Blogs - xhunterko

December is an odd month. There has been a lot going on. Also, it's my experimentation month. Usually when I try something new or try to learn a new language or try to hack something to make it do that it doesn't normally. So I won't be working on my game projects, that much.

Any serious development for anything is on hold. Than includes both Missense and Tribute. This is due to the holidays and us going somewhere different. There should be a Missense update next month.

Happy Holidays!

Hello there lovely people of IndieDB!

I was on one of my random google searches for sparse news about my game, when, lo and behold, to my shock and surprise, I found that the ludum dare edition of the game had been stolen and placed on another web portal. That's right. My game? My less then 48 hour piece of work? Really? I'm almost tempted to let them keep it. But I'd really liked to have had those views on newgrounds. Heck, even here on IndieDB! But, that begs a question. Are things are desperate enough for thieves to steal from lesser or even unknown devs? I hope not.

Though I am not surprised about one thing. The game on Newgrounds recieved 2 stars for it's effort. The game on v7games is showing one and a half stars but their rating number says 3. I guess it's partially my fault for not setting site lock, but the game was done in less then 48 hours and I didn't have time to look that up. The game looks and plays exactly like the one on Newgrounds, except for the v7games start up splash screen. The game has only 108 playtimes though the one on Newgrounds has 1161 views. I just hope the theif wasn't planning his retirement around that theft. I'm still trying to take it in.

When your a small dev, following the scene, being a fan, buying the bundles, beating the average, cheering your contemporaries, you feel a little left out. You see and hear the stories of games getting stolen and are thankful that it doesn't happen to you. And then it does. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, you become a victim. It just goes to show that nobody is safe from game theft.

I'll be attempting to get in touch with the v7games and inform them of the theft. In the meantime, if you want to help me out, I would really, really love some feedback on Missense! Which, you can take a look at here: Indiedb.com

I will keep this article updated and let you know of any developments! And please spread the word!

Thanks for reading!
(ps, Thank you guys for already checking out Missense like you have! I really appreciate it! It makes me feel part of the community!)

EDIT: Oh, one more thing, the actual game on Newgrounds:
Newgrounds.com

And the one on v7games: V7games.com

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks again!

UPATE: The site it's on doesn't seem to work any more and the last they updated there twitter was sometime last year. I am assuming the site is defunct. It's still a little disconcerting though.

Hey there everyone!

I just noticed that I've not been updated this blog. Well, it's mostly cause I have only been focusing on the public alpha release of Missense! The game will be playable by everyone tomorrow! Although there are a few places on the web where you can get in early (a thread in the forums, a thread in the tigsource forums, or contact me on twitter or here). If your interested, let me know! I'll also be posting up a new trailer for the game as well. You can find out when I do that right here:

Indiedb.com

Thanks for your time!
-Laters!

I've not entirely abandoned Tribute. I still plan on working on it. However. For now I'm working on a new game called Missense. I've been updatin it on it's own news page. I'm also going to get a video of it up eventually. Hpefully this weekend. You can check it out on it's own page here. Just thought I'd update the blog a bit.

Laters!

Here's what Tribute looks like right now (except, that the smaller water square is red now):

Right, I got it, nothing special right? So, let me give you a list of what happens now:

-The player (red outline) can move around in the environment
-The camera scrolls with the player
-The player collides with the tilemap
-Other objects scroll with the tilemap
-The red bar(power) decreases with mouse pressing
-The black bar(fuel, not visible) is working okay with the back end numbers
-The water has a wave like effect that you see, though it's not meshed with the tilemap at the moment

To do:

-Add a glow/blur effect to lava*
-Add glow/blur to interactive objects*
-Objects that break apart into smaller objects
-Shop/repair area
-Add recycling building (extra cash)
-Add simple lighting effect
-Add power to pick up objects with the mouse
-Add area effect effects (gravity changes, lighting, etc)
-Add snow
-Add particles jumping up from lava
-Add shielded area
-Add background gradient
-Other smaller features

The reason I have the top two starred is that those are slightly more difficult to pull off if flixel then the other features. All the others have been done before, and will go by quickly. It's just that when it comes to those specific features, I've just banged my head up against a wall. So, I'm going to first go for something simple, like I did with the water. And then maybe write a new class because someone's hinted at doing that before. Anyways. That's enough from me.

-Laters!
-xhunterko

Sooo, who are these characters? And why do I care about them enough to make a game about them? Well, story time. Back when I was doing clickteam software stuff, I had this grand idea of a grand, expansive game that looked like cave story and played like a metroidvania. Cause, every body loves metroidvanias right? Right. So, anyways, I had stuff planned, I had a level map, I had the characters powers planned, and the whole intricate weapon changing system plotted out. So, what happened? Someone shot down my art. And shot it down hard. So I killed it and tried to start a different game staring a box in a box world. But the name was taken by a comic strip. So I eventually killed that one too. But anyways, I never thought about these characters again until I had the bright idea of experimenting with a lunar lander prototype. And then the Experimental gameplay 101 things theme happened. And I thought, what a better opportunity to try and bring part of this game idea back? So. I settled on an exploration lunar lander with character dialogue. So. Who are these characters again? Well, this is what I can remember from the original Tribute.

Poddie:

Poddie is the robot like thing with the antenna on her head. Yes, her head. She's also not a robot, she's a Nohm, a half spider like alien species. She's also wearing an armor suit. In the original game, both characters had different powers. Poddie concentrated on the weapons department. She had a laser that could shoot in 360 directions. She had homing missles. She could hover. And she had armor so she had extra health. She was also able to fire various lasers, rockets, throw up defensive shields, and drop mines. She is more suitable for the larger, tougher enemies. The weapons could charge up and do extra damage like a power shot. She was basically a power house.

Mike the Cat:

Mike was a bit different then Poddie. For one, he would go through the entire adventure with no shirt. Nada. So, what could Mike do?

In total, his powers include the following:

1.Jump
-Wall, Double, Triple, Hover
2.Shot
-Various spreads, Charged, Wall passing, Minor freezing.
3.Lift
-Picks up a small item/enemy and tosses it.
4.Locate
-Scans the surrounding area for secrets.
5.Control
-Takes over different enemy types.
7.Empower
-Increases Poddie's Attack/Defense.
8.Purge
-Does a screen clearing blast attack for some enemies. Decreases 50 boss health points.

The goal of the original game, was to slowly restore Mikes memory by planting flowers. You see, Mike originally only saw things in black and white. But, they signed on to a job of planting flowers at forgotten memorial monuments. The first flower they grew sprouted rather quickly and created a shock wave, healing his mind entirely for a second, and then almost everything was gone again. Hence, the shocked expression he has. The more flowers they plant, the more he remembers and learns, leading up to a climax that had them saving the planet they live on. You can find the original game blog here: Create-games.com

I was so pumped for that game. It was my first flash game too. I was just learning on how things worked. But yeah, I made the mistake of letting a critique shut down the project. And I never looked at it again. So. Here's hoping that this game will live up to it's namesake and hopefully be a good game to play. All right, enough from me.

Laters!
-xhunterko

Ya know what? Hang FGL, I'll put a bid up there later when the games done.

So, what is Tribute? Okay let me ask a few common questions I can think of here.

Again, what is Tribute?

Tribute is a lander type collect-em up game originally designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project's theme.

Will you still keep the theme?

Yeah. It's what spawned the idea right?

What's the game going to be about?

To keep with the games theme, the game is about two characters trying to find 101 objects. They need to find these objects because they are facing a debt of a really large bill. They decide to hop in their spacecraft and tour the planet and scrounge for materials. giving quippy little insights along the way.

What are some features or neat stuff in the game?

Well, since there's two characters in the spacecraft, there are going to be two powers the player can be able to use. The first power is a laser weapon that the female character can use to destroy blocks or obstacles in the way. The second male character is a psychic and can move and toss the destroyed debris out of their way. So you use one character to destroy stuff, and the other character to fling the junk around. The junk can be recycled in a melting pot for extra cash to upgrade the characters powers and make them stronger. Some of these objects are huge blocks of obsidian. Yes you read that correctly. Also, there's a few areas in the game with a bit of history. The characters will try to tell you about them as best they can with hopefully a little humor thrown in. There aren't any enemies in the game to worry about so new players will be able to get a feel for it too.

No enemies? Okay, this is a lander game right? So at least the terrain will kill you right?

I'm actually debating this at the moment. I have to figure out the best way to include landing zones or pads and try to figure out if I want the player to die or not. But as it stands right now I don't want the game to be too difficult.

So why isn't this a platformer/ has better art?

Gasp! You want to work on a 2 and a half week game for free? Really? Really? Sorry, when it comes to discussing art in that manner it's a bit of a sore spot. But anyways, the games project scope is 2-2 and a half weeks at the most. That means I'm not going to fuss over the artwork and get it as good as I possibly can in such a short notice. Which meant not wanting to worry about character art and not having to worry about anatomy issues.

Who are these characters and where does their world come from?

I'll post more on that in another blog post. But to begin with, these characters come from the ashes of a hand drawn, black and white, epic metroidvania platformer that never got off the ground. So their history and backstory will be based upon that.

Will there be music?

Only if I have time and the game calls for it. As it is, I'm trying to utilize sound as much as possible.

What platforms will the game be for?

The game is only going to be available on Flash.

All righty, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. If you think I can answer a question you may have then please post it in the comments below!