need that energy for other things in your environment). And the other thing that isn't implemented is the power to choose if you're trying to target stuff (with your camera and that you can see) or trying to use the camera as bomba that you can launch at targets (that maybe you can't see).

I've also tried to improve the performance of the TCT when targetting. I did what I could.

Also I want to do video showcasing some of the new improvements with the TCT.

Art

Camila portrait. Prolly will go unused

Here's Camila! I did tweak a little bit her design. I did this one because I wanted to try and imagine what would be her design without putting so much time in a model that I would scrap, that's why I choose to do it in pixel art first.

I did this pixel art in like 10 minutes

I'm not sure if their design will be close to the final, but I think they look cool, still.

Conclusion

For now I haven't made much progress with first world, but for now I'm trying to fill the first world with stuff. I'll try to show a little bit of more progress in a shorter amount of time. So for now I'll say something that will tell you that it is now my time to depart. So bye!

Advancements, advancements and advancements. A little bit late but also early. Things are starting to look kinda cool! I finally added an enemy, the first world's starting to look more full, finally implemented so that the time effects actually work on Camila... Feels like things are starting to be more coherent and stuff, so let's go more indepth! And a bit more in the past!

Music (WIP)

I been working on the song of the first world. Technically I already had it like done a year ago, but then I decided on reworking it completely, now it sounds like more of a song of a modern game than a N64 one. This time I really wanted to show the "genesis" of a new adventure and a bit of the "knowing nothing and unsure of anything at all". With that in mind, maybe I overdid the idea of a "cool new adventure" but I'll try to balance it out with a bit more of emptyness or something.

I really like the effect on the marimba

The before

Some past weeks I found some older builds of Album Of Memories. Thsy really showcase how much has happened, like I almost forgot that this game was in development for 3 years already! (well it's not like I have 3 years worth of progress, there's a big skip between dates). At least we can see about what the heck I was thinking in those 3 years, going with the three most notorious builds.

December 30th of 2023 Build

Things look... really retro. And... interesting.

Camila's model looks really unfinished, and looks a bit to much to a model of one of those tutorials for modeling in Blender. Also her backpack has... wings? I think I was trying to make a reference to the original Album Of Memories or something. Also Camila could triple jump. Woah. How sad that she lost it through evolution.

This level must be the first version of the first world (that I'm working on). There's trees, coins and a single jumpaloon.

Fun fact! For some reason it seems I tried voice acting for Camila. And for some reason her voice sounds so bitcrushed that it sounds like she's saying the vulgar synonym of cat

January 14th of 2024 Build

Things look brighter, there's more sounds, added a trampoline and actual animations for Camila! (and one of her animations looks way better than what I have now)

It's even more retro than before

March 5th of 2024 Build

Everything looks nicer, maybe a bit too much. At least astroshards were added. The first theme of the first world plays in the background, it kinda feels like an N64 song but not quite.

Even the voice clips improved a bit.

A dialog system was implemented.

What looks like a shuriken is actually a flower. I think

October 26th of 2024 Build

Seems like the first world was completely remade, the time stopping objects mechanic was added (yeah I was mostly experimenting with stuff and more with the previous builds), an electricity system was added (kinda cool and mixes well with the time stopping mechanic but it doesn't match with the forest theme)

We are going to remake you again

The now

Heart breathes with life, they do too

I been working on the areas more. Things look nice enough so things won't get more pretty for a while (I anyways have to do it for the demo, but oh well)

I'm still working on Imp's model (yeah, Imps is now his dead name, he's no longer plural), he looks a bit uncanny to show to the public, but some day he will look not that much.

Also Imp will be on race challenge with Camila, so now I plan to make a script thar records the input so it looks like you are actually racing with someone that is on the same level as Camila. The race event works but there's not a lot to do than go in a straight line to the the finish line, at least the time limit works (I alsow plan so that you can affect it with Kamy's time powers so, just to keep it in mind)

I finally added an enemy that doesn't completely glitch out of nowhere. For now it doesn't a model so for now it's only red cube. Soon you will be sculpted, soon.

As I said on the start, now you can speed up yourself and slow down yourself making you able to do some cool things, for example: (and forgot to mention) I added rolling HP like in Earthbound, with this in mind; speeding up yourself is quite risky, rolling HP is faster (but also it is regeneration), Camila's faster (which is a pro and a con at the same time) and deal more damage. Something similar happens with slowing yourself down, it's safer due to slower rolling HP (but slow regeneration), Camila's slower (which may look more of a con than a pro but is as powerful as speeding up yourself, it can actually help you go much more farther if you gain enough momentum by jumping repeatedly on a moving platform, and also help you make more precise maneuvers)

I also added a leaf that acts like a platform. But soon it will be more than that.

Conclusion

Things are starting to look promising! I would say that maybe I will have the demo ready in 2 months (if I can actually predict reasonable dates), and with I have done I think I would have a 20% of the first world done. If I can keep up this pace then I will finally finish something that's really cool. So for now, bye bye and mildly positive dreams!