In Production

The prototype phase has ended. All of the stages, enemies, items, base coding, the player character, and rooms have all been blocked out and tested. The only thing remaining is art, sound, and the final testing rounds. It has been six or so months since the release of my last game and this should be a nice addition once completed. By next Saturday, I will be under going a few weeks of vacation off in the mountain regions. Updates will be small and further progress will be halted a bit. So for the first part of the production phase, in game art for the enemies will be posted on this development blog. Once the regular schedule in early-mid June is under way, the regular updates will resume.

Setting the Stage

Update time again. As of now all of the enemies have been finished and a goal has been set up for the stages. Also, the first and second stages have been mapped out and passed the alpha phase of design. Right now, I am building the third and final stage. Balance is the main issue with this part. Making sure the game is not too hard will be a major concern the will be frequently examined until the game's final release. Here's a new screenshot of blocked out version of stage two.

Enemies and Items

Update time! This week I managed to not only get all of the items blocked out and finished, but I have also formed out five of the seven enemies that will be in the final build of the game. Next on the list is building the last two enemies, creating a stage goal allowing transition from stage to stage, and finally creating the finalized layout for the stages and rooms. After this, the prototype and preproduction phase should be nearly completed, with art and sound to follow in the production phase.

Big Loser

Update time again. Due to some recent personal developments, I will be working on this project more often than usual. As of this week, I managed to get a basic losing and restarting mechanic fleshed out. Unlike my previous games, I will try to create this as a game that will not require mouse usage at all. Stay tuned for further updates each Saturday.

Healthy Habits

Well, I finally got my work and free time balanced out. Health has been tested and added, as are the initial enemy tests. Vertical scrolling and stage testing will begin shortly, with along with the editions of two more blast types and researching horizontal looping or possible teleportation nodes. Unlike Magma Girl, this game has no paused button planned and the cutscenes between stages will only be a single image with subtitles. The ending will be a bit longer, but it will still be a fairly short game. Afterwards, I'll resume more work on Magma Girl while creating yet another tiny game to release during development.

Stalled Flight

Aside from doing some minor testing and planning, not much progress has been made this week. I will be working on some bits for research and testing for this time period. I will have further updates next week.

Jump, Jump

Well, most of the controls are finished for Jet Pack Jive. There will me some testing in an attempt to create a more complex game, but it will still be based around jumping, using the jet pack to increase one's jump, using the jet pack to blast enemies below, and reaching the top of the stage. I have the general characters and story plotted out, but it will be more mechanic heavy. If I was going to make an epic story, it would be more suited for a comic or cartoon and not a piece of interactive entertainment.

Jump and Jive

Well, I've started on the new side project while I'm re-hacking out the Magma Girl development plan. Jet Pack Jive will be a short three level climber game with a unique downward shooting mechanic. The game will play similar to Kid Icarus and Contra, with three to five power-ups and no bosses. As jumping will be a major mechanic, I will be spending a good chunk of time making it function smoothly. Tune in next week for more updates.

Boss Time

Another slow week. I am currently working on getting the first boss planned out along with figuring out how to block together stage two. More news to follow next week.

Minor Fixes and Little Else

Nothing worth reporting aside from some level maintenance here and there this week. Hope everyone has a nice Valentine's Day. More detailed news should appear next weekend.

Working Out

Welcome to another Saturday update. I have stage 1-1 blocked out and the prep work done for all of the other stages finished. Aside from the bosses and enemy AIs, not much is left before art and sound will be all that is left. I am going to wait a few weeks before creating a game play video or trailer, as the game is not at a good point for prototypes and demos. Also, as I have started full time work as a web developer, progress may slow down a bit more. I am expecting Magma Girl to be finished and available sometime this summer. If all goes well, it may even be ready by spring. Attached below you will find a new screenshot detailing stage 1-1.

Pause for Danger!

I managed to finish one of the enemy AIs, nail down the side-scrolling, tossed in the placeholder and scripts for the death animation, made a short song for the credits and direction parts, and I put in a functional pause button. The downside is that pausing will requires a middle mouse click for use, as pressing any keyboard key will cause the game to unpause. Right now, the majority of the prototype phase is completed. The next few weeks will be based around planning and plotting the stages, creating more enemy AIs, working on various music pieces, hacking out the various lose screens and stage transitions, and working out the bosses. Stop by next week for more updates.

Losing with Grace

The basic menu system and losing mechanic has been completed. On a related note, it seems that the amount of health the player has can able to be carried from room to room. This should allow for multi-room stages without having the health reset to full each time a transition occurs. Further testing will be needed to confirm this. Next on the list will be creating a few of the enemy AIs, placing in the death animation placeholder, work on the side-scrolling mechanic, and see if I can get a short song finished for a menu or cutscene. Tune in next week for more news and another in-game image.

Item Get!

Happy new year, everyone. Now that my cold and the holiday seasons are done with, progress should continue at a decent pace. As of now, all of the items for this game have been finished. Player death, the lose screen, and menus are next on the to do list. Here's a short preview of what is currently in the engine. Be sure to tune in next week.

Down with the Sickness

Sudden illness has put a strain on progress this week. However, here is an image of the prototype in progress. Be sure to check in next week for a Christmas update.

Damage Report

Good news and bad news. The bad news is that the sliding stop function is too buggy for proper use in the game. The good news is that I got the health bar to work right and have it work with a stun mechanic so players do not die by not moving away from the enemy fast enough. Also, the lava is fully functioning for destroying enemies. As of now, enemy AI and whether or not an enemy health bar is reasonable will follow soon. The main issue will be keeping track of all of the on stage objects that will be acting out invisible functions to make the game play in a more smoothly manner. More will be revealed next week.

Sliding Home

Another week of development is finished. I was able to create a sliding stop mechanic for moving that seems to be working well. I'll know more once more features are added. Health is next on the list and it will be followed by a huge amount of enemy tests and room mechanics. Once that is finished, the process of stage creation, items, and boss tests will follow. Sounds like a short list on paper, but that is not including the final bits of art and sound that generally become very time consuming.

Jumping for Joy

Another week of prototyping has been finished, this time working out the kinks in movement and jumping. The original plan for the movement programming was scrapped in favor of a system similar to what was used in Buried Blitz, though it has better tracking for left and right movements. Tests still had to be created as new inputs are going to be used this time around. Slight slippery movements are next on the test list as is working out a new health system as the one from Buried Blitz is to time consuming for art assets.

Hot Lava!

Week one of prototyping is done. I think I have the lava timing and gravity down for what I want to do. More on this as I move on to levels and enemies. Updates will resume on Saturdays as usual starting next week. Here's a quick shot of one of the tests.

Blocking it out

Yet another fine Saturday night. The level has been built and over half of the items have been coded. The checkpoint system this game will be using has been finalized and within a week or two the only the art and sound will remain. As a previous engagement has been made, eating up time for a few of the incoming weeks, the future progress reports this month may seem a little slim. Never the less, you can expect "Burried Blitz" to be completed between the end of the month and late September. And as promised, here are some screenshots of how the game looks now, with placeholder art.