Hello again everyone, I am officially checking in for LD13. I have participated in one LD before, LD 11: Minimalist and came up with a very simple text adventure. I had a big goal to overcome last time as I did not know how to code when I started the competition and I did not start learning until about 1/3 of the way through the competition. I ended up choosing Python for LD11 and I will stick with that but will be using PyGame this time. I am now familiar with the base python language but have had little experience with PyGame so this will be another learning LD for me. I am really hoping I do not cut my entry so close to the deadline this time as I had some trouble getting my game hosted and almost missed the deadline.

My goals for this LD:

-To learn how to use PyGame and use what current knowledge I hold to be more organized with my process this time.

-Create something with some decent graphics, nothing over the top but I would really like to go a different direction than the text game last time.

-Test my project more thoroughly this time around as my last entry was quite buggy.

-If I have time I would like to add a story screen with changing pictures as an intro and add some sound effects or music.

I had a brain storming session tonight and came up with a really strong idea that plays with a different take on the theme, I came up with many ideas but this one really stood out for simplicity and fun being strong points but also seeming very versatile in that later down the line I could refine the idea and keep building on it. I have already got 90% of it mapped out and I think I will be ready to start coding when I wake up tomorrow.

This is going to be a big undertaking for me, but I am ready to give it my all and really work hard. I hope you all have a great night and good luck with your ideas. I am really looking forward to seeing everyones games and catching up on the journals. Catch you all on IRC!

Progress:

Design: 90%

Code: 0%

Art/Music: 0%

Testing: 0%

Sleep/Eat: 0%

edit* I threw together a quick reference picture for my play screen. I was hoping not to give away much with it as I want to work out the details before providing a full explanation of the game mechanics.

edit2* Just wanted to throw up a before deskphoto before heading to bed.

Tags: deskphoto

Roads, eh?

The plan was to go to bed early, get 9-10 hours of sleep, then get up at 8 am, check the theme, then make the best game in the world.

Didn’t quite work out like that. I had trouble sleeping, so I didn’t fall asleep until about 1 am, then I kept waking up during the night, excited about Ludum Dare. When I woke up at about 4:45 am, I decided to stay up another 15 minutes so I could see the theme that would be revealed at 5 am my time.

Roads. Huh.

So after another half an hour or so of contemplating different game ideas based on roads (including coming up with the terribly witty name “road island”, I finally fell asleep and slept like a baby the rest of the night.

It’s now 9:17 am, I’m feeling groggy, and I still haven’t thought of any ideas. I’ve started ChronoLapse to record this spectacle, and I’m about to start trying to find game ideas.

I didn’t get home until ten o’clock, but I checked on my phone to see what the theme was.  Luckily, it was the one I had done the most thinking about on Monday, so I didn’t have to do much thinking while away.

I’m going to do a racing game, perhaps like Outrun or of the Night Driver/Enduro variety.  I’ve done a little mock up of the screen, just a sketch really.  I’m not sure I like the perspective, but the sprites will most likely be used.  Click to enlarge (sounds like a Viagra ad!?)

From here, I’ll probably colorize the art and then cut it up to make individual sprites.  I should probably just use bounding rectangles for now though, and get some actual game logic going…..but I have learned that if you don’t do your graphics right the first time, you’ll likely not have time to return to them later.  So take the extra minutes now so you don’t have to set everything back up to fix them.

I’m tired, but I want to get something going before I go to bed.  I’m being kept company by a neurotic kitty and a can of No Fear Energy Drink.  Oh, and my Gobstoppers!  Though I think I’m already candied out…  Listening to Iron & Wine right now cause it’s calm and quiet.  Tomorrow I’ll bust out some loudness.

Tags: art, enduro, ld48_13, night driver, outrun, roads

Suddenly realized I hadn’t eaten anything today, so I made some food.

Still haven’t decided on an idea yet, or even started doing something, but I think it’s either going to be a pseudo-3d racing game ala lotus/outrun (though I’ve noticed other people already doing that), or a top-down driving around in maze-like streets where you possibly pick up stuff and avoid other cars or something. Either way I think I’m going to start off by extending mjaulib to support OpenGL and textures, for easy stretching and rotating and such.

Tags: foodphoto

I got up at 5 am this morning to see the theme, but went back to sleep again after a while. Now I’m going to start. I’m thinking of making a 3D racing game called SPACE ROADS, something between Skyroads and F-Zero. I want to do this in Flash, so I’ll need to figure out a way to get some kind of mode 7 working.

I had breakfast, here is part of it:

Tags: food

Managed to get up, read the theme and eat some breakfast.

After about an hour of generic coding I finally came up with an idea for a game, did some modelling in Blender. I would like to write a chopper vs cars thing, so I’m aiming for

• shooting
• explosions
• roads
• 2D collisions (yeeey)

Let’s hope I can finish

That how i start off. One screen full, for good measure.

Tags: code shot

So, an admission: I first heard about this contest yesterday. Or rather, at about 4am this morning. I don’t see this as a problem, really — just think of me as sort of fresh. Anyway, I made a deal with myself: if I woke up this morning and the theme looked good, I’d do it. I mean…why not?

I awoke; the theme is roads. I am in.

Pending unprecedented tool failure or attack by giant anti-Japanese robots I’ll be using Ruby, RubyGame, and SDL. Design-wise, 2D is definitely a possibility. In fact, it’s the only possibility.

Ok, I decided on a much simpler idea than I was thinking about in the earlier post. Whew..  This one i have a chance of completeing.

It’s called “Crossroads”. Get it? Crosswords + Roads.. heheh.. It’s not really going to be crosswords, more like scrabble, but close enough. Anyways, I’ve got the beginnings of the board worked out. I love word games, and I’ve always been meaning to make one for LD, the closest I’ve gotten is “Headline Recycler” for tins, which was really neat but not fun at all.

How do you mix roads and crosswords? well.. wait and see..

Anyways, It’s 1:20 am here,  not too late, but I’m hoping to get an early start on the gameplay tommorow. Goodnight all.

Well, just past the 3 hours of implementation mark. What do I have to show for it?

• A tile based world
• Restricted player movement in said world
• In ‘game’ level editing
• Level saving/loading

So all in all I’m pretty happy with how things are going so far. The problem is I now need to figure out how I’m actually going to make a proper game from this. I’ve got some vague ideas, but they seriously need fleshing out. Eep!

Important Stats Update
Hot Brown Caffeinated Beverages: 1
Food Consumed: NULL (this needs to be rectified immediately)
Time Spent Coding: 3hr
Total new Lines of code written: 296

Finally a new progress screenshot, it’s not desperately exciting yet, you’ll just have to trust me that I loaded the level from a file, and the ball bounces around the ‘roads’ compellingly.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that today is NegativeGeForce’s Birthday, so be sure to tell him Happy Birthday when you catch up with him either in IRC or on his Journal.

Happy Birthday NegativeGeForce!

Important Update!

I finally have breakfast. Porridge with Golden Syrup and tea (what better breakfast can there be?!)

Tags: food

The game idea so far:

1. Get from A to B (the goal and the essence of a road).
2. Initially the road does not permit that (the challenge).
3. You can rotate the section in front of you (the interaction principle).
4. Probably this will trigger some mischief (the real challenge).

I am using Blender 2.48 with the Blender Game Engine and Python for Game Logic.

I need to get some food.

Paperwork is done (and breakfast acquired). I am switching to Blender.

It’s got curves and slopes.. now should I add a physics engine?…

Zero tangible progress on the game. Thought about making a driving game (duh, obvious), drew a picture of a road for no apparent reason, did some research into SNES Mode 7, played with some Processing libraries for pathfinding and loading .obj format meshes. I’m thinking I’ll probably end up with some variation on Frogger at this rate.

Tags: food

I have three scenes

1. the stage to build objects and test them
2. the game where everything is assembled
3. the menu

Currently I am working on the stage. You see the road sections built by extruding the standard cube. The sixth is a spare part I am experimenting with the SCA (Sensor- Actuator-Controller) setup. At the moment you can rotate a section with the mouse wheel.

Odd: you have to enter 45 degrees to get a 90 degree rotation.