Update

Adjustment made.

Whatever was blocking the way has been removed - simply so the level can be accessed.

Damnit!

I know they say not to re-run your own game after handing it in....


But DAMNIT something didn't save right so apparently there is no way to win the game. There's something blocking the level to the park...

Maybe if I email John and explain...

-freaks out, swears and ragequits-

Disclaimers.

I need to do a post showing where I found my sprites, and give credit where credit is due.

First of all I would like to extend my gratitude to James McLaren for putting up with my constant nagging - and helping me to understand code and why it does what it does. (and for not punching me when it takes me way too long to understand!)

Now credit to the artists.
Sprites:

* Quackers, Wanda, Ava and Bill

Found here: http://www.rpg-studio.de/
From: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/2399-grannys-lists-animal-sprites/


* Fox

Found here: http://s444.photobucket.com/user/grandmadeb_rmvx/media/fox.png.html

From: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/2399-grannys-lists-animal-sprites/

* Cheese

Found here: http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/grandmadeb_rmvx/chara07_bnMackAnimals1.png

From: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/2399-grannys-lists-animal-sprites/

* Frog, Rabbit

Found here: http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/grandmadeb_rmvx/animalscrbetween.png

From: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/2399-grannys-lists-animal-sprites/

While the sprites have actually been recoloured pixel by pixel, I'm far too worried about Copyright issues so this is my disclaimer for the sprites :3

Please don't murder me!

References for Critical Analysis:

> The Hero's Journey

(From Google Images, used in this blog as a representation of the written theory)
Original Idea: Campbell, J. (1990) "The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on his Life and Work" New World Library


> Self Determination Theory

(Hosted at Google Images, link on the picture, used in this blog for representation of written theory)

Idea found in: Mayer, R.E. (2014) "Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach" MIT Press. 

> Emergence versus Progression 

(Hosted at Google Images, used for visual representation)

Idea: Adams, E. & Dormans, J. (2012) "Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design (Google eBooks)" New Riders

> Flow Theory

(Hosted at Google Images, used for visual representation)

Idea: Van Eck, R. (2010) "Gaming and Cognition: Theories and Practice from the Learning Sciences: Theories and Practice" IGI Global

Known problems:

Known list of problems/glitches:

* Every so often, the player needs to be careful of the walls (ie trees in the forest and "cut grass" surrounding the river and the walkway of the world map, as every now and then the sprite tends to get stuck...

* Sound files tend to randomize their volume

* Player sometimes gets stuck on the signposts and so the "ding" sound plays over and over again until the player steps away

* The player must release the key pressed before pressing the next one - otherwise Quackers gets stuck

* Sounds when you die often are too quiet to be heard...working on it now.

* Be careful of the fox, it tends to moonwalk...(and walk through trees...)

Final Day...

So, this has been stressful...

I've managed to finish and save Cheese and Quackers, just need to transfer all the game files onto the USB now, write up the critique and I'll be done ... and I have 5 hours in which to do so. Game face on.

Last-minute panicks...

So it's the day of submission, and I CAN'T GET MY BLOODY DEAD SOUND TO WORK.

I tried tinkering with it, but for some reason it doesn't like me.
Background music done though so wooooo.

Time to start fiddling with the sound on collisions to lead to the end screen, let's hope this works...

It's alive! (2)

So, I'll be posting screenshots tomorrow morning (or afternoon....) but Cheese and Quackers is alive, has three levels and a world map!

It's been a long hard week of obituaries and bereavement but after attending today's (or yesterday's...) 4-6 workshop Quackers now moves, Cheese follows (though jumps on his back a lot...but that's pretty cute), the sprites are all ready to go and I'm finally starting to get to grips with coding!

Levels so far:

World Map - Quackers may follow the path (as the outside is sectioned off by solid objects) and head for the Forest, Park and City. I'm hoping to create a textbox at the start of the game to tell the player which to visit first as the levels aren't exactly in order...

Forest - Level planned out as a maze, wherein the nooks and crannies Quackers and Cheese may be able to hide to avoid the fox AI (which will be programmed asap) in order to find and rescue Wanda to recruit her to the cause. (Leads back to World Map) Textbox incoming - Wanda pointing Quackers towards the city.

City - Quackers and Wanda have to make their way safely across two busy 5-lane roads to get to the other side in order to continue (and find Ava to recruit) again leads back to the World Map. Ava points Quackers towards the Park. (The idea to recruit a feline enemy is still strong, but it depends how much work I have to do)

Park - A river level. Quackers, Ava and Wanda have to avoid rocks, etc to reach the end of the pond, but pick up bits of bread (maybe) to gain energy to keep swimming. Final aim to recruit Bill and try to find their mother.

So each environment is almost ready, just need to program AI and obstacles - and maybe one or two more surprises. We'll see.

That's all for now, I'll post some screengrabs tomorrow.

Goodnight :)

So I haven't done a blog post for a long time... (which is about a fortnight)

But a quick update: All my sprites are animated including the following

> Quackers (Main playable character)

> Wanda (AI duckling sibling)

> Ava (AI duckling sibling)

The park level after collecting Wanda and Ava

> Bill (AI duckling sibling)

> Cheese (AI sidekick)

> Fox (Predator for Woodland level

> Cat (For the city level)


Plus a few extra things for aesthetics, such as a rabbit, frog and owl.

The worldmap is now a work in progress, as I need to find a better background than just green tiles...

But above is a quick snapshot of the Park level, wherein Quackers, Wanda and Ava have to stick together and swim from top to bottom whilst avoiding obstacles such as fisherman hooks, rocks and debris (objects to come this week).

Now working on making Quackers move...
I mean, the duck moves normally when the left, right, up and down keys are pressed. That's fine. The problem is the key being pressed must be released before the next key is pressed, which isn't actually much of a problem in a top-down game - especially in the park level where really you only need the keys one at a time. The problem will be when I create the woodland area and you need to be able to move quickly.

But still, it's a work in progress and I do think it might actually be done on time - as long as I invest in plenty of super strong coffee and energy drinks.

N.B It does feel a bit like I haven't actually gotten very far with the game, but due to a family bereavement this weekend, I need to distract myself so hopefully the work will get done even quicker than expected!

Oh dear

So it's been a while since I updated my blog...

But I don't really know what to say about the work. I managed to get through the tutorial of Gamemaker and am currently coding a small puzzle game as a prototype so I can get to grips with the coding of each level.

...and I'm running out of time.

But hopefully going to get a load of work done overnight (pulling all-nighters...yaaaaay.) and trying to write parts for my dissertation beforehand! 

Gah.

It's alive!

Okay, so the game itself hasn't come alive, not even as a prototype...yet. I'm still getting to grips with Gamemaker and its drag/drop and coding GML.

BUT
The concept is alive!! 

Cheese and Quackers follows the tale of Quackers, a young duckling separated from its siblings by a freak gust of wind. Cheese is a friendly field mouse, shy around the other ducklings but able to talk to Quackers. 

I have a map which consists of three areas: Woodland, City and Park, but you must cross the woods to get to the city and cross the busy city road to get to the park.

So far I've managed to come up with the three areas' tasks to actually get to the puzzles, but coming up with the puzzles (keeping in mind the player is a duckling and therefore unable to fetch and carry) for the levels is the hard part. Each puzzle completion 'finds' a sibling, who follows you through the world map to get to the next level. 

Thinking about the woodlands, I've decided on a top-down adventure level to get to the puzzle at the end, but the player has to avoid predatory foxes on the paths to get to the puzzle safely. 

Lives are an issue, ideally I'd like to give the player three lives but that doesn't seem right; perhaps every time you 'find' a sibling you earn a life so you don't have to start the whole game over again, you just have to start that area's challenge again,..

Big things being planned.

And I have to pitch this tomorrow.

Christ.

Update on "Cheese and Quackers" idea...

So a mother duck and her ducklings is pretty cute, but why not make the Player character a duckling itself, wandered from the path and has to follow clues to get back to its mother? (with the 'help' of local mouse, Cheese).

If I think about it this way, what does a duckling have to avoid?
> Predatory birds (owl/eagle?)
> Predatory animals (foxes)
> Humans
> Drains (on busy roads)

Perhaps "Cheese" could offer a text-based hint as to where the mother duck was last seen and Quackers has to follow this advice, being only a 'child' character.

Don't talk to strangers...?

Hm..

Alright, so trying to get notes together to pitch this damn game; 

So far it seems the most liked title is World Wide Web(bed feet) rather than Cheese and Quackers, which would mean we wouldn't need Cheese the rat upsetting the game.

Pitching the game, however, is proving tougher than I thought. As soon as I think of an idea for a level another one pops into my head, and as this game is only for three levels the ideas are crowding in too much with too many variables - and I haven't even found a sprite for the duck yet!

Can time just slow down, please? I'm falling behind on dissertation work and other modules! 

Really wishing I had superpowers now.

One more thing...

So one quick thing I forgot to add...

I'm trying to think of ideas for a name for my game.
Some possible (very quick) thrown together ideas...

* Quack me up
* World Wide Web(bed feet)
* Cheese and Quackers (need an idea as to WHY cheese - maybe field mice give "they went that way" instructions or deliberately try to make the game harder)

What do you guys think?

Quack!

Minor Epiphany

So my original concept for my minigame (minimum 3 levels) revolved around the idea of a lost dog trying to find its way back home, avoiding obvious traps such as dog catchers and other dogs. 

However, a game from last year, "Nine Lives", also used the concept of a household pet (a cat, hence the name) trying to get home, which would become problematic for plagiarism and other concerns. 

So after racking my brains for a while a minor epiphany occurred to me....DUCKS. 

Why not a 'scavenger' game based on a mother duck scrambling around a map into different areas, trying to find and collect her lost ducklings?

For instance, a map based on three areas of different environments (ie woodland, busy road, park...etc) with different tasks to accomplish in order to achieve bread (to provide energy etc) to find the ducklings from each area.
The main plan is that once the mother duck has collected one duckling, it then follows her throughout the game. The mother then has to protect her ducklings from falling down drains and crossing the road safely and the like (perhaps once the mother is safely across the road, the player has to get each duckling across in turn?) - this then shows what kind of gamer the player is as obviously fully grown ducks can fly - but then they'd have to risk the lives of their ducklings.

So this is still only a work in progress but I finally have an idea!! Yay!

Panic Stations

Totally not panicking....nope.

So for a module in Game Design this year, this blog will serve as a "Developer Diary" as such. 
Having never even designed, coded or imagined my own game, i think it would be pretty safe to say I'm worried about this.

Ideas so far have hit walls every time, either for being too complicated or far too simplistic (I have a lot of gamer friends and don't consider myself a 'hardcore' gamer in anything). The amount of time spent with my head on the desk, fighting off a migraine, is starting to become silly. Even trying out ideas on other friends has led to nothing more than a childish concept and a spin-off of Pacman...which is still far too complicated to code.

...and we have to pitch these ideas next week. Standing in front of the class for 6 minutes.. I tend to panic when I have to present. 

So to sum up...no panic. Maybe. Possibly.





...Okay yes, I'm panicking.