Back To School (Fall 2014)

     Funny how it feels like school is preventing me from developing my career while summer allows me to flourish. It's time to head back to school today! Unpacking, saying hello, and preparing for my classes on Monday. School day used to hold a different mix of dread and excitement when I was young. Before it was about school work vs socializing and now it's about schoolwork vs freedom from parents.

   There will be a lot less dev time but I'll be putting my time to good use based on my Junior Year Plan. I'll also be taking it easy the first week back to rest up and get ready for the tough fall season ahead of me. I know this will finally be m year. The one where I prove to myself I can be the me I envisioned when I was working as a cashier saving up to make my first little iPhone app...

Status Report #51 (Enemies, Audio, & Alpha)

     I've reached the last mile of development. Things are looking simple from here but there's still much to do. I have nearly all the pieces complete and just have to code each game object day by day. I will be done by September and people can finally play my first big game! I'll have something in my portfolio that isn't a tiny mobile game but rather a basic RPG bursting with vibrant color and delightful combat.

     Along with those developments, my head is buzzing with ideas and directions for my career path. Do I go it alone? Should I have a team of 2 or 3? Can I afford to outsource music? Who can I trust to make music for me in the long-term? It's all killing me really.

     I don't want to push the pressures of Yotes Games onto others but I have to unless I want to take a year off game development to become any good at making music. I really need to find someone willing to work with me at least until I get to a point where I can pay for contractors who dedicate their lives to making game soundtracks.

    Read this chaotic weekly report below!

Finishing Up Enemy Sprites For Unicorn Training

     I finally got all the composition work done so I can start doing the white outlines next. I really don't like the effect anymore but I'm in too deep and have to stick through it for just this game. I gotta say all the new poses and animations took longer than I'd liked, especially the ones with walk cycles. The Troll, Ogre, and Cyclops for instance. Although the Cyclops was simpler because I could take an NPC body and make it a bit fatter and move the eye over.

     Some of these enemies require some Gimp trickery and object placement in Unity to look right but these are all the base pieces I needed to draw. Once they're brought to life in-game I can rest easy knowing release day is about a month away.

Enemy Progress For Unicorn Training

     So far so good with turning my monsters into pixels. I really am getting better at turning doodles into pixel art. It also helps to edit over my existing sprite library to create new things. Each thing I draw gives me a new piece to play with. I'll explain how each new enemy works when they're all done and functioning in Unity.

     I want to spread out posts explaining them to make up for the downtime I plan to have the first week of school. I can't just get there and go straight into crunch mode, I need a breath of fresh air and time with old friends. It's weeks like this that make me want to start doing bi-weekly posts instead of daily ones. There are just some days where nothing gets done.

   I promised daily Unicorn Training updates so that's what I'm going to do. I want them all to stand as something to look back on years from now so I can remember what it was like making my first RPG. Hopefully some reading all these can learn from my mistakes or be inspired to pursue a dream game of their own.