Camel Audio’s Alchemy; my new favourite toy. Just messing around for about 15 minutes or so, I’ve taken a little wren’s birdsong and transformed it into… well… something. Take a listen, the first part is the original, the second part is what I’ve done to it.
This is going to be one of my most-used plugins, I can already tell. Can’t wait to come up with more stuff, and learn pretty much everything there is to know about Alchemy.
The changes!
Still to come
Enjoy, let me know if it breaks, or sets something on fire.
Here, for anyone who wants to take a crack at it, is a playable version of my game. Details found on that page. You’ll need to install the Unity Webplayer, but you should have that anyway!
The lasers work (mostly)! Of course, they don’t actually DO anything yet but move, and they’re not even rotated the proper way (they remain ‘standing’ as they shoot across the room, rather than in the ‘laying down’ position, if that makes sense), and they don’t get kill the player, but still… they’re doing 1/3rd of what I want them to do, rather than nothing. And they even de-spawn after they reach a certain distance. Kind of sucks that, if I put a turret on a side-wall, I have to change that distance limit to another axis. Ideally, I’d like it for them to disappear/de-spawn once they hit something, not after reaching a certain area. All things to make better later on, though!
Next step, make them kill the player upon contact. That turns this WHOLE thing into an actual ‘game’. After that, create a timer that adds to the player’s score the longer he/she stays alive.
Man… then I should probably think up more traps! Also, my wonderful fiancée has agreed to do some pixel art to help make this thing look REALLY snazzy. Really can’t wait!
I promise future updates will have more pictures.
EDIT: Read this article, it’s fantastic, and rings true. It’s exactly what I’m NOT doing, just so I can actually get stuff done.
Well, slow going lately (but then again, I’m still ahead of the curve, since I’ve started my February game at the end of January). I know what I want to do, but getting my head around the scripting required to do it is a trick. I feel as if everything you’d want to do in a video game is like a magic trick, and the developer has to invent that magic. For example, I want a laser to shoot from my moving turret. Seems easy, right? Well, to experienced coders, it probably is. I, however, am not that.
You need to first make the laser beam itself. That part is done, and with little issue. I even made it look Star-Wars-like, in that it’s white on the inside, with colour around the edges. I’ve made the size what I want it to be, all is good on that front.
Next, I need to make it spawn ON my turret, more specifically, the mini non-aperture I have. I get the logic behind this; in Unity, you create a group of objects that are all relative to each other, so when you want to duplicate it, you duplicate the group, and you’ve got everything along with it. In short, I don’t have to recreate everything about the turret, you make it once, and copy it, and it should share the same behaviour.
After said laser spawns on my turret, I need to make sure that it shoots from there, outward. I could write a script that always makes it shoot downward (south), but that doesn’t work for any turrets on any wall that isn’t north (see my previous post to check out what I’m talking about). I need to make a script that shoots the laser in whatever direction it and the turret are facing.
Next is making it ‘die’ as well as respawn. This means that, if the laser hits either the opposite wall or the player, it should be removed from the game, so it’s not just hanging off of whatever it hit. Add to that the fact that I’d like multiple lasers (or multiple instances of the one laser beam I created) to be spawned from the turret every 2-3 seconds, or any adjustable rate I’ll tweak later.
Lastly, I need to make sure that, if the player gets hit with said laser, they die/lose a life/face the consequences. Without this, there is no game. This part, I believe, should be the easiest.
So, with all of these objectives in mind, I have to start from the very basics, and learn from there. What was it that Sagan said, ‘ If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe?
Yeah, that’s what this feels like. No matter, universe creation is on its way.
OH GOD, IT HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!
Not much. Yet.
This room will be sooooooooooo dangerous. Eventually.
Beginning this weekend, I’m taking part in 1GameaMonth, where the goal is to ‘Make Games, not Excuses’, to quote McFunkyPants. Now, obviously, I’ve missed the January ‘deadline’, but that’s cool. I’ll start very soon and aim to have my first project finished by the end of Feb. The only person this should bother is me, and it doesn’t.
For quite a while now, I’ve become very interested in game development. I don’t have any coding experience, but am learning the basics bit by bit (heh). It’s rather logical, though it can get very difficult to really learn how to tell a program exactly what to do so you get exactly what you want. However, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
I stumbled upon a really good quote the other day from Reddit, with regards to what kind of attitude to have towards coding in general.
Programming is a lot like playing with Legos. Think of each statement like a Lego piece. It has a fairly specific set of limitations, but the number or ways in which it can be used is nearly infinite. Some pieces, or even combinations of pieces are very basic and core to the task. Others are highly specialized and a total bitch to track down when you need them.
Each programming language is like a specialty Lego set. There a dinosaur sets, Star Wars sets, pirate sets, etc. You can adapt them to make anything you want, but they will always excel at the task for which they were intended. It’s the specialty pieces that make this so.
I learned to program when I was 10, and I never saw it as something that I had to accomplish to finish a project or start a career. For me, at that age, it was just playing with something new. Each time I hit a road block, I would see it as a puzzle to be solved – a mystery to figure out. Each lesson learned resulted in a new puzzle piece to add to my repertuar.
That’s the thing about programming that is akin to magic for me. Eventually, you realize that you’re not beholden to the set of Lego pieces you’re given. You have, at your fingertips, a machine shop that will cut the casting dies to make any piece you desire. The statements of any programming language aren’t limited to that which you’ve been given. You can add your own special statements and make your own special purpose Lego sets that build the things you want to build. This is why colleges try to teach you the fundamentals like C++ or Java. These are the core sets which can make anything.
In the end, programming is very much like sculpting. It’s a playground of the mind where the only limitation is your imagination. Learn how to take joy in that activity and honestly see it as play. When programming becomes fun, you’ll never work a day in your life, but you’ll make a damn good living at it.
That is some of the best damn advice on how to look at programming I’ve ever seen. And it’s true, every little bit is like a little puzzle, and once you figure it out, you’re that much more prepared to deal with the next puzzle, and so forth.
Anyway, expect more updates about my progress in the next while or so, and I’ll even be adding a page to the top of this blog that will feature any and all games (or demos, or abominations) that I end up spitting out to the internet.
Also, I’m thinking of changing the name of the site. Robot Cousin Softworks, anyone?
So, there’s this video on Gametrailers.com
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/epsiode-21-pop-fiction/727050
In the series called ‘Pop Fiction Video Games’, they take video game myths and secrets and try to prove or debunk them. This specific one dealt with Totake’s Song, a hidden little ditty found in pretty much all of the games who have music by Nintendo composer Kazumi Totaka.
On my first listen, this was pretty tough to swallow. It seemed like, if you took out the rhythm of the hits, you wouldn’t hear what you think you hear.
So I recorded the tennis-only hits (directly from the video) and edited them as closely together as possible.
Here’s the result. Judge for yourself. Personally, I don’t hear the song, I hear a couple of randomized tennis ball hits. Gametrailers made a mistake?
Consider my mind blown.
EDIT: Nope, couldn’t leave it at that. I’ve edited it all again, this time with the high-tone hits at the start, and the low-tone hits at the end (with one sort-of mid-tone in there, too). That’s, at most, 3 tones.
EDIT: The folks from GT have realized their error and are going to be updating the video and the verdict. Respect.
So, here’s a thing…
Sound effects by me, game by Svampson, or Patrik Riström. Sound’s not nearly done, but it’s something. Much more fine-tuning to go, of course. Needs footsteps!
Aside from this (and work), I’ve begun working in Unity3D, slowly-but-surely developing my own game. The idea I have isn’t original, and I’m fine with that. What matters is whether or not it’s fun. I’m aiming for it to be (really, who wouldn’t be aiming for that?) and so right now, I’m learning how to script proper physics. In my opinion, when it comes to side-scrollers, you can’t beat the ‘feel’ of Super Mario Bros 3. I don’t aim to beat it, I am to match it.
I’ll post more on the development as it comes along.
In other news, once again, I’m all set to try and make an album in the month of February. I’m planning on mixing shoegaze with chiptune. We’ll see how well that turns out.
An open letter to whomever is involved in Ghostbusters 3
I am a die-hard fan of Ghostbusters. Die-hard. This means that, because of my love for the franchise, I cannot be killed by conventional weaponry.
My pseudo-immortality aside, let’s discuss the goings-on of a possible GB3.
Now, everyone I know has, at one time or another, come up to me and mentioned “Hey, did you know they’re making a Ghostbusters 3?!” or “I heard Bill Murray IS/ISN’T (seriously, pick one) going to be in it!” because, apparently, my undying love for the busting of ghosts is fairly apparent to anyone I cross paths (…or streams?) with. And that’s totally fine! I love being that guy who’s madly in love with the films and cartoons (and novelizations, and toys, and play-doh, and…) based off of a group of scientists and blue-collared workers running a business that’s based on using electrifying science to trap nightmares in a box in their basement. I love it! I have been watching GB1 since I was 4 years old, and I saw GB2 in theatres. That being said, I already know what you’re going to tell me about GB3.
I don’t mean this as a gripe, I really don’t. I’ll just save you some time! Believe me (as “I am ready to believe you”), during my internet surfing, if the G-word pops up ANYWHERE, I click on it. I don’t care if I’ve read it before, I read it again, dammit.
So, with that being said, do I want a 3rd movie? Yes, and no.
Yes. I want more Ghostbusters. Who doesn’t? I want them to be in the public eye again, like Transformers and G.I. Joe are (though I’d rather not go down THOSE routes). I want toys to be sold again, I want new references dealing with spooks, spectres, and ghosts to permeate every facet of media as we all get caught up with ghost-fever once again, 30 years later (holy crap… 30).
But how are ya gonna do that, guys? Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman… those are actually the only 3 guys I personally would require to be involved. EVERYONE seems to believe that a 3rd movie hinges on whether or not Bill Murray’s in it. Don’t get me wrong, Peter is very important, but that’s just it… Peter Venkman is important. That levity, that casual, ongoing sarcasm, even the face of the some prehistoric bitch or Carpathian asshole is absolutely necessary, but there ARE others on this planet who can (and should) bring that to a new film.
No, I don’t want Galifinakis in there being all… Galifinakisy (nothing against him, if he can play someone other than all of the characters he’s already played, sure!). I don’t want Seth Rogen spewing loads of inappropriate (for a GB film) language because he’s today’s “it” comedic actor; I want a good mix of horror, special effects, and well-timed comedy. Comedy in the face of danger, comedy that’s not really sure whether or not it WILL “see you on the other side, Ray.” Don’t mix a bunch of sex into the whole thing, like Apatow usually does. Nothing against Judd, that works fine in his movies, but this wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be “his” movie. Make a film that makes adults laugh in earnest, and makes younger movie-goers desperate for a proton-pack of their own. Give children the IDEA that, somewhere, there are cool guys ready to stand up and laugh in the face of whatever is hiding underneath your bed, and they don’t need to be as afraid anymore.
I don’t want a retread of the first and second films. Even though I love GB2 despite it being a LOT like GB1 (though not as much a carbon copy as Home Alone 2 is of its predecessor… seriously, those are the same movies), it still offered something different. If GB3 can offer something DIFFERENT, in terms of plot, I’m all for it. But holy shit, keep the chemistry the same, even if you get new guys. Yes, Aykroyd and Ramis (and Murray!) are WAY too old to be busting, but that doesn’t mean that no one else can, because I firmly believe that there is a combination of writing, directing, and acting that can truly break out the spirit of the first two films from the containment unit of creativity.
Please do it. Please don’t screw it up. I’m ready to believe it can happen.
Been a long time, comrade…
Such is the line spoken by Jack Krauser in Capcom’s ineffable Resident Evil 4. I use it both because it HAS been a long time, and also because I’ve been enjoying the HD re-release of RE4 on Xbox 360. I think it’s a damn fine title, and will always love it.
I’m slowly but surely becoming a game developer. I’ve screwed around with Stencyl for a bit, but I want to make something more than what that tool, while useful, could give me. I don’t want many limits, despite not being very code-savvy YET. When I get there, I want there to be avenues left to explore.
So I’ve decided to undertake learning Unity3D. I have about 10-12 game ideas, and one I’m specifically gearing towards as my first. The book I got, Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity by Sue Blackman, is REALLY informative, and is current as of April of this year (Unity changes a lot). I’m racing to learn it, not only to have a game out sooner than later, but also so the teaching remains relevant, and I learn about the new features as their added in upcoming versions.
I’ve wanted to develop my own games for years now, but it’s taken a LOT for me to kick myself in the ass to actually start.
Tonight, I started. And it feels amazing.
Here, have a demo. Amelia (early demo)
So, I’m a huge fan of Minecraft and I was at work today, not doing much during lunch hour. I was checking out the latest version (1.8 prebuild 2) and had encountered the Enderman/Endermen. Without going into too much detail, I found them really freaky, until…. I heard them. They were using the same sounds as the (Minecraft) zombies do. Those sounds aren’t bad, but they’re very much zombie sounds.
I thought to myself “What’s scary and creepy?” There was only one answer…
Baby laughter!
2 of the following 4 sounds (the non-loop ones) are modified versions of a baby laughing. I remember first hearing something like this during The Blair Witch Project, when the three campers are woken up by noises right outside their tent. It was creepy until you hear the baby, and then it’s brought to a whole other level.
I know that they probably already have Enderman sounds ready to go, but I couldn’t help it. Hopefully, someday when there’s proper mod support, I’ll develop a full sound-pack.
Here you go!
Three things!
I’ve been a member of the Something Awful forums for about 4.5 years now. I love it there, and would suggest registering as a member to anyone reading this. It’s $10, but that’s just a one-time fee, not per month, or even per year; once. I have easily gotten my money’s worth and then some. As far as entertainment is concerned, it’s the best investment I’ve ever made.
The reason I bring this up is because recently, in the month of July, I participated in the sixth annual SA Game Dev Challenge. The rules are simple: create a game within the month of July (with June being a general planning month) based on a somewhat-loose theme as suggested by forums mod Shalinor. I don’t know what themes had been for years 1 and 2, but year 3 was ‘Swarms’, year 4 was ‘Dealing with the Devil’ and last year’s theme was ‘You Can’t…’, which obviously allowed the developers/designers to really go nuts with interpreting how they could base a game around such a simple half-premise.
This year’s theme was ‘Death and Taxes‘. The entry I was involved in was titled ‘Psychopomps‘ and is playable here. It was made in Flixel, and only requires that you have Adobe Flash installed, which is, of course, free and compatible with almost every browser out there.
The designer, artist, and myself are VERY pleased with what we were able to put together in just 30 days. Keep in mind, nothing could be coded, drawn, or composed prior to July 1st, and as far as I can tell, we stuck to that (I know I did).
If you’re interested in hearing the music outside of the game, and even a track that wasn’t used, I’ve posted the links to it all below. Enjoy, and tell me what you think!
