Some Photos

I just wanted to share this with you all. There are some times when a virtual world can be beautiful.

Wani Update: Build Mode?

Hello all, I have been a little busy with school lately, and have not been able to clock much time in my Wani project, but I have made a few changes to the way the tower mode plays, as well as tinkered with possibly creating some kind of build mode instead of a survival mode.

As you can see, the lava is a lot higher in the second screen shot than in the first. Instead of the lava burning the bottom row as I had primarily designed it, the whole thing rises up. I think that for the next levels of the tower mode I will do one or two more inside the volcano, and then some going up the mountain side, and finally a few going into the clouds. Who knows but you might reach the space station in the end?

Anyways, I also put falling crates in the background to give it some character. I don't know how much I really like it, it can be a little distracting, and I actually jumped out of the way of a couple background crates on accident when I first put them in. But after playing with it and tweaking the boundaries, I think it will work and add to the game. I don't want to put anything in that doesn't add to the game in a good way, and I want a clean and simple experience, so I guess finding the balance here is my struggle.

The next thing, and a possible major game changer would be to switch out the survival mode for a building mode in which you have the crates fall in a particular order which is defined in either a ghost brick type system(shown in the pictures above) or an outline type system. I am toying with the idea of implementing the third dimension of movement in this game mode, which would definitely add to the 3D feel. However, after testing many different camera angles, I have come to the conclusion that the camera would have to move to a good viewing angle dynamically.

Furthermore, this game was originally a 2D game, and I still want it to have that feel. I am afraid that if I attempt to give the player more range of motion, and the game begins to play like a 3D game, the simplicity of the controls (only two buttons) will become a limiting factor to gameplay.

So I am kind of at a crossroads here; the survival mode seems to be too boring, while the building mode seems to be out of the context of the game. I am going to have to improve one of them, I just can't decide which...

Well, yeah, that's about it for now, except to say that I did some internal organization of the file structure to make it easier for myself to get around in the project now that it has grown so much. Oh, and I have been thinking about recording a jam session or two with my sister for more music; one song playing over and over is kind of driving me insane... Aaaannnnnd that's about it folks, until next the time that is.

MXR Dyna Comp

So here is a model I made in Blender. My Dad and I were thinking about a combination of interests, so I set out to create a guitar pedal in 3D virtual space. Our goal was to see how easy it would be to create realistic models of guitar pedals for reviewers or such. I think it turned out pretty well, and maybe I'll do a few more in a bit.

Anyways, it's breakfast time, so I will have to be saying 'chao'.

Wani Update: NGUI

So I thought I'd type up a quick update on what I have been doing this week. A year or two ago I played around with the free version of NGUI, which is a tool for creating the User Interface, but I didn't really understand it. Yesterday, while moping around the Unity asset store and wishing I had more money, I ran across NGUI again, and recalled my slight acquaintance with it. On the asset store it sells for a hundred bucks, but I remembered that T.E. had a free version on their site, so I ambled over there and picked it up.

It was great timing, because I had just been trying to set up a UI for Wani, and sort of failing too. Most of my games never get to the UI design stage because the only reason I was building them was to learn an aspect of Unity, and had no real intentions of finishing them. The saying goes that you shouldn't try to reinvent the wheel, but I think I do a lot of that just to try and understand the way the wheel is put together so to speak. But for Wani, my goal is to get a game out there that is playable, using only the aspects of Unity that I know and can slap down easily. Most of the textures were free on the asset store, and as far as will go, the scenery is composed of basic shapes, which means less time spent in Blender and the Gimp, and more time spent actually putting the pieces together.

In just two days of working with NGUI, I got the basic UI put together and working well for what I need; providing player control for settings, easy navigation, and the heads-up display for better gameplay. If I generate any revenue, I'll definitely buy the full version of NGUI as well as a good sound engine. As soon as I get a fully working build put together, I'll update the page on Gamejolt so ya'll can play the latest build.

Until next time folks, this here is bye bye.
-Good E. Venson

Wani: Valkin Up

This level is, as you can see, staged inside an active volcano. The level is one of those belonging to the climbing game mode which I mentioned in an earlier post. I think, however, that I will stick to five crates wide, and just increase the speed at which the lava burns that bottom row, thereby forcing the player to confine him/herself to less space as the game progresses.

Something that has been bothering me is that as I continue adding something, then testing it, then adding something else, then testing that, et cetera, et cetera, my skill in the game increases, and with that, my boredness with the rate of play as well. At this point, I am having difficulty not ramping up the play speed and difficulty to something nobody but Sam and I could get through. This is something a lot of developers go through, and I have been really convinced of the value of testers.

Wani Update

Warehouse Ninja is coming along nicely. Basic game logic and ninja/crate interaction is worked out, and I am now moving on to the objective side. I have three objective modes planned: The classic Flag Tag mode where the goal is to reach a flag, and the score based on how few crates it took to do it. Next, I will have a survival mode scored by how many crates you can survive before being trapped. Third and finally, there is the climbing mode which is scored by how high you can climb in a narrow space. This will come in three difficulties; four, three and two crates wide.

Wani supports not only 2D horizontal and vertical movement like the original, but also movement in the Z-axis, which in Unity is forwards and backwards. The only problem I have with this is that you can't tell what blocks make up the back crates if there are crates in front of them. So while movement in all directions is fully supported, until I come up with a solution, I do not plan on releasing levels with three dimensional movement.

The band is working on learning the music, so we will have a soundtrack soon. As far as the sound effects go, I have only barely thought about it... I think with a soundtrack with real instruments, the synthetic "boing" and "crunch" sounds used in the original aren't quite right. But I won't really know till I get the game to that point and can try different things, so I'll cross that bridge later.

Well, I guess that's all for now, post any comments or ideas in the comments below, and maybe you'll see some of them in a later release. Links to the game and the original Neenja Inna Wear-Hauz can be found in my other post.
Until later folks, C'ya round the Universe.
-Good.Enough Venson

Warehouse Ninja

http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/warehouse-ninja/26045/

This is a Neenja Inna Wear-Hauz remake I am working on. I will post the link to the original in a comment.

I am building this as a member of Neo Generation Games, which also created the original.