For those who have played and beaten Armed with Wings 3, you may be wondering what happened to the Lone Warrior after he leaves Leo to presumably battle Vandheer Lorde. I've decided to reveal the events that occurred through Culmination, my next game based in the Armed with Wings universe. Some time last year I revealed a demo of Culmination, however I'd advise everyone who has seen it to think nothing more of it as it as I have decided to start building Culmination from the ground up. I will communicate the production process through this blog, just as I did with Armed with Wings 3 (hopefully more frequently). Feel free to pitch your ideas and thoughts. User feedback will be very important this time.

Culmination will be similar to RedMoon in a few ways. It's primarily an action platformer which may have some puzzle elements. I'll be paying much more attention to the combat system and enemy classes this time around. Expect a lot of fun variety and interesting ways of defeating enemies.

I'm going to try my very best to complete the game in a month. Armed with Wings 3 was my baby, I worked extremely hard on that game and I didn't want to release it half assed. Culmination will be the same, but with that being said, it's also very important to develop quickly so that I am profitable. I'll try my best to achieve maximum quality at maximum speed.

Here are some animations of the Lone Warrior (who I'm animating from scratch).

These where basically done in less than 24 hours, which I think is pretty good. Still need more animations such as jumping, taking damage, falling over, getting up ect...

Sound off in the comments below, I'd like to hear what you guys expect from Culmination. eg, do you want guard/block/parry or doge/rolls ect...

First thing, does Lone Warrior have a name? I would like to call his name....
Second thing, I would like to comment on his running style. He looks like some sort of wild beast running around......(no critisim) but still he's cool.
Third thing, hmm....can he jump? Some players comment that he is somehow allergic to jumping....
Fourth thing, can he swing his sword in a more elegant way? well....I assume that he is a specailist in swordmanship.......

All in all, he's still one of my favourite characters.
Daniel, we have a high expectation on you.

As awesome as those Animations look, please don't tell me he's the only playable character :/

He was Armed with Wings, now he is simply a Lone Warrior.... sorry :S



Indeed he will jump. He'll even wall jump.



I thought about making is attacks very elegant, but I wan't him to be furious. This game takes place just after he screams "I WILL SLAY YOU VANDHEER LORDE".




I shall deliver!




There may be more playable characters... only time will tell.

couple more animations

I liked the way he ran when we played him in AwW 1. that was cool. otherwise he looks pretty cool. I liked the smith where you buy upgrades in AwW 3 if you could do that again that would rock.

P.S. If you have free time, I'd love to be able to play him when he is in that Blackmist "mode" (when he was completely white and has wings). Maybe it could be unlockable, like the Sword of Lightning was?

Pls redo his hairstyle and robe. And add some extra slashes, maybe like a 6 or 10 hit combo.

Enough of critics.
I would like this: Strong connection between meele and sword attacks like in AwW 2 when you could ssitch between the two in the middle of the combo.

Also: Specials should definetly include Flash step, Power Blast, Two-way power blast And they should be different when used in mid-air. Like Heal power heals you on the ground but you can fly when using it in mid-air. Or power blast triggers aerial strike special when used in the air.

ADD VANDHEER LORDE AS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER! OR UNLOCKABLE OR WATHEVEr JUST LET US PLAY WITH HIM!

Lately I've been doing nothing but draw Vandheer Lordes in my notebooks... the teachers were quite angry with me.

I don't think I'll be redoing his robe or hair. Too much work I'd basically have to start all his animations again. That's the nature of 2d animation. I'm happy with his animation.

Specials should be slightly different in mid air, I agree.

Mixing melee and sword was pretty cool in AwW2, though I'm not sure if I will implement this. When I go to design the combat system, I'll see if this works.

-- Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:14 pm --



The way he ran in AwW was a pretty good animation. Though I am happy with this new run, I think people will connect with him more as the same character from AwW1 if his run is the same. Thanks for suggesting that, I may change it.

Playing as Blackmist (white god winged) was something I was going to do in AwW3, but ofcoure as if that game didn't take long enough to make. If I have time to implement this, I might.

And what about Vandheer?

OK
Critique:
One of the things i found slightly annoying in AwW3 was that Leo seemed a bit to slow. Personally I'd like it if the lone warrior could move a bit faster.

The knock-back recovery animation has always seemed a little bit excessive and (to be perfectly frank) low quality.

Recommendations:

I like the idea of an evade/dodge ability and maybe counter attack. Block for some reason seems out of place in the AwW universe.

Some sort of gimmick ability to replace the eagle, other wise it's basically another red moon (No offense). Personally I think utilizing power over black mist to alter the area in some way would be really cool.

Instead of interchangeable sword styles and hand-to-hand styles, maybe replace the hand-to-hand styles with interchangeable swords like in AwW2.

You might have already worked out the entire plot but maybe at the end have the warrior make a choice between his objective (Kill Vandheer) and what he should do (save a companion or something). The choice could affect the last part of the game in some way.

Craziness:

I have this scene in my mind of the warrior throwing away his sword and beating the crap out of Vandheer Lorde with his bare hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that is my first contribution to the forums.

Good day.

Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask, who is the voice actor of Eivana and Hawken in Red Moon?

I'm so pleased that new members are signing up to give their 2 cents on this game. I'm reading every comment and acknowledging each query.




This comment right here has really got me brainstorming on different game mechanics.


I'm quite sure that this game will have just one weapon per character (assuming there is more than 1 playable character).



I like you, you're a cool dude. Post some more.

Personally, I believe Culmination should have an Assassin's Creed-style combat system. For example, as mentioned earlier above, you should implement a few counter-attack abilities that are activated in a similar way to that of Assassin's Creed's real-time "quick-time events".

Also, I believe you should also implement "Forms", such as "Blackmist Form", "Whitemist Form", "Nevermore Form (Nevermore is one of my favorite words", etc. While in a specific Form you'll receive different bonuses in different areas, like speed or strength. To make the game fair you would then have to add a gauge that would only recharge via dealt damage, but that's just my opinion/idea.

I also agree with Nameless above. You should concentrate more on the smaller details that would make the game seem more, "unreal". Recently I've noticed that the games I really enjoy seem to concentrate more on the smaller details than on the larger image, but, then again, this is only my opinion.

Finally, I really recommend that you should create alternate endings, like a good, bad, or even "revenge" ending, like from Amnesia. They could affect only the Culmination storyline, or maybe they could even affect the outcome of the AwW3 ending. I'm not saying that you should create an AwW3.5, but rather make the ending open ended, so that the players could make their own endings.

Anyways, that's all I have to say...

Goodnight...

Thanks Daniel, I'll see what I can do.

Here are some Character design suggestions:

1. His robe should not that long.......shorter robe will be better
(Looks like he's gona step on his robe and fall over in any time.)
2. WaitWaitWait, where's his scarf?

Here are another suggestions:

1. Have to agree with Nameless. Different characters have different endings.
But....each character may have different endings too.
2. Needless to say, Lone Warrior will surely be executed by Vandheer Lorde, won't he?
(Because he is resurrected by Leo at the end of Armed With Wings 3)
3. Take a wild guess. Who will be the lucky one to have the first appearance in Culmination?
(If it's hard to decide, no worries, let the characters play Paper, Scissors, Stone and decide.)
4. Perhaps, in the begining of the game, we will choose the characters that we want to play...
5. Will there be any eagles flying around Leo?
6. Every character may have their own special power!
(Just like Eivana unleashing her Red Moon Power)
7. Please, more difficult puzzle solving.
(I like puzzle solving + adventure game.)
8. Any Vioce Acting?
(I know everyone is discussing it.)
9. Let's hope there will be no more sticking keys..............
10. More twist in Culmination, please.

Okay, that's all I want to comment.
Thank you for your attention.

well i kinda hate his hair actually....the older one makes him look better..this one makes him like a witch...but thats okay.....also about run... he run like a beast or a furious and hateful warrior ...and thats cool....

Aww1, lone warrior's hair style is better.
Hmm....maybe his hair grow longer in Aww3 and he is too lazy to cut it.......
His running style is really..................
Hope Daniel can modify him a bit....

Read the first comments, he said it would take too much...
Too lazy to cut his hair rulez...
But really who was he voice actor of Hawken?

-- Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:14 pm --

I just played with the demo of Culmination. First thing: The Lone warrior there was awesome!
Second thing Vandheer was also awesome! I think you should have done this Lone Warrior the same way as back then especially with the hair and scarf.

However Vandheer rulez! Toss in some specials like D for Ice blast E for Teleport W for Power Blast
Q for Power Fist ( The ability he had in the first AwW game.) and S for melee. Like punch punch kick kick strong puncs 360˙kick.... And as I said it would be awesome if specials would behave differently when used in mid.air. And Melee and sword should be paralell, like after 2 sword hits you press the Melee button and Vandheer kicks instead of punch cause that's the 3rd hit of the melee combo.

Alright, Time for another flurry of ideas.

Either a character or an upgrade which would allow you to move while charging an attack.

Maybe go a little deeper into aerial combat, I was a little disappointed that when in the air you could attack behind you with a sword but not with your fists.

I recall you tried messing around with ladders in the first game, maybe try to work with that again, or ropes or something.

Several people have brought up sliding down walls, I have to support this. It also became inconvenient at times when I couldn't stay in a ledge hang. It's a trivial mechanic but it can be useful.

While I would normally discourage something like modes in this game, from your description of the character a rage mode would fit the lone warrior really well.

A style that would allow you to attack without stopping might be interesting.

"If they do not dissipate, they do not die". I don't know how you would make this work but maybe have monsters appear to be dead except they don't disappear. when you walk past them they could knock you down and get back up.

I think it would be cool to have enemies or levels where enemies would come out of the level. if the world and it inhabitants are all made of black mist then it would kind of make sense.

If you do decide to add multiple characters then here are some suggestions.

Don't get me wrong, I like Vandheer Lorde but I think it would be really fun to play as the rebel commanders, the bosses from AwW2. I would love to run around as Smoking Martillo personally. Hawkin would be cool too or will he get his own game or something because we know so little about him. Speculation? I think so.

Some suggestions for being known. It really is quite sad how few people know about you.

Maybe offer different languages for the dialogue. Get known globally!

That's two more cents of mine.

Ta ta for now.

Note: saying things like ta ta and toodeloo is manly!

*snaps knuckles* Ok... first of all change the hair hmmm I think I'll make a little list
make his combo finish with a really powerful move
make him sprint fast
give him a parry-repost move like in the original
personally I loved the way he held his sword as if ready to draw in the original
just MY opinion... I hate seeing him with the sword reversed(starkiller? )
give him grab moves (like vandheers only you can utalize different special attacks )
his sword seems short for his stature
air grabs? wahahahahahaha!
when a powerful guy like the lone warrior or vandheer or whatever is hit make the camera rumble
beef up elite gaurds (I think that's thier name...)
make a more awesome teleport move... teleporting behind a boss who is stuck in his combo is funny especially when you're able to charge your attack like the lone warrior
I can't remember anything else... FOR NOW!!!
hope I helped...

Ok, wow there's a shit-load of posts here to respond to :/

(Daniel, keep the Combat the same as in Aww3, PLEASE!)

secondly work on more alive backgrounds, but not too weird, and people, stop asking him to change the Animations, believe me, it takes AGES to re-animate!!!!!


Vandheer had better be a playable character! XD

When does the game take place again?

add a Pause button, don't make it either Ctrl OR Print-screen
also, a pause button that only comes up in the bottom of the screen and pauses the game, so you can still see the full screen (Thatway i can make pictures/ wallpapers with it^^ )

a in-game menu that stops gameplay, unlike in Redmoon, that pissed me off :C
lol

but yea, besides that, it looks great, and yea i agree, faster movements like in Aww1 when I played with a very small window, was awesome speed......

Take a guess....
Which character is lucky enough to make his/her/its first appearance in Culmination?

so cool...I see that I missed alot

@QwertyFail

Indeed multiple ending would be cool. This has been an idea in my head for some time.


Regarding the design of the Lone Warrior...
-I'm happy with the robe, not chainging it
-I'm happy with reverse grip katana. likely not changing it.
-I'm adding the scarf, looks pretty cool.

People don't seem to like that hair, for some reason.
Few things that make it different is that it is longer, shaded silver, and he currently has no fringe.
I'll add the fringe, I may change his hair to black. I probebly won't reanimate his hair.
To be honest I think it looks cool, his hair is slightly longer.

@Alessa

Hawkin voice actor is this guy here http://xtreemmak.newgrounds.com/
He kicks ass.

@Armed with Waffles
Lone Warrior in the old demo was poorly animated. I think the new animations are much more crisp, and flow a lot better.
I think once the fringe is in, he'll connect with the original design more, and thus will be more accepted as the character from AwW1.

I'll be reusing the Vandheer from AwW3. I'll probebly clean up some of the animation.

@Nameless1
I'll only comment on a few things, however I've read your post a few times and head everything you've said.
I've got big plans for ariel combat.
I had an idea where enemies crall out of holes in the walls, and little pits. We think alike.

@Vandheer Lorde II
Pause screen, very important.

You are awesome Dan, active again and taking everyone's suggestions, That's why you are the best Animator/ game designer alive!

Amen

Cool, thx, but I can't see why old Lone Warrior was messed up.
And I thought, AwW 3 Vandheer and Culmination Vandheer were the same design, oh but you meant the special abilities dind't you? I hope so. That Aerial looked so cool, it's probably gonna be the aerial version of Ice Blast. Buuuut, I'm begging you: more specials, paralelled melee and sword and Vandheer Lorde. My three wishes Genie, pls make them real, Okay forget the paralell thingy, instead I'll make you free
....

But anyways: Anything made by Dan Sun is pure awesomeness.
I played with the demoo for 2 hours or was it three?

-- Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:26 pm --

Just noticed:

Ener Vandheer has a dislike button on Youtube...
Someone tell them to fix it Someone clicked on it by mistake

Oh yeah! Dan the soundtrack of Culmination will be from Adam Alonso/AwW 3/Stuff from Internet?

If the latter, then pls post some songs on my topic... I want to have a vote for best travel theme, any suggestions.