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[jeffrobot]

Jetpack Tower is a game about a little man on the ground standing in front of a tower that is so tall it disappears into the clouds. But the little man has a jet pack.



That's the basic premise for the game. I only began programming it on the 10th, and have only put 4 or 5 hours in. I'm hoping having a devlog helps me stay motivated to work on it.

It is 2D and I am programming it in Flash. I'd like for it to be 3D, but I'm not that good with Unity. Maybe some day.

[Happy Shabby Games]

i love 2d tricks like that. could totally tell i was looking up at some super tall thing

[jeffrobot]

Added a new background image for while I'm programming. Definitely makes it more pleasant. The little black guy down there is the protagonist.



I haven't programmed the jetpack yet. I'm getting basic movement down first. I want it to feel really good, because the jetpack will build on top of that.

I was using floaty video game jumping where you can still control your character in the air. Today I switched it so that you can't control while you're in the air, and you just soar with the momentum you left the ground with. I think I like it more.

Immediate things to do are:
-give this guy some legs and animate said legs. I want to animate them programmatically so they can respond to events ingame dynamically. That said, it will be very simple at first.
-give this guy some arms! Edit: he already has arms. I meant animate them.

There's a bug where, if you begin running and then jump, and you hit the other direction while youre in the air but keep holding down the direction you were going, he turns around as if to go in the new direction, but keeps moving in the original direction. Once I get run animations in it will look like he's moon walking - ha! So moonwalking will be an official feature in this game.

[mushbuh]

oh my

[jeffrobot]

Development has ceased on Jetpack Tower. After working on it a few more nights, I decided it was just too ambitious a project for my current skillset. Work will begin on something much smaller in scope.

RIP

[sublinimal]

That was sudden. Where did you hit a roadblock? Is there anything we can do to help with it? I'd advise you not to start a separate smaller project, but just to narrow down the scope with this one.

[ananasblau]

I agree with sublinimal, don't stop. Nothing's gained from a unpublished game. Make the gameplay more simple, make everything that bugs you simply or kick it out. Only games you put on the internets count, even if they are crap like mine.

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 We were promised jetpacks and we want them nao! 
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[jeffrobot]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys.

Yesterday I made a very simple music video for some music made by a friend of mine. What's cool is that it's dynamic.

http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/c4eaf6f651a5245fb2689ea66d935732

Right now the behavior of the ships is very basic, but if I keep working on it I'll make them more complex, and maybe look into ways to tie their behavior into the music.

In Jetpack Tower, the platformer physics and trying to programmatically animate my character were what made me retire it. This new project hasn't pushed my skills yet, which is nice for a change.