Cognitive Observation #9

This is borderline breaking my rule about not discussing politics/religion here on this blog, but I figure this is funny enough for those of you knowledgeable about this fiasco to make up for it.

Infiltrator - Season 3, part 3

And so, we meet again. There are a lot of changes this time around, so lets just jump right in.

                        (Click for full size)

Observing that screenshot, you can probably notice several improvements right off. Firstly, I created some preliminary level tiles to use in building experimental levels. I think that by-hand pixel art looks good mixed with pre-rendered 3d. It creates a unique aesthetic, and goes with the style of the game quite well.

You'll notice the player has swapped out it's missiles for some masers in the style of some of my unfinished novels. There are four maser colors, but I have five different weapons planned, only one of which will be masers. You'll also note that they're going the right direction. Turns out the bug that's been plaguing me for almost a month came from my local translation function. I swapped "Lazer's theorem" out for some gold old fashioned trig functions, and it works like a charm.

Now the white glow you see around the masers is not part of the maser sprite, and it's not part of some internal lighting thing. It's a quick but spiffy idea I came up with. I created a few different sizes, colors, and shapes of glow, which work nicely to fake lighting.

The level you see behind the player was loaded from a level file as apposed to being hard-coded. Level files can contain any number of variables, with two types. The types are string and integer. So I simply create a class to retrieve such variables. This easily affords my game with the ability to load a different background, with invisible enclosing walls of specific size, from a level file. As time goes on, the content read from these files will expand until entire levels can be read.

Besides the changes to the game, I have also made some improvements to my development pipeline.

This is part of my "backlog" if you will. It's more of a version oriented TODO list. As you can see, the game is in version 0.003 at the moment. I have a long way to go before I finish, but things seem to be going well.

        --LazerBlade

Cover based shooting

"Oh look, LazerBlade is coming out one last time to cover a pop buzzword before heaving his final breath and turning to the dark side of only doing music." If you have just said this, you may get in line at my vaporizer ray, near the volcano entrance. Otherwise, you can except the fact that I still do game design.

So, let's start flapping gums about cover based shooting. I'm not sure where this mechanic originated, but it was certainly popularized by games like Mass Effect and Time Crisis. In the case of Time Crisis, cover based shooting added more depth than the usual rail shooter perpetrated by the novelty value of a light-gun.

As time went on, PC and console games began playing with this mechanism as well. It's definitely an interesting idea, and it's a good thing that some games like Mass Effect 2 have taken the time to expound upon it. However, I think that one or two games are enough. Cover based shooting is really interesting, for about 30 minutes. After that, it becomes a boring ritual.

Step 1:  Wait for enemies to stop shooting.
Step 2:  Pop up and shoot at enemies until they start shooting.
Step 3:  Hide again.
Step 4:  Go back to step 1.

This is actually kind of interesting. But I find more depth, challenge and enjoyment in the old school, unrealistic, free-roaming, run n' gun game.

This problem is worsened by many games, because your health recharges at a rate prone to boredom. Mixing this with cover based shooting is going to make your job as a game designer quite difficult. Oh wait, I'm assuming your job is to make a fun game. I guess this was what you had in mind:

Step 1:  Shoot enemies until you're almost dead.
Step 2:  Hide for a few seconds until your health recharges to max.
Step 3:  Go back to step 1.

Now don't misinterpret me. I actually liked Mass Effect 2 from a game design perspective. It was a game that managed to work cover based shooting in with recharging health with a minimal amount of boredom. I still think it could have been better though.

Take this into mind. If you want player to take advantage of cover, why not just add in some chest high walls and a crouching button? This may seem like a bad idea since everyone is shunning FPS games, but what's wrong with it really? The only advantage of slowing the player down to the speed of a snail with a broken leg, and then taking away his crouching and jumping abilities, is that you as a level designer and programmer don't have half as much to worry about the player doing, since the player can't do half as much.

        --LazerBlade

Cognitive Observation #8

I've finally come up with a kind of name for this comic strip. I'm calling it "Cognitive Observations" It's short, descriptive, and clever sounding.

Advanced LMMS - Keyboard tips

I was originally planning on a twenty minute episode about trance music, but some last minute "technical difficulties" forced me to resort to throwing together a few tips.

I also announce the release of my new album. Go download it. Right now. Right here: http://www.mediafire.com/?5ldo8md8h6mc2zc

Sick day

So, at the very end of the day I show up and say I don't have anything for you. Choosing carefully from my plethora of good reasons, I select the fact that I've been somewhat sick. This has interfered with my schedule and prevented me from writing anything.

      --LazerBlade

Cognitive Observation #7

Random name for this comic strip #2. Just click, or whatever...

The opposite genders will NEVER understand each other.