Videogame Biscuit

Big announcement

admin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:30:33 +0000

Okay, here’s the deal. This blog is dead, and this is the last post. I started a new blog where I’ll continue to post my gamedev news, but it won’t be a blog dedicated to video games only. For a long time I wanted to start a personal blog again where I can ramble about anything I feel like. Also, I grew tired of forcing myself to do a weekly update about my gamedev progress. So don’t bother subscribing to this blog anymore because it won’t be updated anymore.

As for Wasabi Defense, development continues. I have only one more level to complete and then I can release the game. My previously finished games can also be downloaded on my new blog.

My new blog: Jar Of Eyeballs

On hold

admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:15:58 +0000

Hate to do this, but I’m gonna have to place this blog on hold for a while. I have some stuff to take care of at the moment and I simply don’t have the time to keep it updated. Wasabi Defense isn’t dead but it will take a bit longer to get it finished (yes, even longer). Expect a major announcement about the future of this blog one of the following weeks.

Wasabi Defense update 01-31

admin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:23:57 +0000

I skipped an update last week, but here I am again. The end is finally starting to come in sight, with only two more levels to go. Here’s the latest fighter I made:

Nothing too special about it. It fires bursts of plasma balls at the player and is quite fast (luckily you get the rotating cannon in this level). I also have some designs ready for another gunship and a bomber, wich will also appear in this level.

Wasabi Defense update 01-17

admin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:51:07 +0000

Damned, skipped another update last week. Here’s my latest progress report. Level 4 is finished, and here’s a look at the action:

The fighters you see rotate in flight, and when the rotation suddenly speeds up, better get out of the way because it means you’re about to get pwned! The bomber is also still present, of course, and I really like the way it works. Also, you’ll notice there are two buildings on fire. The defense unit is far from perfect and often misses shots, so don’t just sit back and relax.
This means there are two more levels left. The two base units left are entirely passive, so I don’t have to waste much time on those. All I have to pay attention to are the remaining enemies. I hope I can finish this game before I’m dead.

Wasabi Defense update 1-3

admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:37:02 +0000

First of all, a happy new year (and a happy Wintereenmas) to everybody. I have taken a short break from game development, but here I am with (finally) another update on Wasabi Defense. Last time, I posted a video of the automatic defense in action. Here’s a screenshot of the two most recent enemies I have added. One is a fighter with two rotating gun turrets. Both turrets can be destroyed separately from the core. Perhaps I’m gonna modify it a bit so the entire ship explodes when both turrets are destroyed, because it’s no use making it fly around without any weapons. Second is a heavy bomber wich drops four bombs in a fan-shaped pattern. Since the defense can only handle three targets at a time, you have to destroy at least one bomb before it fires, or shoot down the bomber before he drops the bombs. And even if you take out one of the bombs, it’s always possible the defense misses and the base gets hit anyway.

Short break

admin — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:38:58 +0000

Due to the holidays, Videogame Biscuit is on a short break. No game development for a few weeks, I’ll be back in January.

Wasabi Defense update 11-29

admin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:25:43 +0000

I got the base defense turret up and running. The idea behind this unit is providing a defense against bombers who drop large numbers of bombs at the same time. The turret can target up to three bombs at once. It is not 100% accurate, though, and can miss from time to time.
Scripting this thing wasn’t easy. Here’s roughly how it works. There’s an invisible trigger zone above the base. When a bomb enters it, it triggers a 1-second timer and arms the cannon. During that second, two more targets can be locked before the cannon fires. When it does, it has to aim properly and that was the hard part. At first, I wanted the projectiles to have a fixed speed so I had to calculate at what angle to fire to intercept incoming bombs. This, however, turned out to be a recipe for endless loops wich made the game crash. Then I tried something different. I aimed the projectiles a bit below the bomb, and then calculated how fast it had to go for a direct hit. This works almost perfectly. At first I was trying to tweak it to make it 100% accurate, but I decided to keep it as it is.
I quickly created some code that drops bombs at random locations to demonstrate how the defense works and recorded a video of it.

Base Defense from Videogame Biscuit on Vimeo.

Wasabi Defense update 11-22

admin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:27:03 +0000

Just did a whole week of debugging and making all sorts of adjustments. I had to do a big update on the graphics layers. Layers are a way to determine wich sprites will be drawn in front of each other and are also used to set wich objects can collide. It was starting to get a bit messy, so I had to set them all again to make things run a bit better. And I also play tested the game extensively. I think it’s starting to look pretty good!
So now I’m getting started on the next part. The next base element will be an automatic defense turret that can shoot down incoming bombs and missiles. This also means bombers will start dropping more bombs, of course! From now on, many enemies will also have multiple weapons that can be destroyed separately.

Wasabi Defense update 11-15

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:47:01 +0000

Things have slowed down a bit over the last week because my brother finally convinced me to start playing World of Warcraft, but I did manage to finish the first boss! Here’s him in action, raining down red plasma bolts and firing explosive shells.

The spacecraft starts a heavy plasma bombardment at regular intervals, but they are not difficult to evade. Right before it starts firing, he will level out, so you’ll know you’ll have to get out of the way. From time to time, he’ll also fire explosive shells wich can take out base buildings. Luckily, you can shoot these down.
With the first part of the game done for the most part, I’ll have to put together the level transitions and do a bit of test playing before I start on the next levels. I don’t want to end up with a finished game that’s still full of bugs. This is something for next week, but in the meantime I’ll also start designing the next batch of enemies.

Wasabi Defense update 11-8

admin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:17:48 +0000

Last week I had finished the design for the first boss, and here’s what it looks like in game:

It took me quite a while to get it to show correctly in the game. The object consists of twelve separate sprites, and it took a lot of trial and error to get them all to line up correctly. The reason it has so many different sprites is that the gun turrets have to be able to rotate and different components can be destroyed separately. This feature will also be present on other enemies in future levels.
For now, the ship moves across the screen and aims at the player. Firing hasn’t been implemented yet, but the shield works and protects the craft. The next step now is making the gun turrets shoot at the player, making them take hits and explode and dropping the shield when both turrets have been destroyed.