I got a New Years resolution going. Nope, it's not finishing one my game projects - it's cleaning out my gaming backlog. I'm currently halfway though the "A"'s. A little worried about the "T" section 'cuz of all the Tom Clancy games I got.
Was a nice simple Christmas here. I got a refrigerator, yay!
Projects
I did some concept art for my main game project. I wouldn't mind some opinions on how to do the magic system. I didn't want to copy Zelda 2's magic system, I wanted to do something with charge levels and elemental mixing - but I'm not sure how to go about doing it. (Not implementing it, I can implement out the wazoo if I had the idea well drawn out)
I also worked on refining my art style. A notable thing about many games is character reaction shots when you fail to perform a basic move. For example, if you swing your sword at a wall: It's easy to just have the sword go through and spark with a simple "ting and flash", but it's a lot better if the character has a reaction such as recoiling or flinching.
Gaming
I'm halfway through my games starting with A, currently on Assassin's Creed Revelations. Next up would be Atom Zombie Smasher. I got a LONG way to go.
Other
For the whole year 2011 I lost 45LB - That's right, I lost weight programming and playing games.
2011 went by so fast - like a blink of an eye.
Here's to 2012, Lok
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Non-Stop Power Gaming
Didn't do any work... too busy playing games. This is analogous to a micro-brewer not brewing because he's too busy drinking.
This is still time well spent. You learn things by playing game you like and games you don't like - notably how to and how not to make a game.
The dream is still alive, of course.
Notable events include watching a series called Sequelitis on YouTube by egoraptor. He points out some obvious stuff about game design and then BAM reveals non-obvious secret. I'll have to watch my design documents carefully to make sure I build around "appropriate use of relevant skills" and "teaching through gameplay". Ya, I've seen some of this through Extra Credits... but egoraptor is 'Awesomer'.
Projects
Just reviewing some design notes. Thought about some revisions, but for the most part I'm good to go. Just need to log some time.
Gaming
Wall to Wall.
There was the Terraria update, new Civilization V DLC, a Nuclear Dawn free weekend (which I'm liking so I bought it). Fortune Street on the Wii is so good I haven't had time to play Skyward Sword. Plus there's the new Dungeons of Dredmor DLC to try out.
My New Years resolution is going to be to clear my gaming backlog. Then I won't be able to use that as an excuse any more.
Since the only new release on my horizon is (still) La-Mulana - I should run out of games in just a few months.
Other
Pretty normal.
Go Go Winter Festival, Lok
This is still time well spent. You learn things by playing game you like and games you don't like - notably how to and how not to make a game.
The dream is still alive, of course.
Notable events include watching a series called Sequelitis on YouTube by egoraptor. He points out some obvious stuff about game design and then BAM reveals non-obvious secret. I'll have to watch my design documents carefully to make sure I build around "appropriate use of relevant skills" and "teaching through gameplay". Ya, I've seen some of this through Extra Credits... but egoraptor is 'Awesomer'.
Projects
Just reviewing some design notes. Thought about some revisions, but for the most part I'm good to go. Just need to log some time.
Gaming
Wall to Wall.
There was the Terraria update, new Civilization V DLC, a Nuclear Dawn free weekend (which I'm liking so I bought it). Fortune Street on the Wii is so good I haven't had time to play Skyward Sword. Plus there's the new Dungeons of Dredmor DLC to try out.
My New Years resolution is going to be to clear my gaming backlog. Then I won't be able to use that as an excuse any more.
Since the only new release on my horizon is (still) La-Mulana - I should run out of games in just a few months.
Other
Pretty normal.
Go Go Winter Festival, Lok
Saturday, December 3, 2011
I Forgot About Epilepsy Man
I'm liking this slower posting pace. Fewer empty posts while still being structured. I am still considering not posting until I have some work done like how this blog used to be.
Wall to wall gaming for the last two weeks. Bought a replacement Wii and clocked around 150 hours on Monster Hunter Tri. The Japanese theory of game "mastery" is one I can get behind. If I don't feel like I totally dominated or destroyed a game (or in turn, its developers) then I don't feel like I got a good play in. There are several exceptions of course - Dwarf Fortress I often play just for the humiliation factor. (Woo, 12 kills!, and then I got my liver punched out by a bogeyman)
My work has been very, VERY slow. I think in 2 weeks I did 1 line of code and about 3 collision fixes. That is all. It's not that I've lost interest, it's just that I'm an obsessive gamer who is currently gaming. Plus with the Christmas Steam sale I think I might not get any work done until... the Summer Steam sale.
I still remain inspired. The spark of creation has not left my digital loins. I'm even more active now, but that activity is focused towards gaming.
For example. Epilepsy Man is basically done except for music and graphics... has been for a long time. I'm still just no artist. I can play a song on my instruments, but tracking it for PC just doesn't sound good. I still want to avoid hitting the public domain tiles. How hard can it be to draw a simple stone brick? I mean, seriously, there's got to be around 100'000 of them out there now. My mind just doesn't work that way.
Projects
-Fixed a way the protagonist collision detects when jumping into a corner to prevent squeezing between two tiles
Gaming
-Got to HR37 in Monster Hunter Tri in about a week, currently money grinding.
-Got the good ending in Treasure Adventure Game. This game was something of an inspiration to me. While this game is very good I can decidedly say that it has nothing I want for my own games... or rather, nothing I want to rip off. Of course, the ending is slightly similar to the planned ending I had for Epilepsy Man, but only in one discrete way that doesn't even really matter. Not saying that I go around ripping off pieces of other games, but inspiration is inspiration. I already know what I want in terms of exploration methodology and game physics. Great music, my bro and I have been playing it on our respective guitars.
-Unreal Tournament 3. Played a few rounds with bots. I'm trying to find the FPS with the best bots, but the bots in this game are silly and very uninformed. I think Perfect Dark even had better bots. Still, I didn't pay much for it.
-The big 1.1 update for Terraria is out, will probably be my new obsession until I clear a few of the bosses.
Other
I lost a lot of weight, then I gained a little, now I lost a little more. I'm still short of my goal, but I'm pretty close. Exercising and stuff. Suffered minor diet failure this week - something like 2 pizzas and some burgers and like 4 bags of chips. I didn't eat that much back before I started.
Quit online dating. Just not my thing. Also, you have to own a camera to get a profile picture to even be listed. That's discrimination against the poor! Plus so many of the options aren't nearby. I'm not paying thousands of dollars in upkeep just to get a car! No cell phone either... what kinda nab pays $350 a month to Rogers to get a feature your PC can do for free.
Seriously, Lok
Wall to wall gaming for the last two weeks. Bought a replacement Wii and clocked around 150 hours on Monster Hunter Tri. The Japanese theory of game "mastery" is one I can get behind. If I don't feel like I totally dominated or destroyed a game (or in turn, its developers) then I don't feel like I got a good play in. There are several exceptions of course - Dwarf Fortress I often play just for the humiliation factor. (Woo, 12 kills!, and then I got my liver punched out by a bogeyman)
My work has been very, VERY slow. I think in 2 weeks I did 1 line of code and about 3 collision fixes. That is all. It's not that I've lost interest, it's just that I'm an obsessive gamer who is currently gaming. Plus with the Christmas Steam sale I think I might not get any work done until... the Summer Steam sale.
I still remain inspired. The spark of creation has not left my digital loins. I'm even more active now, but that activity is focused towards gaming.
For example. Epilepsy Man is basically done except for music and graphics... has been for a long time. I'm still just no artist. I can play a song on my instruments, but tracking it for PC just doesn't sound good. I still want to avoid hitting the public domain tiles. How hard can it be to draw a simple stone brick? I mean, seriously, there's got to be around 100'000 of them out there now. My mind just doesn't work that way.
Projects
-Fixed a way the protagonist collision detects when jumping into a corner to prevent squeezing between two tiles
Gaming
-Got to HR37 in Monster Hunter Tri in about a week, currently money grinding.
-Got the good ending in Treasure Adventure Game. This game was something of an inspiration to me. While this game is very good I can decidedly say that it has nothing I want for my own games... or rather, nothing I want to rip off. Of course, the ending is slightly similar to the planned ending I had for Epilepsy Man, but only in one discrete way that doesn't even really matter. Not saying that I go around ripping off pieces of other games, but inspiration is inspiration. I already know what I want in terms of exploration methodology and game physics. Great music, my bro and I have been playing it on our respective guitars.
-Unreal Tournament 3. Played a few rounds with bots. I'm trying to find the FPS with the best bots, but the bots in this game are silly and very uninformed. I think Perfect Dark even had better bots. Still, I didn't pay much for it.
-The big 1.1 update for Terraria is out, will probably be my new obsession until I clear a few of the bosses.
Other
I lost a lot of weight, then I gained a little, now I lost a little more. I'm still short of my goal, but I'm pretty close. Exercising and stuff. Suffered minor diet failure this week - something like 2 pizzas and some burgers and like 4 bags of chips. I didn't eat that much back before I started.
Quit online dating. Just not my thing. Also, you have to own a camera to get a profile picture to even be listed. That's discrimination against the poor! Plus so many of the options aren't nearby. I'm not paying thousands of dollars in upkeep just to get a car! No cell phone either... what kinda nab pays $350 a month to Rogers to get a feature your PC can do for free.
Seriously, Lok
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Hello World... Slow Down a Bit!
Happy Anniversary
It's been one year since starting this game development blog. Well, more like 3 months of game development and 9 months of playing other people's games. They're just so fun though. I've started, scrapped and restarted several projects, read several books and saved many scripts and graphics. I definitely have all the tools of making a game here, just not the time.
Time will be in even shorter supply soon. There's lots of good games coming out soon (Not Skyrim) and I have a backlog to complete. I keep writing down notes for my games; I'll see a wall or a series of enemies and think how or why it would be good there or in my own game.
For the most part, I plan on slowing the blog down. Weekly updates were ok when I was working every week, but since so much of my game work is theory and planning now there's no point on bringing people up to date on that. Secondly, no one needs to read about my weekly gaming habits since I often obsess over single games... playing them non-stop for entire weeks. Also: Seeing other peoples projects is discouraging for me. While it's not hard to guess what sort of code they are using (I'm really good at that), the fact that they finished is hurting me. Some quote: There's never enough time to get things done perfectly, but there's virtually unlimited time to fix things. I need to produce... anything; And then fix it.
So, for now I'm just going to slow down. Bi-Monthly updates for start. I still need a spriter to help me with work, but I finally have general character designs and style.
Project Summary
For the most part, here are the games I'm still working on:
1. Jargon Quest: Name Pending: I've dumped most of my resources in to this. I wanted to make the definitive Zelda 2: Adventure of Link homage game. Downward thrust has been sorely neglected. Add a few lasers, bombs and destructible terrain and you really got something. Imagine if during the random battles you could play a field mini-game after you win if you wanted to.
2. RPS: Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Adventure Game. This is my action platformer. I use basically the same physics as my big projects, but level design is linear instead of world based, no permanent items, stage clearing and so on.
3. Cytomight: My gooey colour matching adventure. Was originally put on hold because I couldn't get a good wiggle / wobble effect working. The artwork for Cytomight and the Cytoplasmas became the artwork for the "pl0x" in my big project. Some of the organic artwork (which was based on Breath of Fire 2) was also copied over.
4. Monsters Game: Name Pending: This is my oldest project, and the one I MOST should get done. This was a turn based strategy game where you place AI tiles to control your monsters who work under fixed plans and assumptions. A "goblin" for example, might have the AI to only move 1 step forward, turn and attack when adjacent to an enemy, and keep walking. You would summon creatures, spells and field effects to win the fights. Walls and arrow tiles can be placed to control the flow of monsters. Virtually no physics... it's all math and graphics.
5. Other: I don't remember any of my other projects exactly. Maybe I should read my own blog and regain focus.
Gaming Summary
Steam backlog, Wii backlog, Minecraft, Terraria update coming soon, La-Mulana Wii coming soon, CounterStrike: Global Offensive coming soon-ish, GeneForge collection and maybe some NetHack on the side. It could take 6 months of power gaming to finish my full collection... and that's assuming I don't replay some NES / SNES classics at the time.
Other Summary
Still on prescription topical pain relievers (Voltaren). It's like the Chinese Food of medicine, very satisfying for a while, but you're only gonna hurt in like an hour.
The next post should be the Saturday of the first week of December, where I'll start the bi-monthly format. I want to avoid these terrible "non-updates".
Bug me on the forums some time. I need focus, inspiration, and resolution.
Year + 1, Lok
It's been one year since starting this game development blog. Well, more like 3 months of game development and 9 months of playing other people's games. They're just so fun though. I've started, scrapped and restarted several projects, read several books and saved many scripts and graphics. I definitely have all the tools of making a game here, just not the time.
Time will be in even shorter supply soon. There's lots of good games coming out soon (Not Skyrim) and I have a backlog to complete. I keep writing down notes for my games; I'll see a wall or a series of enemies and think how or why it would be good there or in my own game.
For the most part, I plan on slowing the blog down. Weekly updates were ok when I was working every week, but since so much of my game work is theory and planning now there's no point on bringing people up to date on that. Secondly, no one needs to read about my weekly gaming habits since I often obsess over single games... playing them non-stop for entire weeks. Also: Seeing other peoples projects is discouraging for me. While it's not hard to guess what sort of code they are using (I'm really good at that), the fact that they finished is hurting me. Some quote: There's never enough time to get things done perfectly, but there's virtually unlimited time to fix things. I need to produce... anything; And then fix it.
So, for now I'm just going to slow down. Bi-Monthly updates for start. I still need a spriter to help me with work, but I finally have general character designs and style.
Project Summary
For the most part, here are the games I'm still working on:
1. Jargon Quest: Name Pending: I've dumped most of my resources in to this. I wanted to make the definitive Zelda 2: Adventure of Link homage game. Downward thrust has been sorely neglected. Add a few lasers, bombs and destructible terrain and you really got something. Imagine if during the random battles you could play a field mini-game after you win if you wanted to.
2. RPS: Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Adventure Game. This is my action platformer. I use basically the same physics as my big projects, but level design is linear instead of world based, no permanent items, stage clearing and so on.
3. Cytomight: My gooey colour matching adventure. Was originally put on hold because I couldn't get a good wiggle / wobble effect working. The artwork for Cytomight and the Cytoplasmas became the artwork for the "pl0x" in my big project. Some of the organic artwork (which was based on Breath of Fire 2) was also copied over.
4. Monsters Game: Name Pending: This is my oldest project, and the one I MOST should get done. This was a turn based strategy game where you place AI tiles to control your monsters who work under fixed plans and assumptions. A "goblin" for example, might have the AI to only move 1 step forward, turn and attack when adjacent to an enemy, and keep walking. You would summon creatures, spells and field effects to win the fights. Walls and arrow tiles can be placed to control the flow of monsters. Virtually no physics... it's all math and graphics.
5. Other: I don't remember any of my other projects exactly. Maybe I should read my own blog and regain focus.
Gaming Summary
Steam backlog, Wii backlog, Minecraft, Terraria update coming soon, La-Mulana Wii coming soon, CounterStrike: Global Offensive coming soon-ish, GeneForge collection and maybe some NetHack on the side. It could take 6 months of power gaming to finish my full collection... and that's assuming I don't replay some NES / SNES classics at the time.
Other Summary
Still on prescription topical pain relievers (Voltaren). It's like the Chinese Food of medicine, very satisfying for a while, but you're only gonna hurt in like an hour.
The next post should be the Saturday of the first week of December, where I'll start the bi-monthly format. I want to avoid these terrible "non-updates".
Bug me on the forums some time. I need focus, inspiration, and resolution.
Year + 1, Lok
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Non-Update
Some minor script writing and set piece ideas, but not a lot of work. Also, man this week went by fast... I didn't even notice.
Disappointing to potential readers, I'm sure, but I'm gaining focus.
Current Projects
A few minor doodles and a wad of puns. Ideas are starting to really link together now into a proper visual narrative. Now to only CODE SOMETHING!!!!
Gaming
Team building for Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. I'm obsessive, and over the wrong things.
Other
Minor unimportant health problems. Also Stargate SG-1 and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer marathon.
Time, Lok
Disappointing to potential readers, I'm sure, but I'm gaining focus.
Current Projects
A few minor doodles and a wad of puns. Ideas are starting to really link together now into a proper visual narrative. Now to only CODE SOMETHING!!!!
Gaming
Team building for Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. I'm obsessive, and over the wrong things.
Other
Minor unimportant health problems. Also Stargate SG-1 and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer marathon.
Time, Lok
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Non-Update
Is it Saturday already? It feels like I just took a nap or something and it's a week later.
No work done due to mysterious time loss, possible alien abduction although the odds of that are nil.
Projects
Concept design for enemies, but not much. I feel like this week lasted only 1 day and I don't know how that happened
Gaming
I might have played some Dungeon Defenders, but I'm not sure.
Other
Twilight zone me, bro!
Sleeeeep, Lok
No work done due to mysterious time loss, possible alien abduction although the odds of that are nil.
Projects
Concept design for enemies, but not much. I feel like this week lasted only 1 day and I don't know how that happened
Gaming
I might have played some Dungeon Defenders, but I'm not sure.
Other
Twilight zone me, bro!
Sleeeeep, Lok
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Doodle Doodle Doodle
Still no scripting this week. Everything was art related.
I want to describe what I'm working on more, but the little scripting I did do was not in engine, it was done on paper.
Current Projects
Took about 3/4 of my resources from RPS and am making a more unified story in the form of "Jargon Quest", a hopefully humourous deconstruction of MMO concepts. Took a lot of my monsters from my monsters game and the combat engine from Cytomight. 100% artwork related stuff
Other Projects
Still hopeless as far as music is concerned.
Gaming
Wall to wall Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. I'm done all the post-game content so I'm basically just my 5 tournament fights a day and that's it. I'm also in the "B's" in my backlog, so we're getting there.
Other
I've been suffering a painful legs injury all week and my back aches... pizza made it feel better for some reason.
Pl0x, Lok
Amendment: I'm not going to lie. My biggest problem with this project is my lack of good work ethic...
I want to describe what I'm working on more, but the little scripting I did do was not in engine, it was done on paper.
Current Projects
Took about 3/4 of my resources from RPS and am making a more unified story in the form of "Jargon Quest", a hopefully humourous deconstruction of MMO concepts. Took a lot of my monsters from my monsters game and the combat engine from Cytomight. 100% artwork related stuff
Other Projects
Still hopeless as far as music is concerned.
Gaming
Wall to wall Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. I'm done all the post-game content so I'm basically just my 5 tournament fights a day and that's it. I'm also in the "B's" in my backlog, so we're getting there.
Other
I've been suffering a painful legs injury all week and my back aches... pizza made it feel better for some reason.
Pl0x, Lok
Amendment: I'm not going to lie. My biggest problem with this project is my lack of good work ethic...
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Regular Small Time Stuff
Mostly artwork still. I'm getting more images in my head about what I want, what kind of style I need and so on. I'm still not clocking as many hours as I'd like to though... In fact, I only clocked about 1 hour this week when a year ago I was doing 8 hours a day.
It's not that I'm not motivated, I'm just incorrectly motivated. When I get the mojo going I end up doing something with a higher skill cap than scripting...
Current Projects
Mostly art for everything. I still need help converting paper art into computer art... I lack good tutorials, help, school, friends, or anything really. I got everything from people to snails to birds to rocks to trees. I've really developed a style I can use.
Other Projects
Same as above
Gaming
A fair bit of League of Legends. Really liking Cassiopeia. Also unwrapped Wii Fit, which I've had for like a year. The games on there are pretty fun actually.
Mostly Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. This is what Pokemon should be... well, the first area "Treepidation" at least. The later areas become more and more zone clearing over the inter-monster relations you see at the beginning. It was fun seeing sabrecubs chasing slimes, in turn being chased by headhunters... with the Wormonger chasing everyone.
Other
Everyone else here has a cold so it's only a matter of time before it hits me. Also, my leg REALLY hurts in the morning. Also hurts all day, but mostly in the morning. Doctor says it's not arthritis and prescribed me some Voltaren... IT DOES NOTHING.
I've also reached my half-way weight benchmark. I lost 40LB's since starting this blog.
Scribble, Lok
It's not that I'm not motivated, I'm just incorrectly motivated. When I get the mojo going I end up doing something with a higher skill cap than scripting...
Current Projects
Mostly art for everything. I still need help converting paper art into computer art... I lack good tutorials, help, school, friends, or anything really. I got everything from people to snails to birds to rocks to trees. I've really developed a style I can use.
Other Projects
Same as above
Gaming
A fair bit of League of Legends. Really liking Cassiopeia. Also unwrapped Wii Fit, which I've had for like a year. The games on there are pretty fun actually.
Mostly Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. This is what Pokemon should be... well, the first area "Treepidation" at least. The later areas become more and more zone clearing over the inter-monster relations you see at the beginning. It was fun seeing sabrecubs chasing slimes, in turn being chased by headhunters... with the Wormonger chasing everyone.
Other
Everyone else here has a cold so it's only a matter of time before it hits me. Also, my leg REALLY hurts in the morning. Also hurts all day, but mostly in the morning. Doctor says it's not arthritis and prescribed me some Voltaren... IT DOES NOTHING.
I've also reached my half-way weight benchmark. I lost 40LB's since starting this blog.
Scribble, Lok
Monday, October 3, 2011
Birthday Post
Non-stop drawing all day. Lots of chump work got finished too, so yay.
Also non-stop McDonalds... I'm gonna be sick tomorrow!
Also non-stop McDonalds... I'm gonna be sick tomorrow!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Small Work, Small Time
Did a few minor room changes, but really... almost nothing.
Just been very busy... playing other peoples games!
Current Projects
Minor engine changes. I still mostly need sprites, but I'm taking the art in a new direction.
Other Projects
Nothing
Gaming
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2, The Binding of Isaac and Mount & Blade: Warband. Also Xotic. They're all pretty good, but they sucked all my time away like a big time vampire conglomerate.
Other
I don't like animals, but somehow I got tricked into going to a dog show today.... blah
It's also my birthday in 2 days, I think I'll gift myself some development time and just work work work work
Work, Lok.
Just been very busy... playing other peoples games!
Current Projects
Minor engine changes. I still mostly need sprites, but I'm taking the art in a new direction.
Other Projects
Nothing
Gaming
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2, The Binding of Isaac and Mount & Blade: Warband. Also Xotic. They're all pretty good, but they sucked all my time away like a big time vampire conglomerate.
Other
I don't like animals, but somehow I got tricked into going to a dog show today.... blah
It's also my birthday in 2 days, I think I'll gift myself some development time and just work work work work
Work, Lok.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Real World Busy
Basically a token update.
Due to the erratic nature of my game work recently I'm pretty sure that once I have an alpha of a game ready I'll create a new blog just for it.
Current Projects
I doodled for a while, I really wish there was a way to make my doodles into characters instantly.
Other Projects
Nothing
Gaming
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. That is all.
Other
I want to get back to working on my game projects, but NOT working on them for so long actually felt pretty good. I can tell I was burned out. Maybe I need a longer break.
I never give up though. My bro quoted Civ quoting Leonard Bernstein... "To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." Well, I have no plan and unlimited time.
Planless not clueless, Lok
Due to the erratic nature of my game work recently I'm pretty sure that once I have an alpha of a game ready I'll create a new blog just for it.
Current Projects
I doodled for a while, I really wish there was a way to make my doodles into characters instantly.
Other Projects
Nothing
Gaming
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. That is all.
Other
I want to get back to working on my game projects, but NOT working on them for so long actually felt pretty good. I can tell I was burned out. Maybe I need a longer break.
I never give up though. My bro quoted Civ quoting Leonard Bernstein... "To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." Well, I have no plan and unlimited time.
Planless not clueless, Lok
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Ahh... Nice Break
I needed that. My head is all cleared.
Well, creatively clear... it's all mucked up with the anti-biotics I'm on. AHA!
Got some sleep in. Was nice.
Current and Other Projects
Nothing! Yay!
Gaming
Some Borderlands, started up League of Legends again... but mostly I've been taking it easy.
Other
I'm feeling good-ish. It's been a nice, easy, worry-free week and I'm ready to get back to working.
Laz-zay, Lok
Well, creatively clear... it's all mucked up with the anti-biotics I'm on. AHA!
Got some sleep in. Was nice.
Current and Other Projects
Nothing! Yay!
Gaming
Some Borderlands, started up League of Legends again... but mostly I've been taking it easy.
Other
I'm feeling good-ish. It's been a nice, easy, worry-free week and I'm ready to get back to working.
Laz-zay, Lok
Saturday, September 10, 2011
I Need a Break
So you might be thinking "How can someone who doesn't have any work to show for it yet need a break?".
Well, the answer is quite simply that because I have been doing a lot of side projects and AI tests. I tried my hand at spriting again and just hated it, without help I might just release with placeholders if I get done. Playing music is easy, but transcribing what I come up with is hell.
Summary, I think way too much about work on my game on an hourly basis that I'm being filled with regret when I don't work on it and that burns me out.
I need a full clean week without even thinking about these projects so I can get back in to it fresh, but this is difficult for me.
This is compounded further by this blog. I like to update about my daily inspirations and mini-accomplishments, but I'm constantly feeling inadequate for not having something release-worthy after almost a whole year.
On the other hand. Since I'm the only person I know (personally) who has done anything remotely programming-esque I have no frame of reference for progress. I have no idea if the first public release someone has made took them a year or just a week. I don't know if they went to school or had friends to encourage them. As it is I am 100% self taught, the closest thing even possibly relatable would be that I took Art 10 in high school.
Current Projects
AI tests on a few enemy types; including walking and jumping animations, contact damage, death, and sound effects. I didn't put in as many hours as I would have liked, but I got a fair bit done.
Other Projects
A few non-game related AI tests, I tried re-creating enemies from Super Mario Bros. and Zelda II to see if I can with rather enjoyable results.
Gaming
Not much. A few jumps on Super Mario RPG and Borderlands and not really much else.
Other
Even though I had a good week and a half recently, my health is poor. (Sympathy pl0x). Also, I've entered the world of online dating - I haven't met anyone yet, but it's making me feel bad. It's hard to find someone who's willing to date a virtual shut-in.
Mostly complaining about TV too. Sure, Doctor Who is popular now... but they cut off my Star Trek to make room for it. Star Trek and Frasier are about the only shows I still tolerate. If it weren't due to the combo bundle with internet I would cut off TV entirely now. If Star Trek or Stargate or something would hurry up and get on Canadian Netflix this wouldn't be so bad.
I also hate my new HDTV... it ruins my signals from my NES and SNES games, they look all double deinterlaced or something.
If I can't play my good games or watch my good shows, what's the point of even having a TV?
Seriously, Lok
Well, the answer is quite simply that because I have been doing a lot of side projects and AI tests. I tried my hand at spriting again and just hated it, without help I might just release with placeholders if I get done. Playing music is easy, but transcribing what I come up with is hell.
Summary, I think way too much about work on my game on an hourly basis that I'm being filled with regret when I don't work on it and that burns me out.
I need a full clean week without even thinking about these projects so I can get back in to it fresh, but this is difficult for me.
This is compounded further by this blog. I like to update about my daily inspirations and mini-accomplishments, but I'm constantly feeling inadequate for not having something release-worthy after almost a whole year.
On the other hand. Since I'm the only person I know (personally) who has done anything remotely programming-esque I have no frame of reference for progress. I have no idea if the first public release someone has made took them a year or just a week. I don't know if they went to school or had friends to encourage them. As it is I am 100% self taught, the closest thing even possibly relatable would be that I took Art 10 in high school.
Current Projects
AI tests on a few enemy types; including walking and jumping animations, contact damage, death, and sound effects. I didn't put in as many hours as I would have liked, but I got a fair bit done.
Other Projects
A few non-game related AI tests, I tried re-creating enemies from Super Mario Bros. and Zelda II to see if I can with rather enjoyable results.
Gaming
Not much. A few jumps on Super Mario RPG and Borderlands and not really much else.
Other
Even though I had a good week and a half recently, my health is poor. (Sympathy pl0x). Also, I've entered the world of online dating - I haven't met anyone yet, but it's making me feel bad. It's hard to find someone who's willing to date a virtual shut-in.
Mostly complaining about TV too. Sure, Doctor Who is popular now... but they cut off my Star Trek to make room for it. Star Trek and Frasier are about the only shows I still tolerate. If it weren't due to the combo bundle with internet I would cut off TV entirely now. If Star Trek or Stargate or something would hurry up and get on Canadian Netflix this wouldn't be so bad.
I also hate my new HDTV... it ruins my signals from my NES and SNES games, they look all double deinterlaced or something.
If I can't play my good games or watch my good shows, what's the point of even having a TV?
Seriously, Lok
Saturday, September 3, 2011
No Work, Just Art
And even then, it's mostly just in my head.
Since there were no major programming challenges to overcome this week I spent most of my time doodling and playing guitar. Yes, this is important! While I still have no idea how to do any of these animations (compare 20 years programming experience to about two weeks of animation tutorials and you notice a difference). At least I'm getting somewhere with the art. I'd be better able to describe what I need to someone else if I ever met a willing artist.
Current Projects
Oddly, all art for RPS. Didn't even touch my other projects this week.
Other Projects
Of course, any and/or all music or art I come up with could technically be matched to any project since I haven't actually finished anything yet.
Gaming
Mostly just clearing my 3DS Ambassador games. I'm starting to realize why modern games aren't as good as the oldies... old controllers were better. Playing Super Mario Bros. or Zelda II is quite a different challenge using hard portable buttons, a touch screen that interrupts play, required start button next to two buttons that interrupt play, needing to tilt your hand upwards to hold B and A together all combined with constant screen shaking for tapping an outside edge (A) button. Compare the NES or SNES controllers where all the buttons can be reached without requiring a change in hand position (Yes, to reach the 3DS Start, Select and Home buttons I have to move my hand... I don't have freak ape thumbs)
Compare this to classic style games that use a keyboard such as La-Mulana or Hydra Castle Labyrinth. They control amazingly. Also, lots of developers seem to like using ZXC for controls recently. Comfort FIRST. Only a generation ago the popular controls for such games were Ctrl and Alt to do most actions with the constant threat of nicking the Windows Fails key.
Other than that I also started Achron and Bastion. Well, I finished the latter in a single session. It's certainly an experience in interactive storytelling, but I could have stood to have the game harder (new game plus' with all 10 idols enabled). Ok! This is more to my liking!
Achron is kinda ok. I find the first few stages to be a little too dark to see well, but luckily as tutorial levels there isn't much to see. If I ever played this multiplayer I'd have to avoid the dark blue maps. The time travel is cool and works uncannily well. I notice a lot of people complaining about pathfinding; which is a good point, it could have been done better, but that's only compared to the giants of RTS's that have very streamlined pathfinding routines. It's something that could be patched out. I'd recommend it if it goes on sale, since it is more expensive than Bastion, which is critically amazing.
Of course, I'm probably the only one ever who uses price point when picking games.
Other
I've been in unexplained muscle pain for more than a month now. All the doctor can say is that there's a lot of them anti-protein inflammatory thingers in there. At least we know the pain isn't just in my head. To continue exercise, just take some Aspirin or something.
QBasically, Lok
Since there were no major programming challenges to overcome this week I spent most of my time doodling and playing guitar. Yes, this is important! While I still have no idea how to do any of these animations (compare 20 years programming experience to about two weeks of animation tutorials and you notice a difference). At least I'm getting somewhere with the art. I'd be better able to describe what I need to someone else if I ever met a willing artist.
Current Projects
Oddly, all art for RPS. Didn't even touch my other projects this week.
Other Projects
Of course, any and/or all music or art I come up with could technically be matched to any project since I haven't actually finished anything yet.
Gaming
Mostly just clearing my 3DS Ambassador games. I'm starting to realize why modern games aren't as good as the oldies... old controllers were better. Playing Super Mario Bros. or Zelda II is quite a different challenge using hard portable buttons, a touch screen that interrupts play, required start button next to two buttons that interrupt play, needing to tilt your hand upwards to hold B and A together all combined with constant screen shaking for tapping an outside edge (A) button. Compare the NES or SNES controllers where all the buttons can be reached without requiring a change in hand position (Yes, to reach the 3DS Start, Select and Home buttons I have to move my hand... I don't have freak ape thumbs)
Compare this to classic style games that use a keyboard such as La-Mulana or Hydra Castle Labyrinth. They control amazingly. Also, lots of developers seem to like using ZXC for controls recently. Comfort FIRST. Only a generation ago the popular controls for such games were Ctrl and Alt to do most actions with the constant threat of nicking the Windows Fails key.
Other than that I also started Achron and Bastion. Well, I finished the latter in a single session. It's certainly an experience in interactive storytelling, but I could have stood to have the game harder (new game plus' with all 10 idols enabled). Ok! This is more to my liking!
Achron is kinda ok. I find the first few stages to be a little too dark to see well, but luckily as tutorial levels there isn't much to see. If I ever played this multiplayer I'd have to avoid the dark blue maps. The time travel is cool and works uncannily well. I notice a lot of people complaining about pathfinding; which is a good point, it could have been done better, but that's only compared to the giants of RTS's that have very streamlined pathfinding routines. It's something that could be patched out. I'd recommend it if it goes on sale, since it is more expensive than Bastion, which is critically amazing.
Of course, I'm probably the only one ever who uses price point when picking games.
Other
I've been in unexplained muscle pain for more than a month now. All the doctor can say is that there's a lot of them anti-protein inflammatory thingers in there. At least we know the pain isn't just in my head. To continue exercise, just take some Aspirin or something.
QBasically, Lok
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Feeling Better - Again!
A month long depression is not something easy to shake off. I seem to be doing ok now, though.
I tried opening a Q&A topic on GameFAQs, but the lack of interest matches by own lack of motivation. The only two questions I got related to why I'm not working, which anyone who's read the blog would know.
Anyways. The primary development bottlenecks right now are graphics and dialogue boxes. I'm having trouble with spriting and sentence sizes respectively. It gives me a new appreciation for how challenging it must have been for earlier developers to get as much information as they did in such a small dialogue space.
Current Projects
Mostly test models for animation and dialogue boxes, individual collision and gimmick tests. Not much success, but I'm working on it. Another major problem is because I haven't worked in over a month I've forgotten where I left off, what certain variables and event flags do and so on. I might have to start from scratch. Better documentation next time!
Other Projects
Nothing of note. I keep coming up with new ideas and the inability to express them is becoming a burden. I'm still keeping notes though.
Gaming
More Clonk Rage, some Borderlands, I finished the last of the From Dust challenges too. I also finished Front Mission Evolved, which I thought was pretty good aside from some derpalogue.
Other
Healthy again, for the most part. I had to get a blood test that took about 30 vials of blood... but I started to feel good right after. Maybe I got too much blood in me, I hear depressed people cut themselves, this must be why (HURRRRRR)
Ok, I promise to get some work done this week. If not Epilepsy Man then at least an engine prototype that uses the placeholder graphics.
I'm illin', Lok
I tried opening a Q&A topic on GameFAQs, but the lack of interest matches by own lack of motivation. The only two questions I got related to why I'm not working, which anyone who's read the blog would know.
Anyways. The primary development bottlenecks right now are graphics and dialogue boxes. I'm having trouble with spriting and sentence sizes respectively. It gives me a new appreciation for how challenging it must have been for earlier developers to get as much information as they did in such a small dialogue space.
Current Projects
Mostly test models for animation and dialogue boxes, individual collision and gimmick tests. Not much success, but I'm working on it. Another major problem is because I haven't worked in over a month I've forgotten where I left off, what certain variables and event flags do and so on. I might have to start from scratch. Better documentation next time!
Other Projects
Nothing of note. I keep coming up with new ideas and the inability to express them is becoming a burden. I'm still keeping notes though.
Gaming
More Clonk Rage, some Borderlands, I finished the last of the From Dust challenges too. I also finished Front Mission Evolved, which I thought was pretty good aside from some derpalogue.
Other
Healthy again, for the most part. I had to get a blood test that took about 30 vials of blood... but I started to feel good right after. Maybe I got too much blood in me, I hear depressed people cut themselves, this must be why (HURRRRRR)
Ok, I promise to get some work done this week. If not Epilepsy Man then at least an engine prototype that uses the placeholder graphics.
I'm illin', Lok
Saturday, August 20, 2011
I Think I'm Dying... bleh. Also From Dust's DRM.
Well, probably not.
Just general misery, but it had been winding down the last two-three days. In general, I've switched from general dumpiness to muscle pain.
I also started a reviews blog. So far all I have reviewed is Mega Man 4. I'd appreciate feedback. Here is the link. http://lokreview.blogspot.com/
The biggest news this week in gaming would be the release of the PC version of From Dust, a game I've been looking forward to for a long time. And what do I see when I go to share my enjoyment of the game? Wall to wall complaints of UbiSoft's DRM. This has nothing to do with gameplay! That'd be like berating food because the supermarket was being gimp. Oh, UbiSoft lied~~~ BAH! If people got a refund every time they were lied to then governments would fall.
Ok, there are a few legitimate complaints like the poor use of PC controls (IE: Mouse). The game works just fine with a gamepad, and what self-respecting gamer doesn't have like 20 gamepads lying around by now. Hell, I still have 1 button joysticks for PC! I remember upgrading to 2 buttons to play Duke Nukem and One Must Fall 2097. The other concern is a lack of anti-aliasing. (L2 D3Doverrider) and the lower framerate. I didn't even notice the framerate was lower, because it was 'stable', something much more important to me. Dropped frames are very jarring to me and I never noticed any frame drops.
The tribal dudes are very endearing with their little dances and shouts. Surviving my first tsunami was thrilling, seeing the power of their faith save them from destruction. Each of the stages adds something new and wastes nothing. I prefer this style of level design. Also featured is some of the best water effects I have ever seen, the tides actually flow realistically and pools correctly form and drain. Simple game logic I have taken for granted over the years was tested: In the second level of the game you have to divert a river for your tribals to cross. The first thing I did was simply cut the river off with dirt, only to see the sourced water correctly flow over the top. I build higher and higher until the water is eventually dammed - and am rewarded with the river flowing over the next highest barricade... the one leading into my village. More care is needed!
SPOILERS!
What got me was the ending. I may be reading too much into this (But I like doing that)... But it's a pretty good metaphor for the creation cycle. In the last level your tribals finally acquire the power of the ancients... the power of creation. They craft a new land in their own image and all is good. But they get restless, they need new challenges... they need more. So using all of their might they perform the ultimate act of creation, summon a gateway to a new land. Immediately the land begins to crumble and die. Only a brave few make it to the gateway and the power of the ancients is taken from them. Then... the first level starts again.
Did they perish due to greed or hubris - was the power of creation not enough for them? Or did they honestly seek destruction so that they may once again face the challenges of simple survival? Or did I miss something because it was three in the morning?
Well, enough about that.
Current Projects
Tossed out all my level design. Was getting too complicated. I'm going to avoid the complicated large room style of play and work more on smaller easily connected rooms... IE: Less like Super Meat Boy and more like Super Mario Bros. I still mostly need additional sprite work, which I'm finding to be very difficult. It's not like you can go to school for this.
Other Projects
None
Gaming
Mostly From Dust, which I really like, and Borderlands.
Other
I know I complained about mysteriously losing weight, but now I'm mysteriously gaining weight. I'm still at a pretty big net loss, but it would have been nice to keep it all off.
I'm finally sleeping well and at the right times. I'll probably be able to get work done this week.
I can move mountains, Lok.
Just general misery, but it had been winding down the last two-three days. In general, I've switched from general dumpiness to muscle pain.
I also started a reviews blog. So far all I have reviewed is Mega Man 4. I'd appreciate feedback. Here is the link. http://lokreview.blogspot.com/
The biggest news this week in gaming would be the release of the PC version of From Dust, a game I've been looking forward to for a long time. And what do I see when I go to share my enjoyment of the game? Wall to wall complaints of UbiSoft's DRM. This has nothing to do with gameplay! That'd be like berating food because the supermarket was being gimp. Oh, UbiSoft lied~~~ BAH! If people got a refund every time they were lied to then governments would fall.
Ok, there are a few legitimate complaints like the poor use of PC controls (IE: Mouse). The game works just fine with a gamepad, and what self-respecting gamer doesn't have like 20 gamepads lying around by now. Hell, I still have 1 button joysticks for PC! I remember upgrading to 2 buttons to play Duke Nukem and One Must Fall 2097. The other concern is a lack of anti-aliasing. (L2 D3Doverrider) and the lower framerate. I didn't even notice the framerate was lower, because it was 'stable', something much more important to me. Dropped frames are very jarring to me and I never noticed any frame drops.
The tribal dudes are very endearing with their little dances and shouts. Surviving my first tsunami was thrilling, seeing the power of their faith save them from destruction. Each of the stages adds something new and wastes nothing. I prefer this style of level design. Also featured is some of the best water effects I have ever seen, the tides actually flow realistically and pools correctly form and drain. Simple game logic I have taken for granted over the years was tested: In the second level of the game you have to divert a river for your tribals to cross. The first thing I did was simply cut the river off with dirt, only to see the sourced water correctly flow over the top. I build higher and higher until the water is eventually dammed - and am rewarded with the river flowing over the next highest barricade... the one leading into my village. More care is needed!
SPOILERS!
What got me was the ending. I may be reading too much into this (But I like doing that)... But it's a pretty good metaphor for the creation cycle. In the last level your tribals finally acquire the power of the ancients... the power of creation. They craft a new land in their own image and all is good. But they get restless, they need new challenges... they need more. So using all of their might they perform the ultimate act of creation, summon a gateway to a new land. Immediately the land begins to crumble and die. Only a brave few make it to the gateway and the power of the ancients is taken from them. Then... the first level starts again.
Did they perish due to greed or hubris - was the power of creation not enough for them? Or did they honestly seek destruction so that they may once again face the challenges of simple survival? Or did I miss something because it was three in the morning?
Well, enough about that.
Current Projects
Tossed out all my level design. Was getting too complicated. I'm going to avoid the complicated large room style of play and work more on smaller easily connected rooms... IE: Less like Super Meat Boy and more like Super Mario Bros. I still mostly need additional sprite work, which I'm finding to be very difficult. It's not like you can go to school for this.
Other Projects
None
Gaming
Mostly From Dust, which I really like, and Borderlands.
Other
I know I complained about mysteriously losing weight, but now I'm mysteriously gaining weight. I'm still at a pretty big net loss, but it would have been nice to keep it all off.
I'm finally sleeping well and at the right times. I'll probably be able to get work done this week.
I can move mountains, Lok.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Still Sick-ish
I'm not gonna give up on these projects, no matter how slumpy I get.
The biggest news this week is that I've decided to streamline this blog a bit. I'll still be making a development process post every week on Saturday, but once I get a beta for one of my games going I will make a new sub-blog for each game. That way people can get "just the facts" quickly. Moreover, that means I can keep this blog how I want it... my day to day struggles with game development (since, well, y'know... I AM disabled)
I also came up with a new game crossover, but there's no way I can make it due to legal junk. I was thinking of a crossover between Minecraft and Columns. Basically, You drop a vertical line of 3 crafting materials like in Columns. These match up into shapes to craft new items using the same recipe plans from Minecraft. As more complex things are crafted you begin to run out of space. Items like picks need to be built to destroy unneeded walls. Also, monsters attack at night. Zombies create a block in the grid that is unusable, Spiders create a 2x1 block that scales upward, Creepers blow up when you construct near them (for better or worse).
Of course, I'm sure there's no legal bizzy for copying the basic gameplay of Columns (there's dozens of clones of it out there) and I'm pretty sure using similar materials and patterns as Minecraft would be a non-issue.... but the charm would be from using official graphics and creatures which most certainly would be protected. However, since I have no interest in actually making this game I don't need to worry about it. If I was interested, I could always, y'know, ask the guy for permission.
Current Projects
Level design for my platformers. Decided I was over-thinking it and my perfectionism was getting in the way so I'm going simpler. I'm still at a bottleneck though, graphics. Sound can be added completely on a whim, but graphics require special attention to make sure they match up properly. Yes, I'm using placeholders... but it's time to swap them out. I desperately need a tutorial for this, or someone I can just pay to do it.
Other Projects
Almost nothing, but I am working on getting dialogue box "pausing" to work (there's a strange bug where when I freeze all events I can't get the box to keep messaging). I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Gaming
Mostly been vegging out on the couch playing Breath of Fire 2. I'm just not feelin' it. Also tried playing Borderlands some more. Cleaned out the latest Terraria patch in about two hours.
Other
I'm still just simply not feeling good. I'm told it might be depression, but I say people should shut up if they're just gonna label without fixing me.
Been playing a lot of bass guitar recently. Thinking of buying a new one (still.) Yes, I do things very slowly; That's just how I am. I have crippling task-aversion which is compounded by my schizoid/social phobias (not being able to get help from others). Even my family seem like strangers to me recently.
Also, my rapid unexplained weight loss seems to have stopped at a total of just under 40LB lost.
I need a life coach, or a girlfriend, or a boss, or something. I NEED to be commanded and I tell people (family/doctors/other) this. But people are so pro-independence that they won't give me what I need most.
By Your Command, Lok
Amendment:
So I was watching Extra Credits on The Escapist... the one about pre-production. Well, it pretty much nailed me. I'm stuck in pre-production and need to get to actual work. Just not sure how.
The biggest news this week is that I've decided to streamline this blog a bit. I'll still be making a development process post every week on Saturday, but once I get a beta for one of my games going I will make a new sub-blog for each game. That way people can get "just the facts" quickly. Moreover, that means I can keep this blog how I want it... my day to day struggles with game development (since, well, y'know... I AM disabled)
I also came up with a new game crossover, but there's no way I can make it due to legal junk. I was thinking of a crossover between Minecraft and Columns. Basically, You drop a vertical line of 3 crafting materials like in Columns. These match up into shapes to craft new items using the same recipe plans from Minecraft. As more complex things are crafted you begin to run out of space. Items like picks need to be built to destroy unneeded walls. Also, monsters attack at night. Zombies create a block in the grid that is unusable, Spiders create a 2x1 block that scales upward, Creepers blow up when you construct near them (for better or worse).
Of course, I'm sure there's no legal bizzy for copying the basic gameplay of Columns (there's dozens of clones of it out there) and I'm pretty sure using similar materials and patterns as Minecraft would be a non-issue.... but the charm would be from using official graphics and creatures which most certainly would be protected. However, since I have no interest in actually making this game I don't need to worry about it. If I was interested, I could always, y'know, ask the guy for permission.
Current Projects
Level design for my platformers. Decided I was over-thinking it and my perfectionism was getting in the way so I'm going simpler. I'm still at a bottleneck though, graphics. Sound can be added completely on a whim, but graphics require special attention to make sure they match up properly. Yes, I'm using placeholders... but it's time to swap them out. I desperately need a tutorial for this, or someone I can just pay to do it.
Other Projects
Almost nothing, but I am working on getting dialogue box "pausing" to work (there's a strange bug where when I freeze all events I can't get the box to keep messaging). I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Gaming
Mostly been vegging out on the couch playing Breath of Fire 2. I'm just not feelin' it. Also tried playing Borderlands some more. Cleaned out the latest Terraria patch in about two hours.
Other
I'm still just simply not feeling good. I'm told it might be depression, but I say people should shut up if they're just gonna label without fixing me.
Been playing a lot of bass guitar recently. Thinking of buying a new one (still.) Yes, I do things very slowly; That's just how I am. I have crippling task-aversion which is compounded by my schizoid/social phobias (not being able to get help from others). Even my family seem like strangers to me recently.
Also, my rapid unexplained weight loss seems to have stopped at a total of just under 40LB lost.
I need a life coach, or a girlfriend, or a boss, or something. I NEED to be commanded and I tell people (family/doctors/other) this. But people are so pro-independence that they won't give me what I need most.
By Your Command, Lok
Amendment:
So I was watching Extra Credits on The Escapist... the one about pre-production. Well, it pretty much nailed me. I'm stuck in pre-production and need to get to actual work. Just not sure how.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Tired.
Been having health problems all week, or even the last month or so, but they're just more noticeable now.
Didn't get any work or gaming or TV or anything done this week. Didn't eat or sleep much either.
I've been thinking of changing to a bi-monthly update, but decided against it since this blog is pretty much the only regular thing I even do anymore.
All that aside, I've been working hard in my head at least... when I get back to working I should be able to get much done.
I'm constantly getting new ideas for games; I hate dismissing them in favour of existing projects, but I MUST get something done.
Current Projects, Other Projects, Gaming
Nothing. Barely left my room even.
Other
Procrastination is still a huge issue for me, but at least I can say this week I simply didn't work because I didn't feel like it and not because of procrastination.
Probably, Lok
Didn't get any work or gaming or TV or anything done this week. Didn't eat or sleep much either.
I've been thinking of changing to a bi-monthly update, but decided against it since this blog is pretty much the only regular thing I even do anymore.
All that aside, I've been working hard in my head at least... when I get back to working I should be able to get much done.
I'm constantly getting new ideas for games; I hate dismissing them in favour of existing projects, but I MUST get something done.
Current Projects, Other Projects, Gaming
Nothing. Barely left my room even.
Other
Procrastination is still a huge issue for me, but at least I can say this week I simply didn't work because I didn't feel like it and not because of procrastination.
Probably, Lok
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Basic Work
Nothing of note. I did a fair bit of work on Tuesday, but I've been in a do-nothing mood all week. I haven't even been playing games.
I'm in a sort of block. I need some programs or devices to help with my work, but I get no answers on the boards. Or when I do get an answer they don't explain why it would be good for me. All I want is a nice handheld tablet that I can draw on, not a Wacom tablet, something like Nintendo's DS where I can see stuff. Also, I need an animation suite for 2D that supports physics... but I have no idea where to even start for that.
Current Projects
Minor scripting and room transitions. I was having trouble with dialogue boxes so I started a new project just for that for practice. Even though it's just the chump work, I put in more hours this week than I have for the last two months, which isn't saying much.
Other Projects
I've been thinking of reducing my target goal of a full game and releasing something much simpler. I also have not found any place to put my games for people to download. And while I always intended for my games to be donation-ware I don't even know how to get it so someone theoretically could send me money. Not that anyone would pay for something that wasn't a full game...
Gaming
I played a few of my standby's for a while, but I've not been feeling good.
Other
I don't think I'm sick, but I've been mysteriously losing weight for nothing and having sleep problems.
Blah, Lok
I'm in a sort of block. I need some programs or devices to help with my work, but I get no answers on the boards. Or when I do get an answer they don't explain why it would be good for me. All I want is a nice handheld tablet that I can draw on, not a Wacom tablet, something like Nintendo's DS where I can see stuff. Also, I need an animation suite for 2D that supports physics... but I have no idea where to even start for that.
Current Projects
Minor scripting and room transitions. I was having trouble with dialogue boxes so I started a new project just for that for practice. Even though it's just the chump work, I put in more hours this week than I have for the last two months, which isn't saying much.
Other Projects
I've been thinking of reducing my target goal of a full game and releasing something much simpler. I also have not found any place to put my games for people to download. And while I always intended for my games to be donation-ware I don't even know how to get it so someone theoretically could send me money. Not that anyone would pay for something that wasn't a full game...
Gaming
I played a few of my standby's for a while, but I've not been feeling good.
Other
I don't think I'm sick, but I've been mysteriously losing weight for nothing and having sleep problems.
Blah, Lok
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Paperwork Part 2
Ok, here's a sample of what my development process looks like on paper
Ok, I couldn't find the wire for the scanner so I used a camera instead.
I work on a lot of different ideas on the same page. In the upperleft is an idea for a load animation for RPS (Rock is a circle, scissors the triangle, square the paper). Upper right is a sample stage plus a quicky of the first bit of Super Mario Bros. and some adenosine triphosphate for some reason. Under that is some block samples. In the middle are some animals. There's a few failed designs for Dr. Strobe around the page, I don't really know what to do with him yet. Bottom left is some sample items and face types. Bottom right is ideas for Cytomight.
Of course, this week I didn't get much time in... I got hooked on Dungeons of Dredmor.
Current Projects
Cytomight, RPS, and Epilepsy Man concept art. I'm still way behind. You wouldn't believe how brutally inept I am at drawing. It makes my coding look like I'm some sort of savant.
My new game idea, the one I announced on Monday, was a little too grand. I had this idea for an intergalactic cooking show style game as a cross between the prep mini-games of Cooking Mama with the harsh bitterness of TV's Hell's Kitchen. Playing up as many in-jokes about casualware and TV cooking as possible. Ya, they did a little of this on Futurama, but I'm going for a darker political tone.
The story begins as the protagonist starts his second season of Earth's first intergalactic cooking show broadcast. Previously Earth TV was found to rely too much on Earth pop culture and not enough on understandable themes. Since everyone can relate to food (and the weather), this new show is a hit. On the other side, replicators make food pretty decently so only chef elite are still in business... working for upper class twits who need a more refined taste than simple replication.
The intro twist is the player inadvertently causes an interstellar incident with a major cultural faux pas... namely, the accidental butchering of an alien princess. (He couldn't tell the difference between the person and the food, weird alien stuff). So he goes down to being a pit cook for the scum of the universe (the kind of people who can't afford high technology) and learn to overcome his xenophobia...
Other, more interesting plotlines will pop up. I got so caught up with the idea of TV Chef IN SPACE! that I couldn't think of anything else this week. That being said, I don't know if it should be a casual-ware game (prep mini-games) or a point and click adventure (focus on the story) or even an RPG (exploring planets for rare ingredients).
Other Projects
None. I think I'm overloaded. I get so caught up shifting between projects I end up doing nothing.
Gaming
Mostly Dungeons of Dredmor. Just like for programming, I got so many games now I find it impossible to choose. I think I may have a serious problem here, I spend HOURS just "choosing" and not actually playing... and I don't even get bored. This is a brain trap I must escape from.
Other
Still aren't sleeping well. I was getting up in the morning pretty good for a while, but then I got less and less tired each night.
I wish I could focus on this game design more. Some sort of life coach might be helpful, or any real world encouragement of any kind. Plus, I think my disability is getting worse.
Well, there's not much for new games on the horizon. The Wii release of La-Mulana is pretty much the only game I'm anticipating so after that and I finish my entire backlog of games I'll have no possible excuse to avoid working. But I can't afford to wait that long, I need to be working NOW. Why do I have so much trouble doing things I want to do?
Just work, Lok
I work on a lot of different ideas on the same page. In the upperleft is an idea for a load animation for RPS (Rock is a circle, scissors the triangle, square the paper). Upper right is a sample stage plus a quicky of the first bit of Super Mario Bros. and some adenosine triphosphate for some reason. Under that is some block samples. In the middle are some animals. There's a few failed designs for Dr. Strobe around the page, I don't really know what to do with him yet. Bottom left is some sample items and face types. Bottom right is ideas for Cytomight.
Of course, this week I didn't get much time in... I got hooked on Dungeons of Dredmor.
Current Projects
Cytomight, RPS, and Epilepsy Man concept art. I'm still way behind. You wouldn't believe how brutally inept I am at drawing. It makes my coding look like I'm some sort of savant.
My new game idea, the one I announced on Monday, was a little too grand. I had this idea for an intergalactic cooking show style game as a cross between the prep mini-games of Cooking Mama with the harsh bitterness of TV's Hell's Kitchen. Playing up as many in-jokes about casualware and TV cooking as possible. Ya, they did a little of this on Futurama, but I'm going for a darker political tone.
The story begins as the protagonist starts his second season of Earth's first intergalactic cooking show broadcast. Previously Earth TV was found to rely too much on Earth pop culture and not enough on understandable themes. Since everyone can relate to food (and the weather), this new show is a hit. On the other side, replicators make food pretty decently so only chef elite are still in business... working for upper class twits who need a more refined taste than simple replication.
The intro twist is the player inadvertently causes an interstellar incident with a major cultural faux pas... namely, the accidental butchering of an alien princess. (He couldn't tell the difference between the person and the food, weird alien stuff). So he goes down to being a pit cook for the scum of the universe (the kind of people who can't afford high technology) and learn to overcome his xenophobia...
Other, more interesting plotlines will pop up. I got so caught up with the idea of TV Chef IN SPACE! that I couldn't think of anything else this week. That being said, I don't know if it should be a casual-ware game (prep mini-games) or a point and click adventure (focus on the story) or even an RPG (exploring planets for rare ingredients).
Other Projects
None. I think I'm overloaded. I get so caught up shifting between projects I end up doing nothing.
Gaming
Mostly Dungeons of Dredmor. Just like for programming, I got so many games now I find it impossible to choose. I think I may have a serious problem here, I spend HOURS just "choosing" and not actually playing... and I don't even get bored. This is a brain trap I must escape from.
Other
Still aren't sleeping well. I was getting up in the morning pretty good for a while, but then I got less and less tired each night.
I wish I could focus on this game design more. Some sort of life coach might be helpful, or any real world encouragement of any kind. Plus, I think my disability is getting worse.
Well, there's not much for new games on the horizon. The Wii release of La-Mulana is pretty much the only game I'm anticipating so after that and I finish my entire backlog of games I'll have no possible excuse to avoid working. But I can't afford to wait that long, I need to be working NOW. Why do I have so much trouble doing things I want to do?
Just work, Lok
Monday, July 18, 2011
Interjection!
Brand new game idea. Giddiness ensues. Will include it in next Saturday's paper scan update.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Paperwork
Didn't do much work this week. Most of it was paper work, which frankly is just as good as real work since it doesn't take long to convert.
Current Projects
Drew a few levels on paper, tossed them out, drew more and so on. Just wasn't into it this week. I mostly need graphics which is by far the slowest part of the process for me. I could use some software recommendations. Also, my little keyframe dude needs some animations... I think I should get Pivot again, just 'cuz I need a simple overlay.
Other Projects
None
Gaming
Played Team Fortress 2 mostly, now that it's free to play there's a great number of easy new targets to pick on. A lot of players just don't think strategically. Which is something I have to keep in mind when I make my game, "flow" control.
When a person is really into a game they can achieve flow, staying there as long as possible is a mark of an engaging game. Interrupting flow with uncharacteristic puzzles or dialogue can snap a person back into apathy. However, using anxiety can be a valuable tool to get a player to improve themselves. If I do release a game I have to make sure my material is achieving the effect I want on others, not just myself.
Other
Basic sleep problems and irresponsible use of time. I'd much rather be working on one of my game projects, but I get sidetracked by gaming. However, even playing games helps in making games. Sure, I'm not looking for things to copy, but it's important to find out why a game is good or bad. When a writer tells a joke, is it universally acceptable or would only the target culture get it.
Motivation!, Lok
Current Projects
Drew a few levels on paper, tossed them out, drew more and so on. Just wasn't into it this week. I mostly need graphics which is by far the slowest part of the process for me. I could use some software recommendations. Also, my little keyframe dude needs some animations... I think I should get Pivot again, just 'cuz I need a simple overlay.
Other Projects
None
Gaming
Played Team Fortress 2 mostly, now that it's free to play there's a great number of easy new targets to pick on. A lot of players just don't think strategically. Which is something I have to keep in mind when I make my game, "flow" control.
When a person is really into a game they can achieve flow, staying there as long as possible is a mark of an engaging game. Interrupting flow with uncharacteristic puzzles or dialogue can snap a person back into apathy. However, using anxiety can be a valuable tool to get a player to improve themselves. If I do release a game I have to make sure my material is achieving the effect I want on others, not just myself.
Other
Basic sleep problems and irresponsible use of time. I'd much rather be working on one of my game projects, but I get sidetracked by gaming. However, even playing games helps in making games. Sure, I'm not looking for things to copy, but it's important to find out why a game is good or bad. When a writer tells a joke, is it universally acceptable or would only the target culture get it.
Motivation!, Lok
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Enough Sale: Back to Work
Steam sale ends tomorrow, will play for a bit and then get back to work.
Current Projects
Might cancel the military shooter. Frozen Synapse does everything I wanted so no need to continue. On the other hand, I wanted a more real time AI emphasis than strategy. Something I like in shooters is seeing your AI bots do creative things on their own.
Other than that - I'm still just working on graphics for Cytomight, Epilepsy Man and RPS. I made a few levels, but scrapped them. Being all alone with no help it's hard to tell if my level design would be good for the average player or just me.
Other Projects
Nothing comes to mind, I plan to do graphics mostly this week.
Gaming
Need to catch up on all the games I got during the summer sale... I haven't even done all the games I got in the winter sale! But I need to prioritize work.
I didn't like Mount & Blade, but Warband is a huge improvement in removing the various pet peeves I had. Frozen Synapse is the summer winner as far as I vote.
Other
I wouldn't mind some recommendations of graphics software to use. GIMP and Photoshop are great for scenes and drops, but sub-optimal for sprite work. GraphX2 is ok, but it's not very fast / lacks automation.
At least I'm trying, Lok
Current Projects
Might cancel the military shooter. Frozen Synapse does everything I wanted so no need to continue. On the other hand, I wanted a more real time AI emphasis than strategy. Something I like in shooters is seeing your AI bots do creative things on their own.
Other than that - I'm still just working on graphics for Cytomight, Epilepsy Man and RPS. I made a few levels, but scrapped them. Being all alone with no help it's hard to tell if my level design would be good for the average player or just me.
Other Projects
Nothing comes to mind, I plan to do graphics mostly this week.
Gaming
Need to catch up on all the games I got during the summer sale... I haven't even done all the games I got in the winter sale! But I need to prioritize work.
I didn't like Mount & Blade, but Warband is a huge improvement in removing the various pet peeves I had. Frozen Synapse is the summer winner as far as I vote.
Other
I wouldn't mind some recommendations of graphics software to use. GIMP and Photoshop are great for scenes and drops, but sub-optimal for sprite work. GraphX2 is ok, but it's not very fast / lacks automation.
At least I'm trying, Lok
Saturday, July 2, 2011
I Called It
Steam Summer Sale. No work for me.
Current Projects
Worked on some animations and sprites and did a little work on a mini war game.
Other Projects
Stymied by discounts.
Gaming
Played a lot more Dwarf Fortress (Maybe I should update that blog) and have been getting a lot of the sale games.
Other
For how long I've been working on these games a lot of coincidental greatness keeps showing up. As long as I'm playing games the need to create is suspended. However, I am constantly making paper notes whenever I get a new idea.
Plus, I had an idea for a very short joke game based on a scene from TMNT. The game would only need 3-5 stock pictures, two animations, two sound effects and would play for only about 8 seconds.
Oh, I got a new TV. My old one broke a while ago. But this one is an HDTV and it makes my NES and stuff look terrible, double deinterlaced maybe. I think I need an SD converter box or something.
Well, it's 11 AM... MORE STEAM!!
I'm sure an uninteresting week of gaming will come up, Lok
Current Projects
Worked on some animations and sprites and did a little work on a mini war game.
Other Projects
Stymied by discounts.
Gaming
Played a lot more Dwarf Fortress (Maybe I should update that blog) and have been getting a lot of the sale games.
Other
For how long I've been working on these games a lot of coincidental greatness keeps showing up. As long as I'm playing games the need to create is suspended. However, I am constantly making paper notes whenever I get a new idea.
Plus, I had an idea for a very short joke game based on a scene from TMNT. The game would only need 3-5 stock pictures, two animations, two sound effects and would play for only about 8 seconds.
Oh, I got a new TV. My old one broke a while ago. But this one is an HDTV and it makes my NES and stuff look terrible, double deinterlaced maybe. I think I need an SD converter box or something.
Well, it's 11 AM... MORE STEAM!!
I'm sure an uninteresting week of gaming will come up, Lok
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Game Patches are Keeping Me Out of Work
Team Fortress 2 and Terraria both came out with new patches this week. Odds are next week will have amazing sales and I'll not get anything done again.
Current Projects
Started a whole new project due to an innovation in AI design. I have high hopes for this one since it will let me get in a lot of coding and will require virtually no graphics. Main character? A green circle. Enemies? Red circles. That's it, not going any better on this project. It will stand on its AI alone.
My bro keeps bugging me that he knows 2 graphics designers and that I should meet them. Ya, well, he's perfectly aware that I'm a shut in... bring 'em over already.
That being said, I can have Epilepsy Man done when I feel like animating. Not that that's saying much since it's one character in one level against one boss and will only take 3 minutes to beat since it started as an April Fool's joke anyways. But, it'd be nice to get something done... maybe people will demand a sequel. Ya, right.
Other Projects
You know you're in a bad place when you do the bulk of your coding on post-it notes.
A few minutes on a variety of my old projects in a melancholic "Why am I still here?" kinda review. I'd say my progress is mostly hampered by my poor work ethic and the wads of new game releases that are actually decent.
Gaming
Team Fortress 2 and Terraria mostly. Finished everything I care to do in both Modern Warfare games. Revisited Dragon Age: Origins, but I still don't get what people like about it. I'd rather play Avernum or Nox.
Also tried out Spiral Knights. What's the most important thing about any game? Being able to play it! Limiting game time to fish for time purchases is weak sauce... That aside, it plays ok when it's not lagging. But, that's Java for you.
I'm always on the look out for new games, but I hate a lot of the crap made recently.
Other
My TV broke last month some time... still can't find a TV/VCR combo in any store. What's the point of a TV if it doesn't have a VCR? I can hook a standalone VCR to my computer if that's what I wanted...
I still say S-Video looks better, Lok.
Current Projects
Started a whole new project due to an innovation in AI design. I have high hopes for this one since it will let me get in a lot of coding and will require virtually no graphics. Main character? A green circle. Enemies? Red circles. That's it, not going any better on this project. It will stand on its AI alone.
My bro keeps bugging me that he knows 2 graphics designers and that I should meet them. Ya, well, he's perfectly aware that I'm a shut in... bring 'em over already.
That being said, I can have Epilepsy Man done when I feel like animating. Not that that's saying much since it's one character in one level against one boss and will only take 3 minutes to beat since it started as an April Fool's joke anyways. But, it'd be nice to get something done... maybe people will demand a sequel. Ya, right.
Other Projects
You know you're in a bad place when you do the bulk of your coding on post-it notes.
A few minutes on a variety of my old projects in a melancholic "Why am I still here?" kinda review. I'd say my progress is mostly hampered by my poor work ethic and the wads of new game releases that are actually decent.
Gaming
Team Fortress 2 and Terraria mostly. Finished everything I care to do in both Modern Warfare games. Revisited Dragon Age: Origins, but I still don't get what people like about it. I'd rather play Avernum or Nox.
Also tried out Spiral Knights. What's the most important thing about any game? Being able to play it! Limiting game time to fish for time purchases is weak sauce... That aside, it plays ok when it's not lagging. But, that's Java for you.
I'm always on the look out for new games, but I hate a lot of the crap made recently.
Other
My TV broke last month some time... still can't find a TV/VCR combo in any store. What's the point of a TV if it doesn't have a VCR? I can hook a standalone VCR to my computer if that's what I wanted...
I still say S-Video looks better, Lok.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
June 18 Update
No title this time.
Current Projects
Been working on my RPG for a while. I need some sort of token story, I'm not a very creative writer... I can come up with thousands of ideas, tricks and twists; but turning it into a compelling narrative I cannot.
Anyways, I'm still trying to get some of the room transitions to look right. They work, but they're messy.
Other Projects
I still kinda want to make a racing game, but meh.
Gaming
Started up a variety of free MMO's now that Steam is offering them. I already had a paid account for Global Agenda, I like it. Spiral Knights is fun, but I hate that I can't play as much as I'd like in a day due to the energy restriction. I'm an all day gamer, I burn through that 100 Energy in less than an hour.
I played Call of Duty anything for the first time (Modern Warfare 1 and 2) I liked them. Never played the multiplayer though, I'm too uncomfortable playing games with people recently... even in Team Fortress 2, which I used to play a lot, I can't get myself to play with others - preferring bots.
What I'd like is an MMO where I could solo like an expert in front of other players... Y'know, the makers of TrackMania are making an RPG, it might be what I'm looking for. BTW: TrackMania is still the best racer available.
Other
I lost a fair bit of weight, but I've been gaining again. I blame the stealth calories (how was I supposed to know a "light" fish was 1100 calories alone?). I'm not eating anything I don't prepare myself or comes in a can/sealed package anymore.
My anti-socialness is really bugging me. I'm finding it very difficult to communicate on my regular forums or even play multiplayer games anymore. In this electronic world it's as good as death.
Still working on my online dating profile though as contradictory to the previous statement that is.
I need to concentrate, Lok
Current Projects
Been working on my RPG for a while. I need some sort of token story, I'm not a very creative writer... I can come up with thousands of ideas, tricks and twists; but turning it into a compelling narrative I cannot.
Anyways, I'm still trying to get some of the room transitions to look right. They work, but they're messy.
Other Projects
I still kinda want to make a racing game, but meh.
Gaming
Started up a variety of free MMO's now that Steam is offering them. I already had a paid account for Global Agenda, I like it. Spiral Knights is fun, but I hate that I can't play as much as I'd like in a day due to the energy restriction. I'm an all day gamer, I burn through that 100 Energy in less than an hour.
I played Call of Duty anything for the first time (Modern Warfare 1 and 2) I liked them. Never played the multiplayer though, I'm too uncomfortable playing games with people recently... even in Team Fortress 2, which I used to play a lot, I can't get myself to play with others - preferring bots.
What I'd like is an MMO where I could solo like an expert in front of other players... Y'know, the makers of TrackMania are making an RPG, it might be what I'm looking for. BTW: TrackMania is still the best racer available.
Other
I lost a fair bit of weight, but I've been gaining again. I blame the stealth calories (how was I supposed to know a "light" fish was 1100 calories alone?). I'm not eating anything I don't prepare myself or comes in a can/sealed package anymore.
My anti-socialness is really bugging me. I'm finding it very difficult to communicate on my regular forums or even play multiplayer games anymore. In this electronic world it's as good as death.
Still working on my online dating profile though as contradictory to the previous statement that is.
I need to concentrate, Lok
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Still Just Playing
This is probably the longest I've gone without working on a project since starting this blog. It's not like anyone reads it anyways so it's mostly for posterity if I ever actually do make something.
Current Projects
None.
Other Projects
Been thinking more about my Monsters game... I think it might take up more of my time. Again, I solely need sprite work.
Gaming
Steam, lots of it. Still trying to get through that Tom Clancy multipack I bought. Been really wanting to play some NES, but I don't have a TV. I've been meaning to buy one, but I can't find a TV with a built in VCR so there's no point.
Other
Still feeling kinda sick.
I know magic, Lok.
Current Projects
None.
Other Projects
Been thinking more about my Monsters game... I think it might take up more of my time. Again, I solely need sprite work.
Gaming
Steam, lots of it. Still trying to get through that Tom Clancy multipack I bought. Been really wanting to play some NES, but I don't have a TV. I've been meaning to buy one, but I can't find a TV with a built in VCR so there's no point.
Other
Still feeling kinda sick.
I know magic, Lok.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Not Sleeping Well, Playing More Games.
Still trying to clear out my Steam backlog. But at least I've been doing paperwork for my projects.
I was asked earlier why I cancel/postpone my projects when a similar game is released, that it doesn't matter if I make a clone because everyone does it. Well, my answer would be "if a similar game is released... I'd be playing that instead". I'm not trying to make a game to make some money - I'm trying to make a game so I can play a game. If my goal is a new type of tech platformer and some I Wanna Be the Guy remake does what I wanted then I'll play that instead. But then I get hypocrisy back, "Then why are half your game projects literally described as game clones?" This is the other side of the coin here. There IS no modern equivalent of Lode Runner or CastleQuest (that I am aware of). While it's true I could play my NES versions, I've maxed them out so many times the need to make a new one is there.
Let's go back in time to before Team Fortress 2 was released/heard of. I might have looked at Team Fortress Classic and said "Well, we need a new team and class based FPS" and started work on one. Then Team Fortress 2 was released and the need to create was no longer there. Well, ok, it's not the best example, but it should be close enough. I suppose a more apt example would be Civilization. I prefer playing Settlers of Catan, but I like the basics so I might have started work on "Civ with a hex grid". Civilization V filled that need.
Current Projects
I've mostly been working on level design for Rock, Paper, Scissors... I need a better name. I think I said RPS earlier, but that sounds more like a genre shorthand than a game title. Character design is primarily done (except on bosses) unless I hire an artist and they wanna take things in a new direction. The Paper World and Rock World are easy to plan for... but I still have no idea what a Scissor world might require. I've thought of wiping them out as part of the backstory (I think I mentioned this months ago, I don't remember).
I've been challenged to release "something, anything, I don't care, just do it", but I don't really work like that. Epilepsy Man was going to be THIS something. Frankly, all I want are 4 stages, one boss (Dr. Strobe), one mini-boss graphic (no fight) and some minor graphics and a soundtrack and it's good to go. I really want to finish it, but I'm just not a passable digital artist... all my paper doodles for the game are good IMO.
Other Projects
There's been increasing interest in that Pinball game I mentioned, but I'm finding the physics difficult to do in GameMaker. I thought of using the paths tool to map curves, but it's not really working. How hard could it possibly be to note start position, start speed and start angle to calculate exit position, exit speed and exit angle on a curve? Well, paths don't work that way. I want to work on this some more before giving up and just using increments of 12.5 degree block facings (angle of deflection on a flat surface is easy). Side note, path tool still works well for drop ramps where the start, finish and speed would be constant.
All my other projects are graphics pending.
Gaming
Mostly the UbiSoft sale backlog. Doing it alphabetically for the most part. Did Trackmania first though. It's one of the best racing games I've ever played... I regret not buying it when it was on sale, but I couldn't get even ONE SINGLE REVIEW of the game or even a Metacritic rating to warrant a purchase. What's wrong with the internet these days when you can't even get information about things any more? After that I started on Assassin's Creed. It's ok. It freezes a lot though.
I also played Inside a Star-filled Sky. I thought it would be better. The nuances are good, but the core play is hindered by poor-ish controls. It plays like a DSS, but uses only the mouse which also controls the camera IE: You can only see what you're shooting towards. Slightly realistic; yes, but harmful in this style of game.
Been "trying" to play Thunderscape, but I need better MS-DOS settings or something.
Also been playing One Must Fall 2097. This is how a fighting game should be. Since damage doesn't typically flinch you have to balance power Vs. exposure to counter attacks. In most fighter's I've played recently once you flinch someone you've basically won.
Other
I'm losing more weight, yay. But I'm also not sleeping well. The gaming website I most frequent has drastically reduced the amount of actual gaming conversations making it far less appealing. If no one is talking about games, how am I supposed to know what exists? The advertisements are complete failure, only advertising games I've already heard of like World of Warcraft. Word of mouth? You guys are the mouth! Less QQ, more Pew Pew.
Also, why hasn't there been a good Star Wars game since Balance of Power?
Anyways, Lok.
I was asked earlier why I cancel/postpone my projects when a similar game is released, that it doesn't matter if I make a clone because everyone does it. Well, my answer would be "if a similar game is released... I'd be playing that instead". I'm not trying to make a game to make some money - I'm trying to make a game so I can play a game. If my goal is a new type of tech platformer and some I Wanna Be the Guy remake does what I wanted then I'll play that instead. But then I get hypocrisy back, "Then why are half your game projects literally described as game clones?" This is the other side of the coin here. There IS no modern equivalent of Lode Runner or CastleQuest (that I am aware of). While it's true I could play my NES versions, I've maxed them out so many times the need to make a new one is there.
Let's go back in time to before Team Fortress 2 was released/heard of. I might have looked at Team Fortress Classic and said "Well, we need a new team and class based FPS" and started work on one. Then Team Fortress 2 was released and the need to create was no longer there. Well, ok, it's not the best example, but it should be close enough. I suppose a more apt example would be Civilization. I prefer playing Settlers of Catan, but I like the basics so I might have started work on "Civ with a hex grid". Civilization V filled that need.
Current Projects
I've mostly been working on level design for Rock, Paper, Scissors... I need a better name. I think I said RPS earlier, but that sounds more like a genre shorthand than a game title. Character design is primarily done (except on bosses) unless I hire an artist and they wanna take things in a new direction. The Paper World and Rock World are easy to plan for... but I still have no idea what a Scissor world might require. I've thought of wiping them out as part of the backstory (I think I mentioned this months ago, I don't remember).
I've been challenged to release "something, anything, I don't care, just do it", but I don't really work like that. Epilepsy Man was going to be THIS something. Frankly, all I want are 4 stages, one boss (Dr. Strobe), one mini-boss graphic (no fight) and some minor graphics and a soundtrack and it's good to go. I really want to finish it, but I'm just not a passable digital artist... all my paper doodles for the game are good IMO.
Other Projects
There's been increasing interest in that Pinball game I mentioned, but I'm finding the physics difficult to do in GameMaker. I thought of using the paths tool to map curves, but it's not really working. How hard could it possibly be to note start position, start speed and start angle to calculate exit position, exit speed and exit angle on a curve? Well, paths don't work that way. I want to work on this some more before giving up and just using increments of 12.5 degree block facings (angle of deflection on a flat surface is easy). Side note, path tool still works well for drop ramps where the start, finish and speed would be constant.
All my other projects are graphics pending.
Gaming
Mostly the UbiSoft sale backlog. Doing it alphabetically for the most part. Did Trackmania first though. It's one of the best racing games I've ever played... I regret not buying it when it was on sale, but I couldn't get even ONE SINGLE REVIEW of the game or even a Metacritic rating to warrant a purchase. What's wrong with the internet these days when you can't even get information about things any more? After that I started on Assassin's Creed. It's ok. It freezes a lot though.
I also played Inside a Star-filled Sky. I thought it would be better. The nuances are good, but the core play is hindered by poor-ish controls. It plays like a DSS, but uses only the mouse which also controls the camera IE: You can only see what you're shooting towards. Slightly realistic; yes, but harmful in this style of game.
Been "trying" to play Thunderscape, but I need better MS-DOS settings or something.
Also been playing One Must Fall 2097. This is how a fighting game should be. Since damage doesn't typically flinch you have to balance power Vs. exposure to counter attacks. In most fighter's I've played recently once you flinch someone you've basically won.
Other
I'm losing more weight, yay. But I'm also not sleeping well. The gaming website I most frequent has drastically reduced the amount of actual gaming conversations making it far less appealing. If no one is talking about games, how am I supposed to know what exists? The advertisements are complete failure, only advertising games I've already heard of like World of Warcraft. Word of mouth? You guys are the mouth! Less QQ, more Pew Pew.
Also, why hasn't there been a good Star Wars game since Balance of Power?
Anyways, Lok.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
I Really Don't Know Where to Go From Here
Do you capitalize "go"?
Also, I think I'm gonna start posting weekly on Saturdays. Just so there's some regularity here.
Anyways, I'm not feeling good. Not sick or anything, just not good somehow. I have been playing a few too many games (or a few games too long) and need to get back to work, again. I don't know which project I want to work on and I can't seem to get in a working mood in general.
Now my bro wants to make a game. He wants to get all his friends together and co-op a big project in XNA. Well, I could do the programming end for him; I know the construction pretty well, but I'm still in Gamemaker mode. Besides, as I'm feeling right now I don't think I could get anything done.
Current Projects
Technically, none. I simply haven't been working due to Terraria. I've accrued 100 hours already and need a break. Well...
-Cytomight is on hold, too many organic games are coming out so the novelty is completely gone.
-Epilepsy Man is good to go, just need to finalize some level designs and get a graphic for Dr. Strobe and I can release it in a week.
-My CastleQuest clone is dead. I can't think critically enough right now to make a puzzle game.
-New demand for my Pinball game. The physics are the hardest part, Gamemaker does not like curves. I could change languages, but that would defeat the spirit of it.
-Started work on a Lode Runner clone, but it died after about an hour.
I could work on any of them, but I just can't bring myself to work right now.
Other Projects
I forgot about my Rock, Paper, Scissors game. I could revisit this one since it's what I have the most artwork for. But, again, this is where I'd need a designer (or even an other person at all) to help me plan some stages.
My monster strategy game (which I don't really have a name for) has almost no programming requirements, it just needs mountains and mountains of graphics and writing... I simply don't have enough placeholders for this project. I could rip from another game, but even as a placeholder that feels cheap.
My original game (The first one. The one I started this blog for in the first place) is halted. A nice indie game called OutLand came out recently. While it has nothing in common with my planned story or graphics, it achieves all the platforming goals I had hoped to attain. I no longer have a "need" to make my game. It'll come back to me later.
Gaming
Wall to wall Terraria.
Also, I finished L.A. Noire... This is the future of AAA gaming, right here. The characters felt relatable, for the first time pretty much ever in any game. There are minor flaws, like different characters sound like they were recorded at different times (a production thing). But for the most part it was all done well. The only thing that could have made it more realistic sounding is if characters talked over each other occasionally and "correctly" raised their voices as needed... but as far as I know this is virtually impossible.
Other
Summary: I'm not feeling good, but am not sick.
It'd be nice if some people posted, either here or on the boards. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my disability several times by now, it's very hard for me to concentrate when I'm not feeling good. I need direction.
I've been thinking of hiring an assistant or an artist/musician or something to help with my games. Local talent is bleak. What I need is another gamer who knows game design that we can bounce ideas between.
Grumble, Grumble; Lok
Also, I think I'm gonna start posting weekly on Saturdays. Just so there's some regularity here.
Anyways, I'm not feeling good. Not sick or anything, just not good somehow. I have been playing a few too many games (or a few games too long) and need to get back to work, again. I don't know which project I want to work on and I can't seem to get in a working mood in general.
Now my bro wants to make a game. He wants to get all his friends together and co-op a big project in XNA. Well, I could do the programming end for him; I know the construction pretty well, but I'm still in Gamemaker mode. Besides, as I'm feeling right now I don't think I could get anything done.
Current Projects
Technically, none. I simply haven't been working due to Terraria. I've accrued 100 hours already and need a break. Well...
-Cytomight is on hold, too many organic games are coming out so the novelty is completely gone.
-Epilepsy Man is good to go, just need to finalize some level designs and get a graphic for Dr. Strobe and I can release it in a week.
-My CastleQuest clone is dead. I can't think critically enough right now to make a puzzle game.
-New demand for my Pinball game. The physics are the hardest part, Gamemaker does not like curves. I could change languages, but that would defeat the spirit of it.
-Started work on a Lode Runner clone, but it died after about an hour.
I could work on any of them, but I just can't bring myself to work right now.
Other Projects
I forgot about my Rock, Paper, Scissors game. I could revisit this one since it's what I have the most artwork for. But, again, this is where I'd need a designer (or even an other person at all) to help me plan some stages.
My monster strategy game (which I don't really have a name for) has almost no programming requirements, it just needs mountains and mountains of graphics and writing... I simply don't have enough placeholders for this project. I could rip from another game, but even as a placeholder that feels cheap.
My original game (The first one. The one I started this blog for in the first place) is halted. A nice indie game called OutLand came out recently. While it has nothing in common with my planned story or graphics, it achieves all the platforming goals I had hoped to attain. I no longer have a "need" to make my game. It'll come back to me later.
Gaming
Wall to wall Terraria.
Also, I finished L.A. Noire... This is the future of AAA gaming, right here. The characters felt relatable, for the first time pretty much ever in any game. There are minor flaws, like different characters sound like they were recorded at different times (a production thing). But for the most part it was all done well. The only thing that could have made it more realistic sounding is if characters talked over each other occasionally and "correctly" raised their voices as needed... but as far as I know this is virtually impossible.
Other
Summary: I'm not feeling good, but am not sick.
It'd be nice if some people posted, either here or on the boards. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my disability several times by now, it's very hard for me to concentrate when I'm not feeling good. I need direction.
I've been thinking of hiring an assistant or an artist/musician or something to help with my games. Local talent is bleak. What I need is another gamer who knows game design that we can bounce ideas between.
Grumble, Grumble; Lok
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Enough Games: Back to Work
Played through my entire Steam backlog. Ready to get back to work.
Current Projects
Well, technically nothing. But interest in Cytomight has peaked so I think that's what I'll concentrate moreso on. I still am not sure if I should make it a DualStick Shooter (like Smash TV) or a gooey platformer.
I tried writing some generic game music, but my musical experience is limited. I basically can just play bass, I'm not much for writing melodies or anything. I'm an expert critic though, so if I ever hear something I know will work it will hit me like magic. Even though I've been playing bass, when I tried to transcribe something using FL Studio (10 now) I found the process to be difficult for me. I'll just leave music to someone else.
Other Projects
Which brings me back to my very first project, my serious platformer. The game uses a musical theme as its basis (pentatonic tones in a specific note according to the element of the room). This is to help back up the theme, but I have no idea HOW to go about writing music like that. I only know that it's what I want (Yay, that means I'm a director now). I also need special graphics that I don't know how to do (Irridescence).
Some interest has been shown in a few of my concept games: The pinball shooter and Epilepsy Man. I still don't know what to actually do with them... and by that I mean I've completed the physics engine (I'm pretty good at this part), but don't have any ideas of WHAT to do to the characters to motivate them (if anything) or what challenges I can have them overcome. Or in the case of Epilepsy Man, a simple good single platforming stage.
I don't know what makes good level design, only I know it when I see it.
I thought of a new way to handle game difficulty. Kinda similar to what Star Fox or Goldeneye/Perfect Dark does. The same world, but higher difficulties affect your objectives and start/exit points, maybe even the character you play as too. Only by playing all sides do you get a feel for exactly what's going on behind the scenes of the game.
Gaming
Just finished my Steam backlog as previously mentioned. Mostly this is:
-SimCity 4 (Which I thought sucked compared to earlier games)
-Wings of Prey (Poor controls in regular, unreasonable expectations in realistic... Look up Fighter's Anthology sometime, that's how you do a flight sim)
-Crysis and Crysis Warhead (Surprisingly good, aside from several script bugs)
-Dead Space (Derpy controls at first, annoying enemies at worst... it's like if you make a horror game about frogs, they aren't much of a threat or that scary, but it'd be annoying if you had to kill all of them to open a door)
-Borderlands (Of course, I maxed this out on the 360... now to do it again, great game..)
-Serious Sam HD (Has a similar annoying enemy design as Dead Space, but is more fun to clear them. First Encounter has an annoying number of enemies sometimes, but Second Encounter does it right.)
-Command and Conquer 4 (Worst. RTS. Ever.)
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Pretty fun so far, but it breaks a few minor rules of RTS's, IE: make sure you can tell the units apart in a hurry. This could have been fixed by giving a few of the more samey units a stronger tint)
-Dungeons (It's not Dungeon Keeper, if you are expecting Dungeon Keeper then stay away.)
For other games I played Hydra Castle Labyrinth (quick jump before I let the LP spoil me). Good balance. Could use a few tiny tweaks, but a good game overall.
I'm now level 77 in Progress Quest.
Other
In completely unrelated news, I'm losing weight. Yay me.
Questions or Comments? Post them. Tinkering on my games is really all I have so anything to break up the time would be nice.
New Construction Options, Lok
Current Projects
Well, technically nothing. But interest in Cytomight has peaked so I think that's what I'll concentrate moreso on. I still am not sure if I should make it a DualStick Shooter (like Smash TV) or a gooey platformer.
I tried writing some generic game music, but my musical experience is limited. I basically can just play bass, I'm not much for writing melodies or anything. I'm an expert critic though, so if I ever hear something I know will work it will hit me like magic. Even though I've been playing bass, when I tried to transcribe something using FL Studio (10 now) I found the process to be difficult for me. I'll just leave music to someone else.
Other Projects
Which brings me back to my very first project, my serious platformer. The game uses a musical theme as its basis (pentatonic tones in a specific note according to the element of the room). This is to help back up the theme, but I have no idea HOW to go about writing music like that. I only know that it's what I want (Yay, that means I'm a director now). I also need special graphics that I don't know how to do (Irridescence).
Some interest has been shown in a few of my concept games: The pinball shooter and Epilepsy Man. I still don't know what to actually do with them... and by that I mean I've completed the physics engine (I'm pretty good at this part), but don't have any ideas of WHAT to do to the characters to motivate them (if anything) or what challenges I can have them overcome. Or in the case of Epilepsy Man, a simple good single platforming stage.
I don't know what makes good level design, only I know it when I see it.
I thought of a new way to handle game difficulty. Kinda similar to what Star Fox or Goldeneye/Perfect Dark does. The same world, but higher difficulties affect your objectives and start/exit points, maybe even the character you play as too. Only by playing all sides do you get a feel for exactly what's going on behind the scenes of the game.
Gaming
Just finished my Steam backlog as previously mentioned. Mostly this is:
-SimCity 4 (Which I thought sucked compared to earlier games)
-Wings of Prey (Poor controls in regular, unreasonable expectations in realistic... Look up Fighter's Anthology sometime, that's how you do a flight sim)
-Crysis and Crysis Warhead (Surprisingly good, aside from several script bugs)
-Dead Space (Derpy controls at first, annoying enemies at worst... it's like if you make a horror game about frogs, they aren't much of a threat or that scary, but it'd be annoying if you had to kill all of them to open a door)
-Borderlands (Of course, I maxed this out on the 360... now to do it again, great game..)
-Serious Sam HD (Has a similar annoying enemy design as Dead Space, but is more fun to clear them. First Encounter has an annoying number of enemies sometimes, but Second Encounter does it right.)
-Command and Conquer 4 (Worst. RTS. Ever.)
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Pretty fun so far, but it breaks a few minor rules of RTS's, IE: make sure you can tell the units apart in a hurry. This could have been fixed by giving a few of the more samey units a stronger tint)
-Dungeons (It's not Dungeon Keeper, if you are expecting Dungeon Keeper then stay away.)
For other games I played Hydra Castle Labyrinth (quick jump before I let the LP spoil me). Good balance. Could use a few tiny tweaks, but a good game overall.
I'm now level 77 in Progress Quest.
Other
In completely unrelated news, I'm losing weight. Yay me.
Questions or Comments? Post them. Tinkering on my games is really all I have so anything to break up the time would be nice.
New Construction Options, Lok
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Extremely Important News This Week
I got a new computer so I'll be playing all my Steam games, especially the ones I've never played before, in a row. This means I won't be doing any work for at least a week. Apparently they added achievements to Counter-Strike: Source so I'll start with that.
Friday, April 22, 2011
I Think I'm in a Zone of Some Sort
I've just completed my book. It was quite detailed and seemed have been written with people like me in mind... Extra-patronizing at the beginning, scarily laconic at the end.
Using the book, I created (technically re-created) two of the examples; Zool and Shadows on Deck. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what the book was. It taught me a lot about efficient code. For example: If a value has to be between two ranges, use a MEDIAN calculation... It's cut almost 2/3's of my code down (not median alone, but the tricks in general). I also learned how to use nPr and nCr in AI calculations, faster collision detection, extended Boolean symbols and such from other sources during this time.
It recommends I buy some peripheral software to assist in my game making. Photoshop CS3 (at the time, I think they're at CS5 right now) and Anime Studio Debut 7 for example. I can't really afford either... if I had money I'd probably go to school. So I'll be using GrafX2 (I stand by this program), GIMP, and Pivot.
Another thing. I've always treated graphics and story as extras that aren't a core part of gameplay, but the book showed me how designing graphics and story can lead to emergent gameplay. While making the sample game Zool I noticed how much the graphics were the life of the game. When I make a platformer the placeholder graphic I use is always the Game Maker default Bronze Lock. It's square, transparent, has a visible core and is non-symmetrical... BTW: Game Maker is now up to version 8.1, yay.
I've also started italicizing titles. Not required, but it looks nicer.
Current Projects
A competitor is making a new flash game and I promised I'd match his production schedule. He released a simple demo today and I'm not that far yet. But, since I know I'm making a platformer I think I might just release the physics engine as the demo to see if anyone likes it. I know people like to be able to adjust their jump height, but I prefer fast fixed jumps so there are no mistakes. I'll probably include a second/third character who has different wall and jumping physics. But for the demo I'll stick to what I like. Of course, I don't know where I can put the executable where people can play it. I've uploaded engines to Yoyo Games before, but they're in .gmk so a person would need Game Maker 8 Pro (or 8.1 Standard) to run them.
PLACEHOLDER: If I find an upload site I like I'll replace this line with the link.
Other Projects
I've been thinking of reviving Cytomight, but based on YET ANOTHER very similar game recently commercially released I'm going to have to rework it completely. I know no one is stealing ideas, it's just one of those coincidental things. My Castlequest clone is going well, I've fixed the graphics buggies through new tips from the design book. I've been thinking of making a simple dual shooter zombie game (they're popular) to get a "something" released. Also, since I've been playing Transcendence a lot I've been thinking of making a 2D space racing game. I remember such races from Operation: Inner Space. I can hear my bro playing Blood & Magic on his PC, which reminds me I have a monsters game project way way back on the backest burner.
Gaming
Played a little Left 4 Dead 2 and some Magicka, but I've been concentrating on my work lately.
This
About the blog. I want more hits so I think I might use the ads thinger. Should I allow unregistered users to leave comments? I like comments, they give me direction. People could email me too, but I rarely read my emails due to the mountains of automated messages I get intentionally (I could opt out, but I'm watching for sales.)
Anyways:
Since it took a while to finish the book I've gotten into the habit of working on my projects every day and how to make a good design document. If I could just figure out how to use Celtx I could be on my way to my first release (of a game).
I'm on my way, Lok.
Using the book, I created (technically re-created) two of the examples; Zool and Shadows on Deck. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what the book was. It taught me a lot about efficient code. For example: If a value has to be between two ranges, use a MEDIAN calculation... It's cut almost 2/3's of my code down (not median alone, but the tricks in general). I also learned how to use nPr and nCr in AI calculations, faster collision detection, extended Boolean symbols and such from other sources during this time.
It recommends I buy some peripheral software to assist in my game making. Photoshop CS3 (at the time, I think they're at CS5 right now) and Anime Studio Debut 7 for example. I can't really afford either... if I had money I'd probably go to school. So I'll be using GrafX2 (I stand by this program), GIMP, and Pivot.
Another thing. I've always treated graphics and story as extras that aren't a core part of gameplay, but the book showed me how designing graphics and story can lead to emergent gameplay. While making the sample game Zool I noticed how much the graphics were the life of the game. When I make a platformer the placeholder graphic I use is always the Game Maker default Bronze Lock. It's square, transparent, has a visible core and is non-symmetrical... BTW: Game Maker is now up to version 8.1, yay.
I've also started italicizing titles. Not required, but it looks nicer.
Current Projects
A competitor is making a new flash game and I promised I'd match his production schedule. He released a simple demo today and I'm not that far yet. But, since I know I'm making a platformer I think I might just release the physics engine as the demo to see if anyone likes it. I know people like to be able to adjust their jump height, but I prefer fast fixed jumps so there are no mistakes. I'll probably include a second/third character who has different wall and jumping physics. But for the demo I'll stick to what I like. Of course, I don't know where I can put the executable where people can play it. I've uploaded engines to Yoyo Games before, but they're in .gmk so a person would need Game Maker 8 Pro (or 8.1 Standard) to run them.
PLACEHOLDER: If I find an upload site I like I'll replace this line with the link.
Other Projects
I've been thinking of reviving Cytomight, but based on YET ANOTHER very similar game recently commercially released I'm going to have to rework it completely. I know no one is stealing ideas, it's just one of those coincidental things. My Castlequest clone is going well, I've fixed the graphics buggies through new tips from the design book. I've been thinking of making a simple dual shooter zombie game (they're popular) to get a "something" released. Also, since I've been playing Transcendence a lot I've been thinking of making a 2D space racing game. I remember such races from Operation: Inner Space. I can hear my bro playing Blood & Magic on his PC, which reminds me I have a monsters game project way way back on the backest burner.
Gaming
Played a little Left 4 Dead 2 and some Magicka, but I've been concentrating on my work lately.
This
About the blog. I want more hits so I think I might use the ads thinger. Should I allow unregistered users to leave comments? I like comments, they give me direction. People could email me too, but I rarely read my emails due to the mountains of automated messages I get intentionally (I could opt out, but I'm watching for sales.)
Anyways:
Since it took a while to finish the book I've gotten into the habit of working on my projects every day and how to make a good design document. If I could just figure out how to use Celtx I could be on my way to my first release (of a game).
I'm on my way, Lok.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
April Tweet 2 - I Got A Book!
Bought a school text book on game design. Gonna run through the entire book (quite thick, like 1200 pages). It's not a how-to guide or an instructional... it's more like a children's math textbook with quick how-to's and problems to solve with an answer key in the back. I will be solving this book over the next few days which will help getting me into "Good Work Habits" and programming regularly.
Friday, April 15, 2011
April Tweet - New Game Idea
Minor update.
I got a brilliant idea for a game while watching some footage of Alien/Devil Crush. A cross between a pinball game, and a Shoot 'em up.
You'd move the ball around like a normal pinball (flippers and paddles), BUT you got guns which you control like Smash TV (Dual-Stick Shooter). Shoot enemies and bosses and stuff.
I got a brilliant idea for a game while watching some footage of Alien/Devil Crush. A cross between a pinball game, and a Shoot 'em up.
You'd move the ball around like a normal pinball (flippers and paddles), BUT you got guns which you control like Smash TV (Dual-Stick Shooter). Shoot enemies and bosses and stuff.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Empty Week
Well, Epilepsy Man was an April Fools joke... but he tested very well with my little cousins so maybe I should make it into a real game.
I'm still feeling a little down, but it's not that bad. I'm mostly achy due to improper exercising, y'know... lifting in stupid ways that will harm you. Don't, always follow the recommended lifting method.
I'm thinking there are only like 2 people even reading this blog. That's ok, it's mostly for my benefit anyways. I'm told that documenting game projects is important.
Current Projects
I might make Epilepsy Man, but that aside:
I've got the physics engine for my CastleQuest clone mostly done. There's a minor visual bug with pushing blocks. I've proven that it is just a visual bug, the collision detection works properly. A mild desync, I'll correct it later. I just need add jumping and its done.
Other Projects
My bro's friend is taking a game programming course online through DeVry. I kinda wanna take the course too, but I can't find it. Seriously, I searched and I can't find it. I hate how politically correct school course names are too. You can't take "Writing", you have to take "Humanistics"... herp da derpz.
His first module actually was with using Game Maker. So I've been looking at his intro projects... Well, they're quite poor. Nothing wrong with that for a first timer though, the basics are all there. But I get the feeling that his teacher is going to be forcing graphics tricks over legitimate gameplay.
Oh, the point! Ya, to help out I've been teaching him on the side how to make Bomberman in Game Maker 8. It's one of the most educational games I can think of. You got destroyable randomly placed blocks with protected zones, static AI (automatic patterns), dynamic AI (reactive patterns and machine states), re-dynamic AI (I made this term up, it's probably called something else, machine states with self referential variables), power ups, menus, scoring, timers, grid based movement, grid based collision detection, object controllers, sound, music, palettes, etc... lots of stuff.
So I've been making my own Bomberman clone on the side while I teach his guy the basics of game design... ironic, he's going to school to learn this. I made a Bomberman clone AGES ago in QBasic (like, in '87 I think)... so it can't be that hard to do in Game Maker. I really wish I could find my QBasic disks, I have dozens of games from the decade I used it... it'd be nice to re-create my own games verbatim.
Future?
My weakness is still procrastination, but I've been pretty good at focusing my procrastination time into exercise. If anyone has any requests of a classic game I can make a Jimmy Hart version of by all means post it. I need the practice.
Gaming
I'm back on PSO, hard. WHY~~~~!!!! I played it for 10 years solid, got a good 100k accumulated hours on it (that includes multiboxing before you point out the game hasn't been out that long yet). I've also been playing the "Indie Game of the Day" from the GameFAQs Indie Board... there's a lot of great stuff out there. I also got Pilotwings Resort and a 3DS. It's nice, but that killed my budget for the month. The 3DS is nice that is, Pilotwings is short and lacks multiplayer.
I'm totally not going back to work right now just gonna listen to music and drink, Lok.
I'm still feeling a little down, but it's not that bad. I'm mostly achy due to improper exercising, y'know... lifting in stupid ways that will harm you. Don't, always follow the recommended lifting method.
I'm thinking there are only like 2 people even reading this blog. That's ok, it's mostly for my benefit anyways. I'm told that documenting game projects is important.
Current Projects
I might make Epilepsy Man, but that aside:
I've got the physics engine for my CastleQuest clone mostly done. There's a minor visual bug with pushing blocks. I've proven that it is just a visual bug, the collision detection works properly. A mild desync, I'll correct it later. I just need add jumping and its done.
Other Projects
My bro's friend is taking a game programming course online through DeVry. I kinda wanna take the course too, but I can't find it. Seriously, I searched and I can't find it. I hate how politically correct school course names are too. You can't take "Writing", you have to take "Humanistics"... herp da derpz.
His first module actually was with using Game Maker. So I've been looking at his intro projects... Well, they're quite poor. Nothing wrong with that for a first timer though, the basics are all there. But I get the feeling that his teacher is going to be forcing graphics tricks over legitimate gameplay.
Oh, the point! Ya, to help out I've been teaching him on the side how to make Bomberman in Game Maker 8. It's one of the most educational games I can think of. You got destroyable randomly placed blocks with protected zones, static AI (automatic patterns), dynamic AI (reactive patterns and machine states), re-dynamic AI (I made this term up, it's probably called something else, machine states with self referential variables), power ups, menus, scoring, timers, grid based movement, grid based collision detection, object controllers, sound, music, palettes, etc... lots of stuff.
So I've been making my own Bomberman clone on the side while I teach his guy the basics of game design... ironic, he's going to school to learn this. I made a Bomberman clone AGES ago in QBasic (like, in '87 I think)... so it can't be that hard to do in Game Maker. I really wish I could find my QBasic disks, I have dozens of games from the decade I used it... it'd be nice to re-create my own games verbatim.
Future?
My weakness is still procrastination, but I've been pretty good at focusing my procrastination time into exercise. If anyone has any requests of a classic game I can make a Jimmy Hart version of by all means post it. I need the practice.
Gaming
I'm back on PSO, hard. WHY~~~~!!!! I played it for 10 years solid, got a good 100k accumulated hours on it (that includes multiboxing before you point out the game hasn't been out that long yet). I've also been playing the "Indie Game of the Day" from the GameFAQs Indie Board... there's a lot of great stuff out there. I also got Pilotwings Resort and a 3DS. It's nice, but that killed my budget for the month. The 3DS is nice that is, Pilotwings is short and lacks multiplayer.
I'm totally not going back to work right now just gonna listen to music and drink, Lok.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Epilepsy Man is Complete
Based on a true story, from the internet. A man who flashed bright red and blue, gave seizures to the world.
Gameplay
It's basically an action platformer. Epilepsy Man walks through the stage flashing giving anything that looks at it seizures. It's somewhat a parody of the stealth genre, since you want to be seen by enemies, but not by allies.
Boss
There's only one Boss, the evil Dr. Strobe. His Strobelight powers means he only ever sees one of Epilepsy Man's colours and will not succumb to a seizure. How to defeat him you'll just have to figure out on your own.
SPOILERS: You shoot him
In Other News
Today is the 1 year Anniversary of version 31 of Dwarf Fortress... Not since PSO have I logged so much time into one game.
Epilepsy Man is available now for quantum download. If you are frothy you already have it.
Fore Realz, Lok
Gameplay
It's basically an action platformer. Epilepsy Man walks through the stage flashing giving anything that looks at it seizures. It's somewhat a parody of the stealth genre, since you want to be seen by enemies, but not by allies.
Boss
There's only one Boss, the evil Dr. Strobe. His Strobelight powers means he only ever sees one of Epilepsy Man's colours and will not succumb to a seizure. How to defeat him you'll just have to figure out on your own.
SPOILERS: You shoot him
In Other News
Today is the 1 year Anniversary of version 31 of Dwarf Fortress... Not since PSO have I logged so much time into one game.
Epilepsy Man is available now for quantum download. If you are frothy you already have it.
Fore Realz, Lok
Thursday, March 24, 2011
No Work Done Yet - Adventures in Depressionland
Just a short update since I haven't done one in a while.
I've been bed-ridden for the last week or so. Even then I wasn't doing much work. I have serious concentration issues whenever I'm not procrastinating. Maybe I need some prescription pharmaceuticals. It's been suggested that I might be suffering from Catatonia. Based on the Wiki I'd say it's a pretty good chance, I don't really know.
Current Projects
Technically none, since I haven't been working. That aside, I'm having a lot of difficulty even thinking about proper game design. I need to go to school or something just to get some focus. But I'm quite poor. Well, not dirt poor (nothing against dirt). I only make about $6k a year... I'm tempted to post my PayPal and pray for donations. Anyways. Cytomight is on the backburner, but I've ripped a lot of its code for use in my new game "RPS". Also, I've been trying to re-create CastleQuest on the NES verbatim in Gamemaker just so I can get back into the programming environment, but that's not going well either... same problems, Procrastination.
Other Projects
Same boat. I have yet another new idea for a game... and it hurts me. I hate being so inspired with no way to express it.
Anyways.
There are a lot of mining adventure games; Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, Miner Dig Deep, Spelunky... they're all pretty good (although, I don't really care for Minecraft). I've noticed that there really isn't a hardcore action game about a Miner. Most mining games are either adventure sandboxes or economy games... I'm going to throw all that out. Big bosses, crazy explosions and lots of death.
Gaming
Played Touhou for a while and Castle of the Winds. I tried to play Nier, since my bro likes it... but I gave up since fishing is dumb. My bro bought me Minecraft, but it's not my cup of tea... I need fixed goals. In Dwarf Fortress I'm quite happy simply trying to survive and kill Megabeats while maintaining a stable economy... in Minecraft I can dig into a wall and AFK indefinitely, or take a couple hundred arrows into the Nether and take over hell... even on Hard it's not Hard enough for me. I also got the new Pokemon game, but I haven't played it in the last week or so...
I've been thinking of doing an LP of Illusion of Gaia, but IDK... my heart isn't in anything right now.
Apath-O-Tron, Lok.
I've been bed-ridden for the last week or so. Even then I wasn't doing much work. I have serious concentration issues whenever I'm not procrastinating. Maybe I need some prescription pharmaceuticals. It's been suggested that I might be suffering from Catatonia. Based on the Wiki I'd say it's a pretty good chance, I don't really know.
Current Projects
Technically none, since I haven't been working. That aside, I'm having a lot of difficulty even thinking about proper game design. I need to go to school or something just to get some focus. But I'm quite poor. Well, not dirt poor (nothing against dirt). I only make about $6k a year... I'm tempted to post my PayPal and pray for donations. Anyways. Cytomight is on the backburner, but I've ripped a lot of its code for use in my new game "RPS". Also, I've been trying to re-create CastleQuest on the NES verbatim in Gamemaker just so I can get back into the programming environment, but that's not going well either... same problems, Procrastination.
Other Projects
Same boat. I have yet another new idea for a game... and it hurts me. I hate being so inspired with no way to express it.
Anyways.
There are a lot of mining adventure games; Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, Miner Dig Deep, Spelunky... they're all pretty good (although, I don't really care for Minecraft). I've noticed that there really isn't a hardcore action game about a Miner. Most mining games are either adventure sandboxes or economy games... I'm going to throw all that out. Big bosses, crazy explosions and lots of death.
Gaming
Played Touhou for a while and Castle of the Winds. I tried to play Nier, since my bro likes it... but I gave up since fishing is dumb. My bro bought me Minecraft, but it's not my cup of tea... I need fixed goals. In Dwarf Fortress I'm quite happy simply trying to survive and kill Megabeats while maintaining a stable economy... in Minecraft I can dig into a wall and AFK indefinitely, or take a couple hundred arrows into the Nether and take over hell... even on Hard it's not Hard enough for me. I also got the new Pokemon game, but I haven't played it in the last week or so...
I've been thinking of doing an LP of Illusion of Gaia, but IDK... my heart isn't in anything right now.
Apath-O-Tron, Lok.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Should I Dip Into the Public Domain?
I've come up with a very interesting project idea based on simple rock, paper, scissors (literally). So I thought, "hey, I just need to produce SOMETHING, right? Get a portfolio going and some design credits."
Well I came up with a bunch of ideas alright, but I really don't feel like coming up with even more artwork. Most of my free drawings go right into Cytomight. So I'm thinking of hitting the public domain for materials and music. A nice disco mix of Clair de Lune, for example.
Cytomight
Officially suspended. New project exceeds previous ambitions.
Other Projects
All suspended while working on this new project. One exception, I'm doing an art project for a forum...
Gaming
NightSky was amazing. BitTripRunner was ok, but it made me a bit dizzy. It'd probably be better on console where there wouldn't be variable framerates. I also bought Command and Conquer on Steam, but I don't have the space to install it... I think I might have mentioned that before, I don't remember. I've also started playing PSO again, but I'm trying not to be as obsessive about it as I was for... well, the entirety of 2000-2007.
I am interested in your comments. I still suffer from extreme procrastination (task-aversion, to be precise) so any motivation at all would be helpful.
Thermodynamically Yours, Lok
Well I came up with a bunch of ideas alright, but I really don't feel like coming up with even more artwork. Most of my free drawings go right into Cytomight. So I'm thinking of hitting the public domain for materials and music. A nice disco mix of Clair de Lune, for example.
Cytomight
Officially suspended. New project exceeds previous ambitions.
Other Projects
All suspended while working on this new project. One exception, I'm doing an art project for a forum...
Gaming
NightSky was amazing. BitTripRunner was ok, but it made me a bit dizzy. It'd probably be better on console where there wouldn't be variable framerates. I also bought Command and Conquer on Steam, but I don't have the space to install it... I think I might have mentioned that before, I don't remember. I've also started playing PSO again, but I'm trying not to be as obsessive about it as I was for... well, the entirety of 2000-2007.
I am interested in your comments. I still suffer from extreme procrastination (task-aversion, to be precise) so any motivation at all would be helpful.
Thermodynamically Yours, Lok
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tweet.
Basically I just got a new idea for a game and am gonna try to run with it. Don't neglect the previous blog post. BTW: I'm thinking of starting a new blog dedicated to game reviews if anyone has any requests.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Feeling Better
Phases.
I thought of a new possible innovation in modern games. Since HP is often considered an abstract, why not have enemy gunfire graphically miss your character even if it would have done damage. You can't dodge a hitscan weapon, but you can make it "look" like you did. Only the hit that brings your health below 0 would actually impact the character, making it more dramatic.
Cytomight
I kinda forgot where I was going with this project. I know I wanted colour changing and absorbing, but I can't think of a format. For all I know it could have been a bullet hell shooter (The body is quite linear). It could have been a metroidvania, since a body is also has "zones" with different barriers, but I think I wasn't since this would have been a lot of artwork. I can't program and draw at the same time, well I can... what I mean is if I do everything I'll be too busy picking for perfection as opposed to delegating art to another person where I can just trust them to do a good job.
I'll probably keep picking at it. I've had to renovate the basic game as I discovered similar games so that my game isn't. Osmos, for example, had the expansion and division mechanic I was going to do, so I dropped it. de Blob has a colouring effect, but doesn't overlap with my core gameplay; so I didn't drop it.
Other Projects
I'm really liking my latest art project. These little guys are very poseable and emotive. Their object based design seems to say "Flash", but no way I'm paying $800 for a weekend project. I could try to find a way to get it to work in Gamemaker with fixed body and head types. This still would mean drawing into a uniform space (say, a 64x64 sprite) which I don't do well with. Even if I go nonuniform I'd still need to make sure any animation is properly synced. I don't have the resources for this kind of animation. Using single stock frames is out of the question, that really only works for storybook games. Plus I don't know what kind of game I could make these guys into since, well, they're just people... anything would technically work and nothing specifically accentuates.
Gaming
Grinding in Global Agenda. It's good. It combines all the best features of MMO's and FPS's and tosses out a lot of the junk. Levels don't really matter, as all the items are mostly balanced (but high level items have cool tricks to them). Basically as soon as you hit level 10 you can do almost all the content, more at 19 and finally everything at 30. The level cap is 50. I find the speed of grind to be quite acceptable, but you can even double your gains by buying a booster. If you get referred to the game by a friend I highly recommend buying a booster since the booster will also get the 50% discount for being referred. All the classes are uniquely different and that's what separates it from the modern EQ-clone. One, the "tank" (Assault) happens to also do the most damage to bosses (although the Recon does compete directly). Two of the classes can be healers, but neither of them need to heal to win with good strategy. Bosses are good. You can use cover to avoid their fire, but they know to switch targets and move into positions where they can attack more than one player. They can "call for help" and a bunch of minions show up who "seem" to be specifically spawned to defeat your exact party configuration (although I've been told it's actually random). PvP is fast and uses a lot of the classic game modes from FPS's such as Nodes, Control, and Payload. Agencies (Guilds) can even compete for persistent control of a world map. One caveat... since there's a lot of different yet equally viable strategies available it's often difficult to agree on a strategy without talking so make sure everyone is on the same page when doing something.
That aside I've also been playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Still haven't gotten very far, but I'm still at the phase of the game where I just rush everything to get a feel for enemy strengths/weaknesses. I also bought Command and Conquer since it was on sale on Steam, but I lack the HD space to install any of them. Yay Steam! Buy now, play later.
I've been watching someone play Nier. This game is very... umm, it lacks fluidity. There's great dramatic music and cinematic boss fights (as you can see in the intro video even) mixed in with chains of chump quests, uninteresting environments and general misuse of resources. The scene direction is excellent, but it also combines it with irrelevant flashes of... umm. Well, characters who have no business being there try to steal your scene multiple times during the same scenes and then immediately poof into non-existence as soon as the scene is over. Imagine if you were fighting Bowser and halfway through Luigi shows up to land one hit in a scene and then poof into non-existence... That aside the game makes good use of timing queues to make sure the music syncs up with the action required. Not to mention every time you turn the game on you hear "Weiss, you dumbass!"... loud, and every time. That's just the kind of shock you need before you go hunting sheep.
---
IMO, Lok
I thought of a new possible innovation in modern games. Since HP is often considered an abstract, why not have enemy gunfire graphically miss your character even if it would have done damage. You can't dodge a hitscan weapon, but you can make it "look" like you did. Only the hit that brings your health below 0 would actually impact the character, making it more dramatic.
Cytomight
I kinda forgot where I was going with this project. I know I wanted colour changing and absorbing, but I can't think of a format. For all I know it could have been a bullet hell shooter (The body is quite linear). It could have been a metroidvania, since a body is also has "zones" with different barriers, but I think I wasn't since this would have been a lot of artwork. I can't program and draw at the same time, well I can... what I mean is if I do everything I'll be too busy picking for perfection as opposed to delegating art to another person where I can just trust them to do a good job.
I'll probably keep picking at it. I've had to renovate the basic game as I discovered similar games so that my game isn't. Osmos, for example, had the expansion and division mechanic I was going to do, so I dropped it. de Blob has a colouring effect, but doesn't overlap with my core gameplay; so I didn't drop it.
Other Projects
I'm really liking my latest art project. These little guys are very poseable and emotive. Their object based design seems to say "Flash", but no way I'm paying $800 for a weekend project. I could try to find a way to get it to work in Gamemaker with fixed body and head types. This still would mean drawing into a uniform space (say, a 64x64 sprite) which I don't do well with. Even if I go nonuniform I'd still need to make sure any animation is properly synced. I don't have the resources for this kind of animation. Using single stock frames is out of the question, that really only works for storybook games. Plus I don't know what kind of game I could make these guys into since, well, they're just people... anything would technically work and nothing specifically accentuates.
Gaming
Grinding in Global Agenda. It's good. It combines all the best features of MMO's and FPS's and tosses out a lot of the junk. Levels don't really matter, as all the items are mostly balanced (but high level items have cool tricks to them). Basically as soon as you hit level 10 you can do almost all the content, more at 19 and finally everything at 30. The level cap is 50. I find the speed of grind to be quite acceptable, but you can even double your gains by buying a booster. If you get referred to the game by a friend I highly recommend buying a booster since the booster will also get the 50% discount for being referred. All the classes are uniquely different and that's what separates it from the modern EQ-clone. One, the "tank" (Assault) happens to also do the most damage to bosses (although the Recon does compete directly). Two of the classes can be healers, but neither of them need to heal to win with good strategy. Bosses are good. You can use cover to avoid their fire, but they know to switch targets and move into positions where they can attack more than one player. They can "call for help" and a bunch of minions show up who "seem" to be specifically spawned to defeat your exact party configuration (although I've been told it's actually random). PvP is fast and uses a lot of the classic game modes from FPS's such as Nodes, Control, and Payload. Agencies (Guilds) can even compete for persistent control of a world map. One caveat... since there's a lot of different yet equally viable strategies available it's often difficult to agree on a strategy without talking so make sure everyone is on the same page when doing something.
That aside I've also been playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Still haven't gotten very far, but I'm still at the phase of the game where I just rush everything to get a feel for enemy strengths/weaknesses. I also bought Command and Conquer since it was on sale on Steam, but I lack the HD space to install any of them. Yay Steam! Buy now, play later.
I've been watching someone play Nier. This game is very... umm, it lacks fluidity. There's great dramatic music and cinematic boss fights (as you can see in the intro video even) mixed in with chains of chump quests, uninteresting environments and general misuse of resources. The scene direction is excellent, but it also combines it with irrelevant flashes of... umm. Well, characters who have no business being there try to steal your scene multiple times during the same scenes and then immediately poof into non-existence as soon as the scene is over. Imagine if you were fighting Bowser and halfway through Luigi shows up to land one hit in a scene and then poof into non-existence... That aside the game makes good use of timing queues to make sure the music syncs up with the action required. Not to mention every time you turn the game on you hear "Weiss, you dumbass!"... loud, and every time. That's just the kind of shock you need before you go hunting sheep.
---
IMO, Lok
Sunday, February 20, 2011
I'm Not In Good Health
My mental illness is overtaking my productivity. I can't concentrate on anything at all. I've pretty much devolved into spending whole days drinking pop and listening to the same 20 or so songs over and over. I get like this every couple months or so and I don't know why. I lose all track of time. Sometimes literally, the scrobbler I use with WinAmp occasionally stops the system clock... I lost four whole hours yesterday without even noticing. Also, that "autopilot" feeling I get to handle social situations happens even around my family.
I keep getting new ideas for games. Some very advanced concepts in story telling and gameotography (made up word). And then they just disappear. I write some of them down, but when I review them later they don't make any sense. Like the crazy scratches of a cave dwelling hermit, I'm sure there was something of importance if I could just make sense of it.
My AISH papers are going along well, but I'm still paranoid that I'll be declined despite being in the process of getting these papers for more than five years. All that's left is some mental testing. I don't think it's going to go well: 1. I test extremely well, my estimated IQ according to the last government test I took was a 177 yet I can barely function in a real world environment. and 2. Tests are serious business to me so I can't fake a test to appear worse off than I really am. If the papers do go through I'll be able to go to school again. Stratford Career Institute has a class on Game Design that would be quite affordable if I had any money. Accreditation doesn't matter to me as long as it's something I can use... like locksmithing or accounting.
I've been drawing a little lately... here's a something.
Maybe he can be the main character of some quick platformer....
Cytomight
Game is on hold due to stuff. I got two enemies done, the red blood cell and the histamine (in name only, don't take the implied biology seriously) and fixed the colour blending slightly (There are only 6 bright spots in an HSV colour space, not the 7 I expected). Still can't make up my mind if it should be a top-down exploring maze-like game (moving around a body) or if it should be a shmup style game with faster action and bosses.... or both/other. Soundtrack is still non-existent, but I have no ideas anyway. Work is incredibly slow even when I force it.
And then I see a promo for de Blob 2 on Wii... Well, great. Between de Blob and Osmos I can't even be sure if my "original never been done before" idea actually is or not. Maybe Morphic fields do exist?
Other Projects
Been thinking of resuming my older projects, or even my comic. My doodle (above) could be just the pose-able I needed to get a highly animated character. Worried slightly that he looks too much like something from Knytt.
I keep getting this idea to make a Space-Navy type of game. I really like Naval combat and it's really not done much, or at all, these days. After watching Macross again I kinda wanted to do my own take on it. Of course, I'm told Infinite Space on DS is pretty good... but like most people would agree, my local EB is failsauce.
I've been thinking of making an extremely simple game like Rock-Paper-Scissors just so I can say "I produced something!" But this goes even worse. If lofty goals don't hold my attention, why should scab work hold them?
Gaming
Stopped playing Monday Night Combat. I really like the game, but I'm at the point where the Pro-Am spread is too visible and I end up on fail teams that I can't carry alone. I'm "trying" to play Global Agenda, but it runs terribly on this computer. Well, ok, it runs ok... just the text is unreadable. Since individual item stats don't vary it's not really a problem, I just don't like it. That aside, the game is still way fun to play even with the bad performance. Also, PSO2 should be coming out in a while. Potential to be the greatest game ever made, but likely to be a flip. PSO was so magically perfect, SEGA just can't seem to recreate it.
Progress Quest, like always, is running in the background. My Land Squid Slow Poisoner is up to level 76 on Spoltog. I'm still trying to beat NetHack (I've make it as far as the Plane of Air twice, but get killed by swarms each time... no conflict) and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (I'm attracted to the Naga class, despite being difficult to play), though I only just started DCSS so I don't know what kind of challenges will show up later. I also play Dwarf Fortress. The new patch added some incredible features, but the mining took a hit... exploratory mining isn't as fun as it was in 31.18.
My console gaming is far behind. While I am still limited by my very low budget I still just don't seem interested in playing "new" games. Currently working on a low level run of FF6 (so far so perfect, I'm at the Floating Continent with perfectly low stats... playing on the real GBA cart, no hax). Also did a few runs of Sonic 2 and 3 on the Mega Collection on Gamecube (the superior version due to low load times)... been meaning to get back to Monster Hunter Tri, but people keep taking my Wii for Netflix. ('Cuz it's wireless... I sure hope no one tried to stick the Wii into the VCR slot). Waiting patiently for the Wii release of Descent and La-Mulana. I got the other consoles too. They just don't have any games... that interest me.
Other
Does this count as depression? I don't really feel anything... it's more like I'm a zombie, or a robot... completely mindless. Sudden shocking spikes of free will disrupting my already uneasy sleep. I'll remember things that never happened and get confused when the deja vu kicks in. Well, this has been a long post. Probably my longest post ever, including the contests I have on the forum. I predict this will only get maybe 5 views though... I'm not gonna bother "Monetize"ing until I actually produce something.
Is it strange to have nostalgia for the feeling of something that hasn't happened yet? Lok.
I keep getting new ideas for games. Some very advanced concepts in story telling and gameotography (made up word). And then they just disappear. I write some of them down, but when I review them later they don't make any sense. Like the crazy scratches of a cave dwelling hermit, I'm sure there was something of importance if I could just make sense of it.
My AISH papers are going along well, but I'm still paranoid that I'll be declined despite being in the process of getting these papers for more than five years. All that's left is some mental testing. I don't think it's going to go well: 1. I test extremely well, my estimated IQ according to the last government test I took was a 177 yet I can barely function in a real world environment. and 2. Tests are serious business to me so I can't fake a test to appear worse off than I really am. If the papers do go through I'll be able to go to school again. Stratford Career Institute has a class on Game Design that would be quite affordable if I had any money. Accreditation doesn't matter to me as long as it's something I can use... like locksmithing or accounting.
I've been drawing a little lately... here's a something.
Cytomight
Game is on hold due to stuff. I got two enemies done, the red blood cell and the histamine (in name only, don't take the implied biology seriously) and fixed the colour blending slightly (There are only 6 bright spots in an HSV colour space, not the 7 I expected). Still can't make up my mind if it should be a top-down exploring maze-like game (moving around a body) or if it should be a shmup style game with faster action and bosses.... or both/other. Soundtrack is still non-existent, but I have no ideas anyway. Work is incredibly slow even when I force it.
And then I see a promo for de Blob 2 on Wii... Well, great. Between de Blob and Osmos I can't even be sure if my "original never been done before" idea actually is or not. Maybe Morphic fields do exist?
Other Projects
Been thinking of resuming my older projects, or even my comic. My doodle (above) could be just the pose-able I needed to get a highly animated character. Worried slightly that he looks too much like something from Knytt.
I keep getting this idea to make a Space-Navy type of game. I really like Naval combat and it's really not done much, or at all, these days. After watching Macross again I kinda wanted to do my own take on it. Of course, I'm told Infinite Space on DS is pretty good... but like most people would agree, my local EB is failsauce.
I've been thinking of making an extremely simple game like Rock-Paper-Scissors just so I can say "I produced something!" But this goes even worse. If lofty goals don't hold my attention, why should scab work hold them?
Gaming
Stopped playing Monday Night Combat. I really like the game, but I'm at the point where the Pro-Am spread is too visible and I end up on fail teams that I can't carry alone. I'm "trying" to play Global Agenda, but it runs terribly on this computer. Well, ok, it runs ok... just the text is unreadable. Since individual item stats don't vary it's not really a problem, I just don't like it. That aside, the game is still way fun to play even with the bad performance. Also, PSO2 should be coming out in a while. Potential to be the greatest game ever made, but likely to be a flip. PSO was so magically perfect, SEGA just can't seem to recreate it.
Progress Quest, like always, is running in the background. My Land Squid Slow Poisoner is up to level 76 on Spoltog. I'm still trying to beat NetHack (I've make it as far as the Plane of Air twice, but get killed by swarms each time... no conflict) and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (I'm attracted to the Naga class, despite being difficult to play), though I only just started DCSS so I don't know what kind of challenges will show up later. I also play Dwarf Fortress. The new patch added some incredible features, but the mining took a hit... exploratory mining isn't as fun as it was in 31.18.
My console gaming is far behind. While I am still limited by my very low budget I still just don't seem interested in playing "new" games. Currently working on a low level run of FF6 (so far so perfect, I'm at the Floating Continent with perfectly low stats... playing on the real GBA cart, no hax). Also did a few runs of Sonic 2 and 3 on the Mega Collection on Gamecube (the superior version due to low load times)... been meaning to get back to Monster Hunter Tri, but people keep taking my Wii for Netflix. ('Cuz it's wireless... I sure hope no one tried to stick the Wii into the VCR slot). Waiting patiently for the Wii release of Descent and La-Mulana. I got the other consoles too. They just don't have any games... that interest me.
Other
Does this count as depression? I don't really feel anything... it's more like I'm a zombie, or a robot... completely mindless. Sudden shocking spikes of free will disrupting my already uneasy sleep. I'll remember things that never happened and get confused when the deja vu kicks in. Well, this has been a long post. Probably my longest post ever, including the contests I have on the forum. I predict this will only get maybe 5 views though... I'm not gonna bother "Monetize"ing until I actually produce something.
Is it strange to have nostalgia for the feeling of something that hasn't happened yet? Lok.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I ain't doin' nothin'
It's been about two weeks. Seems like a good time for an update.
Cytomight
Didn't work on it at all. I've been playing Monday Night Combat pretty much non-stop... so, ya.
Other Projects
Working on a small piece of fan art. I'll link it when I'm done.
Gaming
Monday Night Combat... that's about it. I'm also new on Global Agenda, which is pretty ok. Still at NetHack and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup of course. Thinking of restarting La-Mulana (would be the 5th time, great game)
This has been the nigh-pointless bi-monthly update, Lok
Cytomight
Didn't work on it at all. I've been playing Monday Night Combat pretty much non-stop... so, ya.
Other Projects
Working on a small piece of fan art. I'll link it when I'm done.
Gaming
Monday Night Combat... that's about it. I'm also new on Global Agenda, which is pretty ok. Still at NetHack and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup of course. Thinking of restarting La-Mulana (would be the 5th time, great game)
This has been the nigh-pointless bi-monthly update, Lok
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Game Making Mini-Competition
Cytomight
I've been complaining about my procrastination a lot. And procrastinating about complaining about it...
So I got in a little forum conversation about what to do with my games, namely Cytomight. So another poster and I decided to do a little contest. We both work on our games and post the result.
This should be the motivation I need to get this project running smoothly.
I've perfected the colour matching and enemy generation formulas. It's all down to the graphics, sound and level design now.
Other Projects
My monsters game is going ok too. I'm using the Lufia 2 tilesets as placeholders (since there's lots and lots of perfect 4-direction animated sprites). It just needs a token story and real graphics. I also haven't figured out how to get unit targeting to work faster... it works, but it greatly slows down the game when there's lots of units. This needs to be optimized.
I've also been thinking of making a racing game. I've noticed there are no racing RPG's, as silly as that is, so I thought I'd try to make one.
Playing Games
I recently did an LP of Secret of Mana and am currently doing a blog on Dwarf Fortress. I'm also currently hooked on Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. I think I've played as much Desktop Dungeons as I can handle for now. I'm also eagerly awaiting the Wii release of La-Mulana and 1943 (and Descent, and Night Sky). I hate waiting. My next most anticipated game would be From Dust.
Anyways, I better get to work. Lok.
I've been complaining about my procrastination a lot. And procrastinating about complaining about it...
So I got in a little forum conversation about what to do with my games, namely Cytomight. So another poster and I decided to do a little contest. We both work on our games and post the result.
This should be the motivation I need to get this project running smoothly.
I've perfected the colour matching and enemy generation formulas. It's all down to the graphics, sound and level design now.
Other Projects
My monsters game is going ok too. I'm using the Lufia 2 tilesets as placeholders (since there's lots and lots of perfect 4-direction animated sprites). It just needs a token story and real graphics. I also haven't figured out how to get unit targeting to work faster... it works, but it greatly slows down the game when there's lots of units. This needs to be optimized.
I've also been thinking of making a racing game. I've noticed there are no racing RPG's, as silly as that is, so I thought I'd try to make one.
Playing Games
I recently did an LP of Secret of Mana and am currently doing a blog on Dwarf Fortress. I'm also currently hooked on Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. I think I've played as much Desktop Dungeons as I can handle for now. I'm also eagerly awaiting the Wii release of La-Mulana and 1943 (and Descent, and Night Sky). I hate waiting. My next most anticipated game would be From Dust.
Anyways, I better get to work. Lok.
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