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Core Dump - Work In Progress
Episode 32
July 17, 1997: Cut scenes and remote
controls
I've been designing some more "cut scenes", where the player (temporarily)
has no control. It's like the opening sequence of Akin. Only this time
there'll be more of them. In particular I made the last modifications
to the last sequence of "Shira's mistake", which is plot number three.
I also worked on the technical side of these cut scenes. When can such
a sequence begin, and how does it interfere with the player controls?
If you've ever played Akin you'll remember the remote controlled missiles.
The scroll window would track them, and if Ducane was hit during this,
you'd get a "warning" message and a sound. In Core Dump, such weapons
(yes, multiple ones) will cause a smaller window to appear that shows
Gen. This way, you can see exactly what is happening to him while
you're controlling the missile or the drone or whatever. This way, I can
still have enemies attacking Gen, which makes it more of a decision to
use a remote-controlled drone or not.
And I put the old swimming routines back into the game, the "fast super
mario style" ones. I'm still wondering what's best there, but I just can't
figure it out. There are good reasons for doing it, and good reasons for
not doing it. All these decisions...
And this has until now postponed the design of any real intelligent underwater-enemies,
because that depends so much on the control method. I've also had a hard
time deciding what to do with the weapons when you're underwater. You
will not be able to use some of them. But which won't, and which will?
Sigh...
Almost every character name in Akin was a reference to something.
Nothing was entirely meaningless. I am planning to continue this tradition
with Core Dump. I struck upon this while I was considering the promo I'm
making now. I am not sure where the promo should begin, i.e. which part
of the game should I show? Maybe I'll construct a little bit of a structure
for the promo only. Still, a game like this relies on the plot as well,
and that I cannot convey with a short promo. You just cannot show the
depth of any game in a short promo.
Of all the fires to be found
only some can burn brightest
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