Unicorn Training Bosses: Shield & Bounce

     A metric butt-ton of things got in the way of me making progress with Unicorn Training. Exams are relentless and comic-con weekend ensures low-productivity. Tonight is different because I had a full hour to myself and I spent it finishing up the first bosses for the game!

Wildcat Comic-Con 2014

     Wildcat Comic-Con 2014 happened and it was just about as good as last years (minus one friend who couldn't attend this year). there were a lot of game design related events this year and many contacts were acquired for the school (points to PCT GameDevs). One game audio panel in particular made attending the event worthwhile.

     I dressed up in a Doctor Who outfit to be an accessory for my cosplay loving girlfriend Karissa (We did Derpy & Doctor Hooves) and we set out with a bunch of friends to enjoy a weekend of fun and relaxation to celebrate the end of our first quarterly exams. Silly me forgot to take any pictures in the heat of the moment so once again I have nothing to show I was there (Oops).

     To make up for that, check out a bunch of text below the break!

Changing The Gaming Major At Penn College

     Scary stuff is on the horizon as far as school goes for me. It looks like I'll be climbing a mountain very soon. The heart of it is: My school is missing aspects of game development that are extremely important. If you remember my drama with the deans that went nowhere last summer, you'll know that I was basically told I picked the wrong school. The Gaming & Simulation degree is IT programming focused, and does that really well.

     What it doesn't do is live up to the name that lured in so many students. We see the word game and the pictures of shooters and students holding Xbox controllers then assume this is the place where you can go to learn how to make video games. We pick Penn College because we can't afford to go to California or Full Sail. It's like saying only the wealthy deserve a chance to make video games. We see this degree as a flicker of hope that we can get that dream job at company X or start our own studios. The school does not currently have a program that achieves that, so some members of the PCT GameDevs have agreed to help me design one.

Unicorn Training Enemies: Cruncher & Cyclops

     This time I'm finishing up the last of Unicorn Training's enemies. I made the last two recently but didn't post about them yet! Cyclops and Cruncher are the final two enemies to script and  both were easier than I anticipated. All the enemies became simpler once I got rid of the roaming script and stuck with horizontal / vertical switch movement.

     Cyclops walk around with their bad attitudes shooting out laser balls every 3 seconds. They always switch from horizontal to vertical (or reverse) after firing. Each time they fire they aim at clover based on their horizontal status and choose to shoot left/right or up/down. Cruncher is the last enemy I did and it behaves much like the Cyclops but spits splashes of water instead of firing lasers.

     It's nice to have this part of the game out of the way. Just 9 bosses to go and I start the sprint toward the finish! If this is the hardest stuff I have to code I'll be done in no time.