Quick Update

Hi all,

Still no Bullet Candy for Linux, as i haven’t got the joysticks working yet. Sorry.

Space Phallus is still ticking along, with some truly crude enemy designs and some pretty revolting attacks. I’ll post some pictures soon.

Cheers
Charlie

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Tags: SpacePhallus

New stuff

I’ve just noticed that if you click ‘blog info’ at the top of this page, you get the option to rate the site as being ‘mature’, but it doesn’t let you select if you think the site is immature. Ball bags. Surely this is an oversight? Knickers.

Anyway, i might have some screen shot soon, as I’ve finally got something resembling a level assembled…

Cheers
Charlie

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Menus

I really hate programming menus. To me, there is nothing more boring. So today I’ve been making a generic menu system, so that i don’t have to write another menu for a while. It supports images and strings for menu items, hyper links and all of the other stuff that you would want in a menu. So no news as such on CG_02, except that it will have a menu made using my new menu framework.

Cheers
Charlie

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What is CG_02?

Well, the general idea behind CG_02 is that it will expand on Bullet Candy by developing the environment in which the game is played. Bullet Candy’s game play was pretty simple and contained to one screen per level, and this won’t be changing. The entire level in CG_02 will be viewed on screen all the time, the difference will be how the level is constructed within the boundaries of the screen.

At present, the controls of the game are different to Bullet Candy’s twin control setup, this may change however, it’s all rather dependent on how easy my new control scheme works out once I’ve got some enemies on a test level.

As i mentioned before i want CG_02 to be something fresh and new, but i also want to keep the arcade style of Bullet Candy, even if the game doesn’t turn out much like it. To me, Bullet Candy’s main draw is the speed at which the game can change pace, a quiet looking level is completely transformed by the enemy generators and is turned into a much more intense situation, and i’d like to keep some of this intensity for CG_02. I’m going to need to be careful with what i add though, it’ll need to work with the game environment as well as the enemies this time.

At the moment I’m still tinkering with my classes for the game environments, and having quite a bit of fun trying out new ideas. My current plan is to have a number of different levels, each with it’s own unique environments, that will be linked together to form a larger level/area. The full game will feature several different areas to explore. Also, I’m toying with the idea of having a star fox style on-rails sections between each level within an area.

More tomorrow.

Cheers
Charlie

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Progress

Things are going nicely with CG_02, I’ve got the main character designed, animated and flying around a test environment. Also it can shoot bullets about, i need to get the bullets to fire at a constant speed, because they are fired at a speed relative to how fast the player is moving, but thats not a big deal. I’m going to be putting in some test enemies and objects/buildings and adding some collision detection either today or tomorrow, once I’ve done this I’ll probably stop and make some concrete designs for the game, and design some enemies and levels.

The current build allows me to do some pretty interesting stuff with various 3D objects that comprise the play area, and also some cool plasma effects. This will definitely affect the look of the game, and hopefully also the game play as well. It would be cool if i can get the environment and special effects in the game to actually effect the game play, but i guess this all will depend on how processor intensive it turns out to be…

I will get the game to a stage where i can put some screens shots up soon, but until then you are just going to have to imagine what it looks like

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CG_02 2

For CG_02, i want to try something new, so I’m going to be using 3D graphics in some way. The idea i have in my head for how the game plays i haven’t seen before either, so i guess it’ll be something new on two counts.

What I’d like to do is have the game use the 3D environment in a way which is not generic. Most 3D shmups I’ve seen use 3D graphics but 2D game play, and while they look pretty enough (and often play extremely well) I’d like to make more of the flexibility allowed by using the three dimensions in game play.

Currently, I’m working on a prototype for CG_02, as a proof of concept type of affair. This will mean that i can make sure that the game is worth making and that all of my ideas work. I hope to have this finished in the next week or so. After that it’s back to the drawing board, finishing up designs and models for the games data flow etc. I’ve been caught out in the past by not having good designs and as the old saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. It’s too easy to loose focus in a large project when you don’t have a plan of action, indeed even with the planning i did for Bullet Candy i still found myself veering off course from time to time, so this time I’ll be leaving no stone unturned.

I’m also toying with the idea of a schedule. I’ve never used one before, as I’ve always found that i work better when i feel like it, but I’d like to have the game finished by Christmas. Bullet Candy took too long to develop, and by the time it was released there were many other games available that were similar in style.

Anyway, on with the prototype. I might have some screens soon, depending on how well the next few days go…

Cheers
Charlie

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CG_02

I’m going to be using this blog to post about the progress of my new game project; CG_02. Work on Bullet Candy, my most recent game, has quietened down a lot lately, leaving me free to try out some new ideas. I’m not giving much away at the minute as to what CG_02 will be like but i will say that it will be a shooter game and also look good : )

I’ve spent a while working on a ship design, and eventually gave up. I decided that for this game, i will be using no external graphics files and that all the graphics will be generated in code. This means i’ll spend way less time pratting around in photoshop making static images and more time creating nice animated stuff in code.

Anyhow, to wet appetites and such, here is the first screenshot/advert…

Cheers
Charlie

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Linux

I’ve just installed linux on my pc, and have been playing around with Ubuntu. It’s really rather good, and the free bit makes it even more appealing. I can’t see it replacing my Mac anytime soon for day to day use, but it will definately be fun to play with, and i’ll also be able to port my game over to it.

Cheers
Charlie

technorati tags:Linux

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