Category Archives: Game Development

August 13, 2011
6:44 pm
by: admin

Citrus Engine Build 1b

Citrus Engine Build 1b

Citrus Engine Build 1b

In this build I added the art direction artwork. Again, this artwork is not nearly final, but it gives a better sense of how things might flow. I’ve revised the idea behind the game a bit and gained some clarity on how the game might function.

The idea is that a lens gives you a way to see the world. You can apply a lens to another person (or monster) and see the world through their eyes. So in this case, you can jump over and grab the white lens. Then you can walk to the monster on the left, and if you are in proximity, you can press “2″ on your keyboard – this will apply the “white” lens you just picked up to the moon and the monster. As a result the monster turns white. As I keep developing, my intention is that you would then transfer your control from your character (the hero) to the monster. You would then be able to use that monster’s special abilities to move through the world (maybe extra speed, a extra high jump, etc).

Be sure you click on the flash movie to be able to control the character with the space bar and arrow keys.

  • Test File: ce1b/index.html
  • Build Version: Citrus Engine 1b
  • Significant Changes: Ability to obtain a lens, Ability to use a lens, Moon changes to reflect lens, Baddy nearest to Hero changes to reflect lens
Posted in Build Tagged , , ,

August 6, 2011
3:22 pm
by: admin

Citrus Engine Build 1

Citrus Engine Build 1

Citrus Engine Build 1

Much has changed in the last few days.  Yesterday I spent 3-4 hours working with Push Button Engine, trying to figure out how to get started.  I watched tutorials, read posts, documentation, etc… but could not wrap my head around actually building something of my own.  I had looked at Citrus Engine before and had thought it would be good, but I felt like I need to at least try Push Button Engine once before deciding.  After 3-4 wasted hours, I finally decided to use Citrus Engine for (at the very least) this prototyping phase.

Citrus Engine is a god-send.  It’s so incredibly easy to set up a game in CE, add components, and view your game from the start.  The only issue I had was 1, knowing how to actually publish the game (which was my fault for not knowing Flash Builder mo’ betta’Smilie: ;) and 2, the imports not adding properly / automatically (which could be my fault too in Flash Builder).  Other than that, it seems like cake.  I do wish they had a downloadable version of their API help docs available, but that’s ok.

This build won’t look like much – it won’t looks much better than the last one I posted – but I’m ok with that.  By using this engine rather than creating my own, I can rapidly prototype some game ideas and I’ll only have to modify a minimal amount of code.  Citrus Engine will handle the physics, player movement, and basic item behavior (platforms, coins, enemies, etc).  It also has a brand new level editor that I look forward to trying out.

  • Test File: ce1/CE1.swf
  • Build Version: Citrus Engine 1
  • Significant Changes: None
Posted in Build Tagged , , ,

August 2, 2011
1:27 pm
by: admin

Flash Game Engines

I was talking to one of my good friends Matt Bugbee the other day and explaining that I am working on this game. I told him I was working on the game engine and working with Chris Griffith’s setup. He suggested that I look into a few of the Flash game engines that already exist. So I’ve started doing research and I’m moderately impressed with what I’ve found. Because my thesis is not centered around the technical aspects of game development (code, art, etc), I think a preexisting game engine could be a good idea. I’ve listed some of the engines below:

Citrus Engine looks to be the most simple to implement and my best bet, but I’m going to have to try it and see. Push Button Engine has not updated this site in a while and I’m a little nervous they’ve stagnated.

Especially at this point in development, I need to use a tool that will allow me to nail down concepts, game play, and the rest. If I had to go back and reprogram the whole thing after I have all the mechanics figured out I could, and it would be much easier.

Posted in Game Development, Prosaic, Resources Tagged , , , ,

July 26, 2011
4:20 pm
by: admin

Level Build 1

Level Test 1

Level Test 1

This is the first version of the game engine where I have combined the level loading, player movement and hit detection.  You can play it using the link below.  Obviously this is a test.  My game has nothing to do with pac-man, but it’s fun to use known icons in tests (more fun than just plain boxes) and most people can instantly recognize who the player is and who’s an enemy.  I’m pretty excited – I’d been waffling between building my own system and using Chris Griffith’s.  At this point I’ve built most of the basic functionality into mine and I feel comfortable moving forward with my own system.

  • Test File: levelTest.swf
  • Build Version: Test Level 1
  • Significant Changes: None
Posted in Build Tagged , ,

July 26, 2011
8:57 am
by: admin

Preliminary Art Direction

Art Direction Sketch 1

Art Direction Sketch 1

This art direction is absolutely subject to change, but I wanted to put some visual with the project to help people understand the general direction the game might go. All my other tests have involved colored boxes and game mechanics, this is the first with some sort of sketch or visual.

Posted in Build, Week 5 Tagged ,

July 25, 2011
5:15 pm
by: admin

Level Loader Test

Level Loader Test

Level Loader Test

This is the level loader test. I am only loading the floor and the floating platforms at this point, but they load directly from an xml file.

Posted in Build Tagged , , ,

July 25, 2011
5:12 pm
by: admin

Collision System

Collision Test System

Collision Test System


This is the collision test system. Right now it’s assuming everything is an enemy – it uses a 3×3 grid around the player to calculate which enemies to test for collisions.

Posted in Build Tagged , ,

July 25, 2011
1:45 pm
by: admin

The Ongoing Debate Over the Game Core

I am a man divided.  On the one hand I really want to develop my own platformer game engine for the knowledge, flexibility and pride (no lie).  On the other hand, I know I will save a ton of time in these initial phases if I use Chris Griffith’s Platformer framework and build off that.  In the last 2 weeks, as I’ve worked on pieces of my own framework on and off, I’ve come to respect Chris’s work even more – his framework is very agile and reusable.  This is good if you have no idea how the game will turn out or what direction it will go in.

When Reid Hoffman talked at Stanford a few years ago, he spoke of getting to measurable failure points quickly.  I’m very tempted to, at this point, abandon my own platformer framework in favor of using Chris’s.  Another piece of advice Mr. Hoffman had for the Stanford class was to try to solve the easiest problem that could make the most money.  Building your own framework is not terribly hard, but why add that in as a variable if the more simple solution is to use what has already been built? And yet – it may add flexibility that I might want later.

I’m waffling.

Posted in Game Development, Prosaic

July 20, 2011
6:55 am
by: admin

Player Movement System

Player Movement System

Player Movement System

I built the first version of the player movement system.  You can check it out now.  Basically I was testing out the Vector3D system in AS3 and got that working.

  • Test File: vectorTest.swf
  • Build Version: Component
  • Significant Changes: None
Posted in Build Tagged , ,

July 19, 2011
3:51 pm
by: admin

Vector3D in AS3

So Chris’s book Real-World Flash Game Development introduced some concepts that I am not familiar with.  In particular vectors (like arrays, only typed), Vector3D (a way of calculating motion), and interfaces (I still don’t understand this) are new to me.  I understand vectors, those are not hard.  Vector3D was a little challenging to grasp, but I sat down with them today and after a couple hours I had programmed a little interface for making an avatar jump around the screen.  I used Chris’s book extensively for this, but wrote my own class using his as a reference.  I’m happy with the result and am even more happy that I understand it myself.  It always takes a little playing on my part before I really grasp a concept.

On the flip side, I still don’t understand interfaces for classes.  It seems like a lot of people speak of them in vague terms without a direct, appropriate, real-world example.  I think that’s why they’re hard to grasp.  But I’ll keep looking.

So in conclusion, I made some progress that I’m happy with.  Yesterday was really frustrating and I was questioning whether I should really be building my own classes or not.  But today with the progress I’ve made I’m confident in my decision and direction.  If I can tackle one or two problems like this each day, I should have a base game engine in a week or two.

Posted in Game Development, ITGM 755, Prosaic Tagged , , ,