A silly mistake I made today, and why you should always think through your code.

That moment when you thought something would be easy to implement and then it broke all the old code. :(

This is a great example of a "simple to think about, hard to implement" game mechanic.  It sounds great on paper but has a very fatal flaw when implemented that I didn't catch.

The short version of the mechanic is that

1- The level has torches around it that can be lit up by the player.
2 - The objects loaded in when the level is built are hidden at first, and when a torch is lit, it enables a list of objects to show themselves.  (Each torch has previously scanned to build this list at the start of the level).
3 - The player can light their own "torch" to reveal objects nearby as they wander the level, and use this torch to light the unlit ones.

The system worked great but it had a major flaw.  I recently introduced the player being able to carry a dynamic light source around, and that broke everything.

The player controlled object has to erase it's own trail, because if the player moves away from something dark it should hide itself again.  Otherwise the player's light source just becomes a fancy paintbrush that reveals everything in the level.

But in adding that bit, the player is now overwriting the previously lit objects.

The result is that lighting a torch and then moving away will hide the objects again even though the torch right next to them is still lit.  Doh! x_x

I got a few ideas how to go about fixing it.  The tricky part is to do it without needing to always re-find the objects they lit up, as that's the main memory hog of the system.  But I need a break for now.  My current fix idea is to have the torches "tag" objects as "skip hiding this one", since in this system (for now) the torches never turn off again.

In the end, it will probably cost me an extra few minutes tomorrow to fix.  However, it's a great example of why planning is very important.

Anyway, I just thought it might be fun to share this little game mechanic planning mishap.  This is why testing your ideas out on paper is so important, as well as running over all combinations of game elements during the design.

Remember to check out Drake at https://darkgriffin.itch.io/drake if you haven't played it yet!  It's the latest game I've made and I'd love some help sharing it around to new players!

Drake is out!

Playable in web flash, and if you donate 5.00 or more you get downloads of both flash and windows executable form that you can keep forever and play offline.

https://darkgriffin.itch.io/drake

I really could use some help spreading this game around.  In order to be a success I need as many people as possible to see it, play it, and share it.  Your donations will go directly to me and supporting my game development in the future, I promise!

I also greatly need some feedback on the price.  This is my first game launch, and while I think the current donation download price is fair for the amount of content given, it may very well not be.  I'm operating in the dark and within the very narrow amount of games I have been able to afford myself on the lower end of the market.  While I would feel 5 is a fair price were I to buy the game for offline play, I don't know how others feel about that.

Anyway, enough about me!  Go play the game!  And please share the link with your friends!

Small Status Update

For those following me, not too much has changed this past week in my game projects.  I got sick with something big on Monday and it took me out till around Friday evening to get well enough to work on anything that would take more then a few minutes time again.  I've spent most of the remaining week and weekend just trying to recover myself or catch up with things I've fallen behind on.

I know this isn't the most exciting update.  I wanted to post something so those that follow me know I haven't vanished.  I'm still here, Drake is still a thing, my other projects are still happening as well.  It's just been a bit of a "forced vacation" from game design this week.

I did manage to snag RPG Maker MV during the free weekend discount.  I'm a bit too tired right now to write up a proper review.  So far I've liked what they did to improve it, even if most of the improvements are just super tiny things.

Most of my up time from my sickness was spent pouring over it's engine/tools/plugin system and learning how it ticks, since I could do that in very small bursts when my eyes would let me.  I have a little wip dungeon generator plugin that's not quite ready for alpha release yet.  I have been able to dive right into the code running this time since the language is Javascript instead of ruby.

Anyway, signing off for now.  I intend to hit the ground running tomorrow.  Next week should be a bit more productive.

Drake Work In Progress Report

I just want to say I am still chugging along on both Drake and a top secret project.  Top secret is not ready for revealing, and has hit quite a few bugs along the way.

Level 2's layout is almost finished for Drake, and in polishing stage.  The level introduces a few new game mechanics that were not implemented in the itch.io jam version.  Namely boss fights, and a system for "level tasks" that open special "doors".  Since these were not in place for the contest version but are needed for the final version, I have done a lot more behind the scenes work then level design the last few weeks.  Moving forwards, these new systems will let me fill out the rest of the levels faster now.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a gif of Drake helping out a cute little phoenix friend who had an unfortunate encounter with the invaders.

I will keep working, and will try to regularly post updates to this blog as I get the remaining levels in place.