Wednesday, August 31, 2011

More Sprite Info

To help my buddy Nonulok out with the whole side step issue, I believe I have a very nice elegant solution. I do want guns that aim at the mouse curser and up until now it always looked a little silly the way I was doing it.But it just now dawned on me a sweet solution. The head will angle a little and so will the body, (both being separate sprites) The gun/arm sprite and legs will also be separate sprites . this will allow for the whole aiming thing to happen without the overall need for a side stepping animation. I am not the sprite guy so this may be something Nonulok and I team up on, but a solution none the less it is which I think will look nice and fluid like on screen.

Neuntoter

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Yay Graphics!

So I figured I'd make a quick post here since I can't seem to sleep. Graphic production has come to pretty much a complete stop as I've taken up some jobs for the game that are much more work than I anticipated. The two biggest: The "facing the screen" sideways walk the player has to do and the Former Human's handgun. The original Doom never had any reason to show the player strafing, so those animations need to be completely custom made. The Former Human's handgun is just annoying. Drawing human arms in correct proportion is apparently ridiculously difficult for me. It's coming along, but slowly. I've done plenty of editing of sprites in very short amounts of time, but making completely new frames out of existing frames that aren't really that close to what I need isn't as easy as I had thought. Sorry, just needed to rant about that. I'm closing Photoshop and attempting to go to bed again. 1337 dr34m5, internet.

-Nonulok

Alpha changes

Well, it has come to my attention that releasing an alpha version this weekend may not be the wisest choice. And unfortunately this is mainly because of the HUGE lack of interest in the game currently (by the community). I believe that my time is better spent finishing up what I feel are important features, get all the animations and enemies and items in game. get the menu fully working and get the level editor working well. Unless I have a show of interest I would rather put out what my gaming heart really wants from this project and not rush things to put out something that others clearly do not want right now. I still appreciate all the great support that I am receiving and I (of course) will continue to leave update posts to let all know where it stands. I will start to post more videos and pictures from this point since there is alot to be seen and heard from this project now.

Oh, this project will not die like all the other 2D DooM games that all actually looked very promising. So if you do want to see a 2D DooM shine I promise that I will not let you down.

Neuntoter

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Alpha Around Corner

Well, now the alpha is in a distant vision. We are putting some finishing touches on the alpha content. I would love to say next weekend will be the date it goes live. Once again the purpose of the alpha release is to get feedback from you the players, both good and bad cause it will only help make the finished product that much better. I am about 1/2 way done with my to do list and Nonulok is mostly finished with his.

Up until now everyone has been dead quiet, seriously, this is freakin DooM not the Tella Tubbies or Barnie. We would both love to hear your comments, questions, concerns, feedback, even just a peep or a "Whuzzzz UUppppppp!!!!!" let us at least know there's some life. DooM is part of almost all gamers past lives and if it does not interest you, I am sure that you have a friend that is all hard core DooM fan in one way, shape, or form. Tell them about this, ..... Spread the love, spread the message, spread the prophecy that Hell will once again unleash upon this tiny world and that once again they will have to take arms and send the demons back to the hell in which they came from.

Neuntoter

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Major Update

Major??!!!, what could be so major???

Well first would be a low feature sound engine. Thats right, we now have sounds with volume control. Any of those that watched any of our videos has most likely realized that there was not any sound during them. That was not by us muting it, that was truly because there was not any. The engine will be built up of course but for now it has volume control and it puts out sound. will work well enough for the Alpha release.
:::Planned additions to the sound engine will be:::
1. Sound panning (AKA Stereo Sound)
This will allow creatures to be heard on their proper sides of the screen.
2. Ambient Sound Channels
This will be under a separate volume control than the SFX and Music. This will allow us to scare the hell out of you the best we can in a 2D. Plus it will just add to the atmosphere.
3. Music Sound Channels
Under separate volume control. Will allow for some sweet music to be played that will be performed and composed by yours truly, Nonulok and Neuntoter.

And for the next major portion of the update. Area of effect damage. Missile blasts, barrels, and BFG. They now hit multiple targets including yourself and depending on how close you are to the blast will actually depend on damage you take from the blast. I added player damage from the BFG if you are close but the damage is super dumbed down compared to what it does to the enemies. I did this for strategy reasons. It is a shooter yes, but if you know you get hit point blank then you will think twice about certain attacks before doing them. It basically prevents the game from being too easy.

Well there you have it. Alpha right around the corner and some juicy news to get excited about.

Neuntoter

Monday, August 22, 2011

Used Assets

Just a quick update on where the assets are actually coming from. This is a DooM game so the assets are being pulled from DooM, DooM II , DooM 64, DooM 3, and custom made based off of the previous 3. This includes, all textures and sounds. (sprites included) So far sounds will be D3 sounds since those are the easiest to rip, sound awesome and are much more rich than the old school sounds. The GFX are meant to be retro to a degree but the sound and music I believe should be great. Along with the sounds and all, lets talk about the soundtrack. Nonulok and I are both musicians and will be completely writing an original score for this game. None of this music will be featured in the Alpha release but will of course be in the final game.

Certain textures my come over from the 3rd DooM or we my include D3 GFX as an option to choose from so it will be DooM, DooM64 or DooM 3.

Neuntoter

Quick update

Well, the Alpha Test release is coming very close. We have to smooth some more code and make a few changes to some of the GFX. After that add some sounds and create 5 levels that will be worthy to reach the hands of our loyal following. Since last post we have both done a lot of additions and alterations (for the better of course) to getting closer to the alpha goal.

Till next time

Neuntoter

Friday, August 19, 2011

Alpha Release Coming Soon

Right now Nonulok and I are doing a lot of cleanup and polishing (for what is all still unfinished) and we will be releasing what we have very shortly. What will be released will be all finished portion of characters (enemies and player) features and functions. Why will it be considered Alpha?? Well very simply put, we will be making about 4 or 5 levels that will actually have nothing to do with the finished story line. They will be levels to be levels so you can test what the game will play like (overall) and maybe give us some suggestions if we possibly missed something. Of course more features and characters will be added after the fact of the Alpha release but this is kinda a taste test for all you really waiting for this to rear it's head.

Guesstimated time may be two weeks, maybe less depending on how smooth everything goes from this point. One final question??.... Should we release another video of the Alpha release before it goes out or should we just release the Alpha and let you all be surprised with what has been added since???

Neuntoter

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Moving Forward

Not going to say too much about code today but I do want to point out the awesome work in the sprite and tile department known as the mighty Nonulok. His attention to detail and his shared vision for this project is letting him some amazing things. My code is coming out rather well but without the images that the code modifies the code (in my opinion) is essentially useless. So I would like to thank Nonulok for his great dedication and excellent work in this project.

We have been using so far the DooM 64 sprites and the original DooM tile sets. But like I said in an earlier post, this project is influenced bu DooM, not a complete 2D recreation of it. So with that said, Nonulok has been making slight alterations to the sprites along with creating all new animations for new movements and so on. play-ability wise it is feeling good, and visually it is looking great. A few people (friends, family) that have tried the current state exe are loving it and so I hope it just keeps getting better and then we will pass the greatness onto everyone wanting to play it : )

Neuntoter

Monday, August 15, 2011

Quick Update

Like I said I would do, I finished up the AI. In all honesty, I am so glad I just fixed it and cleaned it all up. Now it is so easy to go in and edit and I can add new things to it quick. Close combat enemy AI now works, I also have it so enemies can hear you gunshots now. so if you stealth into a group and fire off a round, lots of bullets will fly your way. I tweaked a few animation coding so no animations should now stick in place. (this was really annoying lol, and cool in it own funky way)

Should I work on a BOSS coding (level and all) or projectiles and particles, hmm, the options, and the teasers. Remember this is a platforming shooter inspired by DooM. Anything is possible like bosses besides the CyberDemon. what to do, what to do.

Neuntoter

Video's up!

Yay! After several issues I'm finally uploading the video(s). We recorded this in one take, but didn't realize that it ended up being about 19 minutes long. YouTube has a limit of 15 minutes per video. I didn't know this however, so when I uploaded it, I got a rejection notice for length. I then had to re-render after splitting it in half. Fun times. It's up now, so go watch it by clicking here.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A Break From Coding

So I took a little break from coding after fixing the stuff from the last post I mentioned and decided to play a little Zombie Driver. At first, meh, but holy crap, after a while it was really addicting. Next thing I know 5 hours later and I beat it. It is a very fun and very easy to play. The car mechanics made it a blast to drive things over. The GFX were nice to look at while smothering zombie guts all over the place. Look for it on steam, very in expensive and very fun to play. plus with all the different modes you will get a lot of play with this game.

Well going to finish AI tomorrow and if no vid is posted I will put up some screen shots to hold you all over.

Neuntoter

AI Almost Finished

All projectile throwing enemies are finished and the code is optimized pretty well. A lot more stream lined than before and way easier to read. Also, enemies can no longer see through walls so thats always a big bonus. Now I just have to finish close combat AI and AI will be complete. then off to a new portion. I am thinking projectiles and particles will be next. They are already implemented quite well, but I do not have such things as spray and splash damage particle/projectile working yet. and the projectile and particle code is already optimized. So this should be a quick implementation.

thats it for now....

Neuntoter

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Yay for rendering issues!

Video is recorded, but there were a few issues. We used Fraps, which separated the video into a few different parts. One of which was corrupted. Luckily, the corrupted file was just a copy of the original which was fine. This did mean that we had to transfer a 4gb file over the internet. It took about 4 hours. Seems to work fine now. Starting to edit a little bit, then re-rendering the whole thing. Should be uploaded later today.

Friday, August 12, 2011

AI Updates

The AI I tell you is a beastly thing and I think it's not only a beastly thing, it's also a very important thing. Now I do understand that after all it is only a sidescroller and the AI is nothing like say Thief but it still is a very important part of a game. So I decided to actually polish the AI up now and make the AI what I want it to be for final release when we put out the alpha test. And because of this we may push it back a little but I really am hoping that within the next 4 days I can polish it up really well for what it's worth.

I am trying to give the AI an interesting twist for this game considering that it is an action 2D sidescroller. Some levels will be set up for some stealth, but please do not let this fool you, it will be packed with action. I would like to try to make some parts of the game "suspencful".

Nonulok should be posting that video real soon today and I will be working on polishing up the AI. So that is it as far as the updates are concerned.

Neuntoter

Video Recorded

So the video was recorded and both Nonulok and I had a blast recording it. It was kinda funny, about 10 minutes of recording and I was messing around and died lol, so we re-recorded. Overall I would say it came out pretty good. Nonulok will edit it later today and then post it.

Added blood effects for the video, they will stay in game but get improved by alot when polished. Please keep in mind that the video is alpha and not even close to being polished. Animations are still being smoothed out and so is the code. When the video is posted I hope all enjoy.

Neuntoter

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Fun Filled Update

Ok, just a quick post.......

We have all been waiting till the initial video release, well here it is, tonight is the night it will be posted. Now about that Alpha release for a 4 or so day download time frame. Nonulok and I discussed how this will be an exciting moment for us and that we will post it for a short time frame so everyone following this and interested in what it's all about. Now with this Alpha release we will ask you to keep in mind that it is un optimized code, not all characters, levels and or features will actually be in it. We will give you a few levels with some enemies to give a quick feel. There will also be no sounds or music and that controls may also change a little in final release.

We will be releasing this Alpha to get comments about, will this be in game, will this feature be available, and other things. We are hoping to get ideas and partial direction on where this should go. Please do not get us wrong, we both have a 100% direction of how this game will be played and where this game will end. But we also realize that we might have left out some mechanics and or features of such that will make it that much better of an experience.

Well enough about the Alpha, we will discuss that more when the release date and time frame have been stamped final.

Neuntoter

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Possible New AI and Video release updates

Well first I just want to say I purchased LIMBO from steam and the game is an amazing platform puzzle game. simple controls, forward, jump, back and action (for flipping switches and stuff) almost all the puzzles are physics based some using gravity and others using momentum. But either way the game is great, give the demo a try at least, get it through steam.

Now about DooM, going through the AI code I was thinking, "You know, it works, it's functional, it's also cluttered as crap and could be coding so much more efficiently". So I may do this but in the process it will also help me make it more robust for many forms of AI instead of rehashing almost 80 lines of code over and over for different enemy types. The video will be made before this code overhaul just for the sake that the video is meant to demonstrate the game and our goals with it. When it is done it should be a full shiny finished optimized product.

Going to work on some special things to shine up the video experience, and yes, it should all be in the finished product unless we get complaints or it really just does not fit in to the way the game plays. Oh and one last thing before I let you go before next post. Video will be recorded tonight or tomorrow. Then some compression time and uploading, should be from anytime tonight to Friday night. Commentary will be so so for now until we get a little more in game and have a little more to talk about.

Neuntoter


Edit by Nonulok: LIMBO also available on PSN and XBLA btw.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Possible Alpha Test

I have been throwing the idea around in my head to give a link to the alpha gameplay for about 4 days or so and see what kind of suggestions and comments come from actually playing the game. I Have to discuss this with Nonulok of course before anything is final but who knows it may happen. And if it does it will be soon, and so will the video.

Any way, if you get bored this week and find you have nothing to do, go play either Terraria, LIMBO, or Aquaria, 3 amazing indie games. Just some food for thought.

Neuntoter

Just a short post

Please, post comments and ask questions. We are really hoping to build an interest in this and get people excited about the idea of a 2D DooM. I as the programmer would love to hear about what others may want to see as features and Nonulok would love to know if any other items/characters should be added since he is the one making the sprites.

So if you have questions by all means comment on our posts and ask questions about whats going on, maybe some great ideas will spring up from this and make this game that much better.

Well off to code some more, hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Neuntoter


Edited by Nonulok: Adding labels. Again.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Sorry about video

Due to AI not fully being complete, a video will not be made tonight. Although I did make great progress, having the Cacodemon flying and attacking you and all, now my issue appears to be the pink demon. See, he does not shoot projectiles so he is far from what most the AI is actually based off of. So I actually have to write completely new AI for him, at least with the Cacodemon I just had to modify some stuff and add some new stuff, but the pink demon is a whole new bag of worms.

Once again sorry,

Video will be coming super soon.


Edited by Nonulok: Added tags.

Enemy AI

For the past week I have been working on the AI for the enemies. I was all set polishing it up and Nonulok says to me, "So what are we doing with flying creatures??"

My response "uhhmm , " *pause* "well I guess I have to make them work too"

so that means today I'm work on flying creature AI. Honestly, it should basically be the same as all the ground enemy AI but these ones will use the Y axis for movement also. so it should be done today.

So about that video, hmm, that should be recorded tonight if the whole AI thing goes well. I have that to finish and also want to add some controls to some of my testing visuals so we can explain them better and not have a kinda mess on the screen the whole time.

well, thats it for now, back to coding to bring you guys that wonderful video tonight.


Edited by Nonulok: Grammar fixes, Labels added

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Where to begin

Well a few questions should be answered up front and maybe explained. DooM..... is this not so successful FPS from back in the day....... Yes actually and one of my most favorite games that I played many, many times.. Although I am not a complete FPS fan I always loved DooM and Quake games. So why a 2D DooM game. Easy, why not....

I have seen a few projects start and never finished and and it always upset me because I love 2D platformers and I love DooM, so why have they not both been put together. Well people get dreams and never complete them. I am here making this game to fill my dream of playing a 2D DooM. And by this I hope many get a chance to experience this joy with both myself and Nonulok. So with these posts, you will get to experience the creation of this hoping to become 2D masterpiece and then upon completion play it and enjoy the wonders that DooMs world can give us as a 2D platform shooter.

I will post more later but for now I must call it a night.
I would like to thank you all for joining Nonulok and myself in this journey

Neuntoter


Edited by Nonulok: Grammar fixes, Labels added

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Recovering from an Epic Fail

Back up and running. Mostly. Video is going to delayed a little, but it'll be up soon. I promise. If all goes well, it'll have commentary with it too. ^_^

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Epic Fail

Had an epic fail today. The main files for the game just suddenly stopped working earlier. After a LOT of tinkering Neuntoter found that the image files were corrupted after being transferred to a flash drive. The entire file structure needs rebuilt, but thankfully we have backups of all the images. All of the code put into the engine so far is also fine, so we're not that screwed. Just some annoying busy work.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

First Post Again!

So I'm starting this blog to be dedicated specifically to game development. Currently, we are working on a 2d side scrolling game based on DooM. I posted this update previously on the other blog (which is going to serve as my own personal blog about everything else)

First game progress: The engine for the DooM game we're working on is almost complete as well as most of the character graphics. Sound and level design are the main things left to do. A lot of little things are needed too, but we'd rather get the game up and functional before doing minor tweaks. I'll get a video up of the current status of the game soon.

The other blog can be found Here.