Blogs - LastPlaceGames

We're going to keep this week's post short and sweet! ;)

The goal for this week was to complete all of the different User Interfaces and graphical displays throughout the game. I'm happy to say that we were able to start and layout all of the UI's and displays. Unfortunately, finishing all of the needed code for the UI's, and coding the different features, have been a bit time consuming, and are going to take a bit longer. Everything is there! It just needs to now be tightened up and polished a bit

And, that's really the goal for the next week, tighten up and polish. There still the matter of sound and additional content, along with bug fixing, but... all that is going to have to wait. At least one more week.

So, we set a goal for last week, and I'm happy to say that I think we accomplished it. We were able to create a nice, tight police car sprite sheet and animation. I have no skill what so ever with creating art assets so, this one was based off of one of the existing car sprites from Kenny's racing pack. I just simply added some lights to the top, and worked in a bit of animation to make it pop. I'm pretty satisfied with the end product. As far as the police AI goes, that had taken a lot of patience as well as trial and error but, in the end, it all came together. the finished product is a combination of a police car finding what lane the player is in and coming straight down from the top, as well as a police car being spawned at the bottom and following the players movements, with an intentional delay.

We were also able to accomplish a few smaller goals. A few new cars were added in, for variety as well as a lot of new walking people combinations. Outside of that, we were able to work in a bit of behind the scenes error handling and a few mechanic tweaks. All of this put together gives the game a much more fluid feel. Still a bit of work to iron out some mechanical issues that could be improved upon but, nothing too pressing that's glaring us in the face.

So, what's next on the agenda? Well, it's finally time to tackle some of the more complex features of the UI. The next big thing to start on is the interface to choose the players car. I have a lot of ideas for this so, trying my best to not let the system get away from me. What I'm hoping for is a system where the player can view what cars have been purchased, and what cars can be purchased (for in game currency), as well as the ability to upgrade certain attributes of purchased vehicles (speed, handling, durability). Hopefully all goes well and we're able to create this UI within the next week and get everything working together.

And that's were we are at. Thighten mechanics and finish up UI. We still have sound to add in as well as a few other "to do's" but, we're getting there!

Slowly but surely, we are getting there. Dodgy Rush is coming along nicely so, let me start out by talking about what has been accomplished so far. Over the weekend I've fleshed out the UI elements that will be used during gameplay (Health Bar, Wanted Bar, Score text and Coin text) as well as added new hazards in the form of pot holes and collectibles with coins. I was also able to script out the player's health and health bar, as well as a wanted meter (used to track the frequency of police vehicles spawning). All things being considered, it was a pretty productive weekend!

For the coming week, I'm hoping to actually create the police vehicles and create an AI controller script for them. I'm hoping to have some sort of AI element to them, where they will actually chase the player, to a degree, as well as being spawned from the top of the screen, in the lane that the player is currently in. We'll see how all that goes. If things go rather quickly, I may have time to work on some other elements like enemy car AI (currently they just spawn and go down screen) and maybe some tweaking of other UI elements.

So, that's all I got for now. The more I think about what else has to be done for such a small game, it worries me but, just taking it one step at a time. We still have to create and add in sound elements for the entire game and UI, as well as flesh out all of the the car selection system, menus and unlockable's. But, again.... one step at a time.

Alright! This is it. I'm finally putting LastPlace Games out there, and with it, out first game. Still in development, of course but... Talking about the first game that we'll be releasing, I think, is a big first step! For years I've been quietly making little games that I play for a day or two, then shove them away and work on whatever other idea I get. Of course The dream is to always share something with the public but, as I'm sure anyone who makes games for a hobby can tell you, you just never really get to that point... But! I'm about to change all of that. My hope is that, by publicly talking about my games, it will give me some sort of push to actually finish something and release it. It might suck. It might get harsh criticism but, it will be a completed game that I've shared with the world. And that is an achievement all of its own. So, we'll see how this goes! Hopefully, who you (whoever you are) are willing to go on this journey with me and we both learn a little something.

For our first game, I've decided to do something very simple. I wanted to make a game that was easy to explain, create and play. With that, I bring you Dodgy Rush (working title, maybe). A simple game about trying to drive through traffic, without hitting Pedestrians, other drivers or nabbed by the cops. Just a simple game, short, sweet, easy to play. I'll hopefully release it on all major mobile platforms so, we'll see how that works out. I plan on making it completely free, and really just want to release to go through the motions of the process. We'll make the dream game some other time.

I'll talk more about how development is going some other time. For now, let me just say that I've got the core mechanics down, basic gameplay is fleshed out and coded and I've put together a rudimentary menu system. Using a lot of game assets from Kenny, as well as some other CC assets, as I have no artistic ability in me what so ever. I'm hoping I can get things done in about 20 - 30 hours' worth of work left but, that's being optimistic

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to check us out! Be sure to check back often for updates on things. If all goes well, I'll be keeping this thing up to date regularly