Minutes away from Mini Ludum Dare #2

I decided that I wanted to try participating in the world famous 48 hour game development competition Ludum Dare. This Mini Compo will be a nice warm up to help me get ready for the real deal.

All Over the Place

This blog is not quite the focused and well polished site I was hopping it would be. I wanted to publish a few nice articles that would be of great benefit to their readers, but that hasn't come about yet.

That game project I previously mentioned didn't get off the ground. I actually didn't have too great of an interest in it, but I thought maybe I should be working on something. Recently I had come up with a game idea that sparks my interest a little more, but I think I will try to hold off until I had already begun work on it before sharing too many details -- mostly because the details have not yet been developed.

I wanted to participate in the recent PyWeek, but I had been too sick with a cold to be able to really do anything. I didn't even think of a project idea until near the end of the week, and by then there was not a lot of time to develop a project. Maybe next time I will manage to actually submit an entry.

I hope to become more involved with creative works. I should create more artwork, write more articles, and program more software. I also should determine ways of becoming more involved with the creative efforts of others -- being part of a team.

I am optimistic about the future, and I plan on becoming more active in online communities.

Beginning a New Game Project

Out on the fringes of our solar system exists a scientific research station poised on the edge of new discovery. Up until now all we knew of the far reaches of space was what we could observe from a distance, but soon an experiment will take place which could change all that. The scientists on this spacestation are determined to open up a wormhole to the other side of the galactic disk. What exciting new discoveries await at the other end? What dangers might be lurking in the dark depths of space? What evils might be unleashed on the nieve and unsuspecting human population? What might come through from the other side? This is the story premis for the new video game project I will soon begin.

You play the role of a regret riddled researcher who wishes he had never opened up what came to be known as "Pandora's Wormhole." This wormhole let in all sorts of unspeakable evils that are now reeking havok on our home worlds. In an attempt to make amense for his short-sighted ambitions he becomes the pilot of a military grade fighter ship armed with the latest weaponry.

This side-scrolling action adventure will take you through many of the planets and moons of our solar system -- defending research outposts and space colonies. The final showdown takes place on our mother planet -- Earth.

Prepare to face hectic firefights and challenging boss battles. Make new discoveries and unlock new items and weapons. Can you save humanity from absolute aniahlation?

... Perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves a little. Game development will soon be started, but it will be some months before it's completion. However, I plan to take you through every step of it's creation. You will see artwork as it is made. You will play test demos highlighting it's progress. You will see videos showing off exciting new developments. You will become part of the development team as I listen to your comments and, possibly, impliment your ideas.

3D Metroid

Click to go to deviantArt page with a higher resolution image.

I decided to spend a few hours over the course of a couple of weeks to create this Metroid in Blender. He's a fairly simple design with procedural textures. This was made in anticipation for Metroid Prime 3. Oddly enough, though, we've had the game for a couple of weeks already and I still haven't played it any. I need to get around to doing that.

New Favorite Band

I am the sort of person who often has a difficult time finding music that truly fits me as a person. Most of the time I don't really like the popular music that's often played on the radio, and since I live in a tiny area there really aren't any good radio choices -- therefore, I haven't really been exposed to a lot of really good music.

Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of music, but I can list only a few examples of extraordinary music. I use to always dread when people asked me what my favorite band was, because I had no good answer. This now changed. I can, without a doubt, now say what my favorite band is -- Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

I've heard of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones before, when I was still in school, but I had never really listened to their music before. The sound of their music is as I would describe myself -- eclectic, unique, unconventional yet classic. I love the blends of musical styles -- jazz, bluegrass, and sounds entirely their own. It's so energetic. I see it as the one style of music I could actually be able to be productive while listening to, because it makes me move faster and think clearer. It's powerful music.

PyWeek Experience

PyWeek was quite a learning experience, but, unfortunately, I was not able to finish it in time. Actually, because of the scope of the project I had in mind, I was only able to complete about 10% to 20% of the project (as a rough estimate.)

It was fun (and tiring,) but, as I earlier stated, I learned a lot. I figured out how to retrieve location and rotation information from an OpenGL matrix, I built a quadtree for processing collision information, and I did a few other things I had not really done before.

After the competition I decided to take a little break from programming, but now I think I will be getting back into it. I told a kid I know that I will try to make a Super Metroid style game. This will be a lot less complicated than the game concept that I came up with for PyWeek. Let's see what comes about from it.

PyWeek

It's been some time since my last post. I am planning on participating in the upcoming PyWeek challenge. I'm not making any promises, but I feel pretty good about it -- though I'm still not entirely sure if I will be able to have the time. I may be moving, so there could be a lot of packing, unpacking, etc. to be done during that week. Let's just take one thing at a time and see what happens.