There’s absolutely no chance that I’ll be submitting anything for the compo this time around. I’m not particularly disappointed, though, because the work I’ve got so far is solid and I’m really excited in general about the concept I came up with. I’ll continue to work tonight and tomorrow (I took a personal day from work, just for this!) and we shall see if I’ve got anything submittable before the Jam deadline.

If you’re interested in reading about the game, details to follow.

Kung Fu Evolution

My girlfriend and I have started watching some classic Kung Fu movies lately. As in, just this week. In fact, we were watching one when the theme was announced. It took a while to sink in, because, of course, I was thinking about evolution as science, biology, genetic algorithms, game of  life simulations… I’ve worked on a couple evolution simulations, and I knew from experience that they’re fairly hard to turn into a “game”. The very theory of evolution dispels any notions of set paths, beginning and end, and a designer, among other things. I’m sure plenty of people chose this route and many of them probably made really interesting things;  I knew that I could not.

So, how can evolution apply to Kung Fu?

Kung Fu is known for its “styles”, specifically those modeled after animals. I envisioned a game where you played as a student of a randomly generated Master, populated with”traits” for your style focus, and a style for your punching, kicking, blocking, and jumping moves. When you win a match, your fighter becomes a Master with a school of students, each a “descendant” of the Master with small mutations, good or bad. You choose a fighter, fight a match, and continue until you build the Kung Fu Master well adapted enough to the rival school to beat its Grand Master.

Little did I realize how many sprite animations I would have to do. I managed to get 9 done, out of a planned 21. I picked a simple large-pixel style on purpose, but I guess that didn’t make much of a difference.  It also didn’t help that I’m not hugely familiar with Kung Fu or the many different animal styles, so I spent lots of time on YouTube trying to find appropriately spectacular moves. The fruits of my labor are below (see if you can guess the animal style of each; your options are Dragon, Crane, and Monkey):

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So, even if I don’t make the Jam deadline either, I’m happy that I’ve got a solid, fairly fleshed-out concept and some back-end work started. I will be making this game.

Cheers to all that  finished their game, and cheers to those that didn’t. Being a part of this culture of creativity and community is what matters.