spilth
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Ribbit!
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Small win this evening - the camera now stays within the boundaries of the map while following the “player” around.
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Been playing around with libgdx the last few days. Here’s what I’ve accomplished using Pixen, Tiled and libgdx together by following the Super Koalio example.
The video is a little jittery from the screen capture software. And yes, I stole a couple of tiles from Blaster Master…
Here’s a slew of thing I’m thinking of trying to implement (* are completed):
* blocking blocks
- can’t move through
- can’t jump through
- can stand on
* decorative blocks
- don’t block character at all
* see-through blocks (translucent)
- water blocks using opacity level
* see through blocks (alpha channel)
- window blocks - can see through part of them
- water blocks
- slower movement
- wall jumping
- climbable blocks
- spawn point
- exits to other areas
- destructible blocks
- blocks that don’t block from the bottom (jump up to)
- blocks that kill you
- lava
- spikes
- killed from falling too far
- platforms that move
- pickups
- health
- weapons
- enemy
- moving enemy
- animated blocks
- water
- grass
- tiles with different friction
- ice
- gravel/rough
- quicksand
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(Note: These screenshots are from Reckless Getaway, not the game I’m trying to make.)
I just downloaded and played a bit of Reckless Getaway on my iPad. From playing it just a little while I had one of those “yea, duh!” moments while thinking about the game that I’ve been trying to make.
I’m currently stuck thinking about AI and how the heck I’m going to make that. I believe it’s a pretty important part of the game - it can’t exist without it. Then I play this “simple” little game and I’m smiling and having fun within seconds.
There are some interesting design decisions in the game that end up making things less complex and more fun:
- The controls are simplified - you only have to worry about turning left and right and occasionally using a power up. You don’t have to worry about your speed or breaking.
- There are civilian cars which just try to stay on the road and seem to have limited maneuvering decisions to make. There are also enemy cop cars which seem to have basic “seek and destroy” goals. (There might be more enemies with more complex AI)
- The levels seemed to be custom made - not randomly generated “endless runner/driver” type levels. They are sprinkled with little challenges and side roads to try and navigate with rewards along them. Lots of little details make the levels fun to play and explore.
When I finished Galaxy on Fire 2 I wanted to make a game similar to it but with cars that have weapons, along the lines of The Road Warrior and Car Wars, Carmageddon, Interstate 76, etc. As I thought about the game I realized how the decision to do things in space for Galaxy on Fire (if they did decide that) made things easier than doing things on the ground. Getting a spaceship from point A to point B seems a lot easier than for a car that needs to follow a road.
The end result is that I think I need to find some simpler games to try and create so that I can build up my skills. Right now the idea of creating AI for a game with cars, roads, weapons, missions and several connected areas just seems like an impossible challenge because I don’t have the skills yet.
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I spent a little bit of time last night trying to help make the game look a little bit grittier. The red car with flames on the side (taken from the Unity Car Tutorial) stuck out too much so I took it into Photoshop, made it black and removed the flames, license plate and car name. The body shape is still probably too fancy for the apocalypse though.
I also played with the GUI a bit, choosing a different font and replacing the image used for box overlays. The font is Impossibilium. I also liked Black Metal Sans but it ended up making things look to childish.
