Teknoblag

Looking Back - Peg Soldier

2012-01-08T12:57:00.001-08:00

Peg Soldier is an old top down shooter that uses 8x8 graphics.

It holds up surprisingly well, compared to my other old games.
It's simple aestehtic allowed for rapid developement, but my lack of coding skills and experience led me to quicky run out of steam on the project.

If I were to remake it today, I would do a few things differently:
The enemies would have path finding abilities and would take cover and call back-up.
Friendlies would try to guard you, and perhaps a mechanic would be added to where you could order them around and arm them.
Enemies would not shoot randomly, and when they were about to shoot, they would have an anticipation animation.
The in-game shop would be clearer, and things would be priced better.
There would be more satisfying sound effects.
Proper boss battles.
A better visual theme with a limited palette, not just quickie tiny graphics.
Satisfying audio and visual cues for when you're out of ammo, you've picked up health, a friendly was lost, or the last enemy on the field was killed.
Proper music not lifted from other games ;)

Although that seems like the game is missing a lot, what makes it fun is already there:
The game-play is simple
The levels are quick and exciting
The environments have a good amount of variety
There are upgrades
You have little buddies that fight with you

Download Peg Soldier and try it out for yourself.
I'm sure I'll make a similar title eventually.

0SPACE IGF

2011-11-24T11:44:00.001-08:00

Are your cousins over for the holidays
and you're bored out of your mind?

Shoot each other in space.

The IGF version of 0space features:

Vertical screens in 2 player
New effects and animation
A clearer points system

+3 New Levels:

-Starter-

-Death Square-
-Quest-

Donate any amount and receive the IGF version of 0space!

(Download will start automatically after donation)

(Here is an awesome video from Giant Bomb

showcasing new features of the game)

The Magnificient

2011-10-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

The Mag is a game I started during TigJam 4.It is inspired by Film Noir, Blade Runner, and Street Fighter 2010.The finished version will be a long and difficult level with 2 bosses.

Shoot Bastard

2011-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

I went to San Francisco over the weekend to attend TigJam 4!

While I was there I worked on various things. One of which was the "make a game in an hour challenge" where I teamed up with Chevy Ray Johnston and Matt Thorson to create Shoot Bastard!

I handled the art while Chevy did the code and Matt composed the music.

Play it Here. Play it Now.

Action Fist OST

2011-06-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

You can now get the Action Fist OST from Bandcamp.com

It features every song from the game, as well as a live version of Rain Base Zone.

More live versions are sure* to come.

*But I originally stated that this was going to be available in 2009, so who knows!

Enjoy!

0Space Update!

2011-05-18T01:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile. But that was because I was working on 0Space.

A 2 player version of the game will soon be featured on the Winnitron 1000 Indie Arcade Machine.

And just recently, 0space was featured at Babycastles' Silent Barn location in Queens, NY, for their Tigsource Versus Compo themed show. It also had Jesus fighting Darwin in a Tetris-style vehicle wrestling match, and flying pirate ships shooting each other out of the sky.

But just for you, yes you, I've got a tidier and gussied up version of the future arcade classic (We'll see eh?).

This baby's got the following:

New Level "Spring"
Random Level Select
Players now take turns selecting playlists, as opposed to player 1 always getting to
New effects for shooting and jumping
Wider Screens for 2 player VS

so DOWNLOAD away!

And here's the proper trailer 0space needed.

What I'm Up To

2011-04-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

My current endeavor is learning how to use FlashPunk, so that I may make games that will reach a wider audience, including Mac users, and those too lazy to download something, respectively.

So I leave you with this tiny taste of what's to come-

ALSO!

Today is my brother's birthday. Go listen to his awesome music. Do it. Now!

Abandoned Project - Yveia (2007)

2011-03-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've decided to go backwards through my first project folder and cover my abandoned projects.

So, before this guy 'Pixel', or Daisuke Amaya (if that is his real name) made this game Cave Story, he hacked into my computer and stole all the design documents for my game Yveia.

The big heads, the limited weapon firing range, the floaty jumping, the circular clouds of smoke, even the evil witches and their big doofy sidekicks. All stolen.

But seriously, everyone has tried to make their own 'Cave Story', and mine was terrible. And called Yveia.
I don't even know how to pronounce that.

DOWNLOAD Game and Source HERE

Pixothello

2011-03-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Make A Mockup.
Organize Your Tilemap.
Use In Game.

While Pixothello is nice, it does have a few shortcomings:

Occasionally slow FPS (Made in Game Maker)
Can only export .BMP's (Made in Game Maker)
Cannot rotate tiles (Did not foresee when I programmed it, and now it's hard to add)
Fill tool breaks on erased pixels (No idea)

0Space - Beta

2011-01-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

0Space is my in progress TIGsource Versus Competition Entry.

It is a zero gravity hotseat deathmatch game for 2-4 player

Making A Blood Effect In Pixothello

2011-01-08T23:59:00.001-08:00

Here I demonstrate Pixothello's basic animation functions.

Abandoned Project - Crumble (2009)

2011-01-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

Crumble is a project from 2009 that was made to experiment with destructible levels and multiple teams of AI that can navigate those levels.

DOWNLOAD the Game and Source Code here!

Making A Tileset In Pixothello

2010-12-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

While Pixothello is very good at making Jackson Pollock renderings, It is also good at creating tilesets efficiently.

Making Shmuppy Ships in Pixothello

2010-12-30T01:59:00.000-08:00

Pixothello is a Tile Creation and Pixelling program I am currently making to help improve work flow.

This only shows a portion of the program, where I have set up the canvas so I can make symmetrical sprites easily.

Abandoned Project - Sepien (2009)

2010-11-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

This is a 'Work Not In Progress'
I have so many unfinished projects that are still kind of cool, so I thought I would start posting them up anyway.

I started 'Sepien' to mess around with this bullet pattern script I made.

The source is included in the download, if anyone wants to try and learn from my messy programming.

Download Here!

Grid Shock: It's about time.

2010-08-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

Grid Shock is like.... so freaking old, dude. Like- Brah, you have no idear. So like, whatever. It's 2010. I started working on it 4 years ago... fixed some things. Gave it onliney highscores. Well. Here it is.

Features:

Terrible voiceacting
Out dated sprite work
50 Waves of NON STOP ACTION*
ECSLPLOSIONS!
Characters with ATTITUDE*
Co-Op if you have a dual analog joystick
Online Highscores!
Robots!

Sounds good eh? Get it HERE

Shoot First Version 1.2 + Extra

2010-07-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Guess what I've been doing these past few days. Well well well, let's see what we have here. Hmmhmm... You got yourself an update alright. Now some of these things are pretty minor, but overall they improve the game quite a bit.

Travelers/Green Knights can now pick up the weapons you discard. Arm your buddies, however wimpy they may seem.
Glitch fixes- spawning problems, hidden exits, all that crap- should be dead now.
No more trap room slowdown problems.
No more trap room escapees. (That means you, monsters!)
A new highscore board (now that the cheat has been irradicated)

But eh, whats this?

Those of you who have enjoyed Shoot First and would like to support my game making endeavours can choose to donate below and receive a version of the game with extra content! This extra content includes:

A fancy new level
Two fancy new weapons (Burn Baron shown above)

Shoot First Sexy Update***

2010-07-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

I hope this addresses most of the concerns that people were having with the game.

New Stuff:

Mouse now has direct aiming. No more 8 direction mouse aiming.
Custom controls are now saved
Fullscreen button added that tests resolution and makes appropriate fixes (tell me if this doesn't work properly)
Some odd item pickup error has now been fixed
Option for turning off scanlines*
Discovered exits are logged onto the map**

So, please enjoy the bandaged and healing new version of Shoot First

Thanks to Jason Rohrer for prompting me to do this-

SHOOT FIRST

2010-07-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Shoot First is an Action Roguelike.

It features 2 player co-op, procedurally generated levels, 5 environments, and online highscores (thanks to Adam Reineke for writing the PHP script and Evan Balster for the DLL).

I started this game in the middle of working on Action Fist. Even though I had a brand new and fiery passion for my rogue project, every now and then I would run into such pitfalls as: "Everything is frozen" and "This map is unbeatable". And it's bad enough to lose inspiration for your main project, let alone one you just birthed. (I'd like to thank Jonatan Söderström for encouraging me to get this thing finished up near it's last legs).

I found it funny: Because the game was procedural, sometimes I would be testing it and would catch myself looking for things that I knew weren't there... So I hope that players feel like this game offers much more to explore than I ever got to experience while making it.

Due to the procedural nature of this game, it can be downright cruel sometimes! Enjoy!

On a side note:

While working on this game, I realized that I make a lot of games with shooting. I mean seriously, look at my games page; there are 7 games that have guns/shooting on their buttons. Seven! (and all of my games have something violent in them)

Now this may not seem like a problem to many gamer types, and frankly, it isn't. Shooting and dodging is a fun and intuitive mechanic, which also acts as an instant conflict; But I feel like it might be an easy way out.

I might have to go fishing in another pond for a while.

Infinite Blank

2010-06-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

My Plaidnotion cohort, Evan "Cellulose Man" Balster has just released his most recent project entitled Infinite Blank.

Infinite Blank is a massively multiplayer explorative world building game.

Players start off exploring the massive landscape until they encounter an edge of the map. Then they are instructed to pour their imagination into the empty cell and set collision boundaries. What I hope to become of this is a sprawing and imaginative landscape that one could get lost in for hours.

The game lives up to the ambitious idea, and Evan is currently adding features to make it more user friendly.

So my friends, get your Infinite Blank on, and start drawing!

www.infiniteblank.com

Animation Reel

2010-05-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

I made an animation reel because it had been a while since I had done some flash, and I wanted to show that I have improved a lot since the last time I touched the program.

That sounds like it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but let's let my animation speak for itself.

ANIMATION REEL

For those of you looking for things armed with audio and full technicolor. Too bad.

GDC Doodles

2010-05-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

I know this is late as all hell.

While at the GDC I drew a lot.

Here is a collaboration I did with Kyle Pulver, Greg Wohlwend, and Beckah, it would seem!

Lauren of Star Gaurd suggested I draw a glow worm

Clearly I am unaware of what glow worms look like.

This is Coochie Crab Sprays Farmville Guy With Money Hose.
A Product of 3:17 AM

Action Fist is OUT!

2010-04-11T01:51:00.000-07:00

Now look what I've gone and done!

Picothedayo

2010-04-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

I vowed to create a new picture everyday.

Don't think I can do it!? Well! I'll show you!

Check out my attempts here:

http://picothedayo.blogspot.com

Updated every day... No, really!?

April Foolps

2010-04-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

Download HERE!

Fish Face: Gamma 4 Entry

2010-03-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

Fish Face is my entry for Gamma 4

In Fish Face, you play a fish. With a face. Who tries to rescue the Cephalapod Princess!
However, Fish Face only has one input at his will.

Press either Z or Down to swim towards the depths. When you let go, buoyancy will be the primary force against you, and you will be launched upwards. Go deeper to clear higher jumps!

Global Game Jam Game

2010-02-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

My fellow Plaidnotion-ist (Evan) and I have posted up our Global Game Jam Game, entitled: Battery Boats.

http://plaidnotion.com/batteryboats/

The object of the game is to smash your opponent into a rock. However, you are tied together with a buoy that will kill both of you if it collides with an obstacle.

use arrow keys and WASD to move, The ctrl buttons for boosts for each boat respectively.

Go give it a whirl!
2 People required for maximum funnity.

Anamaton Time

2009-12-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

A product of around 2 years or so of dabbling work-

Anamaton is finally at a state of "Good Enough"completion. The only known errors are those which come up when playing alone, and some tiny award errors, but nothing that will destroy an enjoyable skirmish.

The controls take a little getting used to, but included is a tiny handy PDF manual.

I would recommend playing with a joystick.

The Level "1337 arena" is there so those who are lonely can battle with some ai.

Download it Here

On Progress and Padlocks

2009-10-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Progress is a difficult issue in games. You want the player to feel like they are improving, but you also want to make sure that they are being challenged. I enjoy returning to an area to explore new territory, as long as it was because I was stronger or had new abilities, and not because I got the freaking blue key.

I suppose a good way to go about this is to build elaborate, bending, stretchy, convoluted, intertwining, tiered, crunchy, complicated environments. Expand the vertical field with elements that compliment the environment from different angles. Seeing how different the environment looks when venturing to another side of a monument will beckon the act of exploring, and if there exists a path plethora, backtracking will not be so much that as it is adventuring- and if there must be a "locked door" situation, its a better idea to make it hold hands with the scenery than to plop an iron door.

I think player society could agree that a fire pit is more comforting than a padlock, a high cliff more endearing than a mahogany panel and a brass handle, and a tough cookie of a character looking you in the eye more of an important event than a cleverly disguised card key swipe.

I passed a locked door. God dammit.

I suppose a split path situation is best solved by destroying the act of backtracking or making it relatively painless. Allowing

multiple instances of subjective decision making in an alternatively rigid game play track tempts the player to return to an area. Forcing them to walk the trampled path is not a bad choice if they are aware of the options around them.

oh- my GOD! I can go IN the tree as well as AROUND it! Genius! Bloody genius!

Now, don't confuse amoeba like and placid environments as a million paths. The FF12 route does not entice exploration so much as it urges boredom.

<-- This game really neglected the Y axis... Not to mention the FUN axis.

There are a lot of complaints in the air about linearity, and personally, I don't think linear gameplay is all that crummy. Having a game go from level to level is a much better alternative than mindless backtracking. To make linear gameplay more exciting, there should be options about how the player can go about things. In Metal Gear Solid 4, there are a good 30 ways to go about each situation, so linearity and punishment are hardly an issue.

And now there's that damned key.

Now backtracking sucks, but as long as I have a way to find out where I'm going and there isn't a Cave Story Sand Zone effect going on, then I am perfectly happy to visit a land I've already trekked.

Media Regeneration

2009-09-19T18:34:00.002-07:00

Sim War 5

2009-08-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

AuthenticKaizen has created a youtubes trailer of my latest invention

Download Here!

Sim War 5, Coming Your Way

2009-07-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

A game that I started around 2007 has been slowly working its way up to this point. It is a 3d Battle Sim, the fifth in a series of games I've just been calling Sim War (Really compelling name, huh?) What happened to the fourth and second one, one who pays to much attention would ask? Well, I've deemed them unworthy.

After a brief test-playing period, I shall release this game into the wild.

Music I like that you should like too

2009-07-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Slagsmalsklubben is one of my favorite bands.
6 guys on keyboards, and they are Swedish.

And here is Bit Shifter. He Freakin rocks, and this is my favorite song of his:

I, Cactus is good too. Slower stuff, but well done.

This is a good song by Anamanaguchi

Take is slow with Albatross, by Fleetwood Mac

Last but not least, 4 Non Blondes, as done by He Man.

Enjoy some music while I neglect to post some more.

Uberleben Update!

2009-06-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

I have updated Uberleben with a game-changing new feature. Spin! Be ready for some insane (and hypnotizing) challenges.

Also, visit 8bitpeoples and download Mr. Spastic's new album, Claps and Leads. It rocks so hard.

Movie Trailer For Indie Game

2009-06-07T22:14:00.001-07:00

Hell, lets face it. We indie game devs need to start thinking about whether or not Hollywood will want to make our games into hit movies, so I thought I would seek a game that fit what Hollywood was looking for and create a little trailer for them.

Thank you Tim Langdell, for opening our eyes!

Uberleben 3.0!

2009-05-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

I have updated that game where you plummet to your death as one of many multicolored Suicidal Power Rangers.

In it I have made two more levels, I added a longer difficulty setting, and I added options for disabling the replay function, and for removing violence.

This will probably be the last update unless some divine force decides otherwise.

Looks like ortoslon will have to try a little harder this time-

NEW: Old Games!

2009-05-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have just put up my very old but treasured projects from back in say... 2006?

Back when I used Game Maker's drag and drop only. (which I quite despise now except for a quicky instance_destroy() every now and then)

First, I put up Quadrasquare, a 4 player party game that is reminiscent of TRON, except with blocks and coins. My friends and I enjoy 50 rounds of this one every now and then.

I also put up Helium Floating Object Engage Combat, my homage to the NES classic, Balloon Fight. This one contains lizards with blood curdling screams!

Lastly, I put up a friend favorite, Popo Kikuro. A deceivingly brutal golf game.

So if you want to see how naive (yet charming) I was when I was younger, feel free to check them out.

Reward and Punishment

2009-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

I've always questioned how much I should be punishing and rewarding in the games I make. Often times I like to punish the players when they screw up because it puts them on the edge. However, over-punishment can cause people to not invest as much time in a game due to constant negative feedback.

One thing I've never felt comfortable with was the power to save whenever the hell you wanted. While playing Half-Life 2 I was tapping the F6 quick save key after every little advancement, like getting health packs or single kills.

How did it feel? It felt dirty, that's how it felt. It felt like I was abusing the privilege that the game lent to me. But did I stop? No. It was so handy to just tap F6. About once or twice I saved in a bad position, but by retrying a few times I could get myself out of sticky situations.

I'm not sure this would be a problem if the game forced me to only save by pausing, clicking save, choosing a window, then saving, then exiting. If this was the case I definitely would not have abused the power of the omnipresent save ability.
But Valve is not like that. Valve trusts you not to be a dick.

What I'm talking about here is how much should we punish the player for dying? I'm sure you wished that the ending boss line in cave story had save points in-between each fight, but I bet you would have felt a lot less awesome after beating the core had there been a save point right before it.

Where are the effing save points now, Lara!?

I believe that punishment is important to add tension to your game, but the amount of what you take away from the player should be relative to the immediate challenges ahead. Frequent save points can make a player careless, but infrequent ones can make them impatient with your game.

I was hoping to come to a more absolute conclusion with this... But I guess it really just depends on the demographic you are aiming for.

Man. What a shitty conclusion. What do you (3) chaps think?

2009-04-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, check it out guys-

This is Action Fist, my current project.

At this point I think I've put more hours into this game than any other project of mine. Expect it to come out this year, seeing as though It's more than half-way done.

Working Incentive

2008-12-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

This seems to be a big deal for individual game developers who aren't getting paid for what they are doing. You start a project with a grand idea in mind, get it to a playable point, then you go into the dreaded state of level design, and if you don't have a smartly designed level editor at your disposal then you can get yourself into a tedious rut. I'm assuming this is the point where most of us go,
"Aw screw it, I want to go make my awesome amazing super game idea #2 now"
(You know, the one you've been planning all along whilst working on the first game idea you used to think about as you went to sleep but not anymore because you are stuck on level design)
There are a few ways to look at this problem, one of them is acceptance.
Jonathan Mak (Everday Shooter) said something like this. Every time you make a game, you learn something.
Wether it's to never ever try something like that again, or it's to realize that you could have made a script that could have solved that entire problem in the first place. Every time I start a new project I automatically think ahead because I recall the billions of problems that I had come across before. And when you do come across more problems, you are only working forward, knowing that when you come into those problems again, you will know how to handle them... (With a punch to their face!)
I make games for fun, no one is paying me, and I'm lucky to finish something because most of the time my motivation dies with glitch fixing. One solution I found, but it is indeed a hard one to keep up, is to constantly add content. It's tough, because you have to resist from going in and fine tuning things (These sparks are going to look PERFECT)
But when its time to go to bed, you can look back and say:
"Damn. I made a boss that awesome in one afternoon? Sure he has a limp and gets stuck in the wall sometimes, but he goes through 5 different stages of attacks and shoots some pretty awesome complex patterns"
The only games I ever finish quickly are the multiplayer ones. Being able to play with my friends after working on a project is enough incentive to get it finished. So if I had the capability to make an online game, it would be done in a flash.
This is another brain blurb, but I think the following option should be embraced: Procedural Generation. PG (done correctly) offers so much replayability that it even takes the developer a long time to get bored of his/her own project. When I was making Armed Generator Doom Machine, I ended up playing the game when I rested after working on it. Which is weird. I normally detest playtesting for the thousandth time. (Though currently I can't even touch AGDM without going "ugh..." unless aided by the company of a friend)
The game I am currently playing is extremely aided by procedural generation. It is pretty difficult, but it restarts quickly, and the experience is different every time. It is none other than Spelunky by Derek Yu

I've played it more than 135 times, but it is still ever-ready in my games folder. So um.. let me think of a conclusion or something here...
Uhh.
I think it's alright to ditch projects that you don't think are worthy to show the world,because you should never be making a game that you aren't having fun making. I think you should finish projects that you've invested lots of time and thought into, but you should never force yourself into finishing something that you just don't have any ounce of passion for. In the end, you will get a few projects done, but it is nice to know that everything you have up are things that you truly love.
At this moment I have a shooter that I spent a few days on. It has two levels and two bosses, and I think one of them is pretty awesome. I don't really want to keep working on the game, because I got my action fix from making it. I'd like to release it because it is still playable and I think someone might find some enjoyment out of it, but it is not polished enough for release.
What has been happening for a while is that I have been going back to old projects and adding onto them or fixing old bugs that I didn't know how to fix at the time. Slowly (in a yearly process) I think old projects will find their way to the finish line.

Hell, like Grid Shock. At this point I'm not too fond of it because I could have reprogrammed it a lot better, but technically it is finished. To release it after "Armed Generator Doom Machine" which is something I like a lot better, seems a bit silly.

But I will release it, eventually.

Who knows, I could be releasing that said shooter by the time I am part of an actual company, but would the world want it by then?