An indie game based on Winsor McCay's groundbreaking comic strip.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
August update! Demo polish! New gameplay video! The Double Deuce!
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 03:51:43 PM
Hello Dreamers,
We hope that this update finds everyone well and having had a good summer! We're gearing up for the return of the academic year here (especially those on the team who are teachers in their day jobs!) but, as always, have lots of new stuff to report for you.
This month has seen a lot of gameplay adjustment and polish, as well as a lot of design for things beyond our upcoming demo rollout, including work on the level that will tie the game's worlds together - Nemo's house. We've also been working on some fun new art and animations we want to share.
Art update
This month and the end of last month saw work on some more intensive art and animation pieces. This includes the Dawn Guard boss that you saw last month, featuring his galloping horse. This month we continued to work on art for that set piece, which will include a train that some eagle-eyed retro gamers might recognize...
We can assure you that this is a totally normal train and that nothing bad will happen when you ride it.
Anyway...
A major set piece in the Ice Palace will be adding Flip to your team, which will also include chasing Flip after he's pulled off some pranks on Jack Frost. This includes his making some rude gestures towards Nemo and Peony, who he doesn't realize are the ones chasing him! Here's an inked and painted example below:
In animation, sometimes you can have motions happen in a more "snappy" way and with fewer drawings by using what's called a "smear", which is a frame that is a mushed-together summary of a whole motion. Smear frames can look pretty silly, but they're a lot of fun to draw because you end up with some pretty wild poses. This animation might have one of our favorites in the whole game so far.
One question we get sometimes is how Flip does some activities, like typing and answering e-mails, with boxing gloves on. To which he answers "I don't know? How do you do things with YOUR hands?!" We've also wondered how he makes other certain rude gestures with the gloves on, to which he replied...
New gameplay video
We're beginning the fall festival submission season, so we've put together a new reel of gameplay, featuring characters and set pieces we've been working on, including refining the mosquito boss fight, the ice cutters, and various other nightmare imp creatures. It also showcases Peony's powers, particularly her new bomb throw ability.
That's all for now! Thanks again for your support and patience as we continue to make this game into the project we all know and believe it can be. We will also be updating soon with some new info about updated boss battle stuff and some new additions to the game's overall feel.
Until next time dreamers!
Cheers,
Team Nemo
July update: Too Many Games recap, new bosses, and Slumberland concepts
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 07:10:55 AM
Dear Dreamers,
Happy July - we hope you all are having a great summer! As usual, we've been hard at work on the game and have some awesome new updates to share. We just finished our summer internship period and were able to make progress on several fronts so that we can put the final major biome in place and get to work on implementing more of the games' systems.
TooManyGames recap
As mentioned in the last update, Adrian, Ben and Max once again went to TooManyGames in Oaks, PA to demo Little Nemo & The Nightmare Fiends!
We always have a great time at this show, and 2024 was no different. We got to chat with backers as well as a lot of folks who had never seen the game before. We received nothing but kind words and great feedback, so once again thank you so much to those of you who spent some of your precious convention time with us! We really appreciate it!
We also talked to several media outlets and content creators at the show! For example, the Nintendads, who featured our community manager Max on their show. Check it out here!
As other interviews are published, we'll be sure to highlight them in future updates. Again, a big thanks to those who were able to see the game at the show, and to all of the TooManyGames Defenders and staff that made the show possible!
Boss update - 1st battle with Phobetor and the Dawn Guard
One of the most difficult things to make in game development are boss fights. This is for lots of reasons, including balancing, having a bunch of art and code that are only going to be used once, and just lots of other things that go into making memorable but fair game encounters. We've been hard at work on 2 bosses from the Ice Palace level: the Nightmare Fiend Phobetor - who you will fight for the first of several times during your first visit to the palace - and Flip's uncle, the Dawn Guard.
The Phobetor Boss fight is being polished right now and uses quite a few new systems that we're implementing for the first time. This boss is the first that will require the use of Nemo's reflect ability. Nemo will need to swat projectiles back to first destroy a shield protecting him.
This boss also takes advantage of additional scripting features we're building. As you can see, the battle takes place in Jack Frost's throne room. This is a large, complex animated backdrop, and during the battle the plan is to freeze the animations (as it gets a little bit busy with all the animated elements). Because of the large room additional camera controls need to be built as well.
We're planning on taking full advantage of everything we're working on here during other boss battles and scripted events.
The other boss we're working on right now is the Dawn Guard, which is in the art and animation phase right now. He is called in by Flip to wreak havoc on the Palace, but is soon "nightmare-ized" by Phobetor! He presents a unique challenge for our heroes thanks to his ability to call the sun - in the comics, he literally vaporized Slumberland on more than one occasion!
Our approach to this character is going to include a few different varied attacks that will take advantage of the character's theming and Nemo and friends' powers. We are utilizing both artwork from the comics and references that McCay would have used, like Eadweard Muybridge's famous animal movement study photographs, to design the boss version.
Work in progress
Visual design update: upcoming demo Slumberland
With all of this development in the Ice Palace, we are moving towards releasing yet another new demo later this month/early August. As we get that ready, we also worked with some awesome upcoming and talented game artists on developing the visual identity of Slumberland. All of our major level biomes are actually split into several sub-variations, so that even while you're exploring an area like the Night Sky, you will see cool variations on the level theme that will keep gameplay fresh and help you navigate. Slumberland will be no different, and will have maybe the most wildly divergent sub-themes of any of the dream worlds, including the palace grounds, a garden, the dungeons, and a giant kitchen!
We're also starting to flesh out Nemo's hometown, which will be an open area for the game where you will learn the controls and chase Nemo's out-of-control long-legged bed!
That's all for now! Thank you everyone for your patience with us as we continue to make consistent and regular progress on the game!
Cheers and many thanks,
Team Nemo
TooManyGames 2024, Jack Frost's Palace and More
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 02:56:26 PM
Hello, Dreamers! Adrian here.
We’re putting the finishing touches on our newest demo that we’re going to have LIVE at TooManyGames this weekend, which includes a sneak peek at the game’s third major biome, Jack Frost’s Palace. Along with it are new enemies and characters, and a new ability upgrade for Nemo as well! We’ll talk about the show in a moment, but first let’s take a look at some of the new areas and characters that we’ve been working on.
Jack Frost’s Palace
On their way to Slumberland, Nemo and Peony come across Jack Frost’s frozen palace, where Flip is once again causing trouble! This time he’s brought a bunch of ice cutters who are tearing up the palace!
These hard-working joes are just doing their job, and nothing’s going to distract them from it! They’ll continue to chuck ice at Nemo and Peony, potentially pushing them along the ground and into whatever hazard or monster is in their path.
Speaking of monsters, the palace is also teeming with Nightmares, which Flip insists he did NOT call. Let’s take a look at some of these enemies you’ll encounter.
First off is the large monster that we don't have an official name for, but dev team members kids are calling "Bert"! Bert likes to get in our hero's way by lumbering toward them in close spaces, only stopping to lob fireballs from one of its two mouths. We’ll let you speculate on its dietary habits and where it actually eats from.
This creature jumps up and down out of pits. Its natural habitat are the many bottomless pits that permeate through the palace (how does anyone move around this place anyway?). They’ll jump up and try to hit you when you get near the pit, so stay vigilant and try not to be tricked!
One of the first monsters we originally showcased makes its long awaited debut in the game! The Whangdoodle practices its pitching arm, throwing fireballs at a steady pace.
We mentioned the Snowman in an earlier update, but this sneaky, fun loving guy will also be making his in-game debut very soon as well!
Here's also an animated preview of Jack Frost himself, alongside his pet polar bears and ice-skating retainers.
New Nemo Ability!
You may have noticed that a lot of our new enemies like to fire projectiles at the player. To keep things fair, you’ll also be able to find the ability to reflect projectiles back at your enemy with this upgrade for our protagonist, Nemo!
The Paddle Ball will upgrade Nemo’s sword swing, enabling the new ability. This upgrade will also allow for new paths to be explored and puzzles to be solved in the future, and will keep Nemo a vital and important part of your character rotation while playing the game. We hope you enjoy it!
Backer Reward Updates
We’re beginning to prep our physical items for the early stages of production.
For the posters, we’re currently working with this key artwork from the game:
And for our animation cels, Ben recently got some early prototypes made, and they are already looking fantastic! Please note that these are only early prototypes and that the final versions may differ.
TooManyGames!
We’re once again excited to be coming to TooManyGames! If you’re going to be at the convention, or in the Philadelphia region this weekend, June 28th - 30th, we’d love for you to swing by Booth 738 and chat with us! We’ll have at least two demo stations running, which will include your first sneak peek at Jack Frost’s Palace, alongside our previous Night Sky and Forest demos.
We’re also a part of the TMG 2024 Steam group, so please check us out and wishlist Little Nemo & the Nightmare Fiends if you haven’t already, along with the other cool games we’ll be sharing the space with!
Conclusion
That’s all for this update. We hope to see you this weekend at TooManyGames! Once we’re back from the show, we plan to keep plugging away at the Ice Palace while also working on pre-production on the last major biome, the biggest showcase for our game, Slumberland itself! Our summer interns have already produced a TON of concept art and assets that we'll share in a future update. We’re also working diligently on backer rewards, side quests, Nemo’s house, and a lot more on the sides, and we’ll continue to update on these items as we have more to share. There’s still a whole lot more game left to develop, and we appreciate your continued patience and support. Our next update will be coming sometime in late July, so please look forward to it!
We appreciate your patience as we work toward both making a great game and also producing this material for you all. Be sure to let us know what you think of this early look in the comments, and we’ll keep you posted on our end as we move towards production of the physical items!
Until next time, Dreamers,
~ Adrian
May update!
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, May 20, 2024 at 10:06:27 AM
Dear Dreamers,
Happy May! As the weather gets warmer, we're kicking into high gear on both the construction of Slumberland itself, and a demo-ready version of Jack Frost's Ice Palace for our upcoming appearance at the Too Many Games Festival in Philadelphia at the end of June. Here are some of the things we've been working on the past few weeks:
Fabulous Flip functionality
First of all, we've given some love to an often-overlooked character in the game, Flip! Those who have played the backer demo from a few months back might have noticed that his swing was a little fiddly to use, so Ben spent some time polishing up his functionality and adding some of his additional animations to make him move more fluidly. In addition to helping players get across long horizontal hazards, his punches hit like a truck! Here's some new screenshots:
Phobetor Phrollics
What's a puncher without things to punch though? We've got some new animation frames for Phobetor, the Nightmare Fiends' Master of Illusions, who is the one corrupting the other Slumberlandians you've seen as bosses (like the Moon). He's based on The Magician from Winsor McCay's original comics.
Phobetor will appear multiple times in Nemo and company's adventure, but fully reveal himself when he and his nightmares attack Jack Frost's Palace (but initially putting all the blame on Flip!) He'll attack with volleys of magic fireballs, teleporting, and later in the adventure, doppelgangers. He'll also have an impenetrable shield that can even withstand Flip's punch and Peony's bombs - I wonder what power our heroes can use to break it...
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends on display (I couldn't think of any more F-sound alliterations for this one)
Lastly, we have photos from the game's appearance at the Chicago Gamespace Art Gallery, where Nightmare Fiends is currently being displayed next to original prints of original Winsor McCay Little Nemo comics provided by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at Ohio State!
That's all for now! We'll have much more coming as we continue to ramp up over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Cheers and many thanks,
Chris and Team Nemo
TooManyGames, Backer Caricatures, & More
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 12:19:26 PM
Hey folks! Adrian here.
We're still hard at work converting our art and animation to a new animation system, as well as some much needed project clean up and refreshing our task board. But apart from the boring administrative stuff, we've also been making steady progress on the game. So that's what we're going to focus on in this update, including news of our next in-person showcase, an upcoming level, backer cameos and more!
TooManyGames 2024
Let's start with the big announcement. We're returning to TooManyGames in Oaks, PA! From June 28th to June 30th, attendees will get to play the game live and chat with us directly!
This won't just be our current backer-exclusive demo, either. We're hard at work on adding an additional chapter to the demo, along with new enemies, hazards, cutscenes and playable character for attendees! As we get closer to the date, we'll have more to announce about the demo and our show plans, so be on the look out for future updates! In the meantime, get tickets for TooManyGames at their website.
Chicago GameSpace exhibition
Speaking of showing the game publicly, the game will also be displayed at Chicago GameSpace from May 17 - June 30 as part of an art exhibition. The current plan is to showcase the game next to prints of some of the original Little Nemo in Slumberland strips that are inspiring levels from the game, so if you're in the Chicago area, go check that out!
Jack Frost's Palace
Speaking of the additional chapter, we've mentioned Jack Frost's Palace before. I'm happy to say that we're currently working on a content pass where we're getting the level ready for our next public demo. This includes working on new enemies, such as this mischievous Snowman character that hides in the ground before sneakily pelting snowballs at our heroes. Just don't think to hard about where he gets the snow.
This is just the latest in a line of monsters we've been adding to the ice level and other areas, so stay tuned for more!
This level will also feature the next unlockable character in the game, Flip! We've had the basic mechanics for the character's swinging and punching for a while now, but we're polishing everything up for his debut number at TooManyGames! After the big makeover we gave Peony for our last demo, I'm really excited to see how Flip develops over the next month.
We're also working on new story sequences as well, which means new characters and NPCs. As a teaser, check out this character Chris made recently that you may remember from the original comics!
Backer Cameos
Speaking of Chris, he's been hard at work creating the custom characters for backers who will appear in the game! We are currently going through those who pledged at the still image (non-animated) cameo level and will be getting on the animated ones soon! They've been coming out great, so we thought we'd give you a preview of them now!
Just a sample of some of our backer cameos.
We are in the process of confirming designs for some of them and reaching out for anyone who has not filled out a survey, so please make sure to check your e-mail or do your survey if that's you! Again, we've gone through the non-animated backer cameos so far and will be starting on the animated ones in the next few weeks.
Conclusion
That's all for this update. Next time we'll have more information on what to expect at TooManyGames and the Chicago Gamespace exhibition, a progress report on the ice level, and maybe some other surprises!
