Week 32: Crunch time, crunch crunch

It's clear that it will be a near thing whether I can progress fast enough to start alpha testing next month on a reasonably complete game. This is despite having cut (well, "de-prioritized," let's say) a lot of features, and looking at probably losing some more. (For example, I really wanted to include a simple version of the flexible ability-up system I have in mind for the full game. But I'm realizing that it's just not as important as a lot of things I initially had prioritized lower. My stand-in "generic level-up" system is by no means bad if it comes to that.)

I'm currently hustling to get the first area put together with its real map, real enemies, and real graphics (that is, the best I can manage for a quick job -- hopefully they'll come out passable) for everything. I've got my three enemies acting right, subject to change. You've got the hoppy one, the stabby one, and the shooty one. (They're all currently recycling my existing animations, making them appear to be horrible misshapen shapeshifting knight-slime things, which is one reason I won't post a new video for a bit. Yes: I'm using my stand-in art as a stand-in for proper new stand-in art.)

I uploaded all of my videos to all of the several video sharing sites I've tried, as planned last week. Sure enough, they've each already picked up a dozen or so views from random people. I have no idea if anyone's clicked through to the blog from a video, much less started following the project. If you're such a person, welcome! Stick around, tell your friends, etc. This video thing really drove home to me that I have to get my art in order. I can write whatever disclaimer I like about stand-in art, but there's no substitute for a good impression.

Finally, yesterday I got my act together to set up proper version management for the project. (After getting mugged by the collision system the other week, I wanted to just roll back to my previous version. Fortunately, I could, from my manual backups, so it wasn't really even a close call, but it could have been troublesome if I'd had a larger problem.) I'm using Subversion, and liking it very well so far. Easy to set up and use, and seems efficient with operations and space usage. Shoulda done it a long time ago.

Week 31: It's a game! It's an RPG!

I had some good, productive time this weekend. I put in a rudimentary ability-up system (just a plain-vanilla "level up" system, which is not what I want for the real game, but it works as a stand-in), which really made the whole thing come together much better and was a great morale-booster for myself. It now classifies as an actual RPG in my book. Sure, it's very short and simple, and the implied plot is, "Kill the slimes, then kill the red slimes, then kill the knights, then finally go and wipe out the horde of yellow slimes that's grown up in the meantime." But it's a genuine rudimentary action RPG, so it's an exciting milestone for me.

I also added a basic GUI display of the character's condition. Oh, and I also spent a couple of ultimately wasted hours messing with the collision detection, which I'd rather not discuss. >_< Also the yellow slimes now shoot at you rather than always to the right.

So for the contest, the game will definitely be just a long demonstration of the battle system, with as many additional things as I can fit in. At this point the "optional features" list includes things such as "people to talk to," "more than one weapon," and "plot."

Regarding publicity, I had a brainwave this afternoon (that seems embarrassingly obvious in hindsight). The other week I tried a few different video-sharing sites to choose which one to use. So today I logged in to Revver to check something technical. Lo, my test upload ("Knights") had 15 views, and I know those weren't all me. So, brainwave: Why don't I upload all of my videos to several sites? No need to choose only one. And -- hey! -- instead of assuming that everyone goes from this blog to the video, why don't I link from the videos back here too?

Finally, here's a full walkthrough video! Yay! (I'm embarrassed to admit that I got killed twice trying to take this video. I blame the lag caused by the video capture process. Actually, I think I forgot a setting on the knights so that they can hit you rapid-fire if you get stuck against a wall.)


Dev 4: A real, simple action RPG from Griffin Knodle on Vimeo.

Notes--
0:35 - I run because I'm not strong enough to fight the knights yet (did you see my 0 damage?).
2:40 - I'm beaten up enough that I go back to the red slimes before the knights get me.

Week 30: Griffin filibusters

I was on vacation last week, so have no progress to report, but wanted to post to keep on my regular posting schedule. So I'll ramble on about the main design issue I'm struggling with.

I'm still waffling over exactly how much action and how much RPG I want in my action RPG.

Consider those knights I recently added. Currently, if you run into the sword side, you take a hit, and the knight is unharmed; if you run into any other side, the knight takes a hit and you are unharmed. This is an action-oriented gameplay mechanic [ADDED:] because you have to perform an action-gaming feat to win the battle.

There's another possibility that I've been thinking about a lot, but haven't (completely) implemented (yet). It would work like this: when you and the knight (or other attacking enemy) run into each other head-on, each combatant has a chance to hit the other and/or block the other's attack. I envision that you'd usually parry each other's attacks and bounce back, several times, until eventually one of you won the encounter, and the other took a hit and got knocked backwards.

If you hit the other from the side or back, you always make a hit.

This is a more RPG-type mechanic [ADDED:] because you don't have to perform any action-gaming task except running into the enemy, and can still win; it still has an action element in that outmaneuvering the enemy gives you an easier win. It makes the player's action skill much less important. It appeals to me. But I'm afraid it would wind up feeling like a MMORPG or FF12, only faster, which does not appeal to me. That's why I've been leaning more towards action-ish battles (more towards the Final Fantasy Adventure end than the Secret of Mana / Seiken Densetsu 3 end, to reference one of my touchstone series).

One complicating factor is that one of my sub-goals is to make an "Easy" level that really is easy -- easy enough to be accessible to non-gamers. Action gameplay is a major obstacle to that. I need to figure out ways to make it easy to win and progress even if the player has no skill for the action elements of the gameplay. So making it more RPG-like would help with that.

So. Waffling.

[edited 20080128 0710 to clarify what the heck I'm talking about]

Week 29: More slimes, with reactions and attacks

I added a couple more battle features and cooked up two more test enemies to demonstrate them.

First, by popular demand and to honor video game tradition, red slimes. They react to the player's presence by attacking when you get close (rather than acting randomly as the original ones do).

Then I started adding the capability for combat creatures to "shoot," which encompasses short-range attack moves as well as projectiles. Demonstrating that, we have yellow slimes who make a sparky-looking attack but have no relationship whatsoever to Pika***.

(The shot should be aimed at the player, but it isn't yet. And I have more work to do getting the collision detection right, and the configuration data setting is a mess and needs to be cleaned up, but I'm out of time for this week.)


Dev 3: More Slimes from Griffin Knodle on Vimeo.

Week 28: More basics, now with knights

This week I got some good things done behind the scenes (i.e. they won't be obvious from the video, but they were important). The big one was tracking each character's orientation and using that in evaluating hits. The upshot of that is that now you have to actually run into the enemy to attack (rather than before where the slime would get hit even if it ran into you from behind).

I also created a second test enemy to show off the orientation functions: a knight, which you have to attack from one of the non-pointy sides. =)

(Also some small fixes, such as the slimes no longer killing each other.)

New video:

Dev 2: Knights from Griffin Knodle on Vimeo.

Week 27: Battle basics

I've been working on getting the basic battle system up and running. Right now, it's got endless hordes of cute slimes that you can fight (any resemblance to dangos is quite unintentional). One quirk is that currently they can hit each other as well as you. Oops.

I've also partly made spawn points -- spots on the field that generate new copies of enemies (hence the endless hordes). I still need to make them configurable for type(s) of enemies to spawn and conditions for spawning.

Feels like things are going slowly, but I have a good feeling that I'm setting up a good foundation that will let things go quickly once the basics are done.

Finally, I'm semi-proud to present the very first video of this very early stage of development:

Dev 1: Endless Slimes from Griffin Knodle on Vimeo.

Week 26: Vision of the Golden City

(Late post here due partly to someone putting a backhoe through an important cable, knocking out the neighborhood's phone / DSL -- although to AT&T's credit, they had it fixed in just over 24 hours.)

Without further ado, the new and probably final title for this game:

Vision of the Golden City

In a certain country, many of the children start developing unusual powers as they approach adolescence, gaining powerful fighting skills and other abilities. This always begins with the children seeing a vision of a mysterious city of gold, opulent but empty under a hot sun.

The country often comes under attack by monsters or other nations seeking the power of the city, but the chosen warriors are always able to defend it. It seems as if the Golden City gives the children however much power they need to defeat any challenge.

However, many of the chosen children have noted that they change in strange ways after receiving the power of the city. They no longer feel themselves and some feel separated from the very people they are protecting. What is the truth of the Golden City and its power?

*****

The main character and her childhood friend are two of the newest group of chosen children. As they grow in power, Friend begins acting strangely, desperately seeking still more power because he thinks that he needs ever more to be able to protect the people. The main character will have to discover the truth about the Golden City and her world in order to save her friend and maybe more.

One helpful aspect of this plot is that the middle can be expanded or shrunk a great deal depending on how much time I have to put into it. There's a whole general arc -- exploring, fighting off dangers, gaining power, and Friend losing it -- that can take up pretty much any amount of time and attention, although it will become less effective if it gets too short.

This story takes place in the setting of Last Ancient, but some time earlier than that story. I was having trouble working out the details, and I clearly wasn't going to be able to do justice to the story I wanted to tell in the time frame I had, so it made sense to drop back to a simpler story. (Which is rapidly gaining complexity from some ideas for story elements that I've thought of and quickly gotten attached to. Oops.)

Even if I keep things simple, time is still very short. I think there's a good chance that for the contest I'll do something simpler still: a battle-only game with the battle system fully developed, and basic power development tacked on, but no plot, and with areas, enemies, abilities, etc. likely to change for the real game. My goal in this case would be to make a complete, fun game showing off the battle system, and post-contest filling it out into the complete game I have in mind.

OK, enough blogging for tonight, time to go do some more stuff.