I didn’t actually feel like Wally got the attention he deserved – In short, I got bored coding the game. But I made a lot of good functions which can be used in other 2D platformers, like pixel-perfect collision detection in tiles, particle-system, multiplayered tile scrolling etc. This I can use in other projects. But using hours and hours in TileEd (a great 2D map editor) made me realize, that I HATE drawing maps. This can also be seen in Wally – The last third of the map, was done in a hurry – Not many enemies and no great variation.

This made me think and google a lot, and I’ve created a random map generation function, which will create unique dungeon-like maps, for Wally to explore. Complete with a guaranteed exit on all maps, lots of treasures to pickup, different kind of baddies each with their unique behaviours, traps and hidden goodies.

And this time I will equip Wally with a jetpack, instead of having stairs everywhere.

Wally 2 – Go deeper is in the works 🙂

Classic retro game. I call it Evil Islands 🙂

evil02

I’ve been working on and off on this game for 4 weeks and is finally able to say “Finished!… Almost ;-)” – All that is left now, is some fine tuning and adding a couple of extra visual effects and I can say it’s completely done.

Well, what is this game?

The story goes like this: Some very bad people have invaded an island and are using it to build a cruise missile launch site, which will be used to bomb all major cities in the world. Sounds bad, eh? It is! To build this launch site, they have built several factories on the island which provide the necessary materials and man power to build the site. And to top it all, they’ve placed numerous military installations on the island to protect them selves. This include, airports which launches to types of aircraft, who will hunt you, AA-installations which will shoot at you, radar and missile sites, which will launch heat seeking missiles against you, radar jammers and patrolling tanks which will shoot evil shots at you. No one is your friend on this island.

You, as a hired mercenary for the navy, can choose between 2 different helicopters each with their own abilities. One can carry air-to-air missiles and one carries air-to-ground missiles. Both helicopters also have ground bombs and a minigun. These helicopters can furthermore be upgraded with better armour and flares to help avoid missiles. Your mission is simple, destroy the factories, so they can’t produce, and finally kill off the missile launch site.

Around the island you will also find some helipads, which can be used to repair and rearm your helicopter.

Find it in my Gamecollection

Drumroll! First release of Wally is here

wally_intro

Pure javascript, 100% genuine childish graphics, free public music and sound. More to come! 🙂

Play Wally here

Note, that the game has been tested on FireFox and Chrome. IE sucks.

Meet my new hero, Wally. He’s about to enter on a quest of exploration, collecting valuables, solving puzzles and fighting vicious enemies! 🙂

Wally is your “Average Joe”, but will soon learn new trades in order to keep alive in an unforgiving environment…

wally

Todays words on my mind :

Pixel-perfect collision detection

Tilebased maps

Tileeditor

Gameengine

A lot of things to dig into. Going to start with implementing pixel-perfect collision detection in javascript. If I like the way it behave, I’ll design a little more on my idea for a 2d 4-way  scroller. Still not sure if I should continue to explore JavaScript as a coding platform or get back to the cosiness of C++. But going back to C++ means I have to spend time learning to use Visual Studio instead of my old trusted Borland Builder. I’ve had way to many problems getting supported binaries for BB and given up. Looks like Visual Studio is the way to go, if I wan’t a rich IDE for C++.

Just added a little video of version 0.93 of the game. Shows some of the weapons you can use, against the filthy vira 🙂

Also, I discovered the challenges with getting my sound effects to play on different browsers. I might trash my own soundmanager and go for one of the public available instead.

Finished a couple of issues last night, so I can remove these items from my list:

– OK Create “Game win!”
– OK! Remove debug text
– OK! Find sounds and music
– OK! Fix sounds, to only mp3
– OK! Implement ESC – pause game
– OK! When entering a world, change the zoom so it shows enemies
– OK! Redefine resizing of canvas to all devices
– OK! Sound manager (to enable mute of sounds – 2 types : Music and effects)
– OK! Figure out, why some sounds don’t play anything?!

My current list of things still not finished:

TODO List

– Create font (upper and lower)
– Create information panel – How to show info??
– Add score count + show
– Create shartup page (incl. some kind of help/story)
– Sound mute on/off
– (disregard) Implement energy on vira as red vira can sustain more damage
– Add animation as virus move to another planet (fade out at starport)
– Create new starship + add white blink
– Red vira should aim better (new routine)
– Give helpinfo on various events
– (rejected) Adding a shop for purchasing new weapons and ships
– ? Why do missiles mis finding a new target?
– Replace jammer with 4 pregen. images
– Improve collision detection
– Improve planet generation
– When virus attacks planet, scale it slowly to 0%
– licenced music http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
– Title music http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=2439
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=1489
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=1526
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=6458
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=3506
– Star map http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=4931
– Player explosion sounds

screenshot04

I couldn’t help myself, but figured I might as well upload the first playable version of the game. It’s not finished and development will continue. But for now, try it out, and give me your comments below 🙂

Visit AstroVirus

Bare in mind, I said I was 90% finished… But here’s the current list of thing, I still have to do, in order to call the game finished

– Create font (upper and lower)
– Create information panel – How to show info??
– Add score count + show
– Sound mute on/off
– Create “Game win!”
– (disregard) Implement energy on vira as red vira can sustain more damage
– Add animation as virus move to another planet (fade out at starport)
– Create new starship + add white blink
– Red vira should aim better (new routine)
– Remove debug text
– Find sounds and music
– Give helpinfo on various events
– Adding a shop for purchasing new weapons and ships
– ? Why do missiles mis finding a new target?
– Replace jammer with 4 pregen. images
– Improve collision detection
– Improve planet generation
– When virus attacks planet, scale it slowly to 0%
– Fix sounds, to only mp3
– Implement ESC – pause game
– When entering a world, change the zoom so it shows enemies
– Redefine resizing of canvas to all devices
– Sound manager (to enable mute of sounds – 2 types : Music and effects)
– licenced music http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
– OK Title music http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=2439
– OK Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=1489
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=1526
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=6458
– Ingame http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=3506
– OK  Star map http://sampleswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=4931
– Figure out, why some sounds don’t play anything?!

spaceship And I really need to use a little more time on graphics. I know I’m better than this!

 

I’ve always enjoyed making games. Or rather… Developing ideas for games. My head is full of ideas for remakes of old classics, often with a twist, but I rarely create them. At least not finish create them. My harddrive is filled up with game projects rating from 50-90% finished, but somehow, I loose interest in finishing the game once I’ve solved all the interesting challenges of the game code.

I have one game idea, which I’ve had for more than 15 years. I’ve tried creating it several times, recreating it, switching development platform, changing layouts, changing the setup etc., but have still not been able to keep my focus on the game long enough, to get it finished. The idea hasn’t died, and some day, it may eventually be made.

So, in order to keep focused I only create smaller games now, which can be made using less time. My current project has been under way for 2 weeks and is 90’sh % finished by now.

This blog will be my ramblings on game development (indie-style), design speculations, management, coding issues and challenges and a lot of stray thoughts, as I work my way through the proces of getting this game finished.

screenshot01