LD19 December 17–20, 2010

Mike’s Entry :: Milestone #2

There we go. Wrapping my head around some file access was hard, but not that much trouble, just Netbeans being weird. I have added message windows (which can be turned into something like menus easily with hacking on my part), image loading, and a simple demo of a moving ball. Next comes the fun stuff.

Next I’ll be adding:

  • entity collision
  • scrolling
  • various entities

This will be the longest milestone, probably, but I’ll do my best to hurry. But first, some sleep. And a picture!

Mini-LD #24 – The First Night

As per usual, I’m going to stay up through the first night. I hope to have something playable by morning.

After trying to work with DAME, I found that it is actually quite a pain to work with if you need, say, more than one set of sprites for a single sprite class. (For example, if you have a player character that could be of multiple classes and races as well as either gender)

Given that, I’m switching back to Tiled. It’s less fancy, but it’ll let me get the job done. Besides, I can write a TMX (“TMX” being the map format Tiled uses) parser very easily, or even retrofit one that I’ve already written to deal with this game’s data. DAME has a Flashpunk exporter, but it appears very inflexible to me.

So, here’s where I stand theme-wise:

Theme: Alternate universe spin-off (Sci-fi Dragon Warrior spin-off)

Limitations: None

Rules: Software you’ve never used before (Gimp – never in a completed game, Flashpunk tweens – not a software package, but a feature I’ve never used before)

Granted, the second “software I’ve never used” is just a “library feature I’ve never used”, but that isn’t a huge deal, I don’t think.

That being said, every time I have tried to use tweens in Flashpunk, I’ve not gotten anything happening. (As in, I apply the Tween to an Entity, and nothing happens) Any tutorials or examples folks here could point me to would be appreciated. :)

Peace

— Mr. Dude

Statement of Intent!

Been working a few hours now with partner – our idea’s not 100% solid, but we’re hoping to do a platformer with NPC dialogue.

Themes:
True Love/Tainted Love

Limitations:
1 button input only
(cheating with mouse I guess – or maybe ignoring all together!)

Rules:
Work with a partner
Wear nothing whilst making the entire game, upload webcam timelapse to amateur porn site when done.

Some painted background (tile-less!) probably be too difficult but I’ll try!
background

Girlfriend’s currently working on the NPC close up artwork, but she doesn’t want to show yet.

Comments

12. Feb 2011 · 14:00 UTC
Wow, this looks amazing!
12. Feb 2011 · 16:35 UTC
Thanks! :)
fishbrain
13. Feb 2011 · 12:52 UTC
…beautiful graphics work!

First time taking part in and LD/miniLD type thing

Also, first time trying to make an original game.

Also I’ve just had a massive crisis of confidence in the idea I had, and now no longer think that it’s appropriate or any good. I can’t think of any better ideas though, so I shall plow ahead regardless.

Also I’m starting late, though I will keep to 48 hours.

Cthulu help me and this project 😀

Theme: True Love(… kind of)
Limitation: 2 button input only
Limitation: Game must end in 60 seconds

Rules: All audio must be your own voice
-OR-
Work with a partner

Partner (in crime, not in bed) is a bit ill, so she’ll be involved if she feels any better by tomorrow. Otherwise I’m going to be making some odd noises into a microphone.

See you at 2PM GMT on Monday!

Mike’s Entry :: Milestone #3

After a good night’s rest, and oversleeping, I’ve added some basic entity collisions, clipping of windows, proper entity movement, clearing of the screen, home-made camera scrolling (tied to any entity I wish), and set the two basic colors I’ll be using. Blue and yellow, not the most ideal, but it’s the way it’s in my head, so I’ll keep using that.

Sped up the timelapse record so that I can have a bit more detail while coding, and now it’s filling up my tiny Wubi partition nicely. I’ll be stopping it for extended breaks when I go out and such.

Have a picture. (Black spot is due to using Ubuntu’s ‘Take Screenshot’ app, it doesn’t usually show up)

Bunny, Chicken, Dinosaur!

Bunny, Chicken, Dinosaur! stars a bunny, a chicken and a dinosaur escaping to a place where their unorthodox love will be accepted.

So far I’ve gotten around to drawing sprites for the main characters. I’m thinking of relaxing the two colour restriction a little to allow two colours per layer, depending on how things look.

Bunny, Chicken, Dinosaur!

The next step is to get some backgrounds drawn and plan how they will be represented in game. I’m hoping to get as much planning as possible done before I start coding, due to the 3 hour rule. The code will pick up various settings from external data to allow tweaking of visuals and gameplay after the the 3 hours for coding is up. I will post some notes from the planning stage once I’m ready to start coding.

Comments

12. Feb 2011 · 18:05 UTC
good luck! Two colours is hard. Maybe give them outlines?
moop
13. Feb 2011 · 12:11 UTC
Cheers. I think I will give them outlines if I stick strictly to the two colour rule. I quite like the look one colour per layer gives but I will probably put it on a flag so it can be tweaked fairly easily if I change my mind.
fishbrain
13. Feb 2011 · 12:59 UTC
nice sprites!… lol, A+ for the concept… I’m intrigued

MiniLD #24 entry…joining late…Recursion

Hey,

I will try finishing something playable this time :)

(although i’m kinda late already)

MY PICKS:

  • Tetris is now a (Tetris is now a (Tetris is now a ) ) [recursive Game]
  • Game must end in 60 seconds
  • Use a tool/language you have never used before

Title: Recursion

Sprite!

Almost have a sprite!
Pirate

Just need a jump and attack anim I guess!

And our lunch:
fooood
:9

Happy Birthday, Maru!

Comments

12. Feb 2011 · 16:17 UTC
Bibimbap? Damn, now I’m hungry!
Zillix
12. Feb 2011 · 17:00 UTC
I like your hello kitty key =P
Maru
12. Feb 2011 · 18:13 UTC
OoooooooooOOOOooooh baby ♥

Javalanche

Woot I have learned something in Java…

So, I have some kind of entity – sprite (with animation) engine “working”… Now I’ll be going for key listening (not hard), then some sound playing… And THEN gameplay 😀

Tags: java, Mini LD 24, sprite

Mike’s Entry :: Milestone #4

Progress! I’m trying to keep motivation up, but since I’ve always had that problem, and I’m not THAT into the idea I’m designing, it’s hard. But it’s really, REALLY good exercise for those attempting to code for a living afterwards.

I’ve added:

+ Proper entity collision (all sides checked) + Checking fps and limiting (not limiting for debugging/developing though) + Fleshing out entities + Message-delivering entities + Preparing for tool-based system. This means I need to continue with creating tools to help me with the level design, and only returning to code for actual ADDED things, like when I’ll need enemies, or such. With a bit of luck, I’ll reach it in two milestones, which will leave me enough time just to finish the game. A problem, however. Tomorrow at ~1PM, I’m leaving to my dorm in the city my uni’s in, and it’ll take me a good 3-4 hours, more with packing. And then, the day after, at 8AM, I have the second semester’s first classes. I’ll either try to finish early, and add that, or delay it a good amount of hours and do it afterwards, but I’ll try really hard not to, since I’m trying to act as I would in an actual LD competition. Timelapse’s still going on great, but it’s filled with pauses due to me answering phone calls, chatting, checking my sites, eating, drinking, etc. Oh well. Have a picture.

Late Start for miniLD

:edit: more update. Not much changed, last piece integrated and a nice animated pixel font running, also improved clouds and cloud shadows.

current in-progress

Over the last week I’ve done some research and setup on some new tools and APIs I haven’t used before, but I’m just now actually starting work on my project. I’m focusing mainly on just two things from the theme options: code complete in 3 hours, and using tools I haven’t used before. I picked the first because I contradicts my nature; I’m a programmer first and foremost, and my natural reflex is to hack together the quickest crappy graphics I can and spend most of the 48h on code. I think it will do me some good to focus most of my energy on the content for a project, even if it’s a 48h one. New tools/languages works well with this plan in two ways: first, a focus on content give both time and incentive to learning and applying new content tools; and second, the need to complete the code quickly will encourage me for using APIs that I have not used before. I thought about making it 1- or 2-button as well, but the necessary changes would make the game a lot slower and less fun. What kind of game I make will depend in part on how far I can get in 3 hours of coding, all I know for sure is that it will have a 2d overhead tile map.

I was going to use GLUT, but at the last minute I realized I haven’t even installed GLUT on this computer; downloaded the latest build and set up the inc/lib directories but the linker called the binaries invalid, and after a few downloading again and spending a minutes fiddling I decided to just move on. Instead I’m just using my own base application code; technically this is pre-existing, non-public code, but it doesn’t do anything GLUT can’t do, and in fact GLUT can do much more, so as my own official neutral judge, I’m going to allow it. For sound, I’ll be using fmod. As the design takes shape I may use some other minor APIs as well.

Content-wise, I’ll be making my graphics in gimp, and all my sounds will at least start life as recordings of my own voice. There will be additional content, including at least tile maps, which I will will make in Mappy. Text files will define some additional game-specific content, such as monsters, equipment, and pick-ups; how flexible these formats will be will limit what kind of game I can make, and if time allows I’ll also have some crude (and literal) scripting language, for scripting cut scenes. The latter feels like cheating the 3-hour rule, but it will not be a complete programming language, just a primitive language for creating conversations and cut-scenes.

No time like the present to get started!

Comments

Gopher
13. Feb 2011 · 05:32 UTC
I rather like the pixely cloud layer, the shadows need softening up tho. Spent half my time so far on content, the other half on pulling together bits and pieces of my various projects this year and tying them together into one project. This proved trickier than I anticipated. There was some new code added – I integrated fmod into an existing asset manager, added a simple filter for that makes a perlin texture into clouds, and extended on my sprites and tilesets to make animated sprites. Most of this work so far has been catching up on basic integration I’d been putting off for too long.
moop
13. Feb 2011 · 12:13 UTC
That map is looking pretty sweet so far, though I agree that the shadows could do with being softened a bit. Best of luck with the game!

Mike’s Entry :: Milestone #5

Here we go. I have started creation of the tools that will actually create the main program for me, and it’s going great, minus a few idiotic bugs due to me not doing everything properly. I have also generated a few levels and tested them, they work, then I realised…oh dear lord, I forgot to add animations. Not a HUGE deal, but I have no clue how to do animations in pygame besides sprites, which I’m not using. I’ll see.

The tool also has zooming in/out, which was fun to make, and made me remember last semester’s linear algebra classes. I like it when that happens.

I’m tired, full of coke and pumpkin seeds, and I’m not sure where to go from here. I love this feeling.

Have a couple of pictures this time.

Comments

hidas
12. Feb 2011 · 21:27 UTC
The way I always do animations is by defining a list of preloaded surfaces, e.g:
12. Feb 2011 · 22:44 UTC
Well, I know how I could do animations easily, I have more of a problem working it into my current system, heh. I forgot until now, which means I’ll have to rewrite a significant portion of my engine.

LAST FISH

don’t have much of an idea for what the game’s going to be like, so I’m fiddling around with the menu.

THEME: fishing

LIMITATION: game ends in 60 seconds

RULE: all variable names must be palindromes (fairly easy because I’m using GameMaker :V )

Tetris Fight Club

Working on something:

Tetris Fight Club

Not very happy with the jump attack for a few reasons including that if both players try to jump at the same time that is more than 3 keys pressed at once. But not sure what to do about that.

Have only managed to play one game with another human (embarrassingly, he wiped the floor with me) so reports of trying it out with two people would be really helpful.

Better name suggestions welcomed.

Comments

13. Feb 2011 · 02:09 UTC
I think it would be funny if you just had a “block” button and nothing else.
13. Feb 2011 · 02:26 UTC
Have you tried using Shift and/or Ctrl? I believe that on most keyboards those are mapped separately, so they don’t count against your number of simultaneous key presses.
13. Feb 2011 · 09:25 UTC
‘Tetris fight club’ IS a great name for the game!
Super-Dot
14. Feb 2011 · 23:56 UTC
I gave up on a similar (except that in mine, the game was constrained to a grid) project called Tetris Mortal Kombat; you’re welcome to use the name.

MINILD #24 “A fisherman and his twisted reflection”

Hi to all

It’s finished but i’ll post later, now i must go back to the bed

My game:

Themes: 2/6

  • True Love – NO
  • Tainted Love – NO
  • Inside-out – YES
  • Alternate universe spinoff of a major franchise – NO
  • Tetris is now a <genre other than puzzle> game! – NO
  • Fishing – YES

Limitations: 4/6

  • 2 button input only YES
  • 1 button input only NO
  • 2 colours YES
  • Game must end in 60 seconds YES
  • All audio must be your own voice NO
  • Framerate cap at 5fps YES

Rules:  1/6

  • All variable, class, function etc names must be palindromes NO
  • Work with a partner NO
  • Use a tool/language you have never used before NO
  • Wear something absurd whilst making the entire game, upload webcam timelapse to youtube when done. NO
  • Wear nothing whilst making the entire game, upload webcam timelapse to amateur porn site when done. NO
  • Game must be code complete in the first 3 hours, if not, must start over. NO CODING AFTER THAT. YESSS, AND LESS

Extra Self – rules

Old and dirty flash 5 as1 coding without functions!!!

Make a game for the MINILD #24 in less than 3 hours while your girlfriend is sleeping an return to the bed before she notices!!!

:-)

It has been very funny!

I’ll post later the game and the timelapse

Comments

samel
13. Feb 2011 · 08:41 UTC
“Make a game for the MINILD #24 in less than 3 hours while your girlfriend is sleeping an return to the bed before she notices!!!”

Bunny Chicken Dinosaur

It’s almost time to start coding. I’ve got a few pages of notes which hopefully will help things go smoothly during the 3 hour coding spree. 😀

Notes 1
Notes 2

Not gonna finish

Yay! I mean, D’Oh!

So, as you might have guessed by the title, I am not going to finish this Mini LD #24. Why? I don’t know… I just don’t feel like finishing the game I’ve started this time… I guess I picked the wrong themes / rules / stuff.

HOWEVER I’ve learned some Java (not really syntax, but the API functions) and made a simple sprite engine… Hooray.

Oh well. You know what time is it? It’s next time time!

Tags: no finish

Extreme Fishing!

Me and LegacyCrono are working on some insane stuff here!
I can guarantee your brains gonna blow! 8D

We’re using Game Maker and following these themes/limitations:
– Fishing
– 2 Button input only
– All audio must be your own voice
– Work with a partner

So much fish

fishbrain (alias “fishcake games”) presents “fishslap” (for MiniLD#24)… yes, it’s all rather “fishy”

I had great fun developing this, and found it quite addictive during play testing.

I’m new to LD, and this is my first LD entry. It’s always interesting how games evolve, and develop organically. There is beautiful feedback between the idea and the actual implementation of the idea – each changes the other.

…I’m keen on seeing all the MiniLD entries!

Cheers,

Extreme Fishing art

Looking good! We finished the concept art about an hour ago, and now we decided to color it and use them as sprites (I’m lazy). So… here’s the “Gentlefish”!

Oh, you can also see all our concept art here: http://leonmillan.com/?attachment_id=115

Top hat and monocle! What else could you want?