An homage to a movie franchise I loved as a kid

Hey there,

I'm slowly but steadily making progress on my new level, and I feel I might share some thoughts about it, so I've decided to make a post here. I'm also currently doing 2 things i'm not really good at, so I thought I might ask for some help.
But before I cry for help, let me talk a bit about the level first :).

I've tried something different from what I usually do : I've focused more on visuals and less on gameplay.

The idea was to make a short level whith a few platforming sections and a few puzzles, as an homage to a movie franchise I loved as a kid.

I'm not really happy with the current result, I can see flaws everywhere in what I've done currently. It seems that everything I had in mind is not as good as I thought it would be.
I hope I'll still manage to publish the level, as I went into a lot of troubles with this one (including losing my saved game data and 30 hours of work with it :) ).

So, I said I need help. In fact I'd like to have some help on 2 things. First, this level will contains some text, more than my usual levels do, and I'd like to have it written in proper english. As you may have noticed, it's not my native language, and I think I make a lots of mistakes.
There will not be a lot of text, but the introduction, and some clues will be in english, and I could use some help writing them. I don't have all the details I need in mind yet as the level is only 60/70% finished, but I have a good idea of what i want.

The second thing is drawing. I'm not really good at drawing, and it would be great to have some drawings in the level. I've already made some tests and they seems drawn by a 6 years old kid. I might need something like 8 drawings in the end, but only a few of them are already clear in my mind.

You may have noticed I'm avoiding talking about the subject and giving specific informations about the level right know. This is to give you the oppurtunity to leave this without spoiling the level if you don't want to.
If you think you can provide some help, or just want to see what I've done yet well, you just have to open the spoiler below.

Spoiler - Details!

Details! I guess you're not afraid to spoil the level if you read this. I'm working on an homage level to the Indiana Jones franchise. The level will consist in the exploration of a lava temple, with a few jumps here and a few puzzles there.
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/72e9...6a2167d2f8.jpg
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/5abb...b8ab412df3.jpg

There will be text in the introduction, and in clues found in the archeologists book. The drawings will be in the heroes book too, as clues. I've already written an intro and some clues, but they are more test than the real thing. You can see below one of the two intro pages and one clue :
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/6068...f25dd49642.jpg
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/fbaf...8eeafed2cf.jpg

Here is a picture of what I had in mind first while creating this book :
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/8995...ab7fce662b.jpg


As I said, I've made 60/70% of the level, I still have to make the Good/Bad endings. If you want to try what is done yet, you can use my lockbox. To play the level, just play my lockbox (http://vita.lbp.me/v/b2tbd ) and reproduce the following code http://tof.canardpc.com/preview2/026...848dd2e961.jpg.
If you're online you should be redirected to the level. Everything is rough and you might have bugs, and the level is not finished. So try at your own risks. If you try it I'd love to have a feedback on what you saw/played.

If you think you can help in english/drawings, please leave a short message here (not in mp as I do not us them and read them often). For the text it will maybe be easier to discuss here, for the drawings as everything is not clear in my mind but if you think you can make someting that looks like the book from the movie I'd like to use them.

Thanks for reading :)

what the hell!! dude i love indiana jones. kid or not lol. from what i saw in the pictures it looks like you are heading in the right direction. im good at drawing in real life lol but i don't about the vita but i can always give it a go. if you just send me some pictures of the thing's you want.

i think everyone get's that though. nothing really turns out exactly the way you vision them in your head. happens to me all the time. when i made the blade runner movie even though i had the actual movie as a reference i could not really watch the movie a hundred times lol. i had to do most from memory. just keep at it. i don't mind helping

Salut Slurm ! :)
So... first I'm also french (maybe you remember me on LBP JVC forum...) and I really can't help you translating the text ^^.
If you need some drawings, I could try helping you. Just send me a picture/detailed description of what you exactly want !
Here is my current preview of you level : WARNING : SPOILERS !!!

Spoiler - SPOILERS

Well, I I'm keen on Indiana Jones serie (especially Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) ! I had to love this level ! I really liked it : nice atmosphere, graphics, puzzles... The notebook is a great idea (it makes me thing about the "Uncharted" games). All the eastereggs were just fanstasticly well done ! ...Although I had the bad ending... I will try it again later and take more attention of the details :p

from what ive seen this looks awesome! :D

Thanks you all for your feedback.

@wolfy : the idea is to draw in real life, take a picture with the Vita camera and use it as a sticker on the book in the level. From the tests i've made it look quite good, so I've decided to use this technique. As Gwaeron already played the level i'll try to see it it fits as he have a better idea of what I want know, but feel free to read the spoiler below too

@Gwaeron : Of course I remember you ;). I'm describing what i want in the spoiler below.

@thebombdrop : Thanks ;)


I'll add in the beginning of the level an item bubble that give the book. The method I used to make the current pages is to take a picture with a light over the page and place the sticker on the book. This should be usefull the get the proportions a drawing need to fit.

Spoiler - spoil

For the drawings I think I need
- 1 drawing for the clue for the "Diamond puzzle". I think the one I've made give an idea of what I want, except I'm wondering if it can mislead people as the wheels on the drawing are not turned as the solution. What do you think? This one is supposed to introduce the latter puzzle whith the wheels turing at the same time (and another one not made yet)
- 1 drawing for the clue for the "Code puzzle" : This one should give an hint to find the code. You found it without it but in the case people miss it I want to give them a chance to find the code
- 1 drawing for the second set of 4 wheels. This one should just let the player know that wheels now turn by 3, and that a square should be made.
- 1 drawing for the bridge (this one is a clear reference to the last crusade, the one I made is exactly what I want except it's not very well drawn)
- 1 drawing for the wheel of signs puzzle. This one should state that it's important to remember things and no mistake is allowed.
- there will be 3 more puzzles (I think, i'll see when I make progress on the level) that will need clues.
- I also wanted to add 3 or 4 pages on the notebook with a drawing for each ending (bad, neutral, good and maybe a secret one but i'm not sure yet) , they will unlock in the book as you found them. The sould look like Indiana Jones moive posters, with a sackboy in the midle, the title ending and a few thins about the ending. This is still to discuss as the endings are not done yet.
- I'm also thinking about another achievements page but this one is not sure so let's forget it for the moment ;))

Thanks again for giving feedback :)

Ill help you with the text if you want! Im fluent in English, and know a TINY bit of French.

Amazing level till now.

Who doesnt love Indiana Jones? Seriously... who doesnt?

Start is a bit sober... i dont know what plans u got... a neat intro woulda been great... i dunno, u imagine those flight sequences in the movies where the route gets drawn on a map... something like that... cause basically what it is now, is... a few words of explanation, the title screen and than u are right at the lavatemple.... i just think cause the temple itself felt very adventurous... the beginning lacks a bit in comparison, in terms of atmosphere....

The Temple itself wow... its great.. very atmospheric... some cool puzzles, which arnt realy that hard to figure out for yourself... the book is a great idea... (is it possible that it stays on the page u opened last, if u reopen the book? i think that was really annyoing) ... your drawings probably do the job, but yeah... i guess the look kinda childish lol... u got help on that allready? i guess u need to give more information, about how to draw those and maybe add some little images in this thread, with your expactations of how they could look....

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(including losing my saved game data and 30 hours of work with it )

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omg ^^ thats... i guess that was fun lol

Well i think either way this level is gonna turn out to be really good.... im not sure how much more content it has, i only got to the bad ending, where u fall down.... the invisible path was really cool... i allready thought i had some bug and couldnt continue, when i did the jump of faith, it really had this "awww!" moment... especially since its not only invisible material and moves with the scenerio than... really cool. Lockbox is fun too lol

Thanks! Great feedback.

I agree, the text opening can be improved, and the map is a good idea that perfectly fit the Idiana Jones theme. I already tried to do a movie openning with a plane and a parachute but it was so bad I deleted it. I'll try to see what I can achieve but movies are not my speciality at all.

About the puzzles, they are sure quite easy, but I don't want them to be too hard. But I have another variation of the "4 wheels puzzle" that can be harder, I can I have plans to add one last puzzle on each path (the good and bad ones), plus one extra puzzle for finding all cogs. The book is more a support if someone get stuck, and give a "last crusade" feeling to the level. The invisible bridge is also a direct reference to the last crusade, as well as the associated drawing.

About the book/drawings, I'll try to give more details about drawings later but I had no time to work on the level this weekend. I hope i'll find some for the next one. I will save/restore the current page when you reopen it. Good idea. I know the book is not usefull yet, but I'll maybe make changes to the current puzzles to force its use (for example making more than one solutions on the 4 wheels puzzles and giving the solution in drawings)

Anyway thanks again for the feedback, it's really appreciated.

I wasn't expecting much from this, since it's a movie tie-in if you will, but this was actually really fun. I've been waiting for a player to come and do something like this - physics based puzzles, hints and cool temple gameplay.

But this is more for feedback in is thread, so I'll let you know what I didn't like so much (just remember how much I do love this so it doesn't sound too bad!!)
Couple mistakes in the text at the beginning, it should be 'interesting' not 'interessing' and 'hoping' not 'hopping'.
Towards the end of the level some of the decoration wasn't as good, like the long section of running, the background there could use some more decoration or scenery.

But overall it's good, and if you need a tester, I'd be willing to try the level as it progresses further, so PM me if you would like that :)

Great level and I can't wait for the full level

Hi !
Well I tried to make some drawings... but that was pretty pathetic :( The only thing I've done which could be useful is a kind of billboard... If you want to see it, I put it in that level : http://vita.lbp.me/v/btr3v (lockbox by comphermc). Code is 754.
I didn't put lot of work with the background, I've only focused on the character and the title's font. It may fits with that level, but if you don't think so, never mind and don't use it. By the way, I tried your level another time and I enjoyed the improvements you've done at the beginning of the level (the journey on the map...). I was not able to pass through the first door, but I think that's because you're working on it.
Good luck with your level, it looks fantastic ! I just can't wait it to be finished !

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Originally Posted by Gwaeron

Hi !
Well I tried to make some drawings... but that was pretty pathetic :( The only thing I've done which could be useful is a kind of billboard... If you want to see it, I put it in that level : http://vita.lbp.me/v/btr3v (lockbox by comphermc). Code is 754.
I didn't put lot of work with the background, I've only focused on the character and the title's font. It may fits with that level, but if you don't think so, never mind and don't use it. By the way, I tried your level another time and I enjoyed the improvements you've done at the beginning of the level (the journey on the map...). I was not able to pass through the first door, but I think that's because you're working on it.
Good luck with your level, it looks fantastic ! I just can't wait it to be finished !

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Thanks! I'll look at it when I have some time. I'm quite busy at the moment and i've made only small progress on the level, and yes, the code for the first door changed, so you can't open it without the proper clue from the notebook.

I'll update the post as I made significant progress on the level, ie when all puzzles are updated and both good and bad endings are done. I don't have a publish date yet in mind but it will be probably in quite a long time.

Awesome work. Im trying out the lockbox now!