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[BMcC]

Anyway, you're right on this is fantastic for indie devs young and old to actually see the development of a game unfold before their very eyes. Def got me inspired! Would love to see at some point a postmortem of sorts, maybe per milestone? What's working, what isn't, and what's planned for the next build.

I like the idea of a postmortem per milestone a lot.  That would be really healthy for the project.  (As if having such a distinguished community analyzing it weren't enough!)  It would also help keep me focused, give me a nice breather, and probably become a good resource in itself.

I'm new to all this "game creation" stuff. That's prob'ly why I never finish (or start) anything.

Really?  Your animations are so good!

After each milestone we should discuss what the next milestone is going to be and then I'll start a new thread that summarizes what we've discussed and what we need.

Yeah, starting new threads for each phase of development is smart.  (The old threads would be preserved though, right?)

In the meantime, does anyone want to knock out the remaining basic animations?  I'm finding myself in a bit of a time crunch...

Hey, as long as they're done by Sunday night, I'm sure I can squeeze em in.  I'm making pretty good time, I think.

[Derek]

Hey, as long as they're done by Sunday night, I'm sure I can squeeze em in.  I'm making pretty good time, I think.

Ah yeah!  It was just getting it done by tonight that I wasn't sure about.

[DrPetter]

BMcC: If you get bored and don't know what to do, you could give this a try and see if it works:

http://www.cyd.liu.se/~tompe573/playmutest.zip

No use spending too much time if it doesn't work right away. I'm going to streamline it anyways, removing some ugliness with portaudio and whatnot. I bet you don't even want to use portaudio for sound effects etc, but rather something like BASS or FMod that has good sample support as well as streaming.
With some modifications, playmu should work with any old library that has streaming support though. I guess I should make it library-independant, so that you just call a playmu_renderbuffer() from your stream callback of choice.
Oh, and it should be 100% portable if you use a portable audio library.

Now I really need to hit the sack... I'll come back tomorrow and sift through the next three or four pages of forum rampage

[Madgarden]

Not sure about adding something like a sidekick or anything else that fundamentally changes the way the player moves (unless there's a very good explanation for it).

Why... to kick the Green Yamo, of course!



Themed levels could benefit from themed actions, but only if consistency (and scope) is maintained, of course.

[BMcC]

@DrPetter:  Awright, thanks.  Though sounds aren't part of this milestone, so there's still time to figure things out.

@Madgarden:  I'm with Derek on the theme-specific actions.  There's going to be TONS of theme-specific stuff I'm sure, but I wouldn't want any of the player's core controls to change.

If we really wanted to do something like the kick, I think it should either be activated by something in the level, or be some kind of powerup so the player would know Hey, This Is Different.

EDIT:  Oh yeah, I remember why I was posting in the first place.

CORE DESIGN QUESTION:

Should the player be able to control the height of his jump ala Mario?  My initial thought is Yes, because I like the idea of putting as many responsive touches into this game as possible.  But I'm also thinking No, 'cause he can only jump one tile high anyway, so there isn't much point.  Still, it might feel better having a little control there, even if it doesn't have an effect.

Also: 100 POSTS?!

[Derek]

@DrPetter:  Awright, thanks.  Though sounds aren't part of this milestone, so there's still time to figure things out.

@Madgarden:  I'm with Derek on the theme-specific actions.  There's going to be TONS of theme-specific stuff I'm sure, but I wouldn't want any of the player's core controls to change.

If we really wanted to do something like the kick, I think it should either be activated by something in the level, or be some kind of powerup so the player would know Hey, This Is Different.

EDIT:  Oh yeah, I remember why I was posting in the first place.

CORE DESIGN QUESTION:

Should the player be able to control the height of his jump ala Mario?  My initial thought is Yes, because I like the idea of putting as many responsive touches into this game as possible.  But I'm also thinking No, 'cause he can only jump one tile high anyway, so there isn't much point.  Still, it might feel better having a little control there, even if it doesn't have an effect.

Also: 100 POSTS?!

I say yes to controlled height and no to kicking or punching of any sort in the game.  It just doesn't fit with the vibe, imo.  He's a little balding dude!  It seems like if he's going to destroy an enemy he's going to do it with ingenuity (like pushing a crate onto someone, dropping a lift on them, etc.).

[BMcC]

Word.

Yeah, that's a good point re: the kicking.  It is pretty out of character.

I like the idea of the homage themed levels, but I think they should re-imagine the game they pay homage to and fit seamlessly with any of the other themes.

[Madgarden]

Fair enough. Just trying to get a feel for what the little bald dude is all about... is he middle-aged out-of-place pudgey accountant, or middle-aged adaptive pudgey gamer? Accountant it is.

[Pita]

CORE DESIGN QUESTION:

Should the player be able to control the height of his jump ala Mario?  My initial thought is Yes, because I like the idea of putting as many responsive touches into this game as possible.  But I'm also thinking No, 'cause he can only jump one tile high anyway, so there isn't much point.  Still, it might feel better having a little control there, even if it doesn't have an effect.

This was one of the things I was trying to imagine how it would work before, and I have to agree that some height control would feel better (plus air accel mentioned before), even if it had no real effect - just nice detail!

*edit: spelling xP

[Dan MacDonald]

Ok, here's my stand-in for the night. Hope it motivates someone to do better! :D

Good luck BMcC!

(I attached the current version of the sprite sheet including the climb)

[BMcC]

Right on, thanks! 

I'll plug 'er in as soon as I can.

[vitaminNewB]

Hey guys this thread is pretty awesome.

Heh, heh.  Got Beat.   
I thought i'd go on ahead and hack out the climbing animations.
ah well.

I'm going to work out the side one and Rainbow 6 one next if you all don't mind.
But if someone else gets it that's cool.

These things are pretty darn fun!  I'm doing more.

[Arne]

Fast thread is faaast!

Re Special abilities per map
Maybe it's an item he picks up, Karate Manual for the Bruce Lee level, or a Yie-Ar Kung Fu casette tape. But it is a bit out of character. Of course he could log into a console and get to control Cyber-Mecha-Bruce, but that's a ton of more animation work.

I made a Metroid map an included Morph Ball (special move), Bombs, Missiles (1 use), Etank (take one hit)... I don't think he can shoot though. Maybe the missiles are just key items? Or, he can toss them in front of him with a generic throw animation.



To blend in, I made the rock brown, since it's a level in the cave area. However, it might be a little out of character, so it's probably better off as a bonus level/easter egg. I don't know about copyright problems regarding these kind of homages too. Maybe most of the blatant out of character homages should be secrets? I'd like to keep many of the maps original, but I'm doing the homages now because it's the most fun ._.

I don't think special abilities would be out of characters if they're more rare, maybe just occuring on secret maps. I'll have to paint up a few more example screens though, to see what kind of coherrance I'll end up with.

Next one will me Mission Impossible, featuring the Impossible Mission gfx, but with a roof shutter, long shaft, rope, stopping just over the ground, console, laser beams switching on and off in complex patterns.


Xion> I'm just going nuts when doing these maps, trying to think of fun stuff, trying to push diversity to see where the boundries are. I'm trying to do stuff that (I guess) could be coded/scripted easily though, use generic code etc. Bruce Lee says "Punch beyond the target"! I tend to do that a bit too much, but I don't want to be meek.

Re: Bonus items
I was thinking about those games you played as a kid, when you picked up strange pixel stuff. All bonus items could be abstract pixelations called "mystery item", as a homage to that feeling. Collect 'em on all maps and you unlock stuff, or something to that effect.

[BMcC]

I gotta get to bed (it's about 4AM here), but I wanted to make one last response first.

I made a Metroid map...

I see!  That's awesome.    I love seeing these mockup maps, they really get my imagination going.  And it's oh so easy to get them working in game with my tile engine, tee hee. 

Maybe most of the blatant out of character homages should be secrets?

That's probably a good call.  Besides, I don't think there's going to be any lack of original theme ideas!

I'm trying to do stuff that (I guess) could be coded/scripted easily though, use generic code etc.

Don't worry about that -- just let your imagination go wild.  I'll take care of bizness.

All bonus items could be abstract pixelations called "mystery item", as a homage to that feeling. Collect 'em on all maps and you unlock stuff, or something to that effect.

Hey, uh... what do you think about there being hidden panties across the scope of the game?  I think it'd be fun and add little character to the main character.  (Now he's fat AND a pervert!)  Please say yes. 

Aright, time to sleep.  Arne, keep those concepts coming!  They're a big motivation (and inspiration)!

[Arne]

Hehe, yeah, panties sounds good to me. Maybe there could be categories of secret items that unlock different things?

This is very much a half finished WIP. Now it's time for work!