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[Oddball]

The problem with spare time projects is you need spare time to work on them, and at the moment I don't seem to have any spare time. I have worked on it a little since my last post though. I was implementing various scene objects when I realised that the only way to get the rich variety of objects, characters and effects that I wanted is to use scripts. Since then I've only really been able to work on getting LUA and my game talking comfortably with each other. I think I've got a handle on that now so hopefully some more visually exciting things are to come soon. Don't worry I won't be giving up on this one, it's just going to be a bit of a slow burner that's all.

[Oddball]

I may be able to find a little more time for this in the coming weeks so hopefully development might pick up for a little while.

17 Apr 2010
The switch over to Lua scripted scenes is pretty much complete. My aim with this is to be able to lock down the engine as soon as possible, but still have the ability to create scenes and content that I still haven't conceived yet. This is working beautifully, and was much easier than I expected. I've also added collision masks. These act in a similar way to the collision map except there can be any number of masks, and they can be altered from within the scene's script at runtime. After that it only took me two minutes to script a basic moving platform. As it's all about the action I've posted an uninspiring video this time instead of an uninspiring screen capture.

The video quality might not be up to much and the choppy frame rate is from the video capture software, the game itself runs silky smooth. The graphics are still all placeholder/programmer art. Anyway, next up I think I'll start work on improving the visuals and getting the game its own style.

[Oddball]

23 Apr 2010
I've been building a test level for the game to help check that all the scripting is working as it should. This has given me a chance to work on the graphics a little. I got rid of the parrot man thing and put in an unused sprite of mine that I found in an old graphics folder. Also been working on the colour and feel to the scenes. They're still a bit sparse at the moment, but it's early days. I've also added in sound support. I just need to expose the sound engine to the scripts and the main engine will be pretty much feature complete. This weeks screenie is of the main character taking a ride in the SkyCart™, complete with animated pulley system. Click for x3 version.

Next up I think I'll expand the test level to really give the engine a good debugging.

[Oddball]

30 Apr 2010
The sound engine is now all nicely exposed to the the scene scripts. I only gave very limited sound control to the scripts. Whereas you can do very complex things graphically I didn't see a need to over complicate the sound system. You can play one shot sound effects, or loop them. That and volume control is all that I feel is needed. Added a bit more to the test area to help test the sound scripting, so it's another video this week. Unfortunately the video capture software doesn't record sound so you'll have to take my word for it that it sounds good.

Wonder Lost - YouTude video

The gameplay engine is complete now, apart from a few tweaks here and there. So next up I need to work out the checkpoint system and tack on a front end. My initial thought for the checkpoint system is to save a checkpoint every time the player enters a new scene. Not sure how intuitive this will be for players though. I don't really want special checkpoint areas and I feel every scene needs a checkpoint so being able to jump to any scene you've been to seems like the way to go. And as each scene is named that gives the player an immediate way of identifying the scene they want to jump to.

[Oddball]

4 May 2010
The checkpoint system is in and working nicely. It's not much to look at, but it's functional. I can always work on the visuals later. I've also added game statistics to the pause screen so the player can keep track of their progress. I don't think I'm going to bother making a front end/title screen for the game. I think I'll just plonk the player at the start and let them get on with it. They can always jump to any scene they've visited previously to continue where they left of and pausing the game will show the game control basics. The rest can be a journey of discovery and I'm sure there'll be a few characters in the game that can help them out by explaining controls or back story. No screen capture today as the only change is the checkpoints menu, which isn't much to look at.

Next up I may put together a scene editor for creating the game content. At the moment I'm piecing the scenes together by hand which isn't difficult, but a dedicated editor would make things quicker/easier. I also need to think of a more permanent title for the game.

[Terrorbuns]

Oh man that video looks yummy. The game gives good vibes of fun entertainment. I assume you're going for something like Knytt but without the collectibles? There won't be any "actual" end to the game?

I can't wait to see where this goes. 

[Oddball]

Thanks. I'd be lying if I said Knytt wasn't one of the inspirations for this game, and I expect the way the game is set out, low-res with the flip screen mechanic, that it will be compared to it frequently. And yes the game won't really have an ending in the traditional sense. The way the game is at the moment there is a finite amount of content, but whenever I create more content it is immediately represented within the game. The hope is to scale this up so the game will update live as the player plays the game. This means that you'll technically never see everything the game has to offer as long as I keep adding content. I want this to give the player a feeling of potential discovery every time they play the game. It's not just limited to new content either, I can modify the games existing content to add and change things in existing areas.

[Terrorbuns]

Whoa that sounds awesome. If you'll be doing that, would it be possible to track something players do, and make it trigger a "global" effect? For example, say someone found a hidden switch somewhere and it caused some ruins to open up or something. Would you be wanting it to open for EVERYONE and then you can add more content like that? I dunno, that sounds kinda cool in my head but if LOTS of people play then there wouldn't be much to find then...

Also, multiple start points would be cool. So like you start up the game and it'll select a start point for you the first time you play? I dunno, it all sounds so great. New content being added more or less regularly makes me giddy. So much potential.  

(will it work by connecting to some central server or something?)
Excuse me while I wipe my fanboy drool off my face.

[Oddball]

Nothing is set in stone yet so this is all subject to change, but I don't really want to have global events triggered by a single player. That seems to be a little unfair on all but the one player who gets there first. You never know though. I hadn't actually thought of multiple starting points, but I am now. I'll have to think it over. Again, you never know. I'm still working out the content delivery side of things, it'll probably just check a central repository and if there's new content then it'll download and apply it. whether, that will be at start up or during play via a separate thread I don't know yet. As you can probably tell I'm quite fast and loose with my design philosophy. I'll try out different methods and see what feels right.

[Oddball]

19 May 2010
I hate building custom tools. It's all that GUI stuff, it doesn't sit right with me. Which means I've only been making very slow progress on the scene editor over the last few weeks. So today I sat down and resolved to finish it. I got all my work out the way early, sat down and didn't stop until it was done. Although I did get sidetracked at one point adding syntax highlighting for the lua scripts when, to be truthful, it isn't really necessary. At least it's all done now. It's all working smoothly, and hopefully bug free. Time for a boring editor screen capture.

Next up, I'm finally at a stage where I can start adding content in earnest. I also want to get a build online for people to try out. It's only ever been run on one machine so far, so it will be good to check if everything works on a plethora of systems.

[muku]

I hate building custom tools. It's all that GUI stuff, it doesn't sit right with me.

I hear ya. Oh, how I hear ya. I hate editors. Boring, boring stuff.

Anyway, good job on finishing that, and I'm looking forward to a demo build!

[Pineapple]

I hate building custom tools. It's all that GUI stuff, it doesn't sit right with me.

I hear ya. Oh, how I hear ya. I hate editors. Boring, boring stuff.

Anyway, good job on finishing that, and I'm looking forward to a demo build!

I third this.

[baconman]

An ongoing cause-effect kind of system would be kickin' with the game's elements - so one is never "removed" from play, but when a player collects something or defeats an enemy, for instance, the "effect" of that creates another element somewhere else in the world.

Another approach, which I'm considering in my own project - particularly where "critters" are concerned - is a more organic style. Critters have baby/adult/senior phases, and will possibly spawn more baby ones whenever they hit the adult phase (currently going with 0-2, might go as high as 4, however). The babys are practically harmless, much like the birds and frogs in Yoshi's Island - they only serve to mature into more critters in later playthroughs. (IE: A baby isn't going to "surprise" mature on top of you for a cheap hit.) Left alone long enough, or if "endangered," it will become a senior (IE: miniboss), and will always spawn a baby or two upon defeat.

Perhaps, date-seeded elements of the game could render some replay value as well - like certain gameplay aspects (characters, items, landmarks or secret passages) will only appear in a (3-date, for example) range per month. Perhaps some things will only occur on the 1st or a day associated with a lucky number. This also gives players incentive to RE-EXPLORE parts of the game they've already completed, just to see all the fun, nifty changes in it. For instance, you could have one secret room, and 3-5 different ways you can discover to enter it, that change around (open up and close off) that way.

EDIT: "Wander Lust" would be a perfect title for the concept. And yes, I do realize your working title is a play on it - but it's perfectly descriptive. "Wonder Lust" would be good, too - or you could even make that a changable element just to mess with people.

 

[Oddball]

Thanks for the comments guys. @baconman: I already have a few ideas for date specific content and special events. As for the name, I just think I'm hopeless at thinking up game names. They always end up sounding really corny. It may just end up being called Wonder Lost.

4 Jun 2010
Not had any large blocks of time to work on this, so I've mainly been catching ten minutes here and there. That means no major work has been done making this more of a "I'm still working on it" post. I've mainly added snippets of content to the test area so a public test build has moved a step closer. The editor is working great so far which is good. I have got a new screenie and this time it is slightly inspiring.

[Click to enlarge image]

The world cup will probably curtail the time I can work on this, so don't worry if things go a little quiet around here. It's mainly content I'm working on next, cleaning up the pause screen and menu graphics. Hopefully next update will include the test build.

[Oddball]

Time to rescue this from page 7.

2 Aug 2010
I cleaned up the check point menu and pause screens, and put together a test area where I've been trying out various things. It has only ever been run from one machine so it would be nice to know if it runs on a variety of hardware. It's with that in mind that I'm releasing a test build.

wltest.zip
The Windows .exe and Mac .app are both in the same zip so it's one download fits all.

There's a lot of dead ends and whitespace in this build as it's only for testing, but all feedback is welcome.
Now some bad news. The reality is that this project has been pushed way down my list of priorities. And without turning it into a commercial venture it won't be making its way back up the list any time soon. I'll still be working on it whenever possible, but next update will probably be rescuing the DevLog from page 7 again.

[JaJitsu]

cute little game. worked fine on mac.

[AuthenticKaizen]

charming stuff

[micpringle]

  Oddball

Check your PM's

- Mic