I started learning actionscript a few weeks ago. I wanted to work on a project where I would feel comfortable with the game loop. So I decided to go at it with something I've been toying around with for a while now. A revisit of my VGNG compo entry, Samurai Railroad Mansion.
I first tried doing an update using game maker, with a different presentation. I wanted to have a scrolling corridor, with characters poping and scrolling towards you. I wanted the graphic file to be way smaller than it was in the original, while having a smoother animation. But it was too busy and hard to read, and it ended up transferring file size to the backgrounds. So I gave it up, and recycled the engine to support an Eye of the Beholder kind of game. But I digress.
The goals I have set for this try at it are the same:
-Arcade experience
-smooth animation (an interactive anime)
-multiple depths gameplay
well, almost
-has to run on portable machines(psp, cellphones) so it can compete with the likes of Bobby Bearing
So, the challenge will be to have the game run on a more or less limited console, graphically. With more animation frames than the original game. Ohoh.
Also, one of the things I wanted to improve from the original was the graphics style and polish. I had to rush things a bit during the competition, because I chose to redo the whole thing in the final few days. Now, the problems are different- no definite deadline, but very little spare time to concentrate on making it look good.
Luckily, over the years, I have developed techniques that allow me to work in that kind of situation. So, most of the free time I have is on the train I take daily to go to work, and a 30 minutes bumpy bus ride. I can program and use flash to draw rough sketches/animations on the commute. But I need to be sitting comfortably for a few hours to flesh out the pictures.
From flash to a psp sized artwork.
Right now, I'm in the process of converting my flash sketches to 128 color palette png's, to test my optimization on psp(vector art is pretty slow). Programming-wise, I've implemented the blue samurai(he attacks or excuses himself), the geisha(don't kill) and the brown samurai(he blocks if you attack him while his sword is sheathed). I've already started the ninja and armored samurai, they're not too complex compared to the brown samurai. So in the next week, I'll have these strips for the default types:
and a running psp fps test. Hopefully, it will look somethin like this:
One thing, I mentioned default types, because I want a lot more variety this time around, and something resembling a narrative (though a 'Z' grade one) to link the different levels together.
So that's it for this entry. Cheers!
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