(Week 1 - Day 7) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-7-towering/)

Well, way to finish the first week on a disappointing note...

Except for a couple of tech stuff (like getting the Blender to Panda3D exporter set collision geometry as such automatically instead of having to open the model file and do it manually) which will save me a lot of time down the road, I did nothing yesterday (not even post :\).

I still have 3 weeks, but as I don't have so much time to invest during the week, I would have loved to keep the pace I had set for the whole week. Anyway, not to sound too down, I managed to repopulate my to-do list, and I think I'm narrowing down the opening sequence of the game in my head. I also have a couple of ideas I want to try with the interior scenes.

So I have not been completely idle, but I have no new screenshot :( At least, it should mean that next time, it will not be random geometry, but a first draft of an actual location in the game. A good way to start off week 2, I guess ?

(Week 1 - Day 6) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-6-towering/)

Good news ! I managed to get quite a lot done today, as I think I have nailed most of the platforming stuff.

Isn't he looking nice, standing on his block like that ?

I managed to get a much cleaner behaviour than what I had during the LD, so I am very very happy about that. I crossed all the items I had on my to-do list so far, which is awesome, but my planning still has some things I want to address before moving on to week 2 and the beginning of the level design.

That said, I did stumble upon a little problem that I will have to solve : the character cannot pass through point (0,0) anymore. I need to adapt what I am doing to make that possible again, I'm sure I'll figure something out. Apart from that nagging problem, I am super excited at the idea on making some more graphical experiments (do settle on a art style) and delving into the design of the game proper!

(Week 1 - Day 5) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-5-towering/)

The post is a bit late, but I didn't have the time to post yesterday, so here it is.

I have worked on one of the key gameplay features of the game : the perspective switching (thanks, Fez). As the game takes place around (and in) a tower, the player can move around its center, but I wanted to provide the ability to move from and towards said center, to enable more intricate level designs, as well as a better exploration inside the tower.

It now works in my test level, and by a key press you can switch between the two perspectives.

Moving around the center, as per usual.

Coming towards the center.

Now that I have this thing out of the way, day 6 will be for collisions and platforming. I keep shuffling the order of my to-do list, but at least I am getting things done :)

(Week 1 - Day 4) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-4-towering/)

Well, so I have a character running in circle around a scene, and my first tests seem to indicate that using sprites for the character won't interfere with the shaders I plan to use. I found a (very good) placeholder on OpenGameArt.org, and will keep using it throughout most of the development, until I can come up with something of the same level.

It runs !

The plan for tomorrow is to turn off the fancy shaders, and get down to the core mechanics of the game. So the next screenshot will probably much less dramatic, and only show our character standing on a plane. Exciting !

(Week 1 - Day 3) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-3-towering/)

Well, a little less progress than I would have liked, but I did manage to get many "technical" things working. For example, volumetric lighting.

Nice "god rays"

I will start with some actual gameplay, maybe tonight still, or else tomorrow. I am still thinking about the structure for the code, even though I cannot afford to dwell on this to much : I have to make progress.

So, yes, running and jumping for tomorrow, starring a placeholder character. See you then !

(Week 1 - Day 2) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-1-towering/)

Today, I made some initial tests with the baking of ambient occlusion (as I want to have something that is mostly devoid of textures). But apparently somewhere between Blender and Panda3D, texture coordinates get mixed up...

I was on my laptop today, so I will use my more powerful desktop to experiment with other shading techniques. I will also try to include a controllable character.

Something went wrong there...

(Week 1 - Day 1) - ToweRing

(Cross-posted from http://www.1monthgame.com/blog/week-1-day-1-towering/)

Hi there !

Today is the first day of June, and June is for the first time this year the "NaGaDeMo", or "National Game Development Month". That makes it perfect for starting on a 1 month game project. So without further ado, I present to you :

ToweRing

The game itself is going to be what I couldn't get to work during last April's Ludum Dare competition, with a lot of changes and additions. Which means a platformer taking place on the outer surface (and inside) of a huge tower.

For this first day, I have spent a lot of time brainstorming about what I should include or change in the first design of the game. Then, as the cool kids seem to do these days, I have put everything in a Workflowy list. This will hopefully help me stay on target during the month, and I have made it available here if some of you would want to see it evolve during the month. Please note that it will of course include many spoilers as I will probably put there every bit of story. So don't open that part if you want to keep surprises intact.

Tomorrow, I plan on getting started with the programmation, and will try to get some basic platforming going on. So hopefully, screenshots !