this is getting close to the end !!, add the main screen, story screen changed the game over, killed some minor bugs of the viewport, now missing the soundtrack, sound effects and build the final map.

go go go !!

It’s been many hours since Ludum Dare #22 started. To be honest, I was really hoping for teleportation.

So, just a recap, i’m doing a browser game using javascript/canvas. I want to do something darker than i’m used to.

This is where i’m at at the moment http://www.stickymill.com/alone/alone_v0.01.html

Screenshot gallery http://imgur.com/a/6jLGr

And so it begins. Normally I use Ruby/Gosu but decided to try something new… Goal for evening #1 (LD started at 9pm for me) was to get a base app created and deployed using Sinatra, JavaScript/CoffeeScript, HTML5/Canvas, SASS, and HAML. Success!

code: http://github.com/adambair/afn
game: http://afn.heroku.com
log: http://afn.heroku.com/log

Time to get some rest. More fun tomorrow!

• Language: Javascript / HTML5 Canvas
• Art: Adobe Illustrator / Adobe Photoshop
• Audio: If there is audio, i’ll be using sfxr and any modifications to that with Audacity
• Base Code / Libraries:
  Asset Manager from the Google I/O presentation for pre-loading images.
  My base template
• Screenshots: I’ll set up to take periodic screenshots, a word of warning though, I can’t guarantee it will be completely SFW

I just realised I hadn’t actually committed to LD22 yet, consider that rectified.

This will be my second LD48, I did a platform game last time, it turned out ok, but I spent far too long fussing over the graphics and nowhere near long enough getting content in. Hopefully with that lesson in mind this weekend I can come away with something much more complete.

As usual I will be using HTML5 Canvas / Javascript (all my own libraries / classes) and Photoshop for graphics.

I am super excited this time, i’ve made sure the entire weekend is cleared of any commitments, the cupboards are stocked with programming fuel, and everything on my computer is organised and ready to go, it’s the most organised i’ve been in years

So I chose to make a game with HTML5 / Javascript using the JawsJS html5 gamelib.

I used the <canvas>-tag since I wanted to make a freeform level with pixelperfect collisions, basically I made the whole thing in graphics gale, could as well have done it in paintbrush.

The new HTML5 <canvas> tag makes it easy to get the data in raw format, basically an array with RGBA values. From there on it’s to check collisions.. 1 pixel at the feet is a decent start.

The most annoying thing is probably the audio-formats that’s supported for the new <audio>-tag.

Safari doesn’t play OGGs for some lame reason, and Firefox doesn’t do MP3s. So all audio has to be provided in 2 formats.. also you wan’t detection at asset-loading time etc. I could have lived without that cruft.

Otherwise Javascript has become amazingly fast, I think V8 is faster then ruby and python. All browsers come with good debugging possibilites.

Javascript doesn’t have the traditional classes and inheritence, but rather prototypical inheritence.. which can be confusing at first.

What I love is the dynamic nature of objects in Javascript.. basically all objects are big key-value storages (hashes).

So you can whenever you want just set a new flag/property on whatever object.

/* Player.dead has never been defined or used at this point */

if(player.dead) { … do sometting …} // won’t throw any error.. played.dead will just return undefined

player.dead = true

if(player.dead) { … do something .. } // played.dead is now true and code will be executed

The biggest upside with javascript is ofcourse ppl not having to download anything. No virus-scan etc etc. Just instant gaming. And the big players are making the javascript engines faster on a daily basis.

Play my Javascript game here:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=108

Here’s a teaser-shot from the game, you start in the “west prison” and have to find your way out of a huge castle.