Created title screen, all but Continue works for the moment,
Created level select hub area, was a doozy but managed to get it working,
Created part one of the options screen, part two’s next week,
Started work on player bullets hurting enemies,
Implemented sound effects via MagicBiscuit’s suggestions, but only for level 1 so far,
Created a range of bitmap fonts for the game,
Got a fairly solid idea for what the main characters will look like. No pictures yet though! And
Written out a rough story for the game. Albeit it’s cheesy.
Goals:
Finish adding controls sheet for options and, eventually, pause screen,
Create shop scene so the player can spend their points,
Plan out, but not draw (as that’ll take aaages at this point), cutscenes to be used in game.
Hopefully get level 1 started in earnest!
Crikey, I don’t half waffle haha! Anyways, this week’s the week where I’ve started to experience the first feelings of burnout; I’ve got to learn to stop thinking about the project when I’m not at the computer, haha. I’m getting quite distracted at work! Still cool though. See you next week!
You might wanna add some sounds to the menu screen tho, everything was so quiet that when i loaded in and shot and enemy, the sound jump scared the socks out of me haha
Haha! Sorry 'bout that, didn’t think about it like that - I’ll see if I can pop some in when the shop’s done, hit a few snags so far but still going smoothly.
Howdy folks, aye, it’s time for the next update already! Let’s take a look…
Update 005: 7th June, 2024. Shop 'til you drop!
Progress:
Created, tested and implemented the game’s shop! This took the majority of the week’s time, what with all the checks n’ stuff,
Added a ‘Skip Cutscenes’ toggle in the game’s options, allowing the player to play the game with all cutscenes automatically skipped,
Finished the controls part of the options screen, shows clear n’ concise info for the controls in the game, and
Implemented the first character, the shopkeeper! As she’s an android I’ve gone with the name ‘Ramroma’, combining ram and rom for a bit of a twist.
Goals:
Start working on level 1 (finally, some gameplay!), I’m thinking a rough outline for enemies to start with,
Draft up the actual main character designs,
Make sure the levels will work with all the checks, like lives resetting only on level load and not when dying, little things like that which go unnoticed in the heat of programming.
…I know, it’s very odd for the tertiary character to be designed and done before the main characters, but the shop just felt so dead! Anyways, I’m finally at the point of starting level designs. I fully expect these will take a long while; on Traction it took nearly three weeks just to get the sole level done, and I have bigger plans for this game. My time was also lessened this week as our toilet cistern decided to break off the wall. Now, I ain’t no plumber but I got it fixed. Boy, the water…shudder.
Until the other three characters at the very least have a presentable image, I’m holding off of showing them (and even then I’m reticent haha!). Take care all, until next week!
Howdy folks! Another week, another bout of progress. Let’s dig in!
Update 006: 14th June, 2024. Sweet but deadly!
Progress:
Created enemy sprites for the enemies that’ll feature in level 1. They’ll at least have a little bit of animation to make them feel more ‘alive’.
Debugged some errors regarding the collision code from previous updates, now it’s easier to give the enemies the proper damage,
Created an inverted colour map for when the player damages enemies, gives it the ol’ inverted flash for a brief moment, and
Started building them inside GDevelop; gluing the pieces together, so to speak.
Goals:
For the love of chocolate, create the main character’s graphics. It’s not that I haven’t a clue how to go about it, I just find myself side-tracked very easily haha!
Start thinking about backgrounds for level 1,
Make a start on the actual coding of enemies so that they’ll act accordingly when they appear, and
Check the lives count when the player dies so it alters properly, again I’ve got a process in mind but I got carried away this week.
What a week…lots went on in real life so I focused on the more calmer side of this project so far - designing the enemies for the first level. Managed to get 'em ready for now, so I’ll work on getting it all set up this following week. I started drawing one enemy, then another, then another…boom, week gone haha!
I’m gonna (tentatively) put a progress percentage on the first post up top, one for overall game completion (in my eyes), and one for a demo completion. This is extremely flippant so it’s not a proper way of saying how far it’s gone but it’ll give me a smile each week to update it a couple % if I’ve worked on it well enough.
As for the demo mentioned, I’ll be releasing a demo of the game up to and including the first full level, with relevant cutscenes, when it’s ready. I’d very much appreciate feedback on it, whenever it’s finished, so that I can incorporate it into the main game going forward. I beseech your guidance!
Many thanks for reading, enjoy your weekends! Ulqiuo.
Awight everyone? Yet another week flies by, now we’re officially in Summer I’m feeling the heat in more ways than one! Here’s the roundup:
Update 007: 21st June, 2024. Levelling the field!
Progress:
Created the wave system for enemy waves. This means that the level itself is well underway, much to my happiness. Should work with a checkpoint system nicely too,
Fixed the life system so that when the player dies and loses a life, on respawn the life meter is correctly updated,
Coded the vast majority of the enemies. This is what took the time this week. Still have the mounted enemies and half of the boss to go,
Added a fair bit of ‘juice’ to the gameplay so far, things like splats and flames on enemies for example, to give it some niceness (hopefully), and
Started work on the under-the-hood programming for when the level begins, and what happens when it ends upon boss defeat.
Goals:
Finish coding the remaining enemies and boss,
Create checkpoint system, thinking two on each level for now,
Start on backgrounds,
With backgrounds at least set up I can properly set the mounted enemies,
(Possibly) start on making the pause screen events,
Sort out wave spacing so the player’s not too overwhelmed, but not left too long with nothing to shoot,
Finish the end-of-level coding so that the results popup is done and the level takes you back to hub, and
Maaaaaybe work on the characters. Yes, another week gone and no sprites, but at the moment the level takes priority haha!
It’s been a doozy this week. I won’t bore you with the usual excuses, but know that things are proceeding apace. I’ve noticed that the camera shake doesn’t seem to work anymore, not quite sure if it’s something I’ve done in the code or whether it’s the recent variables update to GDevelop, but the extension for camera shake seems a bit unreliable. I’ll check it out if I have time, it’d be awesome to have a lil’ bit here n’ there. If push comes to shove I’ll try and hard-code it meself.
With the heat coming I’ll be spreading out the work a bit thinner too; as I only have a laptop I’m reticent to have it on me lap a lot with the warmth haha. Don’t really have space for a desk either…ah, dilemmas! Regardless, I’m hoping that this week I’ll be nearly, if not fully, done with the level’s main programming. If it is then the demo will be ready a bit quicker too. I’ve updated the first post with (approximate) percentages for the game and demo completion. At least it’s going up haha!
That’ll do then for the week. If I can get the backgrounds done I’ll post some screenshots next week, I’ve noticed it’s been a long while since I actually showed some progress rather than just type about it, and for that I apologise.
Update 008:(Not so much an update) Project on hold.
Welp, talk about a bad week. I know it’s early for me to do an update here but I’m at a mate’s house borrowing their computer for the moment, this won’t take long haha. I won’t go into most of the details as it’s not relevant but I’m putting the project on hold for a while. My laptop caught fire yesterday in the hottest day we had this year, as such I’ve not got a machine to code on at the mo as I won’t turn it on in case it explodes or something. Got said mate o’ mine trying to salvage the hard drive from it (I really hope) while I’m at work this morning so that the whole project’s not lost (among other things of course). If it is, I’ll be frank and say I might shelve this project altogether. Put a lot of effort into this as my ‘flagship’ game and I’m a little peeved, so to speak.
Clearly was thinking things were going a bit too well so far in the past couple months, so perhaps this is my punishment or some such crap for being too optimistic for once. Still, I guess the onus is on me for not making regular backups, never occurred to me to do so as I’m quite new to all this. Meh, whatever. Still hurts to see your work go up in flames though, literally.
Still, moaning out of the way - no idea what’s happening next. If the hard drive is salvageable then I’ll consider restarting once I get a replacement computer (money’s super tight so no idea when). If not, then no more Traction Turbo (at this moment in writing. Perhaps once I’ve calmed down a bit I’ll reconsider).
