Lunch 1
It’s almost 3 pm here in Arlington, VA and I’m having my first lunch for LD23. Kind of late but I wait until I’m hungry.

Chicken and Vegetable stir-fry.

Progress

It’s coming a long, but I’m feeling the pressure. My task list seems too long. Worst part is I’ve hit a bug! Maybe you can help? My FlashPunk Entity is not calling the Update method! I’ve triple checked and the World Update is being called and calling the supper.Update()!

package SeedsOfDestruction
{
import com.greensock.easing.Cubic;
import com.greensock.easing.Quad;
import com.greensock.TweenMax;
import flash.display.BitmapData;
import net.flashpunk.Entity;
import net.flashpunk.FP;
import net.flashpunk.graphics.Image;

public class SeedBullet extends Entity
{
[Embed(source = "/assets/Seed Bullet.png")] public static const SEED_BULLET:Class;

public static const SPEED:Number = 200;

public var image:Image;

public function SeedBullet(player:Player)
{
// Make the Pink transparent
var bitmapData:BitmapData = Global.MakeTransparent(SEED_BULLET);
image = new Image(bitmapData);

super(x, y, image);

FP.angleXY(this, player.stem.angle, 40, player.x, player.y);
image.angle = player.stem.angle;
image.centerOrigin();
image.smooth = true;
active = false;
layer = 2;

setHitbox(40, 40);
type = “seedbullet”;

trace(“created”);
}

override public function update():void
{
trace(“update”);
super.update();

trace(“update2″);
if (collide(“BadPlant”, x, y))
{
explode();
}
}

override public function added():void
{
super.added();

var time:Number = FP.distance(x, y, world.mouseX, world.mouseY) / SPEED;
TweenMax.to(this, time, { x:world.mouseX, y:world.mouseY, ease:Quad.easeOut, onComplete:explode } );
}

public function explode():void
{
world.add(new Explode(this));
world.remove(this);
}
}
}

Sleep 1
I wore my Fitbit to bed last night. Here’s is it analysis:

I expected to sleep longer, but I didn’t feel like I was dragging out of bed. I’m worried I’ll need to take a nap later.  We’ll see.

Breakfast 1

Standard bacon, eggs, and tomatoes breakfast.

Brainstorming
Now, to figure out how to best improve the game:

• Scoring mechanism
• Different types of seeds
• Mobility
• Change the way your seed bullets work
• Improve graphics
• Title Screen
• Icon
• Music
• Sound Effects
• Pop-up tips

Pro Tip
Use imgur.com (free) to host you food photos and screen-shots. It reduces the load on the Ludum Dare site and it is super easy to use.  Just drag and drop to the “Upload” section or if you register and activate you email address, simply email photos from your smart phone directly. Then uses the “From URL” tab on the Insert Media screen. I’ve also found that if you remove the width and height attribute from html the “Insert Media” screen creates the pictures re-size themselves perfectly.

I’m hitting the sack.  Here’s where I stand: Seeds Screenshot 2

Game idea complete and fleshed out. I’m using ChevyRay’s missile command code and making it into a Nature at War game, it might end up with nanobots in it.

Screen Shot 1

Dinner 1

Snack 1

Here’s the command center, that’s right I code in a storage closet and that’s my cat Jack.  His hobby is to keep me from using the keyboard or mouse.

Mr. Phil Games Earth Headquarters

I also wanted to share this snippet of AS3 code that lets you choose a color and then convert pixels of that color to transparent pixels:

public static function MakeTransparent(source:*, color:uint = 0x00FF00FF) : BitmapData
{
// Get the bitmap data so we can fix it
var bitmapData:BitmapData
if (source is Class)
bitmapData = FP.getBitmap(source);
else if (source is BitmapData)
bitmapData = source;

// We aren’t use the transparent feature, hence the color
var bitmapDataNew:BitmapData = new BitmapData(bitmapData.width,
bitmapData.height, true, 0×00000000);
var pt:Point = new Point(0, 0);
var rect:Rectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmapData.width,
bitmapData.height);
var transparent:uint = 0×00000000;
var maskColor:uint = 0x00FFFFFF;
bitmapDataNew.threshold(bitmapData, rect, pt, “==”, color, transparent, maskColor, true);

return bitmapDataNew;
}

I’ve been practicing all month and looking forward to Ludum Dare 23 very much.  This will mark my 7th year!!!  That’s right, my first Ludum Dare was LD6 – Light and Darkness, April 2005!  Interestingly enough, that is the same LD that Phil Hassey’s new and just released game Dynamite Jack was conceived.

Excited!!!

I’m using a new technology, as usual: Flash/AS3 with Flash Punk

I spent the day “working” on my warm-up MiniLD32.  I have the general design done, it’s a sort of gopher smash on the head game, except you are on a float throwing beads and doubloons at people in the crowd instead on hitting them on the head.  I was going to use Orthello2D with Unity but after some hair pulling figure out it hasn’t been update to 3.5.  Then, I started figuring out how 2D Toolkit worked, but it dawned on me an hour or so in that I couldn’t use that in a Ludum Dare because I can’t share all the code.  So, then I started floundering around trying to get some basic things working a la from scratch.  After Google-ing some problem I ended up watching 3 hours of YouTube Unity tutorials.  So, a most successful warm-up so far, as long as you think of warm-ups as making all the mistakes you can’t afford to during the actual Ludum Dare.  I’m headed to bed now, but I could still have something playable by the end of the day tomorrow, stress on the could.

I missed the nano practice round, so I’m doing my own warmup. I’ve chosen the theme Mardi Gras because it’s Mardi Gras weekend (Mardi Gras is Tuesday, Feb 21st this year.)

Theme: Mardi Gras

No hard rules, timeframes, start or end times, or judging, just fun. Post what you make in the comments.

The XNA version of my game now surpasses the Unity version.  What’s working:

• Player display
• Player movement
• Player collision with items
• Background Board (no wall collision yet)
• Door key displays
• Player can pickup keys

• Wall collision
• Door display (Locked and Open)
• Level transition
• Enemy display
• Enemy following
• Enemy killing you
• More Levels

I’m feeling like this list is too long to finish in 7 hours and 15 minutes.  I also have a lot of chores around the apartment that need attention. So,  I’m going knock the “can’t ignore” ones out and then hopefully I can sprint to the end!

LD21 Screenshot 2

I’ve got a game idea and a plan.  It’s basically a Pac Man with an interested style and a little twist.

Who will be our hero?

Brainstorming

Honing in on the idea

The First Screenshot

Lock and Load:

• Unity3d
• XNA
• ExEn (Andrew Russell‘s cross-platform exapnsion of XNA)
• Visual Studio

Aim High!

Aim High

I’m in!  Will be using Unity this time around.  This will be No. 10! Wow, ten is heavy.

I’m planning to use Unity for LD19 and was wondering if people had resources they’d recommend or share such as code, urls, blog posts etc. I’m especially interested in 2D tips and tricks.

Thanks,
MrPhil

PS I made a post on /r/gamedev too: What Unity Resources Would You Recommend for Ludum Dare 19 (Dec 17-20)

Woo hoo!  I had my first sale today!!!

Stacker - Bumps on a Log

Anyone interested in a meeting up for LD19 in the DC or Northern Virginia Metro area?

I’ve put up what I got. I’m not exactly proud of it as a whole. And, it probably deliverers just short of $1.26 of fun, but it is what it is.

Part of me wants to make it better, but another part of me is done with the idea and wants to move on!

Compo Link: Stacker
Website Link: Stacker

PS I’d lower the price, but BMT Micro has $1.25 minimum

Update: I switched to FastSpring and was able to lower the price to a dollar!

I created a nice visual target, literally, to aim for. It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to visually display the target separate from the collision mesh. Including, a slow walk down a lane called Child-Parent Scripting Confusion. But, now it is functional.

October Challenge Progress 10/8

Next Action: Level Two
Total Hours To Date: 18.25

It was a real fight tonight getting the “Win” to be displayed nicely and in red. Took me a while to understand the relationship between the GUIText and a font material. Brother, sure wish I had figured it out faster.

Stacker Progress 10/7

On the business hat side of things I discovered that PayPal now has a microtransation option to their pricing structure and signed up. I have my reservations about the trustworthiness of PayPal after all the stories I’ve heard, but this will be my best option if I price Stacker at $1 like I was thinking.

Next Action: Some sort of visualization for the target area you are building the tower to.
Total Hours To Date: 15.75