A Sincere Effort and Hopefully Successful Mini-LD Warmup

I've decided that I need a project I can commit to, and that the easiest way to commit to a project is, well, to actually commit to one.

To that end, I've decided to try to create a real Mini-LD warmup. I'm using the same kind of time frame that I'm going to use for the Mini-LD: Work from Friday morning to Monday evening, taking Tuesday if needed. I'm going to use the theme similarly, as in that I'm probably not going to use the theme.

(The host of this month's Mini-LD, Sophie, has been very adamant about how loose the rules are for this one)

The game I've got in mind is a ninja game. Specifically, a furry ninja platformer about a vixen trying to save her little sister from a ninja school rival. The player will have a choice between two characters, as well.

It'll be a Flash game, and I will post it on Kongregate when I'm done with it. It'll (hopefully) have 10-12 levels, two bosses, and 3-4 types of baddies. Both characters will also have different attributes.

I just need to keep my focus on this one. The only way I'll succeed is if I keep at it, and the only way I'll keep at it is to just keep at it.
I've tried all sorts of self-talk, all sorts of contemplation, and all sorts of "finding the Right Idea", but it comes down to just actually doing the work.

I really want this. It's a good idea, and I think it can be fun. I want to make this happen more than I've wanted anything since I started getting as flaky as I have.

Enough of that, though. I'll keep folks here as well as on the Ludum Dare blog up to date as things progress.

Flip-Flopping Between Projects - A Mini-LD Warmup

I noticed that this month's Mini-LD has been announced, and the theme along with it. (Normally, the theme isn't announced until the event has begun, but this month's host is very laid back about the whole thing)

The theme this time is "Greatest Fear", and the host has stated that she wants us to each face a fear of ours. Because I'm scared of making pixel sprites (I'm not great at it, and am generally better at vector), I'm going to be making a side-scroller using pixel graphics.

So that I don't just embarrass myself, I'm going to be making a warmup game first. I started at 19:00 UTC, and will be ending at 20:00 UTC this coming Wednesday. (Giving me about 72 hours. I'm giving myself the extra hour because I started at about 19:30 UTC instead of 19:00, and 20:00 is a nice, on-the-hour time)

The title of the game is/will be "Sword". It is about a fighter who is fighting his/her way (There will be two playable characters) through a dungeon to get a Valuable Dingus. (As fighters tend to do)

In the dungeon, there will be a variety of baddies that will try to stop/kill the player, mostly consisting of goblins and orcs.

There will be 10 levels (Assuming that I have time), a miniboss, and a final boss. Each character will have their own weapon, but the two will differ mainly in speed and damage. The characters will differ in speed and health, as well.

The plot for Sword will be pretty minimal, and will mainly consist of "You are a fighter. There is a dungeon with Treasure in it. Go get the treasure."

With that, I'm going to go get to work!

Edit: Fixed the times. I'm bad at math sometimes...
Another  Edit: Forgot: Those times were UTC...

Arthropod - A Change of Language and Title

Still going on the idea of doing an Alien Breed clone, I'm going to try AS3 and FlashPunk again.

I'll be calling it "Flash Breed", but the basic concept remains the same.

It will also have some character customization, and because I'm doing it in AS3 (IE: Flash) I will have integration with Kongregate. (Meaning saved games, high scores, achievements, and possibly other things)

I'll post a bit more about it a while later.

Arthropod - An Old Project I'm Resurrecting

I'm going to have to make a real effort to post in here more often...

Chibi Breed has since run into issues. (Namely that Panda3D doesn't have the muscle to perform on my netbook, but the netbook's all I have)

I've decided to resurrect an old project of mine titles Arthropod. Arthropod is going to be an Alien Breed clone. I'm writing it in Ruby using Rubygame.

I'll be posting more as the project progresses, I promise!

What I'm Doing Now: Chibi Breed

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted here!

I'm currently working on a project called "Chibi Breed". The name is a play on "Alien Breed", but it isn't a direct clone of that series. It was originally going to be a clone of "Alien Breed", but then it went through several language and library changes before I finally settled on Panda3D.

I've decided that rather than a top-down camera, the game's camera will follow behind the player. Also, the game will feature both male and female playable characters. It will use a cartoonish art style. (For example, my current player model is about 3 heads tall, meaning that her body is about twice as tall as her head)

I haven't decided much yet (I have a nasty habit of deciding too much too soon), but I'm currently sketching out ideas.

I'm pausing my work on it for a little bit because I requested a change to the UNIX name of its SourceForge page. (The UNIX name is the all-lower-case name that is used to identify the project to the system as well as in the address of the project page) Since that process can take up to 48 hours, I've got a bit of time on my hands. I'd keep working on it, but the address of the SVN repository (Which is where I keep my source code as well as game content) will be changing along with the rest of the project's location on SourceForge, and that change means that I have to get a fresh copy of it after the name change takes place. (I have to get a fresh copy because the name change would make uploading my work from the copy I have not work: It'd be trying to send it to an address that doesn't exist anymore)

I'll be posting now and then with ideas I have, as well as to update folks on the status of the project.

I really want to finish this one.

PyWeek - Setting Myself to Far More Interesting Challenge

My delaying and procrastinating with Cherry and Gunner Robo Pocket have caused me to realize that I enjoy small, short projects more than larger, longer ones.

That said, PyWeek is coming up in a couple of months and I'm looking to redeem myself. I'm looking to redeem my overuse of religious terms, my flip-flopping, and my whimsical abandon of ideas.

That said: LandFish Studios (Me) will be attempting to create one game every week until the week of Pyweek. (And then, one game for that week)

I will call this task Operation: Stalwart Redemption, because I like titling my efforts as operations now and then.

Gunner Robo Pocket - Display Code Done, Now Onto Gameplay

I've had loads of trouble with the display code for Gunner Robo Pocket. The method I am using to draw the screen is simulating a dot matrix display, storing images as a set of pixels each with one of four colors. (Those colors are black, white, light gray, and dark gray; Those colors are relative, as I am using an LCD color scheme like the original Gameboy)

With that sorted, I'm going to be working on gameplay now. (Finally!)

I'll post about my progress. (I'll be posting more now that I actually have something to post about)