Devblog
18/04/2008 - Real Shootout
3 more events and I've added shooting and dying.
The cool thing is that each bullet can be a different type and speed, allowing for things like knives and grenades to be thrown (and maybe shot out of midair for bonus points - but that'll be more events :( ). In the meantime I have ordered MMF2 and I am picking it up on Saturday...
Also added a few frames of animation to see how they work, the hostage guy now stands up before curling up into a ball, looks quite amusing. Adding a few 'being shot' frames as well, shots to come in the next update I hope. For now, it's back to coursework.
12/04/2008 - The Usual Suspects
Today I added the movement. The little buggers now pop out when they are ready, and pop back when they are done. They also pop back if there's already someone out in the position they chose. It's a bit rusty, but the grand total of events is still only 10, so I've got space to work yet.
I decided on having a generic 'hiding' sprite so that it was harder to just guess what enemies were coming around the corner. It just seems more skilful that way.
11/04/2008 - Sprite Work
May as well show off a few more of the sprites in progress...
11/04/2008 - Initial progress
I started this about a week ago in between revision/coursework sessions and continued work on it sporadically since. This is an attempt to keep things moving and not lose track of things if I have to come back after a long break.
The skeleton of the first gaming section (that plays most like the original minigame) is pretty much in place. This time, there is a finite number of enemies and you have a finite amount of time. Both difficulties have a list of enemies that the game will randomly pick from (as long as the number of enemies on-screen is not too large) until it runs out of entries, whereupon on clearing the screen, you will move on to the next section.
It's fairly simple, but it works, and although it could potentially support 32 enemy types (each with different reaction times, score bonuses and graphics) currently, I'm sticking with 5 at the moment for ease of use. I'm essentially using lists from which to load various enemy parameters, so that I can deal with all the enemies using a single object, and also so I don't have to use extra events to load their parameters when they are spawned. Clever huh?
I've also put in the flow of the game early on so when it comes to testing it does actually have a start, middle and end. This is something I've found important as it immediately feels more complete.
Overview
So I decided to start a blog to document progress ideas and such other random thoughts that come about the game making process, starting with this competition entry.
A simple game in four frames of no more than twenty events each. A sequel to the original minigame made in BlitzBasic.
It aims to have:
- Easy/Hard difficulty modes
- Two main gaming sections including a boss battle
- 5+ enemy types (even if they are just different by sprite)
- Open TGF2 Source
Current Largest Event Count in one Frame: 13
Devshots
11-04 - Temp sprites in place. List working. The list numbers relate to the enemy type, when only -1 is left in the list, it's level over.
The Next Big Step
Thinking about stage two...