And away they go! On the way out wacky races!

You played the Nibbles and watch your ass turn into a deadly wall? You played a tron in which your opponent would build a wall just in front of you to kill you off? It’s time to take the challenge into 3D! Now any direction is a valid escape. Now every wall is a place of deadly struggle against other… well, so far cubes. My first LD attempt. Go!

Tags: lightcycle, tron

Well, gameplay is progressing. The camera sucks, the temp art is temp, but you leave trail and move around.

Trying to compete with X-0ut is like struggling with hurricane, but hey, I’m not ditching my project yet. Adding multiplayer features/splitscreen is the next goal.

Hot multiplayer cube on cube action like you’ve never seen before! Needs more assplosions and more players, but yeah, I’m getting there. I’m really loving my first Ludum Dare :))))

And here is how my workplace looks like. I’m actually at the office because my gf would kill me for coding whole night :). The monitor on the left isn’t actually taking part in the fun – it’s used only to run the Wii devkit, but I fired it up for more ePenis points 😀

Tags: deskphoto

It’s 1:24am and it’s high time to head home, if I want to work on the game tomorrow. Added bit of fixes to camera, displaying text and some other minor thingamabobs. Things are looking good.

Good morning sunshines. It’s time to code again. List of priorities is as follows:

1. Single/Multiplayer XML setting
2. ASSPLOSIONS (particle system)
3. Removal of walls on dying (assplosion related)
4. Start countdown
5. Camera fixes (still some problems when player can’t see why he died)
6. Sound
7. Speedup as you ride along wall of other player to catch up on him
8. Best out of 10 rounds highscore system
9. Death cam replays
10. Player names in XML
11. Networked multiplayer (as opposed to split screen that is now)
12. AI, if there will be enough time.

And here is some breakfast of champions:

Tags: food, journal

Having bit of a problem with particles in multiple viewports. Using the DrawableGameComponent of XNA for it might have been a mistake:

Particles fixed, added 3 seconds of STARING AT OTHER PLAYER. WHO WILL CHICKEN OUT FIRST? FILM AT 11.

8 milestones to go.

Sounds added, lots of cool stuff, be sure to check it out (REQUIRES XNA 3.0 redist, if you don’t have it’ll just lolcrash). it’s a ‘single player demo’: http://www.z00ttheater.com/mantis/Debug.zip Enjoy

Tags: preview

It’s 3am and I’m heading to sleep. Haven’t managed to put in all the features I wanted but I think I managed quite well. The game is simple one of Tron – avoid running into walls as long as possible, prolong the inevitable.
Basic setup is for 2 playes, you can change it to single player mode by modifying config.xml that lies in ‘Content’ directory. You’ll need newest .NET and XNA (3.0) redistribuable to  play the game so make sure you have them!

Controls are Left/Right arrow for player 1 and A/S for player 2.

Binary for windows

UPDATE: Installer for windows , includes redistribuables. Avoid the hassle, yo!

UPDATE #2: Source

ENJOY! Also, since my dev comp is down I can’t take pictures of game, will update later on, for now using older screenshot:

Tags: final

It looks like I’m back for a second LD. Since I started learning pixel art recently, most likely I’ll be making a 2D game or 3D with Minecraft-like blocks,  trying to make it as pretty as I can.

Most likely I’ll be using XNA, but Unity is also an option.

Can’t wait till friday night! See you there!

Finally, after 2 years I will have time to sit down on the weekend and do some coding ))))

Tech:

Unity OR XNA OR PyGLet.

Let’s get them  ideas rolling!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 3:56 am and is filed under LD #21. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Battlestation ready. Now to acquire food.

Tags: deskphoto

I’ve already done two games this week ( minigames, our milestone at work was moved back and I suddenly faced insane time constraints), so I wasn’t sure I’ll be in mood for Ludum Dare. However, after I’ve done the games I was able to take friday off to chill out. /boringstuff 

 Well, here’s my idea: You control a lonely lonely goblin who was never invited to parties ( because he was ugly ). Finally, on his birthday he decided that HE will throw a party, and hopefully somebody will come. He sent out invitations and started cleaning his castle. The castle is big, so he has to hurry. 

The gameplay will be Q*bert-like for those of you old enough to remember.

As for tools, I’ve decided to give Python/Pyglet a chance. I’ve never worked with Pyglet, but I’ve done some scripting in Python ( level pre-processing for a Wii game for example ), and I’m a quick learner ;).  I’ll use the SFXR for sound and GraphicsGale for my art. I recently moved to a different country and I didn’t bring my tablet with me, so all art will be drawn with mouse. Sheesh.

Anyways, it’s 9:30 am on Saturday, I’ve just woken up, I think I’ll start the day by going to gym, relax my brain there ( maybe think up some mechanics ), and start working when I’m back. I’ve already done a first sketch of the main character, so that the game vision will clarify in my head. Keep in mind I’m a coder not an artist 😉

Ok, I have couple mechanics ideas. Things to implement, in order:

-animated Sprite class
-tiles
-map loading ( preferably I would use PNGs with pixels for tiles )
-gameplay
-menus & text displaying
-enemies
-app structure ( intro, menu, level load, play level, level load, …, game over/won )
-animations in
-audio in

And here’s a mockup level and updated Gobos model:

So yeah, coding hard, even if slow ( I _HAD_ to sleep during the day, still weak from the sickness ). I managed to implement PNG map loading, character entity, tiles, and “tile cleaning”

PICTURE TIME!

Now to implement, in Gameplay milestone:
-Dying
-Multiple levels
-Time limit
-more tile types
-enemies

Sheesh. I guess I’ll be doing 3 days. Stupid sickness.

Also, I noticed that I’m making the game about a goblin that’s alone on his birthday. It’s my birthday, I’m alone in my bed, far from any friends ( in a foreign country ), coding. Not so different after all, eh? Maybe I’ll change the game ending from one I wanted to have to happier one. At least my Gobos will have a happy birthday 😉

I wanted to share the joy that is Ludum Dare with my local Warsaw Hackerspace (http://www.facebook.com/hackerspacepl), and though most (if not all) of them speak English fluently, when I wrote about it to the mailing list, I chose to write about it in Polish. I have translated the rules and the advices, and wrapped it in short, self contained form. I dunno if this’ll be of any use to anyone else, but hey – maybe it will. Without further ado, the text:

######################### Zasady Ludum Dare w skrocie: #########################

Na tydzien przed konkursem zaczyna sie wymyslanie tematu. Kazdego dnia wrzucane jest 20 pomyslow na temat (np Ewolucja, Mini Swiat, Zblizajaca sie Sciana Zaglady, Jednorozce, itp), na ktore mozna glosowac, kazdemu dajac +1, 0, badz -1 punktow. Po czterech dniach, w piatek, wybierane jest 20 najwyzej punktowanych, i z nich wybieramy najlepszy. Po podliczeniu glosow (niejawnym), temat jest oglaszany, i zaczyna sie (o 3ciej ranu czasu polskiego) 48 godzin na napisanie gry.

Branie udzialu w Ludum Dare jest proste. Tworzysz konto na ludumdare.com i tyle. Logujesz sie na konto, wrzucasz notki i swoja gre na blogaska.

Podstawy:

– MUSISZ pracowac sam
– caly kod i wszystkie media typu grafika czy dzwiek musisz stworzyc w ciagu 48 godzin **
– gra musi byc napisana na zadany temat
– wszystkie publicznie dostepne biblioteki oraz middleware sa dozwolone do uzytku
– wszystkie narzedzia developerskie sa dozwolone do uzytku (3dsmax, Photoshop, Flash, itd)
– zrodla musza zostac udostepnione

Kod gry napisanej w 48 godzin raczej nie zawiera niczego super tajnego. Chodzi tylko w razie gdyby byly watpliwosci i ewentualna dyskwalifikacja. Nie oznacza to ze kod musi byc otwarty, zachowujesz do niego wszystkie prawa. Jezeli nie chcesz wrzucic swojego kodu, zamiast Ludum Dare mozesz wziac udzial w Ludum Dare Game Jam, ktory ma nieco bardziej wyluzowane wymagania.

** :
> wlasne biblioteki i kod bazowy jest dozwolony, ale musisz to oglosic i podzielic sie nim ze spolecznoscia LD zanim zaczniesz robic gre. Zeby to uczynic, zrob notke na blogasku LD.
> fotografie i nagrania ktore robisz ludziom i rzeczom sa dozwolone, ale musisz je zrobic w trakcie trwania konkursu
> fonty, roznego rodzaju loopy muzyczne sa dozwolone jezeli masz do nich prawa
> generatory contentu sa dozwolone. ba, zachecamy do tworzenia ich i dzielenia sie ze spolecznoscia. SFXR, bardzo popularny generator efektow dzwiekowych zostal stworzony wlasnie na potrzeby Ludum Dare. od stworzenia zostal wykorzystany przez wiele gier indie.
> logo/intro screen ktory uzywasz we wszystkich swoich grach jest dozwolony (np ‘zrobione przez Super Duper Studio!’)
> portowanie na inne platformy (przede wszystkim na Windows) moze sie odbyc po 48 godzinach, ale pamietaj ze im dluzej czekasz tym mniejsza szansa ze inni ludzie zagraja w Twoja gre.

Gra jest oceniana przez spolecznosc LD, wedlug nastepujacych kryteriow:

– Innowacja – Niespodziewane. Uzywanie elementow w niezwykly sposob, lub cos na tyle innego ze zwraca uwage.
– Miodnosc – Jak dobrze bawiles sie grajac w gre. Popatrzyles na zegarek i zorientowales sie ze minelo 5 godzin?
– Temat – Jak dopasowana jest gra do tematu. Moze wykorzystuje go w jakis zaskakujacy, ciekawy sposob?
– Grafika – Jak dobrze wyglada ta gra, lub jak udany jest styl graficzny. Sliczna szata graficzna, doskonale wygenerowane lub geometryczne elementy, urzekajace obrazki programisty, itd.
– Dzwieki – Jak dobrze brzmi ta gra, lub jak udany jest styl dzwiekowy. Wpadajaca w ucho sciezka dzwiekowa, dopasowane do tego co sie dzieje na ekranie efekty, glos lektora, itd.
– Humor – Jak zabawna jest gra. Smieszne dialogi, zabawne dzwieki, a moze jest tak zla ze jest po prostu swietna?
– Nastroj – Historia, emocje, i odczucia ktore towarzysza Ci w trakcie gry
– Ogolne – Ogolna opinia o grze, pod kazdym istotnym dla Ciebie aspektem.
– Spoleczne – Blog, zdjecia, video z tworzenia gry. Wszystko co zostalo zrobione ponad tylko napisanie gry.

Poza tymi wszystkimi jest jeszcze kategoria ‘Zajebiaszczosc’. W im wiecej gier zagrasz i ocenisz, tym wyzsza ta punktacja.

Nie ma nagrod poza duma z utworzenia wlasnej gry. No i popularnoscia wsrod lasek (badz laskow), ktore to uwielbiaja ludzi umiejacych tworzyc wlasne gry.

Gra ktora zrobisz nalezy do Ciebie, Ludum Dare i organizatorzy nie klada reki na tym co stworzysz.

PORADY:

– Zeby dotrzec do jak najwiekszej ilosci ludzi, najlepiej tworzyc gierki webowe (Flash, Unity, Flixel, Flashpunk, HTML, itd). Latwo w nie grac i sa niezalezne od systemu operacyjnego.
– Nastepnym w kolejce co do zasiegu jest Windows. W LD bierze udzial duzo Macowych i Linuxowych developerow, ale sa w mniejszosci.
– Nie ma ograniczen dotyczacych jedno badz wieloosobowych gier, ale dla wiekszosci ludzi latwiej bedzie grac w jednoosobowe gry.
– Installery windowsowe (MSI, EXE) sa ok, ale uwaga: niektorzy ludzie nie lubia installerow! wersja spakowana ZIPem powinna ich zadowolic.
– Downloady powinny byc samodzielne. Potrzeba dossania Pythona, PyGame, runtimow MSVC, XNA czy innych dodatkow odstraszy duzo ludzi (to jest glowny powod dla ktorego webowe gry sa takie popularne)

######################### ######################### #########################
(tlumaczenie by mantis, sorry za ewentualne bledy, wszystko robione w dobrej wierze itd)
(translated by mantis, sorry for any errors, everything’s been done in good faith etc)

Jezeli chodzi o narzedzia, polecalbym uzycie czegos co dobrze znacie. Najwiecej gier pada bo ludzie nie znaja technologii ktora uzywaja w trakcie tworzenia gry, i duzo czasu zjada im uczenie sie jak wykorzystac narzedzia, czasu ktory powinni poswiecic na robienie najzajebistszej gry swiata. Jezeli chcesz uzyc czegos nowego, wykorzystaj te dwa tygodnie ktore zostaly do konkursu zeby nauczyc sie jak te narzedzia obslugiwac.

A wlasnie, narzedzia. Jezeli dopiero zaczynacie tworzenie gier, obejrzyjcie te strone:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/tools/

Osobiscie bardzo polecam SFXR/BFXR do tworzenia dzwiekow, GraphicsGale Freeware do tworzenia grafiki 2D, i Blendera do grafiki 3D (chociaz ja strasznie sse jezeli chodzi o grafike 3D, wiec na szybko wole sie opierac na proceduralnie tworzonym contencie, l-systemach, perlin noisach i innych takich).

———————–

And that’s it. See you in Ludum Dare 25, and let there be plenty of great games!

Well, that was quite long title. But yeah, I’m progressing nicely, with new minigame – a Tetris clone. Today I managed to finish in 8 hours (started immediatly after work, no distractions other than cooking soup, which gave me much needed breathing time). I’m really starting to feel Unity working for me again. It’s a nice feeling.

You can read full entry, with dissection of what I wanted to do and what I managed to do here. You can also play the game there, if you want (though it’s nothing special, obviously), as it is a Unity web player game.

And now it’s time to go to bed, I need to rest properly, can’t afford to burn out before Ludum Dare, right? Otherwise, what’s the point? See ya all later!

Another day finished. I haven’t done a game per se, but wrote quite a nice piece of code, so I guess it still counts for something. Warmup is done for today. So, hope you’ll enjoy the summary post, and good night