I know I’m jumping way ahead of the gun here, but I figured it’d be worth throwing out there to all you readers. For those of you just picking up on the blog, let me fill you in real quick.
My name is Chris, and I’m actively working on honing my programming skills in order to create a 2D platformer in the vein of Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic 2 is still the best).
Quick enough? Cool. Currently I’m working on making a set of tests, just very basic platformer type stuff. Right now I’m roughing out a small room where a player can move their character around a small room, jumping from platform to platform. Once I get that made, then I’ll add a goal, an exit or flag or something. Once THAT’s working, then I’ll add some sort of death trap that’ll send you packing to the beginning. Then I’ll add a baddie or two. THEN who knows. Moving platforms, interactive items, eventually I’ll work on creating a “camera” system so I can make a level that’s larger than the size of the screen.
Now even though I’m a long way off from being able to make a full-featured game, I thought I’d ask for your input. My question to you is this: what would you like to see in a 2D platformer? Anything from gameplay mechanics to visuals and audio, what’s something you’d just absolutely love to get in a game? There’s no wrong answer, just want to hear some ideas. And hey, if you give me one that’s really, really cool, when I get around to making a game I might just use your idea and give you full credit for it.
I had to post this up here; if you regularly read this blog then you could always do with more goodies from my grab-bag of inspiration. Today’s is actually pretty fresh, coming straight from the Mediterranean and first presented to the world by TNUC. For those of you who didn’t catch his post last night, this is an epic “way-slow” mix of 80′s italo disco by Spiros. For those of you unfamiliar with Spiros’ “way-slow” mixes, they completely change the original songs into something much, well, slower. But not in an irritating fashion. In any case, give it a listen here or at TNUC’s site.
Yes, I’ve done it! Sort of, it’s a start. I’ve successfully made a game in Processing. At least, the core of a game.
When looking at the various collision detection and physics tests I’ve done using the ‘Thing’ class I created, the easiest game to make, in my opinion, was PONG. And not surprisingly, it was. When getting into game design it’s good to start small. PONG is definitely that, yet it has many of the main elements of any traditional game: user input, collision detection, a score system, moving objects, and (extremely) simple AI. My rendition of PONG has all of that. So why is it just the “core”? Well, there are other things a finished game needs too. An attract mode, a credits screen, perhaps a menu or hi-score display. All things I want to incorporate into future games, so eventually I’ll get them into PONG (or as I call it, P*NG, since PONG is probably trademarked or something). But for now, it’s just the core game.
And what a game it is! To play, use the ‘a’ and ‘z’ keys to move your paddle (on the left) up and down. You’ll notice that the background is a shade of grey. Every time you score, the background gets a bit lighter. Every time the computer scores it gets darker. The goal is to get it to white. Once that happens, you’ll be congratulated with a background of grey, where you can do it all over again!
Sorry kids, nothing really new today. Work’s been doing a number on my noggin, and that combined with the move just hasn’t been leaving a whole hell of a lot of time for game design. I’ve been running the idea of an ‘environment’ class through my head non-stop for the past couple days though, so eventually I’ll get it down on paper and go from there. With any luck I’ll have a sketch or two to showcase what I come up with. Anyways, in the meantime here’s some awesome tunes. All works the rights of their respected owners/creators.
So I did a little work in Processing last night, and for those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter (you should) the sketch I worked out was a simple physics test in which a character jumps. There’s a floor and a ceiling, and when he hits the ceiling he falls back to the floor instead of going through it, and the ceiling moves upward and shrinks in width each time you hit it. You can check it out here, and jump with the ‘j’ key (keep Caps Lock off):
Now, the code’s pretty simple but it’s a bit messier than I’d like it to be, so I’m trying to work out a way to simplify it. Right now I’m just using one class for all the objects (floor, ceiling, and character), so I’m thinking the way to go would be to create a new “environment” class that would control things like gravity, wind resistance, etc. I’ve also got to make the terrain a separate class as well, as different forms of terrain obviously have different properties, such as friction or spring-like action. Also, the character should probably have it’s own class in order to make character movement more contained, as right now it’s just a bunch of “if” statements. So all are things to work on.
I feel like I’m headed in the right direction, though. I think that once I get the objects properly broken down to my liking, once I can create a simple one-room level a character can wander around, get killed in, or make it to a goal, then I’ve got almost all the basics. After that it’s level design, eye candy, and more fun stuff. Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have added some of these things to this simple setup. As always, leave your comments below; and if you’ve got any game programming or design experience, tips and pointers are much appreciated!
No, the blog isn’t dead. And neither am I, for that matter. It’s just been a little busy lately as I’ve finally gotten an apartment. Moving stuff around, getting things arranged, it takes up time. I haven’t done anything design related (work aside) in several days, so I hadn’t bothered to post any updates on here. But hey, I figured I might as well post SOMETHING so you don’t think I’ve evaporated or anything.
Anyway, the new place is pretty sweet. Like, for me it’s huge, and one of the coolest things about it is it’s got an extra room I’m going to convert into a studio. So with any luck, it’ll turn into my own Batcave where I’ll do all my research and invention, and hopefully start being a bit more productive. And I’ve got one particular project in mind that I could see eating up my free time for the next several years, so it’ll be nice to have a room I can dedicate to the development of that project.
What is that project, you ask? Well, it’s a game. For years I’ve wanted to make a video game, and now feels like the right time to do it. It’s not just for portfolio, like a lot of my design stuff is. This is something else, a labor of love if you will. And I know it’s something I can do, I just need to do it. So this blog is probably going to become an update center for that project; a fairly irregular update center, but updated nonetheless. In the meantime, wish me luck on the new apartment, and keep your eyes peeled on here for news on the project.
So I’m reading through Byran Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series, since I can’t see the movie until next week sometime. Figure I might as well catch up on them to have something to compare, plus I read the first volume a long time ago and loved it. I’ll probably do a write up on the movie after I see it, as it’s on pretty much every blog in the universe right now too.
Anyways, I’ve got some goodies to share with you all today. Some code stuff, and a video! I’ll get the code stuff out of the way first. First up, I got really bored and did up a cool little light-up grid thing that looks like a really simple VJ graphic, and you can fiddle with it all you want. Use the Number Pad to light up the squares, or use the number keys if you’re NumPad deprived.
The next program’s a bit more useful, from a code standpoint anyway. One of my current goals is to make a platformer, nothing fancy, just clean, old-skool sensibilities and fun (i.e. Super Mario Bros). So, one of the biggest issues in coding such a game is collision detection. Well, thanks to a lovely article on the Allegro wiki I got it all up and running in Processing, and modified the code a bit so I can tell which axis imact took place (important stuff for things like jumping on baddies versus running into them). So here’s the little example I coded up for that.
Also of note is that everything on screen in that is an object of the same class, so technically everything there could be moving around and bouncing off one another. But that’d just be crazy.
Finally, we come to the video. The one you’ve all been waiting for. Here it is, in all it’s glory, under the direction of the very talented Erin Bagwell, Team Ladybird’s submission to the 48 Hour Film Project of 2010, Self Portrait.
These are some little creature concepts I was doodling while dining on some fine pizza at Prima’s yesterday. I’m considering making a platformer at some point, with James as the protagonist. More to come as I flesh out more on that.
I’m also working on some stuff that’s taking me back to my days in Quartz Composer, except I’m making things in Processing. It’s going to allow me for a lot more control and freedom, but that in itself is going to be a bit of an obstacle for me as I’ll have very little direction. Definitely expect to see more on that in the near future.
Tonight! Witness what critics would be calling “A SENSATION!”, “DAZZLING!”, and “LADYBIRD/MANFALCON’S GREATEST CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT YET!” if the critics has actually seen it yet! One night only, at the (not-quite-Apollo) Market Arcade Theater on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, come and see the premiere of “Self Portrait“!
For those of you that couldn’t wrap your head around that ridiculousness, “Self Portrait” is the film Team Lady Bird created for the 48 Hour Film Project. Come check it out tonight at the Dipson Market Arcade Theater, starting at 7:00pm. It’ll be playing along with about eight of the other films entered into the competition, so you’ll get plenty of entertainment for the evening. So come check it out!
And if you’d like to read more about the making of the film, check out Erin’s blog here!
No real reason for the Thundercats-like title, I’m just bored.
So I did a little tinkering with the blog’s stylesheet, added a nifty Twitter widget, and threw that cool image up on the top of the blog. Also, I made this nifty little test in Processing that lets a viewer wander around a 3D landscape of cubes, and did it without using an external library for camera control. Use ‘w’, ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘d’, ‘q’, and ‘e’ to explore.
So yeah, that’s about it, so uh… oh yeah! The 48 Hour Film Project! Well, I want to write about it. But right now I can’t. You see, it’s not online yet, and nobody’s seen it other than the people involved, so it’s kinda top secret. What I CAN tell you is it looks fantastic (at least, the raw footage does. I haven’t actually seen it yet). The shoot went swimmingly, with a couple minor hiccups here and there, but infinitely better than expected. So yeah, pretty awesome stuff.
Chances are by the end of this week or next it’ll be online, so when it does expect to see it here in all it’s glory.
EDIT: Oh yeah, here’s a good tune that I just feel like sharing. I’ll probably talk more about these guys later, but for now enjoy this sweet video/song.
