Updated the opening video and splash screens today. Here is a little preview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5E_9ZFIxa0

http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Nice Colosso, coming along nicely

Harry

Here is the final promo video. It now includes some walkthrough footage from within the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdagtChTvo

http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Ok folks here it is the latest version of Colosso Crystal Skulls. Full ten levels new animations and splash screens. Smaller download size and the beginnings of a complete 30 level adventure. Download and play today. Always be sure to send feedback. Special thanks to all my users who encourage creativity.

https://drive.google.com/a/scubapsycho.com/file/d/0B8XGeqMS7-BnOUl3U0Y5U2VfUnM/view

http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. Keep them coming and this could be my best game yet.

Lemme tell you this game has a very intense 80's feel to it, in a great way. The music choices and color schemes give it the feel of movies like Kung Fury and games like FarCry Blood Dragon. I'm glad to see that The Colosso series has kept the same visual and audio aesthetic over the years. Great job and I wish much success to you in sales!

Thank you very much for the feedback D13. I know I'm a gaming dinosaur. I have been making games since 1997, and love every minuet of it.

Be sure to try out the latest version of The Colosso Crystal Skulls. I would like to get as much feedback as possible before my first public release.

http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Just another little teaser video. Almost half way to the full version of this latest game in the Colosso Adventures. Things have come a long way from the original DOS version.

https://youtu.be/2kNLFw4b6jE


http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Just dowloaded this and had a wee play , is good so far and intriguing, like the music.... I want to see where it takes me .... cool thumbs up

Added some more music and entities to the store for all to use. Final standalone is up to more than 15 levels now. It should be ready to share soon. Be sure to play the latest version and send me your feedback.

https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/180055

http://www.campanaproductions.com/

Will play again as soon I have time.

Colosso Crystal Skulls is almost ready for a full game release. Over 25 levels complete and tested. Check out the GameGuru store for many of the custom assets used in this game. I have everything from skyboxes to background music and plenty of custom entities. If you haven't played the test releases yet your missing out.

https://www.tgcstore.net/artist/180055

Final game work in progress is up to 25 levels now. Please continue to play the test games and send feedback for me to improve the game. I have added the links for the promo video, company web sit, and store assets along with the link to the latest test game download. Help me make this the best game yet.


Colosso Crystal Skulls


https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/180055

https://docs.google.com/a/scubapsycho.com/uc?id=0B8XGeqMS7-BnU0xTRGNhR0xTZFE&export=download

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdagtChTvo

http://campanaproductions.com/

Rough day for productions and feedback. Maybe reworking some angles rather than letting them bother me. Please play all you like and as always send feedback.

Here is a special release of the Colosso Crystal Skulls just because its my birthday. I am gearing up for the final test phase so play all you like and be sure to send feedback.


https://forum.game-guru.com/outbound?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fa%2Fscubapsycho.com%2Fuc%3Fid%3D0B8XGeqMS7-BnU0xTRGNhR0xTZFE%26export%3Ddownload

Having some trouble with the last levels. Please be patient. All updates and suggestions for improvement will be in the next release as promised.

Does anybody know if the X file formats used in GameGru will also work with the AGK as well? I would like to make the game assets available for both formats if possible before my final release.

Hello Folks!

I am going to release the 20 level beta test version this weekend to get final feedback from the GameGuru community before I attempt my Steam Greenlight release. The final game for Steam will contain 30 levels. All final changes will be made before the Steam release. Please play all you like and send feedback. Thanks for all your help.

Ok folks! Here is the final beta test version of The Colosso Crystal Skulls. This will be a final release for testing and feedback. I want to be sure I have the game setup well and interesting enough for people to want to keep playing.


https://docs.google.com/a/scubapsycho.com/uc?id=0B8XGeqMS7-BnNmlLTlYzaVprNWM&export=download

Not sure if anybody has played the last release. This is the first time nobody has had anything good or bad to say about the game. I'm not sure how to take it. Should I go ahead with the final release or not?

Hello!

Is this mic on?

Hello, Colosso,
today I have downloaded the latest version from above link. Currently, I'm on vacation on La Gomera, and the biiiiig download surely will have put quite some load on the hotel's internet access point. LOL. I can run your game on my "travel" notebook (core2duo/ati mobility radeon hd 545v) more or less at 16-20 fps constantly, but only after agreeing to the infamous "low fps" warning which probably took away some awesome visuals.

With that in mind, the first level played quite well (given above limitations), the problems I noticed in a much older version I played and commented on in the forum seem to be gone.

Not sure whether the inconsistent range at which the opponents detect the player is intended or to be attributed to the engine; sometimes, they shoot at me from really an enormous distance (which makes things interesting at times)
while standing at a medium distance seems to make them blind.

When they come really close (melee range), the framerate goes down terribly, resulting in turning or aiming of the player being executed in 60 degree chunks (again, this m a y be attributed to my lowly hardware).

The aliens seem to be unaffected by the shotgun, while they die at one shot of the precision rifle (not even a head shot) ?

I'm not sure whether I incidentally bypassed a lot of things , but I shot only 10 or so opponents until I found the first crystal skull.... I seem to remember that in earlier times, there were more than double the number of opponents to overcome.

Starting the second level, it took a while to leave the first cave (where the transporter is), because it was somewhat hard to pass the hole in the ice wall. While in that first cave, I was constantly being attacked by an enemy which kept growling at me, but was totally invisible to me - is that like it is supposed to be ? Not, that this enemy did much damage, but it felt annoying.

BTW: my health is being replenished quickly when I got hurt, which is good for playtesting, but if that will not be so in the release version, it may be hard to tell whether the damage received is still tolerable or too intense; sometimes, the damage taken is really bad, especially if several enemies attack at the same time.

Then, the only real error i encountered occured: I wanted to pause the game, possibly even executing a "Save" - and the game crashed with "Runtime Error:501Image Number 96000 (gamemenu_init)."

In the log, the final entries are:

1687784 : entering options page S:104MB V: (1405,382)
1687823 : CWD:X:\CCS1\Files
LOAD IMAGE X:\CCS1\Files\titlesbank\colosso\game-paused-title.png,96000,0,0 S:0MB V: (1405,382)

Looking into the respective directory, I only saw a file named "_e_game-paused-title.png", maybe, that is the error's cause ?

Personally, the short intro text you give at the start of the game seems ... uhmmm .... not convincing at all to me, but that doesn't affect game play, anyway; so, you may well leave it as it is.

The background graphics of the first level are thematically fine, but seem somewhat blurry to me.

Thus, not much criticism from me, and the game was interesting enough to be wanting to be able to play on.
The crash is probably easily fixed, but a fix IS necessary, of course. I remember from the older version that later on, the save game option will be bitterly NEEDED (at least by me ).

So, basically well done so far, and I'm looking forward to playing the game on my "heavier" gaming notebooks at home next week. Congrats, so far

Keep up the good work.
Yrkoon

Wonderful Feedback. Most of the issues you have pointed out I am still seeing on lower end systems. Although I can play the game on my laptop I will get Run Time Errors and crashes. This is not happening as bad on my faster more efficient desktop. I guess I will have to boost the system requirements on my info page. It has really been the biggest reason I have waited to release a game to the public. I am still waiting for the most stable version of the engine. The original test versions had to be scrapped and a rebuilt from scratch when the engine was transferred to the C++ code. I do remember the intro and story line have always been a thorn in my side. "Lame" I continue to call it, but I have been building on that story line since 1997. When the first games in the Colosso Adventure series were published cheesy and lame were the thing. The save and load have worked fine on all my tests. I will keep poking that bug to see what I can find. I have found when my system crashes I can reload a saved game to fix the problem and continue playing through without trouble.
Take a look at some of the older games in the series on my site to get a better idea of the intro story. If you would like to play the original DOS games let me know. Thanks for the feedback.

So, having returned from La G. very early in the night after a long journey (6h intermediate "forced rest" in Los Cristianos ), I fired up the trusty lesser gaming Notebook featuring a Nvidia GTX 780 M and got 60/59 fps all the time in level 1, which gave me more time to look at other features and details.
In level 1:
1. Strangely enough, the enemies are now barely reacting at all until I get close to them.
2. I forgot to mention it last time, gut very often, at center bottom, there suddenly appears a 15 digit number , ranging from 0.0 to 359.9999... Obviously a readout of the direction the player is facing measured in grades.
3. After saving and having to reload, the music won't play anymore.
4. The background graphics are still blurry (I expected that)
5. The general mix of buildings is a stylistic mess, I'm sorry to say.
Brick buildings of different styles and sizes interspersed with industrial concrete towers (funnels ?) interspersed with large and small corrugated iron/alloy walls and mixed in a few ruins of all types, alongside with two fresh big building skeletons
under construction with only a lorry as a construction machinery brings you TERRIBLY close to an accusation of having thrown items "ad libitum" together, since they're all sitting on green/dirt ground, with no pathway, street or road interconnecting them. All doors of buildings are leading ... nowhere , just out onto the green. Even with Spain's ...uhmm ... liberal buildings legislation, I think you would be hard pressed to show us a real place looking like that in level 1 as of now.
6. IF there was a more consistent style of buildings (or at least with improved grouping- say: an AREA where ruins cluster, an AREA where factory buildings are located, a quarter for housing people, possibly separating areas by trenches, fences , canals deep enough to drown in) , that would make the whole picture way more believable - AND you could put a little bit more story into the level (perhaps the Aliens would prefer to flock together in the ruins area (because few men go there and the aliens stay undiscovered for a longer time), the Terrorist Guys may haunt the streets between big housing blocks and so on.
7. The Sky is clearly a night sky, but where does the relative bright light everywhere come from ?
For eyes as old as mine, this makes things easier , but a chance to have in-level difficulty increase is lost.
What I mean is: the entry point could well be the construction site, possibly lit by many floodlights making it bright, but the player has to pass through less and less lit quarters until the (almost totally ) dark ruin quarter with the Aliens is reached.
Just an idea, but remember that one good rule for game making is to actually design your level 1 as the last, since it also acts somewhat like an "overture" in an Opera, shaping the player's expectations.
8. All enterable buildings are empty hulls inside, the roof (or lack thereof in ruins) is the ceiling.... Also not so good.
Disregarding the stylistic mess, this would not be so bad if this was a multiplayer level!

9. Some buildings are floating a bit in the air , e.g. the green one with the diagonal conveyor tunnel.

But enough of pointing out of (from my view) shortcomings, it is by no means my Intention to "disrupt" your game, I REALLY whish it to shine. It would be a real shame if it would be associated alongside some very bad recent gg-games discussed in other forums here.
Beste regards
Y.

That would be because he is using a musiczone or triggerzone to trigger the music, and of course when you load back in from a save you haven't triggered the zone.

Nice explanation, belidos, but that is nothing the player can correct, and the music seems to be a main theme, so, reload should replay it. No idea whether there is a "music #23 is playing" status is available, but if there were ....

Yup, it's a bit of a failure in the engine, there's no global state for things triggered by triggerzones, so if you save and reload they will be reset, unless you code it yourself. You could probably get around it by creating a series of globals say for example MusicPlaying1, MusicPlaying2, MusicPlaying3 etc. set the one you want playing to 1 and all others to 0 in the triggerzone script, then have another script that checks which is flagged 1 and plays the right music as a global sound.

Level 2
The textures of the Ice Mountains is all too repetitive andnot looking convincingly at all.
The selection of opponents is ... strange ( Vikings, Orcs , Rocket men , Pistol men, Aliens , and those medieval Rogue women ...)
I don't REALLY know.....
The Ice and Snow Mountains are all too rounded, I know that is the editor's fault, but .....
Disregarding the strange mix of opponents, they generally are placed well to downright fiendishly

Some spots on high mountains are ideal for taking out enemies with the rifle. Maybe, they should
A) draw the player's attention by putting a flag or tower there
B) be guarded by heavy opposition, so, the player MUST fight to occupy these strategically important spots.

Level 3
It is somehow very similar to level 2 with its lots of rounded needle mountains (this brought up an idea I once had when I wrote a tool to mess around with whole landscapes (like lowering, raising, tilting, mirroring and otherwise vexing whole landscapes. Wouldn't it be fun if the player thinks he recognizes a landscape only to then find that everything is there, but not where he expects it ?)
From the playing point of view, this was the heretofore most interesting to play level, with even some untapped potential.
BUT : Boy, what are those jetplanes and sidewinder rockets doing there ? They cannnot start from there, they couldn't have landed there, and why in the world would anybody put them where they are ?

Level 4
On the good side : good level design (if only the AI were better). Great night sky (if a bit blurry), and the yellowish-green volcano (?) is REALLY great, it should house something interesting (possibly a little exit to an extra level ?).
Also interesting : the steam fountains. Would you consider to have them only spring up when the player passes them close by, and let them take a little off of bis health ?

BUT: What on earth beset you to put WOODEN structures like bridges and houses onto a red-glowing volcano plain texture ?
And grassroots, too ?

There seems to be a problem with this level, the framerate has a weird tendency to plummet in the course of playing the level, even the "Low fps warning" comes up if I stay too long in the level.

Could this be caused by those steam fountains blowing ?

This level could well do with some serious fog. (I thought the same for the 2nd level, but forgot to mention it there).

On to 5

I am loving the new feedback. A lot of the confusion and comments on things that make no sense or don't fit into the scene or landscape are part of the story line. This has always been a complaint or an issue with end users. I have tried to recreate the story for those who have never played any of the previous 5 episodes, but obviously I am failing at that point. Although the timeframe for a final release on this game has gone much longer that I had hoped. I would rather go through the information and comments from all those who have taken the time and played the beta test versions to make this game my most popular yet. Keep the reviews coming and believe me it gets more confusing and jumbled up the farther in you get, but it also gets harder to beat the enemies. I am already working on another video to replace the opening storyline and introduction.

Colosso, if this is all on purpose and you promise that it will be getting worse, then I'm literally out of the game.

I hope for you that you will be successful with that concept - personally, I doubt it, though, since, IF I feel like being deliberately confused by something, it needs to be an intricate and/or cleverly designed story, and the confusion finally needs to resolve itself into something useful.

My imagination obviously is way too limited to expect for example that a jet fighter crammed into a valley where it can move 10 meters straight at best in one go can be resolved to anything useful, and if that is only part of the beginning .....

Yrkoon! don't give up too fast. It will all fall together and make more sense in the end. I need the feedback and suggestions from folks like you that can be honest and helpful with reviews. Without help from people like yourself most independent developers will continue to publish trash. I do not want to be one of those cookie cutter developers, but I don't want the end users disappointed either. Level 3 is already going through some major redesign due to your helpful hints. It had a landing strip along with several hangers at one time, but changes I made have left that level a real mess. While working on other levels that got left behind and I would not have fixed it had you not been so helpful. Don't give up too fast.

Colosso, I don't think so, please rely on what others say, now.
I think we both are on very different trains of thought.

This is YOUR game, and I firmly believe that you probably wouldn't like it anymore if I executed so much influence on it as seems necessary to me to make the game please ME.

I don't want to spoil your fun in creating it, (and I could be wrong with all or many things I say, anyway ).

It is good that you are aiming your efforts so that the game will be MUCH better than the mediocre stuff around currently

If you follow your own ideas truly, this will probably result in a better game than a mixture of - in the foreseeable end - antagonistic ideas about how the game should be between you and me.
Wish you luck.

Honestly yrkoon summed up my own feelings pretty succinctly.

I feel you have put a TON of hard work into a project I cannot understand. So I avoid giving feedback on it because it's ... just simply not my realm. I believe feedback is a vital part of the process of development (at least for an indy dev) but you should still try to fit your own vision of things.

I know you've been working on the Colosso story for.. lord since what 1996? It's been a long time. I think I used to see you on my old haunts of PIE 3D GCS, for crying out loud!

Understandably when you have a story that's been in your head for that long, that you're that familiar with, you can kind of take for granted what people understand about it. I personally couldn't get into it - it obviously had some form of intent, I just couldn't discern what it was.

You might consider adding an intro level that deliberately attempts to explain what's going on, how things got where they are?

EDIT: Also - I remember you saying the reason for your coloring/schema was because you wanted it to look like a cartoon. Have you tried using reshade - specifically enabling the 'cartoon mode'? It might help you unify your graphics more.

I can only agree with what has been said before. It all looks like it has been thrown together with the least amount of competence and clue, yet I feel like there is a specific idea behind it and that it has been done deliberately so. Videogames are a form of art and this is the first one I really don't get.

You once mentioned that you intended to shatter any sense of time and space but for me it also shattered everything else. I see that you have been putting a lot of time, work and effort into it but I don't like any of it.

Then there are the seemingly random renders you throw in with "colosso crystal skulls" written all over them in very obtrusive fonts.

I think the reason why so few people post is because nobody knows where you are going with it. We can see that it doesn't work in many aspects but we don't know what it is you are trying to get at so we just don't post. I can't speak for others, this is just my impression.

But in the end, this is your game and if you enjoy doing it, you should. I ran into a fair share of people who didn't get my style too



-Wolf

Contemplating the reviews and reviewing my options. This post is to keep my thread running so they don't lock it down for lack of new comments or updates. I have reached a point were my vision and work on this game has left most gamers wondering why. Not sure if I will continue this path or revise it and take another road. My attempts at leaving the cookie cutter game mentality behind don't seam to be working well, but I am not giving up. Please continue to watch for updates and send all the feedback you can. In case you have not notice criticism can be a blow to the ego or a learning tool. I choose to learn.

Colosso, I can speak only for myself ( but I have a feeling thst others see it likewise), but I hope you noticed that none of the criticisms were meant as a "blow" in your direction, I feel a lot of compassion, not contempt, for your work; if only it would not appear as totally unintelligible to me as it does.

So, the way I see it. leaving your beloved path (for real love it must be, given the amount of work that you heretofore invested)is a dangerous path, for you may be exchanging a concept that you currently have (and which is obviously crystal clear to you, for one) for ... what ?

I'm estimating that putting some real energy into a guiding light for us others could be more rewarding.

Maybe, you could sacrifice your second best level for a play thru video, commenting very closely what you are thinking, and possibly what you expect players would be thinking in the specific situation (something like "Look, the average Joe User definitely will be expecting "that and that" in this moment, BUT I mischievously chose to confront him with "this and this", so his reaction should be a surprised "so and so".) Not sure if this is a good way, but I cannot think of another that really can either take us others closer to your work or helps us show you in detail what misconception you might have about how your game gets across to the user.

Thank you for the input. This is why I am at a crossroads. I would love to find the loophole between my concept and what others are seeing when they play. The struggle is real. I think the fact that I have been beating this concept for two years now and although the game is looking more organized and flowing like a game should. The story line and game layout definitely needs more work. I have not given up on my game, but some major layouts need cleanup to keep the players interested rather than confused.

I would advise against making changes before you are aware what the nature of the problem is, or you might end up with lukewarm, run of the mill looking mediocre game which will satisfy neither you nor us.

The way I see it, you are practically mesmerized by your own game, making you a bit unbalanced to the reactions that you are receiving currently.

"Unbalanced" in the sense that you either are expecting us to "pull through" - against the strong objections that we others are obviously sharing - only on your vague promise that it will all fall into place in the end,
or else you seem to be willing to throw a lot overboard on your part - which might be an overreaction.

It's like at first you threw the 500 pieces of a jigsaw picture puzzle at us,
without alongside giving us the indispensable sketchy full picture that should emerge when we will have assembled everything correctly.

Now, you seem to be reforming the jigsaw into square pieces (instead or pieces with nooks and bays),
but possibly still keeping at least a sketch of the full picture hidden from us.

Maybe, you remember a game called "Eureka!" in thr 80ies, which was a clear rage on the C64 in its time. It also had its chaotic and not-open-to-everybodie's-mind features, but at least it followed an intelligible path through time, from Stone Age through Ancient Rome and The Medieval Age to Modern Day.

On the other hand, I remember a review of the movie "Damnation Alley" (the movie allegedly modelled after Roger Zelazny's great story, but veering so far off of it that many viewers needed to be actively told what the literary template was supposed to be ).
The review simply summed up the movie as "depicting just one damn thing after the other" - and that's what happens when there is no PERCEIVABLE backbone in a piece of artwork.

In short: please make sure that we can perceive the backbone of your game.
Just my 2 cents

I don't want to gut the story and game at this point, but after playing some of the others published games I have several ideas on how to pull it back together for the end users. I am currently working on voice over files to tell more of the story as you play. Following the example of Fathers Island by Ivan Ertlov I can fill in the gaps in the storyline with a little player talking to himself. I still feel the game has potential, but your idea of a more flowing timeline through each level may also help the game play. As always love the feedback.

Well, the timeline was just an example, it is unbeknown to me whether that will fit your game or not. you decide.
What I have seen so far leaves it open to me. There are many ways to achieve an overall minimum contingency

Example:
Is the Ice world level meant as an Ice Age level, or rather as a Greenland or Polar Area level at some other given point in time ?
Why do we get there where we're coming from ?
And why do we get where we are going, when we leave this level ?

THESE are some questions the answers to which should find their way into what you now are willing to communicate, be it by a virtual sidekick or a voiceover or written information or even clever symbolism the player encounters in the game world.

I have spent the last month working on new storyline details for the opening video and information screen. With this and the addition of some voice-over files in the game play I am hoping to get more folks into the game. Special thanks to those who have supported me through this game development. Look for the next test version release as soon as possible.

Still working in the background, but learning and growing everyday. Join in the confusion while I work on making things better. Play some of the older versions to see the progress or lack there of. The world is filled with people nobody understands, or maybe I am the only insane one? Don't worry Colosso Crystal Skulls will make a final release some day.

may I suggest making the house in the picture a bit bigger? If the average enemy model is the same size as the wizard, they would have to stoop to enter the house. Keep up the good work.

Thanks D13 Its just a perspective thing. If he is standing at the door it is a correct size for the average player. He is actually a good ways out in front of the house.

Yes, keep up your work, and try staying true to yourself, above all other things - and it will work in the end.

Added several video and audio clips to clear confusion and improve this games concept for the end users. Look for the latest release in a week or two. I'm looking forward for the feedback on my latest changes. Thanks to all who have played and helped me improve this game before I attempt to release it.

That ship looks somewhat ghostly ... will we be able to go aboard ?