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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things"

@theonewhoponder.bsky.social

270 followers 210 following 82 posts

I love games. I love love. Creating "TOWST", a first-person, story-rich, non-linear, rule-discovery, knowledge-based, puzzle-game, inspired-by the-bests. May contain humor. Wishlist: s.team/a/3248630 Discord: discord.gg/cWhZwckXU3

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 3d

Toro Inoue, the Japanese "mascot" of Playstation (at least at the time).

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 7d

#screenshotsaturday is just a very quick grab from the editor because I was supposed to finish 0.7 yesterday but I am still missing some core stuff.

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 7d

1, it exist, 2, I thought of the same idea before googling it and finding out it exist, 3, mine was going to have new zealand voiceover.
Great minds thinks alike, but when everyone thinks alike, and everyone is great, then no one else is. You are great tho. Cheers!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m--...

"Schaeffers New Zealand Style Deck Sealant"

YouTube video by Kevin Goldman

www.youtube.com

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 12d

#gamedev #nextfest GL HF to everyone; suggestions are welcome too;

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 14d

Live reaction of my computer baking all those lights:

a statue of a man with a beard and ears

ALT: a statue of a man with a beard and ears

media.tenor.com

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 14d

For #screenshotsaturday and #gamedev, I wanted to share how proud I feel when I manage to use static/baked lights to "fake" lumen/rtx light bounces, without the need of any post process either.
Ain't much, but I do what I can.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 15d

It's nice to see the enemy fly away as you hit them, but if they become invisible half the animation that takes it away from it.
Again, just my two cents/feedback from just this gif, which is probably slowed down so the effect might seem stronger than it really is.
Looks very good otherwise!

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 15d

I remember really disliking when games had your character become invisible when you accidentally hit some spikes, because then I don't know where my character is for a couple of frames and I jump into spikes again. I don't see it as beneficial to have it on enemies either.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 15d

Looks a bit weird to have the enemy have the visible-invisible after being hit. Why not changing color of the sprite, or having no effect for it? The "clank" effect and the animation of the enemy might be enough?
Just some thoughts.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 18d

Colorblind people not understanding why they are having a hard time on something that was supposed to be easy:

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

Tangent: from a broader point of view, when developing a game I often found myself or other developers thinking "this feature is useless, no one would ever want it" only for it to be the most wanted feature and considered a sin not to have it. Gamedev can drive people crazy and alienate them.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

Regarding sokobans, if Baba is you manage to change the laws of reality and still allow undo, then "it's possible", but I cannot fathom how hard it would be. Might also be related to the engine. I hope what I said wasn't too nonsensical. I am also not used to character limit...

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

I have been considering adding undo, and for my puzzle would be simple, and I feel I could do it. But as said above, not even a year ago I wouldn't have known how to make a normal "reset".
The architecture, if not planned or inexperienced, can become a huge obstacle.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

My game initially had no undo, nor a proper reset: you had to "fail" a number of times before the puzzle reset itself. This was done by me because I had no idea how to implement a reset, but feedback made me go and implement a proper one. Now you can reset, but no undo. However,

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

But some mechanics may be much harder to have an undo.
The games mentioned seem to be the first game of the respective developers, except Shrink rooms, but that developer seem to have published/made multiple games in a very short span of time. I am a green leaf myself, so my insight could be wrong.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

Going mostly theoretical again, to have an undo, the "do" should be built with the architecture of the undo in mind, so if the main mechanic is made without it in mind it will be harder to factor in later without having to redo chunks of code or change certain things completely. BUT

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 20d

Depending on the game it might be “easy and cheap”, but, admittedly, only in theory (and maybe not even optimal). My solution would be to store variables in arrays and revert to previous indexes on undos?
I would be interested in such a talk or discussion too.

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Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 22d

I don't know what's about the evening/night so magical that makes me/us so productive. Is it the darkness? Is everyone being asleep removing our worries, or the lack of other responsabilities? The ability to access the dreams while being awake? The poor sleep balance or the caffeine?

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · 27d

Come solve puzzles in TOWST, we have:
-thermal baths to relax in when you are not solving puzzles
-probably more things

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 23

I really wish the "pay a smaller amount to enter early for an unfinished game, and with every patch the price goes up until it reaches 1.0 price" had become the standard, especially with how many games are coming in "early access" nowadays.
I also remember when the sun set south and rose north.

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 19

Maybe not meta-progression, maybe not roguelite, but I liked how Tunic gives you free bombs to use each new "run" (after every rest) if you unlock it by using enough bombs.

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 19

Could fit Noita as "knowledge based" and "roguelite".

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 18

So how big is the ball pit? Is it olympic pool size? How deep? Is there spots to dive in, or like most pools they have them but are closed off because of "SafETY"?
Asking for a friend.

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 15

I found certain non-puzzle elements to be too flat: red pillows (zabutons) on brown wood.
Activating the colorblind setting will, among other things, change the pillows color to something that works better for everyone.

Aaron Koss - "TOWST: The One Who Sees Things" @theonewhoponder.bsky.social · Sep 13

"Any reference to real people or events, is purely intentional".

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