May 11, 2010
Introduction:I started this project November 2009 and decided that it would be a good idea to create a devlog as a way to keep track of my progress. I plan on adding mock-up screenshots and a trailer as soon as I am able to do so.
Story Synopsis: A young girl comes across a magical pouch dropped by a messenger bird. The pouch changes the surrounding landscape to an almost direct pathway to this city. Her goal is to return the pouch to the Bird King. It takes place in late fall/early winter.
Gameplay: One Curious Nightfall is a platformer with HD pixel graphics and extremely smooth animation. There are no enemies and all the player has to do is get from the beginning to the end. Basically, it is an interactive short film.
There are a total of 28 screens worth of gameplay. Each screen has its own set of unique graphical elements.
Main Character
She has no name in the story. But her "working title" so to speak is Pixi.
Animation Checklist Pixio Climbing onto Ledge - 30 frameso Crawling - 28 frames o Crouching - 16 frameso Jumping Up - 22 frameso Pick Up Object - 40 frameso Running - 16 frameso Running ¾ front - 16 frameso Running ¾ back - 16 frameso Standing ¾ views - 2 frameso Swinging - 25 frameso Lying down - 20 frameso Waiting (main) - 1 frameo Waiting (version 1) - 31 frameso Waiting (version 2) - 25 frameso Walking - 31 framesAs you can see, I am almost finished animating her. [update: I'm done.]
I will start on the checklist for other animations (background characters/Special FX) as soon as I start animating them.
I will do the same with the backgrounds.
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May 12, 2010
o Jumping animation finished today
o Running animation clean-up started
More previews:
Crouching (1 of 16 frames) Jumping (1 of 22 frames)
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May 13, 2010
Preliminary work
This was the first sprite I created for this project, to test out the size and level of detail I wanted. There were two reasons I didn't like this old design. First, I didn't like any part of the head, and that is the most important part. Second, I thought a skirt would be more interesting to animate than pants.
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May 14, 2010
o Finished running animation today
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May 17, 2010
o Finished running 3/4 back animation today
This has to be the largest sprite ever created. The size is 572x981 pixels. For comparison's sake, Ragna's standing sprite from Blazblue is something like 240x400 pixels (if my screenshot is correct). Yeah, it's huge.
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May 18, 2010
o Finished lying down animation today
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May 19, 2010
o Finished standing ¾ views today
o Got started on running ¾ front, my last animation.
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May 22, 2010
o After 6 months of tedious work, all of the 254 frames of animation for my main character are complete! Now it's time to start on the backgrounds!
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May 25, 2010
o So far two out of 32 backgrounds are finished. I hope to finish 2 a day starting now.
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May 30, 2010
I've spent the last few days building a game engine (instead of making more graphics).
Currently everything I need is in place and working well. The jumping and ducking are a little buggy, but it's not game-breaking and besides, I don't know how to fix them. I guess they'll be left how they are.
Backgrounds10 1234567891011121314151617182432333435363738-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 03, 2010
The game engine is basically finished and I've been designing levels.
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June 10, 2010
I've been tweaking the game engine, finishing up level designs, and making artwork for the opening sequence.
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June 13, 2010
I'm 2/3 finished with the opening sequence. After this it's back to the backgrounds. There are also a few minor bugs and design issues to work out.
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June 14, 2010
Just finished the opening sequence.
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June 19, 2010
Room 13 was completed a few days ago and room 14 was completed today.
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June 20, 2010
Room 2 is finished.
I guess completing one room a day is more reasonable than completing two. Maybe the backgrounds will be finished in 3 weeks? That would be the earliest, probably.
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June 21, 2010
Room 8 is finished.
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June 23, 2010
Room 6 is finished.
Room 12 is finished.
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June 24, 2010
Room 12 is finished.
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June 26, 2010
Room 4 is finished.
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June 28, 2010
Room 7 is finished.
I'll also be adding more polish to the existing rooms today.
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July 1, 2010
Room 10 was finished two days ago and Room 15 was finished today.
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July 2, 2010
Room 18 is finished.
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July 4, 2010
Room 17 is finished.
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July 7, 2010
Room 19 is finished.
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July 9, 2010
Just finished room 21.
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July 10, 2010
Completed room 23. Also, I'm planning on making two more rooms, 33a and 35a. I think they'll add to the experience.
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July 13, 2010
-Finished room 24.
-Fixed some bugs.
-Polished some existing graphics.
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July 14, 2010
Animated a duck.
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July 20, 2010
Finished room 32, the most visually complicated room in the game. There are several rooms that are long and have completely flat surfaces, and it is interesting thinking of how to make them each interesting to look at. Every one of them is cooler than the previous one, and this is the last. Oh, and it's the longest room too.
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July 21, 2010
Room 33 is finished. I though I'd mix it up a bit by making the room following the most complicated room, the simplest room.
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July 26, 2010
Room 34 was finished yesterday and I finished room 35 today. Only three to go.
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July 29, 2010
Room 36 is finished today.
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July 30, 2010
Room 37 is basically finished.
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July 30, 2010
Room 38, the last room, is finally complete. Now all I need to do is make the ending, which will probably take 1-2 weeks.
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August 3, 2010
EndingPanels:
123456789101112131415Panels 13-15 were completed yesterday.
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August 4, 2010
Panels 6-8 and 11 were finished today.
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August 5, 2010
Panels 2, 4, and 9 were finished today.
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August 7, 2010
Panel 5 is now finished.
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August 10, 2010
Panels 1 and 3 are now finished.
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August 11, 2010
Panels 10 and 12 are now finished. And with that the game is pretty much complete!
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September 7, 2010
Last animations to do:
Chicks walking around and pecking at the ground Mother hen crying Mother hen hugging chicks Castle door opening Cockatiel flying Cage falling Guard robot Guard robot deactivating Father cockatiel Father and son birds rubbing heads Hen and chicks waving goodbye Cockatiels waving goodbye-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 9, 2011
Yesterday I started fixing the color palette, which was horrendous before. It should look
much better when I'm finished. So far, rooms 1 and 2 have been redone.
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Rooms to recolor:
o Room 0o Room 1o Room 2o Room 3o Room 4o Room 6o Room 7o Room 8o Room 9o Room 10o Room 12o Room 13o Room 14o Room 15o Room 17o Room 18o Room 19o Room 21o Room 24o Room 23o Room 32o Room 33o Room 34o Room 35o Room 36o Room 37o Room 38-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 20, 2011
I'm just not that happy with some of the gameplay elements right now... They've been bothering me since their first iteration. I hope that I will finally have something I'm happy to release soon. I actually wrote myself a list of things I want to fix before I decide to move on to my next project.
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January 22, 2011
Only seven rooms to go!
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January 24, 2011
Four rooms left.
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January 30, 2011
Room recoloring complete. I may or may not recolor a few of the sprites as well.
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February 3, 2011
Minor tweaks. Why does making games take so long? It's not even a complicated game...
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February 6, 2011
I just fixed the worst bug in the game! How incredibly satisfying! How incredibly satisfying indeed.
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February 25, 2011
Well, I'm done with the game. When the music is completely finished, it will be ready to be released. However, I don't have any precise release date in mind.
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