Well, here it finally is. Gridblaster is finished! You can download it from the Games page. The file is a self-extracting zip file. Just unzip it and run Gridblaster.exe, no installation is necessary. For a first game, I personally think it turned out quite fine. I struggled a bit with the GUI system, and getting the sound to work wasn’t always easy.

I’m already planning my next project and working on some of the graphics, but I won’t disclose any information about it right now. For the next two weeks, I will write a few tutorials. I think some of the features in Torque Game Builder aren’t very well documented. Some searching on the forums gave me all the information I needed and to make sure I don’t lose it I’m gonna write some tutorials, mostly on how to build a graphical user interface.  My next project will be officially announced in two weeks, that’s september 8.

Okay, things didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped the last couple of days, but everything is back on track. I have figured out how to build a graphical user interface and I’m working on the menu system. The levels have been linked, so the next level is loaded when the current level is cleared. I expect to finish the game by wednesday. I’ll have to do a few days of test playing to check for any more bugs, and when everything works fine I’m gonna upload and publish the game next saturday!

The levels are done, and I’m busy putting everything together. First thing I was trying to do was creating splash screen on startup and then a menu. And it’s giving me quite a few headaches! If there’s one thing about Torque Game Builder that I hate it’s the GUI (graphical user interface) Builder. There’s hardly any documentation and it’s loaded with bugs. Right now I’m stuck with an image that I can’t resize. No matter what I try, it always resets itself to fullscreen. Another thing is loading levels. You’d imagine you just use the “loadLevel” function with the filename, right? Wrong! It doesn’t work, and again, very little documentation.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still think TGB is a great tool. Right now I’m still using the old version since I can’t import my game in the new version without more or less rewriting everything, but I hope there’s a lot of bugfixes in the new version! Something that absolutely needs to be fixed, though, is the documentation. There is lots of it, but it’s horribly organized. It also needs a lot more code samples. Perhaps I’m gonna write some myself as soon as I figure out how it works. Right now, if you need help with it the only real option is the forum.

Anyway, I was hoping to get the game finished next weekend, but it seems it will take a bit longer than expected (happens with most games, btw). This is the first game I made with Torque, so I’m still learning a lot. It all depends on how soon I get help on the forum and what other annoyances I run into.

I implemented the final features of level 3 yesterday; here’s the final result:

I have added the upgrade capsule launcher and two flamethrower traps. The upgrade capsules enable the same features as in the previous levels, plus one extra: invulnerability!
So this is the final level. Now it’s time to put them all together, make a title screen with a menu system and polish everything up. I hope to finish it by next weekend so I can publish it, but I can’t guarantee anything of course. To quote John Carmack, when he’s asked for the release date of a game: “When it’s done!”.
When this game is finished, I’m immediately starting on the next one. I’m not gonna disclose any details yet, but I already made plans for it even before I started working on Gridblaster. However, before I get started on it, I’m gonna buy a new computer! I had it planned for quite a while now, and now I’m finally going through with it. I have already made up a list of the components and I’m gonna buy it as soon as the game is finished. My next game will have some features that are difficult to implement on my current system, wich is five years old.

My summer vacation ended today, but I managed to get some work done on Gridblaster the last few days. Here’s the latest screenshot. You’ll notice the extra blocks in the maze.

Here’s what those blocks do. If you hit them on the right side, they fly all the way through the maze and then back a bit. For example, when the block closest to the vertical edge of the maze is hit from the left, it will first move all the way to the right side of the maze, back to the left, and stop two blocks right from where it’s now. When a block hits an enemy, he’s destroyed. The block will also keep moving, so it’s possible to score multikills with them! The player himself can’t get hit by the blocks.
There are four blocks in the maze. Two can move only horizontally and the other two can only move vertically; this is indicated by the arrows on the blocks. They will also only move when hit from the outside. For example, the top block will start moving when hit from the left but not when hit from the right. After it has been hit and takes the new position on the right, you’ll have to hit it from the right.