OMG! ZOMBIES! 2 released!

I released OMG! ZOMBIES! 2. I'm not even sure if I mention I was making it over here on the blog. It was only a 4 day thing, anyway. The link to the game is in the GAMES section. Happy shooting!

IT work

Made a presentation program for IT. It was rather enjoyable to do, because it's something completely different to make. I made it so all of the required data is imported - so images as either .PNG or .SWF (in case I want animations), and text from .txt files, then dividing it up using ".text.split(",");".

Although, the .FLA file did corrupt, I have an older version of the file. Plus all of the information is imported anyway. =P

Woops!

Haven't posted here in a while. Here's an update on what's been going on:

Chromobox:

I improved the editor. It's still a little buggy, but this new system makes it SO easy to add blocks. I'm incredibly happy I did it.

Other:

I was ill for 4 days, and in that time I thought I'd go ahead and make OMG! ZOMBIES! 2. And I practically finished it in those few days! However, a bunch of bugs arose, so I had to remove the download link for a while. It's almost fixed now, so I'm cool.

Just finishing the editor up...

After adding all of the Beta stuff, I realised I should probably rehash something with it, which will make updating the editor a whole lot easier later on.

Right now I have a really cheap system for adding new blocks to the editor which takes ages to update and things, so I'm going to redo it so the game sorts, orders etc automatically. This should be fun...

Got bored, did some Pixel Art

It's a wallpaper specifically for my computer, btw. I guess you could customise it yourself if you REALLY wanted to.

EDIT: Here's a direct link to the image, as blogger is being a dick: http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7136/cavewallpaper.png

Closed Beta - Editor

I've been having a closed beta for the editor in the game. Quite a few things have cropped up (no glitches, but a lot of improvement ideas). I'm doing the editor beta now as I want the beta to be perfect for when I start making levels for the game.

Here are the things that have come up:

-Add an error message to the loader if something fails to load

-Increase transparency of hidden panels

-Make it so you can't put words in the money box

-Add a "clear all" button

-Add name boxes when items are scrolled over

Some of them I have implemented. Others, not yet. I'm looking forward to the editor being complete, though. =D

Saving and loading with the editor

I've had one hell of a time updating the editor, most of all with the saving and loading part of it.

Saving was fairly simple. It just exports an array (in a dynamic text box) which you can then copy and paste anywhere. However, the loading wasn't as simple. When I came up to it, I realised that I didn't actually know how to take data from an input text field and turn it into an array. After a quick Google, I decided on using the ".split();" method. Basically, it divides a string (for instance, a sentence) into letters. This was perfect for the loader, as it just split up the inputted data into readable chunks.

However, the next problem was much worse. I realised after discovering some bugs that the ".split();" method turned all of my number values into text values, which meant I couldn't put in a much needed "+1", as it just came out as "31" (that is the number gained from the .split(); method (3) and the +1).

I eventually found a solution by reworking some stuff, but God. Gave me a headache.

Character Creation Update!

Been working quite a bit on getting the character creation sorted. You can now choose your character's hat/hair, his facial features, his head colour, his body colour and his leg colour. Here are a few images of it:

The graphics aren't final; they'll be going through some changes. A lot more hats/hair and faces will be added as well. You'll notice the big "SECRET!" area - that's something else that I've been working on, but I'm keeping it secret until a later date. :3

Holiday, customisation, poster

A lot's been going on since last post! I went on holiday for 2 weeks and didn't tell anyone, which is why there has been a sudden lack of posts.

On the theme of game development, I've been progressing with the character customisation screen. It's working great at the moment - all I have to do now is program the colour pickers in.

I also made a poster yesterday:

Nifty! Just some editing practice based on a friend's comic.

What I've been doing...

Well, I've sorted out a load of character sprites and whatnot, which are looking pretty good. I've also been developing the character customisation screen, which is one boring task. D:

Next on the agenda!

Ok, had a little time to think what's up next, so here I go:

Next comes character customisation. I've made quite a few sprites for the characters, but I want a lot more, so there's lots of combinations and uniqueness! Here's a list of things that need doing:

- Create a character customisation screen

- Enable character placement in the editor

- Create lots of sprites for the characters

So there's lots of drawing and programming for this one. Yum.

Menu pretty much done!

The menu is practically done now, minus background images - these will be screenshots from the finished game. =)

I'm not sure what to aim to complete now... I guess getting the player functioning properly?

104th post?!

Damn, I totally missed the 100th blog post!

Ah well, we celebrate now. =D

Update on the menu!

That's how it's looking so far. There is still a background and some other stuff to add to it, however. I just needed a rest. :P

Quick note: the menu is no longer controlled by the mouse - instead you use the arrow keys to scroll through the options. :3

Riddled with bugs...

There are a few bugs that I'm having to sort out that are rather irritating. Although, they're bugs that appeared when I added new content, so it's not that bad.

Right now I'm taking a break from bug fixes, and I'm working on the main menu design. As of now it doesn't look too nice, so it needs sorting out pronto. What I have now is just a simple place-holder:

I threw this together about a month back now just so when I opened the game it wasn't utterly disgusting. But I can do better now.

Update!

Haven't posted in a while, but I'm still working on it! ;P

Have an image:

Yes! Foregrounds! The editor is practically complete now, minus a few bugs and of course there's lots of graphics to keep adding in when I want new stuff in. All is working well though! The foreground allows me to make some more interesting levels. Right now there aren't too many blocks to choose from, but there will be more when I need them!

Until then, bug fix time!

What type of game?

Well, since I haven't really had time to do too much work on the game, I've been thinking about what kind of game it could be. Here are the sort of things I've thought about:

STORY BASED GAME

DEFEND YOUR BASE GAME

PUZZLE GAME

With the story based thing, you could have a campaign thing where you run through levels killing enemies, solving puzzles - that sort of thing. At first, I thought this would be a pretty good idea - however, I haven't really been building my game towards that - levels are fixed to the screen, therefore I couldn't have large level areas. I've not allowed for cut-scenes or speech either.

However, defend your base type thing seems more plausible. Levels can be fixed to a point with this. The whole array based system could also mean the player could obtain blocks (not sure how) and place them themselves - therefore making it more sandbox. It would also allow for a lot of replay value, and people could create levels for themselves extremely easily. It'd also mean an easier job for me to actually make it all.

Now, for puzzle, I wouldn't want to make a stand-alone puzzle game. Although, I can tie puzzle elements into it, or use certain... upgrades (?) so that the player can have tactics rather than just run-and-gun.

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There are a few definite things I want in the game, though.

WEAPONS

CHARACTERS

CUSTOMISATION

I definitely want weapons - I've always wanted to have a game in which you can blast enemies to pieces. However, I don't want it to be run and gun. I want there to be a lot of tactics and things. To do this, I'm thinking of adding realism to it - you can only take a few bullets before you cop it. If I do this, I will make sure health regenerates. Enemies will also be like this (probably no health regeneration for them, though).

By characters, I mean characters that the player can unlock and play as. I'm not sure if the characters will just mean a graphical change, though. I may add abilities to the characters (and an option to turn abilities off).

Customisation! Everything to do with it. Make pretty weapons (:D), pretty character stuff (Shades, anyone?) and a whole heap of stuff which will probably get put in when I see an opportunity.

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Well, that's what I've been thinking about lately! But for now, I need to carry on with graphics...

Baaack!

Ok, I have actually been back for a while, but it's exam season, so I've been revising and things! Anyway, due to that, not much has been going on. I've done a few graphics and whatnot (for the foreground layer - that's my next objective!) and I've also done some glitch busting; tedious as hell. Ah well. Hello random new follower! =D

Going on holiday!

Ok, yeah. I'm going on holiday in a couple of hours! I fixed shadows - they work fine now. At the moment I've worked on some art for the game and while on holiday I'm going to work on making the game more user friendly.

See you when I get back!

Still messing...

Trying to get this background thing right. Blurring messed it up. Right now, I have a plan for it - create a shadow creation process thingy. In other words, have a new "shadow layer" in game.

How is it?

Backgrounds are now a lot paler. However, you could still misinterpret them as foreground. I'm thinking of putting shadows in or perhaps blurring them. Whatever works best.

Edit:

How's that?

Doing some graphics!

Today, after fixing annoying bugs (there's still one left, but for now, it's not too much of an issue), I decided to lay off programming for a bit, and started changing a load of background graphics so they're more subtle and don't look like they're in the foreground. There's still quite a bit to do, however. To emphasise that they're backgrounds, I'm going to have to add something to the level editor...

So happy!

Oh jeez, you have no idea how happy I am right now. There's was a game breaking glitch that I just couldn't resolve, so I decided to just redo the whole level creating system. That didn't work, as it spawned another glitch that I just didn't understand. So I redid some parts to it, introduced the old array systems again (as they worked), but then linked them up to the new system. IT FINALLY WORKED. WOO.

Glitch galore. D:

With the new level editor, I've had to rehash a load of stuff in the game. Aaaaand it brought a load of glitches with it. D:

Secret Project Revealed!

Well, I've spent most of today working on it and I'd like to reveal it now. It's close to completion. =)

Ta da! It's a level editor! A fully functioning one as well. I haven't programmed the foreground layer yet (as I haven't even made any foregrounds...), but the rest works amazingly. There's a lot to talk through, however:

LAYERS:

There are 3 layers; the foreground, the object layer and the background. On the object layer you place all the objects the box can interactive with (and that red block - this is merely for the player's preference; you can't place blocks on red areas). On the background layer you place the background objects. You can remove blocks by holding shift and clicking. To place the red blocks, you hold ctrl and click.

PLACING BLOCKS:

To place a block, you merely select the block you want to place from the bottom bit (clicking the arrow on here expands this area - revealing more blocks). You can hold space to hide the level creator tools.

THAT TOP LEFT THING:

That's just what block you have selected at that given time. It does come in use. Honest.

EXPORTING THE LEVEL CODE:

Yes, I have my own level code system. All you do is click the button below the background layer button (looks like a floppy disk =D).

Well, that's it! It'll be released with the game, but I mainly created it so I can easily create campaign levels. =)

EDIT: Haha, I forgot to add the lighting effects to the editor. I thought it was a bit bland. x3

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

Awwww yeeeeaaaah. Ok, truth be told, they don't all work. In fact, all the new ones you see aren't functioning. I've just programmed the graphics in for now and made them applicable via the object array. I've also had to program them into my secret project - this took the most time.

Anyway, I'll let you guess what each of the new blocks are (nyehehe... TNT).

School work D:

Ok, I haven't had much time to work on the game due to school work - exams coming up. However, it is the Easter holidays now! In what time I've had, I have been jotting down ideas and doing some of the art work. Still working on the secret thing for the game though. That needs to be completed.

Not dead!

I'm not dead, I've just been developing something with my game that I'm going to keep secret until a further date. It's pretty damn cool though. x3

Splashscreen!

Sexy, innit?

Teleport animation and background stuff!

Ok, so far today I've been working on teleport animations and background stuff. Here's what I have:

There is still more work to be done on the background things, as at the moment they look quite plain... but ah well.

Teleports!

This one was probably the most taxing on the brain yet! Finally works now, though (besides a teleport animation). I have a nice little loop going in the picture. :3

P.s. You can only access teleports from the sides - they act as a normal block if you land on top of them.

EDIT: Added some lighting and fixed bugs:

Preview!

http://funnyl.deviantart.com/art/Block-Game-working-title-201501938

Submitted a preview there. There's a restart button in the bottom left that I just implemented.

DOUBLE BOXES

Inverted, baby. Oh, I also did some glitch fixing. Conveyors now remove blocks if they're in the way of them.

My head hurts... D:

Been spending so much time eradicated glitches from my game so far. It makes my head huuuurt.

Anyway, since last time a lot has been done. The box now spawns according to array data, I created belts that go left and right, I created normal blocks (for scenery or to block the way) and breaking blocks (break when you move over them - these took at least 4 hours to get in as they caused so many problems...). There's about 300 lines of code altogether now, which is a lot for something that isn't even a quarter of the finished product. Oh well. Have an image:

Happy with myself =)

Woo! It worked! I'm making a game! This game will take a lot longer than the previous lot, though. It's going to be bulging with content. So far, I've been making myself a level builder (the game's having levels). It's working well so far! It's all done with arrays and stuff (can be either a pain or really useful); here's an image:

Truth be told...

Ok, truth be told: I've been lazy.

I've been trying to create a game, but every time I come to Flash, I immediately close the window thinking "I can't be bothered". I'm ashamed of it - it's the incorrect attitude. So, to make sure I make a game, I'm posting here.

So there. x3

Been recording!

Ok, so I have a bunch of videos ready for release and whatnot. At the moment I'm sorting some stuff out, but whatever!

I did have some sound problems within the game I chose, but I decided not to scrap the videos, seems as I got quite far. The sound improves later on! Now, until it's all sorted - bye!

New computer!

I'm typing this on my new computer, which just so happens to be a BEAST. Stuff runs so quickly on it!

Right now, I'm about to play some Half Life, so ciao!

Awesome game time!

I've been playing another awesome game! Sierra 7 is an FPS (like time crisis, so it plays out sequences instead of you moving around) with lots of weapons, missions and challenges! Every time you play a mission, enemies are randomly placed, so you have no idea where they'll be. The game is in full vector 3D (it looks stunning), superb sound and great voice overs as well!

You unlock weapons by achieving medals or just completing whatever the weapon unlock requires (such as 50 headshots). Each gun has different stats - you unlock better weapons as you progress!

When in a mission, you are allowed two weapons - A primary weapon (usually a rifle) that has a limited amount of clips, and a secondary weapon (a pistol) with unlimited ammo.

It's a Simon Hason game (he does awesome 3D FPS stuff), so you know it'll be good. :)

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/561860

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I'll stop drooling over that game now, and get down to business. I haven't released a game in a while, and I'm not making any promises that one's coming soon, either. However, I have been creating something. What I was think was, I could release the game in Alphas, so I feel something is achieved every time I update it, rather than getting bored of making it.

Secondly, MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW. WOO.

A new drawing!

I really need to post more often. Well, to break up the lack of posts, here's a new drawing:

This is a blocky, pop-arty drawing of a hand holding a gun that has just been fired. I used the same style of background from the Toast Man drawing, but included some half tones in the bottom left and top right corners. Done in Flash and Photoshop.

New laptop?!

I'm going to be getting a new laptop soon! Now, I haven't posted any of those videos I promised yet - reason? My laptop's too crap. Hopefully however, I'll be able to record using this new, smexier laptop. =D

Armor Mayhem IS AWESOME!

It's a new game by Louissi - it's pure awesome. I just thought I'd share the game with you guys! The URL to the game is below (Armor Games URL) along with a score I achieved in it! Mmmm.

http://armorgames.com/play/10215/armor-mayhem

Microphone Chat!

Wow, we had the first ever Warbears microphone chat thing, and it was amazing! Uh... Sheena's probably going to like, face-raep me, however, as I was meant to wait for her.

...huh...

TOAST MAN RETURNS

HE IS BACK. Granted, he's being stabbed... but it let me use that sexy colour explosion in the background. As you can see, I took a lot more time over this one, and added small details in. It took about 3 hours in total. Enjoy!

Don't look...

I'm too beautiful.

Second One Hour Game Creation

Well, this time I actually finished... Heh. The theme this time was "Fishing". For one hour (well, 35 minutes for him...) we set about creating a quick game! As you would expect, they were pretty crap and hardly finished at all - but that's the beauty of it!

You can play my game HERE.

You can download Easyname's game HERE.

Oh, be warned - Easyname's has loud music.

INSTRUCTIONS/CONTROLS:

My game:

Wait until you're deep enough, then a fishing line will appear. Simply move the line into the fish that swim by. But don't move the rod too quickly! Catch as many fish as you can in one minute!

Easyname's game:

Move using the arrow keys. Aim with the mouse, and shoot with left click. Obtain points by killing the random fish that drift by! But don't get hit - it resets your point count.

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Well you have fun with THAT crap!

One hour game creation

Easyname and I had an one hour game creation competition. Unfortunately, however, my game cocked up with a glitch I couldn't fix, meaning my game was far from being finished. We have another one planned though, so all is not lost.

EDIT: Wow crap, a new followerer?! Hey Coolboi. xD

EDIT 2: Oh. Right. Happy New Year.