Game a Week – Week 10

Leia em Português aqui!

Avestruza – Click here to play on browser

Controls:
-Up arrow / W: accelerate
-Down arrow / S: brake
-Left and right arrows/ A e D: turn
-Espace: jump
-Tab: change camera
-Esc: reset
(Tempo is time in Portuguese)

The idea: I had asked a friend to come up with a theme, and he choose ostrich. So I decided to make an isometric racing game, like Mini Car Racing, a game that me and my brothers played a lot when younger. And because she is an ostrich, it would be interesting to pu some obstacles that the player has tojump above them. As I still don’t have much knowledge about AI and neither had much free time last week, the race would be against the clock.

What went right: I’m really happy with this week’s result! I liked how the controls feels. At first the camera would be exclusively isometric, but when I was playing with it’s position I found it would be interesting (and easy) to implement a system for changing between multiple cameras. And it was interesting (and also easy too) to make a mini map system. And during the development there was an especifc problem with the code that was getting me really frustrated, so I decided to start to assemble the track instead of getting angry. As I finished the track I was a lot more excited about the game and it looked like it proggressed a lot towards its conclusion.

What went wrong: I didnt make any ramps or slopes on the track because of a bug that was only fixed nearing the end. The ostrich needs a lot of catching speed to jump and start to run again if it misses a jump. I intended to make a medal system that didn’t make it, as the languace selection menu is also missing. And I really miss making musics for my games…

What I learned: that when you get stuck with something it’s better to make another unrelated task to cool down instead and carry on. I hope to remember this when it happen again!!

Publicidade

Game a Week – Week 09

Leia em Português aqui!

FPPP: First Person Ping Pong – Click here to play on browser

Controls:
-WASD: walk
-Left mouse button: shoots only one ball, that can be picked up again from the ground
-Right mouse button: return the balls that the oponents shoot
-Esc: reset

The ideia – I had the idea to make a first person ping pong for PewDiePie’s game jam, with lots of explosions and stuff. But I didn’t made any game for that jam and really liked the idea, so I decided to build it this week.

What went right – I didn’t care about doing a well done code from the start. I prioritized making an ugly code that worked, and to only improve it if I had some spare time at the end. This streamlined the development a lot.

What went wrong – not much time during the week and I didn’t managed it very well, doing most of the work Sunday. There’s no explosions, neither any GUI pointing the ammo, or the HP, or the game over screen, even that these conditions are present in the game ald should be comunicated to the player. The contact area with the ground to pick up the ball is too small, making this task more dificult than it should. I also don’t think the base mechanic is very fun.

What I learned – that prototype code doesn’t need to be pretty and neither well done. It have to work well enough to test if the idea is fun. Making good code for prototype is to waste precious time.

Um Jogo Por Semana – Semana 07

Read in English here!

Labirinto 3D! – Jogue no browser

Controles
Setas: andar e girar

A ideia – Eu me baseei numa memória da minha infância: eu sempre amei o protetor de tela 3D Maze do Windows 95/97. Contudo, eu sempre quis poder controlar o que estava acontecendo na tela, e não apenas assistir. Era gritante para mim a necessidade de uma versão jogável, portanto foi isso o que eu decidi fazer! Um clone jogável.

O que deu certo – Fiquei surpreso de como o resultado ficou bom apesar de ter gasto cerca de 2 à 3 horas no desenvolvimento propriamente dito. Está bem simples e cru, mas eu achei que ficou divertido de jogar, e agora estou com muita vontade de revisitar esta ideia futuramente.

O que deu errado – Ter travado tentando desenvolver uma feature que não era vital para o produto, e que não foi incluída na versão final (flip de câmera). Ter deixado a maior parte do desenvolvimento para domingo de noite mais uma vez. E queria ter populado o labirinto com criaturas pixeladas não-interativas, a fim de facilitar que o jogador se localizasse dentro do labirinto usando-as como referência.

O que eu aprendi – Jogos mais simples funcionam melhor para o formato de um jogo por semana, e que devo separar as tarefas a serem realizadas por ordem de prioridade.

 

Game a Week – Week 07

Leia em Português aqui!

3D Labyrinth! – Play on browser

Controls
Arrows: walk and turn.

The ideia – I used as base a memorie that I have from my childhood: I always loved the 3D Maze screensaver from Windows 95/97.However, I also wanted to control what was happening on the screen. To me it was like if it was screaming to be playable, so that’s what I did! A playable clone.

What went right – I’m surprised with the results, it’s kind of good despite the fact that I only spent 2 or 3 hours with the actual development. It is simple and rough, but I think it’s fun to play, and I really feel like trying to do something else with this idea someday.

What went wrong – I got a mini-block and lost a lot of time with the development of a feature that didn’t make it to the final version (it was camera flip). And I also left most of the development to Sunday night again and it’s kind of meh. I wanted to populate the labyrinth with pixelated non-interactive creatures, so it would be easier to the player not get lost,.

What I learned – Simpler games work better with the game a week format, and that I have to start sorting tasks by priority.

 

Um Jogo Por Semana – Semana 01

Read it in English here!

Já faz um tempo que eu li o este artigo no Gamasutra e este outro também sobre o desafio Game a Week. Depois de uns dois meses sem participar de game jams e nem desenvolver nenhum jogo ou algo do gênero, senti que estava na hora dtentar isto.

Eu sempre achei extremamente divertido participar de game jams: o prazo apertado, os bugs e erros de programação pipocando de todos os lugares, o cansaço, a adrenalina do prazo final e a sensação de dever cumprido toda vez que eu dava a luz ao meu novo jogo. Feio, deformado e faltando pedaços, porém um jogo.

Contudo, desde que voltei de férias da faculdade, o tempo que tinha disponível durante a semana ficou muito mais apertado: estou agora estudando de manhã e trabalhando como estagiário de tarde.Tenho virado uma geleia preguiçosa nos fins de semana. Mas a coceirinha de fazer mais e mais jogos continuava lá.

E então resolvi sanduichar o Game a Week no meio da semana. Toda segunda feira irei postar aqui o resultado do meu trabalho, não importa o quão inacabado, feio e vergonhoso ele esteja. Prazo final todo domingo, 23:59, sem desculpas, sem prorrogações. Para descrever cada projeto irei pegar emprestado o modelo que a Adriel Wallick utiliza.

Sem mais enrolações, aqui está o primeiro:

Bizoro – Link de download (jogável em rede local – 2 jogadores)

A ideia – A primeira ideia que tive foi baseada em lembranças de como eu achava divertido o multiplayer competitivo do Sonic 2 (e que ninguém gostava de jogar comigo). Me propus fazer um pequeno protótipo de plataformer competitivo em rede local, onde cada jogador teria de pular obstáculos, coletar upgrades e chegar na linha final. Usei este tutorial para pegar umas noções básicas de networking.

O que deu certo – Praticamente nada. Mesmo assim, foi legal conseguir fazer os jogos conectarem, fazer a interpolação de posições na mão e uma câmera que segue o jogador correto em cada máquina. E pelo menos terminei o primeiro, uhul!

O que deu errado – Praticamente tudo. O escopo do projeto era grande demais, ainda mais considerando que é o primeiro destes que estou fazendo. Não existe condição de vitória/derrota, os jogadores não podem pular, e o level é uma caixa fechada sem nada dentro. Sem contar que o resultado final ficou próximo demais do tutorial base. O meu tempo de desenvolvimento também foi pessimamente aproveitado.

O que aprendi – Um pouquinho de networking no Unity. Não mexi em nada de jogabilidade, mas foi legal enfrentar um desafio mais focado na parte técnica. Também percebi que é bom ter um pouco mais de bom senso ao escolher o tamanho do projeto da próxima semana.

Game a Week – Week 01

Leia em Português aqui!

Some time ago I read this article at Gamasutra and also this other too about the Game a Week challenge. After a couple of months taking part in any game jamand neither developing any games at all, I felt it was time to try this.

I always had tons of fun game jamming: the tiny development time, the bugs and glitches flooding everywhere, the tiredness, the thrill of the final deadline and the feeling of mission complete after every game I give birth to a new game. Usually a ugly, deformed and incomplete game. But still a brand new game.

However, since I get back from college vacation, the time that I had available during the week got a lot tighter: now I’m going to college every morning, and working as a trainee every noon. And every weekend I transform into a lazy jelly. But I still feeling the itch to make new games.

Then I decided to try Game a Week toghether during the week. Every monday I’ll post here the results of my work, no matter how unfinished, messy and shameful it is. The deadline is every sunday, 11:59PM, no excuses, no postponements. To describe every project I’ll borrow the format that Adriel Wallick uses.

So, here it goes:

Bizoro – Download link (playable in local network – 2 players)

The idea – The first idea was based on memories I had from how fun I thought the competitive multiplayer mode from Sonic 2 was (and that anyone liked playing it with me). So I set to make a small local network competitive multiplayer platform prototype, where every player would have to jump obstacles, collect upgrades and cross the finish line. I used this tutorial to get basic networking notions.

What went right – Close to nothing. Anywaysm it was nice being able to make the games connect, make some handmade position interpolation and a camera follow script that focus on the correct player. And it’s the first one and it’s done, yay!

What went wrong – Close to everything! The project scope was too big, and even worse that it was the first one. The current game has no win/lose condition, the players can’t jump, and the level is a closed box empty inside. And the result is too close to the base tutorial. My development time was poorly managed.

What I learned – A little bit of networking in Unity. I didn’t worked with gameplay at all, but it was nice to face a challend with a more technical focus. I’ve also realized that I should be wiser when choosing the project scope next week.