Thursday, November 24, 2011

[DEMO] Smooth Movement

This test was a huge step for me. I learned some great things that will hopefully appear in my next game. The major one is linear interpolation which allows smooth movement and locking onto tiles.

The link:
Smooth Movement

What I learned:
  • Smooth movement between tiles
  • Holding down a key to keep moving

Where I'm going from here:
  • Walking animation between tiles
  • NPC's that walk around smoothly
  • Making my second game

[DEMO] Side-scrolling Platformer

This was my first attempt at a side-scrolling platformer. It didn't work out so well. I originally made it to get away from tile based games, and to learn collision detection. To control the character use left and right, and press space to jump. Jumping looks funny because making the animation and having it work with gravity is pretty complex. I didn't do that so the character bolts upward and falls quickly.

The link:
Redman

What I learned:
  • Very basic collision detection (with the ground)
  • Scrolling camera that follows the player
  • Gravity for a side-scroller

Where I'm going from here:
Nowhere with side-scrollers for now. I'm just more interested in tile based games because they're more fun to make (I guess I enjoy them a bit more). In the future I will definitely try my hand at it again.

[DEMO] Art and Animation

I made this just for fun to test out animation and a way to cheat a 3D look. It turned out pretty neat looking. Hold the up arrow key to simulate walking on the moon.

Here's the link:
Moon Walker

What I learned:
  • 3D looking animation in 2D
  • Reset animation to loop it

[DEMO] Animation and Sprite Layers

This is where I first learned how to use sounds, do basic animation, and create sprite layers. One thing I tried to do and failed is create a seemingly infinite tile world that wraps around when you hit the edges. The program will crash when you hit the edges because of this. Otherwise, use the arrow keys to move and space to jump. The jump animation is very simple and the movement is still jumping between tiles.

The download:
Animation and Layers

What I learned from making this:
  • Simple animation of a character
  • Foreground and background tiles
  • Foreground animation (the rain)
  • Sounds
What I failed at:
  • Creating a seemingly infinite map

Where I plan on going from here:
  • Make movement animations
  • In game music

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

[GAME] Lumberjack Zed Attack

This is the first complete game I've made. As the title suggests you're a lumberjack fighting zombies. It's in the style of old DOS games like Rodent's Revenge. Just unzip the file, read the readme, and give it a try.

Here's the download link:
Lumberjack Zed Attack

What it was made with:
  • C++
  • SDL (mixer / image / ttf)

What I learned from making it:
  • 2d tiles
  • Very simple game mechanics and AI
  • How to work with a new library (SDL)
  • How to go from an idea to a full game

Where I plan on going from here:
  • Smooth movement between tiles
  • Camera that follows the player and doesn't have to show the entire screen
  • Re-sizable screen
  • In game music
  • Better organization for files





Getting started

Hello, my name is Anthony. I'm an independent video game developer with one game under my belt. I've made this blog primarily to keep track of my work and achievements. If you've stumbled upon this please play some games and tell me what you think!