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[Corner's Shiny (2013 edition)]

Hi! Remember this game? Well, you probably don't, and neither did I, but I found a mostly-finished version of this going through an old backup of mine, and figured I might as well fix it up real quick and put it online. I mean, I'm never going to be able to go back to this anyway, and this way, it can at least serve as a cautionary tale. Without further ado, here is

Corner's Shiny (2013 edition)

* Overthrow capitalism by gathering mail and running through surreal urban environments really quickly!
* Climb ladders, jump gaps and... generally jump a lot!
* Experience an all-new, thrilling storyline with an unexpected twist!

Corner's Shiny is a 2008/2009-era 2D platformer that was originally created as a "bootleg demake" of the then-upcoming MIRROR'S EDGE. It was an entry for the TIGSource Bootleg Demakes Competition, created by BaronCid and Akatosh (i. e. myself).

It's a fairly straightforward game: Using a wide array of moves, including running, sliding, (wall-)jumping, climbing and more, you have to travel through the levels as fast as possible in your quest to aid the People's Revolution! and, much more important, to gather a high score. The game's unique feature (... which kinda got chopped off in the screenshot ...) is the "momentum gauge" at the top of the screen. While you're running, it starts to fill up. The further it gets to the right end, the more moves you'll be able to execute - for example, you can't slide while in the blue region of the gauge.

A little more backstory: Originally conceived as a "glitch platformer" of a sort, the idea was that you'd have to use your wits as much as your reflexes to get through the game - it would be intentionally, horribly buggy and allow for lots and lots of dirty tricks and shortcuts. Unfortunately, this didn't really work out. (Or rather, falling through the floor turned out to be slightly funny the first time, and not funny at all the subsequent 48 times.) The original version was pulled for that reason, and I put the game back in the shop, so to speak; just about everything was overhauled, including the graphics. (Thanks again for the sprites, Ben.) However, as that was right around the time I started university, I never did get around to fixing the game. Still, you might be able to glean some of the basic idea from the game, and it's finally in a playable state now. Anyway, enjoy! (Hopefully.)

Download link: Corner's Shiny, as close to complete as it's ever going to get

(And no, the walljumps still don't work properly. But they no longer require frame-perfect timing, so that ought to be okay, right?)

So, yeah. For some reason (I blame solar flares), I've gone temporarily mad and was successfully convinced by a friend to try my hand at pixel art again... specifically, a 32x32 teabag icon. This is what I came up with:


(4x, in case you're interested)

Compared to my previous attempts at this kind of thing, it's... tolerable, I guess, but I'm not really satisfied with it. Any suggestions?

(Also, yay for randomly vanishing for two months.  )

[Write a short story - or rather, the "expository chapter" to a longer story - that engages in worldbuilding]

(The topic is a little more challenging than usually, thus the three-week duration. Unless there's little or no interest, of course, in which case we'll switch to a "normal" compo.)

Ah, yes, the fictional world - while it's definitly neccessary for a story (you need sort of a backdrop for your action), it's often woefully neglected by non-utopian literature. Well, it's time to shine the spotlight on the background for once!

The task is thus: Write a short story - or rather, the "expository chapter" to a longer story - that engages in worldbuilding - by which I mean a text that shows what kind of world the story takes place in, what it would be like to live in there, what made headlines recently; that sort of thing. Remember to show, not tell - we do not want infodumps here, although it's ok to briefly pause the narrative, as long as you can work it into the flow of the story.

For inspiration, take a look at the first two pages of Penny Arcade's ongoing Automata standalone comic (here and here). Virtually no exposition and little explanatory dialogue, but it does a very decent job at showing what that world is like.

That said, good luck! As usually, there will be trophies if there are four or more entries.

... what the hell?

Hai guyse, 'member dis game?

Alright, before I get clubbed to death with a steel pole engraved with the forum rules: I know this game already had / has a GiP thread, which isn't even locked right now... but it was cluttered with information that was inaccurate, outdated or just plain wrong (like my numerous claims to have "fixed the walljumps", which still are a little wonky). Feel free to lock and/or delete this thread if I'm wrong, though.

Anway.

Originally an entry in TIGSource's bootleg demake competition, this is exactly that: A 2D-"remake" of Mirror's Edge. Basically, it's a 2D Jump'n'Run with a (sorta) momentum-based movement system, meaning that it's more realistic than the original Mario games, but a lot more arcade-y than the original Prince of Persia. Moves include running at different speeds, jumping (duh), sliding, climbing and possibly some more. Score points by finishing a level fast or collecting inexplicably floating mail.

Screenshots:




Noteable changes:
* Renewed graphics, 100% less stolen and not quite as likely to cause eye cancer!
* Stable concrete - no more falling through the ground!
* Actually possible walljumps: Now people who AREN'T Jesus can finish the game too!
* Player character floats in general vicinty of ladders when climbing!
* Much more stable on the "back end" - instead of spit and twigs, it's now clingfilm and pieces of plastic!
* Feeble attempts to restore crushed expectations!

Character sprites courtesy of Ben304, who is awesome. Original idea and sounds by BaronCid from the TIGSource forums. Everything else by me.

So... any comments?

A picture says a thousand words... you've got 300.

Since we already had Writing Compos based on music and the mags is already about adapting text... why not complete the set and have a compo based on visual media?

Basically, the idea is that you pick some sort of picture and base a story on it. It can be anything, really - the story behind the depicted events, a novelisation of a comic, a surreal work based around expressionist pictures, a Dan Brown novel... as long as it's somehow based on a picture, and <=300 words long, it's fine.

That's it. Have fun! Voting start on March 1st and will go till March 3rd. There will be trophies if we get 4 or more entries. Happy writing!

Seems like PETA has finally passed the total nut borderline and is still picking up speed. I mean... what?

HEALTH WARNING: May lead to a fair deal of head-desking.

Okay. For an unspecified project of mine, I've been toying around with custom "lighting" functions - as in, having one function for drawing holes into an all-black GUI and one for covering up these holes again once it's time. The former works just fine... the latter doesn't seem to run at all. It's probably soul-crushingly simple, but I just can't see what's wrong with the code. So, uh, some help please? 

The relevant code:

game_start

Code: ags

tempsprite=DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingSprite(gGui1.BackgroundGraphic);

int MNB=0;
while (MNB<MaximumLightSources) {
lightR[MNB]=-1;
MNB++;}

//Other crap

repeatedly_execute

Code: ags

jiji=0;

while (jiji<MaximumLightSources) {
  
player.SayBackground(String.Format("%d", jiji));

if (lightR[jiji]>-1) {  
  lightT[jiji]--;
  if (lightT[jiji]<=0) RemoveLightSource(jiji);
}

jiji++;
}

//Some stuff about calculating sound[0]
temprad=FloatToInt(sound[0]*2.0);

PlaceLightSource(player.x, player.y, temprad,  1);

//Some stuff about movement

The functions in question

Code: ags

function PlaceLightSource(int x, int y, int radius, int time) {

int countIndex=0;
while ((countIndex<MaximumLightSources)&&(lightR[countIndex]==-1)) countIndex++;

DrawingSurface *lightmap=tempsprite.GetDrawingSurface();

lightX[countIndex]=x;
lightY[countIndex]=y;
lightR[countIndex]=radius+1;
lightT[countIndex]=time+1;

lightmap.DrawingColor=COLOR_TRANSPARENT;
lightmap.DrawCircle(x, y, radius);
lightmap.Release();
gGui1.BackgroundGraphic=tempsprite.Graphic;
}


function RemoveLightSource(int lightSourceNumber) {

DrawingSurface *darkmap=tempsprite.GetDrawingSurface();

darkmap.DrawingColor=33;
darkmap.DrawCircle(lightX[lightSourceNumber], lightY[lightSourceNumber], lightR[lightSourceNumber]+1);
darkmap.Release();
gGui1.BackgroundGraphic=tempsprite.Graphic;

lightX[lightSourceNumber]=-1;
lightY[lightSourceNumber]=-1;
lightR[lightSourceNumber]=-1;
lightT[lightSourceNumber]=-1;
}

So I'm legally an adult now. About time, too. Liqour hellholes, cheap hookers and seedy casinos, here I come!

I'll just save myself some work and quote Stu who started a similar thread last year:

"It's that time of year again.
Is anybody going to be attempting it this year?

For anybody who doesn't know NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and is held from November 1st - 30th and the idea is for participants to try to write a novel (well 50,000 words) in that space of time.

It's a great creative exercise though and I reckon we should all have a go and talk about it in this thread.

http://www.nanowrimo.org"

I attempted entering last year, but a PC crash got in the way... well, that, and the novel was shitty anyway. Let's see what it'll be like this year. So how about you?

Some five or six hours ago, my PC just... stopped working. It just froze and nothing happened anymore, so I pressed the 'Reset' button. It shut down just fine, but nothing happened afterwards - the cooling fan ran, but the screen just stayed black. So I shut the whole thing down entirely, waited five seconds, then turned it on again... nothing. The fan ran, but that was it. So I turned it off again, fetched a boot disc and turned the PC on again, only to find that it shut itself off again after two seconds. So I unplugged it, waited a few hours, and guess what? Now it's not even starting up anymore. Not even the cooling fan starts to rotate or something. It's just that... NOTHING happens, at all. I checked all the plugs, screwed the whole thing open and everything seems to be in perfect working order. It's no power outage either - everything else here works just fine (including the obsolete notebook I'm using right now).

I'm at a total loss here. Any ideas what this could be, or even how to fix it?   

Then again, not. The version for the competition will stay up, but the game is BACK IN DEVELOPEMENT, so... uh... lock please?

[Mirror's Edge]

NOTE: I'm not developing this on my own, but in cooperation with a TIG forums member by the name of BaronCid. That's why the graphics look so good. 





(The green stuff is our version of Runner's Vision, in case you were confused  )

An entry for TIGSource's bootleg demake competition, this game is a 2D-platformer-adaption of Mirror's Edge. It's rather straightforward: Using a wide array of moves, including running, sliding, (wall-)jumping, climbing and more, you have to travel through the levels as fast as possible in your unrelenting quest to deliver some mail and, much more important, gather a high score. Controls and gameplay are semi-realistic: You have to run a little to get to maximum speed and you can't stop dead in your tracks, but controls still are a lot more precise than in, say, the original Prince of Persia. Another unique feature is the "momentum gauge" at the top of the screen. While you're running, it starts to fill up. The further it gets to the right end, the more moves you'll be able to execute - for example, you can't slide while in the blue region of the gauge.

That's pretty much all there is to it. It's a small, non-pretentious, but hopefully fun game. If you care, please also visit the thread over in the TIG forums.

Expected date of release is September 7th, because that's when the competition ends, and I guess we'll need the time. The game is in a playable state right now, but... it's a total glitchfest.

Yeah, well, it's back in production. New ETA is around the middle of November.

Sooo... any comments? 

[Crash! Evade! Destroy!]

Crash! Evade! Destroy!



The name says it all. It's a platform game that has you crash into certain things, evade other things, and shoot a third group of things. Pretty simple, but fun. A huge load of thanks go to Bernie, who coded the platform engine the game is based on. Sounds and music taken from soundboy.de and vgmusic.com, respectively. Special thanks go to dkh and CodeJunkie for beta-testing, as well as Stupot, olafmoriarty and FSi, who also offered to beta-test but were hindered either by real life interfering or me forgetting to get back to them. 

Now download, try to figure out what the hell you have to do and... enjoy. 

Exactly. The platformer I'm currently working on sport a (critical) GUI by the name of gBlurb, carrying three buttons called btnCrash, btnEvade, and btnDestroy. Now, at the start of every new level, I need the button graphics to update and the GUI to become visible so the player knows what to do. Here's the script I've been using:

Code: ags

some crap about placing enemies etc.

//update button graphics
  ViewFrame *frame = Game.GetViewFrame(enemyView[1],0,0);
  btnCrash.NormalGraphic= frame.Graphic;
  
  frame = Game.GetViewFrame(enemyView[0],0,0);
  btnEvade.NormalGraphic=frame.Graphic;
  
  frame = Game.GetViewFrame(enemyView[2],0,0);  
  btnDestroy.NormalGraphic=frame.Graphic;

//extra life?
  if (lives<3) lives++; else GiveScore(1);

//reset timer
  timeleft=GetGameSpeed()*10+level*GetGameSpeed();

//play background music
  PlayMusic(Random(4));

//show gui
  gBlurb.Visible=true;
  WaitKey(99999);
  gBlurb.Visible=false;

Everything works just fine, up until the point the GUI should become visible. The extra life is added, the sound is played etc. - just gBlurb isn't shown. I'm totally at a loss here. Mind pointing out my probably soul-crushingly obvious mistake? 

Following some ancient advice by InCreator, I've tried to make a few sketches in Flash, using only (well... mainly) the freehand pencil.


A redo of the splash screen of Cheerful Science's intro.


The characters from the same game.


Uh... yeah... I got nothing.


So... any comments? Worth continuing this way, or is it back to MSPaint?

I just noticed I never added the game to the database or started a thread for it as I intended to do... well, better late than never.


(clicking on the image downloads the game)


In this short game, you take on the role of Research Girl, trying to help Captain Discovery with his experimentations. Despite the fact that their results, as well as his sanity, could be described as "unreliable".

At best.

Because of a huge stroke of lack of genius, I actually decided to try another semi-humanoid figure again, this time WITHOUT having it be a shoddy paintover of the templates from kafkaskoffee.com. I also made it for Gameboy-esque restrictions (because of the MAGS, obviously), which means multiples of 8 pixels for width/height and 4 colors. 

Anyway. The side walkcycle took the most of four hours, and it's extremely eggagerated, but I'm actually quite pleased with it. I'd still like the hear some suggestions on how to improve it, though:

(no transparency 'cause I can't figure out this stupid gif animator)



3x:


(wil be flipped for other direction)


The other up and down cycles, however...










Any suggestions on how to make them less horrible?

[must]

You probably know the outline supplied this time. If not, get off my lawn, whippersnapper.



You're allowed to draw both inside and outside the outline, as well as resize and rotate it, but it must be (more or less instantly) recognizable and somehow the center of your image. You're completly free on size and colors.

That's it. Competition ends on the 28th, 12 o'clock GMT. Good luck!


[Trophies go here once I can be arsed to draw some.]

Yeah, I registered a blog (sort of), too, and to gather attention, here's an advertising post. Geez, I hope it's not to late to jump on the bandwagon. 

Anyway. After the surprising reception of that supposed-to-be-an-april-fool-thing and due to onsetting madness, I decided to actually make a game like that. More information here, as well as an explanation of why in heck I registered a blog for it.

I'm still working on the formatting and layout, so please have some patience here. There's a full three posts to read right now, though, and there's more coming up (and it won't ALL be related to that game thing). Rejoice!