Just made these two videos. One is the timelapse video I took to show my development process and the other is to show off the gameplay for those that cant run flash (Linux) or dont want to actually play the game, just want to see what the fuss is about
The timelapse was produced using 2300 ish screenshots, one taken every 60 seconds by Chronolapse.
Okay well its not quite complete, the waves of enemies could do with some more work but I have my mum coming up from London to visit me in 30 mins so im gonna call it quits here.
So, finally it has a name, I have called it “48 Hours Later” Its not technically true as I have only had 40 hours to do it, but oh well!
Overall im pretty happy with my first Ludum Dare entry, im very tired right now and have a banging headache, but thats all part of the fun right?
So onto the game. First some shots:
Okay so if you have been following waaaay back my original intention was to make a game with the same sort of art style as World of Goo but with the game mechanics of Boom Stick. I think I have stayed pretty true to that original idea.
Basically you fight against waves of enemies that float across the screen. There are currently only 10 waves, I would have liked more and with more variety but oh well
The theme of the competition was “Enemies as Weapons”. I have incorporated that theme by having the enemies drop giblets when they die. You then have a certain amount of time to pick up those giblets and fire them back at the enemies. Enemies as weapons!
So as a disclaimer: im sure the game has many bugs and things, I have run out of time to do much in the way of testing and optimising. If you find any bugs however drop a comment I would love to hear about them as I plan to release this to a few flash portals, so would like to get those bugs fixed
Anyways enough jibber jabber. A few more shots then the game is below:
EDIT: I have now made a youtube gameplay video and timelapse of development, check em here.
Well its been quite a while since my last progress report. I have mostly been sleeping (well 4 hours of it anyways).
So progress is coming along nicely STILL no gameplay tho :S
So far you can shoot and destroy the enemies and then collect thier giblets before they become part of the terrain. The idea is that you can then shoot those giblets back at the enemies. Take alook if you are interested:
Oh I just noticed I left some debug sliders on there I was using to try and hone the bloom levels. Have a play with them if you want.
Okay, im starting to get pretty tired. Its not very late (midnight) but I think the lack of sleep last night is catching up with me. Im gonna get a few hours kip now then back up early to start again I think.
As for progress. I have a basic enemy type in, it doesnt do much except bleed, and it doesnt look too good (I really cant draw!) but oh well.
As before I have done a build that you can “play”:
So the next task for me when I wake up is to add some sort of scoring mechanism and ofcourse to add the ability to use the “Enemies as Weapons”
Okay its been about 6 hours since my last update, and I have been working pretty much solid apart from an hour lunchbreak when I went for a wander into town.
Ive made quite abit of progress with the core bits of the engine including the physics particle systems and the destructible terrain.
Dont believe me? Take a look for yourself:
Theres still no game really, just a pretty tech demo. Im hoping the gameplay will come next
Im going to have abit of a break now, get some food wind down a little then its going to be a loooooong night ahead for me!
I really like the World Of Goo art style, plus im hoping the shilloette like style will be much easier for my poor drawing ability
As for gameplay, “Enemies as Weapons” instantly reminded me of the flash game Boom Stick for some reason. So in that game you shoot enemies flying by overhead with your shotgun. You then run around and pick up ammo that drops from them. You then use that ammo to shoot more of them, simples!
The great thing about this idea is that I have done work in the past on LieroXNA and Worms 2 Mobile so hopefully I can use some of the experience I have gleamed from doing those games to make this one
With design out of the way now, I think im going to setup my environment and get cracking!
Okay its 3:31am the competition started 31mins ago. I had originally intended to wake up at 5-6am then start coding but I couldnt sleep so I thought I would get cracking early then catch a nap later on when im tired.
The theme for the competition is “Enemies as Weapons” which is actually a better theme than what I was expecting “Technology in the wrong time period”. I havent got an idea yet but im sure something will come to me
Anyways, here is where all the magic will be happeneing over the next 48 hours:
I have ChronoLapse setup to capture a screenshot every 60 seconds so hopefully we will get a nice video at the end showing my progress (or lack of ).
I will be updating at regular intervals throughout, mainly to break up the dev process a little as 48hours is a long time!
Dont think I have blogged about this yet, so im doing so now.
Im planning on entering the 18th Ludum Dare compo, starting this sat. This will be my very first entry and im quite excited!
For those not in the know the Ludum Dare competition is a competition for Indie Games Developers. You have 48 to make a game (practically) from scratch. Its a solo competition so I cant call in my partner in crime olip.co.uk to do the artwork for me.
Rules are as follows:
You must work alone (solo).
All game code and content must be created within the 48 hours.
Games must be based on the theme.
All libraries, middleware, content creation, and development tools are allowed.
Source code must be included.
The themes for this edition of the compo are currently being voted on here.
I doubt I will be able to come up with much in the 48 hour limit, but im hoping to get at least something remotely playable!
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Its not technically true as I have only had 40 hours to do it, but oh well!
Michael is a Professional Flash Developer currently based in Manchester UK. His passion is all things programming, particularly Games and Particle Systems.