Preparing Achievements and Leaderboards

     My last hurdle with DragCore is getting the Game Center / Google Play Game Services functionality working. Every time I try to activate achievements o leaderboards the game crashes. A very annoying type of roadblock. Today I'll be re-watching setup tutorials and tracing my steps to make sure I'm not overlooking something. 

     Something I can talk about here though is how I prepared achievements and leaderboards for the first time. It was an interesting experience and I hope to better take advantage of these tools in the future. Details are below the page break.

Make 8-Bit Sounds on Bfxr.net!

     This is on the top 20 list of most awesome things I have ever discovered. For those like me who didn't know, there is a website where you can create unique/randomized chiptune sound effects for free and download them to your computer. Perfect for 8-bit / Atari style games like this. This is an excellent tool for making audio in my next project. Just yesterday I decided to make it have stylized 8-Bit graphics and now I know about this thanks to Versimer on deviantART!

     One of my favorite things about it is the preset list on the side that randomly produces a sound that always resembles what the button says. Really, click the Pickup/Coin button 100 times and it will always sound different. You can then tweak whatever sound you have until it sounds pitch-perfect. There's even a chaotic Randomize button that you'll need to experience for yourself. I can't wait to play around with it more when I start my next project. So back to work on my current one for now!

Sacrificing Fun Now for Success Later

     Back in 12th grade I made a promise to myself. A promise to spend my college years working hard on becoming the best game developer I possibly can. One capable of bringing all of my visions to life and living comfortably. One that never has to worry about running out of money in the bank every month or dread going into work every morning.

    Back then it seemed easy enough. I expected to be surrounded by other college game developers doing the same. I had no plans of having a girlfriend either but (thankfully) fate threw me a curveball. Lately the thought of just how hard I'm working compared to my peers has been occupying my mind for a moment I questioned if I was doing the right thing...

Next Game: Blending Genres

     I tried looking up games similar to the concept I had  for the RPG I'm making after DragCore, and I can't find anything that matches what I had in mind. Some come close but just don't play the way I'm imagining. I can hardly describe it to myself accurately. In basic terms I want an action RPG with top-down shooter combat, spell combination mechanics, Zedla style dungeons, Golden Sun style overworld, randomly generating battlefields, adaptive enemy difficulty, and  an entertaining story. I want to make a game I'd be excited to play. One that hits a niche and hits it hard.

     Ideas of how to make this idea work dance around in my head and I tried looking up examples to fill in missing blanks and make sense of the idea. By the looks of things I seem to be innovating. And that thought excites me a lot. I really want to get started with this thing but I need to get DragCore done first. I'm begging for the forces at work to let me finish by next Monday at the latest. If I encounter another setback I think I might die.