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Saturday, May 10, 2014

Status Report #37


     School is finally over. I can hardly believe it. Just two more years and I'll have a lot of time to make whatever games I want and live in a place where I make the rules. I'm getting a taste of freedom now by having the first ever summer where I focus solely on making a game. No part-time jobs this year. I will be focusing purely on creating Unicorn Quest!

The End of Spring 2014 Semester status report is after the jump.









   Completed:
  • Phoenix Wright Project
  • Finals Week
  • Changed Future Electives Again (Microeconomics Replaced Child Psychology)
  • Made a Unity Package File With Everything I Need to Quickly Start a New Project
  • Renamed "Slash" Spell As "Cut" to Avoid Confusion With The "Splash" Spell
  • Used MegaUpload to Host Download Links (1st Time)
  • 9 of 10 Spells Working In-Game
  • Switched Heart Display
  • Got on Equestria Daily's Gaming Index
  • Sophomore Year of College
     Lessons Learned:
  • Repetitive Tasks for Phoenix Wright = Boring & Draining
  • Repetitive Tasks for Unicorn Quest = Labor of Love
  • Status Reports Should Look Nicer
  • Things Are Getting DONE This Summer
      Something new I'm trying in the status reports are Lessons Learned bullets. I've been making games since 10th grade and I find myself slowly picking up a giant snowball of expertise. I learn little ways to do tasks more efficiently or get a better understanding of tools I once took for granted. My favorite little things are functions that are immensely helpful that I didn't know I had before.

      From here  on I'll try to keep closer track of things like that. At least ones worth listing. Maybe somebody reading it will learn something new with me. Also, I'm going to use random development screenshots as headers for Status Reports now. I was thinking about how it's a shame that the weekly post I enjoy making the most has the blandest image. People might overlook status reports when they're really the heart of what I;m trying to accomplish with this website.


       I've gotten almost all of the spells working in game so expect a video of them very soon. Although it marks a milestone for me, I won't go spreading the videos around on other websites until I have something particularly interesting to show off. My next step is to get a very simple enemy working. Something that sits there, looks at Clover, and shoots. Then I'll get the health system working. For flair I'll have the gems and experience points go flying when the enemy is defeated. That's the kind of flashy video I want to wave around.


       There's also the matter of the hearts on the top left. The more I stare at them the more appealing the pixel versions become. I'll be using those as the default from now on. I'm going back and forth on if I should get rid of the option to choose which heart HUD is on. It wouldn't be hard to implement but the pixel hearts just look better for consistency reasons. They even match the little hearts appearing over things when they're hit.

       You can download Dragon Ball Z Brawl and the Phoenix Wright games now thanks to those MediaFire links. It'll be easy to share things like source code and executables now that I have a MediaFire account.
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   Downloads:








   I'm just going to keep including my offline iOS app data until reports catch up and I expect straight zeros daily. Also, I'm glad to see that Feed The Plant has become my most popular Android app with 33 active installs on Google Play. It's certainly growing the fastest out of all my games so far.

     On the chance that this is the last time my iOS will be in status reports for a while, I give a wave good-bye. Fish Feaster Free did good. Over 600 people have saw/tried the game, and I can't be any happier knowing that. I want to make games that brighten up people's day, even in the littlest way.
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     Summer starts today. I couldn't be any more ready. Hopefully things go smoothly, I make tons of progress, and I get more eyes on Unicorn Quest's journey from concept to release.

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