Post news Report RSS Realeasing Actual Gameplay footage!

Playable Demo has reached its halfway point! Check it out =)

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The playable demo has reached its half-way point. To my older relatives and to the none gaming folk, this video may seem like it was just a scribble on a sketch pad, but to the members of Ethereal Muse this is a life story to remember. This ground breaking achievement is a sign that we could possibly be on our way to a great future.

As the local fans in my area met up with me to see the quick demo, they all admitted that none of them had imagined that this project would have gone this far. As imperfect as the demo can be, all I can think about is how it was just 12 months ago Encore! was nothing but a bunch of sketches and dreams.

The team members of Encore! is working very hard on completing the playable demo by mid April and there will be many more updates to come. I thought I'd share this with everyone and I hope you enjoy it.

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jstoner
jstoner

looks great.

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SinKing
SinKing

lol Teletubbies"

It looks good from the flow-theory perspective. I wonder, if you come to intersections can you chose which way to turn? After all, in the USA everything is divided into blocks so, you could still go everywhere you want on a lot of different routes. European towns are build on a circular grid, because the city structure is mostly derived from ancient (castle) structures; so going in circles into either direction and cutting between them should get you anywhere as well.

Side scrolling is good and the design reminds me of a cartoon version of Edward Hoppers work. Maybe it would even work with less saturated colors, but the toon effect/look is probably wanted.

What I don't like is that she's constantly pinned right in the middle of the road. If the player has that little space and can only move back and forth on-screen, at least for evasive moves you have to be able to move closer or further away from the cam. Even, if it's just 3 positions, it will make the gameplay look nicer and offer a lot more variation to gameplay. I'm looking forward to see how the guitar play develops. With combos and bonus, this could really turn out into a very special, challenging game. As long as people onate enough ;)

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Pyroguy
Pyroguy

Aha, haha... You've obviously never been to Boston or other northeastern cities.

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etherealmuse Author
etherealmuse

Navigating through streets is something I can definitely consider. I had an idea for co-op gaming. Where players could change levels or go separate ways (down, up, or turning an intersection). If it was a local co-op making the game split screen. What do you think?

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Herr_Alien
Herr_Alien

The game looks good! I have to admit, although I am more of a shooter person, it got my attention.

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Dragonlord
Dragonlord

Is it the intended final design to use your instruments as melee weapons? From the last concept description I gather a bit something else but maybe this is just part of it. Don't know why but it reminds me on TWEWY right now.

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etherealmuse Author
etherealmuse

According to my game design document, melee attacks are 20% of the battle mechanics. Melee attacks are often much faster to land than playing Onate` as a weapon. I would like to create a balanced system where the player must learn to block, attack, and play the instrument depending on appropriate timing. Playing the instrument as a weapon is much stronger than a melee attack.

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Bird_of_Prey
Bird_of_Prey

The backgrounds looking great! Great work!

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SIGILL
SIGILL

Looks awesome, I'm looking forward to the demo! (It will be a public release, right?) Btw, I would like to know the answer on Dragonlord's question as well.

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etherealmuse Author
etherealmuse

I am meeting up with Ryan Anderson executive editor of moddb tomorrow @ GDC. I may decide to put up a prototype version exclusively to moddb's site. I have a feeling that this demo will be an ongoing project UNTIL the battle mechanics are completely polished.

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Bender411
Bender411

Nict video! I very whait demo ;)

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Kamikazi[Uk]
Kamikazi[Uk]

Cool demo great work.

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awesomepossum
awesomepossum

Very cool, some excellent art work too!

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Wheeze201
Wheeze201

I don't really see whats so great about this.

I mean sure it's well done but c'mon, what in gods name sort of game is this supposed to be ?

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etherealmuse Author
etherealmuse

The demo is not completely finished yet. Such as environment, lighting, particle effects and battle mechanics.

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Armageddon104
Armageddon104

Good job guys ;) keep it up :)

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etherealmuse Author
etherealmuse

Thanks for all of your support! I am going to be exposing a lot more material very very soon!

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DOLBYdigital
DOLBYdigital

I still remember when this mod came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face with a pure unique and fresh concept. It does blow my mind how we humans are able to take these thoughts and ideas in our minds and turn them into something that can be felt and experienced by others.

The animations look great and the music is excellent - as it should be for a game based around music ;)

I agree that every time you walked by one of those roads, I really wanted to see the character go 'up' the road and change the 2-D dimension to show that road on the screen now. I am sure that would be crazy hard so I will leave it on my wishful thinking list for now ;)

Finally, I know you are working on the melee and fighting system but wanted to chime in and agree with you about making the fights more time based and challenging. I would love a system where you couldn't just beat every enemy down with the same attack. Instead you had to use certain combos of melee and music to defeat an enemy or maybe just to get him to show his weakness or something similar.

Great update!!!

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N0dachi
N0dachi

Really really good. Keep it up and dont forget to answer emails :P

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