I think the experimental phase of Fight Back is done now and I have a fairly good grip on the core mechanics. That means it’s time to stop playing around and plot a course for the end of the project.
Apr
08
2011
Apr
06
2011
ARCADES
They’re dead. Good riddance.
We got to discussing how arcades had disappeared at CB2 yesterday. Most of the discussion focused around how to make arcades worth going to again, but I’ve been thinking about it since and I’ve come to the conclusion that arcades sucked, and any nostalgia for them is like longing for the days when everyone on the street had to pop down to #26 to watch TV, because they had one, and crowd round their black and white set whenever there was something on one of the three channels.
Photo by Vincent Diamante
Here are the ways arcades suck:
Apr
04
2011
GRADUAL TWEAKS
I started playing through the Metal Gear Solid series again a few weeks ago. MGS1 was great, but even the Twin Snakes version is obviously a bit dated. I’ve just this evening finished MGS2, which feels much more current. The cutscenes don’t half go on though, do they? Perhaps the worst excess in MGS2 is when characters repeat themselves – they literally say the same thing twice, and then other characters will rephrase the same thing again if asked, and so on. Still a phenomenal game, though.
Work on Fight Back continues. I don’t have anything to show for today as such, but I’ve been playing around with the difficulty curve + the AI’s capabilities and smoothing out a few other rough edges. I think I’m mostly putting off adding in non-fighter ship types and bosses and setting up a menu and so on. Maybe I’ve hit the point of project fatigue, but I’m determined to start things I finish instead of hopping projects. I’ll just get on with it tomorrow!
Apr
01
2011
HUD.
Well, I’m not super happy with this, but it’s an improvement. All the information I want to display is here now:
The player ship’s just picked up a weapon powerup, levelling their gun to level 2, hence the little text flash over it. The game feels a bit more cluttered but way more accessible. I won’t have to explain heat and powerups in a lengthy tutorial now, so I think that’s a fair tradeoff!
I’m filling out all the odd corners of the game. It’s feeling much more complete now, though without bosses, menus, challenge modes or anything it’s still miles away from release. Still… it’s slowly getting there.
Mar
30
2011
INTRODUCTION TO VIOLENCE
I have been fighting the twin evils of SINUSITIS and also CAR WEEING PETROL ON THE DRIVEWAY. Even so, I have found time to craft this:
When you fire the game up now it gently walks you through a 30-second tutorial explaining side swapping, suicide, and the timer. Then it instantly dumps you into the game proper where you will die horribly.
I reckon this is a much friendlier introduction to the game than skipping straight to the horrible-death part.
Mar
28
2011
COLOURS
Fight Back has been monochrome for weeks. I got bored of this! MAKEOVER TIME.
OK, the backgrounds are still crappy and the UI is rubbish and incomplete, but the game’s way more visually attractive now and it’s much easier to see what’s going on. Result!
Here’s the concept mockup I did for the colour version, which shows the same scene with colours vs. black & white:
Mar
25
2011
TUTORIALS
I’m finally getting back to work after a long week off!
I’m working on Fight Back’s tutorial system. There’ll be a short tutorial to teach you about side switching, lives and the timer. It’ll work by communicating useful information to you through floating text panels while you’re playing.
Mar
23
2011
RECOVERY
OK, I’ve been sick for about three days. I figure it’s about time I got better and started remembering how to get work done.
…Maybe tomorrow.
Mar
21
2011
NO SCHEDULED UPDATE
as I have come down with the Man Flu and have therefore taken the day off.
Mar
19
2011
SUBSTANCE
Today’s been a bit random. I spent a while this evening playing around in the Starcraft II map editor, trying to find a good way to reduce a better player’s economy to make for interesting matches against weaker players.
I’ve mostly been plugging away on expanding Fight Back, though! It now has a third fighter type and a sidepod system. Here’s the new blink fighter (white) with level 1 laser pods squaring off against a basic fighter (black) with level 2 laser pods. The blink fighter’s Cool Thing is that it can teleport as often as it likes, hopping back and forth across the screen to issue scattered bursts of death.
