quarta-feira, 14 de dezembro de 2016

ACE of SPACE more improvements.


Hello,



As soon has i got the time to put my hands again on the Ace of Space, i've notice that many things has to be changed for a better gameplay and feeling. After seeing this tutorial about following a path using Waypoints I've managed to create some paths (using Arrays) and put the enemies follow them. Unfortunately it was not perfect, as I'm using Pooling Objects on Unity, after the second round became active they start to use only one path, this was (and still is) a major problem. After reviewing the code over and over again, managed to put the enemies random choosing the paths available in the array every time they became active on the Scene, with a minor error that is, if they start on path one and another enemy enters on path two, the path one enemy goes the path two also. DAMN IT!!! almost done.

quarta-feira, 30 de novembro de 2016

ACE of SPACE more levels Design

Hello,

ACE of SPACE has the V8ORS-Flying Rat base code on it and was thought on a Endless gameplay. As I implement more enemies to the game, the first Alpha test was launched and the feedbacks start to eat me. The one I consider the most important was the game lag, this was worst in the old phones.



This was caused for the increment of more Enemies to the game. The solution was to make it by levels, increasing the workload more than I was expecting, with that, more time to develop the game,
but it had to be done and quickly.

sexta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2016

INKTOBER Challenge

Hello, back again,

Sorry for not posting sooner, but I've been doing some art and animations from a well know Portuguese game studio, some Illustration and Design works also.



October is time for the Inktober challenge, created by the great Jake Parker, It's aimed to every artist or not, to make and share a ink made draw!

terça-feira, 18 de outubro de 2016

The hard work of promoting a game

When we first approach to making a game we think "doing a game will be a huge project!!". If making a Site sometimes all the UX studies we made, where to put the content, what is more relevant and so on take time and work, making a game is that elevated by two hundred times!!

In a game you have the Story, the Game Document, Game Art, Ui Design, User Experience, Sound and the coding and this is not as simple and in a small scale like a webpage.
Besides this, the most part of the time it's all done by one person, like my case.

quarta-feira, 12 de outubro de 2016

ACE of SPACE - UI Design


After creating the logo, it's time to change al the UI to the new image.
The first screenshot is from the Main Menu. The first approach is to keep it simple and straightforward.

Main Menu

segunda-feira, 30 de maio de 2016

The name and logo

After selecting from a huge list of possible names, ACE of SPACE was the name chosen for the game.
The next step was to make the logo. Of course it wasn't at first, after making some sketches, it was time to make it on the computer.


The main idea was to create a badge, like the one's used by the WW II pilots and appealing to use it on a t-shirt. I think that the goal was achieved.

segunda-feira, 23 de maio de 2016

Programming learning curve - Creating a SHMUP

My adventure in the programming world has been improving step by step.
It's very rewarded to being able to implement improvements, understand the code and what it does.


The new improvements made were:
- Different squad formation
- New path flight from the enemies
- Health Manager, now you get the chance to being hit 5 times and if catch the Energy Box it will increase to the max.
- A Bomb, to use when is your last resource, or not! It works by points, after using the Bomb it starts active after x points.



terça-feira, 3 de maio de 2016

Some SpaceShips concepts

Meanwhile, I've made some SpaceShips concepts for another Shoot'Em Up game, that's the kind of game I really like.

The lowpoly style is still present, it's a matter of taste, i really like this kind of 3D!
The game happens in the deep space, there's no name for it yet, but yesterday one came in a brainstorm and in the next post it's possible that I reveal it.

In Pixel We Trust Shoot'Em Up
Shoot'Em Up Concepts

I'll be using the V8ORS-Flying Rat base code and work from there. Already disable the Facebook login he has, put more movement on the enemies but the most important was the starting of understanding the code.

More features like a Health Bar, a Energy Box that you can pick up and restore some of the Health lost.

In Pixel We Trust Shoot'Em Up
Shoot'Em Up Concepts
previous features will be:
- A bomb that will destroy everything in the screen.
- Big bosses to destroy.

Hope you guys like the first concepts.
Cheers!!

sexta-feira, 1 de abril de 2016

V8ORS-Flying Rat improvements

Spent the last days improving the V8ORS-Flying Rat, after a battle with the ChartBoost plugin, I have to thank the ChartBoost team and Sy DAo in special for the big help he gave me to solve the problem.

After this issue I was able to upload the App to the store, but another error was happening, this time it was the Version "it has to bee higher than the previous one". After a quick search, I was able to solve it. Now i have a Language problem, it seems that the Facebook SDK put's more language and now I have this error to solve, I'm going to attempt to unpublished the current Version App and then uploaded again, but first I'll see if its safe to do it like so.

Hoping this process doesn't take me more time, at this time I have some Design work to do, so it will take a while to get back to this mission.

segunda-feira, 14 de março de 2016

500 Downloads on V8ORS - Flying Rat

It's on the little things we get strength to continue the Indie game adventure, first the 100 downloads, now the 500, hope the 1000's take less time.


It's harder to get new downloads now, there's that first boom when the game is launched and friends go and download it, the game is featured in the Play Store and we have a lot of energy and motivation to fight for. I'm still fighting for it, not so many post as I used to but the main reason is because there's not much to say about the game, no new reviews and there's no need to make post "just to make posts"!!

quinta-feira, 10 de março de 2016

Programming learning

It's time to step to another level, it's not enough to have a simple knowledge of programming, my goal is to learn C# to use it in Unity3D.
 As a Illustrator/Designer my way to approach to programming is not the best, I have to had a better understanding of the programming concepts, knowing what to use to solve a problem or achieve my objectives.

I've made a personal objective to create a side scroller shooter, the main reason to this approach and not the previous one, the Spy game, is because I've already have all the V8ORS 3D assets needed to the project, so I can spent my time on programming and not on creating assets and animations, the other reason is that I really love this kind of games, they are the one's that makes me playing when I have some spare time.
In this version I'll try to make levels, final bosses, upgrading the airplane and make more models for the player to choose. Squads formations, more enemies and levels. In time and with knowledge perhaps more features will be added.

Stay tuned for more news!!

500 Downloads on google Play Store

We reached the 500 Downloads on the Google Play Store!!
it's not one million or so but we have to see even the smallest conquest as a big triumph, to keep fighting to survive in the Indie game day life.
When thinking about this, it's not a bad number, we spent no money on advertising it was only made by posting on the Social Networking.

Another wave of mails to site reviews will be sent, let's hope someone opens and see more reviews on sites.

Thanks for all who downloaded and played the game, thanks for the one's who will be playing the game, this is a great experience we have and hope to continue for more games.



segunda-feira, 29 de fevereiro de 2016

More Platform game ideas

In the previous post i started the Platform project with a  idea that soon turns out not so good. Like many things in live, start over again.

Character, scenario sketchs
This time the story is about a Secret Agent, who see's himself in a mission that went wrong and put's him a long sleep for decades.
Inspired by the everyday news about the Market and the "importance" of the Economics, i had the idea, "why not take all these guys and put them in a game?".
That's what i have done, the main story is about this Secret Agent sent to eliminate the "Dolar" a well know criminal that has been operating in the Financial Markets. Every one knows that who controls the Market controls the Governments, therefore controls everything.
We saw what happened when the FMI entered in Greece, Ireland and in Portugal, the place where i live, It's very hard for us, the people, who had to pay the Banks mistakes, the politics corruption and anything else they have made it wrong and we have to pay.

With this i asked myself, "Who really are the real criminals?". The one's who are in the streets and the news talks about! Or the one's who "creates" this street thugs, because they created the Economic to collapse and therefore have all the right to avoid this collapse?
Based on this i've created several criminals inspired by the the people who works in the financial world.

Game Characters

Our Hero is on the right, a talented Secret Agent trained by the best. From left to right we have " Suit", "Investor", "Analist", "Banker"and finally the Boss, "Dolar".

The main characters were created, now is time to the scenarios. Based on the main idea i started to sketch images that support the story, but unfortunately my sketch book was stolen with all my things and at this moment i don't have nothing else to show besides the stuff i had in my computer.

Scenario study whit actions and annotations



Scenario ambient and colours studies

The basic gameplay studies, interactions and "to do's" in the game, also game objects ideas, moving platforms start to take shape, next the approach to the scenario colours, light and ambiance.

Stay tuned for more news!!

sexta-feira, 26 de fevereiro de 2016

Platform game ideas

After seeing on Youtube a tutorial about creating a Platform game, i though to myself "can i do this?" When i finish all the videos (i strongly recommend, see it here) and all the possibilities i could do, it was time to start sketching the story, characters, scenarios and gameplay, all based on what i've learned in the tutorials and with my basic programming knowledge.

Overall scenario sutdy
Things start to shape, the first story was about a ship crashed in a "trash" planet, a place where all the trash is sent, and the gravity made the rest, a giant junkyard that is orbiting around a sun.

details about the path the players has to do
Incredible as it looks, the planet manages to have some life on it, cyborg animals and plants mutated there. So, the ships crashes and there's only one thing that can save our wounded human pilot, is trusty Robot, he has the mission to go out and get all the parts the ship needs, avoiding the various hazards he may find in his mission.

Sketches
When doing this i felt that this is not the way, it lacks something and i didn't know what it is, meanwhile my Hard Disk broke and, like most of us, the backup i've made didn't had this process yet, "I TOLD YOU SO!!" everyone said to me :(

The time i spent in getting a new disk gave me the opportunity to clarify the idea, the concepts and realize that perhaps this was not a good idea, i'm not attempting to make the best game ever, probably in the future, for now, i just want to make games and learn about it.



quinta-feira, 25 de fevereiro de 2016

The V8ORS-Flying Rat Saga

This was my first game project i've made, do all the artwork, the design, game document, sound, almost everything apart the real coding of it, but i'm learning and my next project will be a game all made by me.



The main goal of this game was to create a game like the good old arcade type of feeling. A game where you have to train your Shoot'Em Up skills to avoid enemy fire and the ability to shoot' them down, a straight forward game but with the "Easy to learn, hard to master" concept apply to it.



it all started as a V8 Engine on airplanes, the love for the WW II aviation made the rest as a base idea. The game started to have some shape, the first prototype were tested and after a while it was launched in the Google Play Store.

Did he went well? Not really! Did i learn with it? A LOT!
I didn't expected to have success at first, like most of the people think when a game is launched, i knew that when it was released almost a hundred games, or more, were released at the same time to the stores around the world.
But i had to!! Instead of writing a book, i've made a game, some saying that in life everyone must plant a tree, have a child and write a book, the first ones i already made, a proud Dad, a Bonsai enthusiast, it misses writing a book, as you noticed i'm very poor at writing, so this is the reason why i've made the game.

The learning i've taken from this experienced was the most important. Know how to deal with the Ads campaigns, knowing how much do we have to had to invest in it (i had and still had none to invest on this part of the process), the small things that i never had though.

My next one i'll try to avoid the errors, apply what i learned in the process and do it in my free times, it's not possibly for now to live as a game developer and most of all with only one game of course!!

Why this blog?

First of all i've made this blog with the intent to updated with all the stuff i made, including illustration, design, game development and probably some .
I've been creating blogs and putting news in several blogs related to projects, or games and feel the need to join everything in one blog, my online portfolios, my game development press kit, every illustration, sketch i've made during the day (i sketch a lot, and hope i'll keep update).

The last project i made was a Shoot'Em Up game for Android, it was thinking to IOS too but that was not possible due to several reasons. The is called V8ORS-Flying Rat the main idea was to made a game that the player dont need to go play everyday to complete tasks, or to see if the upgrade is finish or anything else, basically a game like the old ones i used to play a lot, a simple shooter where you train your Shoot'Em Up skills.
You can downloaded  from the Google Play Store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inpixelwetrustgames.v8ors

 

Hope you enjoy the blog!!