Gish 2 Gameplay Video

By: Derek Yu

On: September 8th, 2007

Cryptic Sea has been updating their blog like mad! “Click… refresh… click… refresh…”

Their latest entry features a video preview of the Gish 2 engine, after 2 weeks of development:

Some of the new features the fans might notice include normal mapping on the background, which is actually a pretty simple technique that will work on cards back to the GeForce 1. The other feature is soft shadows, what you see in the video is a bit of a hack, just to see how it will look.

It looks great! Outdoor environments for the win. And in the comments, Edmund assures us that the normal mapping will not be over-used and abused. (I think it looks pretty good in this vid, though.)

Posted in Platformers, Previews, Videos | Tags: CrypticSea

Edmund

FYI, Alex made that post :)
http://ptoing.net ptoing

Movement and stuff looks good, but that normal mapping IS totally too much atm. I hope he tones it down.
Derek

Ah, thanks, Edmund! Alex is so quiet generally that I make assumptions. WRONG ASSUMPTIONS. :'(
Skyleak

Kinda reminds me of the large intestine in action.
http://intuitiongames.blogspot.com torncanvas

Lookin’ pretty good. Thanks for keeping us TIGSource readers updated.

I’m sure the normal mapping is fine, I think he just needs to turn down the specularity. You guys are right, it’s a little bit much. At the right amount, it does add a new touch, though.

The outdoor stuff is cool, and I like how the lighting comes indoors there. The shadows should be a little more blue. Light from the blue sky is coming in, too, after all. :)
Edmund

keep in mind this is a test guys :) we arnt blind, our goal isnt to go all doom 3 on you and make everything look wet. the high secularity will only be used on very wet areas.

2 week graphics test..
-Edmund
http://www.blogger.com/profile/13070412747712995130 Radnom

I think the secularity and normal mapping looks great. Much like in a sewer. Awesome for 2 weeks!
haowan

Great going, looks like it’s really going to look nice. I really hope the controls are improved, though. I did like the controls in Gish, but I felt like I was fighting them the whole time. I think I heard that this was going to change so I am really looking forward to seeing what happens with that.
SuperHotChick

Open environments with animated backgrounds is the fresh air that Gish needs.
Anthony Flack

Definitely approve of the secularity. Physics doesn’t mix well with religion.
Blueberry_pie

Looking mighty awesome! Outdoor levels ought to be good. I’m guessing the sunlight is simulated by normal lights? Something you could consider is a special tile or something that always casts light in a specific direction, so it looks like there’s actually a sun at a large distance. Something like this. Not sure how efficient it would be, but I guess they could also be non-dynamic. Just my two cents!

Looking forward to seeing more progress! Gish still is one of my favourite indie games so I’m pretty excited about this.
Xander

Ahhh… droolage! I’d love a huge outdoors map with the sun in effect. Just think of Gish making an epic journey above ground, crossing vast obstacles as the sun rises and falls on his travels. That ambitious little blob. I’m hoping there’s enough gameplay-wise to keep things fresh, but hell, more gish is good enough for me now that I’ve thought about it!
Lim-Dul

I don’t care about normal mapping – I just wish that Gish 2 won’t be too similar to Gish 1… Yeah, OK, it’s the same unique character and that carries some obligations with it but please don’t make **just** a sequel. =)
moi

I would have liked a more 3Dish aspect in the backgrounds, maybe more parallax planes or sthg like that.
ATM it’s a bit too flat and sort of clashes with the foreground.
Redhades

It’s about time someone tries to do good lighting effects in 2D.
skaldicpoet9

Looks very, very nice. It’ll be interesting to see what the end product is like. I really liked the texture mapping, great stuff! I think I am going to go out and play Gish right now lol
Blueskied

Can someone explain the Cryptic Sea relation?
Wasn’t Gish 1 developed by Chronic Logic?
Mike

Gish blows
Edmund

When Alex Austin (founder of chronic logic and programmer/co-designer of gish) left chronic logic in 05 he left the chronic logic name with the remaining member but took the rights to his games, minus gish. It took another year to finalize the legal ownership of Gish, but in the end ownership was given back to the creative team, Alex Austin and myself (Edmund McMillen). By this time we had already formed a new company called Cryptic Sea.

So to sum it up, Cryptic sea are the same 2 guys that made gish 1.
Phasma Felis

The new graphical effects are awesome, but I’m more excited about the new gameplay mechanics. Looks like Gish can flatten himself down to less than one blockwidth and *stay* that way?!? Now he can go back *up* all those one-way chutes and chimneys! It looks like there’s some sort of variable traction thing going on; in the first game, if you try to move through a one-block-high horizontal tunnel, your bottom half pushes one way against the floor and your top half the other way against the ceiling, so you don’t go anywhere. Gish seems more squeezy-slippy-slidy in general, which should make for some interesting level designs.

Honestly, I would have been perfectly happy with a straight-up Gish level pack; the fact that we’re getting much more than that makes me ecstatic. Just make it longer this time! Are you reading this, Edmund? :) The first one ended just when I was getting going, and I need my fix…
http://josephkingworks.blogspot.com Joseph

Yeah I’m looking forward to more interesting level designs, Gish 1 just barely scratched the surface, I found the user-generated levels more fun…
Phasma Felis

Joseph, which user levels did you prefer? I only tried a couple, but it seemed to me that they were mostly neat ideas poorly executed.
Blueskied

Thanks, Edmund.
PHeMoX

Yeah, I agree with Phasma Felis, the original levels were pretty challenging and better designed compared to the user made levels (haven’t played all of them though).

I think what Gish 2 needs is even more interaction in the level-design. I really loved the levels with falling pillars and moving platforms, elevators, things moving around making it less predictable. I’m not sure what you can add more to it, but it having some ‘Indiana Jones’-like traps would be cool. You know, ceilings that come slowly come down to crush you, switches that need to be bumped onto in time and so on. :)