Great Balls of Fire!

Ah yes, nothing smells better than napalm in the morning...unless of course it involves raining fire and brimstone! Although, you have no idea how exhausting mass genocide of this sort is - I mean really! What we see above is of course an example of one the special weapons I've just finished coding into the game - the special weapons are nearly complete, I just need to do some research into another type of particle system for the final effect - once that is added, the Prototype itself will be complete and there will be enough game play to realistic demonstrate what the games single player mode would be like.

(Of course - I don't intend to be the final artist, after all, something tells me sphere went out of style as the primary 3D Model in games years ago :) ).

Powerups!

Sorry, no pictures yet today - the new content isn't quite ready for my large (read maybe someones cat looks at this from time to time) fan-base. I've got the powerups - whose nature I'm not going to give away right yet - integrated into the main game, I've just got to connect some of the more novel special effects I want to be associated with them up. They definitely do add the much needed extra level of depth that the game needed however - even with only a select few of them actually working the game is far more challenging and requires more thought than before. Hopefully I'll have something really cool ready to show on here in the next few days! (I'm not saying anything - but I always though huge balls of flaming hell dropping from the sky would look cool ;) ).

Highscores !

Now we have a brand spanking new Highscore system - it should be able to store and lookup the games local highscores on both Platforms :) Notice how I am so good that all the highscores are all me :) (Of course we certainly should not consider the fact that I am currently the ONLY one who can actually play the game ;) ) . I don't have much else to report today however - I've started to add a new component for handling the games power-ups. I am not going to say much more about those at the moment, however if things go as planned - they should be rockin' cool.

Prototype Video 1

Ok - so I may have to take this video off my blog eventually - but I wanted to show people a sample of what the game play looks like at the moment. My motion capture software is kinda primitive, so there is no sound and since it's Shareware there is an annoying nag line at the top of the screen :P . What I am showing here is the bare bones of the game - none of the cooler stuff has been added in yet (can you say Power Ups are Cool and different aliens would be neat? Good, so can I :) ). Anyway - assuming that anyone actually read this (cause you know I only pimp it out daily ) any feed back I can get at this early stage will be appreciated.

The rest of the day will spent hooking in the games high score system so I can finally track my own high scores and maybe a little work on the Design Document.

An Explosive Experience

Ok, so technically a cheated a bit on the explosions - I borrowed some code from Microsoft's particle sample (which I can do based on their Permissive License) and modified it to fit into my games framework, still - it's pretty cool looking. I considered writing my own particle system, but this seemed rather pointless when a "plug and play" one was availlable.

I also removed the "special" commands from the Probes - I am considering going in a new direction with this, but I haven't decided exactly how it should work. Maybe I'll say more on this in my next exciting update :)

All my other changes are just quick bug fixes and small improvement to the Zombie attack algorithm (well it's still dead simple and barely deserves the name Algorithm, but it works) - which you can't really see from the image.

Now onwards to decide what to implement in the Prototype next!

A Slow Day...

So I have nothing new to report on The Probe, I kinda slacked off today - busy letting all my peers know about my new job I start in a couple of weeks. However I have been perusing Microsofts speakers at Gamefest this year - informative stuff found here:

http://creators.xna.com/Headlines/presentations/default.aspx

Tomorrow we shall experience explosions and smarter Robots - stay tuned!

Playability!

Alright - so I now have all the required functionality to actually play the game! Now it's time to start adding special effect, the individual special powers - you know FLAVOUR! In todays game image we see me near death at the end of Wave #3 of the robots unstoppable onslaught! That little thing in the centre is the miner probe - the ultimate in technology and the very thing which I failed to protect! Of course - I DO have the highest score in the game ever - so that should count for something!

Next on the list to be implemented are the Probes special powers and to make it so the Probes can ... gasp... die! Also - soon to come should be feed back by Microsoft - here's hoping I don't get a standard rejection form letter - although with the way my luck has been ... bah! Stay tuned as the March of gamey awesomeness takes on SPARTAN levels!

March of Progress - the Interface Advances!

Ok, so this is the games interface so far. Basically what I've added is an indicator telling you which robot you've got selected (sometimes it gets ambiguous -especially when you are zoomed out) and some helper arrows to tell you where you're robot is headed (with out them navigation is just way too hard!). The games still looking like it was drawn by a 10 year old - but the actual features required for game play are starting to fall together.

Probe News

Alright, so Microsoft has at least not outright rejected my game yet, which isn't a bad sign - however the person they've assigned as my contact has been out of the office and won't be back until the 28th so I'm not expecting any new feed back until next Monday. That's ok - because I can use that time to rethink ideas, create magically delicious special effects, drown my sorrows in dangerous amounts of alcohol - you know kids stuff :)

So - where am I in this process, fairly early - I'm at stage "0.5". To get some perspective on how far away I really am from realizing my goal ( one published XBox Live Arcade Game ) - here's the process (taken from Microsoft's Website - see the link in my sidebar)

Step #1 – Submit Concept
Work with the Arcade Portfolio Planning team (arcade@microsoft.com) or your established account manager to determine whether your title is a good fit, and to iron out the business details. This usually includes a first glance brief regarding the game and your company. If the initial concept is approved you will fill out an official Concept Submission Form, which will go through another approval process. Before any game ideas are presented, you must sign a standard, mutual NDA. This protects both yourself and Microsoft. Note: presenting a playable prototype will go a long way in getting your title approved to the next step.

Step #2 – Kickoff
If your title is approved, you will be connected to the Arcade production team to discuss requirements and best practices that are unique to Arcade titles. You will also be lined up with Arcade-specific support materials.

Step #3 – Get Cranking!
Develop an awesome Arcade title that every Xbox 360 owner will need to have! You will work with the Arcade team along the way, to check the progress of your title at various milestones.

Step #4 – Submit to Cert
Arcade titles are certified along with all other Xbox 360 titles.

Step #5 – Release to Market
The title is made available in Marketplace and downloads begin.

I am currently only at the step of convincing them my game could work in their market. It's a long way ahead, luckily I have a steamroller and no actual life - so hard can it be ;)

The Probe Stage #1

So here we have a zoomed out image of the "The Probe" - it's a bit hard to see, but that's ok - my art sucks right now anyway.

So - what the hades is all this random junk on the screen? Well, basically this is just a prototype, but the game is about a poor lost little group of probes charged with the task of obtaining energy for the great human hegemony.

Unfortunately, having found the penultimate source of energy they looked for, our hapless heroes were quickly assaulted by a troop of mindless zombie alien robots...ok so they need a better description but still, that's what they are. You, the indomitable player are charged with the task of reprogramming the robots to save the day. Only there is small catch (always is) - you can't just send any program, the quantum communicator can only send one of eight programs at any given time - and to make things worse - these program are always changing! Now, armed with only your wits, you must help these probes defend the energy mines from the rampaging aliens and help save the human race from it's energy crises!

Why?

So, other than pure unbridled vanity, or the usual answer of "because I can", the real question is why make a blog about my experience as a currently less than fledgling independent game developer? Two reasons:

(1) Writing about the experience forces me to think about it - and without thinking about it I obviously can't learn from it.

(2) I wanted a quick place to show people the progress on my game - and since I'm not big on building personal websites, a blog was easier.

(3) I want to be able to look back on this recent attempt - success or failure - and remember what kind of wacky, unreasonable, unethical, inane things I came up with before the age of 30 :)

(4) Occasionally I need a place to rant off topic, sure no one will ever read this other than a few friends and myself, but I enjoy the ranting :)