40-Hour Games – Page 3 – Viridian Games

Zeta: Update 2

December 21, 2009 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Zeta

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The more I look at that Wizard code I wrote the less appealing it is. Once again, it’s very one-offish and will require a fair bit of work to get up to snuff.

Once again, I will try my best to split my time evenly between engine construction and content creation. So here’s how I plan to spend the “engine construction” half of my time.

* Fix various bugs in the current platforming mechanics of Wizard. Right now you can fall right through platforms if you’re going fast enough, the character only has one hit detection point (middle of the feet) and for some reason climbing up ladders and ropes is slow. All this needs to be fixed, and there are lots of resources out there to help me, one of which is JNRDev.

* Hack the world editor for Inaria to become a level editor for Zeta. Get Zeta’s code loading those levels.

* Put in combat code so things can shoot at each other.

* Add a conversation system so we can do plot. (This will be stolen wholesale from Planitia.)

Seems doable in 20 hours.

On the content side:

* Make at least one 64×64 map. Since the tiles will be 8×8 in Zeta that means more of the map will be visible at once in Zeta, thus leading to the feeling of a smaller space. Thus, more than one map would be a good idea, but we must get one in; and it must have obstacles that require new powers to overcome (again, without this it’s not a Metroidvania).

* Create several enemies with different forms of attacks.

* Create the powerups that give Zeta new powers (I think the absolute minimum would be a double-jump to reach high areas and a super-shot to knock down locked doors or weak walls.)

* Create all the conversations to dole out the plot.

* Create at least one boss character.

* Find appropriate sound effects and music (Zeta will not be a silent game).

That also seems doable in 20 hours. I think it’s possible for this game to be a success and I can’t wait to see how it comes out 🙂

Assemblee Vs. Zeta

December 11, 2009 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Zeta

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Well, the comments were overwhelmingly in favor of my continuing Zeta. Now, I was going to make a Metroidvania either way, but if I could have found some art assets to help me I would have been willing to submit Zeta for the competition.

But sadly, there was a dearth of platforming shoot-em-up graphics in the competition.

You can see all the art assets submitted for the competition here. Warning, that link will take forever to load, not just because it’s every piece of art submitted, but because it’s every version of every piece of art submitted. Twice, for some reason. Also, believe me, some of the stuff on there is just plain weird.

Now, some of the artists just went off and did their own thing. Some of the stuff doesn’t look like anything more than a concept sketch – and since we’re not allowed to alter anything in the programming portion, they’re nigh-unusable.

But some of the artists had done this sort of thing before and provided very complete sets of graphics. For instance, if you’re looking to make a Roguelike, you’re covered. If you’re looking to make a top-down eight-way game (like the original Legend of Zelda), you’re covered. If you’re looking to make a Mario-style platformer where the character just runs and jumps (and perhaps has a short melee attack), you’re covered.

But if you’re looking for a run-jump-shoot platformer, there’s really only one sheet for that. And it’s a doozy…

Notice that the top and bottom halves of her body are split so that she can run in one direction while firing in any other direction. Also notice that she can…apparently turn into a red-eyed cyclops for some reason. Good, good stuff.

But it’s not exactly what I’m looking for. Zeta lives on a space station, and isn’t a cowgirl. Although a space cowgirl like a female Malcolm Reynolds would be awesome…

But no. I’m going to steal the hell out of that sprite sheet, but I’m going to turn her into Zeta, which means my game can’t go into the Assemblee.

Still, if you’re looking to make a game (or trying to come up with an idea for a game) definitely check that page out while it lasts.

Zeta Update 1: 30 minutes

December 3, 2009 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Zeta

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So last night I started on Zeta. In about a half-hour I was able to get graphics integrated, create a scrolling tiled world, and get basic runing and jumping physics in, collecting objects and climbable ladders and ropes. I even posted a Youtube video of my progress!

Okay, okay, ya got me. I didn’t really do all that work in a half-hour last night. Instead, I’m going to cheat like The Cheat and start with an existing project I did a while back. I know that technically this means this won’t be a 40-hour game. Don’t care.

Just like with Inaria, I’m going to make a basic list of features that MUST be in the game, features that would be nice to have, and then features that would make me really happy if they make it in.

MUST HAVE:

A main character that can run, jump and shoot.
A tile-based world for the character to traverse. This world can be made up of “zones” that can scroll in all directions. Zones can (and should) link to each other.
At least one enemy type to fight. (Just one would be boring, but we must have at least one).
At least one “powerup” that allows the player to access areas they couldn’t before (without this, the game isn’t a Metroidvania).

WOULD LIKE TO HAVE:

Multiple movement upgrades (slide, double-jump, glide, etc).
Multiple weapon upgrades.
Multiple enemy types, with some with weapons and some without, with unique looks and attacks.
An overall storyline.
A big boss to fight at the end.
A resolution to both the game and the story.
At least one “chiptune” music and sound effects.

WOULD LOVE TO HAVE:

Lots of dialog at various points in the game, detailing the story.
Lots of specialized animations for various things like the double-jump.
Multiple minibosses.
A way to lengthen gameplay by recycling or reinterpreting the level data, just like most Castlevanias do.
Multiple chiptunes for different parts of the game, including boss themes.

The game’s native resolution will be 320×240. It will play in a 320×240 window, a 640×480 window, or fullscreen at 640×480.

Again, my plan is to spend half of my time working on the engine and tools and the other half of my time working on the game’s content. I intend to steal almost all the graphics, but I’d really like to do the music myself, almost certainly using a tracker of some kind.

Now Then…What Shall We Talk About?

December 1, 2009 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Zeta

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Seriously. I’ve been wondering what the hell I’m going to do with this blog for the last two months.

This blog was basically always about what I was working on and learning outside my job. Well, currently I have no side projects (I need a Mac to continue Inaria iPhone development, and I just can’t face the code mess that is Planitia any longer).

And I haven’t learned anything recently to merit a technical article.

And, sadly, I’m giving up on Name That Game. Stupid TinEye.com.

But then I had an idea, once that should have occurred to me before.

I was going to write an article called “Amuse-Bouche“, about the rather large number of short indie games that attempt to get a point across or create a mood in a small amount of gameplay. One of the defining aspects of the amuse-bouche is that it ends; there’s no infinite number of levels that provide no resolution. In fact, providing a resolution is a big part of what an amuse-bouche game is about.

An excellent (indeed, near-perfect) example of an amuse-bouche game is Small Worlds. If you’ve got ten minutes, play it right now.

Other amuse-bouche games would be You Have To Burn The Rope, Achievement Unlocked and ROM Check Fail.

So to sum up, an amuse-bouche game is one that a) can be played typically in an hour or less, b) has a definite ending, and c) deliberately evokes a reaction beyond “having fun gaming”.

And then I realized that this is exactly what I should be doing.

Planitia was too big. Star Revolution was too big. Inaria and Sandworm were pretty much just right.

And what was I going to do next? A 3D RPG. A Neverwinter Nights. All on my own. Yeah, right.

So…all hail the return of the forty-hour game! And it will be my personal goal to create at least one of these every month for the next year.

I already know what my first one is going to be. It’s going to be a short Metroidvania called “Zeta”, and it’ll be directly inspired by Iji (which isn’t exactly an amuse-bouche game but everybody should play it anyway).

Planitia Design Pass

July 26, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Game Design Planitia

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Okay, Planitia. Here’s the basic design I am visualizing.

You’re a god. Your people worship you. You gain mana from their worship, and how quickly you gain mana is dependent on how many of them there are. There are three things you can do with your mana:

Raise and lower the land. This will give your villagers more space to expand.
Spend it to teach your villagers new things, like how to build new buildings or how to do certain tasks better.
Cast spells that either help your villagers or impede your enemy’s villagers.

I was not planning on including direct control of your villagers (though this could change). This would result in a very Populous-style game.

The only problem is that if the base game is growing your civilization with no direct control over your villagers, that’s not really a game. it’s a software toy. To make it a game, there are two options.

The first is to give the player external, computer-enforced goals, like “create 50 villagers” or “generate 1000 mana” or “expand your village to this size”. Since the actual game play will be pretty simple, this may not make for a very fun game.

So we get to the second option. The one where you build up your village so that you can destroy all who oppose you, burn the bodies, salt the earth, collect their souls to offer to your dark god, etc, etc. Option two would probably be more fun. Option two requires either multiplayer or a half-decent AI. Both would be hard to do in 40 hours. So we’d end up with a game with very simple gameplay, but you can play skirmish against the computer and/or multiplayer with someone else over the net.

Thoughts?

HFBB Design, Part 2

July 16, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Game Design Planitia

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When you know more about what it is you like about these games specifically, then a design will start to form.
– Dave Shramek, in a previous comment

Actually, what I liked about those games were the little coherent computerized worlds that they presented. Just about all of these games had wonderful little touches that made them feel more real. Powermonger had the birds that would fly around – useless from a game perspective, but a wonderful little detail. In Syndicate Wars, you can have your agents jump in a car, which you can then drive around the street. You can even have them take the monorail if the city you’re in has one. And of course, there’s the fact that you can blow up every building in the city if you try hard enough.

And now that I’m thinking about this, I remember a short story I wrote in high school about a king who rules a fantasy world where everthing anyone ever roleplays in this world actually happens. The king has a magical miniature diorama of the entire world that he can use to watch as the various adventures unfold, and doing so is his favorite pastime. I think I might identify with the king just a bit 🙂

But that sounds more like a tech demo than a game, so I’m still thinking.

One thing I have come up with, though, is a title for…whatever it is. I’m calling it Planitia, which is the Latin word for “plain” (as in”grassland”, not “unattractive”).

HFBB Design, Part 1

July 14, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Planitia

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So I need a game design based around a heightfield/billboard engine.

First, let’s be explicit. What do I mean by a heightfield/billboard engine?

I mean a base world defined by terrain, and that terrain defined by a heightfield. Other models may sit on top of this heightfield, but the heightfield is the “ground” of the world.

Units in this world will be done with billboarded sprites. A “billboarded” sprite is one that is actually rendered as a 3D object, but is always rotated so that it faces the player.

Lots and lots and lots of games have been made with this system, and some of them have been truly great, like…

Populous (It counts, although you couldn’t rotate the map):

Populous

Powermonger

Dungeon Keeper

Syndicate Wars

Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter

Myth: The Fallen Lords

You can see that this engine style lends itself to real-time games with strategic elements (although none of the above are “real-time strategy” games as that phrase is defined today).

I definitely want my game to be real-time. I want the player to have buildings and units. I want the game to be fantasy-themed or mythology-themed. I also want the player to be able to raise and lower terrain, and I want that to be an actual game mechanic. But I’m not sure if I want the player to be able to directly control units. And I’m not sure if I want resource gathering.

Standard real-time-strategy: The player has direct control over resource gathering, building creation, unit creation and unit direction.

Populous: There are no resources. The player has indirect control over building creation and unit creation, and unit direction.

Powermonger: Some resources can be gathered directly. Others simply control what you can build in each city. The player has indirect control over building and unit creation, direct control over special item creation, and direct control over his army (but not villagers).

Dungeon Keeper: The player has direct control over buildings, resource gathering and resource collecting units, but only indirect control over fighting unit creation and direction.

Syndicate: Syndicate is more of an action game than a real-time strategy game.

Myth: There are no resources. There are no buildings. The player has direct control over his units.

Notice that Powermonger and Dungeon Keeper are practically mirrors – in Powermonger, the player indirectly controls the creation of his army, but directly controls the army itself. In Dungeon Keeper, the player has more direct control over the creation of his army (though not total control) but has little control over the army itself (he can drop his monsters directly over the enemy, but if they don’t want to fight they’ll just walk away).

Hmmm…this is going to take some pondering.

Good Lord…

July 12, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Star Revolution

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I posted a link to my last blogpost on the Gibbage Forums.

I have since learned not to ask Brit gamers if they want someone to make a Dungeon Keeper clone. Just assume that the answer is ‘yes’.

I think a Dungeon Keeper-style game will be a good way to break into 3D, and once its done the engine will be easily adaptable to more complex 3D games like Inaria 3D, so Dungeon Keeper in 40 hours is the winner!

Next Step

July 11, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Game Design Game Programming Games Star Revolution

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Okay, time to figure out exactly what I’m going to do next. I feel that I’ve got three options:

1. Star Revolution Redux. Finish Star Revolution, but with fewer features. The ground combat will be cut because it will require the most resources. Trade and alien interaction would be abstracted to menus. Players would land on planets solely to mine them or capture lifeforms. The game would then feature space combat (based on the combat prototype I’ve already written), contact with alien races, mining and trading. The game probably won’t be 3D. This isn’t too bad, but it’s only about 50% of the game I wanted to make…

2. Inaria 3D. Ryan really wants this, and honestly, so do I. But Inaria 3D would have pretty much all the problems of my original design for Star Revolution. However, it might be possible to work something up using sprites from another 3D game like Final Fantasy Tactics. A possibility, but it’ll be hard.

3. I’ve had this irrational desire to make a game in the style of Dungeon Keeper. This could very well make a very good first 3D project because of the simplicity of the 3D involved – Dungeon Keeper was actually a 2D game that was simply presented in a 3D manner.

4. One of the other projects I was considering after Inaria got finished. From these I’d probably pick either the simple real-time strategy game or the simple Master of Orion-style game. These probably wouldn’t be 3D.

In any event, no matter what I pick, I am going to be limiting myself to 40 hours again. Why? Because that actually worked. By embracing that limitation, I actually made a game (a pretty crappy game, but a game).

So, thoughts?

Star Revolution Update 2

March 22, 2006 Anthony Salter

40-Hour Games Star Revolution

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See?

A 3D sphere for a planet, and 2D blits for the UI. The most basic tech that I needed to add has been completed, but I still can’t start working on stuff specific to Star Revolution yet. Inaria suffered because I didn’t have a state machine system in my framework, so I’m going to add one. Plus, the entire code could use a rework and cleanup. So while I’m going to be working diligently on Star Revolution, I probably won’t have anything new to show for a while. Hopefully I’ll be able to burn through this busywork and get to the fun stuff, where stuff blows up soon.

Viridian Games

Category: 40-Hour Games