Taylor's Tat

    This was going to be a thread for a new jam game, Shumping, but I feel bad making threads in Work Release every time I pop out some 2-day game. So I am going to create an arrogant and vain thread here for all current and future junk. This is just my solo work from 2013 and not my industry stuff. Apologises in advance.

    Edit: I accidentally nuked all the images in this thread. All the descriptions, images and videos are now arranged nicely here though: http://alexandertaylor.net

    Quote from Taylor

    Originally I wanted this to be something of an art-game parody with a narrator triggering every other step. However, I decided to add gameplay instead.

    i luv u taylor

    [Blocked Image: http://alexandertaylor.net/wp-content/upl…02/finalall.png]

    The theme for this Game Jam was to take the first game you made and remake it with the skills you have since acquired. If you ignore messing around with game listings or modifying other games you arrive at my Fireworks game - where you were a flying girl dangerously near a fireworks display.

    Rockets rise from bottom of the screen, explode into a bullet pattern, and you have to dodge it while catching the extinguished firework. The game lasts 3 minutes, collecting fireworks advances time an extra 5 seconds and it gets rather difficult rather fast.

    The original was made in C++/SDL but this version runs in Unity, everything was made in 48-hours, I didn't have time to add sound so there is no sound. Windows version is higher resolution than the Web Player but you'll get the general idea either way.

    Jam Entry Page | Web Player | Windows

    Damn that game is tough as nuts, the best i could get was down to 11.4 sec with a lot of luck, makes you really want to collect those extinguished fireworks. Good job though, was really fun and time consuming, 10/10 challenge.

    Didn't realise I was meant to collect the fireworks, assumed I had to avoid them. There wasn't anything about them I would think I should collect them. Guess that's a readability thing.

    B-but rapidly changing colours means collect! It's in all modern games like Jet Set Willy.


    ... Yeah, I think if this was a full game I'd have some kind of explanation to what you're supposed to avoid and collect.


    I was briefly considering porting it over to iOS or Android but I imagine I'd make a big fat loss. I'm not even sure what I'd need to buy to start publishing on those platforms. Probably more than a Windows PC and ancient phone for starters.


    Edit: I recorded a video but the quality is rather sporadic.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PwI8_r4OJg

    Nah, there's no logic coming from the particle system, it basically works how you would do it in a 2d shmup: I have a bullet manager that keeps track of all bullet objects (sprite + particle) and their velocity, and each frame it steps them and checks if the player is within 5 units* and if a bullet should be culled. When rockets explode they input bullet into the manager with a hard coded** script. Some patterns are instant whereas some take a little while to finish. There is also a global rank value that feeds into the patterns so they get harder, better, faster, stronger.


    * There is no sweep test! This is another game jam corner cut...

    ** Also bad! Game jam!


    That level is not nearly hard enough


    Good work though, looks really cool and professional. Who would have thought I could say that about the Unity engine?

    Quote from Taylor

    Err, everyone I hope. There’s some really good stuff being made in Unity.

    I will not disagree that good stuff is made in Unity, but man some things in Unity really is a pain in the ass and are really ugly, like their terrain in example.

    I can pretty consistently move through the fireworks at the start of the game, but then it stops working. Feels pretty inconsistent, not sure if it's hit detection or whatever.

    Only the bullets hurt you so you should be able to move through the fireworks going up. The collision detection is wonky though! I don't sweep test anything, so it only checks collision for the frames that get rendered. If you have a low frame rate or things are moving too fast you can potentially step-over a bullet. This is not ideal but saved time in the jam.

    Quote from Nerve

    I will not disagree that good stuff is made in Unity, but man some things in Unity really is a pain in the ass and are really ugly, like their terrain in example.


    I've seen loads of awesome Unity terrains. I love this: http://www.paladinstudios.com/2013/07/05/bui…ty-part-1-of-3/


    Great work Taylor


    It looks like pretty much all other Unity terrain? I don't disagree that you can put a lot of style onto a terrain (especially when you modify the shader), but for the most part it feels like putting shotgun makeup on an ugly face.

    I think there are a lot of terrain extensions in the store. I only make stuff out of cubes and sprites myself. The building blocks of true art.

    First Hour Superpower


    [Blocked Image: http://alexandertaylor.net/wp-content/upl…d28_montage.png]


    The theme for this months Ludum Dare was You Only Get One. I was hoping Death Is Useful would win, because I wanted to make a Zelda-style game where Death followed you around like an over-excited Na'vi shouting "hey listen" and offering up the solutions to puzzles even faster than Naughty Dog. However, instead we have this.


    Your character is capable of four 'powers' such as double jumping and becoming insoluble, however after the introduction you can only carry one of these with you. If you want to see all the rooms you'll need to play with all the powers. I made it in Unity (plus Photoshop, sfxr, and Abundant) but there is no Web Player version because of how I did my level structure.

    Jam Page

    This year I have made seven games. Eight if you include the one where I was employed for money and stuff.

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