So I've thrown together a simple webpage that not only showcases my current work on the mini-game projects, but also enables a nice little chat enviroment for people curious about my current activity on all the projects!
The month of January was a bit of a disastrous month for me, both financially and productively. Sure, I got the Castle Pinkiestein project started (and have successfully gotten some very important elements working for it) but I ended up having to abandon Spikes Quest to do so.
For the month of February I've decided to set things straight. I'll begin working on both of these projects like I had originally intended to do so from the start. Alternating between the two on a daily bases. Remember, I still do have a deadline to meet for Spikes Quest (for the month of July) and I refuse to fail that deadline.
So where am I at on Spikes Quest right now? Honestly, I'm still working in the hook-shot mechanics. I've managed to get the code into the game's engine, but there's still a few bugs hindering progress on it. I intend to work out those bugs asap so I can continue to add the other items to the game. For the first two weeks of this month I plan to get the entire item system completed so that I can begin to add sprite-work and animation for Spike done.
Concerning Castle Pinkiestein, I'm just now finishing up on the door system . Applying the need for certain keys to unlock certain doors and I'll soon be adding secret walls that activate via Wolfenstein style that will unveil secret areas.
This past month was pretty rough going as far as it being CP's starter month. I've had horrendous problems concerning slow-downs, collision detection and a huge struggle deciding on which coding language I should use to develop the engine. At the moment I'm still sticking with Blitz Max and the miniB3D module.
The engine is running quiet nicely on my main living room computer but still runs at a crawl on my lower end Acer Aspire One laptop. This problem may not be resolvable, unfortunately. :(
Also, I'll be looking to port this project to Linux and Mac OSX (just like Spikes Quest)
Brony Micro Games Project:
February also marks the beginning of my work on a series of micro game projects that you will be able to play in your internet browser (if said browser supports html5, which if your still not living in 2001, shouldn't be a problem). These games will be rather simple and not as complex as Spikes Quest and Castle Pinkiestein.
I aim to complete at least one micro game project each month. The first game being Pinkie's Balloon Adventure (a bronyafied version of Balloon Trip for the Game Boy) and will have Pinkie Pie floating around a scrolling playing field by balloons and avoiding electrical sparkies. Here's an example of what this game-play will be like: [couldnt find Gameboy gameplay for this so here's the NES version]
Balloon Trip was really an added game-mode on a game called Balloon Kid (for the gameboy) and Balloon Fight (for the NES). there was actually a story mode where you played on actual levels with actual platforming elements, which I may or may not add to this project at some point.
Other Micro Games include other simple games such as Chips Challenge (renamed Snips Challenge) and a few others to be named. I'll strictly be working on these games on weekends (Friday evenings to Sunday evenings). this would allow me to work on the more major projects throughout the rest of the week.
Just in case you were all wondering, yes Spikes Quest has been on a sort of hiatus while I've been working out some problems with my other project 'Castle Pinkiestein' and for that I'd like to apologies.
I have not given up on this project yet (as my frequent post from over the past three years would attest) so I ask that you'd do the same.
I plan to actually start alternating between the two projects this week. So stay tuned!
I'm sure you guys remember back when I was talking about the mini-games that were planned to be in Spikes Quest. Just recently I had reluctantly decided to do away with the mini-game project because it was brought to my attention that they may cause Spikes Quest to be a bit unbalanced in some way.
That doesnt mean that all the mini-games planned for Spikes Quest are scrapped though. They will eventually be made into entire projects all their own!
The first project is obviously Castle Pinkiestein, the first mini-game I had started work on back when the mini-games were being announced (the screenshot above showcases that project as it was being developed). I had a basic map system set up for the mini-game and despite some terrible rendering problems (that ultimately caused me to scrap the old system) it actually did look promising!
Castle Pinkiestein will be a side project that I'll be working on bi-daily (I'll work on Spikes Quest one day, and then Castle Pinkiestein the next and so on). This, I hope will keep things interesting and also should help me avoid potential burn-out on either project.
For those of you interested, I've created the official dev blog for Castle Pinkiestein, which you can find here: http://pinkiescastle.blogspot.com/
On another note, I know things here on the SQ blog have been quiet lately. I'm slowly getting myself back into a work routine so I should start posting more in the coming weeks.
I've been home for two whole days now, and I'm just now getting back to my work routine. I may post some really awesome nature images that I took while up in the Smokeys (believe me, some are actually wallpaper worthy for you scenic/nature lovers). I captured some wild life, including some closeup of deer and an actual bear! (in the wild, not in some silly petting zoo)
Anywho, for now I'll be trying to get my mind back on Spikes Quest. I literally took a vacation from the project while I was away. Time I cracked my knuckles and got back to coding. Yay.
