A lot has happened this past week. I haven't had much difficulty adjusting to life without school and, so far, it's treating me pretty well. On Monday, we drove to our on-site location at the office for Verde Smart Motors, Inc. Mr. Vange helped us get settled in and we established a realistic timeline for our project.
We determined that our first week should be dedicated to learning what tools we need and seeing if our current ones were sufficient. After that, our main focus is developing what is known in the industry as a minimum viable product (MVP), a product with enough core features that it can be considered complete. This will basically consist of the complete first level with all included essential game components such as character sprites, basic controls, heads up display (HUD), graphical user interface (GUI), and sound effects. Since this will be our main obstacle, this will probably require a few weeks to completely develop. After the first level, it's just a matter of how much time we have left to finish the rest of the story line and levels. Of course, we'll need to package the product and bug-test it, but we'll leave that to the last week before presentations in order to fully polish the game.
Currently, we have a working platformer game with no original art assets. The tools we used to create this were MelonJS, Tiled, and Sublime Text. We spent most of the week just working through the platformer tutorial that MelonJS has on their website, and it proved to be incredibly useful. Although we hit many bumps along the way, the frustrations it yielded gave us great insight into the game engine and code it required. Currently, I am personally working on implementing my art into the game using a free online program called Piskel. I have created a few animations and will link them below. Additionally, we have created a website to upload the game to and this is how you guys will be able to access and play our game as we develop it. I have yet to figure out how to upload it, but as soon as it is working, I will link the site for you guys to check out.
Until next time,
Alex
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteYour mom shared your blog post with me. I am excited to follow the technology side of your game development using MelonJS. Good luck.
- Chetan
Hi Chetan,
DeleteI appreciate your interest in my project. I hope that I don't bore you too much with my posts.
Wow Alex! Exciting updates, I can't wait to see your finished product! I was wondering, is your game going to have a story?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, a lot of this just goes over my head, but it sure sounds interesting. I'm excited to see your progress in the game. How many levels do you wish to complete in the next ten weeks? I expect that the higher levels will require more complicated coding details, but I'm far from an expert.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and have fun with your animation as well.
Nice work, Alex! I especially like the blurb that you've written about Frobot - great marketing materials right there! I am very excited to play your game once it is uploaded.
ReplyDeleteIn the video game world, how is an "asset" defined? What assets does an MVP usually require?
Thank you Ms. Mitrovich! In this case, the assets I'm talking about are art assets, so any character models or level graphics would be included. An MVP typically requires a minimally working game with original art design in it.
DeleteHey Alex! I think its so exciting that you and Kyle are starting to create your game and also learning more about the basics in the process. Good luck, can't wait to see what you guys make (:
ReplyDelete