{"author_name":"Beerman","cat":"LD #26","comments":[],"epoch":1367392500,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"42897","p_author":"Beerman","p_authorkey":"5206","p_urlkey":"78532","p_title":"My LD\/ #1GAM game : GunBoat","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1367392500","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"5206","us_name":"Beerman","us_username":"beerman","event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"text":"

This is a slightly modified version of a post I originally made over on the Beercave Games<\/a> blog :\u00a0http:\/\/www.beercave.co.uk\/2013\/04\/30\/ludum-dare-26-1gam-april-gunboat<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, weren\u2019t you making some kind of OutRun-inspired racing game?\u201d, you\u2019re no doubt wondering. Well yes, that was indeed the plan – but as (according to the internets) every famous military leader in history*\u00a0said, \u201cNo battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

So yeah, that game\u2019s not by any means dead yet, but with the end of the month approaching far too quickly it was becoming apparent that I wasn\u2019t going to get it anywhere near done in time., Too much time spent twatting around trying to get the rendering perfectm not enough spent making it actually playable.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, last weekend was\u00a0Ludum Dare 26<\/a>, which gave me an excuse to temporarily shelve the racer and get down to some Jammin\u2019. The theme this time around was \u201cminimalism\u201d, and I conveniently had an idea lying around that I reckoned would more or less fit.<\/p>\n

Enough already – show me the damn game!!!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

So where did this one come from? Well, weirdly enough I had a dream last week where I was playing a 3D boat-shooting game with nicely animated waves. Woke up around 4am and thought \u201cthanks, subconscious – that\u2019s a great idea\u201d, and promptly emailed it to myself. This living in The Future thing comes in handy sometimes \":)\" So early Saturday I got up, checked the theme and thought \u201cyeah, I can use that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Visually, I wanted something fairly retro, with a call-out to the old UKResistance\u00a0blue skies<\/a>\u00a0aesthetic, because far too many LD entries seem to go down the \u201cmust make art. must be depressing\u201d route. So job number one was making a nice sunny day…<\/p>\n

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Yeah, that\u2019ll do nicely \":)\"<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Next job was getting the sea in place. Basically each layer is just a row of blocks in a sine wave, with the amplitude and frequency scaled relative to the z distance so that they don\u2019t all sync up.<\/p>\n

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Quite relaxing, isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

After that, I needed some happy little boats sailing on the peaceful seas.<\/p>\n

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One might even say \u201cpicturesque\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Yeah, sod that. Eat laser, you bastards!<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

And a sod-off big gun, because hey, videogames. Sod-off big guns kind of go with the territory.<\/p>\n

So, if we\u2019re going to be shooting things they should probably explode. If only there was\u00a0somewhere I could learn all about how to do explosions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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OK, that might be a little *too* much explosion<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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That\u2019s a bit more like it<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

So with that lot done, Saturday was drawing to a close and I was feeling pretty confident about getting something finished. Clearly there was nothing else for it but to catch an early showing of Evil Dead on Sunday. Wow – they did not fuck around with that one…<\/p>\n

OK, back to it and it\u2019s Sunday evening, I\u2019ve got most of a game, it just needs a little polish. Titles, level transitions, being able to lose. You know – the boring stuff \ud83d\ude09 So I stuck on my hacking hat**and just barely managed to bash something together before bedtime. There was just one thing missing…<\/p>\n

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The People\u2019s Theme : \u201cPotato\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

So what are you waiting for – go\u00a0play and rate GunBoat<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>now!<\/p>\n

* Seriously – I\u2019ve seen that quote attributed to everyone from Patton to Napoleon to Sun-Tzu to, I dunno, some fucking Klingon dude. It gets around.<\/p>\n

** OK, not literally. I\u2019ve got a Viking hat and a cowboy hat but no hacking hat. Maybe I should get one…<\/p>","time":"May 1st, 2013 2:15 am","title":"My LD\/ #1GAM game : GunBoat"}