Josh's Adventure (Released!)

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Alright, so after taking a much needed RPG break, I think I'm back in the saddle ready to give this another go. Life is finally slowing back down to a much calmer pace, so I've come back to this.

I'm working on my game as I type this out. I'll have 3-3 finalized by the end of the post.

Let's talk about motivation. Lately I've had very little. I think it's the lukewarm reaction I got to the demo. A lot of people called it strange, but I don't think too many people really got what I was trying to make. They didn't notice the intrisicites and little tidbits I threw around. The hidden stuff you have to explore to find. The clever level design and enemy placement.

What's really funny about all this is I already know the golden rules to making this stuff, and I just constantly keep forgetting them. Which might explain why development has been so difficult.

First mistake I've been making is developing the title for others and not for myself. Not to say, obviously, that you guys don't matter, but I need to make the game for myself and stop trying to convince others this game is awesome. It already is, in my mind. Better than Fufu, I dare say. I need to get comfortable with that again and stop forcing that opinion on others.

And I need to say this, because I'm sure people already hate me for this, but I'm here to be better than you. Alright, maybe that was a bit harsh. But I compete. Even though that's completely NOT what this community is about, it's what I strive for. I was pretty dang happy when I worked on Donkey Kong, because back then I felt like the underdog. Someone who hadn't released anything good to that point finally does. I need to get that motivation back, and make this game for me. That way, I'll enjoy the game more, which will make other people enjoy it more. Get back into that mindset of "I've got something to prove to the world". It gives me motivation.

Sorry if that sounded a little brash, but what I say tends to be rather unpolished and crude at times.

So, I'm trying to get back in the 'zone', where I can focus on making this game again. Cuts may or may not happen, depending on whether I like it or not. Hey, I'm starting to use what I just talked about!

No idea how to end this particular post, since there are likely many mixed feelings....

Seeya next time!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

SPECIAL PAVILION POST!

Well, with the new games lined up, I checked out some of other people's games and checked the counter on some of mine. Wow. JA has 35 downloads. That's pretty great considering it's only been out for a month.

It's a change, that's for sure. Generally over the last year when I first started uploading stuff to the Mag and the Pav, the Mag has always pulled more numbers. But with Josh's Adventure the difference is absolutely huge. 35 downloads to 8. 2,200 views here compared to 800 views Magwise.

I know there are a couple factors keeping these numbers up. Front page advertising is a really big boost, and the fact this topic is in general development certainly helps.

So, I want to thank Valk for continuing to post my game topic on the front page, and thanks to everyone who continues to read these posts! This helps give me motivation to keep at this little project I started.

[Valkysas]

Re: Josh's Adventure

I know there are a couple factors keeping these numbers up. Front page advertising is a really big boost, and the fact this topic is in general development certainly helps.

So, I want to thank Valk for continuing to post my game topic on the front page, and thanks to everyone who continues to read these posts! This helps give me motivation to keep at this little project I started.

Thanks. I'm glad I could help. This is the very reason I started community news, and the reason I'll keep doing it as long as I'm here.

The RPGM General forum helps, certainly (people with their own game forums can still post stuff in this forum! do whatever you feel like to promote your stuff, I promise I don't mind!). It's the first real forum the visitors here see every time they come. So it gets a lot of attention.

Just kinda sucks that such a big part of our community is happy to remain as lurkers, as the topic views and download counters show. Feedback is very important to anyone making a game, and it's really hard to keep going when you arent getting any. But at least those counters help show that some people are actually interested, even if they arent speaking up.

[Ωbright]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Yup. I've noticed a big increase in hits and d-loads too, and unless I'm just totally mistaken, it corresponded perfectly with when the community updates started.

Oh and 1ce, your attitude about 'making games for you' is not a bad thing, you saying it is not brash, and if people take that as harsh, then they are silly. If you make a game for YOU, then your heart is going to be in it to a much larger degree, and it will come across to your players. Also, you'll probably never finish the damn thing unless it's something you, yourself love. And lastly, when you're done with it you can be filled with even more pride because it was all you. You stuck to your guns and stayed true to your vision.

You still can listen to what people want and enjoy, and avoid running them through the wringer if you can help it, but ultimately you pretty much have to make it for you.

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Wow, it's been a while since I've seen someone else reply other than myself! Thanks guys.

Oh and 1ce, your attitude about 'making games for you' is not a bad thing, you saying it is not brash, and if people take that as harsh, then they are silly. If you make a game for YOU, then your heart is going to be in it to a much larger degree, and it will come across to your players. Also, you'll probably never finish the damn thing unless it's something you, yourself love. And lastly, when you're done with it you can be filled with even more pride because it was all you. You stuck to your guns and stayed true to your vision.

Exactly. See, I knew this before and during production of starting JA, but it became less obvious to me until I eventually forgot about it completely. Now that I've got that right mindset in, I can start making the way I want to make it and be much happier with how it turns out. I don't know what other people want, I just know what I want. That's all I need.

When I love what I'm making, the game will give off that feeling and the players will pick up on that, and they will enjoy it as a result.

Group hug all around!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Just a little progress today.

Did a little work on 3-3. The level design is complete, and pretty technical too. The falling platform is complete in theory. Instead of the platform falling and moving, everything around the platform falls. So the ropes you can see that get cut, move upward, and the ground (in this case, fire) moves upward. I doubt anyone will fall for the trick, but hopefully it'll look cool. I also organized some switches and....that's it. Not a whole lot.

I am, however, up to scenario block no. 7, and I'm starting to worry I'm not gonna have enough memory to make this all work on one card. Best case scenario if I run out, I can move extra stuff to different memory cards. I don't think it's likely I'll run out of memory for the main quest, but it could happen.

...Man, it's a fight to stay up on the RPG General forum at the Pav. Lots of stuff happening. It's great!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Have some free time, and actually got more than one day off this week! WOOHOO!

But enough of the celebrations, back to business.

3-3 is kinda rubbing me the wrong way. The whole this-platform-will-break-and-you'll-be-in-freefall doesn't work for me. The illusion doesn't work and it adds nothing. I was considering starting the level over from scratch, but I think I'm simply going to cut out the falling platform. What I'm going to fill it with, I don't know yet, but it'll likely be better than what I originally planned.

I'm also having trouble with the hubworld. The reaction to it is rather negative, and yet I like it, personally. It was a showcase of what I wanted to do with the game; a more expansive, colorful game than Donkey Kong. I've been trying to think up a new hubworld, but have come up with blanks. Can you guys think of any suggestions to fix it?

Meanwhile I've been working on 3-4, Adventure. Following in the tradition of other -4 levels, it's longer and more complicated than previous levels. This one has you destroying three enemies blocking the exit by dropping rocks on them. At one point you accidentally also break a bridge, which you must replace. The level design is complete for this one; has been for some time. I recently coded in all the jumps and have some ideas planned for how the level will play out. Nothing terribly fancy, but it'll throw some unique challenges your way you haven't seen yet at this point.

Another good thing to mention is I'm starting to get out of the slump I was in earlier. The inspiration, dialogue, and ideas are flowing more freely than what they were after Magcon, so things are getting back to normal. That's always a good thing.

I'm also considering bringing the story back into the game. It will be readable in the readme that the game comes with, so it'll be more like the platforming games of old. This is an idea a few people recommended, and I liked it so much I'll probably implement it. Besides, there's got to be a reason for all this madness, right?

Thanks for sticking around, and I'll see YOU at the next progress update!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Whew. Just like yesterday I cracked down and really got to work.

I spent the better part of today with a pizza, a laptop streaming magcon videos (FINALLY watched ALL of SoE and Acre Age), two Diet Dr. Peppers, and just myself and a PS2. Lots of free time, no distractions, and a lot of progress.

I said I didn't like the falling platform of 3-3, so I completely changed it to more of a "watch out for the enemies", sort of thing. Nothing with too much waiting thankfully. It turned out pretty good, and with that, 3-3 is finally complete! Woohoo!

I've also got some more work....worked out for 3-4. Coded in jumps and such. Will get to more of that later.

I also decided to completely alter the hubworld. It's completely changed into something far more similar to what Donkey Kong used, some simple platforms and ladders. It looks a bit more organized too. I'm slighty disappointed that I'm still using this hubworld that looks more like DK, but after looking at the Magcon demo again, it's clear there needs to be more structure.

One problem I ran into is a memory card breaking down on me. It simply won't be recognized by the system as easily. I have to shift it around to make it work, and only sometimes will it actually read. Thankfully I uploaded my progress and moved that to a new memory card, so there will be no more of this "can't read the memory card" business.

I'm walking on sunshine. Game development is going very well today.

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

I've spent the rest of the afternoon changing every event to warp you to the new location of the hubworld. Which meant not only sweeping the entire game and fixing all sorts of events, but that also meant re-doing the events in the first boss level. Which has 70ish events. That all need to be fixed individually. Which is my third time doing. UGH.

Thankfully I finished World 1 by the time both of the Survival 2 videos got done, and the rest were a cakewalk.

Oh, and while on the topic of the first boss, I also changed some stuff. Now the rocks are lava, and fire swirls around you after taking a life. This is something the Magcon pointed out, and make a lot of sense to change, so I decided to do so.

What slighty disturbs me is the fact that after sweeping through most of the enemy events, there were still issues with a select few. Some warped to the wrong point, and some didn't even have the new death animation, like I completely glossed over them. These were few and far between, but it still reinforces the fact I need to playtest this bugger like crazy before releasing. It's not simple to program this game, but that's really no excuse.

And a little more work got done into 3-4, namely enemy placement. It should get finished here sometime soon. I've been playing the game all day, and noted by the above post.

Another idea I've thrown around is getting some promotional artwork done for the game. With any luck I can get hold of the same guy that did artwork for Lantis's SOE and get some really good looking stuff. I've love to get as much artwork as I could for the game.

That's it for now! Seeya!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

So, a bit more progress today.

I didn't like the original design I had in mind for 3-4, so today I spent some time revising it. It's a bit shorter and less open ended. Hopefully it'll still have some challenge to it. Most of today was spent revising the level.

I think I'm getting a more open-minded approach to the game lately. Because at it's core, it's more of an evolution than a revolution, and I need to market it as such, I think.

Y'know, I guess I just don't have anything to really say today.

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Again with some progress! Yay!

I started coding more stuff for 3-4. Jumps and enemies are all laid down, and I've been doing some technical stuff for a small cutscene. The level starts out with a fish tank with a single fish blocking your way. Underneath that fish tank is a fire. As you go off to the side, you'll find some kerosene. Bring it back, and you can intensify the fire to boil the water and force the fish out of the tank. From there, you make your way through some enemy fire, and finish the level. It's not nearly as ambitious as regular -4 levels, but it's not bad, and progress is most important at this point.

Kinda off topic but...isn't it crazy how long game making takes? Designing, programming, execution...it takes such a long time to make all this stuff, and it's played and over with so quickly. I mean, I've been working on this stuff since...what, the beginning of October, and 7-8 months later, I have almost 3 worlds done. I still have so much I want to do with the title too. I have at least another world, a co-op mode, different difficulty levels, extra content, and artwork. Whew. Still got some work.

These games are made slowly, one little piece at a time.

It's unlikely I'll be making any more games during the production of JA. I've already cancelled sequels to Don't Move and FtNitH, and any updates are also unlikely. I now need to devote myself entirely to JA, and I simply can't multitask two projects at once.

Just gotta keep at it.

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Alrighty, quite a bit of progress over the last couple of days.

First off, 3-4 is done. Yay! I also went through and playtested world 3. There were some funny bugs I ran into that I fixed. Sometimes things didn't disappear like they were supposed to. Oops. 3-2, I'm looking at you! I also noticed how much shorter this world is than others. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be less cutscenes and it's more straight to the point.

The third boss level is being worked on. There will be lots of events in this one. The main boss actually doesn't have a name just yet; since he doesn't have a particular form to him, it's difficult to make a name for him. Basically he's a rather large white....thing on the right side of the screen. He has operable eye, mouth and hand. The toughest part about him is that he's invincible! That's right, you can't kill him! To try and humor you, he allows access to the rest of the level, one step at a time. As you make your way down difficult paths and past brutal enemies...you find not weapons, but sleeping pills. Then it hits you; if you can't defeat him, you can put him to sleep! Making your way back to the boss, you fire the sleeping pill in his mouth and he becomes drowsy. Fire all three sleeping pills into him and he'll fall asleep, letting you finish the level!

Most of the level design has been finished, and the coding of some jumps and enemies is done. I also have custom sprites of the sleeping pill drawn up. And the level is mostly planned out as well. Hopefully this will be another hilarious, epic boss battle.

I've also added in a neat new option, and well as an option selection. You can choose to save on the save point, or alter options on the hubworld. The new option I thought up is more of a convinence to PS3/PC players. Lantis and his SoE game gave me the idea. You can either set it to PS1/2, and not get a prompt to switch scenario cards, or set it to PS3/PC to get a reminder to switch scenario cards. I figure this will be a small but helpful addition to the game that will make players think, "Oh, that was thoughtful of him to include this!".

If you guys have any suggestions for options, I'm all ears.

Until next time!

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Josh's Adventure

I'd actually let the player know to switch memory cards regardless of what they're playing on.

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Eh....true enough.

New stuff!

I've completely redesigned the third boss. I just couldn't pin an interesting personality to him. I was also slighty bothered that he had no connection to the level theme in any way. He's on a fire island, but don't use fire....wtf?

So I made a new boss, one that I've been juggling in my mind for a while now. Get ready to face off against chicken Caesar! He's a hot one, that's for sure. As the boss of Ash Island, he's not afraid to turn up the heat, and has an impressive fire arsenal at his disposal. He does have a rather useful drawback; he must power up his fire attacks before using them. Josh will have to use some creative thinking, fast footwork and a bit of magic to extinguish this nasty chicken.

I've got the whole level design already done, and am working quickly-like on some coding to go with it. You start off against chicken Caesar by jumping above him, then using a falling rock to stun him. While tuned, Josh can climb higher and find a Water Stone, which temporarily gives him control of water in his immediate surroundings. Chicken Caesar isn't too far behind, and has a nicely charged fire spell ready for Josh. Fortunately for our hero, the Water Stone proves useful for controlling a puddle nearby to destroy the flame. And what happens next? You'll have to play to find out!

In other news, and more interestingly for some members, I'm fiddling around with the parayzle command. I'm thinking of making this an option in the save menu; either have the game set to Normal Or Para, and you can choose the way Josh jumps. I admit I prefer the normal way myself, but this gives the player some options and lets you customize the game to your liking to some degree.

One thing I'd like to try and do soon is get someone else I know (some friends, perhaps) to try playing the game and give their impressions. Just to get a new viewpoint on the game.

That's it for now. Thanks, and until next time!

[1ce]

Re: Josh's Adventure

Alright, it's been a while since I posted...I think. *checks* 6 days? Not that long, but it feels like it.

I've been busy, to say the least. When not working for a living, I'm playing two brand new games, and they're both incredibly fun. Trauma Team is great and so is Super Mario Galaxy 2, and often I'll opt to play one of those instead. There's also hanging out with friends, going to theme parks and general apathy to work on JA. Not to mention that boss battles typically take longer to make and are far more complex than average levels, and use way more events too.

Despite all that, I have been squeezing in a little bit of time to work on JA every day. There's been some real yet slow progress over the last couple of days. I just haven't felt like posting for a while. Whether I'll continue doing this or not...I dunno yet.