Update: 8-16-13 - Blocks and other VERY Important News!!!

For the past couple of days I've been busy revamping the code for item blocks (those blocks that you shoot and they occasionally drop items and stuff). they look better graphically, and they have a few slight improvements as far as their existence goes. Recently I thought it would be an interesting idea to include the mechanic of head bumping these blocks [Mario-style] as well as ground pounding them [also Mario-ish] which would also get you the items inside them. Its not a neccesary mechanic, but it kinda does look neat.

Also I've been adding the functionality of other types of blocks. As mentioned in recent blog posts there are some blocks that you'd need certain ability charms to get past. So far there are only three of these types of blocks.

 - bomb block: when a bomb explodes in its vicinity it too would explode, and if there are other bomb nearby they too would activate causing a chain reaction of sorts. [this was actually featured in the old engine before I quit on it]
 - lizard block: You can only get past these tiles by performing a crouching slide. They will vanish temporarily and then reappear when the player sprite isn't overlapping it.
- anvil block: Performing a ground pound on these blocks would have the same affect as a crouching slide would have on the lizard blocks.

Of course, getting past these blocks would require having certain items in your inventory. Bombs for the bomb blocks, the lizard charm for the lizard block, the anvil charm for the anvil block and so on...

Last (but probably not least) of the block types are the boxes.

There are two types of boxes and both of them take the visual appearance of wooden crates. there's the small box and the large box.

the small box, you can pick up and carry around in the current map [this also introduces the new mechanic of being able to carry certain items/baby ponies/etc]. You will also be able to push it when not carrying it and then when need be, you can use it as a platform.

the large box would obviously be too heavy to carry around and therefor could only be pushed. And like the small box, it can be used as a platform.

Both box types can be destroyed and in a few different ways:
 - if they fall in lava
 - if they fall on spikes
 - if they fall from a long distance
 - exploding a bomb in their vicinity 
 - they cant however be destroyed by your fire breath (yeah, I know, screw logic. this is a vidyagame!)

Destroying boxes can also result in them dropping certain items. So its not all a total loss.

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Other News:

Ive recently been in contact with someone who wants to help me get my game featured in an upcoming convention [I wont go into full details without their permission]. Because of this recent achievement I've been set with an actual deadline for Demo #5.

The demo will need to be finished by the first of November (giving me plenty of time to get things done) and will be released on the same day as the convention.

Because of how important this event will be for the project I would like to make the engine as bug free as humanly possible. This would of course require some help.

For those of you who recently volunteered to bug test on the mini-games. I'd like to enlist you into the testing team for Demo 5 [with your permission of course]

I would also like to enlist new help for testing. So if your interested please e-mail me: bullockarts@gmail.com with the header: "Demo 5 tester"

I will be releasing bug test demos periodically to everyone on the testers list right up to the final release of Demo #5

Also, for everyone not involved with the testing: I will launch a production stream sometimes around my birthday [October 8th] to showcase most of the accomplishments so far and give you a preview of what to expect from Demo #5

More news to come. Stay tuned!

8-11-13 - Engine Reboot Update: Ability Charms and Lava

Got some more accomplishments over the past few days that I'll be touching up on in this update:

For a start, I have added functionality (and visuals) for lava pools in the game. Its not just a fall in and get hurt/death scheme here. As mentioned before, Spike has the ability to swim around in it and when he's acquired a certain item, he has full control and movement in it like he would with water.

However, a bit different than the water mechanics here.. While without the item for water, Spike can swim unharmed at the water's surface, Spike when without the item for lava will rapidly lose health while swimming at the lava's surface.

Once you've gained the item for lava Spike would be able to hop into the lava harm free and swim in it with full control. Also the lava will turn slightly translucent revealing hidden paths that  Spike can go to as he pleases. I thought this was a nice little touch to the game's engine and it looks pretty cool too! :)

Concerning items themselves:

I've set it up where Spike will need to collect Ability Charms throughout his quest in order to be able to do certain physical acrobatics and stuff. There's just five different charms here:

  - Lizard Charm
This charm will allow you to slide (and kick off of walls) as well as the ability to perform a slide kick while crouching on the ground. The slide kick could be used as an attack on certain enemies, and its also used to temporarily remove special tiles with the lizard icon on it (some of these tiles may be hidden in the main tileset via Metroid style)

  - Pegasi Charm
With this charm, you will be able to perform a double jump. Useful for reaching high and hard to reach places. Or transcend nasty death-pits that are too wide to cross with just a regular jump.

  - Anvil Charm
This charm will enable you to do a ground pound while in the air. While in 'flight' simply tap the down button and Spike will quickly pound the ground. I've considered using this also to temporarily reveal hovering ghost tiles when the  ground is pounded. The ground pound can also temporarily remove special tiles with the anvil icon on it (also potentially hidden like in Metroid)

 - Water Charm
As explained before, this charm will enable Spike to submerge himself into the depths of lakes. He can swim freely, up, down, left and right (with the ability to perform a swimming thrust in either of those directions). But while doing this your air meter will come into view and Spike will start to lose breath. So be sure to return to the surface asap!

 - Lava Charm
As already mentioned in this blog post, this charm will be that special item that Spike needs in order to swim harm free in the lava. the controls are similar to swimming in water and this charm allows Spike to see through the lava (as mentioned, the lava goes transparent while Spike is in it) revealing the secrets beneath the surface. But again, the air meter will also reveal itself and Spike will need to resurface to regain his breath.

currently the functionality of each of these charms are already hard coded into the engine. You cant yet collect them visually but I have a debug system that turns on and off their flags as I need them. I'm curently working on the visuals for these items and hopefully in the next day or so I'll have the system finished where you can collect them in the game instead of having to debug them into existence :P

More to come soon!

8-8-13 - Engine Update #2: Swimming mechanics and weapon usage

So far so good! Work has been a steady flow for this project. I'm accomplishing something each night, whether it be the fixing of bugs or progression on the engine itself.

Since the last update I've added the swimming portion of the engine. Spike can now submerge himself in water!

The engine takes a likeness to that of Wario Land 4's swimming mechanics. The directional keys move Spike around in the water (up down left and right) and when he's not moving at all he simply floats back up towards the water's surface.

There are also currents that push Spike around when your in that general area.

As a notice, I should add that Spike wont have this full control under water until he acquires the water stone which would allow him to hold his breath underwater for a certain period of time. Without the stone, Spike would simply stay at the water's surface (for an example of what I'm going for, observe the water mechanics of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. When in the water you stay at the water's surface until you acquire a special item that would let you go completely under.)

This engine will also apply to lava. Only that when you don't have the fire stone, the lava would simply hurt Spike (yea, I know, in the show Spike can wade around in lava like its nothing. My excuse here is that this lava in the game is a bit special. as in enchanted. The fire stone would cloak Spike from the harmful magic that enables the lava to hurt him.)

Other things I'm thinking on at the momment, and I would like to get some opinions:
I've decided that instead of having Spike spit fire projectiles, I should actually give him a wand at the beginning of the game which would allow him to shoot magic projectiles. This would allow me to add certain weapon upgrades Metroid and Megaman style.

He could still use his fire breath, but I'm still debating on how to include it. Perhaps if you hold down the fire button for a short amount of time he'll stand in place while blowing forth a steady flame (see Kirby's Dream Land: flame power).

If anybody here has any ideas or opinions on the matter, please let me know. I'll keep you posted as things progress. And hopefully soon, I can start posting up some media. There's a few good reasons I'm not posting up any now. :P

8/4/13 - Spikes Quest Reboot Update

despite the lack of updates here on the blog, I have actually been very busy working on the reboot engine.

the past couple of weeks have been a realprogression on the project. Not only is it as complete as the old engine, its a vast improvement!

You can now:
 - jump kick off walls
 - climb certain wall tiles
 - ground pound
 - slide while crouching
 - move along the ceilings (via monkeybars)

there's also new obstacle types for the tiles themselves, including new slope angles and the tiles needed for the new abilities listed above.

I'm still finishing up on the tile collisions (nearly finished) and I'll be moving along to other things such as swimming, enemies, new active platforms and a map navigation system similar to the 2d  Metroid games.

At the rate I've been going, I'm hoping to have Test Demo 5 (yes, I'm still calling it that despite the reboot) ready in a month from this posting.

Anyway, before ending this update, I'd like to ask everyone here. Are you guys still with me despite the lack of activity on this project in the past year? if you are, please let me know. It would totally boost my confidence if there are still people interested in this game. :)

Thanks in advance!

6-24-13 - SQ - Dev Quest II Starts Today!

As mentioned in my last blog post, I shall be starting the Spikes Quest development reboot today! This calls for a celebration, so gather all your Pinkie Pie plushies, blow up some balloons and sip fruit punch from a fancy wine glass. This aughta be fun!

I've decided that instead of just jumping right in and forcing myself to work (like I did last time) that I will take it easy. and by that I mean that I'll put together and focus on small bits at a time a day. This would not only give me more time to enjoy life and all its tasty fruits. But it would also garentee me no sudden burn-outs.

One step at a time.

Slow and easy wins the race.

I'm sure you're all familiar with all the cliche sayings :P

Spikes Quest Game Dev Saga II: Starting over from Scratch

So I just got finished cleaning out my e-mail inbox. It was a massive archive of e-mails dating all the way back to late 2011. And in that archive I saw many a response to old blog posts going nearly all the way back to the beginning of this project.

It kinda got me to thinking about the project in general. How it seemed to progress from time to time and how it often failed. How I got totally hyped about the old Demos, going all the way up to Demo #4 and how those were the golden days of this project's development.

I've considered a number of times in recent months actually just canning the project because I have a hard time getting back into it. The code in the old files and some of the graphics seem overwhelming now, and its hard for me to even know where to begin.

So how does one save a project such as this from certain doom?

A reboot...

You heard right, I've decided that I should just start over. Try to recapture those golden days when I was releasing a demo every week.

Of course, going back to square one means that the game will look primitive and a bit 'early' again. But alas, its for the best. On the upside, I at least have a vast know-how. I've learned so much about coding and game development over the past couple of years, and just from this project alone...

Anywho, I shall begin work again this next week. And I'll try to have a basic platforming engine demo up and running by Friday.

Stay tuned!

6/20/13 - An Update After 3 Months

Aparently, my last update was back in March. I've been completely absent from this project for three whole months.

Just letting you guys know I'm still alive and well, just been terribly busy with life in general.

I've also been absent from the fandom, and after looking back into it after all this time, I cant help but feel that its been dwindling... I'll miss the days of old, when being a Brony felt like something new and awesome. Now it just feels like a fading fad.

It makes me feel sad, really. :(

Rest assured, I've decided not to leave the fandom, so maybe there's a bit of hope for Spikes Quest.

I'll try to get back to updating more often too. Its a bit wrong that I've left you guys in the dark.