Vacation

     Running away for a week of vacation in France. In between work, health bitching with me and preparing for the travel I havent got time to work on the game the last few days. I'll try to get a few hours a day to work on it during my week away. I am currently working on the level's backgrounds. Trying to get the perspective and style right.

 This is the current progress of the Intro's setting.

Not much new content but some nice cleaning

Coded and animated the Panic of the policeman. He's now ready to be implemented to the level so my next step will be to get some more backgrounds and some scrolling going. The real level 1 is starting soon!

Corrected a bunch of bugs too, and recoded most of the Jump charge move for Star to remove a major bug caused by  MMF which sometimes seems to skip a frame when an animation starts. Star's move is pretty clean now and looks more dynamic. Also reworked a couple of his animations... He's starting to be the hysterical monster I want. I still have some pretty tedious stuff to redo on him before his code gets close to final though...

Going pretty good overall :)

About 50% done on the Police basic mob. He can walk, shoot, crouch, shoot while crooching ( Fancy!), die and fall off platforms while dying. I started working on his Panic mood, he can already get the Tense mood though.

What are the "moods" ? Ennemies in the game can change mood depending on your actions.
Most creatures have the following 3 moods:

-Default: creature acts normally.

-Tense : Achieved by finding the creature's weakness ( exemple: for the policeman, any bullet coming near him will scare him ). Still acts normally and the Tense effect only lasts a few seconds.

-Panicked: Achieved when Star blows his evil trumpet right in the face of a Tense ennemy! Panicked ennemies act differently depending on the type of ennemy. Some will run away, some wont. When panicked, they are defenseless and take 2x damage.

There's also a couple more special moods for a few creatures that happens under specific conditions such as getting irritated ( increasing its agressivity ).

A new title and some progression

So I decided to change the title of the blog. Doesnt really matter and even though the previous one was a clever and subtle reference to an old school game, I thought this one carried some added awesomeness. And its not too late yet so why not.

Didn't code much but did work on graphism. Changed the Paris Police force's design ( old on the left, new one on the right ). Size fits better compared to the background and to Star. Also I wanted to remove that futuristic Robocop feel caused by the helmet's screen. Seeing the policemen's face will also allow for better expressivity and stupid faces. Changed the shotgun for a pistol: some of them will have to use shields or grenades which would have been complicated without 3 or 4 hands.
Started animating them and having them walk while not looking retarded is a serious challenge.

A late resolution

Welcome to Insert Coins PLZ, a blog about a blob and his games!

What is this blog gonna be about ? Well mostly about the development of my video game projects.
I am starting this to try to force myself to work on my game on a regular basis, my resolution being to update this blog with something new in my game around once a week. No more excuses, I have abandonned way too many projects in the past.

What is the project ?

Modestly titled, "The Universe is MINE!" is a retro run & gun game mixing elements from classics like metal slug, contra and gunstar heroes. Set in the present, the game puts you in the control of the insane & hysterical alien "Star" who just escaped from an outer-space jail. Claiming the whole universe as his, he goes on a personnal war against the world, fighting any resistance and putting a flag with his face on anything worth claiming ( or not ).

This is a video of the previous build. It contains 5 weapons, 1 ennemy type and a few moves like the evades.
A new version is in process with new moves for the hero, bug corrections and the actual beginning of the 1st level. The main game will have scrolling and wont have infinite ennemies like the small test from the video.
My current goal is to have a playable 1st level in 4 months, let's see how that goes...