My first dare and I feel sick and enthralled at the same time.
Click Here for the demo of the game I’ve got working
Believe it or not, that’s 90% of the engine I’ve planned handled, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes.
So the concept is discovering the maps…but there will be innumerable things stopping you. the code’s a complete mess already, but ah well. I’ve been livestreaming the whole thing to my players and the general public over HERE
Getting some sleep now, and hopefully will come up with a wonderful name and artistic skills overnight
The basic mechanics of my game engine are done! Built from the ground up 24 hours is about as fast as I’ve ever managed to do something like that.
There’s been some things pulling my attention off working, proving that no weekend is ever perfect and distraction free. However, the latest demo is starting to show signs that the game is actually turning into a game!
If things go well, it looks like I’m in for an over-night shift if at all possilbe (if I don’t get too tired) and maybe catching a nap early afternoon tomorrow before finishing up. I have a couple of features left to add and a LOT of content to make before I’m happy, but the game feels playable.
Quick reminder that I’m livestreaming my whole thing Here
Mechanics Functional
I know it’s a bit early to build development tools for an engine…that’s ages away from being finished (well…better be done in less than 20 hours…) but the way I decided to track maps was conflicting with my testing… level design was starting to take inordinate amounts of time, so I slapped together a quick “make.fla” that is just a modified version of the engine that I can force map loads into.
I’m tempted to make this a fundamental part of the game, creating and sharing of maps, if only to point out that most gamers do not a content designer make. For now it’s just going to let me build demo maps very quickly.
Saw a couple of declarations and decided to make one of my own.
Going to take the plunge and build the entire game in AS3 from scratch, using Flash Builder 4 and CS3. Have been dipping my toe in and out of AS3 for the last year or so, decided that now was the best time to just get it over with.
Let’s see how nice the Theme Gods are for me.
Going with the year 1888 for a steampunk-ish gmae. The west was won on the backs of spring-powered flying cowboys. Yeup.
Anyways, have a game that’s been done loads of times in my mind, with a fun twist! Been playing along with my companies’ players. Me and my Fiance are streaming and chatting with them as we go and it’s been a much more relaxed, fun, and energetic experience then my last Ludum Dare that was a big ball of stress. Ended up having to go with AS2, as a lot of my code samples and examples are on a computer I forgot to bring home with me, and my environment wasn’t as configured as I thought it was. Oh well. The game’s going to be simple enough that it should be fine in AS2. It’s all about the polish and getting the physics to FEEL right, even if they’re completely smoke and mirrors.
First round of a working demo of the game…
http://ebilgeek.com/mld23/thebouncything.html
It’s more fun then I’d have expected it to be. It also nails the being instantly engaging goal I had. It’s a LOT of fun already. I need to add a few more bits to the engine to make it a…game… limit their springs and add the ability to get more. The progress is good though, even if the minigame is very simple.
I did use some base code for physics. Base code that I’m not going to be able to share (boo!) but code that I actually wrote for my company to do some basic trajectory pathing. I’m sure I could have re-wrote it, but AS2 tends to handle angles a bit…backwards and I remember going crosseyed the first time I messed with Math.atan so would rather copy/paste then spend 4 hours frustrated again.
The art will be replaced, and I’m actually going to try for sound effects this time.
Trying to get everything set up for this weekend. Should be a lot of fun.
Flash CS5, Flash Builder 4, AS3. First “major” project in AS3, after being a developer in AS2 for a long time…should be a nice challenge.
The first day is well wearing on at this point and I 1) Don’t have any of my tools on this computer, 2) spent the last 5 hours walking for charity during the Relay for Life at the local Highschool because my company had a team (shameless plug!) and 3) am still trying to decide on a final direction for where to go with this project.
So, all things considered, not the best start to the Dare I’ve had, though I’ve only done two.
I have made the discovery that I’m capable of Daring from bed rather then sitting at the desk, which has improved my mood emensly.
Woke up today a little later then I’d have liked, but with a plan fully in my head. Super simple RPG system coupled with a pet/minion battle mechanic. It’s dangerous to go alone. Here, take this guy! I also woke up to the lovely, lovely smell of the catbox being well overdue for a cleaning and no litter in the house, and a fridge devoid of food.
Letting my fiancée, who isn’t coding a game in 48 hours, sleep in I went off to the store to repair these things and decided on spoiling us for this stressful weekend. Recently we discovered our local grocery store has a good stock of quality cheeses, and nothin’ says goodmorning like a good sliver of bree and fresh baked croissants.
So, finally sitting down to code and I’m realizing that me not knowing basically anything about the differences between actionscript 2 and 3 was not the best idea when going into something like this. Caffeine? Check.
I’m starting to get the feeling like I’m not going to finish. Have a very basic map-rendering engine set up and working
But it’s pretty rudimentary, and getting an actor to play on that, including making a performer from scratch, something I haven’t done before, is going to be a tall order for less than 22 hours left. Not giving up mind you, just starting to think I over-estimated myself and my time this weekend. Oh well, any lesson learned is a lesson learned :-p
The game is almost publishable, but there’s a problem. Apparently my brain is holding out on itself.
What?
I’ve been coding both the Map and the Player objects with Input control/Game Logic in mind. I literally have keyboard event listeners on both. Suppose that’s what happens when I code until…honestly I don’t remember the last 3-4 hours of work last night. Coding until you can’t think/remember anymore is NOT a good thing. Will have to remember that next time, in the mean time I have some amusing screen/character moving in opposite direction bugs.
In again for this one.
AS3, Flash Develop, Paint.net. Hopefully I can still manage to complete this considering I’ll be coding 12-hours or so in the car while we drive to my brother’s graduation. Think I’ll have to keep my scope in mind in the project I decide on.
So, here’s the deal. I set up a collaborative playlist for Spotify that I’ll be listening to throughout the event. Link:
I’d appreciate music being added and people joining in to jam out on music as we take the challenge!
Game Title: You Should have Left.
Concept: You find yourself alone. Compleatly alone. In a desert. Exploring a desert and trying to avoid dying for as long as possible, which is never long enough.
Think anti-rougelike. No threats other then slow starvation, slow dehydration, slow heat stroke. Deal with threats and dangers and the slow insanity of being on your own. There’s also a fast-forward button. The longer you live the higher your “score” but perhaps high score isn’t the goal here. Maybe a quick death would be better.
Been a while, but I am going to try.
Unity, Visual Studios 2015, Photoshop, and various free libs from the asset store or around the net(will list in project details once I figure out what I need).
I have been playing with Cardboard VR (https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/) for work lately, and am still getting the hang of building first person UI/Control schemes with limited inputs… so I might make a game with that in mind, as a bit of an extra challenge (as if I needed one.)
Not sure if I’m in for the jam or the full blown event, but am excited.