Tuesday, November 29, 2011

11-29-11 - Early Look at the Inventory Items



These past few weeks I've been toying with the inventory system. What you see in the picture is what I have so far and it may or may not be final.

So your probably wondering what some of these items are and what they'll do in the game. Well allow me to explain each one for you. :)

items from left to right / top to bottom:

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Bombs:
Use to blow up bomb blocks, or bust open a wall to reveal a door. It can also be used to exterminate certain enemies. But watch out, its explosion can hurt you!

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Boomerang:
This item can be used to kill certain low level enemies or stun mid leveled ones. It can also retrieve certain items that you cant normally reach.

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Bow & Arrow:
Can kill mid leveled enemies but can only stun high level enemies. Also when an arrow sticks n the wall you can use it to spring yourself up to certain unreachable platforms!

Note: The use of a single arrow will deduct 1 bit of gold. When you run out of bits then your out of arrows. This borrows heavily from the method of the first Legend of Zelda on the NES

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Grapple Hook:
If there is a special grappling point horizontally across from you then you can use your grapple hook to quickly launch yourself across to it. Or if there's a ceiling grappling point in your range you can use it to swing across to certain platforms.

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Shield:
When you equip this with your secondary action button (default keyboard key A) then you can use it to repel certain projectiles as long as you are facing in the direction of incoming projectile. The shield can also be used to get past certain areas where heavy wind normally blocks your progress.

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Magic Flute:
When you acquire the magic flute you can use it to summon the aid of certain Ponies that you've already rescued.(when you rescue a pony and they have a summons tune, you automatically learn it from them)

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Owl Charm:
Use this magical charm to summon the aid of Owlicious (am I spelling the name right?) once summoned you can latch on to his talons and use him to reach certain hard to reach areas. Keep an eye on your magic meter though! when you run out of magic your owl friend will vanish!

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Wand of Fire:
This wand will produce three blue fire balls that will orbit around Spike causing damage to any enemy who comes in contact with them! This will use your magic though so use it wisely!

note: this will not double as a shield! Projectiles can still hurt you!

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Fire Shield:
This crystal orb will produce a bubble shield around Spike that can protect you from fire/flame projectiles. You can also walk on lava! This will eat up your magic though so use it wisely!

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Ice Shield:
This crystal orb will produce a bubble shield around spike that will protect him from ice attacks. It also gives you the ability to magically walk through certain ice walls. Again, it uses up your magic. Use wisely!

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Green Apple:
Health item that you can only purchase from Applejack's apple store. Fills up five hearts. You can only store ten of these in your inventory.

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Apple Cider:
Another health item that you can only get by purchasing it from Applejack's Apple Store. This item will completely fill your heart containers and magic meter.

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Yes, I am perfectly aware that this inventory borrows heavily from the classic Zelda Inventory. :P But is it really such a bad thing? I did try to give some of these items some extra functions such as the ability to use the grappling hook to swing across areas or use the arrows that get stuck in walls to bounce to higher platforms. But I dunno...

I'd like to hear some opinions...

Saturday, November 19, 2011

11-19-11 Skyrim Burnouts ARE a Good Thing!

I'm feeling a bit burned out on Skyrim. Its still an amazing and brilliant piece of software but sometimes there needs to be a line and this is it :P

I'll continue to play it in small doses but no more staying up til 5:00 just to level up my character and etc etc

I know I've said it many times before already, but Spikes Quest really needs some love and I havent been really giving it any for the past couple of months. I guess when I got burned out on it after Demo 4 it really kinda left a scar and that's why I've been having such a hard time getting back to work on it.

I'm hoping that today I can get my inspiration and motivation back on track. Anypony got any good game suggestions to help with the inspiration bit? Maybe I should revisit Metroid Prime again that was one of the games that inspired SQ from the start.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

11-15-11 - Spikes Quest - The Trilogy

I may be thinking too far ahead here but I've had a thought and I've been thinking about it for the past couple of days.

I may actually make Spikes Quest a trilogy project. The third game would be labelled 'Spike's Quest 3 - ''Dragonborn'' (insert obligatory Skyrim jokes here :P) and may actually be a 3D third person Metroid style platformer.

the second game is not yet labelled but would keep the traditional 2D gameplay and would actually have an overworld map kinda like Adventures of Link on the NES

Also just because I havent updated lately doesn't mean I haven't been productive. I've finally got the pause function to work and I'm about to begin work on the inventory screen where you get to select your second hand items and stuff like that

its just been a bit slow going.... Blame it on Bethesda.

Confound ye Skyrim!

Monday, November 7, 2011

11-7-11 - Why is a pause screen such a headache to program?

So today I did quiet a bit of cleaning up on the old code and while at it I added a few small things here and there to help make the code more easier to work with.

But now I'm stuck trying to figure out just what the hay is wrong with my 'pause game' functions  (used for the inventory screen and other such things)... for some reason its not reading the pause button while in the pause screen, and that's a pain in the noggin... :P

Oh well, at least I got some work done! :D

Oh, and just in case y'all havent noticed, I'm working bi-daily meaning I'm doing what I can every two days on the code. The other spare days are spent on other projects. I find it works nicely giving me that extra boost freedom I've been needing.

So stay tuned for another update on wednesday and then another on friday and then the next on next Monday. (Saturdays are strictly off days and Sundays begin my production on the other projects again)

see how that works?

it may slow things down a bit but it'll have to do until those other projects are completely off my slate :P

Saturday, November 5, 2011

11-5-11 - Just Re-familiarizing myself with the game's source

So, since yesterday I've just been piddling with the source, and getting to know it again.

I guess there's some truth that if a programer hasnt touched his code in a month he just as well had not even coded it at all... That saying means that its tough to remember everything you did if you've left your work for a long time.

But I'm slowly readjusting. Already I have some pretty spiffy ideas for the game and I'm looking forward to incorporating those ideas into the project :)

Oh, and this also means I'll be getting back to doing daily updates again. I find that by doing that it kinda helps keep me hyped about my own project, even if there isnt much going on production-wise (there's no excuse, I have all the free time in the world! and yet I find myself being a lazy flank... I need MOTIVATION!!! :O )

More to come!

Friday, November 4, 2011

11-4-11 - Oh hai thar!

Okay, so it has been over two weeks since I've even touched this project (or blog, or even PChan thread) the markings on my project dry-erase board have possibly dried to the point that I may have to scrape them off :P and the dust has caked so much on the project books that you could quiet literally slice it like an actual cake.


So...

back to work tiem?

ayep.

I'll try to work towards something worthy of updating on by this evening.