{"author_name":"Henry McLaughlin","cat":"LD #15 - Caverns - 2009","comments":[],"epoch":1251567060,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"72851","p_author":"Henry McLaughlin","p_authorkey":"979","p_urlkey":"108673","p_title":"Progress at the 1\/3 Mark","p_cat":"LD #15 - Caverns - 2009","p_event":"LD15","p_time":"1251567060","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"979","us_name":"Henry Mclaughlin","us_username":"pycron","event_start":"1251417600","event_key":"1","event_name":"LD15"},"text":"

So far, I’ve got a little robot that runs around.<\/p>\n

She has a gun, but it doesn’t do anything yet.<\/p>\n

Here’s a picture:<\/p>\n

\"She

She can run, but her gun doesn't work :-(<\/p><\/div>\n

I have decided to go with the idea of using more than one theme.<\/p>\n

“Cavern” will be covered by the setting (Once the terrain is in place)<\/p>\n

“Guns. Big Guns.” is apparent. Well, the gnomes will have bigger guns because they are bigger. My pigtailed android is actually quite tiny, but it doesn’t show because there’s nothing to compare her to at the moment.<\/p>\n

Which seques into “Evil Gnomes”. These are the enemies. They are much bigger than you, and can step on you as well as shoot you. They are rather slow, though, and can’t fit into every space that you can. Their guns also aren’t terribly accurate. Well, that will be true once I actually make them.<\/p>\n

“Kittens” is a secondary mechanic I’ll put in if there’s time. The kittens will be somewhat smaller than you, but able to attack the gnomes. Kinda like the security guards in Half Life.<\/p>\n

That said, the environment… Might be hard-coded, but if it is I’ll place enemies (And kittens if I put them in) randomly.<\/p>\n

If I have time, I want to generate them procedurally, where you have to kill all of the gnomes to move to the next level.<\/p>\n

All that being said, it’s rather bare-bones now, but I’m aiming high. \":-)\"<\/p>\n

———<\/p>\n

One of the core mechanics that I’m using is an unusual relationship between the size of the player and the size of the enemies.<\/p>\n

This creates an interesting effect, because the player must use their speed and wits to succeed. (Heck, even to survive!)<\/p>\n

The idea of size has always fascinated me, I admit. Very large things have an air of power and… Even authority about them.<\/p>\n

By contrast, very small things have a charm that I can’t resist. They have a quality of efficiency and grace.<\/p>\n

The next upload will have baddies and working weapons, I promise.<\/p>\n

If you want a completely up-to-date version, you can get a subversion snapshot at my GoogleCode site: http:\/\/code.google.com\/p\/pycron-ld48<\/p>\n

Note that this will be updated fairly often as the project picks up steam. \":-)\"<\/p>\n

So… Not a waste, but certainly not much.<\/p>\n

Here’s to challenge, triumph, and learning from hardship.<\/p>\n

—PyCron<\/p>","time":"August 29th, 2009 12:31 pm","title":"Progress at the 1\/3 Mark"}