New The Underside Video

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 5th, 2007

Arthur says, “This video is really misleading because I haven’t done as much work on content as I should’ve been (I’ve been working a lot on improving the game engine instead).”

If you’ve been following the news (like I have), you’ll know that development progress stalled for a bit, then picked back up, and now Mr. Lee has even integrated LUA into the game. In MMF. It’s crazy to me that that’s even possible now.

It makes me wonder, at what point should a Click developer just bite the bullet and move on to C/C++? I have a feeling it’d be a lot easier than most think…

Posted in Adventure, Platformers, Videos | Tags: ThePodunkian

http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Lookin’ sweet.
http://www.rey-o.com rey-o

very nice – fun characters and damn, that guy can move FAST
Eudaimon

It still bugs me slightly how the graphics make it seem like “Cave Story: The Fangame”, but even so I think it looks to be a pretty fun game.
MedO

“In the vein of Cave Story”? This looks so much like cave story that I think if Pixel made a sequel (not that it’d make sense) it wouldn’t look more like it. I can’t make up my mind about whether that’s good or bad.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Hahaha, I’m sure Arthur’s _thrilled_ that people are still talking about this. ;)

Well, I’ve long since stopped caring about the style and started digging this game for what it is. A well-made, fun game.
Eudaimon

The thing is, the game seems pretty heavy on style, and having things like the damage numbers looking like they were ripped wholesale from Cave Story only hurts it. If he were to put in more of his own sense of style, as seen in the title screen, it could maybe get people making positive comparisons to Cave Story instead of accusing it of being a ripoff.
http://www.rey-o.com rey-o

yeah – i think it’s been discussed and established that this game owes it’s existence to a certain story that takes place in caves.

mooooving right along then…
Robert

Regardless of where the style came from, it looks damn fun.
fish

bordering on plagiarism.
Gokai

Looks great, and I don’t think it’s resemblence to Cave Story should be a problem.
http://akktivecarbon.uw.hu !CE-9

glad to hear this project is still alive, I loved the playable demo. and who cares if it looks like Cave Story? everybody loved Cave Story, and everybody wanted more.
Dustin

It plays a whole lot better than Cave Story so far for what it’s worth. It’s also pretty different in terms of gameplay, having tighter movement and more interesting, linear level design.
mjau

Well, he did say the video is misleading as he hasn’t worked much on content yet. I hope that means he’s planning to make it less of a clone visually.
Melly

With how programs like MMF and Game Maker are becoming better developed, I don’t think it’s mandatory for someone to do in C/C++ what he could do perfectly in either of those programs. And I don’t think that you have to “byte the bullet”, if those canned program do everything you need for your game without restricting you. Just because you can code from scratch doesn’t mean you’re a better game designer. Those who undermine a game simply because it was made with GM/MMF and not C++ can just screw themselves with a pineapple.

I use GM, so I can say that, while it does make getting the game to work an incredibly easy process, it does NOT make it easy to design a good, solid game. There is a difference between the hordes of GM newbs making their own Click the Clown clones, and people like Paul Eres (Immortal Defence) and Cactus (Clean Asia), not to mention other awesome names.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Gokai: Clearly it’s already a problem. :X

Dustin: I disagree with you up ’til the word “linear.” ;)

It plays pretty well, but not “a whole lot better.”
Melly

By the way, I’m personally one of those eagerly awaiting The Underside. The graphical style is taken from Cave Story, yes, but it has a whole different feel to itself. The experience I had playing the demo was different than playing Cave Story. It was a different type of awesome.
mjau

Melly, one problem with a game made in MMF/GM/etc is that the game is automatically Windows-only. An engine written in C/C++ could be ported to other platforms. LUA is very easy to use with C, too.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Melly: Hm. Yeah, I was definitely just talking about programming.

I agree on the point that it’s the artist and not the tools. That’s true (and obvious). But you’re completely wrong apart from that.

No matter how developed MMF or GM may be nowadays, it’s insane to think they’re as powerful or flexible as coding. Nuts.

And what I do with pineapples is my own business. ;)
Shabadage

YoYo is porting GM to the Mac, and Clickteam is making a Java port (for multiplatform we’re assuming).
Melly

Reread my post. I never actually said they are as flexible as coding from scratch. I know they aren’t. I said that you shouldn’t HAVE to get from a canned program to coding as a rule, like some people seem to think (not saying you specifically are one of them). You should do so if what you want to make can’t be made in those programs. Like games that can be played in many systems. If you want that, go ahead and learn C. Or Python. Or anything else you want.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Ah, I thought you were ranting me for my comment about switching to code. (The point of which being that some MMF games are that complex now.)

But yeah, I don’t think there’s anyone around these parts who has a problem with MMF/GM games/developers. They’re some of my favourites!
Penis

_”It makes me wonder, at what point should a Click developer just bite the bullet and move on to C/C++? I have a feeling itâ€™d be a lot easier than most thinkâ€¦”_

He does know C++. He’s done work on Garry’s mod, amongst other things. I guess MMF is just his weapon of choice for smaller games.
Melly

Glad to see the trouble sorted out.

Now, I do believe this game requires more chainsaws.

And hats.

And horse.
Not Sure

What is wrong with it being like Cave Story? I loved that game, so much so that I am craving another similar experience. Kinda like playing all those Doom clones back in the day because I finished it front to back and still craved a similar experience. Furthermore, I think this really relates to what Jon Mak was talking about at TGS 07.
HandCraftedRadio

So you want game makers to make games like the ones before them. Aren’t you the same people who hate on on the big gaming companies because they all copy the popular games before them?

I think its ok if you like similar games, but i have heard a lot of the indie community trashing mainstream games for doing this exact same thing.

Just an observation I had after reading these comments.
Neon

Cave Story? *sniff*
Pizza

This game reeks of Cave Story to the point where it shouldn’t be considered an original game but as a Cave Story fangame.

It was fun to play, though! I can vouch for that.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Melly: Chainsamurai. And doomerangs.
http://josephkingworks.blogspot.com Joseph

Hopefully there is some kinda twist to make this game at least a little bit unique. Otherwise I might as well play Cave Story again.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Wait, wait…

What’s a _Cave Story?_ :|
failrate

That video had some positively *evil* situations >:D It looks very tough.
Dominic White

Yeah, from the earlier demo released, I can pretty safely say that while it borrows (ha) most of its audiovisual style from Cave Story, the gameplay is VERY different. It’s like Megaman in fast-forward. Brutal difficulty to be expected.

It’s Cave Story in the same way that Space Giraffe is Tempest. Essentially similar foundations, but once you actually play for more than a couple of minutes, they flow compeltely differently.
negative zero

@Not Sure

the problem’s not entirely about it being so much like cave story, but why? why choose to take one’s own game in this direction. it’s as if the game’s feeding off from all the cave story fandom.

still looks like a fun game, but the graphical style and gameplay quirks look far too similar. prolly the only reason fans of cave story aren’t bashing this game heavily is:

1. it’s free
2. graphically, nothing’s been ripped (but convincingly looks like it was, imho)
3. the guy admits that much inspiration comes from cave story

but yeh, i’m with Pizza on this one. this has to be a fangame. saying otherwise would be an insult to Pixel.
Dustin

It’s more like metroid and earthbound than cave story when you put aside graphics (And Podunkian’s art style before this was not even that different so to claim it’s all from cave story is ridiculous)
BreadCultist

Cave Story wasn’t really very original. It was awesome though. Anyway, I’m delighted to see something similar on the horizon. The Underside seems a bit more fantastical, random (invincible cheeseburger) and videogamey. I am convinced that Metroidvania is the greatest of all game genres and has a future full of unlocked potential. I need to make one or ten.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Dustin: Yeah, you can definitely taste the Metroid, Earthbound, and Mega Man influences…
Anthony Flack

The Cave Story graphical aping still grates, but man, that is looking like a super-sweet action platformer right there.
King-N

From what I’ve experienced, It’s sorta like a cross between Earthbound oddness and Cave story Gameplay. In other words = insanely entertaining.
DrDerekDoctors

All I know is that I loved the demo and I can’t wait for the full game. I mean it’s a FREE game which apes certain elements of another FREE game and is completely open about doing so. Where is the problem?
http://www.cursesfoiled.co.uk BenH

The problem? People like to bitch, thats all. They’re not happy unless they’re bitchin’!
Damn bitches.
Anthony Flack

The only problem is that there was no need for it to ape Cave Story and it would be that much cooler if it had its own style. It still looks like it’s going to be a super-sweet platformer though, which is why people care about whether it’s a bit cooler or not.

I mean, if it looked like it was going to be shit, then it wouldn’t matter at all. But I feel like saying to it “hey man. You don’t need to try to be like that Cave Story. You’re better than that. You’re The Underside, man. Just be yourself.”
Draic

The thing that interests me the most about this wonderful little game is that due to it being MMF-based, the final product might end up getting packaged with a level/scenario editor.

That would be a truly wonderful thing.

The reason I still have Knytt Stories installed on my computer is thanks to the boundless amounts of wonderful user-content that’s been created for it by the fan community.

The Underside could just as easily become the Knytt Stories of the platform-shooty genrÃ© if it is coupled with such an editor.

And considering that the game’s own scripting engine is LUA-based, the possibilities for creations made by such an editor are nigh-on endless.
DrDerekDoctors

I suppose as it’s shaping up to be great it is a bit of a pity that it’ll be forever tied to Cave Story, but I can see the attractiveness of going lo-fi with the graphics if he’s doing everything himself (I shall prolly go the same route on any projects I do wholly myself). The other nods are perhaps a little odd, but you can’t deny they worked well on Cave Story. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be associated with Cave Story in some way? :)
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Heh, that’s a good explanation, Anthony. I like that. :)

P.S. — “Cave Story” has been mentioned 34 times (including now) in these comments.

We’re under par!
http://www.cursesfoiled.co.uk BenH

I still haven’t played Cave Story. It reboots my PC, which is awesome.
Story of the Cave

Have you guys ever heard of cave story? Its a little bit like this game, so if you think this game looks cool, you should try cave story.
http://cavestory cave story

cave story
mjau

Cave Story like totally ripped off Doukutsu Monogatari!
Dolomite

is cave story now a meme?
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

“CAVE STORY RIP-OFF” is kind of a running gag around here, yeah.