Dev-Day Episode 47: Club Of The Unseen

here you go

this is a link to the piece of music i'm working on right now.

i'm not 100% sure where i'm going with it, and i'll definitely be changing it, but right now i'm working on figuring out whether or not it'll be for the title screen or the hub world.

it's very bare bones.

i've made this piece from what i've learned from howie.

it's a very ambient piece, but also the melody isn't very strong.

and some of the chords sound off.

i'm trying to go for a peaceful vibe.

but important parts i should look into for this are a stronger melody, bass, percussion.

with more exploration and pointers from howie i should be able to make a respectable piece.

which is what i'll be doing tomorrow.

Dev-Day Episode 46: No Slaves

i did the thing with the house labels.

this was done by making invisible objects that i would just place over targeted objects, and when they were walked over, when they collided with arlette, they would making the respective labels appear.

this is the code for opus' house activator.

alert=0;

if place_meeting(x,y,obj_movement_test){

alert=1;

if instance_number(obj_opus_house_label)<1{

instance_create(view_xview[0]+640, view_yview[0]+64,obj_opus_house_label);

}

}

if (alert=0){

with(obj_opus_house_label){

instance_destroy();

}

}

and to go over this in a little more detail, that alert variable is just so that when arlette is no longer colliding with the activator, the label is destroyed.

i made a new activator for every separate house because it was simpler than messing with the creation code.

simpler is better than faster in my experience.

i also got fruity loops, FL studio.

so tomorrow i'll be messing with that trying to come op with some background music for this hub world.

i don't know to much about composing, but i do know i want something more on the side of ambience than melody.

think firelink shrine vs wily's castle.

Dev-Day Episode 45: Open Minds

once again, the animated sprite coming out of spriter pro is missing an eye.

i don't know why.

it's just, missing.

so once again i had to go through 90 frames putting it back.

this is a problem that needs to be solved.

here she is in game.

looking good.

tomorrow i'll be implementing a system where when you walk in front of a house there will be a little box appearing at the top of the screen telling you who's house it is, because i thought that'd be a good idea today.

and after that i'll make it so you can go into those houses.

i talked to mr bilesky more about hardware, and we talked more about getting controllers.

microphones are also a possibility, for sound fx more than voicework, but i'm not cutting that out of the equation just yet.

maybe minimal voicework will do.

we shall see, it's a lot to take in but i have to keep my scope within control.

one of the biggest downfalls from the last game i worked on was my idea for what i could make it was unrealistic, so not enough things ended up getting done properly.

shortcuts were taken, not here.

it's the day after that last post and the lampost is still wiggling.

it looks soooo silly.

Dev-Day Episode 44: Lurking In The Dark

this is renard.

get it?

it's cause she's got a fox hoodie.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...........

i'm clever and make good designs.

i'm not sure if she'll have any mechanical functions but i'll be placing her next to milk.

she took a longer time to make than opus so she'l not animated right now.

i might be revisiting some of the npc animations to make them better.

like more moving parts.

but i'd also want to put some moving elements in the world so it doesn't look too weird, like bushes waving in the wiiiiiiind.

on a side note it's super windy outside, one of the lamp posts is waving in the wind.

it looks stupid and i will not be taking inspiration from that.

tomorrow i'll be animating her.

mr bilesky gave me an offer today asking me if i need any hardware, like a microphone for example.

i don't know if i need a microphone to do voicework, but maybe some wardware to connect one of my gamepads to the computer so i can maybe make a game for console would be cool.

i've got my own controller but i don't have anyway to hook it up.

it would also be a nice learning experience to get to know how to code for controllers.

it would certainly be different, because WASD is digital controls, a pressed button is a pressed button.

but with an analog stick, you get degrees of control.

usually in games with an analog stick you can move a lot, not at all, or anywhere in between.

that's bring another interesting situation too, because my grappling hook mechanic works on a point and click method.

i suppose mapping it to the right stick would be do-able, somehow.

i look forward to exploring this.

Dev-Day Episode 43: Coup De Grace

this is opus.

he's the new npc.

his animation is a litter weird, because he's missing an eye, but i mixed that in game maker frame by frame.

maybe a bit tall.

but that's okay.

i am concerned that his colours might be too similar to arlette's but i think with some more characters this complaint of mine will be diluted.

character design is an interesting thing, and it's something a lot of games do really well, especially street fighter.

these are minimalistic styles of street fighter characters, and they are instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with street fighter.

doing something similar with my characters will probably help further individualize them.

and i redid some of remise's colours.

i'm not 100% satisfied, but it's a start.

back to opus.

he's an old character of mine, who's original idea cam from an old scratch game 2-3 years ago.

his deal is that he's a wizard, and the pilot of the hub world floating islands.

he's a cool guy and i like him.

Dev-Day Episode 42: Green Light

ui

that character screen is still a placeholder.

those bars don't really work.

but they will, they'll also be visible while you're playing the game.

like health bars ought to be.

there's also mana, cause magic will be a thing.

i'll make those bars separate objects, and work similarly to the ui.

this isn't a new concept for me.

however i have learned that placement for your bars might be important.

i see that dark souls and most games for that matter put your health bar in the top left.

minecraft puts it in the bottom left/center area.

however i rarely ever see the healthbar in the right side of the screen, except in saints row.

so what's the point?

i'll look more into this but i can't find any videos blatantly discussing this, so i look more into general hud/ui discussion.

tomorrow, npcs.

Dev-Day Episode 41: Kill The Beast

i was offered a chance to review a game called planetbase.

i started, but i'm dropping the project.

the game doesn't interest me.

also i don't want to sit through half an hour of some european guy talking about it before i get to talk about it.

that's just boring.

all the resources for the review are on the infotech blog.

i even started the review.

but enough of that it's time to get back to work.

i got another layer of islands.

and that goes over this.

but i've made it so it moves at a rate slightly slower than the island does in the background, so the move independent of each other but both relative to the character movement in the room.

parallax scrolling.

this effect also applies to my cloud layer.

and the code is rather  simple.

background_x[3] = view_xview[0]/2;

background_y[3] = view_yview[0]/2;

background_x[2] = (view_xview[0]/1.6)+820;

background_y[2] = (view_yview[0]/1.6)+700;

background_x[1] = (view_xview[0]/1.5)+640

background_y[1] = (view_yview[0]/1.5)+640

background_x[0] = view_xview[0];

background_y[0] = view_yview[0];

basically, here we have different layers are varying "closeness" to the screen.

the closer the layer is to the screen, the slower it moves when the character moves.

there are also some adjustments for the islands and city (background [2] and [1]) , and that is just so they appear at the right place on the screen.

parallax scrolling is an effective tool, because a similar effect is seen in real life.

it's like when you're on a road trip at night.

trees whiz by, but the moon seems to stay still.

tomorrow i'll be working on UI art and features.

Game Journalism Day 1; My first impression of Planet Base

Switching it up this week to a bit of a side project presented to me by Mr. Bilesky.

This week I'll be reviewing a game called Planet Base.

(As a bit of a disclaimer, this isn't usually my sort of game, but it could be good anyways.)

The game's primary motivation seems to simply be to establish a space coloney on an alien planet.

The trailer and screenshots found on the steam page show now sign of a narrative, and so it appears that the primary form of reward is the progress the player has made.

When you land you start out very small.

As you progress however, your colony will expand.

The Steam page for this game claims there are three planets available for colonization.



It appears the Desert Planet is based off of mars, The frozen planet may be based off of Pluto, and the Gas Giant Moon may be based off of one of Saturn's moon, judging from this screenshot:



but it's hard to tell which one, specifically.

Assuming that these "planets" are named "Dessert Planet", "Frozen Planet" in game, they most likely are not placed in our solar system.

The goal of this game is stated on the Steam page as "You will have to ensure that they have a constant supply of oxygen, food and water to stay alive."

However, collecting energy also seems to play an important role in your colonies survival.

This screen shot was taken from the trailer.

With no story (supposedly) the game employs the use of random events in the form of meteor strikes to have a form of tension.

Ultimately, the game is about colonizing a planet, and surviving until you can thrive.

First impressions are positive, the game looks good, however i can't tell how well it plays.

The use of randomized natural disasters is not a trope i enjoy, but we'll see if they can be dealt with.

All screenshot and information used where either from the Trailer, or Steam page.


On to the walkthru.

Dev-Day Episode 40: Playing With Monsters

bush.

blimp.

also there's the lighthouse republic.

i also went along the bottom of the island trying to make things looks better with the airbrush tool.

i think it worked.

need more airships.

this is going to look good.

after i've done the background work, i'll get back to stuff like npc's.

that i'll make a working character and options screen, cause the place holder's look, meeehhhhhh.

yea.

i learned that good games take more than one guy doing this as a hobby.

look at INDIVISIBLE.

it's got a large staff and they need a lot of money to pay for their game.

games take time and money.

and lots of man power, so i need to work really hard if i want this game to even see a dime.

Dev-Day Episode 39: Ghosts

icarius city.

in the world.

looking good.

gunna add in some airships.

to really set the setting.

those'll be fun to make.

i like airships.

i wonder if people'll be down for it as much as i am.

i do intend on creating a decent product that i can sell for, like a dollar on steam.

it's looking alright now, but i need to keep working.

i also made orange house and remade purple house.

it's going good.

Dev-Day Episode 38: Diamonds In The Sky

more house.

the front of them's a tad bare, so i'll make bushes too.

or long tufts of grass.

maybe more background art too.

that'll give the world depth.

i know what i'll put in the background, icarius city.

that'll take some time.

i realize know that the area i made is not too accommodating for the village setting i want to make it.

so i'm expanding a tad bit.

see if you can see the new bits.

yea.

the top part.

so i have to further plan my areas not only for a gameplay standpoint, but also for setting purpose.

oh, also.

open.

closed.

grabby hand no longer a placeholder.

Dev-Day Episode 37: Open Hands

gave milk a house.

look at that roof. that's a good roof.

i also changed up some of the shading, like on the grass, after being informed it looked like goo sitting on dirt.

also told this was called stippling.

how amazingly intelligent and benevolent my wonderful girlfriend is to inform me of this.

i also used the same process in the shading of milk's house, if you can tell.

sooner or later i'm going to have to make a platform you can jump through, so you can jump on to the houses.

i'm also going to give arlette an actual hand, instead of the placeholder.

grabbing with squares and triangles doesn't look right.

another friend also gave me a character to add in.

i may be, tweaking, some of it's design, to fit in better, but they're pretty cool.

dunno what i'll have him do yet.

expect even more art updates in the future.

i'm still trying to make this area look good.

Dev-Day Episode 36: Dirt Work

this is what i did today.

the under-bits, they're transparent. 

also a lamp post, it's a tile.

i also made the wall tiles transparent, so they're more universal.

that's what i did today.

it's once again occurring to me that art is hard, and tedious.

also my hands hurt now, cause when i changed the tile it changed all of them in the room that were affected, so i had to go through fixing everything.

tomorrow i will continue putting things into the hub world, making the illusion of an inhabited area.

i wonder what the architecture'll be like.

that's not a small question, you can tell a lot about a civilization just by what the buildings look like.

structures aren't just there to look pretty, they serve a purpose.

a shelter is a tool as much as it's art.

new nps coming along too.

Dev-Day Episode 35: State Of Exception

implemented the tiles into the game.

they look good. here's the whole tile sheet.

you may notice there are some transparent pieces.

that's because they're corner pieces.

something i learned was that certain pieces, mainly corner pieces, are very helpful when they're transparent.

you can just layer them onto whatever, you're good to go.

it's interested how i never considered that before, and in hindsight it would have been very helpful with making path tiles.

under the tiles are the solid objects, i just turned their visibility off.

also what's interesting, is that the tile layer depth was closer to the screen than the pause ui, so it appeared in front when paused, that had to be fixed.

interesting though, that such a little thing could cause that sort of problem.

tomorrow i'm going to keep doing artsy stuff.

more tiles to better complete the hub world, and then some structures, cause right now it's pretty barren.

it needs, life.

Dev-Day Episode 34: Dangerous Wisdom

i'll be working with mimi, getting her, or them? a nice in game sprite.

if that gets done quick enough, and it shouldn't take long, i can get into art making art for the actual scenery.

because right now...

this doesn't look good.

i didn't put mimi into spriter pro, because i'm not sure what i would do.

there's not a lot to work with.

she's essentially a box.

now i'll be working on tiles i can put over the default solid objects.

...


the solid stuff is 64 by 64 pixels., so i have to make sure the tiles cover that area too.

...

it's a start?

it's covers the 64 x 64 requirement, but it's no universal tile.

i can't use it for stuff like corners, cause those are going to look different.

they're supposed to look different anyways.

it's sort of like what i learned from doing a game last year.

in that game, we made some path tiles, and those had to all line up properly so it looked good when one tile lead onto the next.

so tomorrow i'm going to continue making tiles and working on them so they all look good.

i learned that art is hard.

a lesson i have to repeatedly teach myself.
...

i kept working on tiles a little after writing this post so here.

i implemented some of them too.

looking good, but i need more.

more tiles.

Dev-Day Episode 33: Old Bones

it's a half day so we gotta do this quick.

i got my usb with my game on it today.

in short and continuation of the last post, lord Remise is a powerful man.

i don't know what to do today, let's consult the list.

1. pause screen/options.
2. main menu.
3. level design for level one (hub world, we're going metroidvania.)
4. npc design.
5. art assists for level one.
6. sounds/music.
7. enemy design.
8. boss design.
9. crouching.
10. grab-able objects.
11. weapon/combat system.

so i'm still making npc's i guess.

...

it's a short day so i can't get too much done.

i've got a cool design for a bit of a rival character.

his story is that he comes from another floating city, one plagued by a rising cult.

he's tormented by the fact that he couldn't protect his family.

so know he's a devote follower of Remise, maybe even a disciple or student.

and because of Arlette (the main character)'s backstory, he's on a bit of a revenge mission against her.