Jumpman Zero PC - Development History ("New Look" - "New Level Editor")

 

  		 
 

Oct 14:

Made some good progress on the weekend. The new level editor is almost fully operational. I just need to tweak the menus, add back support for walls, and put in some code to handle badly formed level objects. As a side effect, I made some good changes to the game engine. I also avoided some that, while good, would have pushed back development too much (large rewrites are almost always a bad temptation).

Technical: I'm doing the editors up in .NET, which is really kind of frustrating. I've wasted a lot of time trying to figure out where things are in their object model. For the editor, I wanted to invert a line as it was drawn. Never did figure out how to do that. Also, I wanted to copy a drawn image out of a PictureBox. Never figured that out either, and I don't want to waste time digging around - I just worked around.

Oct 10:

So I pretty much started from scratch on a new level editor. This one is mouse driven, and doesn't require quite the arcane knowledge (or patience) the other one did. That said, it has got a long bit of work left to do on it.
Having others be able to draw/script good levels is one of my prime goals, and I think that's getting a lot closer.

Oct 9:

I'm going to take some time and overhaul the level editor. I've got to do it eventually anywho, and right now editing is a real pain. I spent a lot of time drawing a fancy level last night, and it ended up not being any fun. Time to "sharpen the saw".

Oct 8:

 Slow going. I got a little bit of work done on the Jump-Fu level and some little bugs tweaked out. Not much time.

Oct 6:

Got a fair bit done over the weekend. I scrapped the bear's old navigation system and gave him real waypoint-based navigation. He appreciates that - his first level is pretty much done now.

I got started on the Jump-Fu level (real name as yet unknown). Works really well. In addition, I implemented steep platforms (which behave somewhat differently), and walls.
 

Oct 3:

  The bear is moving around the screen well enough for what is going to be a beginner level. The level is pretty much drawn - just needs some donuts and some tweaking. My wife thinks the bear is too cute to be an enemy.
     

Oct 2:

The Russian level is coming along pretty well - probably about 3 hours from a fully operational bear.
 

Oct 1:

  Spent a long time fixing a stupid script error. Implemented arrays in script. Also, I drew a bear. The bear will be featured in a Russian level (although he looks distinctly Western, I think, and was modeled loosely on a grizzly bear photo).
 

Sep 30:

Busy weekend - I didn't really get any time to work on the game. I think I'm going to take a little bit of time to implement some rudimentary script debugging - boring stuff to work on but should help out later on.

Sep 26:

Drew up most of the second level. It plays pretty well, though I still have to tweak some stuff. I also made some performance decisions. The game will run at a fixed rate of around 40 frames/second. If it can't keep that framerate up, the game will slow down, but the same amount will happen in a frame no matter what (even if the game is really bogging). I chose this as I have nothing to show if I put in extra frames, and the game is pretty much unplayable if movement starts chopping.

Sep 25:

  Last night I cleaned up the flood and raindrop scripts. I also did a little code that allows for rudimentary inter-script communication. Next on the docket is drawing up the platforms, ladders, and vines for the water levels. While this may seem to put me ahead of schedule, really it just means that I'm doing some fun stuff before I go back to handle some more scripting challenges (arrays, and quick level navigation).
   

Sep 24:

I've had a busy few days, and haven't had much opportunity to work on the game. The work I have done:
  1. Level transitions now work correctly (ie - everything is reinitialized correctly and new textures, scripts, and meshes are read from the level file)
  2. Worked a little bit on transparency - I think I've got things basically figured out, so this should be available when necessary
  3. Started work on "When It Rains" type levels. I've got passable flood and raindrop objects now.

Sep 19:

Didn't get much time last night. I tweaked the dying animation, added the funeral music (from Andrew Doss) and made some scripting changes in anticipation of doing level transitions.
 

Sep 18:

  I did up a little death animation for Jumpman. I'm not real satisfied with it, but it's a start. Jumpman does his signature little bumpy fall to the bottom of the screen, and it works OK. It would be much better if it had some sound - any volunteers?

Personal: I'm probably getting about an hour a day to work on the game. It's hard to get things done that way - but I guess that comes with the territory of "having a real job".
     

Sep 17:

  You can't see it in the picture, but last night I implemented sound effects. Jumpman makes a little bounce noise when he jumps, bullets pop when they fire, and there's a little chomp noise when you grab a donut..err..uh.. bomb.

I also fiddled with the mesh for the bullet, which is now kind of a flattish triangle with a stick through it.

 

Sep 16:

  I've been a little concerned about the visual feel of the game. Last night I spent tweaking textures and perspectives, and ended up with a look that I'm a lot more satisfied with. I added the sky texture as a background, changed the textures on all the level objects, and zoomed the perspective in a little.

Progress is slow, but I still intend to have the first level pretty much done by end of month.
 
  Development History - Page 1