[AdvJam2019] [Simon - Yaz] Mon Village est Magique : The Whale of the Infinite Ocean

First topic message reminder :

This is my project for Adventure Jam 2019.
AdvJam official page: http://jams.gamejolt.io/advjam2019
(Please check also the other Icehouse games: Juanjo/PythonBlue (game: Numen), Yves (game: Romanesco), ... )




The story takes place in the world of Mon Village est Magique.
http://www.monvillageestmagique.fr

Characters:
The main characters are Seb (8 years old kid) and his little brother Tommy (5 years old). We can also see Mumutton (the dust bunny), Mom and Dad (the parents of Seb and Tommy), and there will be other NPC (Not Playable Characters) to whom we can talk and interact with.

Places:
There are 2 distinct worlds in this game: the real world (the world where we live, and where Seb and Tommy live), and one of the many Magical Worlds.
The real world will be located in the village of Seb and Tommy in France, Bugundy. It will take place around their house, near the ruins of the castle as usual.
The Magical World will be a small kingdom inspired by fantasy, wizardry, etc.

Story:
Mumutton has disappeared! Seb and Tommy investigate to find him. The track takes them near the well of Magical Water at the pond of their village. Suddenly a breach opens between their world and another world. Mumutton suddenly gets out of the breach, with a very official invitation written by a king! Seb and Tommy are invited to a great spectacle to celebrate the meeting with these people. The kids are named ambassadors. In the new kingdom, the spectacle is amazing, with lots of colors and music, and a giant whale flies through the sky to end the show. The king is very proud. Everything is going well, until the whale escapes into our world! The heros learn that it is a rare animal that normally lives in the Infinite Ocean and shouldn't be held captive. The people of this world had tamed her to entertain the king. And now, she's so large and heavy that she could do some damage in the real world! They're gonna have to send her home and free her! But the king doesn't seem to want to cooperate...

Gameplay:
The game will be a point and click adventure game in 3rd person view, made of 3D characters in 2D environments (like Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey, etc). The player will go through the story (text) and will have to solve a few inventory puzzles (find and use items) and maybe other puzzles (if I have the time and ideas).

Engine:
This project will be developed with Visionaire Studio.

Graphics:
3D characters in 2D (pre-rendered) environments. The graphics will be created in 3dsmax and After Effects.

Music:
This is not decided yet, but I don't have a music composer so it is more likely that the music will be free royalty free music from the internet.
Update: FInally Yaz is joining the team!! We're going to have great music in the game!

Devlog:
You can follow my progress on the game page on Game Jolt, where I post WIP articles and pictures.
https://gamejolt.com/games/mvem_aj2019/418477

I will share some of the in-game screenshots here as soon as I have something playable!
I hope you are interested by my project and that you will want to play it. Don't hesitate to share your thoughts, give ideas, suggestions, etc.
Thanks!

I was only teasing Simon! I remember very well how quickly you did Myha, as well as Kitrinos with Yaz! I think you are all super human!!!

Me too!

Josh I was kidding, don't worry

I'm super too human!

By the way I've updated the Game Jolt page of MVEM: The Whale of the Infinite Ocean
https://gamejolt.com/games/mvem_whale/418477

Oh yeah, I like what I see...

It's been a long time since my last post. I had many issues with the dialogue system and other programmation things. I think I've solved the problems, so now I can continue to create characters and backgrounds.

This is the latest preview of the latest version of the game:

https://i.gjcdn.net/data/fireside/posts/10/193/671943/media/29-bvmg6r5f-km62jhxx.webm

This is just utterly amazing Simon!

Thanks Roger! I hope you'll like the story, even if it's more for kids.

Having read the book (many times over, ) It makes me even more excited to play this. Amazing work so far Simon. I don't know how you and Juanjo do it. I think you are both incredibly talented cyborgs,

Ahah thanks Josh, but I'm glad I'm not a cyborg. I'm just one of these kids in the books/games of MVEM. But I have magical powers of course (Magical Water!)

Simon, I love seeing you again creating, it's amazing what you can do in such a short time... I forgot you're a genius!

By the way, we all know that I am an AI with creative modules loaded...

Thanks Juanjobot!

These are the first official HD screenshots from inside the game. What do you think?

Hi, here's a poll, I need your help to take a decision for the background resolution:
https://gamejolt.com/games/mvem_whale/418477/devlog/i-hesitate-to-keep-the-clean-hd-backgrounds-or-create-an-old-schoo-x5ytkkdh
(compare carefully the 2 versions for each screenshot)

The HD is great - but the pixel version has more character - have voted.

Doing a great job Simon!

pixels for me

The HD ones look great but I also prefer the lower res version. More character,

Ahah ok, then it's decided, old pixels are like cheese and wine. Thanks for your help everyone!

Well I vote for HD. I love pixel but it doesn't work well when this is generated through a filter in my opinion (and with high resolution images). I like clean pixel only. Also it's a jam so it will be impossible to do great pixel art.

Mmmh, thanks Matthieu, I'll take this in consideration. It's a shame that people on Game Jolt are not sharing their thoughts too.
It's very difficult to decide of what is the best choice for the graphics.

I hope I'm not late... HD of course, I love the definition

Ahah, more and more people prefer HD! I don't know what I should do!
For the Jam it will be pixels (it saves me time) but if I continue the project later, I have to think carefully!

Anyway if I continue later, there will be many things to polish and improve. So I will have time to decide.

Thanks for your opinions!

I have remade the logo of the game!

I have added several new screenshots on GameJolt!

And I have added the first prototype from last Wednesday (there was almost nothing to do inside, it's just to show the evolution of the project, where it comes from. Thus you can compare with the next version soon)

https://gamejolt.com/games/mvem_whale/418477

Do what is easier and faster for the jam, as you say, later you can think about that.

By the way, fantastic images and I love the logo!

Thanks Juanjo

I've just uploaded a new playable prototype and added music by Yaz on the game page.
https://gamejolt.com/games/mvem_twotio/418477

And here's a special screenshot for the Icehouse! Hope you like it haha

Keeps getting better and better. Love it Simon!