With this new video preview I just wanted to point out that Courier of the Crypts goes on with the development despite failure at the October Challenge 2011. This preview is featuring new tiles for the Marble Halls thematic and ladder transitions.

If you like what you see then don’t forget to follow the rapid development at my blog.

I’m here with the fourth dev video preview from the Courier of the Crypts but that’s not all. I’m out of the October Challenge, time run out and I still have lots of things to do. But OC is not just about the October but about finishing a game and earning a single buck from the stuff we love to do – making games. It’s all about to see what is it like to have final polished product out in the world. It’s not the end for me here, I’ll finish Courier of the Crypts, October Challenge game all the motivation I need so it’s still WIN situation.

Now, enough malarkey and let me show you the preview that is featuring 2 types of monsters, GUI (wip), and Flame’o'metter (look at the gui). I hope you like it

Congratiulations to those who succeeded! Others that are like me, don’t give up folks

I didn’t report much since the last video preview but there was progress. Among other stuff, I implemented the first enemy that will lurk around the cripts. Horde of ‘em… For more updates on the Courier of the Crypts, read freshly written page 8 from my diary.

Next to that I’m afraid I won’t succeed in the October Challenge 2011 because I don’t want to rush with the development since there are still few features to add and I shouldn’t mention all the work around the main menu and maps that awaits for me.

This time I’m not here to showoff or to report what I’ve made in past few days but to seek your help!

As you might know, Courier of the Crypts will be a puzzle game with small amount of action mechanics. I want to ask you, what would you like to see in game like this one. Traps? What kind of traps? What about scarry moments that will throw you out of your chairs? Dancing coconuts? Everything! I want to hear everything that goes trough your mind.

I want to make this game as enjoyable as possible but I need your help here!

It’s time to introduce you with the new toy that courier will have fun with in the crypts. The one and the only….”Burning Urn”!  <tan-tan-tan-tan-stshhh>

On your quest trough the crypts, you’ll find urns filled with oil. You can light them up and throw them trough the hallways. You can use it to scare lurking danger away or even burn it to ashes. Should you be scared of the darkness in the next room, throw one of these inside and you’ll know what’s there waiting for you.

“Burning Urn” spam is a bit of exaggeration, I know but it won’t be possible to throw those so quickly one after another…it won’t be wise anyway.

Here, the second development video preview is out. You can see all the new additions that I’ve done since the last video preview. Why don’t you take a look? It will cost you less than a minute

Follow the development at my blog

I post regular updates on my blog and I work hard on my game so you must understand that not much time is left for me to post regular news here so I’ve sent my courier to bring news from the front up here to the Ludum Dare.

“Last time you could see the very first quick video preview of me lurking around the crypts. My creator wants you to know that there have been nice progress since then. Here’s the list of the new additions

• Stone switches
• Doors
• Random mice waiting in the holes to cross your way
• Player art done for 4-way movement + torch animation
• Pickups implemented (yeah, treasure for you!)

That’s it for now but if everything goes well, there will be another video preview from the crypts tomorrow, so stay tuned!”

Courrier of the Crypts got it’s own very first video preview to show first stages in action. Since the last post here, I’ve made a map editor and gamecore mechanics (loading maps, moving, collision).

For some times I was having problems how to implement lighting into the 2D game and with the last project I’ve made something quite nasty just to get glimpse of light. Today, my brother called me and offered a simple solution to me still using sprites as a “light”. It works just perfectly for me and I’m thankful for that!

For more regular updates, follow my blog @ Blodyavenger Games

Hey! I’ve decided to start a diary on my blog (which is, by the way, just a cool name for some boring blog posts). Nah, just kidding. Someone could find them interesting . I’ll write diary pages regulary about the development (drawing, programming, marketing, etc.) and how everything goes. There will be fresh screenshots and videos with each post so it’s worth following if you like what you see below. Regards!

Image from the Diary

Small gfx teaser for my October Challenge project Courier of the Crypts (CotC) . Yeah, main element (lighting) is missing here but what I want to show are the new tiles. Do you like ‘em? Yes, no? I want to hear more

Soon, I’ll post game feautres and differences between old (LD#20 version) and new, upcoming one so stay tuned!

Courrier of the Crypts will have tough time delivering the letter this time!

I’ve never made a single buck with game development so far and the October challange is going to be a new experience for me. On Ludum Dare compo #20, I’ve made this Courier of the Crypts game that had only 5 maps which were boring, with no hard puzzles or anything else so I’ve decided to start working on the remake of this game, which will feautre more mechanics, new graphic style (as you can see on the picture) and whole bunch of interesting maps. Goal isto earn that 1$ at the end and have another polished, fun and finished game.

If you wish to know more about future of the young courrier, follow the path into the dungeon (which is nothing more than my blog ^^ )

Here I come!

It’s time to gather all the moments of the last two days in a short yet interesting post mortem. So much happened in these days that it’s kinda hard to decide which are worth mentioning the most. I better start with quick reconstruction of both days.

Ludum Dare – Day 1

Competition started at 4:00AM (here in Slovenia). I fell to sleep at 1:00 AM and woke up at 3:30 AM then I’ve prepared some coffee and soon after that, theme was announced! “It’s Dangerous to go alone! Take this”…what to do now. Idea shouldn’t be too complex yet fun and I took my cup with a coffee and lit a cigarete. While I was watching the trees in the dark that crazy idea got over me – Darkness, light, creepy, item, old man = Lead a character trough a dark place and let him have a torch from an old man. That’s it, plan was made and ready to be excecuted!

First I drew my humble design document with character vizuality, hud elements, goals, plans, how will the map look like and that kind of stuff. All that on a single page to keep it simple, and I was ready.

Development in order (1st day):
- Map editor (drawing, loading and saving maps)
- Game engine (loading maps and support sidescrolling)
- Player (red dot on start)
- Collision detection
- Some graphics
- Particle system
- Lighting (which wasn’t successful on the first day)
- More graphics

Lunch: Pasta with tuna
Dinner: Pizza with pepperoni
Coffee drank: 4 – 6 cups

Day was over and I went to bed around 1:00 AM planning to wake up at 6:00 AM. At that time I went over the day at myself and there was satisfaction because I made a lot of things. So I fell asleep…

Ludum Dare – Day 2

Plans didn’t work out. I overslept  from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM and I got nervous and went back into action with cup of coffee next to me. I’ve made a quick ToDo list for more organized work and clocked started to run like crazy – it didn’t stop.

Development in order (2nd day):
- Flame system (flame bar getting lower and coal refuellig the torch)
- Lighting (I still had problems but it was implemented afterall)
- Character animations
- Enemies and their fear before the flame
- More tiles
- Death/victory condition
- Main menu and level selection
- Making maps
- Story dialogs (for beginning and ending)
- Adding 1 single SFX for picking up coal and lame repeating music (I can’t do music, don’t judge!)
- Entry was submitted 30 seconds before the end.

Lunch: Pasta again
Dinner: Toasts with cheese, tuna and pomodori
Coffee drank: 4 – 6 cups

Clock pointer said “It’s over” and I made a toast to the victory! It was over, I was among other strong souls that have made it to the end. I did something like that for the first time, game in 48 hours even if I had some doubts on start. I believed in my game concept and at the end, I had that realized even if it didn’t include all features. Ludum Dare chat was full of joy and I stayed around for a bit more and went to bed later at the dawn.

What went well

First of all, I’m glad that idea was born few minutes after the announcment which was huge advantage. Trough the competition I wasn’t distracted much and I just kept doing my work. Experience from the past helped me a lot because few things took me less time than I predicted. Overall, I think two main factors were idea at the start and experience from the past.

What went wrong

First problem that I’ve encountered were lights. I’ve never done fake lighting in 2D world before and so I was trying different stuff and functions without success. I’ve lost nearly 4 hours at that part if not more – I’ll have to concentrate on that part now. Maybe I did set my goals too high because some features were cut off and those that are in the game right now are bugged or poorly done (or at least some of them). Music is another weak factor. I’m artist and programmer but I can’t do music so I’ve tried to make something with Inudge but I’ve encountered problem to record from my speakers (records were too silent) and so the lame piece of music was born! (If you try the game out, you’ll know what I’m talking about). Next time I have to prepare my framework properly to save some time and I shouldn’t be learning new stuff at the competition.

Conclusion

It was first “Make a game” competition for me and it was exciting, especialy when I saw all the people working on their projects and in the same time together as a community. It’s obvious that we’re not here to win but to participate and have fun at what we like to do the most in our lifes.

I invite you to try my game out and rank it if you will
[ RATE GAME |  DOWNLOAD GAME ]

There it is, end of the competition and my submision is among the others! I’m filled with happines since this was my first “make a game” competition and I had doubts about completing a whole game in only 48 hours. It was nice to see how active was everyone and helpful in the same time. Impressions about this Ludum Dare are unspeakable!

Congratiulations to everyone that made it to the end, we’ve done it!

sneak peak

There will be only 5 maps in the game sadly because “TO-DO” list still contains music, sfx and in game dialogs. 3 of 5 maps are done, working on 4th at the moment.

lots of clicking and dragging

This is how my level selection will look like – if doors are closed, you can’t eneter that map otherwise you can. And there will be player’s image infront of the crypt that is currently selected, others will be dark / half invisible.

Yep, I was quite productive but still I had to cut few features off and I’m afraid that game won’t be as fun as I thought at the start. I have to work on the main menu now and dialogs in game which is the most boring part for me. I have roughly 6 hours left and I’m tired to death but I’ll make it yep!

as simple as it can get in that time

few toasts to fill my stomach emptiness until the end

Time won’t stop even if I wish. Minutes and hours are passing by like snowflakes in heavy snow storm but there is progress! I’ve done quite some stuff in last few hours if I can boast. Enemies are implemented, lighting system updated and some additional graphics done. I want to make more than 2 enemies at the moment but I’m afraid 9 hours will turn around like nothing and that’s why I have to concentrate on most important stuff – dying, completing a map and most of all main menu.

Game character (courier) no longer floats over the ground like a magician, now he finaly found a use of his legs! Now I venture onwards to the twisted beigns for which I don’t know exactly how should they act…some of them will be afraid of the fire and some won’t be,that’s all I know, haha.

I’ve made it! Without bigger tricks or complexes protagonist’s torch is spreading the light around. Next step is to balance light radius with torch bar and then – Character animation

I’ll put some life into the courier doll