Basically programmed the entire game today. Yep… All *important* features are implemented. Dying, Winning EVERYTHING but the game isn’t done yet. I still have to make pretty assets (still programmer art), add sound/music and if I have enough time, I’ll add particle effects 😛
Check it out here!
I worked on the game up until 2 hours before the deadline. It’s pretty fun. I hope you check it out.
Wow, 48 hours to make a game. I can’t believe I did it, let alone finish and actually be happy with the result! Super Shotgun Showdown was the easiest, most enjoyable and smoothest game development experience I’ve ever had. So lets talk about how it was made.
The first night
After the theme was announced I struggled for almost two hours to find a good idea. I just finally decided to not think about the theme and think about a fun idea. I’ve always enjoyed playing games like Legend of Zelda roguelikes, and top down shooters, and figured they’re pretty simple to make, so I decided to start there. The game was made in Java/Slick2D I’m very comfortable with java and the api, so I didn’t struggle with learning anything. First, I worked on the world rendering. I chose the window resolution of 240×160 scaled 4x. Huge pixels! Huge pixels are fun and easy to work with, and is easy get something looking pretty decent in a short amount of time. I used a technique notch used for his Prelude of the Chambered a few LD’s back, using pixels in a image as map data, each color would represent a specific tile or entity. After about 6 hours working non-stop, I had smooth movement, collision collision, a basic shooting mechanic and some simple AI for enemies.
The 2nd day
Earth day! I had plans to do other things, so I spent about 4-5 hours away from the computer. I think this is what helped me the most to finish the game. Once I got back into the development, I added doors, keys, a way to die, away to win, breakable walls, the mini-boss. It was the most fun part of the whole dev-cycle. I could have added things here for days, and the game would be more awesome and jam packed with stuff, but with the time limit putting pressure on me, I stopped and had to get the game 100% functional before Sunday.
Dawn of the final day
Aaah! Less than 24 hours remaining! I didn’t freak out, even know it was my Dad’s birthday, and I had to stop being on the computer sooner rather than later. The pressure was getting to me. I just wanted it to be done! By the lunch time the game’s code, functionality and content was complete, all that was left was art, music and sound effects. I used as3sfxr, a super handy utility for game-jams to get great sounding effects in a small amount of time. I made the music with a touch screen synthesizer and with a little polish and particle effects I was done! A huge sigh of relief I could shut off my computer and praise my victory.
What I learned
I learned so much this weekend. The biggest of which is that I can now call myself a Game Developer because I actually finished a game, a struggle I’ve been trying to break for a while now, and another thing I learned was how much java is a pain in the arse. Distributing games in java is a horrible experience for a user, so for any of my future projects, I plan on learning another language uses less code and easily packageable and distributable.
You can also watch a timelapse of the entire 48 hours here.
Tags: postmortem
Hey whats up? I’m just making a game in 48 hours. Nothing special……
About 3 Hours in!
and I’m welcome to share it with you all!
Concept:
So basically the first thing that came to mind when the theme was announced (It’s Evolution… FINALLY!) was POKEMON! They evolve right?! So, I sought out to make a game that’s kinda like pokemon, but where you actually play as the monsters and fight other monsters and EVOLVE!
Anyway, that’s the basic idea. If your interested, you can play the latest build here http://danielbryant.co/g/ludumdare24
The current status of the game.
I’ve been livestreaming the entire process so far! And I’ve had some fun talking to some of you! If you wanna join in hop onto the livestream. Or follow me on the twitters!
Tags: evolution, In development..., pokemon
I did it! I finished my game! It’s called Shroom and It’s pretty cool!
LD page for voting. (fixed link)
Here’s the timelapse! It turned out very well! I watching it, It looks like spent so much time on the graphics, which I remade about 3 times :\
If you want to watch all 33.5 hours of development, it was all recorded on my twitch.tv channel, which I live streamed from! (and many of you seemed to enjoy).
You can play Shroom here.
You can follow me on twitter here.
or not, whatever.
Tags: timelapse
Don’t worry, it’s a separate release from the 48 hour version, but it includes the following:
You can rate/play the game at this link right here.
Tags: new version, updated
Sup gamedev’rs!
This is hopefully going to be my 3rd Ludum Dare experience! I’m currently in college now so the odds of my friends distracting me to hang out are very high. But! My finals are over before Friday, my only for sure distraction will be seeing the Hobbit, which I’m okay with…..
Here’s the tools I plan on using.
