This week is Concordia’s Reading Week, so I took off to a cabin in the woods for a few days and didn’t have internet access. So, late post! The Pixelles homework this week was just to work on our games. Out of my new goals for last week, here’s what I got done:

– The aforementioned feedback page/end of level/score page needs to be created.
I created a very simple end of level page that displays the score. I wanted it to count the number of objects collected and the amount of HP left and add that to the score, but I’m not sure how to do it. This is a stretch goal if I have the time.

– Now that I have a functioning score system, I want to add more challenges, obstacles, and ways of earning points to the level. Time will be a factor but right now there’s nothing preventing the player from collecting points. I need things to get in the way!

I didn’t get the chance to do this but found the levels too small – so I remade everything in 800×600 and kept the characters and objects the same size. This did introduce a problem though: my world-map stuff isn’t where I placed it, and even when I replace the objects, they always end up to the left of where I placed them. I need to figure out what’s going on there this week.

– Linked to the above is level-creation. I have a pretty-much empty test level right now. What I want to do is add objects and backdrops to that – hopefully implementing these as part of the challenge of the level.
Still working on it! Limited internet access meant limited means of looking up solutions to my problems.

– Colouring/refining my sprites both to differentiate them and to make them look nicer.
I did get to do this! I’ll save showing you guys until it’s time to show the whole game though.

– Creating at least one fully playable level with everything that I want to implement.
This is not yet done – I think when I’ve accomplished this, I’ll have finished the simplest version of the game.

– Right now, there’s a small problem when you exit the level (which should be fixed by having an end-of-level screen): upon re-entering the test level, the air for that level resets but the score doesn’t. So, that’ll need to be fixed.

This was fixed by means of a kind of “cheat” – now that there’s an end-of-level screen, exiting the level finishes the game and displays the player’s score.

Okay, so this week’s goal is to finish the game. That means:

– Fixing the bug with my map – I think I introduced this bug by changing everything to 800×600 res, but I have no idea why even recreating the level didn’t fix it. ???

– Creating a fully playable level with at least a little bit of a challenge to it – obstacles and such. Maybe some kind of maze or a stricter time limit will help.

My Stretch Goals (if I have the time) are:
– To add the air remaining at the end of the level to the player’s score.
– To add two more frames of animation to my diver’s motion.

Next week, this’ll all be over and I will have created a simple game in six weeks while juggling my other responsibilities. What a cool challenge!

So, the homework for the Pixelles Incubator Follow-Along this week was to continue making our games. Last week, I posted a list of things that I wanted to do and didn’t get the chance to, and things that I wanted to do but didn’t think I’d get the chance to. I’ve decided to check goals off that previous list (and report any other progress) and create some new goals.

Last week’s lists
What I had hoped to accomplish but didn’t this week was:
– Having a scene transition when the player pressed enter around an object on the world map – like the submarine or airplane, which are going to be my two playable levels for the purpose of the Pixelles incubator.
Instead of pressing enter, what now happens is that when the player enters a region surrounding (in this case) the airplane, they transist to another scene. Right now, that scene is my test scene. You can also exit my test level back to the world map screen.
– Having a second diver sprite who would follow around my main character.
Yes! I reused the same sprite, and for some reason the sprite can’t turn around (when I go to the left of my screen, Buddy follows me fin-first :/) but I’ve accomplished the following-around part!
– Having the fish move in a set pattern (right now you can push them around the screen if you want to be mean to them!).
They now move around like sheep would in a random pattern within parameters that I set.
– Assigning a points-value to the fish and some other objects that would then be added to the score when you interacted with them.
Yes! In fact, the fish have a points-value and you can only collect points once. The other objects also have a points-value but can also negatively impact your air consumption! (So some objects add to your score but decrease your HP…in this case, my air meter.)

What I didn’t expect to accomplish but still need to figure out (and that I expect to be fairly challenging):
– Assigning different rates of air consumption at different assigned “depths” – I might just make it vary with the level.
So far, my solution for this is to make it vary with every level. The levels are going to be relatively small until I do something about it, so I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
– Assigning a faster air consumption rate when the character is carrying something (oh, and making those objects carriable, period).
Instead, I’ve made the objects disappear like coins when you pick them up, and they automatically decrease your air supply but up your score.
– Actually creating a decreasing air bar!
I did it! What I did was create a health bar, and every second as the game updates, the health bar takes damage, thus decreasing the air.
– Actually creating a way to accumulate points.
Yeah, this was primarily about learning to use the Stencyl resources – it’s strange to me that they can all be opened in several different views. But now you can indeed collect points in my game.
– Creating a feedback page after each level where The Divemaster tells you what you did well and assigns bonus points and such as described in my design document.
This is the only one that I didn’t manage to do, and I imagine that it’s going to be fairly simple once I figure out how to end a level properly. Right now, you can die though – and there’s a quick message which then takes you back to the title screen. I need some kind of score-saving tool/points screen.
Oh, and I also decreased the level of text at the beginning down to two screens…hope that’s short enough.

Okay, so new goals!

– The aforementioned feedback page/end of level/score page needs to be created.
– Now that I have a functioning score system, I want to add more challenges, obstacles, and ways of earning points to the level. Time will be a factor but right now there’s nothing preventing the player from collecting points. I need things to get in the way!
– Linked to the above is level-creation. I have a pretty-much empty test level right now. What I want to do is add objects and backdrops to that – hopefully implementing these as part of the challenge of the level.
– Colouring/refining my sprites both to differentiate them and to make them look nicer.
– Creating at least one fully playable level with everything that I want to implement.
– Right now, there’s a small problem when you exit the level (which should be fixed by having an end-of-level screen): upon re-entering the test level, the air for that level resets but the score doesn’t. So, that’ll need to be fixed.

Here, have a test-run of what I managed to implement this week!

This week’s Pixelles’ homework was a lot less defined than other weeks and so I think my focus ended up being a lot more diffuse as well. I guess the easiest way to track my progress this week is to make a list of the things that I did and the major things that I still have to do before I have a working prototype of the game.

This week, I worked a lot on art and basic movement. I made a title screen, a set of instructions, a world map, and an interim level (not one that’s an actual destination but one to test). I also made several sprites – the animation isn’t perfect but I feel like that’s in the details. I made a scuba diver who moves in two frames, a pike, a sunfish, a weight belt, a snorkel, a submarine and an airplane.

For your viewing pleasure, here they all are:

On the world map, the character is able to move around without going out of bounds and the same is true for the diver in the interim level.

I’ve uploaded the game here so that you can give it a shot. For the first couple of screens, click through with the mouse. But don’t forget to move around and run into my submarine and my airplane on the map!

I also made a sound effect – it’s a scuba diving regulator and then the expelled bubbles. I used resources from creative commons and freesound.org and a program called Audacity to adjust the pitch, tempo, speed, and the fades.

scubabreathing

What I had hoped to accomplish but didn’t this week was:
– Having a scene transition when the player pressed enter around an object on the world map – like the submarine or airplane, which are going to be my two playable levels for the purpose of the Pixelles incubator.
– Having a second diver sprite who would follow around my main character.
– Having the fish move in a set pattern (right now you can push them around the screen if you want to be mean to them!).
– Assigning a points-value to the fish and some other objects that would then be added to the score when you interacted with them.

What I didn’t expect to accomplish but still need to figure out (and that I expect to be fairly challenging):
– Assigning different rates of air consumption at different assigned “depths” – I might just make it vary with the level.
– Assigning a faster air consumption rate when the character is carrying something (oh, and making those objects carriable, period).
– Actually creating a decreasing air bar!
– Actually creating a way to accumulate points.
– Creating a feedback page after each level where The Divemaster tells you what you did well and assigns bonus points and such as described in my design document.

If I can achieve this by the end of the Incubator, I will be ecstatic. If I have to simplify, that’s good too. After these goals, I think I’ll feel free to better the game art and animation at my leisure and create new levels when I have the time.

I got a bit behind on my Pixelles homework this week, but with good reason: I participated in the Global Game Jam this weekend! More on this in a later post though. I started the homework before the Jam, and this is initially what I had to say:

“The week 2 homework for Pixelles is considerably more involved than week 1. I like it. It comes at a busy time because of some of my classwork, the fact that Global Game Jam is this weekend, and that this Saturday is also my birthday. But, as usual, challenge accepted. Here’s the homework checklist which I’ve shamelessly grabbed from their post:

Homework

Pick a game-making tool for your game!

This was tough, because deciding which game-making tool to go with involves trying to use each tool and see which one fits. Until further notice, I think that the nature of my game will lend itself well to Adventure Game Studio. I want to be able to easily create environments that a character can wander through, without the goal being immediately obvious. From what I can tell, AGS will lend itself well to that.”

And that’s what I had so far. Well, since then, I purchased an old, beaten-up MacBook Pro for 250 dollars off of kijiji, and AGS is windows-only. That means I have two choices: work only with AGS at home (and work on other things when I’m out and about), or change engines. I don’t know what to do! For now, I’ve decided to stick with AGS and turn in my homework a little late. On to the rest of the homework!

Get your game environment set up — have the tool, basic scene, and your placeholder data ready to work on for next week. It’s OK if your character doesn’t move, for example, but have a placeholder image (if your game has characters) to represent it.

I have my tool ready. I’m planning on using AGS (and possibly Stencyl if that doesn’t work out). I’m working on sprites right now. Here’s a top-down view of my scuba diver sprite for the map, no colours, at 1300% view.

I want to leave some of this a surprise for when the game is actually ready, so that’s all you get for now!

Write a concept document for your game using the example template. Remember you can and should use lots of images, even ones from Google image search, to get your point across.

Here’s my game design document, but I’ve decided not to include images: DivingGameConcept
Writing this document went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would – I guess I’ve been thinking about it a lot!

Create a level from scratch in your game-making tool of choice (for example, Stencyl or GameMaker) OR create a short interactive fiction story! You can use Twine, Inklewriter, Story Nexus, or any other tool you like.

I interpreted this as meaning a level for my game rather than just a random level. So far, still working on this. But hey, GGJ 2013, amirite? But if it does mean a random level or an IF, then I’ve done both this week.

That’s all for now! I hope to be able to get more done next week, since this week was particularly busy for me.
Meanwhile, check out the page for my game, Legacy, on the Global Game Jam page!!!

Here is this week’s session summary and homework from Pixelles. I’m using the homework section towards the end of the post as a checklist and headers for discussion.

– Check out the games from our inspiration list – done, but not all 33 games. Some thoughts on the first three:

I wish I were the Moon: Was adorable. I loved the game mechanics and that “losing” was a valid ending also (for the sense of completion). I’m trying to find the last two endings!

I Can Hold My Breath Forever: I enjoyed the writing component to this game. The gameplay was relatively simple but fairly challenging – I had a lot of trouble navigating some of those tunnels. Somehow, there seemed to be a feeling of elegy to it – as if that friend were lost in some way, and the adorable little sprite in this game were chasing a memory. Very much enjoyed!

The Kingdom of Loathing: I knew going into KOL that I wouldn’t have time to play all of it for this week. Just the “What is KOL” section of the site had me in stitches. I enjoyed how the character descriptions changed when the gender of the character was changed. Earning the right to play using adventure points is interesting. Oh, and meat as money makes perfect sense. I’m a tabletop gamer, so this was fun. I’ll have to play this again.

– Have a look at the games girls have made in another incubator to get an idea of what level of game you can expect to make.

Done – I did this as soon as I heard about the Pixelles Incubator.

– Install GameMaker Studio (Windows only) or Stencyl (OSX/Windows)

I did this and better – I am also taking a tour of Unity, but I think that I’ll probably stay with Stencyl or GameMaker for the purpose of actually making my game for the Incubator.

– Do some of the tutorials in either Stencyl or GameMaker to get a better idea of how the tool works. You can find Stencyl’s tutorials here. Gamemaker’s tutorials are built right into the program.

I did Crash Course 1 in Stencyl and it is a fairly intuitive tool. I made a game with pits, of course, instead of a regular level. I’m excited to play with making sprites.
Crash Course 2, which I also did, is making a game using resources that already exist in the program. I used my own animations. The game logic is very time-consuming but manageable. I don’t know if I would have known what to do on my own, especially in terms of limiting the movement of a character.

– Modify a template in Stencyl or Gamemaker. Change the template to make it “your own”, whether this is by changing the game mechanics, modifying gravity, adding more objects, change the player’s goal completely. Use this assignment to really explore Stencyl/GameMaker. You can find GameMaker’s examples just by clicking File->Open — there should be one called “treasure” and one called “street racer”.

I made my own game with simple graphics instead, using Stencyl’s crash course 2 tutorial. It’s called “Jeka Needs To Study” and you can play it. It’s nothing fancy, and doesn’t have a title screen, but it’s a beginning!

– Start conceptualizing your game: what kind of game you’d like it to be, what player’s goal will be, doodles, sketches

More on this later, I’m still working it out! Right now, the world seems full of possibility!