Gravity Game - More Progress

After attending my GSP240 class, I have made a decision on which prototype I am going to sculpt into my final gravity game. I have decided to go with the game where you can turn the room and walk on the walls. While the game does not appear to have strange gravity, what is really happening is that the direction of gravity changes and the camera turns to make it appear as though you are still on the ground. I am currently developing levels and considering a graphical scheme. I will post some screenshots when I have more done, and the game should be online soon.

Gravity Game Progress

I have been working steadily on the gravity game for my GSP240 class, and I have boiled it down to 2 ideas which I have made into working prototypes: A game in which you can turn the room left or right 90 degrees at a time and have to navigate and avoid obstacles to reach a goal, and a game in which you control a circle which moves around the outside of larger circles, and can jump from one to another. Both of these prototypes work well, and I am at the point where I need to make a decision and add graphics and whatnot before continuing. I am going to wait for tomorrow to see what my classmates came up with, and based on that make my decision; if someone else did something similar to one, I will do the other. I don't want to appear as though I'm copying anyone else after all.

Gravity

Well, it seems I should have waited for my GSP240 Game Maker assignment to be posted before starting on it, because it is somewhat specific. It requires me to make a game which uses strange gravity, specifically a main gravity effect which does not point downward. I am playing with the idea of making a game where the center point of the screen is the point of gravity or something. I plan to start on it soon. It will be due in 2 weeks, so look for something gimmicky from me in that time. On the bad side of it, I will be postponing The Adventures of Fungilad until a later time when this project is finished. We will be required 2 more games, so I may finish it for one of those assignments. We shall see.

The Adventures of Fungilad

Although I am not entirely clear on the specifics of the assignment yet, I have begun work on a Game Maker game required for my GSP240 class, which will be remaking a game I made a long while ago; The Adventures of Fungilad. I chose to redo this game because it was the first and only time I made graphics myself for a game, usually I have someone else do them or else use sprite sheets and other premade resources. I will be posting sheets of my original sprites soon, and the game itself will be required to be finished in 2 weeks, so I can guarantee it by then. It will be an attempt to combine simple storytelling with some character development and comedy, so it should be of interest. Check back for more updates soon!

Finally got the Blog online

Not that it was a particularly hard feat, but it warrants a mention. Setting up a blog is one of the things I am doing to update and improve my site, hopefully making it look more professional and better with CSS. The blog bit is being added to replace what I had been doing with my main page, that being using it to keep a record of all of my updates. I feel this will be both easier and more convenient for me, which may encourage me to update it more. So lets kick things off, shall we?

For starters, I am one of the original developers in a large-scale project, the Awe+ Engine, who's site it listed on the "Links" menu, but I will put it here as well: AwesumGames.com. The site isn't much at present, but hopefully soon it will take off and become a thriving community. The Awe+ Engine, which is the project, is a currently in-development, cross platform, expandable, open sourced 2D Game Engine which is being produced by Awe+ Games right now! The engine will utilize SDL and OpenGL for their cross-platform abilities, and we are looking into OpenAL at present. For more specific (and probably recent) information, check out wiki.awesumgames.com.

I am in the process of building a map for Unreal Tournament 3, REMansion, which I am using as a way to learn the basics of the new UnrealEd. It is the layout of most of the mansion from the remake of Resident Evil, with come areas removed to improve gameplay. This map will hopefully be finished soon!

I am also working on a Portal map, although I admit it has been some time since I last worked on it. Coming up with creative and original puzzles is quite difficult, and that is pretty much the part I am stuck on right now. With some luck I will be inspired with crazy, not-impossible puzzle ideas soon, and have the map completed shortly.

Another project I have been neglecting, but intend to finish, is Fate's Compromise, a game I was required to make in Game Maker for my first Game and Simulation class at DeVry. This assignment was to produce a game from High Concept to GDD to Product, and I have almost done just that. The game features four massive levels, an in-depth plot, and real voice acting! The only things that need to be done are fixing minor bugs and adding background music.

And finally, I am working on finishing a game made entirely in C++ and SDL, Connect4, with a friend Tom Jordan. The game works, and we only need to tweak the graphics and add end-game behavior before it is complete. I hope to have it online soon. We then plan to make a more complicated game, such as a Tetris or Breakout clone using C++ and SDL.

Well, I guess I wrote a lot more than I intended, but that is about where I am at the moment. With any luck the site will be finished within the month and I will have it online with an improved portfolio and a regular downloads page. Thanks for checking in, I will post new updates shortly.

~Dorthu