I’m going to do the next Ludum Dare.

So, what does this mean for my entity system articles I plan to make? Even though it looks like I’m using up one of my precious weekends for non-ES work, I’m planning on doing this 48-hr game with the engine I’m coding. The base is at a point where I think I could finish it in the 24 hours between my last final and the LD. Then I could code the game with it.

With the LD done, I would be much better off writing those articles. Right now I have the theory I want to present understood pretty well (and have the documents to prove it!) but hands-on experience coding using an ES will really help. Also, being forced to release my source with the entry will make what I’m explaining tangible.

I’m not going to do 3d graphics for this game (in fact, not going to use hardware acceleration at all!) so hopefully I’ll be able to really utilize the ES for what it’s worth.

Wish me luck! Or don’t. Whatever you want.

New category! It’s about how I go about making my games. I hope the name reflects that.

I thought it might be worthwhile for me to start discussing how I do/want to make games. I’m planning on posting on Entity Systems, my “normal” project structure and ideas for new ones, and anything else I can think of.

So, this section will most likely be much more useful to people than any of the others. I’m going to waste away in front of my keyboard posting about how I make games, rather than actually making them. Brillant!

I just put A Greedy Profession on FlashGameLicense.com, after a little trouble with their preloader/encrypter. Turns out they weren’t joking about removing references to the stage object, so I just put in my own preloader I had been using earlier so I could grant my game stage permission.

As soon as AGP gets sponsored, expect to see a link to it! Hopefully it won’t take too long, but really, I’m just happy that a site like FlashGameLicense exists, just so I can enter the market.

EDIT:
It’s up for sponsorship! Let’s see if anyone bids.

Nine months and 22 days later, I’ve picked up work for A Greedy Profession again. I’ve been very busy with academics, and through my short bursts I’ve been able to get the game nearly complete.

One of the first things I did was try to make it less easy to misinterpret the game. This meant making the “fog of war” black instead of static-y, and the cave floor semi-textured. I also made it so you can shoot while staying still–this was also a major complaint.

This is a screenshot from the game, showing a few of the features. I added some effects for when the collectors collides with a surface (interior glow the color of the ore, exterior the color of the player) and a reticle so you can easily see where collectors will be shot.

I started to make some AI (and I got pretty far along) but I discontinued that because I didn’t really think it was adding much to the fun.

I’ve got a few game ideas I’ve been thinking about making after this game’s done. I wonder how much free time I’m going to have in the near future, though.

(Also, notice the new Games page! About Me is going to get a revamp sometime soon too.)

I decided to do another Ludum Dare, and I think my game came out nicely.

It’s called A GREEDY PROFESSION, in all caps like that because of the font renderer I wrote only having capitals. You can find the entry page here, and at that page you can read instructions on how to play.

This game started out as a Towlr, but turned into something else. It’s still a puzzle game, but more directed than the normal towlr, so I decided to put it on Kongregate, here.

As anticipated, not too many people liked it. Most flash games are quick and easy, with a more tangible reward. Victim of the Box is a challenging puzzle game, and as such most people won’t take the time to play it and rate the challenge. I could turn this post into a rant about mental effort becoming less and less valued in games, but I won’t. This post is just to announce my challenging game.

I have found that it is more challenging for some than others, so if you found it easy: great! But if you just can’t seem to figure out what to do next, don’t worry about it. It’s just like a rubik’s cube–even if you can’t solve it yourself, you don’t blame the company for making a bad product. (Please?)

Woot, new website!

I’m not sure about the theme yet, so it’s probably going to change a lot while I get used to it, but here it is. It is a bit more professional (no longer will I manually add posts in a php file!) and now there isn’t just a comment box on the hidden page nobody could get to, but now the exist everywhere. As has been denied by my previous site, I want feedback, so this might just help.

I liked the old website, but this will be much more usable. It uses a database!

Welcome to the Galactic Gaming homepage. To your right you can find the navigation options, which include blog post categories and a page containing a partial list of games I have created.

If you ever find a post you want to respond to, please leave a comment. There is no need to register–you can post anonymously–but if you do register you won’t have to enter the captcha again.

To talk to me, you can usually find me on irc.afternet.org at #ludumdare under the nick the31.