I’ve decided that my Alien Breed clone isn’t what I want to do.

Instead, I’m going to revisit an idea that I’ve tried, abandoned, tried, abandoned, and such so many times that I ultimately gave up.

I’m not sure that it counts, as I don’t have any of the code or assets left, and will be using a different library anyway (Was using Python/Pygame, will use C++/OGRE), but that’s what I’m doing.

I hope to have at least two characters and some actual fighting happening. Still, no promises. I will prioritize playability over having two characters. (Meaning that the game may consist of one character with two skins)

Here’s hoping!

— Mr. Dude

I think I’ve finally got an idea for a Mini-LD game that I’m actually excited about making.

I want to revisit my first LD entry. Which was also my first non-trivial C++ program. And my first top-down run and gun.

I’m going to start over. I’ve long since lost the original sources anyway, and I want to write it properly. I’m going to use SFML instead of SDL. I’m going to cross-compile it myself if I can manage to. I am going to make proper graphics a proper level generator.

I will be submitting my Mini-LD version on the deadline, but I absolutely intend to finish this, even if it takes beyond the time limit.

Here’s hoping, anyway…

— Mr.Dude

I’ve decided to interpret the time limit as “Begin on the 26th and work for 48 hours”, so I will start at 3:00PM EST (8:00PM UTC) and will work until that same time on the 28th.

I’ve decided on my game, as well. It was my first LD entry, and my first major C++ program.

Since I’m posting so much, I’m going to be putting breaks in for the time being.

More about the game and my plans after the break.

The game was titled “Byte Vs. GNOME”, and it was a top-down run and gun shooter. It starred a tiny robot fighting gnomes that were gigantic compared to her.

The game featured vector graphics with a weird LCD-ish color scheme, and was rushed in a major way toward the end. The competition version of the game had one enemy, and would segfault when that enemy was destroyed.

This time around, I actually know how to use C++. This time around, I will make actual graphics. This time around, I might actually work on it beyond the Mini-LD.

And this time around, I will not wax romantic about other programming languages to implement it in. I will not (As I seem to do) change ideas half-way through. I will not fail. Or at least, I won’t fail completely.

My goal is to get the thing playable. That’s all I absolutely need.

If I can fit it to the theme of the LD, I may re-use it as my jam game. Not sure just yet. Regardless, I’m really excited to see it again.

I’m currently writing a preliminary design document. This is going to be awesome.

I’ll be writing out my plan for generating my levels, as I’m ultimately going to generate them procedurally. I won’t likely be using it for the Mini-LD version, but I’m going to use it eventually.

That will probably be my next post. I’m mostly trying to amuse myself while I wait.

That said, for tonight I’ve got a little bit of homework and some designs to write out.

Peace out, and here’s hoping.

— Mr. Dude

Byte Vs. Gnomes has been getting less and less interesting as I’ve thought about it.

I’ve decided to bend the rules a bit. My game is titled “Protean Arrow” and it is “derived” from an old project. The old project was a half-page design document for a scrolling shmup featuring a space ship that could transform into three different modes via a Macross-style transformation mechanism.

Protean Arrow will be an arena shmup about a nanotech-based fighter craft that can shift between three forms. It will take place over a series of areas with procedurally created terrain, each with a boss. For this weekend, I will just be putting together one level.

I will be developing in ActionScript 3 using FlashPunk. I will make my graphics in Inkscape, sounds in as3sfxr, and probably no music for this weekend. (Eventually in LMMS, but for now I’ll leave that alone)

More about it after the break.

The protagonist is a space fighter pilot named Juliet Arrow whose squadron crash-landed on the planet Sapphire. Sapphire is inhabited by a handful of “races” of nanotechnology-based life forms. Arrow was the only one of the pilots in her squadron to survive the crash. Her wingmates’ bodies were completely destroyed when their ships’ power sources melted down. Arrow’s ship’s canopy broke off during re-entry and she was not caught in the explosion from her ship. As she lost consciousness, her body was absorbed by the resource collection system of the city of Deck, a city on the front of a war between the Sabre and Digger races. When Arrow came to, she found herself to have become a Sabre fighter craft, and thus her adventure began…

The core of the game is the three forms available to the player. The first, the “Gunner” mode, gives the player a charge-fire gun that can charge up over a few levels of power (Much like Megaman’s gun). The second, the “Blaster” mode, gives the player the ability to launch missiles that deal splash damage. The third mode, the “Splitter” mode, gives the player machine guns that, while not hit-scan, have projectiles that move very quickly.

I have a system in mind for how explosive, energy, and kinetic (Bullet) weapons will interact with energy shields and solid armor, but I’m still working that system out.

Missions will vary in objectives. Some will simply require you to kill several waves of baddies. Others will require you to destroy an important baddie structure. Still others will require you to defend a good guy structure. In the latter two cases (With the structures), the structure in question will make an effort to defend itself by building up a defence system over the course of the level.

Baddies, when killed, will be absorbed and processed into “Material” that the player can use to buy upgrades at the end of each level. The player will be able to increase their attack power, shield and armor strength, shield and armor regeneration, and some attributes specific to each weapon.

In missions with structures, the structures will get some resources as well. (Good guy structures will get the same amount as the player, baddie structures will get about half) Structures can use their resources to build various defence structures such as gun turrets, walls, and drone fighter “hangars” that deploy small fighter craft that help you. They will also be able to spend resources to repair themselves more quickly than they normally regenerate. These actions will all be controlled by AI, so the player can focus on fighting without managing a defence structure at the same time. Plus, I hate it when you need to defend something that doesn’t make any effort to defend itself.

Aside from all of that, I’ve got lots of ideas in my head, and I’m going to try to get to work on it.

I’m probably not going to finish on time. I’m simply not going to be able to. I’ve spent too much of today dicking around playing games and my family’s having a party tomorrow. So, I’m unlikely to finish the Mini-LD.

I’m really sad about that. I’m wishing that I’d managed my time better. *sigh*

I’ll do what I can with it tomorrow, and I’ll try to have something to submit. I’m really sorry, folks. I really am.

I’m thinking that I can hold myself to Protean Arrow after the Mini-LD. I think it really has potential, and I’m really looking forward to pursuing it. That would make this the first LD-ish event where I have picked an idea toward the beginning (Mind you that I “officially” began yesterday afternoon, making Protean Arrow the idea I began working with) and stuck with that idea. A curse has been lifted! Right, anyways…

With that, I’m going to call it a day, and come back in force (as best I can) tomorrow. I’ll have an eye to the future.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

This time around, I’ve run out of time. My folks are holding a late Thanksgiving party today. (They were out on vacation on Thanksgiving proper)

My family are very noisy people, and I’m unlikely to be able to get much done today. I certainly won’t be able to finish.

Tomorrow, I have my C++ class which comes with about 3 hours of bus time and a 3 hour class.

I’m throwing in the towel. I will pick up work on Protean Arrow this coming Tuesday. If submissions are still up, I’ll submit something. Either way,  I’ll be putting the occasional “release” up on SwfCabin until I’ve got it finished. (Once it’s finished, I’ll put it up on Kongregate)

I’ve decided that I need to prove that I’m not just spewing hot air, I’ve got a screenshot of my… Ship on a screen that moves around and points to the mouse cursor…

Here:

This took about three or four hours, but that's all.. I.. spent... &%$#.

I’m absolutely in for LD19. Count me, my netbook, and Professor Feynman in on this.

I’ll be in the jam, and I’ll be fighting to make something happen. And I’ll try not to change ideas half-way through. That’s what’s been killing me, and I’ve started to really grasp that.

My plan is to make a shmup, but that may change. I’m either using Panda3D or FlashPunk, depending on whether I can get Panda to work.

To prepare, I’m taking it nice and easy on game dev. I’ve got a shmup in the works, but I’m taking it easy on that.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

I’ve been working on a game lately that I’d like to share. I’ve only been at it for a couple of days (And only partial days at that) but I’ve got a demo to show for it.

I’m not really warming up for LD19, but preparing for it comes to mind.

The game is titled “Little Ninja” and it is about a ninja fighting other ninjas to Save The Princess.

I have attempted to make this exact game several times now, but have tended to lose interest quickly. That being said, I think I might actually do it this time.

You can play a demo here. You can run around, jump, wall-jump (She’s a ninja, she gets to wall-jump), and slash with your sword (Which just plays the animation at the moment…)

Left and right arrow keys for running, Z to jump, X to run faster, and C to slash with your sword.

Any critique is welcome, just please be gentle. It’s my first platformer in quite a while…

Peace

— Mr. Dude

(Edit: It’s been made clear to me that the wall-jump physics are really lousy. Redoing the thing in FlashPunk, I’ll post a demo of that when it’s ready)

Yeah, everyone is posting their tools. I’ll do that, too.

Here’s my loadout:

• Language – ActionScript 3 (Flex)
• Libraries -FlashPunk
• Graphics – Inkscape
• Sound – sfxr
• Music – That’s a little too ambitious for 72h
• Tools – Tiled (Level Editor), level-munger.py (Munges Tiled levels into AS3)

I plan to make a platformer. Working on Little Ninja, I’ve been finding that I really enjoy working on platformers. I’m not sure exactly what about, though.

We can all hope for a post-jam version on Kongregate. (Complete with badges!)

Peace

— Mr. Dude

(Edit: Y’know, maybe FlashPunk. The heck with Flixel)

I’ve decided that I will probably try to make a (Rather limited) open world game for LD19. I think that concentrating my efforts into one game world will allow me to make a better game than I could trying to make six or seven worlds. Plus, I like designing open worlds.

I’m thinking about the same structure for Little Ninja, but that’ll be more complex.

I’m definitely using FlashPunk for this. Flixel has been, well, imprecise. In fact, the current version of Little Ninja (Which uses Flixel) feels really sloppy, and wrangling Flixel’s physics is a nightmare compared to writing my own physics with FlashPunk.

So that being said, I’m really looking forward to this. Hopefully it’ll at least be fun.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

I’ve had enough trouble getting the collision response working for Little Ninja that I’ve decided that I will be recycling its collision code if the theme permits.

I spent all of yesterday getting it working, discovered some weird artifacts of the method I was using, and am starting fresh today.

Needless to say, I’m re-using that. I’m entering the jam, but I thought I’d share anyway.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

I’ve decided to join the compo and not the jam. 72h just… Isn’t LD. It’s just not.

I’ll definitely be using FlashPunk (With Flex, of course) and I will definitely be doing a platformer.

I will use Tiled for my level editing along with adapting my Tiled to AS3 munge script for conversion.

The collision bits… I can recode those without much trouble. I simplified the hell out of it, and can probably remake it without too much fuss.

I’m not sure what to root for as far as the theme goes. The first round didn’t have many that I liked. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

This isn’t directly LD-related (Though you could consider it some kind of warmup or practice), but I’ve been working on a game titled “Little Ninja”.

It’s a platformer where you play as a ninja fighting other ninjas to… Well, I don’t have the full plot right now, actually.

Currently, there is a test level and two types of baddies. (Swordsmen and archers).

If anyone here would like to try it, you can find it here on my Dropbox. (Plays in browser, requires Flash)

Edit: Here are the controls:

• Move – Arrow Keys
• Attack – Z
• Jump – X
• Run – Hold C and Move
• Drop through Ledge – Hold down and Jump
• Wall-Slide – Jump into wall (You don’t need to hold the button, you’ll stick to the wall)
• Wall-Jump – Wall-Slide, then Jump

Here’s a screenie:

Action shot! A fight amongst ninjas!

I’ve got another demo of Little Ninja ready!

Now you have shurikens, and there are three visual variants of each gender of each type of baddie. Also, there are checkpoints!

Anyone who’s interested can play it from my Dropbox.

Controls:

• Left / Right – Move
• X – Jump
• Z – Sword Attack
• A – Throw Shuriken
• C + Move – Run
• Down + Jump – Drop through Ledge
• Jump into Wall – Wall-Slide
• Wall-Slide + Jump – Wall-Jump

Yellow mangoes restore 25% of your health, orange mangoes restore 50%, and red mangoes restore 75%. The boxes of shurikens give you more shurikens, and have the number of shurikens on the sprite.

To activate a checkpoint, simply touch it. When you die, you will respawn at the last checkpoint you touched. If you touch a checkpoint while another is active, the checkpoint that was previously active will be deactivated. However, when you die, all of the entities in the level are reset. That means that all baddies and items are put where they originally were (Baddies at full health) and all projectiles are removed. In other words, it doesn’t remember baddies you’ve killed or items you’ve taken.

With a bit of timing (And a touch of luck) you can slash arrows in mid-air. Slashed arrows do no damage (Which is why you would slash them).

There are a couple of spots that look unnecessarily dangerous (Like the little room with the spike ceiling), those will have special collectible items in them once I’ve implemented those. (Which is why they’re in there)

Here’s a screenie:

Another action shot! More ninja fighting!

I’ve decided some things about how I’m going to go about LD19.

First of all, I’m almost certainly making a platformer of some kind.

I’m really hoping for something either violent or whimsical for the theme. (I admit, there aren’t that many that I like this time around…) That would, by the nature of my work, put me at an advantage. (I do a lot of cute, cartoony stuff that’s also rather violent)

Regardless, my game will involve some kind of fighting. If I can contrive the theme into a weapon or attack, that’s probably what the player will have. Otherwise, it’ll probably show up in the level design or in the types of baddies.

I’m going to shoot for just having a single level with a final boss and a “You win!” screen at the end. Everything beyond that is additional.

I’m really happy to have switch to FlashPunk. There’s a bit of collision logic that I had to write myself, but it makes other sorts of collisions (One-way ledges, hidden areas that are revealed when you enter them, etc.) pretty easy to implement. (Something that I would not say about Flixel)

That being said, my game will be a cute and cheerfully violent bit of simple fun. Hopefully.

Peace

— Mr. Dude

There are some things that will be in my game, no matter the theme.

I will make a platformer. It will have one level. It will have a boss. It will have instructions in the beginning of the level. It will feature a cute little robot as the main character. It will be violent. It will have at least two kinds of baddie. It will be in Flash using FlashPunk using AS3 using Flex. It will be at least playable at the end of LD.

And if it isn’t finished by the end of the compo, it will be entered in the jam.

Absolutely!

— Mr. Dude

I have decided that I will, at all costs, finish my compo game before the end of the 48h. That’s final.

I’ve also decided that for extra challenge I’ll be entering a game in the jam, and not starting it until the end of the compo proper, giving me 24h.

I’ve already got an idea for the jam game in mind, and if it uses the theme, it’ll be by coincidence.

I… Really need a break from Little Ninja. I’m at a point where I’ll need to refactor heavily to get my even system in, and I need a break from it before I do that.

I’ll probably work on at least one of the two LD games post-compo. I really like my Jam game idea, but I do want to give myself the challenge of only having 24h to make it.

Plus, it just wouldn’t be LD without a 48h scramble, and now that there is a 72h jam alongside it, may also also have a second, 24h hour scramble. Hee hee!

That said, the jam game will be much simpler, but will hopefully still come out well.

I’m PUMPED!

— Mr. Dude

I’m not going to lie, I’m killing time before the compo by posting stuff about my plans.

Before I get into my time schedule, I want to clarify some of my terms.

“Basic design” means a general idea of how the game will work.

“Boilerplate” means things like game physics, world structure, and a way of displaying a Hud.

“Prototype” means a thing I can play with that gives me a good feel of how the game will play.

“Feature-complete” means that there are baddies you can fight and kill,  there are items you can pick up and they work, there is a boss that has an “area” that the player must stay in during the fight, there is a Hud that works, and the level at least features all of the game’s mechanics.

“Basically finished” means that the game is “feature-complete” and the level is finished. It also means that there is a title screen.

“Polished” means that the game is beyond “basically finished” and has music and possibly intro and end cut-scenes.

With those terms defined, here’s how I’ve got the weekend planned out:

Friday evening – Come up with an idea, sketch out basic design

Friday night – Roll the dice and stay up late, boilerplate, begin prototype

Early Saturday morning – Try my hardest to finish prototype

Saturday afternoon – Work on feature-completeness

Saturday evening – Go to bed early, try to wake up early Sunday

Sunday morning – Work toward feature-completeness

Sunday afternoon – Feature-complete (Hopefully!) work on being “basically finished”

Sunday evening – Hopefully “basically finished”, get in what polish I can manage

Sunday night – Compo is over, submit game regardless of current state. Jam begins, go for broke and stay up late.

Late Sunday night / Early Monday morning – Prototype of jam game should hopefully be ready

Monday afternoon – Jam game has been prototyped, move on to feature-completeness

Monday evening – Work down to the wire on feature-completeness

Monday night – Submit jam game regardless of current state.

Tuesday morning/Tuesday afternoon – Sleep in, recover from LD scramble.

Tuesday evening – Write post-mortems.

There. That should be nice and stressful, and will be a good challenge for my ability to develop quickly.

TRIUMPH!! OR! DIE!!!!

Good luck all! I’ll be on IRC once I’ve got a prototype together!

Until then, I’m going to everything in my power to get this working by morning!

Tags: game reference, good luck