MrPhil

LD23

Lunch #1 and Serious Bug

Lunch 1
It’s almost 3 pm here in Arlington, VA and I’m having my first lunch for LD23. Kind of late but I wait until I’m hungry.

Chicken and Vegetable stir-fry.
Lunch 1

Progress
Screenshot 3
It’s coming a long, but I’m feeling the pressure. My task list seems too long. Worst part is I’ve hit a bug! Maybe you can help? My FlashPunk Entity is not calling the Update method! I’ve triple checked and the World Update is being called and calling the supper.Update()!

package SeedsOfDestruction
{
import com.greensock.easing.Cubic;
import com.greensock.easing.Quad;
import com.greensock.TweenMax;
import flash.display.BitmapData;
import net.flashpunk.Entity;
import net.flashpunk.FP;
import net.flashpunk.graphics.Image;

public class SeedBullet extends Entity
{
[Embed(source = “/assets/Seed Bullet.png”)] public static const SEED_BULLET:Class;

public static const SPEED:Number = 200;

public var image:Image;

public function SeedBullet(player:Player)
{
// Make the Pink transparent
var bitmapData:BitmapData = Global.MakeTransparent(SEED_BULLET);
image = new Image(bitmapData);

super(x, y, image);

FP.angleXY(this, player.stem.angle, 40, player.x, player.y);
image.angle = player.stem.angle;
image.centerOrigin();
image.smooth = true;
active = false;
layer = 2;

setHitbox(40, 40);
type = “seedbullet”;

trace(“created”);
}

override public function update():void
{
trace(“update”);
super.update();

trace(“update2”);
if (collide(“BadPlant”, x, y))
{
explode();
}
}

override public function added():void
{
super.added();

var time:Number = FP.distance(x, y, world.mouseX, world.mouseY) / SPEED;
TweenMax.to(this, time, { x:world.mouseX, y:world.mouseY, ease:Quad.easeOut, onComplete:explode } );
}

public function explode():void
{
world.add(new Explode(this));
world.remove(this);
}
}
}

Tags: bug, code, flashpunk, foodphoto, screenshot, sourcecode

Comments

21. Apr 2012 · 17:59 UTC
I FOUND it!!!

Snack 2

Celery and Peanut Butter

Bugs have slowed my progress, but I feel good about the direction I’m headed.  I can already see some post-compo potential.  I’m thinking the title will be Seeds of Destruction.

Tags: flashpunk, foodphoto

Comments

Revilo
21. Apr 2012 · 19:54 UTC
Are you ever going to drink that cola? Its been standing next to like 3 different meals….. 😀

Progress at Half-way Point for Seeds of Destruction –

I have a few more items on my task list and then the game is “Play Complete.” That gives me all of tomorrow to polish, which was my goal!  I’ve never been so far at this point. I think two critical factors have made this possible:

  1. ChevyRay’s code that he gave away with the Keynote!  Thanks ChevyRay!
  2. I’ve spent the last month or so learning Flash and FlashPunk instead of waiting until the contest to learn!

How it looks at this point:

Half-way Point

Tags: flashpunk, half way, progress, screenshot

Dinner 2

Diner #2 – Cauliflower with Garlic and Butter, with a Butterfly cut pork chop topped in a cream horseradish sauce.

Tags: foodphoto

Seeds of Destruction – Play Complete

Play Complete
I’ve had a few freinds play the Alpha test (here, comments welcome.) And! No bugs reported! Comments have been all positive too! My one fear is judges will think I just skinned the keynote’s code, but I guess that is one of the risks that comes with my strategy. Today is all about polish. My next task is to make a sort of intro cut scene that tells the story of how your seed landed.

Screenshot 5

Breakfast 2
Breakfast 2
Bacon, eggs and tomatoes again. And that’s ice tea I’m drinking, have been the whole Ludum Dare, home brewed even.

Sleep 2
Sleep 2

Tags: flashpunk, foodphoto, playcomplete, progress, screenshot, sleeptime

Lunch 2

Feeling the presure.. AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa didn’t bother cooking: tuna salad
Lunch 2

Tags: foodphoto

Seeds of Destruction – Post-Mortum

Play Seeds of Destruction
If you haven’t played, I recommened you do. It’ll only takes a few moments to get the gist. It is a flash game, so you won’t waste anytime downloading/installing.

What Went Right?
1. Practice – I spent a good month practicing. I knew I wanted to use Flash and FlashPunk which I’ve never used before. So, I spent about a month before the event doing tutorials and then I worked on porting my Ludum Dare 17 – Islands entry to flash. Althought I didn’t finish the port, it was good to get my hands dirty with FlashPunk.
2. Chevy Ray’s Code – When the keynote was released and I discovered that Chevy Ray had given everyone a beautiful gift of awesome code, I immediately downloaded it and studied it. Then, during LD23, when brainstorming I threw out ones that could not be used with his starter code. It definitely shows that I did this, but I think it was worth the trade off.

What Went Wrong?
1. Bad Screen Switching Bug – in the last hours of the LD I ran into an impossible bug when switching between the different screens. I couldn’t unravel it because I didn’t understand Flash, FlashPunk and the Chevy Ray’s keynote code well enough. I spent too much time trying to “fancy fix” it. I should have switched to hack mode earlier. I ended up with a hack, that included restarting the game within the game. If you play it long enough I think it’ll run out of memory and crash. Doh!
2. Big Plans – I spent a lot of time on my animated cut scenes. It was planned to be more involved, but I noticed in time that I had to triage. I, luckily, was able to tell the bare bones story with what I had already created, but I stress how lucky I was here. I could have easily ended up with a lot of work being abandoned. I need to better judge how much I can get done in the time allotted.
3. Curse the Cursor – Several people complained about the green cursor being hard to see against the light blue sky. I hadn’t noticed this at all. I need to build in some “looking” time into my future plans. I was so busy with game play I didn’t consider the easy of use.
4. Distractions – I spent too much time surfing. If you watch the time lapse below I think you’ll agree. While surfing is a normal part of my routine, I feel it got out of hand. Typically I surf to give me and my subconsciousness time to organize and think about problems. Maybe I need to come up with a different way to take these thinking breaks. One that is less likely to degrade into just procrastination.

Time Lapse

Tools I used
Color Wheel:
FlashDevelop
MS Paint
Google Images
Fitbit
iPhone 4
My Camera
FlashPunk
TweenMax
Chrome
imgur.com

Tags: post-mortem, timelapse, tools

Comments

13. May 2012 · 07:09 UTC
eww MSpaint

LD24

MrPhil Tries for Twelfth Ludum Dare!

Som you're telling me...
Here’s my C# and SFML code base: LD24. It’s a work in progress.

Tags: codebase, motivation

Comments

TehWut
21. Aug 2012 · 22:26 UTC
brilliant
22. Aug 2012 · 01:40 UTC
C# eh? Interesting, but I think you’ll find it will be me who makes the superior game, unlike last time. Even though I haven’t had time make games at all in the interim.

Chevy Ray’s Codebase

I took Chevy Ray‘s code that he released as part of his keynote for LD23 and put it up on github.  It is written for his FlashPunk engine.   I used it to make my LD23 entry Seeds of Destruction and it worked out really well for me.

PS Chevy if you happen to see this, I’ll happily transfer the repository to you.

Tags: as3, code, codebase, flashpunk

Futile

I’ve discovered the new and wonderful Futile framework.  Which will allow me to programmantically create a game in Unity3d without all the hassle.  So, even though it breaks the rule “do not use unfamiliar tools,” I’m going to use it instead of my SFML engine I’ve been working on.

Resistance Is Futile

Resistance Is Futile

Tags: Futile, unity3d

Comments

24. Aug 2012 · 20:30 UTC
Futile looks pretty sweet. I won’t dive in and use it for LD24, but I’ve bookmarked it for later. Thanks!

My closet office is more organized

Here’s my work station.  Comparing it to LD23 you will notice it is more organized now, but still a storage closet.

Storage Closet Desk

Tags: deskphoto

Comments

24. Aug 2012 · 22:18 UTC
cat – oh my god, 2 days without eating, again.
24. Aug 2012 · 22:18 UTC
I presume you’re the cat?

Lunch Update

Comments

kirill
25. Aug 2012 · 18:58 UTC
I’m curious about your entry… :)

The Wall

Sleep #2

Sleep #2 – I doubt I truly fell asleep in 0 minutes.

Breakfast #2

Breakfast #2 – Mini-Wheats and Iced Tea.

I’ve hit the wall.  I’ve got a bug I can’t figure out and too much to finish in order for the game to be playable.  Not sure how to change course and finish something playable.  It is very frustrating.  I don’t want to quit but I also don’t want to waste my time.

Stuck

Stuck

Tags: foodphoto, sleep, wall of doom

LD26

Get Out

I have a very busy weekend, but 26 is my favorite number.  So, I’m going to squeeze in a maze game.  I’m using Unity3D so it should not take too many hours.

image

Tags: maze, unity, unity3d

Text Adventure gamejam from afar with IGDA DC

The DC chapter of IGDA is doing a Text Adventure gamejam this weekend at the Westwood college:http://sjklevine.com/igda_dc/textjam/

I no longer live in DC, but I thought I’d jam along with them!  If you want to join me, I setup a Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/611843362194465/

Resouces:

—————–
Recommendations for tools:

Twine:
(wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twine_%28software%29
(tutorial) http://ryanscasey.com/twine/

ChoiceScript:
(dev wiki) http://choicescriptdev.wikia.com/wiki/ChoiceScript_Wiki
(dev tutorial) http://www.choiceofgames.com/make-your-own-games/choicescript-intro/

Inform7:
(wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform
(gamasutra article) http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanCox/20130304/187702/Learning_Inform_7_Part_1.php

An alternative for those who think text games might be too boring, and want a meatier game experience while still fitting the theme of the jam, would be to try an “Idle” game:
(candy box) http://candies.aniwey.net/
(a firelit room) http://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/

Tags: IGDA, IGDA DC

LD31