After two days of intensive playing Minecraft, I can say that I’m in mood to post that I am in!

I downloaded the new Unity version recently and found out that the uv mapping is different that before, so, if I won’t understand what is what, no Unity this time as well. *sigh* I’ve been wanting to use Unity for so long…

So, I’ll use:

• Programming: PhYard Builder
• Graphics: GIMP, MSPaint, possibly Inkscape
• Music: Abundant Music, possibly Guitar Pro 6
• Timelapse: Chronolapse

I’m thinking of making a stream. I haven’t streamed anything before, but it sounds very easy.

I’ve just registered on Twitch, and I’m going to stream during LD.

I found it rather difficult to test the stream. When I’m viewing the stream, the image gets recursed, and if I turn on the sound it gets really loud over time. However I was told that everything is OK. Thought the XSplit broadcaster I use randomly crashes sometimes.

I have a question: (how) can I put both a screen recording from a computer and a webcam recording from a laptop in one stream?

Tags: stream

Since it’s Hack-a-Jam time, I’m going to make a game and stream, so I warm up streaming as well (it’s my first stream!). I’m also going to submit it for LD warmup and 1GAM [edit]No, I’ll better submit my LD entry for 1GAM[/edit]. My channel: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

That the title of the game I made for warmup and Hack-a-Jam. In fact, it’s a demo, but I might submit the current version as it is. Linky

When I saw the title, “8-bit”, I thought that I’m not going to base the game on 8-bit graphics or music. 8 bits is a byte, right? So I made a game about binary calculations, where you have to operate with bytes.

The theme didn’t seem to make my produce a lot of ideas. After some thinking, I finally decided on the game: it will be an adventure game, where your goal is to kill some evil creature (cyclops?). You are a professional knight, equipped with tons of brand new stuff. But, for more fame and glory, you decide to throw out one thing each level. By the boss you should only have ability to move right left (‘move right left’? lol? That’s actually ‘You have left an ability to move right’).

I’m also streaming the process at http://www.twitch.tv/rodzos.

Since my idea suggests levels to be depending on each other (like, if you lose your sword one level, you won’t be able to use it in any other level), I started with planning levels. I sketched all levels with Tile Studio, and now I have the programming part left.

The game will be much of a puzzle game than of a skill game. Each level is supposed to be easily passed with full equipment,  but when you lose pieces of it you should look for a way around.

As for programming, I made the player run around and jump, and that’s all for now.

Don’t forget to watch my stream.

It feels like it’s been a day…

I made quiet much progress in programming. At least, I made simple enemies. They run around and attack you. You can attack them as well with your sword or by stomping them from above.

My stream

My platformer now has doors and traps! You have a button on the level, when you press it some door appears or disappears. There are also arrow traps, hidden in the ceiling. If you walk under them, they’ll shoot you.

Can you see traps?

My stream

I have a character that can shoot arrows. The initial speed is set, the gravity force is set. The arrow goes out from the character’s coordinates and through a set point on screen. I need to find the X and Y velocity of the arrow!

I thought that the formula I found works, and I tested it many times and didn’t find any flaws. But, as you can see on the screenshot, it isn’t working! (I just updated the formula and it seems to be more accurate, but it’s still not perfect)

My stream

That’s all for today.

Now I can take a rest from coding and make the game already. I finished everything I needed (excepting cutscenes and the boss).

Now you are the one being shot! Luckily, you have a shield that makes you invincible at the price of your movement!

My stream

I’ve finished all the levels but the last one. And I still have a long way to go! I need to add graphics, music, menu/dialogue scenes, a tutorial, animation, etc, etc, etc…

By this time you shouldn’t be able to jump

My stream

Who do you think that cute yellow square is? IT’S A BOSS! An almighty last boss! And you have to fight him! But, as I told, you lose a thing every level. At the boss, you only have… a right button. Do you dare to defeat the last boss with only one button? YOU DO, of course!

I finished the boss, and it’s beatable by only going right, and now I have to do (in priority order):

1. A tutorial
2. A throwout notification
3. A demo for you to play!
4. A menu
5. Cutscenes
6. Music
7. Graphics

(I might accidentally mix up 6 and 7. It’s not a big deal.)

Oh, I still need to come up with a name.

My stream

I’ve reached the playability point, and now I’ve submitted the first demo of my game: Linky. Time to eat something.

And yes, it still doesn’t have a name.

My stream

Indeed, it’s 2 hours to midnight! I don’t have enough time!

Finished the main character. Now I think I’ll make music, then do other enemies, then do SFXs.

Demo

My stream

Even though it’s the toughest deadline I met, I managed to submit my entry.

Time to sleep, it’s 0:33 AM.

I made a game “Minimal Force” this weekend, and here is the post-mortem:

What went good:

• Idea. A puzzle platformer! A reverse metroidvania! At first the idea didn’t seem trustworthy, but it appeared to be a good one.
• Level design. Hmm… I managed to make a level for every item lost, without any not-fitment.
• Graphics. I totally made some good graphics myself! I’m going to make an individual post about it.

What went bad:

• Time. I submitted the game at 0:33 AM. That’s too late!
• Planning. I had to recode several things because I didn’t plan them well!
• Bugs. I had a lot of bugs, and I still have some. I didn’t plan to release a post-compo, but I think I’ll have to release a bug-free version.
• Punctuation. Sorry about that, I just don’t know English punctuation!

What went average:

• Sounds. I included just one sound, and generating music seems a bit unfair. But who cares if the music is awesome, right? (Now I think the music wasn’t quite made in the given time. I just had a folder of music generated beforehand, and I picked one from it. But I could just enter the seed into the generator and generate it once more, so I think it’s OK.)
• Theme. My favourite was ‘Every death is meaningful’, and I was a little disappointed when I saw it’s ‘Minimalism’. I couldn’t make any idea for some time, and the one I came with didn’t seem trustworthy.
• Maths. I still haven’t found a way of calculating velocity of an arrow so it perfectly goes through a given point. But the boss wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
• Community. I was streaming the process of game making, making a timelapse and posting frequently, but it’s not more than usual. I didn’t even have a journal, unlike the previous time.

What did I learn:

• Drawing a bit better.
• Using Tile Studio a bit.

And here is a timelapse (I missed a part at the beginning, when I was drawing levels with Tile Studio, and a part at the end, when I was submitting the game):

Since I have a lot of holidays this and next week, I’ll make sure I get a gold coolness medal. I’m also planning to stream playing LD games.

Tags: post-mortem

I’m going to play LD games today! Yes, I’ll play games made by YOU! You can suggest a game for me to play, even yours, and I’ll give instant feedback (Sorry, English is not my native language, I doubt I’ll be able to speak so you understand).

My stream

Tags: livestream

I submitted a new version of my game. I didn’t add anything, I just fixed several bugs and problems.

Here is the complete change list:

• Added WASD controls
• Less waiting at the end of the level
• Fixed boss doublehit (a rare bug)
• Added “R” key hint
• Added potatoes

Now go and find those 3 very secret potatoes, hidden in places you’ve never thought of!

I’m only halfway at the moment. I have 2 weeks though. I found out that if I play games all the day and play them till the end, give detailed feedback, etc. I rate 25 games per day. However, on the second day some people had over 100 ratings………

I was playing games randomly: sometimes by the default rating, sometimes just random games from the front page, sometimes games by request… Here are some games I liked those have rather little votes:

The Lamp

A minimalistic horror game, where you have to run away from different-colored eyes.

The world is in your hand

A one-button adventure game with an amazing story and outstanding mood.

.cp

A very innovative yet minimalistic strategy game about pixels.

I’m going to post a more detailed list, but only when I’ll rate another 50.

Tags: review