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[BoxedLunch]

SODA-POP-FIZZ

Soda-pop-coke is a platformer metroidvania that i started work on this summer as an attempt to improve my graphics-making and game-making skills. It has since then turned into a bigger project that i am trying to spend a lot of time on. The game is about a young soda-jerk who travels to a temple located in a mountain where it is said that the secret to making the perfect soda is contained. But in order to get into the chamber where the supposed secret is located, you have to collect the several sacred sodas located at the bottom of soda-springs all around the mountain.

I'm trying to make the game pretty easy to play as far as controls and mechanics go. It'll be your basic run-and-jump platformer with maybe a few other little things like wall-jumping and swimming if i decide to add them. There will be some form of attacking as well, but i don't plan to make it the focus of the game.

Anyway, i plan to make the levels themselves the most interesting part of the game rather than the mechanics. Each area will be themed after one of your usual level-types. Things like a fire level, ice level, forest level, etc. as well as a flavor of soda. For example, the ice area might be themed after a berry drink with something in it to make it taste cool, or the fire area might be themed after something like curry-flavored soda. I plan on putting in a few neat little sections in each area to spice things up as well. Or at the very least a few things in each level that make it so you aren't playing just another forest or ice area.

I chose the theme of soda for the game -actually i'm used to calling it pop so fuck it i'm calling it that from now on- because pop is a huge part of my life. I drink tons of it and one of my favorite things to do is to go look for strange drinks in stores or on the internet and try them. Heck i even have a small stockpile of discontinued Jones Soda and Mountain Dew sitting in my room. I also figured i could do a lot with the theme.

The name of the game comes from the different terms used to describe pop.

The game is being developed in Game Maker 8.1 and uses the Grandma Engine by Matt Thorson.

I hope to actually finish this. So far things are going well, so that's good i guess. I'll update this topic as I work on this.


I had been posting about this elsewhere for about 3 days so i'll just sum up what i've done in those few days:  

-Cleaned up my project a bit. I deleted sprites, objects, and other resources i didn't need as well as commented on some of my code. I still need to do a bit more of that, but the project is much easier to work with than it was before.

-Did a bit of planning on the starting area. I'm not really sure how good it's going to be, but hopefully it'll serve as a decent tutorial area. I'll try and get some feedback from some people on that when it's done.

-Decided to make the tiles just be simple, gray squares until I have finished making a room. Once i do that i'll replace them with actual tiles.

-Made rough versions of about 5 rooms (not counting the center of the map).

-Resized the player sprite so that it would be easier to work with.
 Here's what it looks like now (new one is on the right):
 

Right now, i'm about halfway through creating a tutorial area.

[Ashkin]

Hello.

[todd]

Awesome Daray. Glad to see a devlog for this!

[SolarLune]

I also want to follow this - I wonder how it'll turn out. Sounds interesting!

[---]

Soda is obviously the correct way to say it.

Also 'soft-drink'.

[Zednaut]

'Fizzy beverage', too! This is looking really promising, can't wait to see more!

[Ashkin]

Request to change title to soda-pop-fizz and remove corporate branding

[BoxedLunch]

i probably should do that.

[BoxedLunch]

why not soda-pop-cola?

glad to see this here, also. is this what has become of duck?

well it was originally named after the 3 most-known terms for soda in North America (soda, pop, and coke). coke isn't really speaking of a specific drink supposedly. just whatever, like soda or pop. I don't really want to use cola in the name because it refers to a specific type of soda and the game is about several different kinds. i really only plan to use cola in one level.

As for Duck, i don't know. It definitely hasn't turned into this though. Duck was going to be more of a puzzle-platformer with metroidvania elements to it. Each world would've been like a mini metroidvania with maybe very linear paths connecting them (if that). There also would've been more puzzle elements than what i plan to have here, and a lot more focus on story and the characters in that world. I don't want to say Duck is dead. I hope it never will be. But i can't say it's currently being worked on. I continue to have ideas for it, but can't get the time to work on it even with somebody else helping me out. I also don't have much confidence in it as I'm working on it. I don't feel experienced enough to create what i want to create. At least not with that project.

One day I'll revive Duck and make something great out of it. I'm sure of it. After all, it's basically my dream project. I've worked on it on and off since the 7th or 8th grade, revived it once or twice, and I think about it constantly. One day, I'll be ready to make that game, and when the time comes I'll do so. But now is not that time.
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I just got emotional about a game about a green duck.

[Zednaut]

Getting emotional about games is pretty much an indicator that your work is very important to you, though, so don't feel like it's silly! It's really important to cherish your ideas.

I'm working on an exploration game too, so I'm really interested on seeing someone else's work too! Great job on the graphics, I love your colors and how well they synergize.

[Magnesium Ninja]

Will be following this, it looks rather interesting!

[---]

i guess in the south they call soda 'coke'. "What kinda coke you want?"

[BoxedLunch]

Not much of an update today. I've been trying to figure a few things out and a couple of problems have stopped me from doing so. Anyway, here's the update.

Day 4
-I added some tiles into the rooms i felt were close enough to being finished. I'll probably spend a bit more time on these rooms when i get farther along so that they look really good, but what i have is good enough for now.

-Ditched the tutorial i was going to do in favor of something much shorter at the start. I'm not getting rid of the rooms i've already set up for it though, i'll just change some small things about them and keep them. They're pretty decent rooms otherwise anyway.

-Started work on a basic enemy. Kind of like the turtles from Crash Bandicoot if you know what i'm talking about. If you don't, the turtles flip over when you jump on them, serving as bounce pads until you attack them from the side, which causes them to die. I'm just working on a sprite for it right now, but once that's done i'll code the enemy.

-Tried to add support for rooms that aren't the same size as all the others. Rooms that are double-width, double-height, etc. I'm pretty sure i know what i'm doing, but i ended up encountering a problem that is stopping me from figuring this out for the time being. It shouldn't take long to figure it out. It's really just a problem with something Game Maker doesn't seem to have, rather than a code error. I do need to get this part done though before i spend a ton of time working on rooms. So I'll just work on a few gameplay things i haven't finished yet until then.
Tomorrow, i'll just work on some random things that haven't been finished yet if i don't get my problem solved. I'll also post something here that explains a few more things about the game in-depth. And i'll write a post here where i'll talk about the game a bit more than i did here (if I have time).

Oh, and thank you everyone for the comments!

[BoxedLunch]

Day 5
-Got doors to work. They just take you to rooms or areas separated from the rest of the map or to another location without you having to go off one of the screen's sides. They should be useful for if i want to add secret rooms in places where i normally can't.

-Tried doing some background tiles. I didn't do very well. I was having a lot of color issues. I guess my choice in colors in everything else has made it difficult for me to do this. So i backed up the sprites and tiles i had already made and tried to edit their colors slightly to get them to work. It helped, but not much. Oh well, the background tile i made was a quick one just to tests things anyway.

-Started work on the differently-sized rooms thing. Didn't finish it though. Had to settle for something a bit more difficult that i wanted to fix that problem. But whatever, it works.

-Made the first upgrade room. I'll explain some of the upgrades below.

-Tried making some grass so that the rooms wouldn't look so bland until i get some nice background tiles made. I'm trying to make the grass be colored like the areas it's in, and in the main tunnels it'll serve as a sort of way to tell you where you're going. If you see more green grass, you'll be heading towards the forest. If a certain type of grass starts appearing less, you might be going away from where it came from. I figured it'd be more interesting than signs telling you where you're going. I plan on giving a reason for this in the story, but i won't talk about it yet.

This picture was just the result of me putting grass wherever the hell i felt like.
Here's a list of some of the planned upgrades (These might change).

Bottles: Pop's Bottles are one of the first upgrades you will get in the game. They are green soda bottles that you carry around and they will serve multiple purposes. They will be used to solve puzzles and do a few other things (one of them possibly being the ability to stun enemies).

Shoes: The Spiffy Sneakers grip to walls very well and allow you to wall jump.

Pants: There will be some sort of pants upgrade that allows you to double-jump. Not sure what to name it.

Fighting Book: Kung-fu for Kool-kats will teach you how punch things and punch them good.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the final part of each area, the Soda Springs.

[JMickle]

This is sounding incredibly interesting, and it seems you are putting a great amount of thought into the design! I am very much looking forward to it. It'd be nice to play something longer of yours.

[BoxedLunch]

Day 6
-Decided to change the player sprite (yet again) so i could make him a bit more colorful. I did this because he didn't really stand out in anything other than a plain background, and even then he was a bit out of place looking because the sprite was almost monochromatic.
Here's what he looks like now:

I didn't really want to make the change, but it was causing difficulties for me not to, so i figured i might as well just get it over with.

-Made and then placed the first upgrade into its upgrade room (Pop's Bottles).

-Made the decision to add a few more rooms between Upgrade Room #1 and the start of the game. I feel like the area is too short as it is now. Yes it's not finished, but after the upgrade rooms i don't want to add much more besides few small paths to the other areas. So i figured why not add a few more rooms. That way i could add a really short path or two more that goes of off the main one and explain a few more concepts. 2 to 4 should be enough.
SODA-FOUNTAINS(The Soda Springs)
Soda-fountains are what will give life to the mountain in-game. They will be deep-pools of soda located in each of the areas around the mountain. Each one will be filled with a soda flavor that is based on the area you are in and at the bottom will be a magical soda bottle that is one of the keys used to unlock the secret to making the perfect soda. These pools will serve as the game's water sections.

There will only be one entrance to these pools in each area, and it's your job to find it. Each pool will be themed after the area you are in. For example, the Wind level might have strong currents in places, as well as a few other surprises. You will also have to watch your oxygen levels, because if you run out, you're dead. That is unless you can find an air bubble in time.

Some ideas i have for flavors of pools: Black-Currant, Crystal Cola, Berry, Curry or Chili-Pepper, an odd fruit flavor, and Tangy Citrus.

Tomorrow there won't be an update post but I will respond to posts here. I've been meaning to post about this game on the Going Stars blog, but have been putting it off. I take way too long to write posts, so i can't really spend time writing two long posts. I'll post a double-update on Monday.

[Zednaut]

I love your idea for the Soda Springs, very creative! As are your ideas for drink flavours.
A quick question: will you be putting a playable demo up before the game is released?

[QOG]

different sodas should give you different time-limited abilities.

[Udderdude]

You won!  Unfortunately, you have diabeetus.

[BoxedLunch]

A quick question: will you be putting a playable demo up before the game is released?

There will probably be a short demo when i finish the main tunnels as well as one when i finish one or two of the areas. I hope to have the first demo out by the time the school-year starts (late-August).