Ahhh, another week has passed. You guys know the drill by now.
I've seen a lot of things happen in the past two weeks. Some people's busy lives have directly interfered with their progress. Some people have lost everything and adamantly started something new. And more people than I'd like to see have considered dropping out.I have a few things to say in that regard. First of all, this event was intended for those who could afford to spend a lot of time perfecting something they loved. Unfortunately it seems people either don't have the time to spend, or they're not working on a project that appeals to them enough to motivate them.Second, the deadline should be the least of your worries. I only set it because deadlines in themselves are a motivating factor. They're also the cause of a lot of stress. So while I'm not going to remove it, I do want to say that the deadline is dependent on what IndieBundle.org wants to do, and they seem pretty flexible.The goal of this event is to finish and polish a game, not make the next one-hit-wonder. If you find that your current game isn't going to work out, try something less ambitious. If it helps, I'll be taking my own advice here.Please read:Guys, if you're really eager to finish, but various things are obstructing that goal, please contact me personally so we can work together. No more dropouts.
So I haven't made any progress in the past two weeks. I've been far too busy to get any of the biggest changes done, so I'll be doing one of two things:
- Cutting out all of the major content additions I was making to TTR and just focus on polishing it.- Choosing two smaller competition entries and finishing those instead. The entries I would choose are Anima and Phantasmal Dissonance.Uhmmm… Yeah I kinda feel bad for my constant indecisiveness, but I've changed my project again, this time it's a simple brawler game with pixel art graphics based on a palette from a Pixel-Joint weekly challenge.
#YOLOI feel like dagger hog is the only one getting work done :P
Well I made the old enemies dash to attack the player, I made a larger enemy that spits out smaller ones. I made a world rip generator thing and fixed up world rips. Dunno if I mentioned this before but I made a better background system so that they teleport with world rips.Lots of visual polish this week. Increased the size of the game substantially after suddenly realizing I had fixed some performance issues a couple weeks ago. Things are starting to come together. I have a personal deadline on the 18th so that's been a good motivator.
This is already grossly outdated, but it gives you an idea of the scale of the game now.Haven't touched the source code in 2 weeks since it's on the wrong side of an ocean, but I'm at 74/160 levels right now. I've also showed the game around to people and let them play it with only a bit of instruction from me, and I've learned a few things:
1) The game is harder than I thought2) I REALLY need to make my own path rendering stuff, this is practically #1 priority when I get back home3) Germans pick up on the rules quicker than Americans, which is funny because I explain everything in English (most everyone in Germany knows English, but it isn't "native")4) 160 levels is a lot, not just to make but also to play@Kilin
I find these blogs oddly demotivating… I think it's the whole "PROGRESS CHECK!" thing. I'd prefer to think of those blogs as a place to showcase progress you're making on the current week ("oh hey, I got something done, let's show it off"), as opposed to an obligatory check of last week's progress ("holy shit, haven't got anything done… might as well give up").Also, LOL @ your blog vs. your comment. Anyway, I promised to replay the Twilight Realm, but didn't get around to it… so if you actually decide to make some progress on it, send me a link, I can test your remade version :}Game ProgressI'm making graphics my priority now, here's a mockup of a mission cutscene:The white people are so tan, Cesque.
Well… the palette is rather dark in general… oh well, back to the drawing board again.
(adding more contrast between light & dark skin is going to put the two ridiculously far apart… and if I lighted up the darker guys, they won't look black… or I will have to add an extra colour to the palette… ARGHGHGHGHGH why do I suck at picking hues so much)(but you're right)