This week I've been putting alot of time into my newest project Aeon. It's an Aquatic Evolution game similar to the games flOw and Spore. (Although I found out about the games after I started my project and was getting flamed by friends saying its a rip off of other games…) Oh well, so the idea has been used before. Aeon is the term I refer to when talking about the creatures in this game. I'm focusing on the cell stage throughout the game where your character is a semi-transparent microorganism. I submitted a water demo in hopes of getting some feedback on my movement and water effect engine so far. That was in my last blog.

Since then, I've began working on what I call an "Orb". It's a menu system that functions all around an orb-like button on the bottom right of the screen. It will allow quick access to skeleton slots and the part library to control the way you evolve your organism. At the moment I'm working on the skeleton slot system for it. The slot system will be the key to Aeon customization. Your Aeon in composed of parts linked together. In the system each link is a slot in which you can implement a specific part. Each part will have its pros and cons and alter the performance of your Aeon in movement, health, strength, and recovery. The skeleton slot system will show a row of slots on the bottom of the screen with each linked part filling the slots. It will allow the player to select the slot they wish to change.

Once that is done, I'll be working on the part library which contains all the possible parts that you can add or replace to the slot that you chose. Each addition or replacement takes a certain amount of energy for your Aeon to generate so another addition to the orb is a statistic reading that appears on the right side of the orb. It will allow players to moderate the energy usage and decide if your Aeon is ready to generate new parts or must devour more organisms to obtain a certain energy level.

The orb will be the players best friend in this game. Its a shortcut to everything you need and have easy access controls. At the moment I have "W" open/closes upgrade menu, "A" opens/closes skeleton slot, "D" opens/closes Statistic reading, "S" opens all menus at once, and "X" brings up the question on whether you would like to go back to the main menu or not.

The system is very buggy at the moment, I'll probably have a small demo in my next blog for people to test.

And now…. to end it all here's my song of the day: ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VlYhea9m3g