Stonking Great Game Contest Now Live!

[Richard Kain]

I find reading the progress updates gives me more motivation to keep going. Not finishing my game is far more frightening than seeing that, your's Kain or anyone elses, is going to schedule. Thanks for the SFXR again btw. Even though the sounds it produces seem like they came from the commodore 64, I've been able to get a few things out of it I can use.

Heh, that's actually rather comforting. It's nice to know that someone other than myself is benefiting from my updates. And it's worth noting that despite the positive nature of my updates, it's getting pretty tight for me as well. I've sliced and diced my way across my original design document, tearing things apart. There are so many features and content that will probably be left on the drawing room floor, it's almost sickening at times. So don't feel bad if your game isn't living up to your personal expectations, or if you are a bit behind schedule. Dealing with this sort of pressure, and working under these deadlines is a major component of game development. Learning to deal with this type of situation is just another part of the process, and your future projects will benefit from this experience.

And now it's time for another status update. All of the major musical themes for my game have been completed and integrated. On Monday I coded a function to automatically fade the music in and out whenever a scene transition takes place. I also went ahead and coded up the credits sequence that will play at the end of the game. I took the provided Zero Punctuation theme music / rock fanfare and added it to the main menu. I also caught a bug in the timing class I am using that preserved scripted actions across scenes. I found an easy fix by making a call to delete all current actions at the beginning of every scene. The integration of the music was what tipped me off to this bug.

On the gameplay side of things, progress is a little slower, but steady. I now have enemy coding added to three of my four levels, as well as rudimentary interactions. A basic weapon system has been added to two levels that I hadn't worked on very much previously. I'm expecting to finish off the interactions for those levels tonight, and begin working on the fourth. I probably will cut or truncate any boss battles except the final one, replacing them with scripted sequences. Some more graphics need production, but mainly just one more character, and a few small background elements. I incorporated additional background graphics for one of the levels, and it really adds to it.

 

[OddGoo]

Alright! 4 days left! Its time for me to start developing.

 

[axcho]

Ah, one day left! A fine time to start thinking about making an entry...

Not much to lose, anyway, right?

 

[OddGoo]

Same here, I said the same 4 days ago but procrastinated until now . Nice to see other last-moment fellow game makers.

 

[xelubest]

and my game is about 80% finished =))

(and i'm up for 24+ hours) XD GOTTA FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gigacorona]

Just about over...well I'm done anyway

 

[OddGoo]

Finished the Intro!

 

[hamster mk 4]

Well I?m done. I spent this week end adding the last few features and running extensive play testing. I am now officially sick of playing my entry. I set the difficulty such that I could easily get a perfect score, but if I purposefully played badly I would barely win. I chose to err on the side of simplicity since by now I know all the little tricks. What is easy and intuitive from me will probably confound a first time player. I would have liked to get some external testing done, but the rules being what they are prevented me from releasing my WIP?s publicly. As it stands I am very satisfied with my entry.

For those of you still chugging away at your entries I wish you the best of luck. It has been a pleasure coding against you guys (and girls). I guess it is frowned upon posting specifics of my game on this thread, so if any one wishes to compare notes about our entries PM me.

All that is left to do is drink the celebratory Thai Ice Tea for a completed project. To all my fellow game makers ***Chears***.

 

[xelubest]

ahahahaha my game can be called "finished" now... although is full of bugs =(((( =(((((( and the music is crappy but hopefully it won't be on the last place

 

[OddGoo]

I surrender, that´s what I get for leaving everything to the last moment, as always, I hope I can at some point show up what I did so far.

 

[axcho]

I surrender, that's what I get for leaving everything to the last moment, as always, I hope I can at some point show up what I did so far.

Ha, me too.

I could keep going, but I'm really tired. Better to save the game for later, after sufficient playtesting, and then release it on my own, with my own graphical style. Who knows, maybe Yahtzee will still want to review it, even outside of the contest.

 

[Black Lord Titan]

I uploaded what I did. I'll post more about it tomorrow since it's 2:30 am here.

Good luck to everyone that entered a game, I'm excited to see what everyone else has managed to do, I'm sure theres some awesome enteries.

 

[xelubest]

uploaded mine too... good luck to everybody else

 

[Richard Kain]

Ugh...you stinkers got lucky. I came down with a cold on Friday. So my last big push to finish was tranformed into a wheezing, hacking stumble. I did finish, and upload my entry, so you didn't get THAT lucky. But I had to scrap the entire last section of the game for a much less satisfying conclusion. Very sad. The best laid plans, I suppose.

Still, it is good to have the contest behind me, and I look forward to seeing the results. I feel like I've gotten a genuine taste of what it's like to work on a title as an actual game developer. (tight deadlines, working with someone else's material, bug testing, slashing features, etc...) I feel like I've learned a lot. An effort like this really makes you appreciate what professional developers go through.

 

[axcho]

I feel like I've gotten a genuine taste of what it's like to work on a title as an actual game developer. (tight deadlines, working with someone else's material, bug testing, slashing features, etc...) I feel like I've learned a lot. An effort like this really makes you appreciate what professional developers go through.

Definitely. That's probably the most important part, right?

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's entries! Can't wait until November 16th...

 

[Black Lord Titan]

I got a genuine taste of what it is to take on why too much. I unfortunately didn't finish my game, so I submitted what it would look like if it was being played (ultimate shame). So everyone who did enter in a game is very lucky since it probably would have been up there with the best of them if I say so myself.

I don't know what everyone else did for their game, I'm really interested in seeing since my platform game wasn't finished in the time we had and I wasn't the only one working on it. One of the consolations is that I can talk about what I did since I didn't submit a game. My only hope now is that the game that does win, blows me away, or else I'll be shattered thinking what could have been if I won.

In the end I'm kind of happy with what I managed to do since it's the first game I've ever produced. I hope everyone else had fun on their games and my the best game/s win! I look forward to seeing everyone else's games.

 

[Spinwhiz]

All the entries are in. We will have a winner by November 16th! Thanks to everyone who has participated!

 

[badmonkey91]

After judgment has been made, will we have the chance to fix bugs or add content? Assuming you guys are going to let people see it.

 

[xelubest]

yeah i have the same question as badmonkey91....

 

[Diablini]

Damn, I guess I'd better start learning how to code flash xD Anyone got any free programs I can use for it?

Try Game Maker. You can make games without any code.