Hello, Everyone!
The best way I can describe this week is probably coder's block. We experienced for the first time what it's really like to have a wall in our way of progress. While Kyle was stumped with trying to make level hazards (spikes and acid) to deal damage to the player, I was stuck on trying to create a health system.
Although these obstacles did present themselves, I did manage to figure out the problem at the end and we got other things out of the way as well. However, now the player takes damage very rapidly and I will need to add a few seconds of invincibility (known as invincibility frames) to the character in order for him to take damage only once per collision.
We also set up a repository on GitHub in order to work together better. This basically allows us to edit the code and files of the game and sync the changes so that we don't have to manually update our code with each other's changes each week.
Additionally, I added some code to the game that creates a game over condition so that in the future when we program more ways to lose in the game, we can just call that function and the game over screen will pop up. Currently, the only ways to trigger this condition are to lose all of your health or to fall off the map. Originally, the code made it so that if the player fell below 490 pixels (the resolution of the game is 640 x 480), the menu would pop up. However, after seeing that this caused an issue with the map Kyle was now developing (the map had multiple layers), I changed the condition to if the player falls out of the "viewport", which means that there is no platform there to catch the player.
Although there was no update to our website this week, next week we hope to put out the update which includes all of the game's basic functionality.
Until next time,
Alex
Saturday, March 5, 2016
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You've made a lot of progress, Alex! Admittedly, I find myself playing the game each day to see the new functionality/graphics that have been added! :)
ReplyDeleteIn addition to using GitHub, have you explored the possibility of creating a Gaff List? (To be honest, I have a very limited understanding of what this means, but Max Waaler mentions this program in his blog this week. It may be worth checking out, since it allows you to test specific parts of your game.)
When you mention a "health system", what specific variables are you referring to? Does the "invincibility frame" fall under this umbrella?
Keep up the great work and congrats on your "blog of the week" accolades! :)
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ReplyDeleteCool game, really like the soundtrack so far! How long do you think it'll be before the health system is in?
ReplyDeleteSounds very complicated! I'm glad you were able to cure that "coder's block" of yours. Is it trial-and-error based, or is there a more sophisticated way to fix problems like the ones you mentioned?
ReplyDeleteFrobot is really coming along! :) Can't wait for the update.
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ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting how you have to make such slight alterations to balance out the health versus the damage of each system. Will it just take many more alterations for the game to be balanced or will you have to add more systems to counter the other factors?
ReplyDeleteWow your game sounds like it's really coming along! Do you plan on having more in-game ' bonuses' that allow for a player to not be damaged?
ReplyDeleteDoes the lowering of the character's resolution mean that his health is dropping? I'm glad that you guys were able to overcome most of these challenges. Good luck with polishing that game-over screen!
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