roboticastudios

[roboticastudios]

What a horrible night to have a curse (❤️ Castlevania)! This is a preview screenshot of a spooky level I'm working on, rafting down a deadly poison river with a few monsters to be weary of.

I've been working more on Kiroshi Doshi recently and am working on the level finishing loop. One part of this is the level completion marker, I enjoy when these have a mini challenge, as opposed to just crossing a finish line. For example, Mario ends with a flagpole challenge, with the goal of landing on the very top, and Donkey Kong Country (Returns & Tropical Freeze) ends with a timing challenge. Depending on when you jump in the special end level barrel, it will give you a different prize ranging from bananas to extra lives.

After completing the level finisher (ex. Mario Flagpole) I want to display a page of level stats such as how many collectables you picked up, how many collectables are possible to pick up, and how much time it took you. To display this kind of info I needed to decide how I am storing it. I've considered using a csv file, but that seems to only be good for translations in Godot. I considered storing level info in JSON files, but in the end I decided to just store the level information in dictionaries inside my global script. So I created one dictionary called levelnfo{} that stores static, non changing level info such as level ID, level name, and total collectables, and another dictionary for player level stats called recordBest{}, which stores the players best records, such as the most amount of coins collected and fastest time completed per level. This second dictionary is being saved and loaded from the savegame user file.

After finishing the level completion loop I can start putting them into a level select map!

[roboticastudios]

Bytes & Bygones update v0.1.1.0 is a feature and optimization update.

Improved the frame rate from ~40fps to 60fps by adjusting and optimizing the lighting settings.

Added 5 levels, new total of 16.

Updated the background art.

Slightly increased dash distance.

New pause menu that doesn't disappear if you click the mouse outside of the game window.

Linux and Mac builds are now available.

Regardless of if you completed all 11 levels from the previous build (v0.1.0.0), I recommend deleting your save file and starting over, however that is not required. You can find the delete save file in the games options menu from the title screen.

[roboticastudios]

I've been using this NYX8 color palette for my Zelda-Like, but I've had feedback that I don't have enough contrast. I have been having difficulty trying to figure out how to add more colors to this palette. If any of you have artistic abilities, please help!

[roboticastudios]

Lurkers be lurking

They are similar to snakes, but more erratic. You can tell I'm still working on the dropped coin pickup procedure.

[roboticastudios]

Getting Batty with it

It's bat time! The bats are a little more anxiety inducing than the snakes. They chase you, and have more health. Their behaviour is a little complex, if you block them they may decide to flee, and then may decide to come back at you again. That is not demonstrated in this gif however, I was just trying to wack em.

[roboticastudios]

Snakes Death

Ssssso Sssssorry Sssssnakes! Ssssword sssstrikes sssslice!

[roboticastudios]

Snakes movement.

They slither to... and fro.

Next direction... who knows?

I've decided to make this week Monster Week... Ssssstarting with more Ssssnakes.

[roboticastudios]

"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"

Can't help but think of the Indiana Jones quote while working on the snakes for this game. These reptiles roam in random directions.

This is just a test dungeon room I made for testing mobs, and yes, I have my shield up!

[roboticastudios]

Fish 3 for Zelda-Like Project

The Golden Bass is the smaller cousin of the Greenback Bass, it favors smaller bodies of water. It gets the name from the distinctive gold stripes along its sides, not from monetary value.

Now with tall grass, bushes, rocks, and water reeds.

[roboticastudios]

Fish 2 for Zelda-Like Project

This is the Speckled Bass, another popular game fish found in freshwater. Not as common, and a bit larger and more reluctant to bite than its close relative, the Greenback Bass. It does prefer areas with heavy vegetation.

I am still working on this pond's geography.

[roboticastudios]

Coding a level select menu.

I want to preface that I am not the best at anything, especially programming, but I thought I would share how I handle level select menus in TeTriDi, where I have menu screens that let you select between 20 different levels. Hopefully these kinds of posts are helpful to other indie devs out there, and still interesting for the non-indie-devs as well! And if you have improvements to share, I'm all ears, I'm still learning!

Here is a screenshot of what the menu looks like:

TeTriDi is made in the Godot Engine v3.5, with which I use GDScript.

First of all, the setup variables. I prefer creating onready vars for direct node access, this is handy in case you later change the node tree structure, all you would have to do is update these parameters at the top of the code.

In Godot, the _ready() function is run during initialization of the script, so in this case I use it to initiate the UI focus grabbing onto the first button, which represents the first level, and to call for displaying the current record of that level.

The for loop here is for connecting all of the buttons pressed signals via code instead of through the nodes GUI settings, this is important for the way I'm doing this menu.

Under the _process function, which runs constantly, I set the selector position to the button that currently has focus, with a position offset to make the selector sprite align properly. This does require that you set the focus options on the button nodes focus properties.

On each button pressed I have set the transition type and new scene directory before beginning the transition.

Under _unhandled_input I have the cursor move sound effect and current_record functions so that they run anytime the player hits the any buttons.

The current_record function gets the level number, score, and text from my global script.

And that's it! If you have any questions or feedback feel free to comment or reach out. Thanks for reading.

[roboticastudios]

Fish for Zelda-Like Project

Here is the "Greenback Bass", it is plentiful throughout most freshwater ecosystems, and is a favorite amongst anglers everywhere.

You'll be able to fish in every body of water that you can reach, this is something that I wish was in every Zelda / Zelda-Like game.

If you have a suggestion for a fish you'd like to see in this game, please leave a comment.

[roboticastudios]

Astrofield update v1.9.1.0

"The Art Update"

Update version 1.9.1.0 Change Log.

I am excited to release this update, I really feel that it ups the fun factor. The game feels much more cohesive now. The new menu design is so much better, but this update improved things in almost every different aspect of this project. 

Fun fact - The background stars during gameplay are actually individual objects (Sprite Nodes) that are generated similarly like the asteroids, with which I control via code, that's why the star patterns are always fresh!

-----Gameplay-----

New - Added an unlocking feature to gradually unlock ships.

New - Added crate counter HUD meter.

Changed - Enabled Alpha Fighter ship's laser to start in ready state (Buff).

Changed - Reduced Flare Runner ship's acceleration (Nerf).

Changed - Increased Flare Runner ship's Dodge-Roll timer (Nerf).

Changed - Further reduced the number of spawned asteroids for Easy mode.

Changed - Reduced the number of spawned asteroids for normal mode.

Changed - Required crates for Easy mode now 3, previously 1.

Changed - Required crates for normal mode now 3, previously 2.

Changed - Slightly increased spawn rate of mega sized asteroids.

Changed - Updated difficulty screen to include text and icon descriptions.

-----Art-----

New - Added several color palettes, now 28 total.

New - Added Occasional background comets.

New - Added cursor to pause menu popup to make the selection choice clearer.

Changed - Added more asteroid sprites for variation.

Changed - Swapped out several color palettes.

Changed - Updated asteroid explosion effect for smaller particles.

Changed - Added explosion effect to all ship’s death animations.

Changed - Updated background stars animation.

Changed - Updated title screen art.

Changed - Updated all menu screens art.

Changed - Updated end credit sequence resolution, art, and effects.

Changed - Updated ability Icon art.

Changed - Updated ship screen menu's ship icons animations.

Changed - Adjusted slow thrust effect for Nimbus, Flare Runner, Goshawk, and Alpha Fighter ships.

Changed - Sound Menu cursor and Data Menu cursor to match the rest of the menus.

Changed - Slightly modified the dodge-roll animation for Roy Jr, Flare Runner, and Alpha Fighter ships.

Changed - Adjusted the Pause menu popup coloring to work better with most color palettes.

Changed - Adjusted title screen choices colors to work better with all color palettes.

-----Sound-----

Changed - Lowered the volume of the asteroid explosion sound.

Changed - Added random pitch variation to the asteroid explosion sound.

Changed - Added random pitch variation to some of the beep sounds.

Changed - Added random pitch variation to the dodge-roll sound.

Changed - Swapped the laser sound and added effects.

Changed - Swapped the torpedo sound and added effects.

-----Other-----

Changed - Redid the fonts, and repositioned all of the text fields throughout, so that they now scale with screen size.

Changed - Slightly modified some of the ship end-credit text descriptions for clarity.

-----Backend-----

Modified the asset deletion queue to be more efficient.

Removed deprecated files.

[roboticastudios]

General Update

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a long while. To follow up from the last blog post about Kiroshi Doshi, raycasts did work! To make up for lost time I will give a brief look at where I am with all current projects, and will try to post more regularly.

Kiroshi Doshi:

I took the opportunity to start fresh with Kiroshi Doshi, not entirely from scratch, but I wanted to make fundamental improvements so to speak, so I started a new project for it. Here is a current screenshot:

Astrofield:

I just released v1.9.1.0 "The Art Update", which improved a lot of things, it certainly feels more polished now:

Bytes & Bygones:

I am working on the second portal levels, specifically working on incorporating longer levels where the camera will follow the player:

I also am increasing the dash boost very slightly to make it easier to dash horizontally across the spinners on that one level (you'll know the one if you've got to it!)

Zelda-Like project:

I am working on fishing and swimming:

I am borrowing the Stardew Valley style fishing mechanics for this project and am still working out the programming for it. Coming up with a variety of fish is fun, and time consuming! ;)

[roboticastudios]

There's nothing else quite like riding a minecart in a cave, on a hazardous track. This is a favorite mechanic of mine from Donkey Kong Country. I would really like to get slopes working for this, but I'm still trying to get that figured out.

The difficulty isn't so much the moving up or down the slopes, but in the animation. I would like to have the character and minecart for example, use an angled down animation when going down slopes.

I think raycasts are the best way to detect the slope angle but results so far are inadequate, I'll try again later this week.

[roboticastudios]

Swimming mechanics in platform games sometimes have a bad reputation. They can be difficult to control (first Mario Bros comes to mind), or just too hard. But I consider water levels a must for a classic platformer so of course I have to give it a go for Kiroshi Doshi. I'm trying to make swimming easy to control, and fun, similar ish to Donkey Kong Country swimming.

I thought it would be fairly easy to add swimming to my character controller, and I suppose that was true, just added another state, but to get the swimming to actually work well... took a lot. Yes I mean a whole lot, lot, of extra coding, and it's still not 100%, but it's getting close.

As for objects I have sharks, urchins, seaweed, and currents working so that's a promising start.

If you have any favorite platformer water level mechanics, enemies, hazards or themes let me know.

[roboticastudios]

What makes a good name for a classic 2D platformer game. A common tactic is to name it after the mechanics, such as Jump Jump, Double Jump, Bubble Jump, Gumboy, Gumgirl, Slime Jump, Bubble Boy... but would you believe it? All those and many more are already taken.

So I started analyzing how the greats got their names. Mario Bros is great, but why? It was Japanese game designers making a genius and completely wacky game, and naming the characters Italian names.

Kirby was named after the US Nintendo lawyer who successfully defended Nintendo from Universal's lawsuit about Donkey Kong's infringement on King Kong. That's an honor, but not generally how you name a game.

As for Donkey Kong, I mean, I see the Kong thing because King Kong and DK are both Apes, but how on earth do you come up with naming an ape... Donkey?

Yoshi is a name. Legit just a normal name, just like Mario and Kirby are actually people's names.

So after much deep thought and introspection, I used a website to jumble up Mario, Kirby, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong for fun because those are the biggest inspirations for my platformer (sorry Bubble Bobble, I still love you)

And I ended up with... Drumroll please 🥁...

Kiroshi Doshi! And that is now the name for this project 🤣