Author Archives: Anti

Whimsy Background

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I probably should cover this type of information at a later point, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go over it now. I’ll probably go back over adding a bit of detail overtime.

One thing I never really go over is the game background, leaving people asking “Why are these wolves jumping out of trees?” I’ll do a much better job trying to layout the whole story in future games but I’d like to try explaining things a bit now. I don’t think my games are complex enough to give make you feel lost in the story but I believe most of them are set up in a way to make you not even care there is one (I’m a fox, I guess that blue guy’s a fox too, lets kill stuff).

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Playable Build in April

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Although I’ve cut a lot of meat away from the original title, this one still seems to have a bit of weight to it. Thusly, the full version may take a while. However, this April I plan to submit the game into XNA for peer review for the first time to get a bit of initial testing. Most of the puzzle elements won’t be in place, music may not be featured, and the stage will be very very short. Not very exciting, but it’s enough to weed out any problems early on. Also, combat will be missing from the game. I suppose the lack of combat is a little bit ironic in comparison to the last game.

Expect some really final screenshots later in the month. In the mean time I’ll probably still post random things. I think I may go more into the series background now that business is about to pick up. It may help seeing as the goal of the story this time is to really project the characters and the world they live in (despite the game itself taking place in a story). The last games were a but one-dimensional in terms of story.

The Naked Truth

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Game progress is moving pretty slow, but feeling fairly playable with a camera system in place. Since there’s not much progress there, I thought I might try simply just typing up random articles like I used to do. A website is a terrible thing to waste : )

Okay today’s topic, why is everyone so naked? When I first created Felix, I wasn’t thinking clothing.  From Looney Tunes, to Disney Characters, to Hanna-Barbara, to Sonic the Hedgehog, to even Felix the Cat, anthropomorphic animals without clothing didn’t seem like an odd thing. Granted, some of the characters may wear, a single article of clothing like a tie or a pair of gloves but that doesn’t change that fact that 99% of them would be kicked out of public places. I’ve been told before that Felix should wear a belt or some boots and I always wonder, why, when I hear things like that.

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Redmine Project Management

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I’m blurring the line between site and blog once again, but who really cares.

Today I started using a project management system called Redmine. The way it tracks all the assignments is brilliant and makes my current way of organizing tasks seem archaic. I’ve made a real mess trying to keep things in order using Microsoft Office documents.  While it’s made mostly for teams (most project management applications are of course), I’m still finding it incredibly useful as a solo user. All this delectable functionality is for available free! You can go to http://www.redmine.org/ for more information.

If managing your workload is a bit of a bother, you may want to have a look.

A New Perspective

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Dream Master - Coffee Mug Scene Recreated

Originally World of Whimsy spawned from the idea of creating a quick 3D game to familiarize myself with 3D gaming instead of heading straight towards a very demanding project (Lithodora of Despair). I also said the game would play mostly like a 2D game and have 3D portions every once and a while. Looking back at the old games however, I don’t really see a reason to do that. Sure there are times where 2D movement simply works, but when I think back to Dream Master, it has the soul of a 2D platformer (a poorly executed one, but still). Also given the camera perspective, the development time between 2D and 2.5D stages is more or less the same.

I’ll probably be jumping all over the place from 2D to 2.5D to 3D… but I think I’ve decided to give my classic “Paper Mario-esque” style the limelight.

Makes me wonder what a traditional Mario game would be like in that perspective…..

Not Very Final

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Okay it’s an empty promise, but in truth I could’ve been at this all week. While this blocky scene doesn’t look anywhere NEAR final, the lighting is more or less finished and the stage theme is close to set. I really didn’t feel like texturing all that or dealing with more two sided or alpha blended layers. I know I’m going to build on to the tool eventually but now isn’t exactly the time to do it, thusly I’m only making it harder for myself by working with geometry right now. Why not build on to the tools now? Because there are much more important things afoot to deal with!

Seems my graphics, once again will be one of the last things I work with. Even so, it’s nice to have something to work up from.

Get Grassy

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Some of you may remember this post! Exactly one year later I spent my time working on that very thing, grass! I swear I didn’t realize that til I looked back at the date. Sometimes it’s like my brain has yearly patterns.

These screens aren’t from an actual theme I was going with, but it is a hint at the theme of the first stage. The grass isn’t as pretty as it could be but I’ll see how much freedom there is to add detail when the game is complete. That said, it still looks great in-game. It’s shadowed, it moves in the wind, and it all runs at (that number again) 60fps. I feel like I’ve came a long way in a little over a year, especially not knowing how I was going to pull 3D off.

I know it STILL looks sorta unfinished, but the final-esque screens are coming soon! I’m still getting my resources in order.

Now and Later

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I really hope I’m wrong on this, but if my projection is right I’m going to be working on this thing all they way til May. I’ve never made a game this long before so I guess it’s to be expected somewhat. I’m being very generous with my allocated time, so I have a bit of hope I can be done sooner (maybe as soon as March).

I know I said I’d shot for a video this month but I kinda just changed my mind. Even if the game may look more finished it really just dawned on me how it’s bad practice to show games in such early stages. I was puzzled how games can show off gameplay elements so early and have such very far away release dates, until I figured out a team works on all the components of the game at the same time while I have to work one at a time. Building my own tools puts me even further behind. Thusly, I can’t really show much until the last second.

While I may not have video, I expect to have some pretty good screenshots this month. Stay tuned!

Quality Music

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I don’t know why I’m putting so much emphasis on this but what can I say I’m having fun : )
I should really just hire someone, but I’m too much of a music connoisseur to allow myself to do it. This requires a special touch, that I probably don’t have, but a touch none the less that is palatable to a very niche taste.
The music last game was considered to be too powerful, looking back, that’s probably right. Then again, the game was a lot more about fighting at that point. That said, I wouldn’t use any music I’ve made last game in this game. Not just because I think I can do better, but because it really wouldn’t fit.

While my score and output is what really needs work, I’ve been focusing in on quality for some reason.

Tale of The Night – The Great Wilderness

Tale of The Night – The Great Wilderness (Remastered)

I didn’t change any notes of the song however I did remove a layer to make things sound less…… “powerful”. I’m satisfied with the quality level, I think it’s time I moved on to the score.

Note: If you’re wondering if I got sidetracked, the answer is yes.

Revving up the Engine

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If you looked at the game now from when I made the early video build, it would probably look and play the exact same. The reason for that is I’ve spent most of the time improving the core. I may not have have a video in January but I’m still sure I’ll have something that looks near final.

Last game on PC I think I tapped out at about 22 foxes on screen even on levels with simple geometry. Now I can handle over 50! I certainly won’t be attempting to support 50 characters on Xbox, but it’s a statement of how optimized things have become. And of course this all runs at 60fps.

I’m extremely impressed with the engine right now. The amount of potential there is far beyond what I thought when I began the project. It may take more than technical prowess to make a good game, but it sure as heck doesn’t hurt to have it!  ; D

Strangely enough, I think even I’m excited to play the game after I”m done with it.