Jet Set Willy Online Cast

December 11, 2006 · Filed Under Development Log · 6 Comments 

The Cast Members

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G-Force front end

December 11, 2006 · Filed Under Development Log · 4 Comments 

…or “this is bloody torture”.

Yes, I’ll freely admit, I absolutely detest writing front ends of any shape or sort - they’re just so boring and unrewarding to code and so, I normally tend to try and avoid adding them if possible… but time to get my act together and after a fortnight of no time to work on stuff, got to get my head down and get this sorted out. I wanted this out the door 3 weeks ago and its really starting to bug me that its not done now.

The main stickler has been the opening loading screen and layout, I’ve been half heartedly attempting to pixel something up but really, my hearts just not been in it. So this morning, I bit the bullet and decided to make my first attempt at 3d.

I am, completely and utterly a spackard when it comes to 3d. I have barely a clue on what I’m doing, but I’ve been attempting to chip away with Cinema4d for a month or so and making incredibly slow progress with it. But given that I’m just going to spend hours starting images, getting halfway through pixelling and thinking “nah, its shit” I’d ran out of options.

Now, I know my compadre Mr Smila could have knocked something out in about 15 minutes if I’d have asked very nicely, but as with all the sound effects/music etc… I’m determinded to do all this off my own back (with a little begging for pointers along the way if I’ve gotten stuck) and so, it took me 5 hours to get some very basic geometry into a scene and textured up enough that it reasonably covers the cracks of how overwhelmingly incompetant I am with 3d.

The end result is far from fantastic, but with a quick flick into Photoshop after I’ve had some food - I reckon I’ll have something passable on my hands. Then its onto writing up a new scroller routine (I’ve been discussing some techniques with DrDerekDoctors tonight after a few things went wrong when I attempted it with Beast Invaders 2 - a long story and probably for another time) and basically, just stop fannying around and get this bugger out there before I get fed up with it.

Essentially, I really need to get this done and start on the next shooter I’ve got lined up, as thats got a deadline of May to be completed (yes, there is a hint what it is and what its for in that iddy bit of text).

Luckily, the guy I’m writing it for has sent me huge documents on how he’d like it to turn out and with the stuff I’ve learnt shouldn’t be too difficult an undertaking now I’ve got lots of code I can reuse. Gonna have some fun with the graphics on that too.

Really looking forward to cracking on with it - and thats the main drive for finishing G-Force right now…well, aside from the fact that I play it with the music and new sound effects in and I get a broad “I did that” grin.

First draft of the title screen

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Well, Artoon…

December 8, 2006 · Filed Under Personal · 5 Comments 

…could you possibly make a more frustrating piece of shit than Yoshi’s Island DS? Dear God, it makes Rick Dangerous seem like an enticing proposition, it really does…

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Jet Set Willy Online

December 7, 2006 · Filed Under Personal · 2 Comments 

So, the first adventures out in the wild last night with Jet Set Willy Online, and in “oh just typical” luck - there’s a pretty irritating crash bug in there courtesy of the network code (Not our fault, guv!). Whilst its perfectly possible to play the game with the full complement of 16 people in (providing your internets hold out) if someone joins whilst you’re in game, then there’s a chance the thing will go *poof* before your eyes.

However, we’re still pressing on all systems go for a Rodent launch in a few days as everything else seems to be fine. Stu’s going to take a look into shifting the network code over to Raknet, which offers the benefit that the server won’t be reliant on DirectX as well as hopefully crushing the crash bug stone dead.

Other than the irritation of the crash bug (which given the amount of people attempting to pile onto my game for the first 20 minutes was inevitable that if there was a bug, it’d show up then) it went pretty swimmingly. It really is a shitload of fun just wandering around, spying on people and avoiding Scottige’s attempts at bumming me off my wheelchair. And despite having to leg off far earlier than I anticipated to do some kitchen bumph, I still ended up playing for quite a few hours diving into other peoples servers (and triggering the crash bug at least once…)

I’ve taken the file down for the time being whilst the Rodent team get the new issue together, but it’ll be back up again soon enough.

If you were one of the few who grabbed the file and want to avoid the crash bug of doom, then just make sure that everyone is in the lobby before you begin and you’ll be fine and we’ll keep rummaging under the bonnet for a while to get it all fixed.

I wonder if anyone will go to the trouble of mapping the game…and if so, will they manage to find all the rooms?

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Things and stuff

December 6, 2006 · Filed Under Personal · Comment 

Not dead yet…just very very busy. Sadly, time I wanted to spend on G-Force was spent getting exasperated on the internets last week with the then approaching RR Competition results deadline, followed by the inevitable fall out. We didn’t manage to get all the scripts finished and working until an hour before the results were due to go out, so we pushed that one right to the bone and then some.

Luckily, aside from the obligatory ten page epic argument, it all went pretty smoothly and I’m incredibly fucking proud of what a proportion of the entrants managed to achieve with their entries. There’s some superb games come out of the competition and more importantly, its now been proved that accessibility in gaming is a viable option. That makes I very happy indeed - and Barries offered some very nice suggestions for stuff he’d like me to throw into G-Force…and who am I to refuse?

So, G-Force - where are we at…? Gamewise - all done bar a front end and the accessibility options. The music and new speech sound fantastic and I’ve took on board a few requests from the RR forums - namely for a level indicator and changing backgrounds. Apologies to The Arsecast Host but there won’t be anymore enemies added other than those in the original game.

And Jet Set Willy Online, it is finished. I’ve got the final final final final (amazing how many final versions you go through really) sitting on my hard drive which landed a couple of hours ago.

It’ll be launched jointly with Way of the Rodent and Bag Full Of Wrong, with Stu adding a page to Ovine at a later date I believe. Its been a joint effort thats took a fair bit of mucking in from all involved and even on the last test a few nights ago, I was still playing it with a massive grin on my face. Hang in there, because it’ll be in your hands before you know it. If you fancy a gander at what to expect ingame, the manual is online at Bag Full Of Wrong now, expect more to appear over the next few days on Bag Full as we run up to launch.

Looking round the internets at my usual haunts I’ve barely had time to scan it looks like there’s a load of delicious looking indie games for me to try when things calm back down a bit, so hopefully I can spare some time inbetween projects to get back on with some reviews instead of consoling myself with Cassette 50 games.

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