Oh snap, Ralph’s at it again.  Let’s get into it.

“What the hell is Defective?,” I hear you ask.

I’ll tell you.

It’s a game that I randomly thought up the other night when I was bored out of my mind.  Like I said in a previous post, if I’m not working on some sort of project I feel like a lazy pile of fecal matter.  As a result, I made myself sit down and just start thinking of some game ideas.

The first game that popped into my head was Einhander, which was one of the most elusive PS1 games ever.  (I never did end up getting it because it was just never in stock anywhere.  However, I remember it from that one PS1 game-demo disc that I’m sure many of you played.)

Anyway, what was I talking about again?  Oh, right – my game.  Anyway, that eventually led me down a long and winding thought process which eventually landed me in my current position.

Design Process & Goals

I was so inspired, I even began drawing actual concept art for the game, as I posted on my Flickr page here and here.  I’ve since added more to that concept art, but I’m not going to bother uploading it since I’ve decided to have the game top-down rather than side-scrolling.

I’m going to really focus on making the game look amazing in terms of the sprites + explosions, particles, backgrounds, etc…  I also want the game to control perfectly, as I see that’s a common complaint in games like this.

Most of all, however, I understand I need some original idea (an original gameplay element) to make this game work – and I actually have one!

What’s the Game About?

I originally intended the game to be a month-long project, which it still might be.  I mean, I do only have two days left of college this week and then I’m done.  That means I’ll have free-time o’ bounding.

Anyway, as I’ve developed the game more and more in my head, a storyline is emerging.  What was originally going to be a last-as-long-as-you-can, side-scrolling action-shooter has now turned into a storyline-driven, level-based top-down shmup (shoot ’em up).

What’s the story?  Well, I have that about 90% figured out.  I’m pretty much just debating over where the game will take place (probably space or a planet or something), what the goal of each level is, and why the player is actually going about destroying shit.

Anyway, that’s really about it.  I could go more into detail, but I’ll save some stuff for later posts.

Now go away.

Hey guys, happy Mother’s Day!

If you haven’t heard, Don’t Panic has been released.  GO PLAY IT.

It’s been (and still is) a busy weekend for me.  Tomorrow (Monday) will be much of the same.  However, I’m going to try my hardest to finish a few updates/tweaks for Don’t Panic that I have planned.

I’ve seen from the comments on the game over on ArmorGames that many people seem to halve a problem with the difficulty (even though there are Easy/Normal/Hard modes).  That will be one of the many things I’ll strive to fix.

Things to fix

1. Invisible bots – make their healthbar invisible too.
2. Give a boost of a percentage of base health after each level instead of a fixed 20 points.
3. Make instructions clearer somehow.
4. Make the player move faster.
5. Fix the difficulty curve.  (Easier at first with lower enemy health / slower spawning / etc.)
6. Buying ammo in the store gives more ammo since people run out a lot.
7. Make the money pickup range (from the mouse curser) bigger.
8. Nerf the standard gun, maybe disallow perks on it.
9. Many people are having problems applying perks by clicking the wrong buttons – fix that.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that fixes are coming.  I think I have to send the game to the administration at ArmorGames to have it changed, so if I send it to them tonight, I feel comfortable saying it will be updated tomorrow.

Alright, things to do, gotta go.

No, really.  I’m not lying this time.  I know over 90% of you are probably sick of hearing me talk about it for the past 3-4 months, so just go play it already.

Play Don’t Panic on ArmorGames

Big thanks to Dan and ArmorGames in general for sponsoring my game, I’m very honored to have such a big site be interrested in one of my games.

Feeling generous?  Don’t forget to vote it up!

I’d post more, but I’m in the middle of doing other nonsense.  WHAT IRONY.

That is one brutal title, I know.

Alright.  Two major pieces of information – one good news and one bad news.  Let’s start with the good news because WHY NOT.

Good News

Alright, so I know I’ve been babbling about this game for what seems like roughly five and a half years, but Don’t Panic will be released this week.

As it stands, the game is 99.99% complete, I just need a unique key code from the sponsor and once I put it in the game, it’s completed and ready for uploading.  Now don’t go ape shit if I’m wrong, but I would say look for the game on Monday or Tuesday.  Either way, I’ll of course make a post / tweet about it once it’s released.

I think I actually can tell you who the sponsor is at this point, but why spoil it?  (As if it’s something to spoil.)

Bad News

You know that other game that I’ve been babbling about, Hero Dude?  Well, I hate to say it, but I’m scrapping it.  (Yes, for the second time.)

I definitely have the story / basic gameplay idea – it’s solid and ready to go.  However, after all of this time working on the game, in hindsight, it’s just not what I was imagining.  It was definitely being gone about the wrong way.  I don’t know what to do from here other than just scrap the whole project and hope to resume it at some point.

I figured I’d upload what I had, which isn’t anything major.  But if you want, take a look.  Just click the window (to give it focus) and use the arrow keys to look around.

In the Meantime…

So yeah, that’s that.  What am I going to do in the meantime?  Well, I actually don’t know.

Probably just chill.

Eh, probably not.  I can’t do that.  I think I’m physically unable to.  If I’m not doing something I feel like a lazy pile of fecal matter.  So to remedy this, what I’ll probably end up doing is all or some of the following:

1. Work on a small animation idea I have.
2. Finally get around to learning how to make stuff in Blender.
3. Learn and play around with Java.  (Intend to eventually get as comfortable with it as I am with AS3.)
4. Develop a small game, nothing big, maybe a month-long project.

I just want to basically not have to worry about anything too much until the end of this semester of college (roughly May 20th).  Once that’s over, I have a few personal things to attend to and then I’ll be back in “action.”  At that point, I may take up Hero Dude again or maybe even something new.

Holy damn, that is one giant wall of text.  Let’s just end it with a picture.

A “weekly game update” post?  On time!?  I know, I’m scared too.  Anyway, let’s get into it.

Hero Dude‘s completed progress has progressed (ha ha!) from 3% to 5%.  A big jump, I know.  I spent whatever time I had during the week continuing to work on the main engine of the game.  A few big accomplishments were made which I’m very proud of.

Accomplished

• Optimized level loading time to 0 seconds (from what was a brutal 45 seconds).  Accomplished this by switching from loading directly from the XML files to instead using a secondary tool to do all the loading and to save the parsed XML data (in a ByteArray) to a file which I simply embed into the actual game.  All the heavy lifting is done outside the actual game = no loading time.  Big thanks to the guys at the Mochi forums for helping me with this one.
• Created loads of graphical assets for the first world.  (And the weird thing is, I actually like them!)
• Continued development of the level 1 plan.
• Began researching how to go about collision detection.  At this point, it seems like it will be a cross between classic tile-based collision checking between the player and the world and then rectangle-based collision checking between the player and other entities (enemies, etc).

To Do

• Continue to design the last few remaining graphical assets for world 1 and apply them to the game.
• Begin some sketches for NPC’s, enemies, etc…  Also maybe get a solid drawing of what Hero Dude will look like.
• Add the player to the game and get basic collision checking working.
• Get the BMPLoader class working efficiently.  (Takes Flash movieclips from library and converts them to bitmaps before the level is loaded.)

Looking Ahead

• Animation of the sprites should be fun (no, not really).  It’s going to be a lot of work to get it looking nice.

Screenshots

Here’s an image of what world 1 looks like now.  A lot more colorful and with a lot more tile variety.  With the addition of the player, other characters, items, etc – it’s going to look great.

What’s going on with Don’t Panic?

I know it’s been a while, but that’s how the bidding process goes.  However, I do have good news.  After about one month of being up for sponsorship on FlashGameLicense.com, bidding for sponsorship on Don’t Panic is coming to a close.

If I didn’t completely suck at gauging times and deadlines, I’d bet that I’ll have a sponsor chosen sometime this week.  It’s been a very difficult decision deciding who to go with as all of the potential sponsors are really great people who I’d love to work with.  Anyway, if I do choose someone this week, it’s very likely the game will be released either this week or next (depends on what the sponsor requests).

So yeah.  That’s that about all of that.