Recently, I started working with HTML5 a bit more. I'd used the canvas and audio elements months ago, but quickly went back to Game Maker after that. As I work with it more these days, I'm finding it incredibly easy to use for game design. I think I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get some experience making 2D games. I don't know if it's the greatest medium for things like advanced lighting, but it's great otherwise.
You don't even have to stick to 2D games. Check out the official Wolfenstein remake: www.wolfenstein.com. As a ray caster, it's not technically "3D", but it's certainly not a 2D platformer. You can do actual 3D as well, but that requires extra APIs that seem to be browser specific as far as I've seen.
Anyway, on to what I want to talk about. I'm starting with canvases, since they seem to be the most basic part of an HTML5 game. This is assuming that you already have an understanding of HTML and JavaScript.
Saturday 23 June 2012
Friday 8 June 2012
Movement "Helpers"
The topic today is "helpers". I'm not talking about allied NPCs, but about code that helps the player play the game more easily. Auto-aim is at the extreme end of this category, but I generally stick to helpers that improve the player's ease-of-movement.
When you run sideways and there's a person-sized hole in the ground, what should happen? I tend to think that you should run over it. After all, a real human being will not simply drop through a hole just because it happens to be in the way. Then we have to ask, what if the player wants to fall through the hole?
When you run sideways and there's a person-sized hole in the ground, what should happen? I tend to think that you should run over it. After all, a real human being will not simply drop through a hole just because it happens to be in the way. Then we have to ask, what if the player wants to fall through the hole?
Saturday 2 June 2012
Ground Rules
It looks like it's time for my first tech post. Today, I'll be talking about how I like to set up random/procedural worlds for endless-world games, such as We Want YOU and its upcoming sequel, They Want ME.
The goal of map generation in WWY was to make every area look unique and random, while still always having an available path. We don't want people getting stuck in pits and having to restart the level.
In WWY, the system wasn't perfect. People could, in fact, get stuck in pits once in a while. We ended up adding the C4 item for this reason. It wasn't a weapon and it took too long to explode for it to be "fun" to use often. Its purpose was to get players out of otherwise inescapable situations.
TWM uses an altered version of the same system, which removes those inescapable situations from the game and allows the player to move upward, whereas WWY always had the player move downward.
The goal of map generation in WWY was to make every area look unique and random, while still always having an available path. We don't want people getting stuck in pits and having to restart the level.
In WWY, the system wasn't perfect. People could, in fact, get stuck in pits once in a while. We ended up adding the C4 item for this reason. It wasn't a weapon and it took too long to explode for it to be "fun" to use often. Its purpose was to get players out of otherwise inescapable situations.
TWM uses an altered version of the same system, which removes those inescapable situations from the game and allows the player to move upward, whereas WWY always had the player move downward.
Monday 28 May 2012
Current Projects
I thought I'd give readers an idea of what I've been working on recently. I've been jumping around a bit between projects, but a few are pretty far along.
They Want ME - If you've been to our website, you've probably seen this mentioned. It's a sequel to We Want YOU, with more abilities, more equipment, more weapons, dynamic lighting, bullet penetration, a more developed storyline and...well, you'll see when you finally play it someday. I redid the game from the ground up twice, and the way things are going I will likely start one more time using my newer engine and all the improvements that come with it.
They Want ME - If you've been to our website, you've probably seen this mentioned. It's a sequel to We Want YOU, with more abilities, more equipment, more weapons, dynamic lighting, bullet penetration, a more developed storyline and...well, you'll see when you finally play it someday. I redid the game from the ground up twice, and the way things are going I will likely start one more time using my newer engine and all the improvements that come with it.
Introductions
Hi. Quicksand-S here. I'm part of a two-man, independent, PC game development team known as Quicksand Games. The other member is known as Quicksand-T. I'm the coder, he's the writer, and we both do art and brainstorming.
Our website is located at QuicksandGames.com and you can download our game, We Want YOU, for free.
I've never really been a blogger, although I certainly enjoy reading a few programming-related ones (Procedural World and Wolfire Blog are pretty great). I thought I'd finally give this a try. When we released our first game, We Want YOU, some people wanted to know how it was made. I'm thinking of showing people what goes into our games. We'd like to hear any suggestions, comments and any questions you might have.
My posts will be primarily about code. I may write about randomly-generated levels, "fake" path-finding AI, a few animation methods I've worked on, my latest lighting engine, etc.
If I can talk Quicksand-T into writing too, maybe we'll get some posts about things such as implied storytelling, script-writing, etc.
We'll see how things go.
Our website is located at QuicksandGames.com and you can download our game, We Want YOU, for free.
I've never really been a blogger, although I certainly enjoy reading a few programming-related ones (Procedural World and Wolfire Blog are pretty great). I thought I'd finally give this a try. When we released our first game, We Want YOU, some people wanted to know how it was made. I'm thinking of showing people what goes into our games. We'd like to hear any suggestions, comments and any questions you might have.
My posts will be primarily about code. I may write about randomly-generated levels, "fake" path-finding AI, a few animation methods I've worked on, my latest lighting engine, etc.
If I can talk Quicksand-T into writing too, maybe we'll get some posts about things such as implied storytelling, script-writing, etc.
We'll see how things go.
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