[XNA 3.1] Colorful

Games are so violent nowadays, what with all of the guns and blood and explosions and nuclear bombs and alien takeovers.  It's hard to lose track of what is truly important: being happy.

In Colorful, being happy is all that matters.  Being happy is the core game mechanic, and you score higher by being happier.

"Tell me more!" you might say, "How can a mere abstract virtualization of our world represent and interpret the complex emotion that is happiness?"

Colorful puts you in the shoes of an every day bi-polar named Dave.  Dave is subject to violent mood swings, and has been prescribed mood-enhancing medication to maintain his ability to live in modern society.  Your goal is to keep Dave as happy as possible by picking up his pills before the time limit runs out.

Current Progress

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cAZ07RkM3c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cAZ07RkM3c</a>

Review Scores
4.4/5 - Mash Those Buttons

Check back frequently, I'm making rapid progress.

Rules of Play

• Dave has 5 emotions in his spectrum: RAGE, Disgruntled, Bored, Happy, and HYPER
• Each emotion is tied to a score multiplier: 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%
• Each Pill is worth 100 points.
• When the level timer runs out, your score for the level is multiplied based on Dave's ending emotional level, and then your final score level is added to your running total
• Enemies known as Downers will make Dave unable to pick up pills for a couple seconds by making him as depressed as they are.
• When picking up pills, be sure to not max out your Overdose meter, or the level will immediately end.
• Spike pits will also immediately end the level
• There are no lives and no game overs, you play through the levels at your own pace, and can repeat any to get higher scores.  The worst thing you can do is not score as high as you could have, either by ending the level prematurely, or by not timing your pill intake well.

Features

• Programmed from the ground up by NAMKCOR with XNA 3.1 for PC
• Simple gameplay formula that caters to casuals and hardcores alike
• Original Soundtrack by Arrow-1
• Easily modded: levels are interpreted from png images, making custom level design a breeze!

How can I help?
I don't want this game to be free, in fact, I'd like to sell it for a couple bucks on steam or on my own website if I can.  There's just one issue with that: I don't have a Visual Studio 2008 license, so Microsoft can kill me if I make profit off of the game.

That being said.

If you are feeling generous and would like to help me raise money toward purchasing a professional license for myself, I would be eternally grateful.  Donators will be eligible for a free copy of the game when it is released, as well as pre-release test participation should they be interested.

Does this mean there will be no free version?
There will be a 100% free demo version available, but the demo version will not support custom levels, and will not contain the full game's content.

Colorful Main Page

Colorful IndieDB Page (downloads here)

When I first saw the concept I laughed, but it seems like an interesting stray-away from the long grinding games of today. Good luck with it Nam, I'll be sure to check in often.

Thanks.  The game is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek so laughs are welcome :p

If you give that little guy a short beard, I would say he looks a lot like conan obrien. Mr.Dave.

I noticed that after drawing his first sprite, and decided it looked good enough to just keep going anyway

Added the downer sprite, not much of an update but it's something.

Awwwe, I love the look of this title! The sheer message of this game makes me smile: Shake off the shit, and just be happy! The general selling aim and moral of this game alone makes me want to play it right now.

The gameplay, though, seems a little loose for my own liking. No lives, no gameovers, no health; just score high? I dunno, I'm not one for those simplistic Arcade-style games, I suppose. Still, I'm playing this just for the custom level creator. THAT will be a hell of a time, since I love those tools in platformers.

Where do I donate? I've got some cash burning a hole in my pocket; just some leftover cash from Christmas. I can donate a few bucks.

The game punishes you for overdosing and hitting spikes by ending the level early, essentially you get one 'life' per level, but it doesn't mean you don't get a score.  It will tally your accumulated score, and you'll get a penalty for 'dying', and it will ask you if you want to retry the level, or continue to the next one.  You can also go back and do the levels as many times as you want.

It's similar in formula to Super Meat Boy, the game is intended to encourage you to play by not making you feel bad for failing, but rather to keep giving you the chance to succeed.  It also means that you can skip a level that is frustrating you and go back to it later if you'd like.

Current Progress:
Downer spawn points have been programmed and I'm working on their AI right now, next to come will be spike logic and then I'll get to have some fun with particle effects.  I'm planning on coding a rainbow motion-trail to follow Dave when he's at peak happiness, among other things.

Bumping.

Newly Added:
Rewrote Tile system to use a sheet instead of individual images
Added spike parsing
Added pill color changing
Added Downer AI

This looks awesome, NAM. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. I'd donate if I... actually could...

Thanks.

For those who have Twitter, I just set up one for Temperance XIV.
Follow Temperance XIV on Twitter

Nam you don't have like a visual studio express copy from like a class? or is there something in the terms that disallows professional uses if it's not a specific professional version?

This is looking fantastic Nam :3

Nam you don't have like a visual studio express copy from like a class? or is there something in the terms that disallows professional uses if it's not a specific professional version?

I have VS 2008 Professional via the school, however it's licensed to the school, not me, creating a legal gray area regarding selling things that I don't want to test.  According to the EULA that I read, the licensee retains all rights to code produced.  Well...I'm not the licensee.

AFAIK Express Edition requires that I only sell open-source products.  I don't want to release my games open source.

Not only that but I'm going to want to continue making games with it outside of school and when I graduate I'm no longer allowed to use the school's licensed software.

Essentially buying my own copy would give me peace of mind knowing that I could sell whatever I make without any licensing or legal issues from the act of me doing so, and would work as an investment toward the future regarding further indie development.  That and I could totally write it off on my taxes.

I'm SOOOO in love with your title at the top of the page. Really neat!

Also, everything sounds great and looks great. You could defenitely sell this on Steam or Xbox Live or something. Great job!

Maybe, just maybe, you could add some more colors in the background in the level shown in the vid? It's a bit achromatic right now.

The video is low quality, right now you see the wallpaper texture in the background.  It's vertical lines alternating shades.  The idea is, level colors change based on how difficult they are.  I'm going to be re-examining the textures after I get more of the core gameplay done.

As far as selling goes, I'm not doing XBL, but I am going to be trying to get it sold on Desura and Steam.

Big awesome news, Arrow-1 has signed on as Soundtrack Producer for Colorful.
The Full 11 song soundtrack will be available for pre-order copies only, and will likely be released on the iTunes store later on.

Happy to have come aboard.

UPDATE WITH LATEST PROGRESS
Title Screen Implemented
Stage Select Implemented
Custom Content Loader Implemented
Now with 95% more sound!
project upgraded to XNA 3.1

Have an approximate time on when this may be completed?

Have an approximate time on when this may be completed?

Mid to Late March release.

I intend to open it up for early pre-order a week and a half or so before actual release, and anyone who pre-orders or donates gets the benefits enumerated here.

What's that?
More progress?

Overdose - functional
Spikes - functional
Level Unlock - functional
Score System - functional

First beta to begin soon for donators.

Hey dudes and dudettes, first beta is set to begin Monday February 7th.  The beta
version will contain a couple of test levels, and the game is nearly feature complete. 

Donate at least $5 to recieve all pre-order benefits including early beta access.

Beta testing is currently underway, blue levels should be done by tomorrow at the latest.

Colorful Public Beta (a.k.a. NAMKCOR's Quest for some Goddamned Feedback) has begun: http://www.indiedb.com/games/colorful