Still working on refactoring the rooms, removing some code that is repeated at many places and putting it all in one spot! Hope I don't break anything!
Currently working on: Re-factoring the rooms
Time spent on the project so far: 212 hours
A bit of programming inside baseball today! I know most of you are going to chuckle and shake your head slowly, but as of last week, each room class had some code in it that would a) make sure the game controller is loaded (this happens when I playtest by just pushing play in a room I'm working on, the controller is actually loaded in the main menu so the game won't work if I don't do this), b) place the character at the right spot depending on where he came from and c) most rooms with enemies have the code to spawn them.
In theory, I know about inheritance in OOP, but in practice, the fact that room already inherited from MonoBehaviour objects, combined with the fact that I wasn't too sure how it worked in C#, made me do this. And now it's a huge pain because for each of the 1000 room, I have to copy/paste the code. So I just decided to rework that bit, creating a base 'room' class and adding most of the code re-used in it. I think the result is saving me some time overall, although I have to rework all classes now. I probably won't stop there, if I can save time in the future, it's worth to fix now, I think?
Currently working on: Re-factoring the rooms
Time spent on the project so far: 211 hours
Some code after the jump!
After a few mistakes were made, the map module is now more easy to maintain and more understandable for me. Instead of simply having a number to represent things (type of rooms, what exits they have, etc.) I now use constants with more evocative names like ROOM_LDR (for a room with a left, down and right exit) and I use things like DOOR_LEFT and DOOR_UP to represent exists instead of numbers that I always forget about.
NEXT!
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 208 hours
Boy, making platforms that move up and down is kinda tough, well, the part where the character has to stand on them is kinda tough. When the platforms are going up, it's fine, when they're going down, the character hovers a bit above them? I should probably fix that in some way. I'm also going to modify heavily my mapping system code because it's a pain right now and I'm losing time trying to figure out what my own mapping system is.
Currently working on: Re-factoring some code
Time spent on the project so far: 206 hours
I've decided to make the objects that rule if you should be moving to another map square instead of circles, but that didn't go so well, so I went back to circles. I've also fixed the weird physics of standing on a minecart, now the player doesn't stick as much if he tries to move while on one of them. Also my tester is having issues figuring out what keys do what. I really should show the 'controls' screen when you start the game, if this is to become an issue.
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 205 hours
I didn't have much time to work on the game today, but I've made it so you can stand on moving platforms while they're moving. It's not much, but it had to be done. I'll have to tweak the distances of the colliders and things like that a bit tomorrow because right now the character is twitching a bit on top of the minecart, but now at last you can use them to move around!
One person that tested the game so far couldn't figure out that X and Z are the keys to select options in the main menu, I probably should put a note there for basic controls (so you can at least get to the controls)
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 204 hours
Screenshot after the jump: That's how you get there
With the mine tileset comes mine carts and pits and elevators and things like that. You'll be able to use the carts to cross some obstacles and get specific items that way. I've re-done how some objects move so I can just use the same script for all of the generic moving objects. Three more rooms of optional stuff to do, then I'll go back with the main story path!
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 203 hours
Screenshots after the jump: Mines and more mines
My computer fixed itself (I don't know how) so I managed to sneak some time on the game today, working on the side-area you can explore when you get to 2-8-5. There are minecarts moving around on rails, presumably once used to carry minerals from somewhere to somewhere else. This is a mine tileset, after all.
Since I don't really know how to make good sprites, I just take what I have in my sprite pack and modify them. The minecart for instance is a weight flipped upside down with greyscaled logs as wheels!
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 201 hours
Because of computer issues, I wasn't able to work on the game today. Let's talk about difficulty instead! I feel like fail states in videogames are often used in strange fashions. Running out of lives in the most recent mario games is a bit silly since you can always restart at the level you lost them all (usually) and at most, you'll lose your checkpoint. In older games, when you ran out of lives, you had to start from the beginning.
In older RPGs, when your party was wiped out, it was back to the title screen for you - and if you hadn't saved recently, tough luck - in more recent ones, you can usually restart at the battle you died in, or just before it (so you can change your party/strategy or go somewhere else for now). I think that the difficulty in 100RTBD is difficult to pinpoint since the game automatically saves each room and will never let you respawn with less than 25% of your hit points. Maybe I should make the difficulty up to the player. Maybe when you start the game you could choose a number of times you're allowed to die and if you die more than that, it's game over? There should be an incentive to do so, of course...
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 200 hours
I've updated post one hundred to add a link to a newer version of the game (without the freezing bug) but my computer was messing around today so I couldn't work on the game much. I just added a few rooms and didn't do much besides that. I've made a sprite of a wood block with a rail on it?
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 200 hours
Still going along with the story, no heavy lifting to be done, still. At the point where I am, the player will be able to breakdown into the first world and explore a bit, although it wont be required. I'm still designing that part next because optional as it is, I'm creating rooms in order they can be discovered.
I wonder if anyone tried my version 0.0.6.2?
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 199 hours
Screenshot after the jump: Minimap in a fire room
I fixed a few bugs with the interface and changed the map a bit so less backtracking will be required when the player gets his 19th InfoPack. I'm also continuing the story right now. No technical heavy lifting in sight so things are going smooth!
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 198 hours
Screenshot after the jump: Mine tileset
I can't be entirely sure, but I think I have fixed the slight freezing issue by removing the calls to PlayerPrefs.Save() in the auto-save function. It's apparently called automatically whenever you exit the game, but more playtesting will be required in order to make sure that I properly fixed it. You'll be able to see that change in about another hundred days ;)
I started working on the "mine" tileset. Moving minecarts and platforms, oh my!
Currently working on: Continuing the story
Time spent on the project so far: 195 hours
I had to fix a few bugs with the first boss, as it was possible to stick him into the ceiling if you paused while he jumped. That's because my check for the menu to stop processing AI and stuff didn't stop processing of the physics as well.
But here it is, version 0.0.6.2, there's a ton of stuff left to be done, there is no sound/music, no support for controllers and moving from room to room causes a miniature freezing to occur, something that wasn't occurring while I was testing the game in Unity, but oh well.
Currently working on: Fixing the save freezing when moving between rooms issue
Time spent on the project so far: 193 hours
I noticed that the boss really behaved weirdly - he fell through floors, didn't attack, didn't die, didn't show the numbers above his head. I had to fix that, and it was because I coded bosses to be different from regular monsters - which I changed, so everything should be okay now. I do have to check how the regular fight against that particular boss goes, now that I've changed it...
Tomorrow there should be a playable version up for download!
Currently working on: The boss replay room
Time spent on the project so far: 191 hours
Well, the boss fight isn't working so well in that replay room, so I have to fix it, nothing much being done today!
Currently working on: The boss replay room
Time spent on the project so far: 189 hours
Testing the whole thing took about two hours, but some of that time was taken to fix bugs. I'm sure it's also possible to go through the whole thing much quickly than that. Now I'm working on that room where you fight bosses you've fought before.
Currently working on: The boss replay room
Time spent on the project so far: 187 hours
Screenshots after the jump: Boss room and fight room
Still testing the whole thing, I have noticed that some features weren't implemented properly and that my method of having equipment affect your stats wasn't as optimal as it could've been. Now it is! And I'm correcting bugs left and right and playing through what I have so far. It's fun stuff!
Currently working on: Testing the whole thing
Time spent on the project so far: 182 hours
A few bugs here and there, enemies stuck in the floor, scripts acting wonky, challenges not completing properly, but nothing that's taking too much time. I removed the full heal on level-up because for the first X levels, you level up crazy fast. I've changed the experience curve to level * 2 instead of a flat 30 required for the next level. Doing so made a few things easier - the first fight against Brigadier B, for instance - so I might balance that later on. That being said, the game's fun, which is what matters, right?
Currently working on: Testing the whole thing
Time spent on the project so far: 180 hours
When I get to update One Hundred, I'll post a playable version of what I have so far. It is but ~5% of the final game's content and size, but that's what I'll do. I'll post a playable build each 100th update. In order to do so, I've started a new game - that'll allow me to test the new level-up curve as well. And it's a good thing, because there are a few bugs here and there, better to squish them as quickly as possible than later in development!
Currently working on: Testing the whole thing
Time spent on the project so far: 178 hours