MYSTICISM: BENTLEY BEAR in The Ascent of the Soul [done]

[moonmagic]

I was reading bits of Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle and thought it might get along with some of the mechanics in Crystal Castles. So, I'm going to try and make a little prototype in the remaining couple of days, since I'm on paternity leave and my child is frequently asleep.

You will play Bentley Bear as he attempts to journey through his soul to its innermost chambers and the promise of communion with God. As in Interior Castle, Bentley's soul is divided into a series of castles, and is polluted with the enemies from Crystal Castles, which need to be avoided or stunned by jumping over them. Sitting quietly and meditating will cause gems to appear, which need to be collected to proceed deeper into the soul.

Playing each stage, or castle, is divided into four stages, which roughly correspond to the ascent of the soul recorded in Teresa's The Autobiography:

Mental prayer : the player stuns enemies or retreats from them to create space in which to meditate.
The prayer of quiet : the player holds still to initiate meditation, which causes sounds and images to retreat.
The devotion of union : the player collects the gems which appear in the meditative state.
The devotion of ecstasy : the player loses consciousness of being in the body; the location of the door is shown.

A mockup:



A one level prototype:

PLAY

[jabbyjim]

It looks fun!

[Jasper]

Congratulations on being a dad! And the game looks lovely as always man.

[moonmagic]

A VIDEO

Bentley can run and jump around the level. He can also drown. Progress is a little slower than I would like! I spent most of today figuring out how to make a (reasonably?) accurate jump in a top-down perspective. The code is gross and inelegant, but it's not as abrupt and linear as the Crystal Castles jump, and I think it'll work.

Next:

1. Enemies
2. Meditation (and gems)
3. Post-trance zonking
4. Music and sound

If I can get that all done this weekend, I will see about adding some more levels.

[Stephen L (inactive)]

I find that quite beautiful : )

[moonmagic]

Ok, I've finished the basic gameplay. No sound or music yet, but here is a level to play:

A LEVEL TO PLAY

Arrows: move
Z: jump
X: hold to meditate

- Jump over skeletons to stun them (eventually for a score multiplier that triggers upon initiating a trance).
- Don't jump in the water.
- Meditate to reveal the gems.
- Collect all the gems (eventually for score) to reveal the door.

Still need a good title; probably something using Bentley's name and alluding to the Carmelite order, or Avila, or something.

[moonmagic]

Just found a bug that will cause the door to pulse continuously after completing the level once; I will fix it tomorrow. Bah. :(

[mildmojo]

Harder than it looks!

I really like the tension created when the world is darkening to reveal the crystals and the skeletons are advancing on your position.

I do wish the player was a little "fatter" so that he picked up crystals more reliably. Y-axis alignment seemed key.

[Stephen L (inactive)]

I just see a black screen that says "crystal interior castle", nothing else. Tried clicking on it, pressing buttons, nothing.

[Radiatoryang]

You gotta press RETURN on your keyboard to start it up

It's pretty neat, I like the tileset and the skeleton sprites...

[moonmagic]

Thanks for playing, everyone! Stephen, I'm sorry about the title screen; I forgot to mention the start key anywhere near it.

Next steps:

- Tweaking the meditation time, hitbox for gems, and fixing the door.
- Adding the Gem Eaters.
- Putting some sound and music in.
- Making a proper title and how to play screen.
- Adding score? I think so.

[Eddie Cameron]

I like the look of this. Love the seizure inducing door.
I found it a bit too easy however, I could always escape somewhere 'safe' to meditate, where I didn't have to care that I couldn't see the skeletons. If they followed you slightly more reliably, the decision to meditate would be very compelling.

[moonmagic]

Thanks again for the feedback, y'all. Posted a minor update: the door bug is fixed, the gem hitbox is larger, and the title screen tells you how to start the game. I'm trying out a new title: "Bentley Bear in the Ascent of the Soul". I kind of like the juxtaposition of the silly character name with the doctrinal pamphlet-y adventure title. Not quite the word salad that my games usually sport, but it's growing on me.

@Eddie: yes, the skeletons are rather stupid! I wanted to finish the prototype quickly, so their behavior is mostly random, and they run into walls a lot. I don't intend for them to be a hunting enemy; eventually, they will dance in a close pattern and will function as area control. It will be up to the trees and witches to hunt the player down. I just needed something in the game to test the "stun" mechanic against. I am going to try and get the skeletons into their final form this weekend, and I will try and add the trees.

[Stephen L (inactive)]

Gem hitboxes are a bit too small for me.
Keep running into water >_<
looks good.
feels ok :)
idea is simple, but I like it.
maybe a warning effect if the gems are about to fade?

[moonmagic]

Yes, I should flash the gems when the trance is almost over. I think I'll also increase the hitbox size for the gems and the jumping shadow, and add (eventually) a "WHOA" animation and full stop before splashing into the water. You know, like Toejam and Earl when you're about to go off the edge.



I added a graphic to the title screen. This most superficial addition marks the end of the "pageant" version of the game. I think there's about one more weekend of work on the game "engine" (enemy movements, scoring, attract mode) before it should be ready for the "make lots of levels" phase, and then it could be a real game. I always save music and sound for last, because it's the most fun to make, but I wish I hadn't done that for this one. Alas! Thanks for playing, everyone.

---

EDIT: fixed some hitboxes, and changed the skeleton AI so that they are now proper area guards that dance in a (sort of) predictable pattern, chase Bentley if he gets too close, and don't travel too far away from their points of origin. There is no longer a chance that Bentley will get hit while meditating, but there will be when I add ghosts and Berthilda and trees to the game.