PNG level loading is done as well as empty-space-detection so the player can’t jump off of the world. I’ve added some placeholder sprites for the enemies as well. As you can tell from this image, my next task is adding z-order awareness to the drawing methods for entities.
Hi Guys,
I picked up the Ruby Gosu graphics library on Monday on a whim, and as I was browsing reddit’s gamedev for resources I found the Ludum Dare! What timing! I’m not too sure if I’ll even have something you can call a video game by the end of this, but I’ll give it my full attention for the next day + 18 hours regardless.
Anyways, this is my entry so far:
I have isometric level rendering and player motion(the cube) implemented. After some painful bug fixing, I added some slightly nicer graphics to make myself feel better. My plan is to make this a simple stealth game where you have to weave through a huge swarm of enemies with complicated movement patterns. My next task is to implement level loading from .png files(Currently it’s an array I edit by hand) and figure out what the enemies are capable of doing. I’m not too sure how I’ll incorporate the theme(maybe a special item you can only use once?).
Well, I sort of knew this would happen, but 16 hours left and I still don’t have any gameplay to speak of. But I’ve had a blast! Earlier today I was pretty stressed about not having any “worthwhile” results, but I feel a lot better after really thinking over why I wanted to participate in the first place(read: have fun, learn, have a first game). So I feel really good about the progress I’ve made so far. When I picked up Ruby a couple months ago to write web scrapers, I really didn’t have the slightest clue that I’d be doing cool shit like this! Seeing all these games from all these people around the world, at all skill levels, is really inspiring. Watching the live streams, playing the prototypes, reading all of these posts have all helped me keep going back to my code. From newbs like myself to veterans like Notch, everyone’s all working at(mostly) the same time towards the goal of making something cool and fun. Mine may not be fun(yet), but at least for me it’s as cool as hell.
Anyways, away from the sentmimentalities, today I implemented proper z-ordering(each tile calculates its distance from origin, and the player tile updates each move), a zooming system so you can adjust the camera, trees, random permutations for the floor tiles, and the enemy cubes now have detection squares that make you immediately lose the game upon touching. I also learned how to package .rb files as .exes using ocra, so I’ll be able to release the game when time’s up! My one regret is I wasn’t able to maintain focus for very long periods of time. I suspect I may have been able to alleviate that with better planning. But that too is part of learning.
The full progress is in this imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/GK4q5
I’m doing both themes – two button control and growth. I’m surprised there aren’t as many infinite runners as I initially expected. So far I’ve locked down the art style and gameplay, I just need to finish implementing certain parts.
Hopefully I finish all of that tonight and get started on the level design tomorrow.
Click to see video:
These are my concepts for levels. Realistically I probably will only be able to do these 2 areas with perhaps 2 levels each:
Hey guys. It’s been brought to my attention that my compo entry, Sea Cucumber Runner 2D is considered difficult. This is true but I just wanted to confirm that it can be beaten with some practice, and here is the proof. Recording of a complete run in 1 min.:
If you’re a fan of infinite runners give it a shot!