Status Report #28

     Unicorn Quest is coming along nicely. It's starting to look like an actual game now. Every day I go to bed with a sense of accomplishment because I know I'm getting stuff done. I want to have something to showcase the combat in action by the end of spring break (where I'll have a solid 10 days of development). This way of development is much better than how I did things before. Switching hats frequently instead of dedicating to one task is a lot less stressful and I get to see the game quickly coming to life.

     Take a look at what got done in this week's status report.

   Completed:

• Tile System Setup
• Vacant Battle and Overworld Scenes
• Collision (Walls)
• Environment Sprites (Grass, Trees, Bushes, Flowers)
• Reorganized Code (Again)
• Video of Collision Detection in Action

     College Game Project:

• Sounds Power Up Icons
• Centralized Google Drive Folders

       I've been working on the next steps for the game this week. Mostly tiles and adjusting the HUD so it changes size and position depending on the devices resolution and how far or close I zoom the camera. I even started doodling mock-ups for the pause and debug menus on index cards in class (because I get great ideas when I'm bored). Next week I'll try putting those in once I get the collision boxes and background working.

Simple collision code. Detects when something starts to touch,
 keeps touching, and stops touching respectively.

    

     It took a couple days but I finally got the collision detection to work just the way I wanted. It's dynamic too, so I can use it for any Game Object I want. It's simply a box at each object's feet that reach out and see if it'll bump into anything. If yes, the object can't move in that direction. After all the other crazy tricks I tried, this one was the easiest to do and most efficient.

Here's some foliage I've been drawing.

     Spring break just started, giving me 8 full days to work on this as much as possible. I want to implement teleporting and the pause menu before break ends. I'm trying to get to a point where I have something flashy and impressive to show around. That way, people who heard about Unicorn Quest a few weeks ago will come back and see that I'm serious about it.

   Downloads:

   Downloads are still steady. With the rate that DragCore is growing I'm guessing that the hours I spent begging for reviews didn't boost sales much. It's getting about just as much attention as my other apps did when they first started. Unicorn Quest should turn out differently though. App reviews want to see something new and interesting, and that's just what I'll deliver.

     I also updated the binary for DragCore on Amazon. This new version is the same updated one for Android. It fixes all the last minute glitches that popped up around release day. I'd guess that it'll be live by next week.

     On a random note, I just reconsidered my plans post-graduation again. I really like the art style I'm using for this game. Pixel art is something I can do easily on my own. If I make and least a few more games with this style, I can get the most out of it by reusing assets. I can also avoid having to hire dedicated artists for a while, and when I start an indie team, I want to cut cost where I can until I get us safely in the black.

     I just re-imagined at least 5 games I wanted to make after graduation with Unicorn Quest's art style and they all look great if not better. I kind of like wearing an artist hat anyway. When I look at a sprites I spend way too long on, like those trees up there, I just smile at them and think "This is what my game is going to look like. These are going to be in my game!" and feel really good about the project as a whole.

     Just a bit longer and the prototyping should look good. When that's done, it's onto the vertical slice then getting as much attention as possible.