Prototype gameplay video

The basic mechanics are in place. Here's a video.

EDIT: Ugh, this is hideously low-res. It's not worth it for me to bother re-uploading this right now, but next time I won't be uploading directly into a blog post. Still gets the point across, for the most part.

New screenshot

I took a screenshot my test room in Torque, just to give an idea of what actual progress has been made in ways a regular screenshot wouldn't.

Notice that the blue square has overlapping rectangles on each side. Those repel the character (who is a grey square). I will be applying that functionality to the rest of the squares shortly. The smaller squares within the larger squares indicate stick functionality. I still have to add that for yellow and blue, but the code is all there. All of the squares are in a red state right now by default even though the player is grey.

After I work out a couple of bugs, I might start building an actual level. I expect there to still be bugs, but hopefully I can get this thing in front of people and get some feedback or at least get some moral support.

Notepad++

Started using Notepad++ instead of plain 'ol Notepad. It's actually really useful to be using an actual IDE instead of a text editor for coding. I actually have Visual Studio as well, but I like the relative simplicity of Notepad++. I recommend it highly, at least for hobby level coding. Struggles right now are mostly around collision. I have started rolling out experimental collision types (sticking and bouncing) to all objects. For some reason the sticking acts weird with violet. There has to be something in the code I forgot to port over properly, but me in my current state (tired) isn't seeing it. I also made myself a bug database in Excel. My day job is as a QA tester, so it sort of pains me to even do it but at the same time it feels very right and natural to be recording bugs I find and tracking whether or not I've fixed them.

Also, here's an updated version of my run cycle (from about a week ago, haven't touched it since). I can adjust the timing in Torque and don't really have a proper animation program, so this is basically each frame being shown in unison with equal timing.

I want him to move with a level of uniqueness and character, so I'll be playing around with this more until it feels right. I can't do too much considering I have to be able to implement it into the game and have it look/feel natural (gameplay comes #1), but I want the character to feel as fluid as I can muster. The web series "Baman Piderman" does a great job at fluid, but I don't have any illusions of animating even nearly as well as Lindsay Small. Plus characters that floppy wouldn't work well for this game. Maybe another game someday. Possibly worth noting: Watching a livestream of her animating an episode of BP is part of what motivated me to start working on animation.

Preview of my amazing 2D animation skills

My initial plan with this game was to have almost non-existent art, probably no music, probably no sound effects. I changed my mind. I'm going to do some simple art, music and sound effects myself. "Simple" art includes 2D animation, which I totally took a class for like 5 years ago. I also took a bunch of art classes, so I figure I might as well use my entry level art/animation classes for something. Here is the first pass of half of a run cycle. Click the red square to view all 4 glorious frames of actual animation.

It's even sloppier than it probably could be, since my background and initial guide sketch show up as their own frames. You get the idea though. Also, I don't really plan on making this much more complex. Basically just cleaning it up. The dude's gonna be solid colours, possibly with shadows. No face, hair, clothes or any of that.

Regarding music and sounds... I am probably gonna do minimalist electric guitar (i.e. my skill level) for the music and do some home foley for sounds. The goal here is to do this whole game myself.

Oh, and here's what it looks like with every animation layer visible (just for fun):

 

"Hue"

Tentative title time.

I spent a lot of time labouring in my head over alliterations, puns, portmanteaus... then I thought about how I want this game to come across in a conversation and what sort of image I want to project. I decided that one word, short, to the point, would do this best.