Valchion is a action RPG with retro graphics and simple mechanics. It features bright, GameBoy Color-styled visuals, and a (hopefully) memorable soundtrack. It should be released for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It's also being made with the Blender Game Engine, which features fast game creation and no time spent exporting to an external engine.
Animation of the current state of the game as of 6/18/12, showing the interaction indicator.
Doesn't look quite right, actually makes it difficult to tell it's an exclamation mark.
Maybe a squidgy bounce would work better, sort of like a spring, so that it bounces and compresses slightly on the way down again.
mmmh don't know, I get it easily, but the bouncy thingie sounds effective :P
I see, I see. Well, I was thinking about a more bouncy "!" animation, as well, so maybe I'll implement that instead.
Something akin to this perhaps? Netanimations.net
Only a little less sad and deflated looking, obviously.
Plus, conventionally bouncing or flashing is used as a metaphor for importance. Swivelling doesn't really scream "important", more sort of "confused". It's still a great feature though.
Nice. I'm loving how its coming.
Thanks!
Now that I think of it, wouldn't it make more sense to use the "!" to communicate a special, perhaps objective-related interaction?
If people are always going to be using the terminals for saving and stuff, then they'll already be aware they can interact with them, assuming it's explained the first time.
Maybe this feature could be used whenever you want to signify a special/important interaction, something that they should go and do immediately, rather than just letting them know that a terminal is interactive when they walk past it, since that might be a little redundant otherwise.
I see what you mean, especially with the terminals, since you know what they are and what they do after the first time using it.
However, note that '!' only appears over your head if you're facing an object you can interact with. This can be a crate, a terminal, a locked door, a broken elevator - anything you can examine or otherwise interact with will prompt you in this way.
Also, outside of a '!', there's no way for the player to know exactly what can be interacted with, which is why I wanted to add it in.
Gears, for example, can be interacted with, but not conventionally, which might throw some people off, since they look 2D and like they might be important. I might want to add a simple piece of dialogue telling you that you can't push it normally, but can do so with a weapon.
However, I do like the idea of an exclamation point showing you something important - objectives. That might be something that I look into.