Set frustration to maximum!

I'll lay this down, I'm not primarily a code guy. My origin point is more on the art side. Understanding some of the Unity scripting is driving me up the wall. This is going to sound pathetic to a lot of people, but I've spent the last few days trying to get an object face a certain direction based off it's last xyz to current xyz. Sad as hell, I know. What pisses me off the most is I'd most likely have 50% of this game prototyped in GameMaker by now, intead of this peasly 2-0%. I think, maybe, I'm starting to grasp this Classes thing and how they have their own variables and functions, and you instance these in the code, and this jazz is applied to whatever asset the script is assigned to. I researched the math(trigonometry??) behind the actual finding of these things also, helped me understand better, but not solve the problem. Man was I enraged earlier, good thing I had that chili and a Cavs game to watch. I'm rambling now, I'll try this stuff again tomorrow, damnit.

Beardy has a beard.

Here are some roughs for the main character, Beardy. Was trying to find a look for him face wise obviously. Anyhow, the story so far on him, he's returned to Bad Mountain after all these years(it kicked his ass when he was younger) to dig out it's black heart, and also to loot it. He has gambling debts and bar tabs that need paid, and some new teeth would be nice, maybe a swank suit and an estate of his own.


Did some shark business today, and attempted to start prototyping the controls for this thing in Unity. I need to print some stuff off to have in front of me, having trouble keeping all this new info sorted mentally.

Bad Eye concept art.

Today I bring to you a rough concept of the "Bad Eye" monster. It's a stalker type of monster, you can kill them, but they reconstitute after a while. This one will track you by sight, so if you stay hidden for a bit, it would go back to patrolling at random. If it's in range of an explosion or cave-in(sound/vibration trigger), it will come to investigate. The stalker monsters in this game don't get along with other types, and will even hunt them if the opportunity arises. I've always liked monster in-fighting! Who wouldn't want to see a Rabid Cavecoon devoured by one of these? Anyway, pic.

Rock Walls

So I've been working on fleshing out some different wall types, was going to name some of them after real rock types, but decided "eff that!" and went with Tough X or Hard X. Anyhow, here's a bit of the document detailing these.

"*****Walls*****
-Bad Rock Wall-
These craggy walls seem to watch you from the shadows. They are also indestructable. Serve as stage boundaries.
Hit Points(HP)-infinite
Cave-in(CI) - 0%
Produce(Prod)-none

-Dirt Wall-
Weak earth that crumbles easily.
HP-2
CI - +1%
Prod - none

-Sand Wall-
Somehow tremors don't effect the sand, but one good smack from you and it all tumbles down. When it collapses, any adjacent Sand Wall collapses also.
HP-1
CI - +1%
Prod - none

-Re Wall-
A wall made of loose rock that will reassemble itself shortly after crumbling. Wierd.
HP-3
CI - +1%
Prod - none

-Rock Wall-
Standard rock wall.
HP-3
CI - +2%
Prod - +1%/+0(pstones table)

-Hard Rock Wall-
Harder than your average rock.
HP-5
CI - +4%
Prod - +2%/+1(pstones table)

-Tough Rock Wall-
Tougher than your hard rock wall.
HP-10
CI - +6%
Prod - +4%/+2(pstones and pmetals table)

-Black Rock Wall-
A special density makes the pickaxe unable to penatrate.
HP-10
CI - +6%
Prod - +10%/+5(pstones and pmetals table)

-Vein Wall-
These walls are laced with precious metals.
HP-5
CI - +10%
Prod - +100%/+10(pmetals table)

-Gold Wall-
Not made of gold, but containing gold.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - 100% creates 5 Gold collectables.

-Silver Wall-
Not made of silver, but containing silver.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - 100% creates 5 Silver collectables.

-Crystal Wall-
Made of crystals, which seem to be all the rage with local witches. Striking these makes strange vibrations.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - 100% creates 5 Crystal collectables.

-Wierd Root Wall-
A rather large root, to what plant it belongs, nobody knows. Striking these causes the cursed plant to writhe in annoyance, increasing your chance of cave-in by 2%.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - 100% creates Wierd Root collectables.

-Bone Wall-
Who makes a wall out of bone, seriously? Destroying these will give you bones, but rustle up some angry ghosts.
HP-5
CI - +2%
Prod - 100% creates 5 Bone collectables.

-Meat Wall-
How a wall made of meat, LIVING MEAT, exists is beyond comprehension. Destroying these may attract predators.
HP-5
CI - +2%
Prod - 100% creates 5 meat collectables.

-Lava Wall-
Striking these with a pick is a bad idea, as lava spurts forth from the hole. Explosives is your best bet.
HP-3
CI - +4%
Prod - +2%/+10(pstones table)

-Monster Wall-
It has a rather large mouth with teeth. If you get near, it will try to bite/eat you. Impervious to damage from the outside. Try to land some dynamite in that maw while it's nashing it's teeth, but not to quick, or it will spit it back out in your face.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - +10%/+10(all table)

-Talking Wall-
These walls can be fed certain items in return for information on various subjects. Or you can just break them, in which case they'll scream.
HP-5
Cl - +5%
Prod - -5%/-5

-Lucky Wall-
These rainbow colored formations grant luck when destroyed.
HP-5
CI - -25%
Prod - +25%/+25(all table)

-Unlucky Wall-
Just being around these walls can cause bad things to happen. CI increases near these are boosted by 5%, all Production table rolls are decreased by 10, thrown items might bounce funny.
HP-5
CI - +5%
Prod - none

-Bombrock Wall-
These walls explode when destroyed, throwing unstable bombrocks in random directions.
HP-5
CI - +10%
Prod - +5%/+5(pmetals table)"

I've made a list of what I need to prototype this thing, and have worked on fleshing out other things like player statuses, inventory, how the score(dollars$$) works, the regular jazz.

A Good Mountain?

No, it's a Bad Mountain! At least that's what I'm refering to this new game as. If the name is not taken by the time this is further underway, I'll go with it. Here's some crap from my overview document, regarding the player and their actions.

"-Sneak,Walk,Run-
Sneaking is used to move without alerting certain monsters to your location. There may be certain terrain types that produce different outcomes given the speed of your movement.
Control - Analogue stick covers this. Keyboard control will require function keys in addition to movement keys.

-Dig with a Pickaxe-
Used to dig out obstacles(rock,dirt) or strike enemies. This method is much quieter than using explosives, but can take longer. Default Pickaxe has unlimited use.
Control - Button press.

-Drop/Throw Explosive(dynamite)-
Use dynamite(etc.) to blow up obstacles or enemies. This method is powerful and dangerous, but fast. It also has the added risk of causing cave-ins. Default Dynamite has unlimited use, the time it take to lay one stick is restricted.
Control - Button press will drop the dynamite in front of you. Holding the button will charge a throw, let go to release it. the longer you hold, the further the throw. Be careful as the dynamite is lit, don't let it blow up in your face.

-Turn On/Off Light source-
If the player has aquired a light source(torch/glow worm) they can hold it in their off hand, or pack it away.
Control - Button Press to swap on/off, hold button down while on to drop/throw similar to dynamite.

-Action-
Used to activate certain things in the environ, talking, picking up a special item, etc.
Control- Button, behavior my vary given the circumstance.

-Swap Equipment-
There may be more equipment that falls under Pickaxe/Explosive/Light that the player can store and use at anytime. Swap them out for when the need arises.
Control- Undecided. On a controller it may be the shoulder buttons swapping in a forward or backward manner for each action type. Keyboard, could be hotswapped with number keys as well as the controller method.

-Talk/Shop-
Player may encounter characters that will talk or sell items, powerups.
Control- See Action. Shopping will have the player selecting from stock to purchase.

-Pick up, Drop, Throw Big Item-
There may be large objects in the environment that the player can manipulate, like a box, or a fungus. The player can only move while doing this, and their speed may be affected.
Control - See Action. Dropping/Throwing the item would function the same as throwing dynamite.

-Pick up Goodie-
Simply move over top of the item to collect it. This could be gold, bones, gemstones, etc.
Control - Duuurr.

-Check Backpack-
Brings up a screen detailing collected items and tools, selecting them gives a closer view with details on various things, like worth, power, uses, etc.
Control - Controller would be select, keyboard would be any non essential key.

*****Life and Death*****
A tolerence meter of sorts, as in a player gets hit, a bit is shaved off, if they remain out of harms way for a few seconds it starts to regenerate. Of course, if it is depleted, they will die in a horrible fashion depending on what did them in. The player can choose to continue on the same map, but doing so will cost collectables and strip them of their extra items/powerups. They could just hang it up and have their corpse/ghost haunt that stage in future games."

I generally have an overview document that details basics for everything, and then break off with more documents with details if needed. I don't know how the pros do it, but I also work primarily alone(at the moment). I have made an effort to outline more though, as it is a help to keep things organized.

I'm working on documenting different types of destructable walls. I also have a few rough sketches for character and monster ideas, but that comes later.

Got a bit more of one Unity tutorial left, and I've already started going over the script functions and such. Hopefully I can get to prototyping in a week.

Learnin' and Burnin'

That burnin' part is made up, I've set flame to nothing.

I continue my trip in Unity tutorial land. Nothing to report there really, you move forward, and all is well.

Laying down some ideas for a game, it's one of those thought rushes you can taste, you can see it play out in your head, and it is good! A few basics.

-Top down 3rd person.
-A maze like cave setting with static and random elements.
-An eco-system comprised of various quirky(yet deadly) creatures/plants that can be pitted against each other.
-Primary player interactions include moving, digging(pick-axe), explosives. Explosives are faster than digging, but cause loud noise/vibrations and the potential for cave-ns. Digging is quiet but slow.
-Grab the goodies and find a way out.
-I'd like some multiplayer co-op or competitive, with other varied game modes.

Basics for now. I mean, there's some more in depth stuff, but I have to have something to talk about next time.

Boooooooorrrriiinngggggg!

Not much to say really. I've contacted a few distribution services, waiting to hear back. I have a few portal sites to try later, but doing only a few at a time as there may be a need for special builds of the game. Don't want to be rushed in too many different directions.

In the meantime, I'll most likely get back into Unity, and maybe jot down some game ideas, I've had one brewing these last couple days.

Curses, audio de-sync!

I spent today capturing some new video of the v1.1 shark. I did manage to record sound through my desk mic, but good lord does the game take a performance hit. On top of that, the audio de-syncs(how is this even spelled!?) in the first 20 to 30 seconds, badly. Clearly my rig isn't equiped for these operations, or I'm ignorant to better methods. So I just put clips together and used music from the game, just like last time. Here's the vids.

Version1.1 Vid
Frenzytime Bossjazz!

Also, a big thanks to Andy over at PC Games and Reviews for giving me some ad space. If you like pc games, and the reviews of pc games, check him out, he has good stuff.

Tommorrow I start on contacting reviewers and distribution services. *thumbs up*

TGWD version 1.1 done.

Yes, it's complete. The demo as well. Monday I'll put together a new gameplay video and start pimpin' shark again. Not much else to say really. Forward momentum.

What a rotten freakin' day.

I have to get this out of the way.


One of our cats, Banjo, was struck down by a vehicle last night. He was one of those loveable goofball types, who'd always accompany me to the bathroom in the morning, rapidly scale trees, play around, and of course cuddle. Got him buried, now just working through the painful void that follows. He was very young, almost a year old. That hurts the most really, knowing all that time we could have had is now gone. His sister(same litter) has been sort of lost today, as they would frequently wrestle, honing their ninja skills. This shit never gets easier. Rest well little buddy.

Work.
I made a banner add the other day, which can be seen on the Sweets page(right hand side).

Stage 9 has undergone some population changes at the outset, so the stage doesn't feel empty. All stages have had their border spawn areas drawn in, so enemies aren't to close to the border and just run off when they see you. Also, in a few stages a couple enemies would eventually stop spawning(it was on purpose), now there's at least 3 out on the field. Lastly, changed the bonus tally death penalty to a percentage lost instead of deaths x 1000. Now each death is 1% off your total, this is done to prevent people from going through a stage, dying, continuing, an racking up more points. I think that's it.

Nothing to report really.

Stage 9 might need another size reduction. This time I'd cut some off the top, another 240 pixels. I'm pretty sure there'd still be enough maneuver room.

I started diving into Unity on Sunday. I think it'll work out just fine. I'll continue doing their tutorials to further enhance my memory of it's ins and outs for maximum awesome. MAXIMUM AWESOME! They announced the next version too, Playstation 3 developing and other things, I think they have all the consoles covered now, nifty.

Relentless Squid

Not much to say really. Testing is winding down. Had to make the squid a little less aggressive. They'd pursue you for 10 seconds without letting up, and in an action game that can be an eternity. So it's 5 seconds now, seems reasonable so far.

Now, for something random, I present Captain Nippers!


For some dumbass reason, one day while taking a dump, I thought up a tiny shark space man that would seek out our hero for help, and he'd ride on his back blasting stuff, possibly in space too. MMMMmmmm, the possibilities.

Ok, that's all for now.

Tweak, tweak, tweak some more.

The title describes the last couple days.

-The bonus pop-ups are now outlined black, by drawing the text content twice, offset by a pixel -1/-1 and +1/+1. Then the show text is drawn on top of that. Done to make them stand out a bit better. A little before/after below.


-Destroy Ol' Humpy crave rewards you with Magnet Mouth. Before it was a random power-up, but killing him first isn't exactly easy, what with the dolphins and orca on you. So at least Magnet Mouth will make it easier to eat the bonus food afterward. Hell, if you do manage to kill Humpy first, catching the other mammals won't be too hard, for 10 seconds anyway :P.

-Pain Crave requirements have been lowered to reflect the damage one would sustain in the process. No longer will you need to stick your face into 3 explosions, no sir. One will do. Also, Pain Craves won't crop up if you have under 30 HP.

-If you hit Frenzy or are in a Frenzy when you score a Combo Meal Extension bonus, the frenzy meter will be frozen, keeping the Combo Meal bonus alive until the timer runs down. Before, Frenzies would kill any Combo Meal bonus at Frenzy end to tally up bonus points.

-Stage 9 is now shorter, by 240 pixels. The issue was enemies being too spread out.

This is all set to test some more, make sure it all works good. Thanks to Jay for continuing to run it through it's paces with me.

Minor Changes

What did I do over the weekend? Chores and a bunch of slacking around.

What did I do today?
I changed the way Doomed enemies occurs. Before, when a Destruction Crave was met, in one step all remaining targets were "doomed", so sometimes there would be no enemies left to doom since some of the bigger things(boats, submarines) only show up one at a time. To fix this, Doomed is now an object that lasts for 10 seconds and will catch multiple instances.
Doing a Combo-Meal Crave now rewards you with extended combo meal time, so rack up the points while you can.

Just remembered I needed to fix something, good going dumbass >:(.

Anyway, this is coming to a close, then round 2 on cutting a demo and all that stuff.