Harr! I’ve finally done all the basic stupid boring stuff like drawing and input and timers out of the way and now I can start programming some gameplay to my game. Being worked on in c++ using allegro :3 Pics will come soon when I get something graphical done.
Tags: tigs
Finally started coding – water drawn with pygame. Next I need some wave physics, then collision detection and some surfing physics. I’ll try to code it all in Python from scratch – in a few hours I’ll know if that’s a big mistake.
Things my game is capable of:
In my game you start out with a single piece of wall which is moving forward. As you move along things will appear that the wall will crush. When you crush things you get resources. You can use these resources to upgrade existing pieces of wall or build new ones. The two red wall pieces show you where you can build things.
The image is not very impressive. Looks cooler when you can see the thing actually moving forward.
Collision detection is now working (at least with the walls)…
I also managed to add a small shadow, that makes it look a bit better… Still sucks, need to redraw the wall tiles, if I have time…
Anyway, I just remembered something… The scrolling view is cool, but might kill the gameplay, if the player doesn’t see the tiles moving in his direction… Need to test this more…
Anyway, next step is to get some walls moving and doing their thing…
Spent some time going outside, and also eating stuff.
Still, I’ve now got a black screen that tweets! This can’t possibly go wrong.
Paper, a few coins and a letter from the tax authority to represent the wall of doom = my paper proto
Started about 30 minutes ago and this is what I have so far…
it’s not much but it’s a start.
There are now hurdles in the game!
(and I coloured in the wall too)
The idea is that you get a small number of points before each race to do something that will trip a hurdler up. To start with, you’ll just be able to move the hurdles so the hurdlers are knocked out of their stride, but hopefully I’ll be able to add traps and things too for later levels. And each hurdler you crush beneath the wall will give you an extra point for the next level.
I’ve got a good idea now of how the game will play when it’s finished. I’ll keep the gimmick a surprise since it’s really only got one (hint: it involves walls and doom).
The first level (of a planned three) is done sans an exit, and there’s a strange bug that causes the invisible portion of sprites to obscure background sprites–but only sometimes. But I suspect it’s a weirdness belonging to Construct’s 3D boxes so trying to fix it might have to be my very last priority.
Everything else is coming along so well that I’m gonna take a break to wind down before bed. End of day one for me.
Tags: progress
I have it playable. Graphics need alot of work.
You are the green circle you are trying to get treasure from the maze – there is a wall of doom moving through the maze (semi transparent). Now you can spin the wall one way or another but it keeps moving towards the center.
My timeline this morning
6:32 exit pops up
7:15 my wife forgot her insulin and needs it at work
8:17 add graphics to count down number of treasures you need to get
8:25-8:45 make it load next level
8:45-9:05 fight with son to get computer back – he likes my game
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
After a so-so night’s sleep and around a dozen wall-o-doom ideas, I returned to the basics: what was my goal in entering Ludum Dare? The answer was “to finish a game.”
Stating the goal in very simple terms was helpful. My goal is not to write a good game, or to write something original, or even (unfortunately) to write something fun. It’s just to finish the competition.
So I’m pressing on. I’m pretending LD 14’s theme is “Tetris Ripoff,” and my game will be the best of that sorry bunch.
Completing something, anything at all, is the most impressive thing that can come out of this.When I first saw the theme I wasn’t sure if I should enter at all. It doesn’t seem to be all that applicable. Anyway, since right now I’m on a Buggy Boy trip i thought about this:
A future gameshow. Run towards a goal without getting stopped by the advancing walls of doom. Grab the cash prizes in between but don’t forget that the next wall is moving towards you.
Here’s a preview with a tiny wall of tiny doom advancing slowly:
Tags: Endurion
I just came home from an orchestra rehearsal (which was fortunately finished a little earlier than planned), so now I can finally get started with LD14!
I’ve been thinking about the theme all day and even have an idea what to make: in my game you are running away from some kind of dangerous liquid (something like lava) that turns into a solid mass after a while (seen from above). There are blocks lying around and you can build little walls to hold the liquid back for a while, so it advances slower and you have more time to find your way, get past all kinds of obstacles, and build more walls, and so on.
At the rehearsal we had soup during the break (tomato vegetable soup).
I recorded the music we played, in case I can use something, but it’s not really the kind of music that fits with a game like this (mostly Bruch).
New progress screenshot. I’m not sure if I’m going anywhere at all with this, but I just have to keep going.
Still no nice graphics and only basic interaction. Hmmmm.
I was originally planning on sketching out some basic designs for each of my main ideas, but I had a lot of fun making the one I started with that I decided that it was the game I was going to make.
As you can see, I had some snacks while working on this one: blue corn chips with garlic lover’s hummus.
And here’s a close-up of the initial design:
Tags: foodphoto
ooops I’m a bit late…I forgot I have to clean the house 
well, let’s see if I can do something
Now listening: Comeback Kids – Wake the Dead
Current build playable here in your browser
Working title is Fleedom. Wanted to handle what I felt would be one of the most challenging parts of my game design which was making a fleet of small ships that you could toggle through various flight patterns while moving.
Got a decent enough working version now. Z/X toggles next/previous fleet pattern. Arrow keys move.
I’ve spent most of today drawing some tiles and getting super-realistic-blob-bouncing-physics to work.
Here’s all I have to show for it in screenshot land.
I promise you there’s a game here, I know what’s going to happen, how it’s going to fit into the theme and all that crap. First though I need to add particles… (They are the most important part of any game.)
Some of the blocks now move (I define which can move and those that can’t in the level def file).
Must be interesting in a medium size level get blocks to start moving every 100 ms or so, should be quite chaotic…
I’m already seeing some pitfalls in the design basis of the game, which isn’t nice… :\
One is that the blocks should affect each other during the movement, or I can end up with a situation in which the blocks will try to be in the same place, which would be bad. Can solve it by either making them stop if they hit each other, or by adding lots of collision response code to them, instead of just validating with the map.
Another issue is that I’m not sure if this is fun like this… Thought so, but the moving walls are not that difficult to avoid (at least for now, when I add enemies and stuff, they might).
Anyway, next step is to make the collision response on the player/creatures when they get hit by the block (they should be dragged, not insta-killed)… Seems much more fun to squash them against a wall with blood dripping, etc…