SyndicateX.com
Justin Johnson: CodeMonkey
Whirlygig: Completed Levels
2
Above are the three levels that will be included with Whirlygig at launch. These are exports from photoshop so the final, in-game levels will include particle emitters for things like smoke, spilling liquid and more. The red box on each one represents how much of the level fits on the screen when the camera is zoomed in all the way.
I definitely want to have parts of the levels be destroyable. However, I’m not sure if I’ll get this implemented by the deadline or not. I know how I want to do it but there More >
Whirlygig: HUD and Revision 100
0Well, it’s 12:30am and I’m finishing up a productive coding evening. It’s going to be hard to sleep because I’m excited about the stuff I got done and I’m hopped up on caffeine!
I actually wasn’t even going to post because I wanted to do a few more tweaks before rendering a video but then I realized two things:
- This is my 100th checkin to SVN. That’s postworthy!
- I probably won’t get to work on Whirly much the rest of the week. I usually don’t work on Wednesday nights, I hope to go mountain biking on Thursday and we
Whirlygig Instructions Screen
0The instructions screen is visible in this video post. Most of the other stuff I’ve done is not obvious in the dev video but I had to post one to feel like I’ve accomplished something. Stuff done:
- Minigun now overheats and won’t fire until it has cooled down. Fire in bursts FTW.
- Minigun now has a limited firing arc.
- Contrail placement problems have been fixed
- Contrail particles reduced for better performance
- Fixed bug where heli keeps moving, dropping brass after death
- Implemented new loading screen graphics
- Implemented Instructions screen
But nobody reads this so lets get to the video:
Whirlygig: Playtest Results
0Keeping with the “old soviet newspaper” theme of Whirlygig…I had the idea that levels should take place within a photo in a newspaper article. I implemented that tonight.
When I went to render video my wife was there and said: “Instead of having one heli just sit there while you shoot it why don’t we just play?” Sweet, challenge accepted!
So, we flew around and shot at each other. The really good news is that she enjoyed playing a lot! When you work on a game for a long time and playtest constantly to check new features…you lose More >
Whirlygig UI Unveiled
0I haven’t posted for a little while because I haven’t gotten a lot of work done in awhile. I have a couple things going on but I’m still very committed to getting this game into DBP 2k11 and also onto the market. Here are a few interesting events that have happened.
First of all, I’m famous for having very poor moderation. I frequently go to bed at 1-2am and get up at 7. I work out (weight lifting) at a local gym during lunch. I hate water and sometimes forget to eat when I’m deep in code. I generally work More >
Magicka Reaction
0
I’m taking another little break from my usual project updates to talk a little about Magicka. Several years ago, a friend of mine had an idea for a game where you combine magical elements to make spells on the fly. The game would figure out what the spell should do based on the properties of the elements in the spell. We worked on the concepts for awhile but it was too complex for us to turn into a game. Magicka nailed this concept so perfectly that it manages to shine through the variety of technical More >
Whirlygig: Secret graphics preview!
0
I don’t want to give away too much right now, but suffice it to say there have been some pretty significant graphic and style changes to Whirlygig over the last week. I still have a lot of graphic work to do so it may be awhile before I post a video showing off the new changes. So, for now I’ll just share the current, mostly-finished, city level. The red box is 1280×720. The copter is in there for reference. You will notice that it has a more grainy, dirty feel to it.
This is not just a mock. I More >
Whirlygig: Explosions and Debris
1Tonight I improved a lot of things but it’s late and I don’t have time for a long update. Here’s the short of it:
- fixed poor programming governing shot movement
- fixed level end bug (no frags, no time = immediate end)
- shockwave effect
- base Shot class now supports bouncing shots
- heli debris now scatters after explosion
- revised overall heli explosion
- fixed problem with heli being stuck at last velocity after respawn
- rebalanced shot speeds after programming fix
- increased camera shake power
Also, today I got the official email for the launch of Dream Build More >
Whirlygig: Long Time No Post :(
0Whoa. It has been a very long time since I posted. I am very ashamed. However, fear not. No posts does not mean no work. Quite the opposite. I’ve been busting my rear until so late at night that I have just gone straight to bed after SVN check-in. What have I accomplished? Hmmm….
- Implementation of Game Setup screen with buttons that control level, game time limit, game kill limit and allows players to elect to join the game.
- Total change of how levels are designed. Better use of larger textures + small, tiling textures for more interesting level
Whirlygig GUI Work
0I feel like a slacker because I haven’t posted in awhile. First of all, work has been a lot more stressful lately. Several nights last week I got home and, instead of spending free time writing code I just vegged out and played Minecraft because I was too fried from work.
Added to that, I’ve had computer problems with both my desktop and laptop. My laptop is a brand new, super-powerful ASUS G73JH. Unfortunately, it shipped with a wonky video bios that caused me no end of headaches with freezing and GSODs. I finally sorted all of that out, flashing More >