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

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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.