Very happy to say a short piece on Magma Surge can be found on game blogger Keith Cashin's website!
Keith asked me a couple of questions about the project and how it began. Please check it out!
http://keithcashin.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
State of Play Seminar Review
I attended first State of Play indie game seminar last Friday in DIT Aungier St. The event saw a range of companies and small developers describe their journeys of success or not into the independent games industry.
Some of the companies who attended included Weeman Studios, BitSmith Games, SuperFunPlay, Open Emotion, Redwind Software and Digital Arrow. For a full list check out the State of Play link. There was also a demo section where some people got to showcase and demonstrate their games. I was very lucky to have had the chance to showcase Mamga Surge and it was a valuable experience. While the demo segment was a little shorter than I would have liked, several people were able to test out Magma Surge for the very first time. I was greatly boosted by the positive feedback and return with renewed vigour for getting the game completed.
The main seminar itself was also a very interesting and entertaining experience. The different presenters all had unique and inspiring stories of success and failure. There was a lot of valuable and important insights into the world of indie game development in Ireland today. Notable speakers included Paddy Murphy from Open Emotion, a truly inspiring story of how an obvious messer can achieve great things. Open Emotion is a great example of how through trial and error, they have managed to build a successful game company recently winning £250,000 contract with someone we shall call their 'Benefactors'.
Owen Harris from Bitsmith Games was another interesting and ongoing tale of a very recently formed company going through the ropes. Bitsmith was formed by 3 members from my masters course who are working on a game called Ku. This is an action RPG for the iPad which is based on traditional Irish mythology.
Liam McGarry from WeeMan Studios provided and educational look into the inner workings of a company responsible for the highly anticipated Galactic Racer. Liam really demonstrated the importance of being a cheeky bastard and not to be afraid of chancing your arm.
One thing that the seminar really illustrated is what can be achieved with a limited budget. There is a huge amount of resources available to Irish game developers. One thing that can be said by our current government is their commitment to the development of this sector of the economy. The seminar finished with a panel discussion made up of an esteemed and notable people from the Irish games industry. This was a fun and informative look at the some of the people currently championing the gaming cause in Ireland today. One of the most memorable moments was the knowledge that Enda Kenny mentioned the fact that he had 'killed zombies in Dublin!'
Afterwards there was a shindig in the Solas Bar around the corner at which numerous pints were consumed over tales of conquering galaxies, starting companies and general banter.
Overall I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to taking part in similar events in the future!
Some of the companies who attended included Weeman Studios, BitSmith Games, SuperFunPlay, Open Emotion, Redwind Software and Digital Arrow. For a full list check out the State of Play link. There was also a demo section where some people got to showcase and demonstrate their games. I was very lucky to have had the chance to showcase Mamga Surge and it was a valuable experience. While the demo segment was a little shorter than I would have liked, several people were able to test out Magma Surge for the very first time. I was greatly boosted by the positive feedback and return with renewed vigour for getting the game completed.
The main seminar itself was also a very interesting and entertaining experience. The different presenters all had unique and inspiring stories of success and failure. There was a lot of valuable and important insights into the world of indie game development in Ireland today. Notable speakers included Paddy Murphy from Open Emotion, a truly inspiring story of how an obvious messer can achieve great things. Open Emotion is a great example of how through trial and error, they have managed to build a successful game company recently winning £250,000 contract with someone we shall call their 'Benefactors'.
Owen Harris from Bitsmith Games was another interesting and ongoing tale of a very recently formed company going through the ropes. Bitsmith was formed by 3 members from my masters course who are working on a game called Ku. This is an action RPG for the iPad which is based on traditional Irish mythology.
Liam McGarry from WeeMan Studios provided and educational look into the inner workings of a company responsible for the highly anticipated Galactic Racer. Liam really demonstrated the importance of being a cheeky bastard and not to be afraid of chancing your arm.
One thing that the seminar really illustrated is what can be achieved with a limited budget. There is a huge amount of resources available to Irish game developers. One thing that can be said by our current government is their commitment to the development of this sector of the economy. The seminar finished with a panel discussion made up of an esteemed and notable people from the Irish games industry. This was a fun and informative look at the some of the people currently championing the gaming cause in Ireland today. One of the most memorable moments was the knowledge that Enda Kenny mentioned the fact that he had 'killed zombies in Dublin!'
Afterwards there was a shindig in the Solas Bar around the corner at which numerous pints were consumed over tales of conquering galaxies, starting companies and general banter.
Overall I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to taking part in similar events in the future!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Lava Animation
Iv been busy trying to create some interesting animation for incorporation into the game. Check out my lava bomb animation. This is for the planned lava bomb hazard. Anyone familiar with platform games should instantly recognise the type of hazard this is, the player needs to time their jumps in order to successfully avoid being struck. I'm pretty happy with it, I like the thick gloopy look of the lava. Now I just need to find the appropriate sound effects!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Early Smartphone Test
After a meeting with Marco, and some wrangling of windows and android, the very first smartphone version of Magma Surge is now working! It has a long way to go before any demonstration, there are a few control issues as well as graphical bugs that need to be fixed. However it is really cool to be able to see the game working on my phone. This is a major milestone and, despite the fact that it needs lots of tweaking, really shows how far along the game has come since it began.
The green boxes are the collision layer which is visible for some reason. For now the game is controlled using the directional buttons to move and the up button to jump. Experiments with the control scheme will start when user testing begins.
Obviously for this I had to go and purchase a smartphone. I decided an Android phone was the way to go as we already have an iPhone in the team, so now we could test the game on both platforms. So im now locked into an 18 month contract with Vodafone so I can have a nice new shiny Samsung Galaxy S2. And what a beaut she is too. So below are some screenshots of this very early version taken while being played on my phone.
The green boxes are the collision layer which is visible for some reason. For now the game is controlled using the directional buttons to move and the up button to jump. Experiments with the control scheme will start when user testing begins.
Obviously for this I had to go and purchase a smartphone. I decided an Android phone was the way to go as we already have an iPhone in the team, so now we could test the game on both platforms. So im now locked into an 18 month contract with Vodafone so I can have a nice new shiny Samsung Galaxy S2. And what a beaut she is too. So below are some screenshots of this very early version taken while being played on my phone.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
State of Play Indie Game Seminar!
Magma Surge will get it first bit of decent exposure and promo at the 'State of Play' indie game seminar on Friday 25th of November.
http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6532&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263900866990189
By then we should have some versions working on an a demo iphone and hopefully an android phone so people will have a chance to play the game. This will be a big deal for the promo of the game, so hopefully it gets a positive response. A full break down of the event will be posted afterwards!
http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6532&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263900866990189
By then we should have some versions working on an a demo iphone and hopefully an android phone so people will have a chance to play the game. This will be a big deal for the promo of the game, so hopefully it gets a positive response. A full break down of the event will be posted afterwards!
Monday, November 14, 2011
On Level Design
So the project is rapidly approaching full production. Right now Marco has been busy coding the games framework. Once he has this done, full level production is next. We have a simple and straightforward pipeline in place, which I will describe below.
The levels have a simple construction. The level foreground is on one layer, with the moving lava layers behind it. Corona uses the programming language Lua. We are using a clever little script created by Rocket 5 Studios, a small American indie developer, which allows photoshop files to be exported into Lua. The use of photoshop for this stage is hugely beneficial as I would be very familiar with this program, which will speed up the creation process considerably.
In order to create the levels, first they are drawn out on paper. The general layout and ideas for hazards and obstacles are explored here. Once I'm happy with the initial idea, I begin to create the level in photoshop. The foreground of the level is built using some tile sets designed over the summer. Tile sets are an excellent way to make 2D levels quickly. Large areas can be copied and pasted to build the basic structure, then more detailed tile sets can be used to create the sections the player interacts with. Suspended platforms and other environmental hazards are added at this stage. It also allows a degree of flexibility that was impossible when using Stencylworks. Once Iv finished making the playable areas, some detailing is added. A single large background image layered at the bottom.
Once I'm happy with the look of the level, the collision layer needs to be added. Here a photoshop layer group is created within which the collision shapes are added. I need to draw these over every part of the level I want the player to collide with, so the ground, walls and roof of the levels need to be marked off. Once the level is built using the tilesets and the collision shapes are done, the script is run. This spits out a lua file which, with the level png and background, is then sent to Marco, who adds them to the game.
Next is a level plan, which highlights areas where triggers and obstacles are located. The levels have a series of trigger regions. These are small areas that trigger an event, such as the lava beginning to rise, when the player enters them. With levels containing numerous sections of moving lava, sometimes several trigger regions are needed. The plans are designed to help simplify and speed up the coding of the levels.
So the next major challenge is to create as many interesting levels as possible. Care must be taken to stop too much repetition of ideas. Challenges need to be fresh and interesting. The level of difficulty is also important. The easiest way to increase the difficulty would be to increase the speed of the lava. While this is certainly something that will be done, environmental and other hazards will be incorporated into the later levels to give them more variety. I will describe the first set of levels in a future post.
The levels have a simple construction. The level foreground is on one layer, with the moving lava layers behind it. Corona uses the programming language Lua. We are using a clever little script created by Rocket 5 Studios, a small American indie developer, which allows photoshop files to be exported into Lua. The use of photoshop for this stage is hugely beneficial as I would be very familiar with this program, which will speed up the creation process considerably.In order to create the levels, first they are drawn out on paper. The general layout and ideas for hazards and obstacles are explored here. Once I'm happy with the initial idea, I begin to create the level in photoshop. The foreground of the level is built using some tile sets designed over the summer. Tile sets are an excellent way to make 2D levels quickly. Large areas can be copied and pasted to build the basic structure, then more detailed tile sets can be used to create the sections the player interacts with. Suspended platforms and other environmental hazards are added at this stage. It also allows a degree of flexibility that was impossible when using Stencylworks. Once Iv finished making the playable areas, some detailing is added. A single large background image layered at the bottom.
Once I'm happy with the look of the level, the collision layer needs to be added. Here a photoshop layer group is created within which the collision shapes are added. I need to draw these over every part of the level I want the player to collide with, so the ground, walls and roof of the levels need to be marked off. Once the level is built using the tilesets and the collision shapes are done, the script is run. This spits out a lua file which, with the level png and background, is then sent to Marco, who adds them to the game.
Next is a level plan, which highlights areas where triggers and obstacles are located. The levels have a series of trigger regions. These are small areas that trigger an event, such as the lava beginning to rise, when the player enters them. With levels containing numerous sections of moving lava, sometimes several trigger regions are needed. The plans are designed to help simplify and speed up the coding of the levels.
So the next major challenge is to create as many interesting levels as possible. Care must be taken to stop too much repetition of ideas. Challenges need to be fresh and interesting. The level of difficulty is also important. The easiest way to increase the difficulty would be to increase the speed of the lava. While this is certainly something that will be done, environmental and other hazards will be incorporated into the later levels to give them more variety. I will describe the first set of levels in a future post.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)