DAY 55

Today I worked on the aesthetics of the house room essentially. I had to get all of Jake's wall tiles and convert them from a .psd file to a .png file, and then I took both of them and put them together in photoshop, exported it, and imported it into game maker studio as a tile sheet. I added them into the house, and put cement objects as the ground. I wanted to make it look good since I'm begining the cutscene in the house, so I made a widescreen foreground the same size as the view of the room, and made the widescreen 49 pixels wide. This made it look a little more cinematic, but I still wanted it to look better. I added a slight glow to the player when in the room, and also a dark foreground to make it seem darker. The end result looks kinda weird because the glow is overtop of the player, but underneath of the black background. Next class I will fix this and continue aesthetics. Also, I want to maybe make the glow so it stops at the ground and isn't spherical, sort of semi-spherical.

DAY 54

Today I worked on trying to apply the ground effect to each bullet. I started by adding them to each bullet object, but for some reason the bullets stacked up or something, and the splatter effect emits from the air. So I made it so the particle effect was in the ground object instead, and adjusted the height to where it looked good, and after that It seemed to work. Then I needed to figure out how to change the colour from red to brown or something. I set it all to 10 because I was just playing around, and it changed to a blackish colour, which isn't bad looking for now. Later I can change the colour of it for each ground object depending on the colour of the ground. We don't have many ground tiles at the moment so I'll work on that when we do. Also, I wanted to start the cut-scene so I asked Jake for his indoor wall background, and also the outdoor background. I put in the outdoor background and realized it's a little tall so next class I might need to shrink the height to make it look better. For the screenshot below I adjusted the height, and it looks quite epic. Also Howie made a really awesome ambiance song. Each of us listened to it while staring at the outdoor background and it was quite epic and immersive.

DAY 53

Today I tried multiple things to try and make the bullet glow look better. I tried to stretch the glow out to make it look non-spherical but all that did was un-align the glow and it looked worse. I tried a few other things and then went to photoshop. Basically all I did was make the opacity lower so it's not as intense as the player glow, and that seemed to looked quite good. Though It does almost look like a flare gun; I still may have to decrease the opacity a bit, but on to more important things. I also made it so when the bullet hits the ground, it destroys itself and creates a particle effect which is right now the blood effect. I just have to change the colour to brown or green and make it more suttle. I made some critiques to Jakes background, which he added grass and greeny stuff to which looks really good, good job Jake. Next class I will maybe work on the cut-scene after I tweak the ground spatter.

 

DAY 52

Today I started working on the collision with the floor objects I made. It wasn't quite working so I made it a parent to the wall object Howie used for the floor. It still didn't work so Ty suggested I use the ground objects just as tiles and put an invisible collision box over top of each tile, which would be sort of tedious, so I found another way. I just checked the physics and solid options on each object which worked quite well. After that I moved on to lighting effects. I put in the night cycle and right after found out that Howie made a cool looking bullet trail effect. I then had to figure out a way to make it light up the world when it is night time. I added Howie's objects into my game and they worked fine, though in the dark it looked weird. I changed the depth to go over the darkness for the bullet, and that looked quite good, but it still needed some more lighting. I went into the night cycle object and duplicated the glow from the player and added it to each bullet. This looked better but it needed to be smaller to adjust to the bullet, and the shotgun bullets are way to bright. I duplicated the glow sprite and edited it a little bit to match the bullet, but I still need to play with it to make it look good. I also made some judgments to Jake's background to make that look better. Tomorrow I will adjust the glow to make it look better.

DAY 51

Today I tried to combine my files with Howie's to try and solve the issue of nothing working in my game. I transferred a few things to his game, launched it, and it broke. This is why last year what we did: have 1 master game file on 1 computer and everyone transfers what they just did to it, is a way better approach to multiple people game development. So I decided to cut my losses and just switch over to Howie's game completely. So I did that, but still saved my old copy just in case. This way is alot faster than trying to solve the problem manually. I put in all of my tiles and stuff, so It is all organized and up to date with all of the recent work. I got Jake to also work on the buildings to make them look deteriorated and broken, he did a good job in doing so. Next class I will add all of my tiles into the room and make it look good, and add some lighting in.

DAY 50

Today I began to get re-oriented with game maker. It's only been a week but I have to figure out what I'm doing now. So I started to work on the cut-scene when I realized I need to actually figure out the player movement, which for some reason isn't working. Howie was a little late to class so I went to his computer, copied the player movement to the dropbox, and put it into my player step event and create event. This broke it even more. I started to troubleshoot everything I thought would work. I copied Howie's player object into my game; it didn't work. I tried messing with the collision masks of the ground sprites, collision codes with the player and the ground, and everything I tried; still didn't work. I wanna delete the game and restart please, Anyway, i'm not quite sure how to go about this problem. I might just have to look into every line of code until I spot the issue. That's what I'll leave for tomorrow Justin.

DAY 49 - REVIEW WEEK [FINAL]

I still wasn't able to place any sort of buildings like a canteen, sick bay, greenhouse, or anything for some weird and annoying reason, but I still managed to survive pretty far without them.

I build a whole bunch of water and power collectors surrounding everything, I think that's the reason everyone survived longer without a canteen. Throughout the whole game everyone was low on water though. I also built a landing pad for trading ships to come and go which produces more resources. This was useful and kind of cool.

I also got an "achievement" kind of thing that showed that I survived for 24 hours on the planet which was kind of cool.

After about 20 minutes, my colonist's water levels were getting very low and I knew death was inevitable. They began slowly dying one by one and then after 10 minutes they were all dead. 

In conclusion I enjoyed this game when I wasn't stressed about my resource levels being low, which was almost never. Don't get me wrong though, it is a pretty fun game. Tomorrow we will go back to working on the game once again finally, and I can finally work on the cut-scene.

DAY 48 - REVIEW WEEK [4]

I missed yesterday due to having to do Grad-Trans practice presentation so I will be making 2 posts today to help make up for it. I started off with Planetbase just restarting my whole base because everytime I started it, they would run out of resources and die.

I began by building everything the largest they could possibly be built, to maximize production. After building all of the essentials and everything, a meteor came and directly hit one of my workers and instantly killed him. This was very unfortunate but I managed to keep it steady without him, I placed all of my resource collectors around my buildings which was a very bad idea because I couldn't then place any more buildings because they were blocking the path. I then had to delete a few of my collectors to place the buildings. This caused massive production failure.

Good thing I saved a while back so when everyone dies I can go back to that save. Anyway, In conclusion; it takes many tries and deaths to get a handle on the game and fully understand it.

DAY 47 - REVIEW WEEK [3]

So I began on playing the actual game today with no guidance besides my previous knowledge from the tutorial. I started off building the essentials - Air lock, food, water and power generators. Once this was done I built some bunk beds and interior things for the cafeteria thing.

And then it all went to crap. Everything needed oxygen, and the oxygen generator needed power, and the small power generator was trying to power everything at once which didn't work, and everyone died.

Thankfully I saved, and continue from where I did, choosing how I built my base more wisely. After a few more times of people dying, I started to get the hang of it and was recognizing the pattern that they were all dying of oxygen loss. 

I then started building larger power and water generators which benefited me immensely. A suggestion would be to do this from the very start to avoid problems and have more resources. I also built a mine, a landing pad, and a few other buildings. My base was cluttered with small generators though which made it unorganized. That's one suggestion to my future self when playing this: Be organized. Have an area for water generators/storage, and power generators/storage. Then you can build the rest somewhere else.

DAY 46 - REVIEW WEEK [2]

I had to make a double-post today as I was missing on Monday. So I got into the game and began playing the tutorial. I landed on the desert planet it looked like for the tutorial, and began building an oxygen thingy to keep the settlers alive and so they can breathe. Then I built a canteen which is a place where the settlers can eat and drink, and a few other places and this is what it looked like:

After it got me to build a numerous amount of buildings it then got me to build specific things inside them: in the canteen I built a fountain and tables and a food dispenser thing, in the barracks it got me to build beds, and in the sick ward I also built some beds.

It also takes some time to build the things you ask the builders to do, and you can speed up the time to do so. I also like the animations of them bringing the supplies for the build, and then it just erecting from the ground magically, It's quite satisfying.

DAY 45 - REVIEW WEEK [1]

Today I'm sort of switching it up a bit; I was told to basically take a week off from working on the game to review another one called Planetbase. It wasn't really my preference as to choosing this over our game, but I got back after missing a day and they were all doing it, so I guess I am too. This game looks somewhat intriguing probably due to the similarities to a game I used to play called Civilization 5. There are three planets and the player must build a base to essentially keep the "dwellers" alive. There are a variety of different people who can live there:

Basically you control everything on the planet and have to keep the people alive, survive from disasters such as storms and things. The three planets each have their own specific atmospheres; Gas giant, frozen, and desert. The different planets each have different environments and weather and such which can influence how you play. I feel like everyone who plays would need to develop an ultimate goal to achieve, otherwise it can seem kind of pointless.

DAY 44

Today I wasn't at school once again due to me having my N driving test, and didn't have time to go to school, so I quickly did some work from home. I didn't quite like my wood plank tile so I used my grass/dirt tile and layed it over top of it. I then erased the grass part and blended it with the wood tile to make it look like there is dirt underneath of the wood. This looks a little better but I think I need to tamper a bit with the wood to make it look more woody. I communicated with Jake via text and told him to continue working on the background, and he did. Though he said he was reviewing a game called Planetbase whatever that means. Tomorrow I am going to finally be in class so I can get Howie's movement code in and critique Jakes background which I'm excited to see. Also I'll try to work on the cut scene a bit, which shouldn't be too hard now that the game is a platformer.

DAY 43

Today I was really sick and couldn't make it to class, so to make up for it I am working from home. I couldn't do much as all of the tiles I've been working on are on the school computer, and I haven't linked them to dropbox yet, which I should do.  I worked on creating an indoor tile like a wood plank kind of in Photoshop. It looks somewhat weird and i don't know if I like it. I don't know if I should have dirt under the plank then fade it to black or just tweak it a bit. I could just have the cement as the indoor tile seeing as though its post apocalypse and all the houses are poor. I also texted Jake to work on the background for the outside because it's going to take a while to do. Next class I will try and get Howie's movement code, and work on the cutscene hopefully.

DAY 42

Today I worked on the cement tile. Jake sat beside me and constructively judged a few things to make it better. I made it go from black to cement, though I feel like I want to add dirt underneath the cement to make it blend with the dirt. I made a seperate tile to blend the grass tile with the concrete tile, but I'm not sure if I like the transition. After that Jake and I talked about different styles of floor tiles, and which would look best, using Photoshop to express our ideas. After that we talked about having parallax scrolling with the background; having the mountains or city in the background moving and making it look awesome like Ty's game. Next class I will try and make an indoor tile and tweak the cement one.

DAY 41

Today I had absolutely no time to do work so I talked with everyone about the game. I was busy doing grad photos all block so all I did was reminisce with people. Jake wanted to make it so when the player is turned, the sprite turns completely 90 degrees. I think that it would look really weird doing this, though realistically speaking the player right now is running on an angle, but that's ok, it's a video game. Next class I will make some new tiles and refine the cut-scene a bit.

DAY 40

Today we talked about what to do with the game and the story and such. Also Simran bought me battlefront for my birthday, I'm not sure why I put this in the blog but why not. I also worked on blending the ground tile with the black ground to make it look better, and made it look better when it repeatedly tiled so it blends with itself (with the help of Jake). Most of the class we talked about how making parallax scrolling while the player moves, kind of copying what Ty did, though it looks cool and I will credit him if he wants me to. Next class I will work on some new tiles such as concrete or something. Below is a screenshot of what the blended tile looks like.

DAY 39

Today I began recreating my tiles into "platformer mode". I took some inspiration from a game called deadlight, and suspect I will be continuing the inspiration for alot of other things. I really like the style of this game, and the parkour in it is really cool, so that's why I want to implement it into our game. I got Jake to work on the inside walls for the house, and some grime and dirt to go with it. After he is done with that, I asked him to create an outside background, which is going to take some time but I want it to look really good. I created a grass tile for outside and that's pretty much all I did. I'm going to make it go from grass, then dirt, and then black as it gets farther down. After that, the inside walls should be finished from Jake, and I can begin on the cut scene; where I last left off in the "old" game. I can finally post some visuals relating to what I did also:

DAY 38

So today we discussed the major decision with the whole group with our mini "meeting". We discussed the pros and cons of it and decided to make the major decision, and convert our game into a platformer. This is going to take some major changes and fixes to go with it, but overall it should be beneficial. Here are the things we can accomplish with it now being a platformer: Way better lighting, A really cool looking background and foreground, parkour maybe, and it just ultimately looks better. Jake and I got started with converting it and what we did was add a ground and the house. I got Howie to work on zombie and player movement. Jake and I worked on making it so when the player is colliding with the door of the house, and pressing E, it switches to another room. This is pretty much all we did as we spent a majority talking about the change. I'm still not sure what Simran's role in the game is but he has to start doing something soon. Next class I will continue on the progress, and create some ground visuals since all of my tiles are now rendered obselete.

DAY 37

Today I fixed a few errors, and create a few more. This seems to be what I do on the daily, but it's OK I'm making progress. I'm trying to create a working timer for the black to project itself for a few seconds then unproject itself, which should be easy but since I can't really see anything in the room, it's hard to tell if it's actually working or not. I got Jake to work on the zombie walking animation which still looks a little fast, I want it to be a slow movement. I'm still trying to work each of the errors. The problem is now within the cut scene, which is better, but still a problem. Next class I will work out these errors, find out a better way to make this timer maybe, and then work on cut scene movement. Also, this happens (Below) due to the object not destroying itself when in collision with the player, which is easy to fix, but it looks kinda cool. At the end of class Jake and I were discussing about changing the game into a platformer, which is a big decision, but can be very beneficial; better lighting, parkour, awesome physics, etc. We aren't sure if we are going to yet because it would be a huge change but it is an option at the moment.

DAY 36

Today I managed to finally draw out a black background for the cut scene. I put it in the draw even for the player basically as: draw a black foreground over the screen if room_house = true, and then start a timer for a bit, then clear the black background. I wish this was as easy to do as it sounds. I do have it so it draws the black background, though I think it starts the timer when the game initially starts. The timer is basically a few variables adding 1 until equaling a certain number, then clearing the black. I still have to play with some things to get it to fully work at the moment, but right now I'm happy with today's progress. I got Jake to work on the significant other in the sleeping bag also, so I can implement that into the cut scene as well. Next class I plan to fix up all of the small errors I created today, and get the timing right with the black, so I can get some movement into the cut scene. I would put some actual game visuals here relating to what I did today, but it would literally be a black screen, so here's some code:

DAY 35

Today there was only about half an hour in class to do work due to it being a half day, but I managed to do a few small things. I'm going to put the draw a black foreground in the player event if they're in the room house, and then wait a few seconds, undraw it for a few seconds, then redraw for another few seconds, and undraw forever. Hopefully this will work instead of trying to draw something in a step event. I tried to make it so when the room starts, the sprite_index of the player is = spr_sleepingbag, and then once the significant other disappears (I'll create a variable), the index is changed to the player, and the sleeping bag without a player in it, will be "instance_create"'ed, and the player will then walk out the door. I will try and do all of this tomorrow hopefully. I don't have any visuals today as all of what I did was in code, tomorrow I will though don't worry.