I'm thrilled to announce that I have been working on my next game for a few months
now! Bananamana will be a procedurally generated action/adventure game and I will share more
information soon!
There is still a long way to go and this page will be a development
blog of some sort for the time being, so you can follow my progress!
I finally released a new devlog video for Bananamana!
In this video I mainly showcase the Warp Statues and the Towers.
Warp Statues act
as checkpoints and you can warp to them at anytime during the game.
As you know, Bananamana is procedurally generated and each level is made up of a four
kilometers wide over-world to explore, and a dungeon to unlock. Obviously, I don't want
players to get lost and eventually become frustrated exploring such a large
area. This is why I believe the Warp Statues are very important, although their
name will most probably change in the future.
Towers are very different and give you a high vantage point, allowing you to find
your next target. I know that many games use towers these days, but I
knew from that start that I needed to implement such feature. They are obviously
really simple right now, but they will feature more challenges as I progress with
the game.
I have also tweaked tons of elements, such as the UI, the effects and the weapon
system. Although I still have to implement several major features in the game,
I feel that I've reached a point when I can now add more content. I believe
this will allow me to balance out the gameplay further and to make sure
each region is fun and exciting to explore. I have also started testing out the bomb! A new
weapon type!
Here you go! I still use placeholder textures here and there, and some
models are still rough... More to come soon!
MAR
15
2019
Warp statues and towers!
I spent the last couple of weeks optimizing Bananamana's code. But I've also implemented two new features - warp
statues and towers! Warp statues can be best described as checkpoints and you can warp to them once activated.
Towers are very different, they'll give you some challenge and award you with various goodies and will allow you
to check out the surrounding area from a high vantage point. More to come soon!
MAR
1
2019
Dev-Log video #3!
New dev-log video for Bananamana! A month has passed since my last dev-log video
and I have implemented a lot of new features in Bananamana such as dungeons! I also
reveal in this video some of the game's mechanics - in a nutshell, I want Bananamana
to be a mix of action, adventure and exploration. The procedural generation will
allow the game to renew itself each time you play. It may sound like a Roguelike,
but I don't want the game to be as punishing... so Bananamana will be more of a
Roguelite-ish experience. I still use placeholder textures here and there, and
some models are still rough.... More to come soon!
FEB
15
2019
Flat fields, void crystals and dungeons!
I've added so many new features to Bananamana! Believe me, it was a real struggle to only select a handful of images!
I will publish another devlog video by the end of the month, so keep an eye on it! So far I've implement flat-field
terrains which give a nice sense of scale - Bananamana is procedurally generated though, so this is a feature
that will give variation to the explorable regions. I've also worked on the void-crystals which are at the
core of the gameplay - I will reveal more about these soon! Last and not least,
I've started working on the dungeons! Well, you've probably started to figure out what Bananamana ultimately
is about, right?... Let's see... randomly generated worlds, dungeons... I'll give you some answers in my next devlog video!
I'm still using a lot of placeholder textures and models though - things will look much better as I progress
with the game!
FEB
8
2019
Bananamana Logo!
I've been putting this task on the back burner for a while, but it was
time to create a logo for Bananamana! Especially now that I've started sharing
more information and content about the game.
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped me with
the design! You all rock! The logo went through several iterations
in the past couple of weeks - it will probably change in the future though,
but it definitively looks much better than the random-ish typeface I had before.
Something funny came up though - many people advised me to shape the logo like
a banana. Which, well, was an issue for me because the term banana
in Bananamana is actually used in the sense of 'crazy' (the title
somewhat means 'Crazy Magic'). Are players going to be disappointed
if the game doesn't feature any bananas? Well, Donkey Kong
didn't feature any donkeys... will I receive bad reviews and
comments like "I played for hours and didn't see a single banana, this
game is a lie!". Maybe I'll have to drop a couple of bananas in the game,
just to play safe ;)
JAN
25
2019
Dev-Log video #2!
New dev-log video for Bananamana! I've done
so much work in the past few weeks! This video shows the new UI as well as
the distance/melee weapons in action! Enemies now drop items when defeated! Well...
they only release gold coins for now... but enemies always drop coins, don't they? So
I had to start there ;) Oh, and now you can also now find chests! Finally, I've started working
on each world's map and mini-maps! I've also fixed tons of minor issues and
features here and there. Much more to come soon!
JAN
11
2019
More Slimes!
I spent the holiday in my hometown in France visiting family and friends. It is always a joy to spend
Christmas there, especially with my two young nephews who seem to share the same crazy passion for video
games as me and my brother do. It was a well-needed break and after putting on a few pounds,
I'm now ready to get back to work! Well, as you all know, I usually can't stay idle for long... I had my
sketchbook with me and doodled all kind of stuff for Bananamana - such as these cute slimes!
More to come soon!
DEC
7
2018
Bananamana's UI, new water shader and more!
I've been really busy working on Bananamana! I finally got to tackle my water shader and I think it looks awesome! I
still have a few things to fix but it's starting to look like what I intended it to be! I've also implemented the
game's main User Interface - still needs some work though! Finally, I've added a screenshot that shows a rough day/night cycle -
if everything goes according to plans, it may be an important part of the gameplay!
A lot more to come soon, hopefully in the shape of a new Dev-Log video!!!
NOV
16
2018
First Dev-log video for Bananamana!!
I'm finally ready to share a first Dev-log video for my new game! And I'm also ready to share its name!
The game is called Bananamana and will be a procedurally generated action/adventure game!
I've been working on various elements (although there are still placeholder textures and models here
and there). I've also started to implement enemies, such as cute slimes. You can't realistically
create an adventure game without slimes, it is not even an option!
Finally, although I'm planning to release Banananamana first as a 2D ('flat') game, I've been
keeping VR in mind as I design it, so it will (hopefully) be easy to port it when the time comes
(I've already run some tests with the Oculus Rift and the game looks really cool in VR!).
Here ya go! More to come soon! :)
AUG
24
2018
U got the look!
Here is a long-due update from my new game! This one took a little more time
than expected because, well, I wanted to reach some important milestones
first, such as the actual look of the game! My goal is to create a
stylized and cartoony world, and I think I'm getting close to the art
direction I had in mind. I have also started to paint my own
textures (I'm especially happy with the grass and trees!) and to build my own models.
There are still a couple of temporary textures here and there though... will
tackle that soon! Sill a lot of work to do, but things are really starting to take shape now!
I also need to optimize the GPU instancing technique I use. Although it works fairly well right now
(the game runs between 200 to 400 FPS on my GeForce GTX 980), it definitively clogs up the CPU. I'm
going to have to bite the bullet and implement DrawMeshInstancedIndirect instead...
JULY
27
2018
The more the merrier!
This week I have dramatically improved the overall performance and the amount of geometry I can display on screen
by tenfold! These two are not usually besties, right? Well, as long as you use the right technique and don't
go all brute force... as I initially did, then you're good ;)
I have implemented GPU instancing and this technique is the bomb! I used to combine my own meshes (for trees and grass)
so they wouldn't generate too many draw calls. The technique worked really well but I didn't like the memory
footprint (4GB to 12GB in the worst cases). GPU instancing changed everything! I can now generate incredibly
large forests and grass fields, and the game runs under 2GB of RAM! So exciting!
I'd like to mention that I'm planning to work on the actual look of the game soon and these images still use placeholder
textures and rough models.
JULY
14
2018
New game project! First screenshots!
I'm thrilled to announce that I have been working on my next game for about
a month now and although I can't share its name or gameplay mechanics
(these will come in due time), I'm ready to share some early screenshots!
This is a super rough prototype, the models are pretty simple and I'm using
placeholder textures (the overall look will change too). The cool
thing I'm exploring for this game is to make it entirely procedurally
generated. These screenshots show the terrain engine I'm developing
for it. There is still a looong way to go and I'm working hard
at optimizing the graphics and squeezing out every last drop of power as I want
this game to be lower-powered PC friendly.
Each world is currently 5 kilometers wide
as I want each one to be packed with secrets and features to find, rather
than bland vast areas without much happening in them. Much more to come soon!
