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BoundWorlds: An action-adventure game with an insanely powerful level editor

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IndigoFenix:
BoundWorlds
The Collaborative Mutliverse Project
Play BoundWorlds Open Beta in a browserDownload the app (which is really just a window to the browser so basically pointless)Discord linkPlay on Itch.ioFollow BoundWorlds on Reddit
Videos:

Open Alpha Trailer
Early Gameplay Video (Protea Demo)
Early Gameplay Video (Harlequin Epicycle Battle)
Detailed Features Explanation Video
Legendary Dungeons Trailer
Tutorial Video Playlist


Spoiler: Images (click to show/hide)















What is BoundWorlds?

BoundWorlds is a "massively single player" browser-based RPG/exploration game/level editor with a twist.

In it, you play as a nameless traveler who wanders from world to world through portals called 'Gates', meeting NPCs, solving puzzles, overcoming obstacles, and exploring the collective dreamscape that is the BoundWorlds universe.  But that's only half of the game.  Because all of the worlds you explore are drawn, designed, and patched together by players such as yourself.

Unlike most 'design your own level' games, the BoundWorlds 'Hub' is not a point where all the levels are accessed.  Instead, it serves only as the starting point on your traveler's journey.  When designing a world, you can create exits that lead to whichever world you choose.  BoundWorlds has a cohesive, network-like geography as a result.

You don't have to design a full game to create a part of the BoundWorlds network.  One player's dungeon can become a part of another player's overworld.  An artfully designed hallway can serve as a corridor between two separate worlds.  A painting-filled castle in the sky can become a nexus for multiple levels designed by different players.  And so on...

You can explore the BoundWorlds universe without logging in, but you need to log in to save data or create worlds.

Spoiler: Game Controls (click to show/hide)Arrow keys: Move
Space bar: Interact
Shift: Lock on
Z: Dash/Attack
X: Defend
C: Dodge
Escape: Pause
Q: Menu/Inventory

Spoiler: Current Features (click to show/hide)Create worlds, rooms, and gates to link them together
Tag-based random path system - use tags to describe the location of a Gate and the location you want it to link to, and the game will try to find an appropriate target
Media file sharing system - upload custom images or sounds for your own use or for other players
Media credits system - Associate a media file with one or more names and websites for use in an automatic credits reel.
Create unlimited layers in any room - allows multiple tilesets and pseudo-3D geography (by moving the player between layers)
Upload parallax-scrolling, transparent, and rotating background images for panorama effects
Built-in object interaction system allows easy creation of talking NPCs, switches, collectibles, healing pads, mutators, and more
Built-in combat customization system - customize enemy behaviors and techniques
Transform the player into any custom object or creature
Gain points by players passing through your world and collecting sparks
Advanced Scripting system allows you to make collectible items, key doors, jump/teleport pads, cutscenes, custom variables, collisions, and more...you can set almost any in-game variable directly!
Flowcharts for creating extensive dialogue trees and cutscenes
Collectible items that can be used to run custom functions or equipped to give the player custom abilities
Item shops
Custom status effects
Packaging system lets you share your objects and tilesets for other players to import into their worlds
Persistent items that can store data over multiple sessions
Persistent rooms

Spoiler: Media Resources (click to show/hide)OpenGameArt.org has a ton of resources, most of which fall under a Creative Commons (CC) license.  You can use these legally provided you credit the author using the media file credits system.


Spoiler: The Spark System (click to show/hide)Sparks are the game's "basic collectibles".  You can increase them using the scripting system (by targeting the @.$ variable) or through basic player interactions.  Sparks can be saved between worlds, but there are limits to how many sparks a player can collect.  This is to prevent world builders from simply loading up their worlds with sparks.
The total sparks a player can collect when leaving a world is capped by the number of seconds they spent in that world.
In addition, the world builder gains sparks from players passing through their world, based on how many sparks the visitor collects, up to one fifth of the cap.  Any sparks the player collects exceeding this will reduce the sparks gained by the world builder.  If they reach the cap, the world builder gets nothing.
This means that, to maximize their benefit from visitors, a world builder should make it impossible for a player to collect more sparks than the number of seconds they are expected to spend in that world, but make it easy to collect one-fifth of this amount.  You can estimate the amounts by opening the menu (Q), which shows you the amount of sparks collected and the amount of time you have spent in the world.

Spoiler: Lore (some spoilers) (click to show/hide)Note: By its very nature, BoundWorlds uses "Loose Canon".  The lore written here is merely a starting point for world builders who want something coherent to build on.  Feel free to reinterpret or ignore it.

Worlds are connected through the Void.  Travel between them is generally impossible except through Gates, which form spontaneously between worlds.
Gates typically appear in caves, holes, and out-of-the-way places.  Most inhabitants of worlds cannot see Gates and most worlds are unaware of their existence.
The entirety of the BoundWorlds universe (including both worlds and the Void between them) is sometimes called "The Great Dream" or "The Matrix of Creation" by those who understand its nature.
Some lone wanderers may travel to other worlds, but this is rare.
Thought and reality are unstable in the Void.  People who pass from world to world may be transformed into a shape reflecting the way they think of themselves.
Gates are connected in both time as well as space.  When returning to a world after leaving it, wanderers will usually find themselves back in an earlier time.
As wanderers become more aware of the inconsequential nature of their actions, many become detached from humanity.  Over time, many transform into formless wisps or monsters.
The player may take on the form of lost wanderers by absorbing or touching the wisps they left behind.
Mementos - physical objects representing the memory of actions - can allow those actions to persist even when travelling between worlds.  Travelers who hold onto mementos are therefore less likely to become monsters.
The Ancients lived in the distant past of many worlds.  They built labyrinthine structures (called both "temples" and "dungeons") but most people don't know why.
The reason for these structures are to "draw the attention of gods".  They believed the gods took on human form and sought out challenges.  By creating labyrinths to challenge them, they would remain in a world.
The Ancients also believed in a "World Eater" that would devour any world that failed to draw the attention of the gods.
The World Eater is believed to be at the "center" of the Great Dream, and may be trapped by it.
The Ancients performed a "Ritual of Ascension" that would allow their bodies to be possessed by these gods.  Such possessed bodies are called "Icons".  You (the player) are one of these.  Very, very few people should be aware of this.
Fragments of incomplete worlds drift through the Void.  Acolytes are often found at the boundaries of these incomplete worlds.
Acolytes are similar to monsters, but they have chosen to help the player.  They have a degree of "meta" knowledge and may convey out-of-game information when applicable.


Spoiler: Planned features (click to show/hide)More advanced AI behavior
NPC allies and RTS-type controls
Using "drop" tiles to create platforming sections
Transition effects
Auto-generated Credits reel
Pathfinding AI for NPCs
More stock puzzle behavior - block puzzles, etc.
Particle and lighting effects

Spoiler: Original Inspirations (click to show/hide)The Pendragon series (original inspiration for a "multiverse connected by gates" game)
Yume Nikki (made me realize that a disjointed patchwork universe game could work)
Illusion of Gaia (some story elements and aesthetic choices)

sjm9876:
This certainly looks interesting, and I may have a go at making a world later. A couple of questions though:
Would gates have to be to a specific world? Or would 'random' gates be possible?
And, of course, how possible would it be to script in basic combat using the language already there?

IndigoFenix:

--- Quote from: sjm9876 on March 30, 2014, 11:06:17 am ---This certainly looks interesting, and I may have a go at making a world later. A couple of questions though:
Would gates have to be to a specific world? Or would 'random' gates be possible?
And, of course, how possible would it be to script in basic combat using the language already there?

--- End quote ---

Random gates, as in link to a random gate in a given list?  Or random as in links to any possible gate?
The second would defeat the purpose (kind of like a random URL).  The first isn't possible now, but could be put in later.

A basic combat script... Well, modifying variables are possible, so I guess you could use a variable as an HP level and have certain actions decrease it...but really the scripting system is extremely basic, it's more like, you need to pick up the key before you can open the door, or talking to person A after talking to person B will make him say something different...stuff like that.  The current focus is on exploration, in-depth gaming will be something to look into for later developments.  (I mean, NPCs can't technically even move yet.  I abandoned the project while I was in the middle of writing the scripting.)

Armok:
This looks really interesting, but is sorely lacking in motivations.

Shook:
Ohohoho, i love the idea of linked worlds like this! I like exploring things, and the way you've made it is an excellent way of facilitating both creativity and exploration. I realize this is still early in development, so i'll refrain from commenting too much about the visual side, which for the time being serves its purpose. One thing, however, is that white outline around the otherwise excellent player character ajkgrhjsgdshf, which i'm sure you know of yourself. :U

One more thing, by the way. Conflicting sprite styles could realistically become a thing, especially between the player and the environment. Also, given how players can make their own graphics and sounds in the world, wouldn't some grief-proofing be needed? I mean, i doubt that the average Bay watcher would do such things, but y'know, trolls sadly do exist. Although i suppose you can just close the tab if you happen upon a "grief world", so it's probably not a big issue for the time being.

Long story short: Colour me interested! c:

Edit: Now look at what you made me do. :<
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Not done yet, obviously, but i can't just leave a droll tileset like this go unfinished. :P

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