shelled dev pics, new game, & new ride
by Joshua Dallman · 08/06/2006 (2:06 pm) · 9 comments
IGC seems to be coming up fast and every year the games increase in number and respectability - I'm excited more than anything to see the games that other indies will be showing off.
red thumb games will be representin' with three games playable:
(and we're hopefully sponsoring some prizes this year too)
### SPLOIDZ
we JUST got the sounds in this week and man what a difference SFX make to the fun factor. we used GG's mojo audio arcade sound pack.
I miss the days of arcade style games: hard, 1 hit deaths, no continues, that sort of thing. sploidz reflects an arcade/hardcore philosophy more than a casual/warmfuzzy game. I think the graphics - and now sound - reflect that, but many will still miss the cues - the game goes against expectations. it gets hairy pretty quick if you don't keep paying attention and thinking fast. there's strategy to the game, but you have to be smart enough with puzzle and logic type stuff to find it. otherwise it's boring in about, oh, less than a minute. which is fine with me either way - it's a free game, I learned a ton making it, and I have a blast playing it.
it's hard to know when to stop - it could use more polish yet, more balance testing, online high scores, and a tutorial to illustrate some of the strategy - but as a free game and with a grand already in it, it's time to get it out there. look for an IOTD announcing its release sometime this month.
### SHELLED
after E3/minnamingle I wondered if going was a wasted drive and effort. it did end up paying off because I connected with russ carroll, who later previewed shelled on gametunnel. a month later I dropped him a thank you note, and sure enough the next day one of his writers contacted me for an interview. point being: network as much as you can, you never know where it will lead, the only wasted effort is the one you don't make.
big updates to shelled are now complete:
- upgraded from TGE 1.3 to TGE 1.4 - smoothly done, good work gary!
- number of players upped from 6 to 8 (cyan & white added)
- all graphical text removed and replaced with font use for localization
(well, except for this screen:)
- new gui's!! pat wilson advised that a consistent look is key with gui's, so we did just that (thanks pat)
level select
game options
pause menu
shell purchase
game over
- new spiffy networking gui feature! check this out: when you select "online game" it automatically queries the LAN & net for games, instead of having to click those options yourself with additional manual clicks. then, DEPENDING ON THE QUERY RESULTS, it shows you either a menu that prompts you to create a new game if none are found (corralling people into creating games when none exist), OR a menu that says "x games found. Join best?" with an option to manually select the game you want if you don't want to auto-join the best. this makes it easy for less-technical casual game players to join games - they don't care about details, they want the fastest game with the most players. and it only takes TWO CLICKS from the main menu to get into or start an online game. sweet! I'm very proud of this design.
- new "x-ray vision" - colored boxes appear around tanks at all times so you can see through the terrain to determine how high/low they are for better targeting. big thanks to stephen zepp for this feature suggestion (he even told us how to code it!). this single small feature has increased the playability by a ton.
- MULTIPLE FIRING. this is the crown jewel of the updates - a big code change, a big game design change, with a huge impact. AND IT'S SWEET! before, you'd fire, go to air cam, wait to land, repeat. a click while the shell was in the air would speed up the landing, but firing was still linear. now, you fire, go to air cam, click while shell is in air to open a picture-in-picture view of the aircam, and return to your tank to fire again before the shell even lands, allowing you to fire more shots more quickly and fire arrays of shots. when the shell does land it tells you in the PiP if it's a hit or miss. the adreneline factor of the game tripled with this one change. the difficulty also increased as you really have to be a pro to master multiple firing.
pip of shell in air (shell itself not actually rendered - bug)
pip of shell hitting target
- other misc changes: flight is smoother, spawns are prettier, shell speed doubled for more action, immediate flight now possible, right click/immediate detonation now does damage, radar option for B&W or full color, tanks/shell model performance optimized, out-of-bounds feature added
as noted in the last blog, we're taking the month "off" as far as feature changes to focus entirely on bug fixing and stabalizing. next month we're starting on the "scorch" branch of the game. here's a concept preview of what that might shape up as:
the tanks themselves are being re-designed to look less like spaceships and more like, well, tanks - again providing further cues to the game's scorch roots. chrisophe canon, who did the eye-popping environments, will be doing the new tanks next month.
once again, big thanks to joe m. for the discussion that lead to this now second U turn in the project. I wouldn't have made the tough call to change directions and move boldly away from the current gameplay mechanic if not for his advise.
### PODS OF WAR
as noted above, the multiple firing feature alone has really upped the "hardcore" factor of shelled, and there's entirely too much disconnect between the game that it is (hardcore) and the game that it was intended to be (casual). so instead of fighting it, we're now embracicng it!
thus, we're veering shelled into a more casual game with the said scorch changes, but rather than throwing away this nearly-complete game code, we're branching it off into its own game, this time with solidly hardcore-appeal. the game is called PODS OF WAR. it's basically shelled exactly as it is now, but with 3 ships and the addition of FPS straight shooting (on top of the existing gravity/projectile shooting). getpodsofwar.com is registered, a logo is being designed, and rough place-holder models to replace the turtle tanks for the IGC build are being rendered:
other than the logo (which gives a face to the project), NO production art will be done on the game until shelled is complete. I've learned my lesson about stacking multiple games. NO code will be changed for the IGC build. it'll be shelled as it is now with all art replaced or blanked out, and the place-holder pod models hot-swapped in.
though POW doesn't quite have the inspired IP of shelled - it's a little more generically sci-fi techy - I'm still just as excited about the project as it's exactly the gameplay of shelled that we've been playing all this time, and that gameplay kicks butt.
###
so that's what's going on with those projects. onto the life-sharing aspect of the blog. not as exciting as a car crashing through one's living room at 3am, but I try.
first it cannot be said enough times how sorely missed jay moore will be both personally and in the community. I'm still so bummed about it. jay was among my mentors, especially early on, and his encouragement helped fuel getting me started in a big way. thanks jay - my journey wouldn't have been the same without you. :'(
second, I moved out of my ghetto-pad into a new place that's much more hospitable. when I pulled up in front of my old place to park and a prostitute opened the passenger door to get in, that's when I knew it was time to move. my new place is still on the outskirts enough to be "interesting", but not so interesting that, well, prostitutes get in your car when you park. and even better, I've got 5 cool ass roommates that all live creative lifestyles, so there's great energy in the house for encouraging fun and art.
last, when I moved into the ghetto pad, there was a custom trike in bad shape abandoned in the basement (that person also left a piano - crazy!). so when I moved out, I rescued it, and I'm in the process of mod'ing it and getting it totally fixed up, piece by piece.
other than general maintenence, my first mods included attaching a noble steed to the front, and adding a retro combustion gague to the dash. I also lowered the handlebars and removed the basket, and I'm about to add a rear light and water bottle holder.
it's fun to fix up, but it's CRAZY fun to ride around town. and with this bad boy I have no hesitation of riding in the street, including some of the busiest streets in portland. oh man do I have fun with this - I can't wait to get home from work every day so I can go on long rides. it's hell on the quads because you have no leverage, but it's a damn good workout. and did I mention how fun it is to ride? well something good came out of my stint at the ghetto pad, that's for sure!
that's all from here, keep it real peeps
josh
red thumb games will be representin' with three games playable:
(and we're hopefully sponsoring some prizes this year too)
### SPLOIDZ
we JUST got the sounds in this week and man what a difference SFX make to the fun factor. we used GG's mojo audio arcade sound pack.
I miss the days of arcade style games: hard, 1 hit deaths, no continues, that sort of thing. sploidz reflects an arcade/hardcore philosophy more than a casual/warmfuzzy game. I think the graphics - and now sound - reflect that, but many will still miss the cues - the game goes against expectations. it gets hairy pretty quick if you don't keep paying attention and thinking fast. there's strategy to the game, but you have to be smart enough with puzzle and logic type stuff to find it. otherwise it's boring in about, oh, less than a minute. which is fine with me either way - it's a free game, I learned a ton making it, and I have a blast playing it.
it's hard to know when to stop - it could use more polish yet, more balance testing, online high scores, and a tutorial to illustrate some of the strategy - but as a free game and with a grand already in it, it's time to get it out there. look for an IOTD announcing its release sometime this month.
### SHELLED
after E3/minnamingle I wondered if going was a wasted drive and effort. it did end up paying off because I connected with russ carroll, who later previewed shelled on gametunnel. a month later I dropped him a thank you note, and sure enough the next day one of his writers contacted me for an interview. point being: network as much as you can, you never know where it will lead, the only wasted effort is the one you don't make.
big updates to shelled are now complete:
- upgraded from TGE 1.3 to TGE 1.4 - smoothly done, good work gary!
- number of players upped from 6 to 8 (cyan & white added)
- all graphical text removed and replaced with font use for localization
(well, except for this screen:)
- new gui's!! pat wilson advised that a consistent look is key with gui's, so we did just that (thanks pat)
level select
game options
pause menu
shell purchase
game over
- new spiffy networking gui feature! check this out: when you select "online game" it automatically queries the LAN & net for games, instead of having to click those options yourself with additional manual clicks. then, DEPENDING ON THE QUERY RESULTS, it shows you either a menu that prompts you to create a new game if none are found (corralling people into creating games when none exist), OR a menu that says "x games found. Join best?" with an option to manually select the game you want if you don't want to auto-join the best. this makes it easy for less-technical casual game players to join games - they don't care about details, they want the fastest game with the most players. and it only takes TWO CLICKS from the main menu to get into or start an online game. sweet! I'm very proud of this design.
- new "x-ray vision" - colored boxes appear around tanks at all times so you can see through the terrain to determine how high/low they are for better targeting. big thanks to stephen zepp for this feature suggestion (he even told us how to code it!). this single small feature has increased the playability by a ton.
- MULTIPLE FIRING. this is the crown jewel of the updates - a big code change, a big game design change, with a huge impact. AND IT'S SWEET! before, you'd fire, go to air cam, wait to land, repeat. a click while the shell was in the air would speed up the landing, but firing was still linear. now, you fire, go to air cam, click while shell is in air to open a picture-in-picture view of the aircam, and return to your tank to fire again before the shell even lands, allowing you to fire more shots more quickly and fire arrays of shots. when the shell does land it tells you in the PiP if it's a hit or miss. the adreneline factor of the game tripled with this one change. the difficulty also increased as you really have to be a pro to master multiple firing.
pip of shell in air (shell itself not actually rendered - bug)
pip of shell hitting target
- other misc changes: flight is smoother, spawns are prettier, shell speed doubled for more action, immediate flight now possible, right click/immediate detonation now does damage, radar option for B&W or full color, tanks/shell model performance optimized, out-of-bounds feature added
as noted in the last blog, we're taking the month "off" as far as feature changes to focus entirely on bug fixing and stabalizing. next month we're starting on the "scorch" branch of the game. here's a concept preview of what that might shape up as:
the tanks themselves are being re-designed to look less like spaceships and more like, well, tanks - again providing further cues to the game's scorch roots. chrisophe canon, who did the eye-popping environments, will be doing the new tanks next month.
once again, big thanks to joe m. for the discussion that lead to this now second U turn in the project. I wouldn't have made the tough call to change directions and move boldly away from the current gameplay mechanic if not for his advise.
### PODS OF WAR
as noted above, the multiple firing feature alone has really upped the "hardcore" factor of shelled, and there's entirely too much disconnect between the game that it is (hardcore) and the game that it was intended to be (casual). so instead of fighting it, we're now embracicng it!
thus, we're veering shelled into a more casual game with the said scorch changes, but rather than throwing away this nearly-complete game code, we're branching it off into its own game, this time with solidly hardcore-appeal. the game is called PODS OF WAR. it's basically shelled exactly as it is now, but with 3 ships and the addition of FPS straight shooting (on top of the existing gravity/projectile shooting). getpodsofwar.com is registered, a logo is being designed, and rough place-holder models to replace the turtle tanks for the IGC build are being rendered:
other than the logo (which gives a face to the project), NO production art will be done on the game until shelled is complete. I've learned my lesson about stacking multiple games. NO code will be changed for the IGC build. it'll be shelled as it is now with all art replaced or blanked out, and the place-holder pod models hot-swapped in.
though POW doesn't quite have the inspired IP of shelled - it's a little more generically sci-fi techy - I'm still just as excited about the project as it's exactly the gameplay of shelled that we've been playing all this time, and that gameplay kicks butt.
###
so that's what's going on with those projects. onto the life-sharing aspect of the blog. not as exciting as a car crashing through one's living room at 3am, but I try.
first it cannot be said enough times how sorely missed jay moore will be both personally and in the community. I'm still so bummed about it. jay was among my mentors, especially early on, and his encouragement helped fuel getting me started in a big way. thanks jay - my journey wouldn't have been the same without you. :'(
second, I moved out of my ghetto-pad into a new place that's much more hospitable. when I pulled up in front of my old place to park and a prostitute opened the passenger door to get in, that's when I knew it was time to move. my new place is still on the outskirts enough to be "interesting", but not so interesting that, well, prostitutes get in your car when you park. and even better, I've got 5 cool ass roommates that all live creative lifestyles, so there's great energy in the house for encouraging fun and art.
last, when I moved into the ghetto pad, there was a custom trike in bad shape abandoned in the basement (that person also left a piano - crazy!). so when I moved out, I rescued it, and I'm in the process of mod'ing it and getting it totally fixed up, piece by piece.
other than general maintenence, my first mods included attaching a noble steed to the front, and adding a retro combustion gague to the dash. I also lowered the handlebars and removed the basket, and I'm about to add a rear light and water bottle holder.
it's fun to fix up, but it's CRAZY fun to ride around town. and with this bad boy I have no hesitation of riding in the street, including some of the busiest streets in portland. oh man do I have fun with this - I can't wait to get home from work every day so I can go on long rides. it's hell on the quads because you have no leverage, but it's a damn good workout. and did I mention how fun it is to ride? well something good came out of my stint at the ghetto pad, that's for sure!
that's all from here, keep it real peeps
josh
About the author
#2
Portland is the nicest city I've ever lived in/near/around =) I'd like to move back there someday.
08/06/2006 (3:13 pm)
Sweet bike, Josh =)Portland is the nicest city I've ever lived in/near/around =) I'd like to move back there someday.
#3
08/06/2006 (6:59 pm)
goddamn your game is looking fucking great. i just can't believe the difference from last year. not that i'm one who's opinion of a game should be taken to heart, but i think your game looks like the shit.
#4
08/06/2006 (7:00 pm)
oh, and your bike fucking rocks! 
#5
Seriously, looks awesome, I can't wait to plunge back in
08/06/2006 (10:07 pm)
hmmm...that's not fair. Now I have to wait a month at least to get my hands on this!!!!Seriously, looks awesome, I can't wait to plunge back in
#6
08/07/2006 (8:18 am)
Nice ride, Josh!! That's a totally awesome bike... I mean trike... the pony is a nice touch. You should let Ben ride it so we can get pictures.
#8
I hear ya man. I used to live in a place that people from the GHETTO called 'the ghetto'. I had a different experience though. When my brother pulled up to visit and a prostitue opened up the door to get in, he moved in ;)
08/07/2006 (12:54 pm)
Quote:when I pulled up in front of my old place to park and a prostitute opened the passenger door to get in, that's when I knew it was time to move.
I hear ya man. I used to live in a place that people from the GHETTO called 'the ghetto'. I had a different experience though. When my brother pulled up to visit and a prostitue opened up the door to get in, he moved in ;)
#9
08/08/2006 (3:26 pm)
Ha, that ride is hardcore. Awesome. Shelled continues to look excellent. I can't wait to get my hands on it eventually. 
Torque Owner Paul Malyschko
That's one awesome bike. I used to have a neighbour who had a similar bike, and it's the only one I've ever seen in a city of a million people. However, his had two wheels. I have no idea how he managed to get up enough speed to stay balanced, but he did it.