Yes, as I expected, there are lots of them. The most disquieting one to me is the one that makes guns not fire (it seems to only affect the superweapons, which is abnormal). I'm busy trying to detect this, and prove that I've fixed the issue.
I've fixed other issues (ATI owners can rejoice) and I'll go test some more on a shaderless box before release. I thought I had banged it down, but it looks like writing in the ATI hack code has torn the game back up again. I blame HopeDagger. You should too.
However, it's not like all my time has been spent fixing bugs... some of it has been spent playing my game.
Next
I don't know. I'm thinking of having a coffee when v1.1 comes out and then retiring to my bag of library code -- I've got a lisp interpreter and map editor to work on!
As is common with all application software, I've started fixing bugs for v1.1:
Game now pauses if you click outside the window, or minimize it
Some timing bugs relating to weapons fire should be reduced (and I hope eliminated, though I wouldn't hold out too much hope)
Looping music is now a game option, if you like that sort of thing (I prefer poignant environmental music like the Half Life series, but whatever floats your boat).
SPACEBAR is remappable
Fullscreen option in the Preferences menu
Gibs look better
UI bugs are fixed regarding bindable keys.
Thank you for all 34 downloads so far. I need more! MORE! MOREEEE.
It's out for Mac OS X and Windows. The Windows one has a boss installer (thanks, SHilbert!) and the OS X one is well tested (thanks, Foobar of Integers!)
If everything goes well, I'll Showcase and IOTD it soon, then start farming out. I'm suspecting there's a bug somewhere in the Windows version, but I want to see if it gets confirmed here.
Later, I'll have more energy to write about this five-month long game. I could've had 55.6% of a kid in this time. Well, not me. I lack the required biological components for that development process.
I first became aware of the repost when I started getting flame mails, the likes of which make PS3 fanboys looks smart and Apple zealots look like utter geniuses. From the mails I got to the comments, it is painfully obvious that the vast majority of the Digg set isn't much for reading, and possesses far less comprehension skills than their meagre reading ability. Translation, they are for the most part dumber than rocks.
...
With the Internet now open to anyone, and the barrier to entry dropping with every new Web 2.0 app or site that hits the market, we now get to see how shatteringly bad the lowest vocal subset of average is. Go to Digg or Wikipedia, and you will quickly see what I mean. The domains of the interesting and smart were invaded by the stupid and loud, and as always happens, the smart lived up to their name and sought out higher ground. With each passing day, the sites shifted downward until you were left with the reality TV set. You know, those who watch pro wrestling with utter amazement at the deep plots, snorting while they laugh at each twist and turn.
I laughed and laughed and laughed and I honestly agree 100%.
I don't mean to make too many promises, but I'm really hoping the game will be out this week. The art's well on the way and I'm ready to grind out some binary packages, first for OS X and then for Windows (because I have to take a bit of time making sure it compiles cleanly). Some of the problems of multiplatform development.
I really, really hope you guys will enjoy it. It's a damned solid game and it makes me very happy to give out to everyone.
However, today I tried out the Alien Shooter 2 pre-release demo... and, uh, it's totally awesomer. Damn their publisher-funded hides!
But my game is free.
Then, uh, what's next? I'm grasped by fear at topping this thing. I might have to find teammates. Yikes!
I am doing lots more stuff now. Stuff. STUFF. STUFF.
Work
I am working! Really hard! I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep it up with my part-time career, but I think I'm actually producing better work part-time than I was full time. Go figure.
Glow
The plot is effectively done. I'm putting together my documentation to prepare for release, and I'm just waiting for final art to come in to launch the thing out of the Big Ravuya Cannon at a victim-filled, sad Internet, which is utterly deprived of zombie-killing goodness.
Then, I guess, bug fixes. Mounds, reams, piles of bug fixes.
Classes
Also going well. I'm getting work done on my graphics assignment (distort images, translate images, modify images, add noise, do other fun stuff, expose colour channels, fiddle with pixels) and doing other things along those lines in other classes (though with significantly less graphics joy ).
It is goddamn remarkable how many people in my university, even at third and fourth years of a computer science bachelor degree that involves two assembly language courses, don't understand what pointers and arrays are.
Other Projects
Jeez. Take your pick. In the last few weeks, I've started large new parts of Propane Injector, a lisp interpreter (more on this later), a Python-based weblogging facility, an online high score utility and a bunch of engine utilities and tools to try and simplify my game development life.
I've also made significant changes to the internals of my websites.
I wonder if I'm trying to burn myself out or if there's just too much entertainment to be had inside the tiny dual-core world of my CPU.
I've been patching up minor bugs, fixing the levels up, cleaning out the art directories, and implementing new features.
I've pretty much finished the various maps and now I'm down to figuring out how to intelligently implement the game-ending functionality and tie up whatever loose ends remain.
Jervin's delivered many new sound effects and music clips, so I'm trying to find a good place for those. I'm waiting for the end of the portrait art from Salsa. I think we're really getting into the home stretch now, provided I can fix a number of the bugs, although I've fixed many that I thought were horrific already. I think limited beta testing should iron out the remainder and then it's off to the races. I would really like it if I had some evangelistas go around to various sites and pimp my game.
This is an exciting time for me. The game genuinely does not suck™ and will provide a fair challenge. The only thing I'm frightened about is topping myself without topping myself.
FYI, it's pretty awesome to save up your Black derms and use them all on the last level. My character, with 940HP and Strength at 173, was nearly completely immune to bullets. I tore apart a Giant practically with my bare hands. Roar.
I'll probably come out with information (and simple screenshots) of my next game concept a few weeks after the Glow release, provided school doesn't derail me. And that takes me to:
School
It generally sucks as always, but I'm learning graphics stuff. Yes, graphics stuff! Go, image algorithms. This means I have to brush back up on my math rather than continuing to be math-challenged.
Now if I can just figure out which academic to vent my spleen at regarding the couple hundred million bucks spent on new webpages as opposed to making sure the CS department has, uh, professors, I should be all set.
Sell Cell Phone Smell
I'm looking into new cell phones. I'd like to be able to use MIDP 2.0, but I'd also like to be able to make phone calls and text messages without chopping off my limbs. I'm thinking of getting a Nokia 6216 based on its JBenchmark standing and relatively low price compared to Motorola's brutally expensive offerings.
Canadians: Give me cheers and jeers with telcos. I'm happy with Fido.
The March to Propane Injector 1.0
I was screwing around with materials last night, and ended up with this. I hope you like it.
So, instead of working on my game, I've been dilly-dallying and screwing about with some of the "new" Propane Injector classes.
One of the first big enhancements is to the class that started this whole mess, RavBitmapFont. The replacement, Propane::Font, is faster, cleaner, more stable, and refuses to use format strings (because I caught so much shit over that, seriously you guys are like some sort of fascists).
To make up for the 'newness' I've also implemented some new features: word wrap and scaling. Oh yeah:
I think this is going to be very useful to make gorgeous-ass games.
I also moved a bunch of functions around inside Propane Injector and are starting to namespace the whole wad, so it should be much easier to develop a competent game.
I'd love to rewrite the Actor class to separate out logic and view, but that'll take awhile from now. I've got a game to make!!
These are all things your Ravuya-brand™ device won't have.
Glow
So, um, I've been fixing bugs and adding content to Glow. The plot is actually semi-good; I'm surprised how fun it is to read (particularly the villain lines).
I've also tagged out a bug that has been bothering me for a long time on both Windows and Mac OS X; I hope it's really really fixed so I can boogie down.
Other than that, I'm going here and there and trying to find rough edges in need of polish.
Here's a screenshot that kind of caught me. I got it when I was testing the game today, and I think it really demonstrates that it is a near-finished piece of code. I hope you'll agree.
There are a couple of exceptionally difficult parts in the game right now; I have a propensity to give highly-accurate assault rifles to some enemies when I really shouldn't.
Classes (and: What's next)
I started my classes. I have a lot of work ahead of me. However, there's also a lot of fun work. I need to get my bearings after releasing Glow, then we'll start discussing timelines for my next game. I really would like to keep up the rate of "two games a year" but the next game certainly won't take five to six months to complete like Glow did.
Lots of stuff going on with me. I really hope you guys are going to love Glow as much as I do (which is really a surprising amount, considering I've been working on it long enough to be totally sick of it).
So, um, I sent my laptop into the shop again, this time to have the keyboard replaced (the space bar was "squeaky"). It took about an hour, so I sipped root beer and sat around nearby. I hope the problem is solved now, so I can continue producing excellent games.
Lately in Glow, I've been adding a couple of 'drama' entities (to add music, to pretext a conversation, or do other entertaining stuff which should distract you pretty well from the fact that you're watching a texture-mapped rotating quad strike other texture-mapped rotating quads). I think you'll really enjoy the game.
I also finished one of the bosses of the game (and added him to the survival mode) so it should be a fun kick in the pants.
I'm still waiting on music and art from Jervin and Salsa respectively, but they're both totally awesome so I'm sure they'll have it in soon.
I've also finished the conversations for level 2 and will be running them past my guest writer to make sure they make relevant sense and maintain continuity.
Good Mord, I might even release this thing. Frightening prospect, that.
Sometimes there's nothing more beautiful than young love. Unless it's the lobby to a science lab that was just wiped out by some special-forces psycho using a ramjet-assisted sniper rifle and small-caliber assault rifle.
I think there's about six or seven corpses in there. See if you can spot 'em all.
Of bugs, and men
So I was thinking "hey, the gunfire is framerate dependent on guns that are sub-vsync firing rate. That's not very nice."
But when I went to change it, this happened:
Yeah. So, uhhhh, I have to fix that.
Virulent Pantaloons: Remix
So, erh, I start school again soon. Hopefully I still have lots of time for game development.
I want to get Glow out really soon, and I'm just working on the last level and waiting for some extra content to get delivered. I think you guys will really enjoy playing it; I love this brainless carnage-fest.
What's after it's released? I dunno -- probably patching it and making it better. And drinking.
I'm also working on the boss characters; I think the third level is too hard so I'm going to see if I can tighten up them graphics.
<Pouya> You mean your gore looks a lot like a game
Other progress
I've been working on slickifying the visible weapon textures and some of the pickup item textures. I'm also working on making everything more deadly and awesome.
I've also been working on conversations, which will give me a chance to tie a strange, yet predictable tale of corporate welfare and the vagaries of biomedical ethics into a guns-blazing deathmatch. It's kind of surprising how much of the plot comes from a game I designed when I was very young about the same general format (albeit much more technological than modern and zombie-filled).
Reflections on Glow II
If I ever make a sequel ("Afterglow," let's call it) I want to add implants to let the player have more choice in how his character is formed. Right now, the only big difference is if you tank the giant zombies, or if you crank up your dexterity and circle strafe them while firing shotgun rounds into their tasty, tasty bowels.
So here are some ideas I had:
Active Defense - When equipped, incoming bullets are identified with a glowing yellow arc, which you must click on to intercept the incoming bullet with one of your own. Initially the arc is very small, but as you upgrade the software/implant, the arc becomes larger so soon you're shooting down missiles, flying grenades and toaster ovens with impunity.
Echolocation - See dim, quivering outlines of characters that are offscreen so you can aim more accurately and brutally. This might not be so effective if I ditch the heads-up perspective, which I want to. Upgraded versions fill in the quivering outlines, and resolve them with more accuracy, as well as providing limited target information (health, range, AI status).
Stimshot - Slows down your perception of reality and provides auto-lock aiming so all you have to do is click the mouse a bunch of times and watch your enemies fall in mass quantity. Upgrades extend the clicking-time and number of simultaneous targets.
Orbital Sniper - Pan around the map using the mouse to get a better idea of what's ahead. As a bonus, allows you to shoot your weapons while in that view, thus turning it into a complex sniper mode.
Besides implants, I also want to extend the depth of the experience by providing minimum levels for some weapons, thus closing off entire avenues of weaponry to different players as they make choices. Will you upgrade your intelligence so you can use Tesla weapons, or will you spend the cash on strength so you can fight hand to hand more efficiently and with progressively more brutal melee implements?
One thing I wanted to add to Glow, but never got a chance to, is thermoptic camo. It'd be a throwaway item that makes you temporarily invisible while you sneak past giant zombies and steal their ph4t lewt.
I also threw away upgradable weapons to make my inventory management easier; I'd sure like that back. I'd also like to provide items to add laser sights to your guns (for coolness) and dual-wield weapons of all kinds for maximum firepower.
So yeah, just a bit of drooling from my design pages. I don't think I'll ever actually build it exactly like that. So ignore it.
Those of you looking for a piece of cheap, haxtorable electronics (like me) will be interested to hear that Overstock has a six-pack of JuiceBox players for $26USD (that's $4.33 apiece).
An outstanding deal, considering it runs uClinux and has a semi-active community around it building stuff for it. It also plays MP3s off of MMC cards, which is a hell of a deal.
And if you have six, well, it's just easier to replace it when you kill it with crappy solder.
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