Building Momentum

Wow, what a week its been so far.

Bit of a whirlwind.. so where to start. OK, lets start at the very beginning (that's a very good place to staaaaaart!)

I have recruited a designer into the group and chatted over the concept of Project Blast! with him - by some stroke of genius on my part (or fluke, you choose) he knew of the game we were basing Project Blast! on, and had played it previously - so that's a big bonus - getting my concept/vision over to others is SO much easier when someone understands the actual game/mechanics.

The team now consists of 3 of us, 2 developers and a designer which seems like a good mix of folk to me. Its a fairly small team & project at the moment and in theory one that wont take forever to complete. Its REALLY good experience for everyone involved in working in teams and allocating coding/design work as necessary. We (well, I say we, my fellow developer) are in the process of setting up an online work/task distribution system so we can all keep track of who is doing what and what stage the project is at which will be a godsend, considering we all live in different parts of the country...

All in all a very positive start to the week and the project - if its possible, I am even more excited at the prospect of seeing this project developing now, than I was previously.

I'm off to talk about some more ideas - later Internet people.

Back on Track!

Hi folks,

Well, after a lovely week in Sunny Bridlington (yes, it was sunny.. no, seriously, I can hardly believe it either!) I am back and raring to go. My laptop has been repaired by HP (new motherboard) so now nothing can stop me cracking on with project number 2 (codename Project Blast!).

Just trying to recruit a designer at the moment to flesh out some of my initial ideas, but the basic concept (to me at least) is awesome and offers a LOT of scope for future DLC, multi player tournaments, leagues etc. etc. so I am really stoked about the whole idea. Whoever thought that writing a concept document could be so exciting... yeah. you are right, I do need to get out more...

Anyway, I'm currently developing some of the tools we will be using to make the various levels (and hopefully make available to the player to make their own levels too) - need to spend some time getting this JUST right, its incredibly important.

Odds On fans, don't despair - that's still in development too - just taking a little bit of a back seat at the moment (no pun intended!).

Oh, and I managed to play a couple of new XBL Arcade games over the last few days - Trials HD and Shadow Complex.

Trials HD is in a word, awesome. Anyone remember Kickstart 1 & 2 on the C64? This game is very similar to that but 21st Centuryised!!! Mad OTT motorbiking on wild stunt tracks. Its very "just one more go" with some crazy achievements to be won - top top stuff - grab the trial version and make your own minds up but its well worth a download. Love the integration of the player leader boards too - it tracks your "friends" times etc. so you can see when you are beating them in real time - really cleverly done. Its definitely one Ill be going back to again and again...

Shadow Complex is also a great demonstration of style and game design. Played in 2d but with a 3d view it reminds me quite a bit of the Amiga game "Flashback". Its also very retro-styled in the way the game plays. The 2d / sort of 3d plane is a little confusing at first, but when it "clicks" it works really well! Plenty of hidden items to find etc. etc. I hear its quite a short game to "complete", but I will more than likely be going back and playing through it again once I have finished it to find all the other secret areas I missed. Again, grab the trial version on XBL Arcade and see for yourself - oh, just one point, don't be put off by the first 2 minutes of the game - it gets better. MUCH better :)

Right, that's enough from me.. More on Project Blast! later....

A moments silence please.....

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but my HP Pavilion DV9399EA laptop died yesterday, after a short problem with the video card. The laptop died peacefully despite my frustrated attempts to recover it.

I have been having problems off and on for a week or so now but yesterday was the final nail in the coffin for it.

Ive only had it for 18 months and am quite annoyed, but a call to HP later and they agreed to collect it today, repair and return within 7-10 business days. I must admit that I thought I would get nowhere with them as the machine is out of warranty (just). I have also been reading on their forums about a lot of disgruntled people with the same problems as me and them being charged upwards of £200 to fix!! After some reasonable persistence on my behalf they have agreed to repair - so good on them.

Luckily I backed up all my code/pictures/music over the weekend so they should be safe if they have to reset the machine, and in any case, I think once I get it back a rebuild might be the best thing I can do, its probably ready!

I'm glad that HP saw fit to sort me out. I was prepared for a long drawn out battle with them, quoting the Sale of Goods Act etc. but I only got told they wouldn't repair it once, then I got put through to a different "department" who agreed to take it in with no pressure at all.

Retained a customer there and I would happily buy HP again now.

My word if the day to all of you in Internet land is "backup" and do it now - the feeling of nausea which spreads when you think your beloved computer/laptop has died with all your precious pictures/music and work is AWFUL.

A New Old Project!

So whilst my brain is being wracked on Odds On (and whilst I wait for the artwork to arrive) Ive turned my attention to another project..

As yet untitled its essentially a very similar game to "Gravity Power" which came out on the Amiga oooh, about 10-15 years ago. Its a very simple concept, 2 player controlled ships battle it out in an arena and the one with the most kills win. A bit like Combat for the old Atari 2600, but with larger arenas, customisation of ships and weaponry, destructible terrain etc. etc.

I did start to code this game a while ago, however I took one look at the code the other day and decided I would start again as it was quite unoptimised and buggy.

Hence I'm in the very early stages at the moment - just found some nice spaceship sprites (2 different ship types at the moment, but want at least 10) and Ive begun to get the actual mechanics of the game to work. The key to this game is that EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) will be customisable - so if you want Jupiter levels of gravity, then go for it. If you want negative gravity, do it. Also, you will be able to "set up" your ship with a set number of "setup" points - so you could have a really quick ship, and trade off some armour. Or, carry a LOT of ammo, but lose some speed etc.

I also need to develop a level editor (which the player will be able to use too) - to design various maps etc. which I will also use to make the default 50 or so maps :)

Lots to think about, but in essence a much simpler game to make than Odds on. I'm hoping that this game will be something to put on after a couple of beers for a laugh.. at least, that's the plan :)

So 2 projects on the go now.. wow, I'm almost multitasking here :)

A mini-milestone is reached :)

One of the great things about coding is the sense of achievement when you figure out something that has been eluding you for days.. I had one such moment yesterday with my database :)

I FINALLY figured out how to use custom types (Structs for you C++ people) effectively in Blitz, meaning that now I can create my database and add to it / alter it whenever I feel the need :) Its a very little thing and if you saw the game in action now to how it was a week or so ago you wouldn't spot any difference, but its an aid to the internal workings of the game which means I can expand it quite effortlessly now!

Todays task will involve filling in the blanks on the preview screen and maybe adding a new functionality so that you can see a portion of the horse & jockey database information.. This will have a double effect in so much as it will aid me in error checking, but also allow the player to see which horses are doing well, which jockeys have ridden the most winners etc. etc. I can also use the database preview later in the game when I implement the running of your own stable so you can select which jockey will ride your horses accordingly..

I love it when a plan comes together...

... speaking of which, I was thinking last night, if you had to cast a Dungeons and Dragons movie (based on the old cartoon) who would you cast? So far I had got:

Dungeon Master - Warwick Davis
Eric - Colin Farrell
Hank - Owen Wilson
Presto - Daniel Radcliffe
Sheila - difficult one.. maybe Kirsten Dunst?
Diana - Halle Berry
Bobby - struggling a bit with this one..
Venger - Ron Perlman?

Any thoughts?? Until next time...

Time (or lack of it!)

Time... anyone who says they have enough doesn't. Or maybe they do if they feel they can tell you that they don't have enough.. hmm.. think I am defeating the point of this blog post already!

Progress has been slow/non existent due to lack of time for me at the moment - Ive got my games development diploma course to crack on with at some point, along with my numerous projects to progress with!

Odds On development has stalled a little due to this lack of time, but I'm hopeful I can crack a bug or two today and carry on implementing the database (which has now become the bane of my life!).

I'm also involved in another project which is at prototype stage at this moment in time, but has the potential (if we can pull it off) of being huge. A childhood favourite remastered is all I will say at this stage. Don't want to get over excited yet... :)

I go away on holiday soon, so that cause more delays, so I guess really I should crack on and get ahead of myself....

On another note Ive been playing 'Splosion Man on the 360 quite a bit (maybe that's where my time has gone to!) and for me its a fantastic example of simple game design but nailing it 100%. Its very addictive in a "just one more go" fashion. It uses one button only (so would work on a C64!) and the key to the games addictiveness is clever level design mixed with gorgeous 2.5D visuals and effects (maybe not one for the C64 then). Whilst playing it I cant help thinking that I'm playing someones LittleBigPlanet level - anyone else get that? I think the visual style of the game and the way the levels are constructed are VERY LBP-like!!

Anyway, I'm off to do some work for a change - catch you later.