I am Jason Carter, aka WakeskaterX, an indie game dev. I am releasing SBX:Invasion, a tower defense game this Fall for PC. You can get the game on Desura, Indie City and my website for $4.99.
I like making challenging games for niche markets. Games that are difficult, fun and require strategy and thinking are my style. At the moment I'm working alone and contracting out the Music, but my long term goal is to grow a small studio and hire people on and create a place where people can make great games and love their job.
SBX2: I sat down, and coded for 4 straight hours and finished the Auto Shop! There are a few items in the game to get so far, and now you can equip them! As I make more items you'll be able to go to the auto shop to access them. Also there were some minor additions to the game as well, such as a delete file function that resets a file (which apparently is a bit bugged, don't hit it unless you want to delete a file, esc doesn't work atm). There are also some stars in the background of the map area to make it look a little better as well.
So let's look at some screens:
At the bottom there is now a Delete File selection to erase old files and reset the information in the save file.
Here is the Auto Upgrade Shop! Found just above level 1 after you rescue Floyd and leave the area, you are able to access the Auto Shop and equip your collected items! There are 4 pages starting with weapons, and continuing to generators, add-ons and boosters.
While the on the weapons page you have to click the weapon and then click a slot, the other 3 pages require only one click on the item you need. Because there is only one place to put it :).
And here is the update video:
What is coming soon:
- Explorable areas in level 1
- Level 2
- More items, weapons, enemies
Stay tuned for new updates and if you subscribe to my blog or youtube channel, you might just get some special neat goodies in the future!
Well I just got a little video developing program called Debut (Lite Version) in order to make some videos on SBX2 and some of my other games.
Granted I am not a video editing professional, nor do I do it very often so bear with, I'm just posting them to youtube as is. This is a video demonstrating the new add-ons to SBX2: The BoostPlus and the TeleJump. They are two cool mobility based add-ons.
Feel free to enjoy the video and let me know what you think of SBX2!
From time to time I am going to start adding demo videos to my blog and youtube to get the game out there and hopefully build a little bit of a fan base.
Once I get a new computer I may start streaming my programming work as well, as some other game designers seem to do.
Well, just a quick update for today, got a bit work done because I was prohibited from procrastinating on game design (THANKS A LOT RIOT GAMES).
Jk, but with the LoL servers down, it was good to get some work done.
Well I finished the story area for Level 1 where you meet Floyd, the Mechanic. You first have to kill all the enemies then travel to the Auto Docking Station where you will encounter the Aerospace Mechanic, Floyd.
After talking to him for a bit he will agree to be your mechanic and both Level 2 and the Auto Shop will unlock.
Once you exit, you can go back to the portal and exit back out to the map to see the new levels highlighted.
Clicking on them will take you to the Tutorial Level for now, until they get real levels put in. So don't bother unless you really want to.
Here is a screen shot of the Auto Docking Station (Floyd has left already in this screen shot).
Also I have a new Add-On in the game! It's called the TeleJump and by right clicking when it is charged, you can jump to anywhere within your view instantly, leaving behind an after image! Be careful because it can easily get you killed. But it's great for escaping enemies, dodging bullets and getting a good shot on a baddie.
Here are some screen shots of the new Add-On and interface for it (Note the mouse has a new sprite when you have the TeleJump equipped ^_^):
As you are waiting for it to charge, both your mouse icon and the Jump Meter are darkened and faded a bit. As you get closer to filling up, the addon on your ship will begin to spin faster and faster until....
...your Meter is fully charged and you are ready for a Teleport Jump. Your mouse will begin to glow and your add-on image on the ship will be spinning rapidly. Then you can move your mouse around and right click on the map to...
...teleport your ship to a new location. As you can see below, as soon as you teleport, an after image is left at your previous location that quickly fades away, letting you know where exactly you were, as well as looking pretty cool. Use this mobility Add-On to escape from enemy fire, hop over walls, and dodge charging enemies!!!
Well I got a few minutes before I had to head off to work so I started work on the next character in SBX2: Floyd, the Mechanic.
So far I have his profile image for dialogue and a standing image of him. I think the standing image is all I will use for now, as he is just a minor character and doesn't really need much animation.
You will meet him in the Auto Docking Station of Level 1 and talking to him unlocks the Auto Shop to upgrade your ship (Which I will make soon).
Well here he is:
Meet Floyd, the Cigar Smokin' Mop Headed Genius Mechanic that can help upgrade your ship when you get new items and weapons!
You might have to save him from some fuscian blobs when you examine the docking station though.
And here he is standing in game with his mini sprite:
No that is not a cow suit, those are oil stains. And he does have the cigar, but it's barely visible.
I only had an hour or so to work on the game so this is all I have done, but soon I'll add more. Be sure to check back for new areas in level 1 including an explorable area with fuchian monsters to beat and items to uncover, as well as the Auto Docking Station where the next part of the story continues.
And then I'll work on the actual docking station to allow you to upgrade your ship and prepare it for all the cool stuff you can unlock in the game. Also I need to make a bunch of new add-on items as well. But I have some ideas already :).
Well, thanks for reading folks and look for Floyd soon in the near future to new updates of SBX2.
**no update yet with floyd but you can download the latest file here: Sandbox.yoyogames.com
SBX2: Well I have decided to start work again on SBX2 and it is no longer in hiatus after 6 months! I had been working on Julius Dragonslayer and then I started doing some work on SBX1 to polish it up a bit. And then I just got a hankering to work on SBX2 again. So I'll start working on it some more. I did quite a bit of baseline work today for getting graphics ready for Level 1.
Also I did some back end work on a few of the systems to make them more compatible with new stuff coming up. And I added in Boosters 2-5 and Generators 2-5 as well as adding generators to the game. I hope by the game to have 20-(40 maybe) weapons, 20 addons, 20 generators and 20 boosters.
I spent nearly 2 hours on the basic pipe sprite sheet for Level 1. I made 2 stages of broken pipe tiles to add to the level. There are still more graphics I need to make such as: Fire burning images (yes in SBX fire CAN burn in space... because it's cool), Electric Shock Images and Wires to go around the piping and create electrical spark zones you have to dodge, Asteroid and Meteor Graphics, building graphics for the auto shop, inside building graphics for a few areas that you can access, and a few other small things.
There is going to be a TON of content in level 1. I plan to have 3-4 items that you can find and unlock by exploring the zone. There should be 2 different areas you can enter as well. This all requires a lot of graphics and it takes me a fair bit of time to create each sprite sheet.
Well let's take a look at some of the progress today:
First we have my original space pipeline tile set that I had done earlier.
And I added 2 new variations to it making a damaged set and a destroyed set.
There will also be electrical shocks and fires on top of these tiles, but I'll probably use objects to make those and give them a bit of damage and whatnot.
I think for now I'll just keep the first 2 types of enemies. Each area I'll add more types of enemies with different attacks and who are tougher. Also I don't plan to have a boss for Level 1 but there should be bosses in coming levels as well.
Level 1 should look very pretty and graphically pretty cool once I get all the background effects and areas set up in it for exploration.
Stay tuned for more information on SBX2, which is now once again in progress! Yaya!
You can download the file from my yoyogames profile here:
This is just a short post on some new stuff I worked on. First of all is some large balancing issues to Level 3 weapons. All the level 3 weapons should feel powerful and pretty beastly. Some of these fell way short and had too high of a cool down or too high of a heat cost. These weapons got buffed. A few other weapons were putting out massive damage very quickly, and these were nerfed a bit (specifically the splatter cannon Lv 3).
Also I added in a small amount of HP recovery after each wave in Endless Mode. This way you don't feel AS obligated to take the recovery special on endless mode. I might reduce the amount healed after each wave on Hard and increase it on Easy too, we'll see.
Some things I want to work on to put some finishing polish in the game before I set it aside again for SBX2: - 2 more bosses on endless - Custom Music (If I can find someone) - Perhaps re-adding a few skins that were long lost when the graphic update came ;)
Well that's it... somehow I get productive after finishing a 12 hour work shift. Sleep deprivation must spur on creativity. Either that or I'm not quite sane. The latter seems like a more probable answer.
Anyway, check out the new file, and let me know what you think!
Personal: So finally, I have moved into my new place. Half of my shit is still sitting around my living room, but I have begun to organize it into shelves and areas around my house. I have the master bedroom, which is probably the largest room I have ever lived in, although half of it is filled with half full boxes. In between trying to set up internet at our place and working, things are coming along slowly. Nicely, but slowly.
I also got a job promotion! Chyea! I have been promoted from a mechanic and operator to a stationary engineer. Sweet. Now I can nerd out with all my REAL engineer friends, because my job title has the word "Engineer" in it, despite the fact it doesn't really have anything to do with real engineering.
Also, my best friend has moved here to Colorado with me and is living with me until I get married next year. He's also going to be my best man. He's also testing out SBX and giving me some feedback, which leads us to the main topic:
SBX: No screen shots this time, but there is a small update to SBX.
The main thing is that I extended the colored laser sensors in Level 3 to stay lit for five times as long on EASY mode. On hard mode, you will still have to rush all over to get them all lit, but that room was easily one of the hardest areas early on in SBX.
Now it falls in line more with ease of play and lets you experience the other levels if you were stuck there.
If you were one of those people who tried and failed at the color room in level 3, try again! It's much easier.
Also there was a bug where if you died right as a boss died, there would be an error and crash the game. I added a check to the code in the boss HP control objects to bypass this bug.
So there is a small update, as we get internet at our place and don't have to use a net cafe to post and work on stuff, there will be more updates to SBX and JD.
I also would like to continue progress on SBX2, as it could turn into quite a fun game. Of course I would need to once again get a sound artist, but that's minor stuff, I would like to avoid using copy written music.
Well that's it for now, hopefully the next update will have some more bosses for the endless level. (Also I'm thinking about reworking the Detonator to explode on impact rather than press and release).
I have been very busy, getting ready to move into a new place and all that, the past few months have been hectic a bit, beside the fact I haven't been very inspired to program or draw new things. But today I have finished the first image for the dragon boss of JD! So things are going well aside, getting ready to go on vacation to Philadelphia to go see a friend's wedding! I'm excited to be able to visit with my good friends and take some time away from work.
J D:
Well... a few new things are here to JD. First of all there is a graphics re-vamp of the fire caverns. TheUlt re-did the sprite sheet and we have new graphics for the platforms as well as some nice intermittent background touches (extra walls between the foreground and the far background.)
Also JD Got a size upgrade! The screen is now larger so you can see more of the level and have a better idea of where you are going and where to not fall down ;).
And of course we have a new Dragon Boss in development getting ready to be added soon! I'll be working on the new boss and then we'll start on the Azure Caverns.
We also have new death animations for the player and enemies! Enemies now explode in a ball of ink, and when the player dies they slowly vanish from the screen.
So lets take a look at some of the new stuff:
New Enemy Death Animation:
Enemies will now explode in a blast of black ink!
(also note the larger screen size!)
New Player Death Animation:
Julius will now slowly vanish when he dies.
New Fire Cave Graphics:
Rockier and with new middle range backgrounds.
And the new Dragon Boss which is coming soon!
Here is the initial graphic for him:
We have been working on things slowly, and there are a bunch of other little bug fixes and new stuff available. Some of these are:
- Upgraded Caverns Music
- New Words (Surprise Surprise)
- Reduced the size on the room transition effect
- Upgraded Unstuck word (now teleports you to the beginning of the room if you need it)
And these are just some of the things I can remember.
There will be a new file soon, probably after I finish with the Dragon Boss and add the entry way for the Azure Caverns. So stay tuned to find out what is coming soon to Julius Dragonslayer!
SBX: Well I have made a boss for the Endless Level. I think I am going to make 3-4 bosses each coming in at the 3rd, 6th and 9th waves (12th if i have 4)
Currently I have the first boss at wave 3!
He's a toughy too you better watch out. He's got a mounted turret, missile pods that do tons of damage and lots of HP. Get ready to fight to the teeth against this guy. If you aren't fully equipped with some decent weapons he'll tear you apart.
Here he is, the first boss of the Endless Challenge.
His turret will fire bursts of 3 rounds at you:
And his missile pods will occasionally pop out:
But you should watch out because those pods then explode to release a rain of missiles:
And all those missiles are slightly homing.
Also I fixed the bug where the Crazy Ball did no damage, so now it's a viable item! If you haven't tried SBX out yet, check it out here:
SBX: Well, Originally I wanted to have an endless level to test out new weapons on for SBX, but I never had added it. I have now completed the new Endless Level for SBX where you can test your mettle versus endless waves of enemies.
Enemies start out with half health on the first wave, but each wave increases their HP by 50% of their original HP. So at level 2 enemies have 100% hp, at lvl 3 150% hp and so on. They keep getting harder and harder to kill!
Also, you don't gain any experience for your weapons in endless mode.
And, if you score high enough, you may just unlock one of your Ultra Items! Sweet!
Well here are some screen shots of the new level:
The New Map Screen:
Crazy Waves of all types of Fuscian Space Ships:
And if you manage to get one of those high scores, (pretty tough to do without beast weapons), you could unlock some pretty neat items:
Well there were a few other bug fixes and things I added here and there, but now the game has everything I originally intended it to have!
Try it out and let me know what you think of the new endless level, also, I'll be keeping a tally of the best high scores in the GMC topic: Gmc.yoyogames.com
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