What I'm Working On

I've been working on a few different games lately. All of these projects are being made in Game Maker 8.0.

The first is an adventure rpg. You play as a detective solving a murder. The suspects include a Yakuza group and the violent authoritarian police force. I really like working in this sort of mix between 2d sprites and 3d environments, because I can easily make buildings with very simple walls and textures, rather than having to make sprites which take perspective and stuff like that into consideration. My main obstacle in this project is coming up with interesting gameplay, especially since I'm trying to avoid relying on combat. I've tried out a couple of combat systems, including a turn based system resembling a Final Fantasy game, and also a real time system more similar to a beat em up, but neither system really appeals to me. I enjoy the challenge of making a game which doesn't rely on violence for a change.

The next game is an ambient exploration shooter game. A combination of Knytt, Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid 3. I've been focusing on lighting, graphical effects, and sound design, and I'm quite proud of the results. The only problem is a distinct lack of any sort of gameplay or story, making it more of a tech demo than anything else at this point.

Third is a game I came up with after playing through Mega Man 2 (that game is HARD!) It's a combination of Mega Man and a metroidvania. I came up with a quick engine in a couple of days, but I've hit a roadblock in starting designing levels and powerups. Also, I suck at pixel art.

This is a weird one. It was going to be a sort of Mass Effect demake, combined with a Cactus game. I never really got farther than a basic first person engine and some 8 bit character billboards.

This is another fairly random project. All it does is generate a medieval or fantasy house, of the sort you might see in a Game of Thrones. It doesn't do much more than coming up with a basic family tree which assigns random personality traits to different family members.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you like the look of any of these, or you want to share whatever project you're working on. I'll try and update this blog a little more often, but you can always check my twitter feed for what I've been doing.

What I'll Be Doing in 2011

What Games I'll be Making:
Right now, I'm working on a story centered RPG sort of thing.

It takes place on an artificial island, where powerful, violent Neo-Yakuza factions fight with a corrupt police force. Where a distant war creates a city of criminals and arms dealers. Where the only hope for justice is revolution.

So yeah.

What Games I'll be Playing:
I recently got into Morrowind because of the amazing world. I've been enjoying it quite a bit more than Oblivion, due to the much more subtle use of level scaling, previously mentioned awesome world, better fast travel, and greater variety of factions and items.
I've also gotten amassed a large collection of games I need to play on my DS. This includes the World Ends With You, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor and SMT: Strange Journey, as well as Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. So that should keep me busy.
If I ever get bored of that, then I have both Humble Indie Bundles to play. I'm particularly looking forward to Aquaria, Cortex Command, and Machinarium.

What Music I'll be Listening To:
I got an iPod for Christmas. I've been listening to Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Ennio Morricone, the Cave Story Remix Project, the Spirit Engine 2 OST, the Scott Pilgrim OST (both game and movie), and the Black Mages.

New Years Resolutions?
Not really. I'd like to spend a bit more time practicing Kung Fu, and I suppose I should try and eat less junk food. Other then that, 2010 was not a horrible year. Why fix what ain't broken?

Bytejacker: The Show: The Game: Episode 1

I made an adventure sort of game for Bytejacker's birthday! Download it here: http://bit.ly/9LTkEU
Made it in about three hours or so. It uses both text and pictures, and took me around 3 hours to make from scratch (although pictures and music were taken from Bytejacker's show).

The Entropy Movement Update

So, I had plans to release the beta for the Entropy Movement today. However, looking back at my "to-do" list before I released the beta, I haven't really finished very much on it.

Things to do before beta is released:

1. Create suitable opening sequence for demo
2. Create suitable ending sequence for demo
3. Make basic menu
4. Create and place savepoints
5. Finish up "prisoner conversation sequence"
6. Create dying sequence
7. Polish health and energy usage
8. Polish up sound design

However, I did a lot of stuff which wasn't on the list, like adding an awesome grenade launcher, polishing up the level design and AI, fixing a lot of bugs, and added about a dozen pages to the design document detailing characters, locations, and enemies. 

Summer Projects

 As of right now, I only have two more days of school, and then I will have two and a half months to work on some awesome projects.

Super Secret Collab
Right now, I'm helping Liam Berry out with a project. I don't want to say too much, but I really like the direction it is going. Also, working with someone else on a game is a very nice change of pace from having to do everything myself.

The Entropy Movement

I'm also still working on The Entropy Movement (formerly titled Cyber Odyssey). Progress has been swell, and since I've been working on it for over a year now, I thought I would do some beta testing. If you're interested be sure to let me know (through a comment, email, twitter, etc...). A list of things I need to do before I release the beta is here. The estimated release date is on the 21, so if you're interested let me know soon.

Legos?
I thought I might as well do something with the massive amount of legos I have sitting around. I thought this would be a good project to pursue. It's fairly simple single shot lego gun. No clip or semi-automatic fire at all, so I thought it would be a good starting point. After that I can move onto more advanced projects.

I will also be updating the blog a lot more frequently over this summer, so stay tuned for more updates!

Bushido

I made a game in a week. I doubt I spent more then ten hours on it. I made it for a competition I had with myself. I bet myself that I wouldn't be able to make a game in a week, and I lost. Here's the result:


Bushido
You play as a samurai, fighting against a horde of bandits. Progress through the three levels with your trusty sword, beating back your enemies. Remember, a true samurai is not afraid of death.

Download

Why I don't Make Games in One Week

I’ve had three real days to work on my game, Friday Saturday and Sunday. Of those, I only really touched it on Sunday. I was too busy on the other two days to do much. However, on Sunday I managed to get a basic engine up which included movement and your basic sword slash. I also have two kinds of enemies, swordsmen and people with bows.

For those of you who are wondering, the game is a cross between a beat-em-up and a scrolling shooter, where you play as a samurai. I got a lot of inspiration from Seven Samurai. It’s a pretty well known Japanese film that was made about sixty years ago, and it’s freaking awesome. One of my favorite movies of all time.  I’m trying to capture a little of that in my game.

In other news, I now have a Formspring. You can use it to direct anonymous questions towards me about pretty much anything. 

Beginning Project: Make a Game

I like to consider myself an Indie Games Developer. I've thought of myself that way for at least two years. However, in that span of time I have failed to make a single game. Therefore I am beginning Project: Make a Game.
The goal? Make a game in one week. Starting this Thursday night, I must have a complete game playable from start to finish by next Thursday. If I fail? I'll never call myself an Indie Games Developer again.

The requirements for this game will be minimal.
-It must have a menu (I hate games without menus)
-It must have some kind of story (just to make it interesting for me)
-It must be a complete game. A few bugs or glitches are fine, but it players should see a definite start and finish when playing the game.

I'm not going to have any rules restricting me from using any code, engines or sprites that have already been created, as long as I'm the one who created it.

Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy the results.

Dwarf Fortress

It was spring. Finally, the harsh winter was over. With the change of seasons, a caravan of elven traders decided to pay a visit to my fortress. My dwarfs started bringing up the various goods we had crafted in anticipation of trading with the elves.
Suddenly, goblins spring out and ambush the elves! I organize two squads, and send them out to fight off the goblins. Many of the elves, caught by surprise, are almost instantly slain. Only one of my dwarves, known as Iden Nitigmeng Olonthir Nentuk, a champion, is ready for battle. He rushes outside to combat the goblins, while the remaining elves run towards the safety of the fortress. One of them is butchered, but there are still two more. There are twelve goblins, who catch up to the elves just outside my walls. They engage in fierce fighting as Iden runs as fast as he can to reach them. By the time he gets there, all of the elves are dead. Furious with rage, Iden takes his hammer and blasts over half of the twelve goblins about twenty feet backwards (no joke). They never get back up. The other goblins try to run away, but Iden quickly destroys them.
I let the rest of my dwarves out of the fortress, and they quickly go to loot the bodies of both friend and foe. None of them seem particularly worried about the dead elves. Afterwards, one of my miners decides to throw a party.

Such is Dwarf Fortress.

Game Developing Resolutions

As an indie developer, I have a lot of freedom in how I develop games. This freedom is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. One advantage is the ability to work whenever I want. The down side is that I do not get a whole lot done. I can make any kind of game I want, but my visions are often inconsistent and I usually stray from my original vision and become unsatisfied with what I am making. To focus my efforts and be more productive in my game making endeavors, I decided to make up a list of game developing resolutions/commandments (even though I missed New Years).

1.) You will turn off the internet when working. I find I am much more productive when the internet is off. If there are any tutorials or articles I need to reference, I can save them onto my computer.

2.) You will set up deadlines. The most productive I've ever been is probably while developing my game, Agent, for a competition. If I hadn't had the deadline forced upon me, it would have taken me ten times as long to get to the stage of development that I did.

3.) You will plan out what I will do before sitting down at the computer. All too often, I find myself far too unfocused when I am programming. I will add a chunk of code in one place, and then move somewhere else, and try changing something there. With more focused goals I hope to be more efficient in making my games.

4.) Spend more time in reality. I often am far too ambitious in my game visions. I won't stop too consider how long it will take to do the graphics for a particular area, or how I will program a certain interface. Being more realistic in my expectations will help me set better goals.

5.) Don't neglect your school work too work on games. This has gotten me in trouble more then a few times. I usually end up having to do my work at the last moment and doing a terrible job (although my teachers don't seem to notice).

And, finally:

6.) Stop writing on your stupid blog and make some games!

Kindle

Recently, I got a Kindle. I'm not quite ready to abandon paper books, but I love the ability to read PDFs on it. I have a ton of PDFs on my computer which I don't want to read because reading on a computer is very tedious. However, its much easier on a Kindle because it doesn't strain your eyes anymore then reading a normal book does.

The other thing I like about it is the large amount of books which are either free, or less then two dollars. Most of these are classics, like the Iliad, and are still a lot of fun to read. Because of the free wireless, you can download one of these free books whenever and wherever you want, which is really cool. In a month or two, I'll probably have made up the up front cost of the Kindle by buying these cheap books.