Interested In Being A Game Programmer...

[Mr.Gonzo]

I hope too !!
I will be posting some of the Pre-Final sprites when i come back from work. ( in 1h20 exactly )
They are gonna look better with a few adjustements, selout ... well , just looking more professional.

I bought my Old school gameboy yesterday ( THE TRANSPARENT ONE ) to hack and use as a synth for the soundtrack of the game.

pure Chiptune + organic instruments = YUMMY.

I've bin doing lots of chiptune before with some obscure 8bit emulation synths... but now its gonna be the real thing baby!

I still have 60 bucks to invest in the hacking of this little thing and its ready to produce son sweet beats !

So keep praying for this game to come out and keep giving me some sweet ideas !
the Large Hadron Collider thing inspired me for something!
So even the smallest ideas could be good i get super inspired really easily!

UPDATE here you go a little thing for the pixel lovers.

BEFORE

AFTER

Ok now if you lust for more of my pixels, Go there , see what i do during my bored time aha:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=45500

 

[tratax]

You got a real talent for pixel art !

So how do you see your game mechanics working? Should it be like a side scrolling platformer using a background layer (tiled probably), a foreground layer of tiles you can interact with such as walls, bridges, 'bouncer' tiles, ladders and a sprite layer with plenty of large bad guys?

With the pandora having 256 MB RAM, a great GPU and a very capable CPU I would think the limitation would be getting good level design and not the art (given your pixel skills) or the code (given the pandora's capabilities). Unlike the 8bit or 16bit generation you could simply use 24bit graphics and MP3 music mixed in with a ton of sound effects channels and the pandora would still be in power saving mode

With graphics and ideas like this, I am tempted to do a simple 2D tile-based platformer engine prototype using SDL on the PC. That should port right over to the pandora when I can finally lay my hands on it :rolleyes:

If you'd feel like sketching out an example level with the some of the bad guys (and describe their basic behaviour) I could try and fit them into an PC demo app for all to play around with.

My skills have never been in graphics or sound. Doing C(++) programming is what I do for a living though. As for programming experience. Well I've co-authored PSemu (one of the first playstation emulators for the PC) and worked on Madden 2000 and Madden 2001 for Playstation 1 and N64 platforms. I moved on to more 'boring' programming since (but with normal work hours and a better paycheck!) but the 'game programming itch' is still there.

I was thinking of revisiting PSEmu for the Pandora, but there is already PSX4All and it would be more fun to do something original for the Pandora anyway.

Let me know if you are interested.

 

[fusion_power]

Exactly what i was thinking, Man i love big pixels.
damn Hd ... so charmless!

Yupp, Video Killed the Radio Star and High Res killed the Pixel Art!

Ahah mostly controling Matador, wild west in a rotting appartment , Mexican music ... vengeance ... Cucarachas; YUMMY.

...and Matador could brabble some spanish words (and insults) during his fights...Speedy Gonzales like :lol:

Oh, I see the (main?) Character "Nail" and I have a Idea for a standard close combat Weapon: a Frying pan! :lol: So he could Wok...uh WHACK the enemies if he has no better weapons. I can imagine really funny animations with this (jumping and hammering the pan onto the enemies Heads etc...)

With the pandora having 256 MB RAM, a great GPU and a very capable CPU I would think the limitation would be getting good level design and not the art (given your pixel skills) or the code (given the pandora's capabilities). Unlike the 8bit or 16bit generation you could simply use 24bit graphics and MP3 music mixed in with a ton of sound effects channels and the pandora would still be in power saving mode

I would prefer 8-Bit Graphics with a 16-Bit Engine and Midi-Music for Super-Power-Save-Mode! If the game will have speach, this could be solved with .mp3 or whatever. And we still could have many, many huge Levels with alot of Parallax-Layers because we don't have Memory-Limitations compared to the old Consoles.

 

[hells_dark]

Tanks mr Gonzo or your artworks.. because we have not a lot of things to see these days

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

ahaha thanks you guys!

Tratax:You pretty much got the point , i'll start sketching some levels soon.
i wasnt thinking of pure Left to right scrolling though. You know i want a super mario feel... But non linear levels a big like earth worm jim... ( up left down right right left down up ... you know ) with lots of puzzles ... with a bit of pression. ( like finding a way out of somewhere pushing some blocks and activating switches before it gets flooded by acid... see ? )
And not all the enemies are large! Nail is just really Small thats all aha.

And i was thinking of using Pandoras Full capability... like including the Touchscreen for some stuff and all. and the Thumbsticks for something like... opening a ring menu for weapons and the other one for precise aiming in some situations or i dont know.

Fusion Power: Yup i was thinking of implimenting voice overs ( for the cutscenes , and little context sensitive stuff... less boring than talking bubbles... but still think ill have to use them. )
Nail was supposed to have a high pitch voice but with a badass voice ... mostly sounding pissed / mean.
Matador would have more like a big mexican voice ( you know those misterious mexican voices ) and often when he would say stuff ( more or less important stuff ) you would hear a little Dadading played on an acoustic guitar mexican style. eheh.

For the frying pan im not sure... im a big fan of conkers bad fur day and i dont want it to show to much in my games ahaha.
Sure you will have a few close combat weapons but im still thinking about that ( see what would be FUN to play ) i got plenty of ideas but i havent really nailed what would be fun with them :S. kind of stuff i could discuss with a programmer.

Hells Dark: ahah yes i found myself being pretty bored on this forum ... so i decided of instead of checking the forum every 2 seconds whitout doing a thing... i could do that ... and be creative at the same time! aha.

 

[tratax]

Tratax:You pretty much got the point , i'll start sketching some levels soon.
i wasnt thinking of pure Left to right scrolling though. You know i want a super mario feel... But non linear levels a big like earth worm jim... ( up left down right right left down up ... you know ) with lots of puzzles ... with a bit of pression. ( like finding a way out of somewhere pushing some blocks and activating switches before it gets flooded by acid... see ? )
And not all the enemies are large! Nail is just really Small thats all aha.

There is no reason to limit with left to right. You dont even really need to limit yourself to tile based graphics. You could fit over 2000 full screens worth of uncompressed 8bit graphics in the 256MB pandora if you use 400x320 as your screen resolution (pixel doubled of course). The only reason to use tiles is to reduce memory and make it easier for the game engine to handle collisions and special effects. Each tile has its own animation frames (if any) and effect on the character (solid wall, hot lava, acid, fall through, etc). Besides .. you want to go for the retro look so I'd expect some tile patterns repeated through my levels

And i was thinking of using Pandoras Full capability... like including the Touchscreen for some stuff and all. and the Thumbsticks for something like... opening a ring menu for weapons and the other one for precise aiming in some situations or i dont know.

I'd use one analog nub for controlling Nail (very precise running and jumping.. run too fast you'll jump over stone and right into the spikes, too slow and you die in a fire..) and another for his weapons so you can fire at the bad guys in all directions or shoot your grappling hook just right and in time to swing over something.

I'm looking forward to see some of your level designs. I'm going to think some more on how to do a nice level editor.

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

There is no reason to limit with left to right. You dont even really need to limit yourself to tile based graphics. You could fit over 2000 full screens worth of uncompressed 8bit graphics in the 256MB pandora if you use 400x320 as your screen resolution (pixel doubled of course). The only reason to use tiles is to reduce memory and make it easier for the game engine to handle collisions and special effects. Each tile has its own animation frames (if any) and effect on the character (solid wall, hot lava, acid, fall through, etc). Besides .. you want to go for the retro look so I'd expect some tile patterns repeated through my levels

I didnt put out the Tiles of the league hehe.
i was just talking about how i would like the game to play like.
i never worked with other systems than tiles anyway ! ^^

I'd use one analog nub for controlling Nail (very precise running and jumping.. run too fast you'll jump over stone and right into the spikes, too slow and you die in a fire..) and another for his weapons so you can fire at the bad guys in all directions or shoot your grappling hook just right and in time to swing over something.

Hmm... aiming with a nub could be cool ( the one next to the A B Y X buttons )
Shooting with right bumper.
Directional pad is better for accurate control though.
but i dont like the idea of pressing up for jumping ... less accurate...
so jumping would be a problem if you use the Dpad and the right bumper. ABYX being less easily accessible.

oh well still got controls to nail right. meh i guess ill see whats right when i hold the Pandora in my hands

 

[fusion_power]

ahaha thanks you guys!

Tratax:You pretty much got the point , i'll start sketching some levels soon.
i wasnt thinking of pure Left to right scrolling though. You know i want a super mario feel... But non linear levels a big like earth worm jim... ( up left down right right left down up ... you know ) with lots of puzzles ... with a bit of pression. ( like finding a way out of somewhere pushing some blocks and activating switches before it gets flooded by acid... see ? )

Sounds like we could need a good Map-system. A Overview Map like Super-Mario or Metroid (non linear level structure) would be also very helpful.

Matador would have more like a big mexican voice ( you know those misterious mexican voices ) and often when he would say stuff ( more or less important stuff ) you would hear a little Dadading played on an acoustic guitar mexican style. eheh.

I already can see/hear it in my mind!

Oh, this little guy, "Nail" looks like a Schoolboy on it's way to School somehow. :lol: And he looks like he's pissed because someone has stolen his homework stuff.

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

Oh dont worry, Nail was geneticaly a bit fucked ( becuse of his size ) but hes still the one who Pwnd all the other spermatozoons ... even that asshole mutant sperm.
in his case size isnt a factor , he is a genetic ass whooper.

 

[Vorporeal]

You could use a screwdriver (or other toolbox item) as a melee weapon, to stick with the theme. Maybe you could implement a soldering iron as a weapon to solve puzzles - burn vines that cause blocks to fall or get rid of bushes that are blocking off areas, that sorta thing.

It would be cool if, as in Metroid games, the lack of the necessary weapon was your impediment to progressing into areas you're not supposed to be in - I really liked that part of the Metroid series. They used powerups very well in their level designs.

 

[fusion_power]

@Mr.Gonzo: Maybe someone REALLY has stolen Nails Homework? Would be a interesting quest...maybe... ^_^

It would be cool if, as in Metroid games, the lack of the necessary weapon was your impediment to progressing into areas you're not supposed to be in - I really liked that part of the Metroid series. They used powerups very well in their level designs.

I loved this part of Metroid too. It was also very exiting to hunt every Item to get the 100% Item-rate...I've never reached 100% by the way :lol: But exploring hidden Level Areas is a great motivation I think.

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

TADAHH!

Heres a little concept art of Matador and Nail!

i did a little thing to see how much stuff i could fit in the pandora screen with pixel doubling... The answer is: QUITE ALOT OF STUFF...

Here have a little look at it... its pretty dirty and sketchy but still you can see the point im trying to make.

still... will it look like pixel doubling on a small screen like that ?

Ok now...
Vorporeal: Yeah i love this kind of way of platforming... i though using it for SOME level re-exploring ( like when matador ( clearly has different abilities ) is trying to catch you up ... following your trail.
You'd have to navigate the levels differently.
Other than that i want a little more linear kinda way of progressing. It would hard to make it Metroid style ( Or New castlevania style ) since it wont be ONE big location.
The levels will be switching through stuff like Highways on top of cars , Jungles , Enemy bases , on top of a rocket flying to the air , cities , bla bla bla... So making ONE big location would be kinda hard... assuming lots of levels will bring you to places you really didnt expect.

theres gonna be lotsa action and stuff to do... maybe less exploring.

But dont worry im thinking of a game concept on exploring for the future maybe ^^ ( people who have seen my other Art threads... might have a clue of what it could be!

 

[Vorporeal]

Ok now...
Vorporeal: Yeah i love this kind of way of platforming... i though using it for SOME level re-exploring ( like when matador ( clearly has different abilities ) is trying to catch you up ... following your trail.
You'd have to navigate the levels differently.
Other than that i want a little more linear kinda way of progressing. It would hard to make it Metroid style ( Or New castlevania style ) since it wont be ONE big location.
The levels will be switching through stuff like Highways on top of cars , Jungles , Enemy bases , on top of a rocket flying to the air , cities , bla bla bla... So making ONE big location would be kinda hard... assuming lots of levels will bring you to places you really didnt expect.

theres gonna be lotsa action and stuff to do... maybe less exploring.

I wasn't thinking so much having the whole big area and revisiting concept, but more that you'd have to use that strategy in a particular area. Let's say that you get the harpoon gun in one area. You'd be blocked from progressing by a big wall. You'd have to move through that area (which would be possible if it is not straight side-scrolling, as you suggested), get the gun, and then use it to get over the wall to get to the next area. Maybe there's a flamethrower item that you find in one area. You'd need it to solve a puzzle in that area to progress to the next area. These obstacles could be used as a way of letting the user know that there's some item in that area that they need to find. It would still be linear, but would incorporate a bit of that Metroid/Halflife feel.

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

Oh yes thats for sure ! I want lotsa puzzle solving with the various items you aquire!

 

[cb88]

have you looked at the FEZ engine? ...might be something for latter on

it doesn't use pixel are directly (since it is a fully 3d game rendered to a 2d perspective) but looks very pixely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVwoTR5kWCQ...feature=related


Edit: the latest level art looks good btw...

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

yeah saw this already , its a really good concept.
Its actually simple 3d cubes with pixel art printed on each sides.
The programming looked like something pretty impressive to do though.




... No feedback on the concept art and little test screen?

 

[hells_dark]

... No feedback on the concept art and little test screen?


Well.. it looks awesome !
I'm 100% sure it will be an awesome game if you find a programmer who is able to do YOUR game
And i like the touch of humor you seems to put in it !
(Ho, and i still love your pixelart )

 

[Yod4z]

Very good Gfx, it remember me Ruff 'n' Tumble on my Amiga.

 

[iprice]

It all looks superb. I really love the style. Basic, minimal, retro at it's best. Let's the fun shine through.

 

[TheBrainSquid]

I just have to say... this looks amazing. Seriously, that artwork is excellent.