Super Villain Ideas?

So there is one more thing that I have been meaning to post. I think it would be really great if some of you guys who are viewing this would comment ideas for villains and their powers. It doesn't have to be perfect and completely thought out, I just want some ideas. It's basically like we're brainstorming. I'm not sure if anyone will suggest an idea, but I would greatly appreciate it if you did. Just comment a name and power below. Thank you!

Stage Select

To make up for not posting in a while, I have decided to upload double the content in one day. An important aspect of my game is the ability to choose which villains you wish to fight in any order. In order to choose which foe you wish to fight, you need a stage select screen. On this screen, I want to have detailed portraits of the villains to select, just like in Mega Man. So far, I have created two: one for Invisi-Bill and the other for Gumshoe/The Candy Man. Each villain also has a portrait for when they are defeated, which show them looking upset or beat up. I am incredibly proud of how these turned out because I am definitely no artist. The extent of my drawing ability is usually stick figures. I need to draw one for every major enemy, including the final boss. I might put another portrait in the middle of the screen of the hero, like Mega Man, or a map showing where each of the villains are hiding out, which is more akin to Mega Man X. Here are the portraits I created and several examples of what I want my stage select to look like:

Invisi-Bill: Before and After

The Candy Man: Before and After

Mega Man 2 Stage Select

Mega Man X Stage Select

Updating the Chameleon

I spent the time since my last post creating new sprites and editing old ones on piskel. It may seem that I am spending too much time on the visuals and not enough on the programming, but I am still keeping up on both and the visuals are a huge part of the game. One of the first animations I did for my main character, the Chameleon, has been completely revamped to make him seem more alive. In addition, I have created a new animation of the Chameleon slicing with a plasma sword, which I have decided to make his primary attack. For his secondary attack, he can shoot small bullets that are weaker than the sword, but have the advantage of being able to attack from a distance. Like Mega Man, the Chameleon will also be able to obtain the abilities of his defeated enemies to fight other villains or find secret areas, which will contain power-ups or other collectables. The Chameleon's real name is Leon Ryder (Cheesy, I know) and will be playable outside of his costume for the tutorial level. I have included many of the new Chameleon/Leon Ryder sprites below:

Chameleon Idle

Chameleon Slashing

Chameleon Shooting

Leon Ryder

The Candy Man Can

Recently, I have been thinking about what some of the other stages and villains should be and I have decided upon a candy theme. Taking place in an abandoned sweets factory, the player will have to fight rogue gum ball machines, platform on goodies, such as cake and ice cream, and avoid falling into molten chocolate flowing below. As for the boss himself, I have created a design that I am very proud of. I'm trying to decide to whether to call him The Candy Man or Gumshoe, a pun on the slang term for detective. The first of the animations I have included below is the introduction animation that will play right before the battle starts. His attacks will include shooting small gum ball bullets, lobbing giant wads of gum, and slashing with either a candy cane or a lollipop sword. I had originally planned to complete Treble-Maker's stage first for use as a playable demo, but now I think I will use this new candy-themed one, as I have a much wider range of ideas for it.

Treble-Maker's Stage

I have recently been working very hard in Unity to create my first stage. I decided to work on the music themed level I had in mind first, as I had the most good ideas for it. This level will eventually be the lair of the Treble-Maker, who will attack using a sword resembling a conductor's baton and music note projectiles. As you can see in the image I included below, I have been able to apply the characters and textures I created in Piskel to Unity. I have also been able to create a rough playable Chameleon with basic programming that I will add on to later. I have yet to animate the Chameleon within Unity, but that is next on my to-do-list. To help with my coding and basic use of Unity, I have been watching GamesPlusJames' videos on Youtube. They are incredibly helpful and I recommend them to anyone else trying to make their first video game. Next week, I hope to have a video of me playing as much of the level as I can.

GamesPlusJames' Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesplusjames

Treble-Maker's Stage in Unity

The Chameleon

This past week I have been working on additional animations for the main character I designed all the way back in September. I need my character to be versatile and able to do many things, so I have made animations for him running, shooting, jumping, climbing and even rolling. I have also given him an animation for when he takes damage and I will make one for when he is defeated. While these are all useful from a gameplay aspect, I also want additional animations that give my character more personality. This might include a victory pose, a talking animation, or a celebration animation. While none of these are absolutely necessary, they help breathe life into my character and their world and help make the game more appealing and charming overall. I hope to have these personality-revealing animations for most of the characters, including villains, so that every one of them feels alive and I can show that without having to explicitly explain it for each and every character

.

Designing Enemies

This week, I did not have very much time to work in Unity, so I could not transfer my images from Piskel to Unity and I could not program my character just yet, but I did work on the designs of several enemies. I created two enemies for a weather themed level I have been thinking about. One is a cloud that will shoot lightning and the other is a raindrop enemy that will shoot water projectiles (Which I have included an image of below). I have also been brainstorming different ideas for levels and their gimmicks. By gimmicks, I mean anything that makes that level unique from a gameplay aspect and an aesthetic aspect. One idea I had was a music themed level where giant horns shoot out air that will allow the player to float up to areas they could not have reached before. These horns may also be used as hazards as they could shoot air downwards and push the player into spikes below it. I was thinking there could be giant drums as well that, when struck, will bounce the player higher.

Experimenting with Unity

     This week I continued to work in Piskel. I created a couple additional minor enemies in animation. I also created some sample projectiles that the main characters and enemies might use. This week I also created my account for Unity. I began experimenting a little bit with Unity and its features. I was able to use some of the free assets that are provided, for example, apply physics to a certain object and move characters around. I learned how to use colliders, which is what makes characters, enemies, and even the walls and floors, solid. Unity 5 provides a pre-built character, complete with animations and programming, so I experimented with this feature. Hopefully, by next week, I will be able to import the animations I have in Piskel to Unity, I can really begin working on the game itself. I aim to program my main character by next week.

Further Work in Piskel

This week, I continued to work on different characters and animations in Piskel. I want the whole game to be about Superheroes and Villains and for it to have the feel of a comic book. I created several more animations for my previously created character, simply called "Chameleon" for now.  These new animations include running, shooting, and jumping. In addition, I created my first Super-Villain,"Invisi-Bill", who will be one of the eight main bosses of the game.  His superpower is the ability to turn invisible (hence the pun) and I will design the boss fight around that. Like in MegaMan I want the player to get an ability from each of the bosses they defeat, so that they can use one villain's power to exploit the weakness of another. I hope to design the rest of my villains with puns in mind as well to give the game a lighthearted feel. Hopefully, I will have another villain to show next week.

Here is a sample animation of "Invisi-Bill": 

Unity 5 and Piskel

I have been very busy working on my project this week. After doing some research, I downloaded the free version of Unity 5, which is a game engine made specifically to give developers a foundation for their games. I watched the tutorials that were posted on their website and I also watched some Unity 5 tutorials that other users have posted online. In addition, I have been working in Piskel, creating and designing characters for my game. Piskel is a free online sprite editor. I will be able to import the characters I create in Piskel  to Unity 5. I have also been trying to decide on the theme of my game and have created a list of possible names for characters.

Unity's website includes a trailer that may be viewed here: http://unity3d.com/5
If you are interested in Piskel, here is the link to their website: http://www.piskelapp.com/

I have included one of my character designs that I created in Piskel below.
  

 

Getting Started . . .

     My name is Nathanael Holmes and I am a junior in high school. I was asked by my teacher to complete a project over the course of the year. She encouraged us to pursue something that we were passionate about. Since I love video games, I chose to create one for my project.
      I would someday like to major in software engineering, so I thought it would be fun to create my own game this year. The game I want to be create will be heavily inspired by Megaman. Since this is my first time doing something like this, I really do not know much about how games are created, so it is going to take a lot of work and research. By the end of the school year, I hope to have a game that I am proud to have created.
      I am writing this blog to document my journey.

This is the timeline that I have planned:

September: Research game engines and view online tutorials to find a game engine that will work for me.

October: Create a minimal viable product that basically will be a rough starting point. I will need to be able to program basic visuals and a character.

November: Work on background visuals and art style

December: By this point, I would like to at least have a playable level, with visuals included

January: Work on audio, which will include sound effects and music

February: Complete a rough playable demo and begin to have people try it

March: Use feedback to fix problems or add new things

April: Expand upon the game, general expansion
May: Will have created a full, playable demo or beta version

If you would like to contact me, please leave a comment. I will review it and get back with you. Thank you.