Super Jerry World

It's been 8 days since the last post, but it feels like it's been much longer. The game has been coming along awesomely, despite not being able to work on it very often. For game content, it is playable up to and through the first boss fight. When you see it, you'll see right away that the bosses in DT3 will have much more variety to them than the first two games. :)

That star does what you think it does.

Checkpoints & Saving
Checkpoints work the same way they have been and bosses will still allow you to retry. The checkpoint system works wonders in the main world for when you're traveling around looking for stuff. Random deaths are fairly meaningless out there since it starts you at the last map entrance. As for exploration and hidden items, the main world are littered with them. There are WAY more hidden maps and items than the first game. Once you have 2 or 3 Abilities Sets, your options open up a lot. (And especially after the mid-game chapter.)

Game Over Screen
You will be happy to know that it has returned to insulting you. There are a few differences...

This screen will become a common site.

It always says "GAME OVER" at the top with the insult below it. Under that are the typical 3 selections, 4 if you're in a boss fight. Below that are situational hints... or useless garbage. You're bound to see a few of them, but doubtful that you'll see them all. You'd have to die at some strange times to see them all. Also, guess the reference. It's very identical to another game's Game Over screen. (Though to be honest, those games were really easy and it was unlikely that you saw it often or at all.)

I should have more to say, but I don't. Maybe I'll review a game next time...
Infection of adorable!

Treats

Edit: (June 8, 2011) It's Jerry's birthday today! :D

I like treats, I just got a bunch of Easter candy. (Hey my family does Easter late sometimes.) My brother found more candy than me this year during our annual hunt. I'll get him next year...

Oh right, game stuff. Small post today, mainly saying hi and giving out a bit more information about DT3 stuff and development.

The Map System
It only shows where you've been. Each box is not necessarily 1 map. Most of them are roughly 3-4 maps each, give you an idea of how big that area is, and also show you how many items you have left to find.

Pointless Records
Entries you have not discovered will be hidden now.

What to do?
Jerry can't jump yet, looks like he'll have to find a way around this.

Doomed
Whoops, had a small mishap.

Area Names
When going to a new area, the name is shown on the bottom-left.

These are all from the beginning area before you get the Jump Boots. (Aside from the last shot.) They also feature the dash icon lie. It'll get removed when I feel like it. That's it for now.

Game Content Started

The game itself is now being worked on. As of this moment, there's a whole 5 seconds of real game-play. (If you don't count the short intro.) They're an awesome 5 seconds though, I swear! How about a screenshot?!

This is the second screen you'll see in the game. At this point, you can only play as Jerry and he can only run and duck. That's a moving platform he's running to with a little dust being kicked up as he starts a run from an idle pose. This brings me to the small topic of effects. DT3 will be visually superior over the first 2 in regards to effects and particles. There's a lot more of these to go along with all aspects of the game from your own abilities and attacks as well as the enemy actions to the environments for aesthetic and practical reasons.

Moving platforms have been changed. You can no longer affect their pathing by getting in the way. You'll still stop them, but it won't affect anything. Some of them, like the one in the screenshot, will stop momentarily when they reach the end of their path, giving you time to get from platform to platform. Not all of them will do that little trick though. :P

The only thing that lies in this screenshot is the green icon that was used in DT2 that let you know if you had an air dash. It won't actually be there. It'll still be used, but not at this point in the game. There are still a limited number of dashes.

The cell phone reception icon next to it is something new for DT3. This lets you know what your connection to Jeremy is like. Losing your connection to Jeremy will result in him not being able to communicate with you, (obviously) and various things he offers won't be accessible such as scanning enemies, your map, and in some cases some of your abilities will stop functioning properly. If the connection starts to drop, it means something in that area is trying to block him... or you're about to enter a special area. (Like those times when you can't dash.) The reception icon, for the most part, can be ignored. Its main purpose is for me to relay information to the player about what is not going to work without having to state it every time it happens.

Rose

I Am Not Error

Edit: (May 30, 2011) Correction about the screen size. It is 480x352. (Cut out 8 pixels to maintain the grid I had.)


Another meaningless title.
I'm back and I hope everyone had a great week. It was a busy one for me, but I finished the writing for the entire main game sequence. Now I know what the game actually needs and doesn't need. The story is divided up into 21 chapters. Chapter changes are noted on-screen and is usually a mark of a new story direction. The length of each chapter varies, but expect each to average around 45 minutes of gameplay. This puts the game length right around the first DT. It's longer than the first though due to the gate chapters, which there are 7.

The gates are, as stated before, where you get new ability sets, and lock you into the new one until you complete that gate. (Unless you leave, but you can't take the new one with you until you complete the gate.) The first gate starts at chapter 2, and there are usually 1 or 2 chapters between each gate in the main overworld. These usually consist of the characters trying to track down a way to the next gate and solving problems in the main world. There's a fairly lengthy end-game after the 7th gate, this is when you'll have access to the entire game world and all abilities.

The game functions are introduced at a fairly slow rate. You won't be able to swap abilities till chapter 9, and dashing doesn't come into play until chapter 7. It's a good chunk of the game that you won't have the normal DT abilities. However, nearly every chapter changes the way the game is played. This constant change, I think, will assist in keeping things interesting and fun. More game genres will make small appearances, for example, there is a tower defense section. I think I'll hold back any more details.

I'm sure with the chapters idea, some of you are thinking that this could be episodic. I'm really unsure about this. The game world is fairly persistent. I know a save file you guys could keep would work, but as you saw with the first game, there are times when things broke in that due to changes. (I also don't want people to have to do that.) And it's not really set up to be episodic. Aside from the gate chapters, they aren't independent pieces of the game. But hey, if I'm suddenly enlightened and I find a solid way to release the game episodically as it is developed, then I will do so. If not, nothing aside from a demo displaying the first 3 chapters of the game will be released until it is done. (And possibly a small scenario in a later part of the game.)

This is entertaining and no, it's not fan-made.

Short Post & Screen Sizes

I'm far enough along on the system to start actual game content now, though for the purpose of finding more design flaws that slip through on paper, I will not do that yet.

A big design change will probably happen that will affect everything. I will most likely be changing the window size in the game. Right now it is 512x384. (Screen size for DT1 and 2.)
If it is going to be changed, it will be one of the following:
480x360 (Probably what I'm going with) Edit: I changed it to this. It works just right.
440x330
400x300
All of them work well and provide easy numbers to work with. I'm not sure how often people use the 2x window mode. But due to this change, it will be highlighted more. This change will be made due to design issues I came across in both previous games. I often times had too much screen space to work with. For getting a nice view for bosses, the area was much bigger than I needed 90% of the time. There was often times too much dead space as well. The smaller area will allow me to provide a better visual composition as well. (Which is a big reason for this change.) Level layouts will be better like this too.
Keep in mind, the actual resolution is not changing, just the game window size, which means a smaller view.

I am also going to be away for the week. Going out of town to help out family with some things.

To keep with recent trends I've had. She's waving for me, though it looks more like a hello rather than a goodbye.
 

Bad Fan

Edit: (May 22, 2011) Slaix mistyped the url for the blog and came upon this. I laughed.

Edit: (May 21, 2011) All the ability sets except for one are set up. (Small nuances aside.) One was removed, or rather replaced today. All the sets have distinct advantages and drawbacks based on each other, but the removed set didn't flow well with the others. The set in question was a Contra set. It doesn't mean I won't have a Contra themed level though. The replacement has been decided and is being coded now. It looks good on paper, whether or not it actually plays well with others is another story. I'll know very soon.

The bad fan is me. I was generously given a copy of 'Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble' this last weekend and I didn't know it was the third game in the trilogy. I saw the title of the game and assumed it was another spin off to the series like Red Hot Rumble and didn't research on it. This whole time I had been looking forward to finishing the trilogy and it was out THIS WHOLE TIME!! >_< As soon as my roommate lets me use his DS, I'm going to play it cause I'm cheap like that and I don't have a DS of my own. Viewtiful Joe (along with most of Clover Studios games) is one of my favorite games of all time. My top 5 if anyone is curious are:
1. God Hand
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Viewtiful Joe / Okami
4. Yoshi's Island
5. Ikaruga

Distorted Stuff
I'll start off with giving screenshots of stuff. Yay!

Both shots actually show works in progress. The first is of the abilities menu which displays info about your eh... ability sets. :P As you can see they have levels per ability and level up the more you use them. (I think I said that in a previous post.)
The second shot is the skill menu. (or Spend AP as shown ingame) It's pretty self explanatory for the most part. The red circles are locks and are unlocked through story progression. The skills attached to the locks are not only unattainable but what they do are also obscured until the lock is undone. All the locks must also have a point or two in the skill they are linked from to unlock as well. The blue ones are the unlocked ones.

So there's a little bit to look at and speculate on for now. The way it is planned out, the player will not be able to max everything out by the end of the game unless they go for the extras. (Or grind, but who does that?) :P

All of the writing is almost done and I think for those of you that want more story focus will enjoy what I have prepared.

Other Games
I got a chance to play a really obscure PS2 game this last weekend called The Red Star. It was shown to me by a friend. (Same guy who gave me Viewtiful Joe.) If I had heard about this game online or seen it on the shelf, I may not have thought much about it considering it's based off a comic book and I generally have low expectations for licensed games. But seeing how said friend has the same taste in games I do and highly recommended it, I knew I was in for a treat. It's an action game mixed with shooter mechanics (think bullet-hell). Generally the levels with the (sometimes) swarms of enemies are brawler action based, where the bosses change to bullet-hell. It sounds like it's a genre mix gone wrong, but it actually blends together rather well. It's a difficult game and if you're not good at bullet-hell games, you may not enjoy it. Then again, if you're here and playing DT, then you'll probably enjoy The Red Star.

I really shouldn't let the licensed game fact get in the way of my first impression of games (or anything). Getting past that sometimes reveals rare gold mines. Like this game or the new My Little Pony. (Yeah I know, I slipped in yet another mention of it.)

Production Started

Nearly all of the pre-production work is done for DT3 and more time has been put into the actual production. I have been building all the systems and ground work for the game as well, which is also, surprisingly, almost complete. Surprising because I'm often not given much time to work on these things. Though the time I do work on it is very focused.

Design Challenges
Periodically I'll be talking about the challenges that come up during development for the game, the first is here.
While the game doesn't start off in a Mario styled level this time around, one does pop up fairly early on. The difference with DT3 is that the worlds will work a lot closer to their original format. (Those that are not part of the main overworld that is) You already saw near the end of DT2 on the airship that you could stomp on the projectiles the ship threw at you. The Mario area works like this as well. The design challenge with this segment was figuring out an effective way of handling collision. It's not enough to just have the stomping work exactly like Mario games. The physics involved with them highlight and work with the ability to jump on enemies. DT isn't quite like that. The movement is not set up for that type of gameplay, resulting in a lot of fumbling on the player side. I thought about changing the physics for that area, but it felt inconsistent. These enemy types also appear in other areas of the game, so that awkward control will just resurface. Plus there's too much else for the player to learn how to do in the game without having to try and figure out yet another movement style. My method comes in 2 parts. The first is the amount of leeway given when stomping on enemies. In DT2, you may have seen cases where you were able to stomp on an enemy even when hitting from an area like this:

This is due to how the threshold works, which is largely based off of your downward speed. (This threshold was scaled down a bit and changed for DT3) It is very possible with enough downward speed, that hitting an enemy from the side half way up your character will still result in a success on your end. The other minor part of this is how the character bounces off of enemies. In DT3, you are given a lot of slow air time after bouncing off of them. That is if you don't hold the jump button on contact. Doing so has the effect of giving you a rather large lift, but it doesn't have the slower motion the low bounce has. These 2 changes, specifically the hit detection, make things feel a lot more fluid.


An Interesting X-Box Live Game
I was recently shown an interesting game that can be bought on Live called Chime. It's a musical puzzle game... No really, that's what it is. Basically you put 5-blocked pieces on a board to create rectangles, the larger the better and try to fill a board with these completed rectangles. The concept is simple, but where it becomes awesome is how the music dynamically changes. Where you place the pieces, where the completed areas are all change how the music plays and it's interesting to out how the music evolves as the board is filled up. The beats always start simple and build up as the board is filled, which flows nicely with the gameplay.

The game was released in February last year and is very cheap. Only 400 points ($5). Even more awesome, 60% of this goes to charity. All of the music in the game was written for it and given free. I have a soft spot for things like this. If you enjoy puzzle games with a lot of meta-gaming potential, pick it up.

Ponies
The entire first season of Friendship is Magic has finally aired and now Hasbro is stating that they do not have plans to release a DVD/Bluray set of Season 1. The fans have expressed their displeasure to this statement, me being one of them. There is a lot of interest and demand for a physical copy of this show. If you're a fan of the series and wish to see a DVD, I suggest expressing your interest to them in some way. Online petitions typically hold no merit, so that is not a good method. Writing a letter directly to the marketing team, or customer service, (probably the better choice of the two) expressing your interest can be effective. Another, somewhat surprising method to me, is Twitter. There are various ways through Twitter to voice yourself to Hasbro.