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[dumbmanex]

Ok, lets see here...

Snowball's Chance Again

What is it!?
It's an 2d overhead action/puzzle/platformer using gameplay elements from my previous snowball game and the 2 other snowball prototypes I did years ago.

What gameplay elements?
These include but are not limited to...
-Navigation
-Combat
-Picking up and holding items with varied effects
-Effectively traversing hostile environs
-Staying in cool places to reduce or stop melting
-Using size gain/loss to certain advantages
-Weather obstacles
-Collecting items/secrets
-Any combination of the above

When will it be finished?
Hell if I know.  When it's done I guess.

What are you using to make it?
-Gamemaker 8
-Old copy of Photoshop
-Anvil Studio
-Linux Multimedia Studio
-Little wacom tablet
-8 year old PC with 6 year old video card

Well, what do you have done?
I'm getting to that now.  

-Partial game outline
-Stage1-1 plotted
-Stage1-1 partial in game
-Basic active object physics/collision(player, items)
-Player controls
-Rock wall barrier tileset done(for now)
-Dirt ground tileset done(pretty sure it's done)
-Slope physics
-Snowy ground tileset done
-Snowy tile physics
-Successfully BEAT the EFFING flu
-Functioning life bar
-HUD art
-Functioning HUD
-Shadow tiles
-Functioning status bar
-Destructable obstacles template
-Grasstard enemy functioning, less artwork
-Chatty chat cutscene rough
-Snowball animation system
-Particle object
-Snowball size mechanic
-Finished Winter Spirit(collectable item)
-Finished Winter Soul(collectable item)

What's next on your agenda?
-Finish Grasstard Hut sound effects(destroyable obstruction)
-Finish Grasstard Mud Hut sound effects(destroyable obstruction)
-Do Grastard animations

What do you have to show for it?
Video, blog, pictures.
Picture updates via Facebook [Last updated 3-16-2011]
Facebook Picture Updates
Video Blog Jazz
1-16-2011
Video Blog Jazz
Video 1-29-2011



Video 2-5-2011



2-12-2011
Video Blog Jazz
2-19-2011
Video Blog Jazz
2-29-2011
Video Blog Jazz
3-19-2011
Video Blog Action

Questions, comments?  You know what to do.

EXTRA CRAP
Here's a link to Snowball's Chance 1, be warned, it was my first "completed" game.  
http://dumbmanex.com/files/SbCE1_v1_1_Setup.exe

[dumbmanex]

Added some more pics at the facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=274964&id=317298802959&saved#!/pages/Backyard-Ninja-Designs-Secret-Scrolls/317298802959

I did something new(to me anyhow) with my slope tiles.  Instead of making a bunch of varied ones I just painted over the regular dirt tiles while leaving portions of the slope transparent.  I just slap them down on top of any dirt tile and it works great.  Thank you mighty PNG!    Now I wonder what else I can get away with using this method.

[dumbmanex]

Ok, I think my body finally got the best of the flu bug.   
Video update!




I think I'll continue to work on HUD related items and their functionality.

[dumbmanex]

Worked on the dirt slope tiles, trying to get them properly readable.  The last 4 pictures in the album below were of the process.
Facebook Stuffs

Any input on that is welcome.  I'm  going back to the HUD tomorrow.

[DanFornace]

Hey Dumbmanex!

Its been a while since I've seen some of your stuff. This game is looking sweet already. Really nice idea using facebook to show progress as I am was able to quickly go through everything and keep track of the date very easily.

As for the dirt hills, I think they are still a bit hard to read. Not sure exactly why, but they just aren't as clear as I think they could be. I mean, I instantly recognized them as hills, but they didn't jump out as completely done for some reason. I think maybe for me its the way that they meet with the lower elevation. That could maybe be shaded to show how the ground is curving up? Hmmm... I'm not actually sure what they need, but I think you could do just a little more tweaking on them.

The graphics over all are looking very top notch though!

-Dan

[dumbmanex]

Thanks Dan.  I know what you mean, and it's bugging the hell out of me.  I'll get back on this puzzle in a day, but I definately want to have it beat before doing any other tile slopes.   

[dumbmanex]

More pics!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=274964&id=317298802959

A couple concept pieces and more work on the dastardly slopes.  The slopes are much better now, I added an outline with some shading and rocks to the slope bottoms.  Input is still welcome on them however.

[dumbmanex]

Just a few more pics, one has shadow tiles from today, after I did my video.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=274964&id=317298802959

And the weekend Bullcrap video, showing the progress from the week.

[dumbmanex]

Got 3 new pics up. 
Facebook Picture Updates

I have the status bar functional, and did some sketcherizing for the Grasstard enemy.  I was going to have just wood junk piles as obstacles, but decided to make those into Grasstard huts and homes.  Now they have more of a reason to try and kill you.

Also, how do you guys feel about playing a test build?  There's only the one incomplete stage, and the test room.   

[dumbmanex]

A couple more pics in the can...
Facebook Picture Updates

I got some destructable obstacles going, they buckle over if you hit them hard/fast enough.  I've layed out what animations need to be done for the Grasstard.  I won't be working on them until the first stage is ready to be visually finalised, but will be using the roughs to code out the behavior, which is my goal for tomorrow.

Also, I've been bitten by the Diablo 2 bug!  Seems every 6 to 8 months it creeps into my mind and eats at me until I play it some.  It was a major stress reliever during college, and has stuck with me since then.   

[dumbmanex]

Video Blog Jazz
It's a 2 part video, showing off work from the week and going over the code/script for the Grasstard enemy.   

[dumbmanex]

Three new pics from the last few days' toil.
Facebook Picture Updates

Got my chatty cutscene system in place, Snowball is animation ready and partially animated.  Got a few more animations to do for him before I move on.  Going to get my particle object up and running afterwards.

[aDFP]

Looking great! Sounds a bit like a game I started making a couple of years ago, with a melting snowman character. Yours looks much better than mine ever did though.

Well done.

[dumbmanex]

Looking great! Sounds a bit like a game I started making a couple of years ago, with a melting snowman character. Yours looks much better than mine ever did though.

Well done.

Hey thanks man!  Ok, got more pics up on facebook.
Facebook Picture Updates
I was all over the place these last couple days.  I try to focus on one area, but instead went with what I fancied at the time.  So I've got some particle action, the snowball's size mechanic works, you heal up when on snow tiles now, and I've got stage 1-2 almost layed out.  I'll most likely finish that up, I feel like finishing the winter spirit and soul now that the particle object is a go.

On the subject of that particle object, when I made The Great White Destroyer, each particle system was it's own object, and it got cumbersome sometimes to keep track of it all.  Now I have just one object that handles all of them.  If one is required, I send it the proper variable, the particle system gets created, and any other object can call on it to make them whenever.  The same is true for destroying the particle systems.  Does that make sense?   

[dumbmanex]

Video time, all that hard work this week boiled down into 10 minutes of footage.
Video Blog Jazz

I have a real erge to finish stage 1-2's rough layout, yowza. 

[dumbmanex]

Facebook Picture Updates

More pics.
I've got Stage 1-2 layed out.
I'm experimenting with the grass color, I definately wanted it brighter than the old version, but this current one might be a tad oversaturated.
Winter Spirit is completed, sound and all.  I used SFXR, combining noises made with it, running filters and tweaks.  I like the outcome and will probably be incorperating it more as I go along.
Winter Soul is almost complete, just need a particle system(or 2) and it's pickup sound effect.

[dumbmanex]

Video Blog Jazz

See above for sweet video action!  Footage of stage 1-1 looking more complete now, plus the finished Winter Spirit and Soul.  A couple extra things too.   

[dumbmanex]

An ear infection and revemped website later, back to Snowball!   

More pics on facebook...
Facebook Picture Updates

I got the Grasstard huts final minus sound effects for when they go down.  Got me some tree trunk tile action and an animated bush.

Tomorrow I'll start work on some animated tree leaves, I plan on having them in clumps that can be stacked to add some depth to them.

[dumbmanex]

3-19-2011
Video Blog Action

In the video I smash through some huts to show the finished particles.  There's also some animated trees(leaves anyway), and tweaked slope performance + player shadow.