Ran through the first real test run today.
This is the first time any game I've made has been played by anyone other than myself. A nice little milestone.
My girlfriend and I had a 2 player match deployed on the XBox. Now, she's not a gamer in the least and she was laughing like a maniac so something must be right. I had no enemy cap and watching her flail around trying to get her orbs was priceless.
The point though, is that it was actually pretty fun to play. Now it's time to throw in some powerups, enemy attacks and, hopefully soon, some new art.
The most interesting thing I'm waiting for is to have my design team test play the game with full control over certain variables, enemy spawn time, damages, hit points and the like. Should make for good times. Hell, I enjoy playing with the little things.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
And it's all coming together.
This is a beutifull time in game development...
When it all starts to actually feel like a game instead of just some primary features.
I've found this feeling at different points in my previous work-in-progress games. With Cosmic Lacrosse I got that feeling as soon as the bright flashing goal image came up and the players instantly teleport back to face-off positions.
Well wait. I suppose it's all the same because I have this feeling now with Cosmic Harvest when I can get all my points, get to my gate and then press a restart button.
I guess what it comes down to, for me at least, is the constant play feeling.
Prior to this update I've had to simply close the game, restart and begin anew. Now I simply press the replay button!
Replaying is definately a prime factor in this feeling of coming together that I have. Auto-spawning enemies definately helps as well. This is way more fun when I don't have to press B to spawn an enemy.
Anyways, here's some footage! I'm definately pumped to see all of these videos in reverse once the game is done.
When it all starts to actually feel like a game instead of just some primary features.
I've found this feeling at different points in my previous work-in-progress games. With Cosmic Lacrosse I got that feeling as soon as the bright flashing goal image came up and the players instantly teleport back to face-off positions.
Well wait. I suppose it's all the same because I have this feeling now with Cosmic Harvest when I can get all my points, get to my gate and then press a restart button.
I guess what it comes down to, for me at least, is the constant play feeling.
Prior to this update I've had to simply close the game, restart and begin anew. Now I simply press the replay button!
Replaying is definately a prime factor in this feeling of coming together that I have. Auto-spawning enemies definately helps as well. This is way more fun when I don't have to press B to spawn an enemy.
Anyways, here's some footage! I'm definately pumped to see all of these videos in reverse once the game is done.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Progress!
At last! Progress!
Of my indie game dev experience to date, the biggest setback to progress is the day job. But alas, bills need to be paid.
Enough whining though, on to some news. After a decent ammount of time spend today some difficulty is actually being worked out in the game. We now have enemies! (As harmless as they may seem) Not only that but attacks no longer fire through walls! Huzzah!
As a treat, here's some video of the latest build.
Of my indie game dev experience to date, the biggest setback to progress is the day job. But alas, bills need to be paid.
Enough whining though, on to some news. After a decent ammount of time spend today some difficulty is actually being worked out in the game. We now have enemies! (As harmless as they may seem) Not only that but attacks no longer fire through walls! Huzzah!
As a treat, here's some video of the latest build.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Well... I finally caved and got a twitter account. Good for game publicity I suppose.
Mah first twitter
Mah first twitter
Monday, September 13, 2010
Design
I just have a quick thought to get down.
I just have to say, testing enemy creation is awesome. There's nothing like being able to spawn 100 guys at the touch of a button, make them all walk to one place and kill them all at once. Or make them all stationary and have to kill my way through them to get the points.
I'll put up a screenshot when I get home tonight.
Good times.
I just have to say, testing enemy creation is awesome. There's nothing like being able to spawn 100 guys at the touch of a button, make them all walk to one place and kill them all at once. Or make them all stationary and have to kill my way through them to get the points.
I'll put up a screenshot when I get home tonight.
Good times.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Hobby programming
I was on my way home from out of town today and I was thinking how strange it is to be a hobby coder.
Most of my coding takes place in 20-30 minute intervals when I have a bit of spare time. Depending on work I sometimes only get a change to sit down for 10 minutes a couple times throughout the day to put down a line of code or two for a function I've been working on.
It seems like a really wierd way to go but at the same time it's pretty productive. There's nothing like only having time for a few lines to make those few lines count.
It almost seems stranger yet to be able to put a good 6-8 hours straight coding or programming in general (planning, debugging and whatnot). Once in awhile I'll get around to devoting 3-4 hours of straight work and I find those always end up being the times when I spend an hour and a half running through call stacks and engine source codes only to learn that I really just mucked up a variable. Always the optimist, however; I always find when I'm knee deep in engine source I always learn something neat that changes the way I look at my design.
As an indie developer without a budget, I've got that white hot image in my mind of when I get enough games under my belt to stick it out at home full time, 3-6 hours a few days a week and make ends meet.
But for now, I'm loving what I've got.
Cheers.
Most of my coding takes place in 20-30 minute intervals when I have a bit of spare time. Depending on work I sometimes only get a change to sit down for 10 minutes a couple times throughout the day to put down a line of code or two for a function I've been working on.
It seems like a really wierd way to go but at the same time it's pretty productive. There's nothing like only having time for a few lines to make those few lines count.
It almost seems stranger yet to be able to put a good 6-8 hours straight coding or programming in general (planning, debugging and whatnot). Once in awhile I'll get around to devoting 3-4 hours of straight work and I find those always end up being the times when I spend an hour and a half running through call stacks and engine source codes only to learn that I really just mucked up a variable. Always the optimist, however; I always find when I'm knee deep in engine source I always learn something neat that changes the way I look at my design.
As an indie developer without a budget, I've got that white hot image in my mind of when I get enough games under my belt to stick it out at home full time, 3-6 hours a few days a week and make ends meet.
But for now, I'm loving what I've got.
Cheers.
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