2D Platform Game Update.

My apologises for not blogging my recent progress with my 2D platform game. I have been distracted by trying to make this game the best I possibly can. I am really enjoying making “Rabbit Hop” and I can’t wait to get a fully work game complete. My goal is to get a demo complete as soon as possible and to be getting feedback, so that my final result can be a fun, enjoyable game which will be able to show my game design ability in my portfolio.

This short video demonstrates many mechanics and simple details which I have added to my game to make my game that little bit “extra”. Firstly, I have created a main menu which loads as soon as the game is loaded: on this page there is a ‘play’ button, ‘quit’ button and ‘options’ button. The options page also has a volume control which allows the player to control the volume of the game music (more detailed video of game, including music, coming soon).

The second feature of the game that is displayed right away is the characters simple animations when; moving (left/right), jumping and idle. Some other mechanics I added to make the game more visually appealing and fun to play is the character’s ability to pick up carrots (gaining score), and the slowing moving clouds, making the game more interactive, in my opinion.

Overall, I would personally say that my game is going well. So far my game has: a fully working main menu system, pause menu, UI, four tutorial levels and one “real” level, as well as working character animation (plus script) and a versatile tile set which I can use to make any level I need for my game.

Story telling through assets

Brief

To help with the process of creating my assets I have been set the task of creating a character description which the sword and shield can then match. For example if the character is poor they likely wont have very flashy equipment and it will likely be in poor condition.

My character backstory

My character is a former prince of a very rich kingdom, which has now been exiled and has been left with almost nothing. He was once very important so he therefore has very impressive looking equipment, however it is worn by battle and is no longer of great quality because of his lack of resources. My character is human and was the strongest warrior in his army.

Analysis

• His former rich background means his gear is very rare and powerful.
• However, his gear is worn and in need of repair (damaged from battle).
• My character is human therefore it will likely have a traditional style.
• My character is strong therefore his gear can potential be large in size.

2D Platform Game Improve Character Walking Sprite Sheet

As I stated in my previous blog post I have had issues with my 2D platform character sprite sheets. Therefore, moving past this I have revert back to my original idea of having a simple pixel art game character. This will likely be temporary, however, for the time being this will act as a suitable replacement of my final rabbit character, and should work perfectly (with out bugs) because it is a lot simpler than the sprite I was previously using as it is now a 2D character not a 3D character made 2D.

By using this new character animation it will allow me to continue working on my game and making more levels, and hopefully a working demo as soon as possible. I am looking forward to working on my game and taking it as far as possible as I am really enjoying making this game and I am personally very happy with how it is going so far.  I already feel like I have learned more useful game design skills which will benefit me in the future. I am very happy with the progress I am making with my game design and programming skills as I feel my abilities in this field is gradually improving.

Overall, I am happy with how my rabbit run sprite sheet is looking, my hopes are that it works well in engine and looks clean, while it acts as a place holder for when I add in my improve sprite sheets some time in the near future.

How I Set Up My Grid

(Tutorial for those wanting to do the same method as me)

Adobe Photoshop – New document (2048 x 512 px) – View – New guide vertical (then the following numbers: remembering to add “px” to the end each time).

• 256px
• 512px
• 768px
• 1024px
• 1280px
• 1536px
• 1792px

These will be the guides for where to place your character, you may require a line half way through the middle, however it should just snap to the middle with these guides set up. If middle guide is require it is just 256px in the horizontal axis. It may also be required that you need more quadrants, if so continue adding guide lines every 256px. Key tip: remember to remove the background from the sprite sheet before saving it as a PNG.

Making Game Music For My 2D Plat-former – Using Bosca Ceoil

As my 2D platform game progresses I have decided to further improve my game by creating game music, which I feel will make the game more enjoyable and fun to play. To create my game music I used a free program called “Bosca Ceoil” by Terry Cavanagh. It is a very good program for creating game music and it works great for game music, and has an especially easily to understand learning curve.

I would personally recommend this program to any indie game makers wanting to juice their games up with some self-made music. I feel that adding music to your games brings it to life as it adds an extra dynamic to the game. Music can be used to create atmosphere and add depth to games, making them more enjoyable and professional.

Overall, I am happy with how my music turned out, I feel like it is a catchy tune which will add some more “Juice” to my 2D platform game. I hope to further develop this game as much as possible until I final have a complete and working game. There will be another blog post on my 2D platform soon; covering my recent problems with animating the character and all the new features I have added to my game.

Next steps are to add the music to my game and to also create sound effects and particle effect for various features in my game, such as collecting carrots, for example. As well as this I need to potentially re-do my sprite sheets and fix the animation of my character in my game.

Below is the music I have created for my game, check it out and leave me some feedback (if you feel like it).

GAME MUSIC

Give me feedback…

 

“Fun with physics” Game Jam Style Challenge

Ant set us a task today in his game design class. He set us the challenge of using a basic 2D mechanic and transforming it into a fully working game within about 1 hour. We would then have to show our game to our peers which had been given a different mechanic and explain how the game worked and how we had implemented other mechanics using our own knowledge and they would do the same for us.

This may seem like a simple task but to be give a random mechanic like we did and only working in a team of two (myself and Nathan). It was a big task to ask, as we had to think of how we could firstly implement the mechanic into a game , then create the game so it is not only playable but also fun to play as well.

Essentially, the mechanic we had allowed the player to click where they wanted the ball to move. So what we decided to do is create two versions of what the game could potentially be, both obstacle course related but one a maze and the other more with the aim of avoiding moving objects.  Below are examples of how we built our game. There will also be a downloadable version of the game on my games page for you to try out if your interested.

 

 

2D Platform Game (Rabbit Hop)

In my latest game design lesson I have began setting up the first tutorial level for my 2D platform game (Rabbit Hop). The animation (Sprite sheets) my not yet be implemented however, the character movement / jumping is set up and fully working, as is the carrot collectables and the rabbit hole which takes the player to the next level.

I am very happy with the progress I have made this lesson as I can already feel the game becoming to come to life. I can’t wait to get more levels built as well as a main menu system. However, obviously I need to implement the sprite sheets first, but after that the games main features will almost be complete and the majority of my time can be spent setting up the levels and designing how they will play out.

Overall, I am liking the looks of this game and I am personally excite to continue making it and seeing how far I can go with it. I like the look I have went with as I feel like it is visually appealing to the majority of people and it doesn’t exclude younger generations especially.

Rabbit Hop game block textures

I spent time yesterday improving my temporary textures for my 2D platform game. I am very happy with how these textures have turned out and am convinced that they will piece together nicely to create a variety of visually appealing levels for my 2D game (Rabbit Hop).

So far I have created the four sprites which I feel are the most essential for creating nice looking levels. With these blocks I am able to make the basic structure of as many levels as I may want. My next Steps are going to be to create; carrots, spikes, a wooden platform, a sign and a rabbit hole, which are all going to be implemented into the game and serve their own purposes.

The carrots are going to be collectables in replace of the traditional coin: they will give the player score as they collect them. The spikes are going to be implemented as death blocks at the bottom of pit falls: adding an extra level of difficulty to the game. The wooden platforms are going to be obstacles for the player to use to their advantage: used to get around the map to complete the level and/or collect more carrots. The sign is simply going to be used to display information: to give the player helpful tips to complete the game and learn the controls. Finally, the rabbit hole is going to replace the traditional flag to end the level and transition to the next.

Overall, I am very happy with how these textures turned out and I am really looking forward to putting them in engine and creating my game. I am hoping that Rabbit hop will eventually turn out to be a professional looking game which can be implemented into my portfolio to show my game design and art abilities.

2D platform game tutorial level design

Today I began designing out the tutorial levels for my 2D platform game. I began by using Draw.io and blocking out where each tile will be and using a colour key to label what is where. The four level designs above show progression as the character learns more mechanics and more are introduced. I personally feel like these 4 tutorial levels will help transition the player into the actual game smoothly as they will quickly learn the majority of the mechanics in the game (in a mostly safe environment).

I have also used a title-set I already had to begin piecing together the first tutorial level of my game, this level is also above. I am happy with how my level is currently looking and  I personally think that once the level is fully built and playable it will be a fun but simple beginning tutorial level. I am really looking forward to building this game and seeing what fun mechanics I can experiment with.

 

2D Animation (Sprite Sheets)

As preparation for the 2D game I will be making in Chris’ lesson, I have spent time today taking my 3D rabbit animations and converting them into frame by frame renders (arranged on a sprite sheet). Below are the sprite sheets for; running, jumping and idle.

The process I carried out to do this is as follows: I created a character using Voxel which I then imported into Mixamo and created the required animations (run, jump, idle), I then imported the renders into Maya where I batch rendered the each animation individual which resulted in a sequence of images, which I then imported into Adobe Photoshop and resized and arranged correctly to make three complete sprite sheets.

Overall, I am very happy with how these sprite sheets turned out and I hope that they look good once put into a game engine (Unity). This process may have been a tedious process but it is worth it to get clean looking 2D animations which will be used without the majority of the game I am planning on making. I am really looking forward to beginning to create this game. I have wanted to create this game for a while now so I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. Especially after already creating a 2.5D game (Acclimatize) and still working on it.

My near future plans for this game are; to begin getting the basic scripts together so that the game is playable, create more artwork for the game (e.g. background art, platforms, ext.). More further future plans for this game (as of current) are going to be; to create a clean looking UI, coin collection system (with high score tracker), “Juice”, and particle effects, in the hopes of making a very fun and professional looking game.

Acclimatize Alpha version 1.1 Update

I am gradually working on improving Acclimatized every passing day now. The game was put into the very first Alpha stage on Friday and was then played by my peers and lecturers. Currently only one character is available and only one level is playable, however, more levels will be in the demo when it is released. Only a few people have been able to play the Acclimatized Alpha 1.0 but I have recently made a few adjustments, fixed some of the most important problems, such as the majority of the clipping errors and I have made version 1.1 which is available for download for a limited amount of time to allow people to play it and give feedback. 1.1 overall plays a lot smoother but it still has a lot I would like to do it before I release a full demo.

I am very happy with how this game has turned out and I am really looking forward to building the rest of the game. Below is a short video of how the game works, but there is also a download link for you yourself to try it out. Below that is a link to a feedback sheet if you could be as kind to fill that out after playing it would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to share this game with your friends but bare in mind this is just a taste of what the game will be. No one apart from my teammates and a few of my lecturers will fully know what the game is about until the full game is released.

In this blog, I have also included the feedback which I received from people playing the original alpha of Acclimatized, all of which is being taken into consideration during the progress of improving this game. feedback

 

Download the Acclimatize Alpha 1.1 version here completely free and safely. After playing the game if you would like to leave feedback that would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Give us some feedback