Study now, party later?

The semester is coming to a close and with that comes exams and the busiest time of the year. However, it also feels like the end and that means we're close to the break. So the next 2 weeks is going to be a constant effort to balance time. It is very important to take enough time to study enough for all of my 5 exams but there is something to be said for downtime as well. 

If I were to study non stop for the next 2 weeks I would probably come out the other side in pretty rough shape which is definitely not ideal. The same goes for the other way, if I neglect to study and get caught up doing something unproductive, I would likely not be here next year... So there needs to be a balance. I have spent many hours in the library the last 2 weeks and this has helped a lot allowing me to get a head-start on my studies rather than just studying a few days before. 

So over the next 2 weeks I will be studying to the point that I feel comfortable that I know enough for my exams and in my downtime I will be playing the Sega Genesis I just picked up for fun. I also have to catch up on Game of Thrones so I'm going to do that as well.

Almost there!

Hopefully I don't end up like Dexter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlOAzKpJDk

Gamecon Done! EXAMS EXAMS EXAMS!!!!!

So Gamecon went really well! We had a great turn out and lots of people played our game! We had a high score board to to try and get people to compete for the #1 spot to which a few people really took to and played multiple times. Also having a controller was a great addition as more people are more comfortable playing games on controllers than on keyboard and mouse. We were very happy with our showing!

The next step is, I think we are going to try and publish our game on mobile. We feel that we have a good idea and it would be perfect to port over to the Android and IOS platforms. This would probably be done on Unity so this might be a big investment from us if we want to take it to the next level. So I hope that works out!

Another bit of news, our programmer has decided to take next year off to pursue making his own games and work for a year. So best of luck to him!

Finally, the first exam is next Monday (Accounting) so studying is in full swing. Busy week, busy year, almost done!  

GAMECON!

We did it! We are in for Gamecon! Going to be a busy week but I'm glad we made it! Now time to polish our game and get it ready! This week we are adding controller support and lots of shaders to make our game look interesting! For me personally I will be doing more things with sound design and getting us set up for the showcase. This will be things like printing flyers, planning a booth, and helping with controller support.

We think it will be much better if we get our game running with a controller at Gamecon so we can hand something physical to people viewing the games. It will also help us (hopefully) stand out.

Also this week I am really crunching down on the studying. I figure the best way to do well is to start early instead of the day before. I am caught up on my notes and I just need to get review notes together then go through text book problems. Hopefully all goes well, I am looking forward immensely to 3rd year!

Sorry for the short blog.

Sounds and The Final Product

A large part of this week has been recording sounds and implementing them into the game. We now have menu sounds and music playing when the game starts. The last thing we have to add is a death screen but we do have collision for when the player will die so that is already done we just need to add the end of the game. So sound is good to go!

Working towards a goal is a good thing to do. And this goal is to be considered for Level Up Toronto. We find out today if we make it and I have to say I'm feeling pretty good and pretty confident that we will make it! We have all our enemies (5 in total) loaded into the game and interacting with the player and our player is moving around, the score is going up, and it is actually a game now.

The next step after the school year ends is deciding whether or not to continue this game or make a new one and that will depend largely on how people view our final product at either gamescon or LevelUp. So depending on that we will decide to move forward or start something new.

Another thing I should note is I have started learning how to use unity and I must say it is immensely easy! I enjoy developing with it very much and even challenged myself to make a game every week. I will see if I can keep that up especially with exams approaching.

MIDTERMS ARE OVER!

It's official, midterms are over! And with the end of midterms comes the final stretch. This is crunch time for both the game and for school work. On the game side we now have movement in our new build and actual gameplay! So our game is now a game... kind of. We have movement and the score goes up but there are no enemies... or obstacles... or a menu. This is all happening this week so this should be the end of the "no gameplay" problem.

New Screen Shot

We added a new score counter as our previous one was just a place holder and was very ugly. (bright green)

Also this week after I finish some homework questions, (hopefully I get to 40 points this week) I will be adding our music and sound for the entire game. This will actually make our game have more immersion and add a level of detail. I have written 3 songs and done the menu sounds.

https://soundcloud.com/noahvannest/death-music (this is the music that will play when the player looses the game)

The last piece of the puzzle this week is finishing our animations for our character so that they can attack and slide on the walls. Our 3D artist/animator has been... slow in completing the animation so it's not there yet. We do have a way to load them in though so that's part of it already done.

Lastly we have a new idea for a level/boss fight. At one point a dragon will come from the bottom of the screen and eat the player. The player will think they have died and lost but then a boss vs. screen will flash and the walls will now become the inside of the dragon. The player has to battle to the top of the dragon and attack it's heart 3 times to defeat the boss.

So this is crunch time. The game is going to be done soon hopefully!

Shaders

I've been working on some interesting shaders this week for the game and others for homework questions. Doing this has given me a lot of practice with glsl coding and making myself familiar with shaders and lighting effects. I actually had a lot of fun doing this and would love to continue working on it for the rest of the semester to get our game looking very cool.

selective colouring shader (green)

Also this week, we have added shader support fully to our game and added better lighting and models. Though we now don't have any gameplay... so that is what's happening this week. Our game looks alot better now graphically which is a big plus.

before

after

Finally, we received notice that we are in the top running to go to level up which is great news! Our hard work is paying off! We hope to go this year it would be alot of fun.

Midterms!

It's midterm time... yay!

This is a good thing I guess. It makes me review everything so far and especially with reading week just before all of them. I have 5 in total the first being graphics, then accounting, then business... etc. They actually get easier as I go on which is always nice.

One point I wanted to bring up is; why don't we have a first semester reading week? It would make everything so much easier especially during the midterms of first semester.  I would have loved a break before our animation midterm. Would've been very helpful.

I do enjoy reviewing everything though. It is a good practice especially when I have already taken notes for the whole semester. Great way to stay on top of everything! So I am ready! Let's do this!