TerrorByte

Latest

Simple animation
Bounding box collision detection of walls
Rendering
World's loaded from png image
LR movement, hacky jumping

Latest build video:

About the game

TerrorByte is my first attempt at a game since university. It is a fairly simple 2D platformer where the player takes control of Bit, the games protagonist. Bit must traverse the computer to discover just why it hasn't been functioning properly lately, and must defeat corrupted bits on its way to completing each level.

Gameplay is fairly simple: WASD or arrow-key controls, space to jump, crouching and jumping on enemy heads is the name of the game. It's very much a computer-themed Mario.

The ambition for this game is deliberately small being my first proper game, but it does happen to be a very cut down version of a game I'd love to make in the future.

Development schedule

I'm almost purely a programmer, but for this project I've decided to do the art and sound too. The reason is that from what I've read around the web, it's good to have a range of skills and be a bit of a generalist when it comes to indie development. So, as the game is going to be simple anyway, I thought I'd have a go at it myself.

As you can see, I'm going for pure and simple - low-res graphics (there will be colour!) and just sound effects. It's all about getting a playable game out there, however simple it is. That said, I want to do what I do with a bit of polish, as nice-looking and bug-free as possible.

In terms of time I can dedicate to this, I'm going to try and do at least an hour on weekdays that I'm free, and 5-8 hours on weekends minimum. I have no idea when it will be completed, so that's why I created this DevLog!

If at the end of it I feel like extending the game beyond its current scope I will do, or leave it for a sequel. However, I want to constrain it as much as possible to the design specified above.

Technical

I will be using XNA Studio to create the game, therefore my target platform is Windows. The reason is that C# is easier to program in than C++, and, as I don't know DirectX well enough to build an engine from scratch, all of that functionality is provided in the framework.

I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't know how to program. I've been programming for three years now and am a recent computer science graduate. I've made a simple tower defense game before, the analysis of which can be read here: http://gnrgamedev.tumblr.com/post/19112867526/dean-street-defense-complete. I see this project as a "step up" from that.

Marketing

As the game makes progress, I'll update this post with the latest screens and provide a link to a playable version of the game.

I will not be publishing the game, but I'd love to have it played and critiqued, so I'll make it as available as possible.

I'll reply to any posts from you guys as quickly as I can, so please let me know what you think!