I got ship switching and firing with the spacebar updated.
January-2023
Firt round implementation for Ants
Design Sketch for a new game about Ants
10-10-2022
I volunteered to help my daughter's PTA with design of a flyer for the Fall Festival. The centerpiece was a school mascot painted for Dia de los Muertos.
07-11-2022
Continued learning how to work with the Roblox engine
Shower thought
A bot that tweets modernized bible texts. Would need bible text (widely available) and go through every line or build grammar ai to modernize text. Not sure which would be faster. Grammar AI can be repurposed to sell to schools to assist teachers. Maybe purchased from one of those Turing Test bots and modified (nightmare code hacks and likely cost prohibitive).
07-05-2022
Started learning to work with the Roblox development engine inspired by my 5 year old daughter's love of Roblox.
June-2022
The whole family got CoVid this month but I was able to do a little work getting movement on the magic carpet in the Princess Chase Game.
05-02-2022
Rough Sketches and setting up the Princess Chase Game.
04-26-2022
Importing art for the Princess Chase game.
04-25-2022
I have a few new games I've started sketching. Without too much detail:
(1) THE PRINCESS CHASE. A game by Freya (age 5) a 2D side scroller.
(2) TRASH. Learn while pursuing impractical trash disposal methods (drop to the earths core, shoot into the sun)
(3) SCREWED. Drag and drop screws and do-dads to the appropriate cups based on instructions. Obeject discrimination and sorting tasks.
(4) MACRODATA REFINEMENT a parody inspired by the show Severance where you do the work of the Macrodata Refinement team. The key here is inspiring the required emotional resonance from the data view.
03-11-2022
I ported DRPY Dog to Android. You can download an unsigned APK for free.
03-10-2022
I ported DRPY Dog to the web (only plays well in full screen for now)
12-25-2021
I got a new computer today so hopefully I will be able to have all my development apps open at the same time now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
12-08-2021
Which Logo do you like better? One of the original logo rotataed to make it look less like the RIOT logo and one completely new. Both are inspired by getting punched in the face. Please contact us with any comments.
11-19-2021
I have been verified for code signing. After paying for three years at $59 a year,
I learned that it will take an unspecified number of downloads and installs to become a trusted developer with Microsoft and run on PCs without a warning screeen.
There is a certification lab at Microsoft that I submitted abuild to, which may be able to speed the process.
11-18-2021
Fixed the last issue on Character Select.
I had duplicated code so a screen click on an arrow button and an arrow key press used different code and one of those was causing a duplicated image that wouldn't hide itself.
Also added some new art to the CONGRATULATIONS screen.
I finally broke down and bought digitial certification for windows so, eventually, after after I get a notary and they verify I am a person, you shouldn't get an error message anymore on DRPY RUN.
11-17-2021
Debugged the character select code and added some key inputs for ease of use. One issue remains. You can switch characters in-game and the old ones don't hide.
11-16-2021
Working on Skin Select. I need to set up a variable that can be read across objects so the selection can be made on the start screen adn remembered for the in-game.
11-12-2021
I was able to add randomized plyer skins. Next step is to set up a skin select screen so the player can choose their avatars.
11-10-2021
Spent most of the day fixing an issue with photoshop crashing my computer.
In the end I had to delete all temp files and prefrences to get it to run but it took all day to get there since every click took too long to respond.
I was finally able to import some of Trevor's new art and begin editing it to insert into gameplay.
11-09-2021
Deconstructing the TIM select KH code to build a character select for Trevor's DRPY RUN (by request).
I also seperated out the basic Ro Sham Bo code to a separate file.
11-01-2021
Starting the month with some light HTML updates to this website.
10-29-2021
Sick baby today boke all plans. I was able to finish playing Braid with my oldest daughter which is always fun.
10-28-2021
Was starting with importing the Text (XML and CSV) but every time I launched FIle Explorer it was craching again, like with the USB drive yesterday.
I tried many solutions and in the end i had to disable the thumbnails in File Explolrer. That also fixed the issues with the USB drive finally.
Back to importing text. So far i am only setting up the documents and making a generic call
10-27-2021
Spending most of the day trying to recover some old data off a USB drive. I was ultimately unsucessful. It crashes or freezes anything that touches it.
10-25-2021
Trying to set up a basic action manager. For the budget game. Some basic aspects added to the design. Incorporating animated revenue collection showing on a map where the money is coming from.
Adding TIMER to increase pressure. The family level will be for monthly bills. The federal level will be for treasury default.
Added images to the project list at the top of the blog. I was suprised I had no in-game images from Killing Hitler available.
10-22-2021
Hobbled by circumstance (sick kid and optomitrist dialated eyes) i continue to strip down more KH code. Starting with the text manager and xml reader.
10-21-2021
Ripping apart the code for Killing Hitler for the text engine. This will be the foundation for an educational game based on budgeting (which i have refrenced previously).
10-20-2021
Added a frame behind the coin counter and udated the links for the posted version but didn't change the version number.
It's very unlikely someone read this and downloaded the version in the interim but if you did, the update is now available.
10-19-2021
Made some updates including adding particles to warn when the bunny throws poision at you and posted for download.
Repositioning of elements and bug fixes. Discovered an issue on export where the screen size when built, was defaulting to smaller than desired and changing aspect ratio.
09-17-2021
Set up bonuses and speed adjustment as well as some disappearing collectables.
09-16-2021
Custom fonts are a lot more difficult than I had thought (as is every new thing I attempt). Going to keep trying this one method for the rest of the day then switch if I can't get it to work.
09-15-2021
Today the Balloon Dog was added. I still need to make him drop bonuses (and decide what those bonuses should be).
I asked Trev to write the alphabet and numbers 0-9 in thick black marker and send them to me. I am turning these into a custom font for his game.
09-14-2021
The start screen now works and more animations have been added. I fixed some bugs with the coin counter and added an obstacle that ends gameplay.
09-10-2021
There is now a coin counter and the coins now are destroyed when they go off screen or the player collects them. I also added some simple animations to the characters and environments.
09-09-2021
Most of the basic art is in Trevor's game and the screen animates, the player has control of the main character.
09-07-2021
My nephew Trevor, had an idea and he wanted to know how to make it into a game. He is 6.
I told him to send me a drawing of the characters and the title of the game. He did so very promptly.
I colored in his drawings and started a new unity project called DERPY DOG - AN ENDLESS RUNNER BY TREVOR
He send great character designs plus some level design, character select screen and title card. I will take these and make a simple endless runner.
09-07-2021
Working on a game to teach people how to allocate national, state, local, personal budgets.
Thinking about a leveling system / skill tree, progress based based on in-game inputs instead of player choice.
Ex. If a player presses the A BUTTON, X number of times, levels up any abilities accociated with the A BUTTON and pop message.
TBD
(To Be Documented)
09-2020
Some additional sketching on level maps and generic level design that can allow the feeling of an infinite world within a minimal area.
08-24-2020
The 3D view brings a sense of claustrophobia that more accurately mimics the CoVid world experience.
07-27-2020
Refined mechanics to neutralize and destroy. Eventually the user gets overwhelmed, how long can you resist?
07-26-2020
Sketched some viral games showing the domino effect and how isolation can remove dominos to stop the exponential cascade.
03-29-2020
Two weeks into isolation. People around the world, experiencing a pandemic together and apart. We are lucky enough to remain healthy. Hopefully the time will bring self reflection and a new strength. The future is uncertain and we are thankful for those who are rallying together to protect the most vulnerable amongst us.
03-13-2020
Friday the 13th. Our self imposed family isolation begins.
Registered to be a twitter developer. There are games that can be played within a twitter interface. Bots can be used to set and enforce the rules. I am also interested in their aggregated data and what kind of bots they allow you to develop.
10-30-2019
Updated some missing info from the blog. Taking a hiatus to take care of some high priority work.
08-30-2019
Chapters four through nine can scroll through all the text. Still missing most of the hooks and events. We have to build two additional minigames, the inventory and a host of custom background screens. Have to look for a way to minimize the bloat all the large images will cause, but since this is a demo, spending too much time on it is unnecessary.
08-29-2019
After some sketching, updated the feedback on the HIT/MISS graphics. Got chapters two and three of text scrolling trough roughly.
08-26-2019
Adjusted some UI details, background panels, ignored elements that are invisible to the user but provide an undercurrent of. Connected the remaining story text modules to the gameplay. TODO : Click through each story element and add hooks for minigames or scene changes.
08-22-2019
Started back on the inventory, setting up items, lists, menus and object grids. You can collect souvenirs and some mechanical parts. The parts will be used to fix the circuit board in a later minigame. In that minigame, the prize will be solar coordinates for better jumping accuracy.
08-21-2019
Finished cleaning up the walk though to make a new version. Released version ALPHA 002.
I'm still unhappy with the user feedback telling them when a minigame selection was made (user has to hit the button 5 times so there should be a visual build up resulting in an energy release). Got most everything appearing in order for the proper flow. Now it is ready to start adding new missions, which I have 9 sketched out total but need to enter every click in a most tedious way.
08-20-2019
Continuing to clean up the walkthrough. Reacquainted myself with the mission manager system. Added the results screen in a meaningful way to gameplay with some light UX effects.
08-17-2019
Cleaning up the walkthrough and reattaching all the broken hooks. It is very tedious going through click by clicks and confirming all works as expected.
08-15-2019
Sketched out some of the remaining work required to get to additional missions. Adjusted some gameplay and UI animations.
08-14-2019
Added the MISS TARGET animation and scoring, as well as the Earth results animation.
08-13-2019
Adding some effects and fixing old issues with the demo that have arisen over the last 5 months. As small things change, small things break and today i was able to knit them back up again for a closed loop of gameplay.
08-07-2019
Adjusting the zoom screen and more work on the button interface for the first minigame.
08-01-2019
The TIM graphic was flipped so you feel more enveloped by it. The prior version didn't feel as immersive.
AUGUST MMXIX
A new love appears in our lives as we welcome our second daughter.
07-30-2019
The zoom screen for the first minigame needed some editing. To start I changed the buttons to have an electric outline, and animated the energy behind it. The goal is to have it feel like the item is materializing through a portal as the user taps the cosmic strings.
07-22-2019
Some competitive analysis on card style games to inform a minigame. Some game sketching came out of it.
07-17-2019
Back in the back end, I'm getting the game flowing through temp screens then replacing them one at a time until temp is no longer temp and becomes final.
07-16-2019
Sketching some ways to get the game flow moving and adding RoShamBo back in the game. It will be part of the fuel pump system in a sorting mechanic which only push matches get points, win and loss matches affect system and background stats.
07-09-2019
Started to gut the action selection minigame. Basic world rationale is that, through the TIM screen interface, the user is selecting a cosmic string that intersects an object and the human target. So if it intersects Hitler and a Knife, you cause Hitler to be stabbed by bringing the two together along the string.
07-08-2019
Did some generic pseudo coding that I will use as a template for some tappable in-game objects.
07-05-2019
Art updates are proceeding to support the code updates.
07-03-2019
Implemented the start of the updated flow. Now the screens switch for the minigame launches but the minigames themselves are barely working and there is a significant art update to do.
07-02-2019
Sketched some of the flow.
Launch > Dialog > Action > Zoom > Event Minigame > Zoom Out > Result > PCB Damage > Repeat (3X) until PCB Damage is extreme and play PCB game.
06-27-2019
Unity was searching for a file in the Visual Studio 2017 folder which did not exist, because the whole program did not exist (I was using 2019). So I downloaded and installed 2017 only to remember later there was a setting in preferences to switch the external tools and select 2019. That did not make me feel smart. The rest of the issues look relatively minor in the light of the morning, like reimporting files and adjusting their default settings. It seems I was being hyperbolic yesterday.
06-25-2019
I was able to break through some of my writer's block today and smash open a small system. The code feels a lot better. Spent a lot of time today trying to get some UI functions to work, only to find this issue could happen with an engine bug that was fixed in a later update. I updated but this did not fix the issue. But is did bring up a host of new issues which will take some time to fix but ultimately will make a better game as the fixes can improve gameplay and layout. I need to make a new test project for the UI issue to test some theories on the cause.
06-24-2019
Easing back into the week, I started with updating some missing blog entries and moved on the the microcontroller game programming. I want to finish a basic play session for that minigame and integrate it into the main gameplay. Even if it is activated in a different location temporarily than it will be long term. The triggers for activation will still be useful.
06-20-2019
Back into the microcontroller game programming. The appearing and disappearing of assets are closer to where they need to be. All disappear, then one appears at a time to be tapped and the user has to tap all that appear before a time limit or they
06-18-2019
Based on some new mechanics, I have been watching a bunch of short tutorials. These are very helpful, even when it is not the exact feature to be implemented, I find something can be learned from each new tutorial. Especially for someone who skipped their computer science classes.
06-17-2019
Started some basic paper prototyping for some of the mechanics. There is a lot more to do on that. So far I have really only given it a surface treatment. There are three parts to time travel:
1) The settings are a minor visual puzzle where the user will try to express his intentions for how to get to the desired end. 2) The modifier is an item chosen from collection items to augment the settings and affect the results. 3) The action is the minigame the user plays to make the time hop.
There are also things like the microcontroller game which would be an "emergency situation" the user needs to respond to and should be played sparingly. I worry about creating too much one-off content but I am not going to let that constrain me at this point in the development.
06-13-2019
Looking at some collections of mini puzzles for references on a minigame the user can play during time travel. There are many promising ones. I like tapping things based on a stimulus presented (number or image). I'm not sure how fun this will be long term after repeated play. I also like tracing from point to point with puzzle constraints. For instance lines drawn can't overlap or certain path points that need to be activated. There was another game of clearing a path to allow a special block to be removed from a game board. This last one feels the most like what the physical act of navigating time I have envisioned.
06-11-2019
The MicroController Minigame still needs a hit counter, a miss counter and score thresholds to be hooked in.
06-10-2019
Tried out some fakes for a holographic projector on the UI but it has a long way to go. It might look cooler but it also might just be a confusing interface for the player. How would you expect to interact with a hologram (excluding speech)?
Killing Hitler
06-09-2019
A more direct line, disregarding the logic of lineage moving Mission 8 to Mission 3 helps move the story along. It's easier to think of interesting moments and imagine a reason to connect the dots than it is to try and figure out what dot should follow from scratch and still keep it fun.
06-06-2019
Writing story is difficult. I am trying find the linkages to drive the timehops with limited success. Starting in Brenau, Austria and going to XXXXXXXX.
06-04-2019
Previously I had been sketching out some story beats. Now I am translating the sketches into in-game text. Also finished provisioning the new website and have some temp art up.
06-03-2019
Back form a holiday and ready to hack away at the gameplay. But I didn't. Instead I did some sketching and some discovery on an app a friend suggested. There is a mild amount of competition in the space and they have shown limited demand. By incorporating a B2B2C we could have some greater success increasing demand, depending on the scale.
Microcontroller sketches and Flowcharts for the story.
05-13-2019
Made some art, text and UI tweaks for a new version and updated the files so the build is now is called KILLING HITLER instead of Time Traveller and reset the version number to v001 from v012.
05-09-2019
Updated more icons and the game is about back to functionality with the newer art and some minor updates to texts and variables, so I published a new build today. One issue I didn't fix is at the loop end, The icon answers repeat in a awkward way. The YES NO buttons are a skull and peace sign respectively (should make sense in context) but two questions in a row make them feel wrong somehow. Needs to be reduced to one question or adjust the icons.
05-08-2019
Sketched some microcircuits. Exploring shapes that could be interesting in both the cores and the surrounding circuitry. It's my understanding a PCB should be organized by function branching out from the core and power source for efficiency. Varying shape of the micro controller could add interest.
05-07-2019
Most of the day was spent on production art. The morning on creating small animations for visual interest and adding perspective to the icons so they will appear to lay on TIMs main screen. The afternoon was on integration and readability of icons.
05-06-2019
Lost an hour trying to get some images to appear behind other images. Turns out it was an issue with the type of object used in Unity. If you use a SPRITE RENDERER it will always be on top of a IMAGE SCRIPT which is strange because prefab buttons come in as default an IMAGE SCRIPT and buttons should always be on the top layer.
05-05-2019
Setup the minigame of tapping a stimulus with the new art. Currently the functionality is kinda inverted. The whole board disappears when tapped, then one piece appears at a time until tapped and the next piece appears. Basically I have to get a particle effect to use the same appearance logic but also trigger the change in the sprite when tapped. It is not as simple as the sprite swap that is standard in a button object but similar idea with a 3rd party trigger.
05-03-2019
Moved the newer TIM and Microcontroller art into the Unity project. Got the new placement set and started to readjust the hooks.
Decided to make the interactable buttons react as if they are experiencing a spatial anomaly when touched.
05-02-2019
Worked on updating the microcontroller art and knocking out the pieces that will be interactable.
04-30-2019
Starting with a 4x4 game board with distractor pieces. The numbering system will support expansion. Tap the core to dispel chronoton particles (cosmic butterflies). The resistors and capacitors will also begin to disappear when hit. For this reason we use a 20+ sided die on a board that looks like it only has 16 tiles.
04-27-2019
04-25-2019
Some text updates for clarity and fleshed out the circuit board temp art.
04-24-2019
More background art. The bouncing lines on the console (called conSoul in game) represent the different jumps you have to make to get to your desired outcome. These will appear as brief (hopefully entertaining) hops through the multiverse. The selection of the proper timeline is a timed visual discrimination challenge.
04-23-2019
Back at the PC. Getting some art time. Trying to get a nice BG for TIM but my PC keeps crashing. Very frustrating.
Through sketching, worked out a little more what the circuit game will be. I just don't know if it will be boring. It is a object identification puzzle. The basic view will be a breadboard (solderless circuit board). The player will be given a stimulus, for example, number of holes and voltage. The challenge is to find the correct pieces and placement, to complete the circuit. I also want them to draw lines between parts but am less clear on what the gameplay is for that.
04-21-2019
Sketching the TIM dash board and updates. I have a good sense of what the timeline UI will look like and how the 50's futurism style can be achieved.
04-17-2019
After collecting a bunch of reference art, I started on some background work that is closer to the final art style (50's Futurism).
04-15-2019
I was able to get the test scene updated with something approximating the desired function. You tap on a box and it disappears, a new one appears in a different location. Right now I am using a 5X5 grid to test. I used the GRID LAYOUT GROUP component to set the grid, but every time I removed an object, it reshuffled the whole grid. I found a nice little work around, if you disable the GRID LAYOUT GROUP, the objects remain in their assigned grid positions. They even stay positioned if the layout component is deleted.
I also added code to the website today to make collapsable windows. This will make it faster to load. Still a lot of work to be done on those windows for aesthetics.
04-14-2019
I integrated some reactor scripts into a test scene and was surprised that only a few small errors presented themselves in the console. I also found a nice circuit board to use for the basis of some in game art. The back was especially inspiring.
04-12-2019
I am officially changing the title of the previously unnamed Time Traveller game to KILLING HITLER. This will be reflected in the next build. Been thinking about it for a while and it seems to stick the most. KH for short.
04-09-2019
Found a good game called MARGINALIA HERO which does some fun stuff with reaction times and a simple RPG system and another called LIGHT THIS UP which works with currents but is really more of a math puzzle with resistors and diodes.
04-09-2019
I couldn't find any electrical engineering games but I did see some circuit based games. Some completely unrelated like a jigsaw puzzle that was a picture of a circuit board.
There was a game that was closing loops (creating a circuit) by rotating wires into place.
One game was designed only to teach you the color coding on resistors (Black = 0, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White = 9) and color position (||| |) = First Digit, Second Digit, Multiplier, Tolerance(Silver +/-10% +/-Gold 5%)).
Two games were choosing the right resistors to drop into place.
More of a timed task, one app had you using a voltmeter to find breakages in the circuit and identify what parts of the circuit caused it. This one in particular really missed out on a lot of simple teaching opportunities.
04-08-2019
Study a little electrical engineering to see if a minigame or activity becomes apparent. I'm not actually expecting to actually learn any electrical engineering . I just want to have a surface understanding of some general concepts so I can incorporate them into my machine design (TIM) and repair gameplay. The main elements to play with seem to be:
Resistors reduce current
Capacitors store and release current as power load (battery)
Inductors create a magnetic field from a current.
Diodes direct current.
Transistors amplify a current or switches it off.
PLEASE NOTE: None of this entry should be taken as fact, it is only a relaying of my rough understanding after minimal study. There are a lot of formulas and math that I am not even attempting to understand.
04-06-2019
More Grid Sketches. Yes, I have heard about graph paper but I like drawing the grids and it feels like a zen exercise.
04-05-2019
Sketch grids and potential layouts for the reactor minigame.
03-25-2019
Got back into tutorials and found a nice little Unity widget called GRID LAYOUT GROUP.
03-17-2019
Sometimes I get paralyzed by the mutltitude of options inherent in writing new functions. I want to write flexible, extensible code so I try to think of all the possible concerns I will have in the future and end up being unable to write anything as a result. I need to remember to write through it and not worry about redoing it or throwing it out later.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
03-16-2019
My grid problems are slowly being solved. Previously I was using pure math to create my randomized pattern on a grid. Inspired by some procedural generation tutorials, I have added more brute force work on the backend to add some elegance for the user, in combination with some simple formulas to determine where to draw on the grid. The tutorials also helped predict some problems I would have encountered later such as Changing the draw behavior later in the progression.
03-14-2019
Deconstructing some opensource code to solve my writers block.
03-13-2019
Having difficulty getting the stimulus appearance working as expected. Found a weird camera issue and lost some time to it. I need to do a deep dive into cameras but not today.
03-12-2019
Continued the Reactor code. Got some values and responses roughed in. Was able to conceptually crack the general interaction where it will set the framework for locations of stimulus spawn and determine expansion, inspired by ascii sketching
Stated coding the Reactor. Set up the QuantumObjects that will support the reactions.
03-07-2019
Send out a bunch more user tests today. So far the feedback has been consistent with the original tests which tells me something. I spent the day split between working on the design for the reactor module and figuring out how lightning works (from a free download on the unity store. It is fairly straight forward (not including the math) and I should be able to use it for the demo.
03-06-2019
Fixed some minor issues that came up during testing and released a build before I break a bunch of stuff with these next updates. Continued to work on the Modulator.
03-05-2019
Started with the backend for the interactions the user will have with TIM. Got a decent amount of the framework implemented but that always exposes holes in the plan and gaps in my ability to anticipate what was necessary.
03-04-2019
Mapped out some of TIMs parts and their functions as well as the interactions the user will have with her. Primary systems are:
- Fuel Tank (Storage and Collection)
- Pump (Primes the Fuel)
- Regulator (Rate and Amount of Fuel available)
- Reactor (Isolates the Chronitons)
- Modulator (Focuses the Temporal Energies)
- Actuator (Makes Time Go Wonky)
Adjusting TIM with these and tapping, should alter gameplay by changing targets, methods and size of effect. Began streamlining some code and integrating the CSV script where appropriate. Also of issue is the timeline calendar where the user can plan their attempts. Success rate moves the user along.
02-28-2019
The feedback is largely consistent so I have a direction and will be ready to start updates after some sketching.
02-26-2019
Spending a lot of time, trying to get acquainted with the StreamWriter, who was quite standoffish until I got to know it's friend StringBuilder better and we all finally started to get along and work together. Now we can read from and write to CSVs.
02-25-2019
The feedback has been great to hear. While I was waiting for it, I tried to absorb some new Time Travel pop culture which has been inspiring, story-wise. I have a list of changes to make and some sketches on improvements. I want users to intuit the next moves but I do want to add more exposition of what your actions are doing in the set world. I also need to focus on improving the "game" that helps users determine how they interact with the timeline. There are also three new features I want to implement for the next round of releases:
1)Data Read/Write (which is really 5 features)
2)TIM Upgrade window (faked)
3)Timeline Map for planning overall strategy
Starting up a new text project to build some of these out.
02-19-2019
Some friends gave feedback. One issue (updated today) was the screen resolution being too low. I also added a general redirect so I don't need to give people new links for updates and changed the name of the original Low Rez version below so I don't have to send a new link to friends who may not have tried it yet. The original build is still below.
There were some common points of confusion and opportunities for improved feedback. Some things had already been planned and others were elucidating. Some will be solved with better UI and feedback from TIM (the time machine). TIM should react differently based on your input and the reasoning should be intuitive.
I'm looking for the aspects that bring people joy (KonMari) and want to focus on expanding those. While I wait for more feedback (and for a change of pace) I'm going to focus on data storage and retrieval for a bit.
02-15-2019
Added some more feedback and updated some text. Got sidetracked with a "Net Lives" counter which is faked in the latest alpha. Speaking of which, Here it is. Enjoy!
02-14-2019
Added some meters for user feedback and two more mugshots. Fixed the background clicks for the most part. The end / quit now loops as expected (there is NO WAY OUT). The core gameplay loop is now closed and functional. With a few text tweaks, I should be able to officially move from Pre Alpha to Alpha on the demo.
02-13-2019
Outlined the flow of gameplay with regards to the core game loop and made a list of many possible people to interact with and outcomes of those interactions. Not sure if they should be linear or random.
02-12-2019
Drew more faces and spent some time on animating the background. Of course my PC crashed and I had not saved all morning. Luckily unity had all the parts saved and three hours work became 20 minutes of recovery (plus an additional hour of tweaking). Continued to refine the look and feel.
02-11-2019
Updated some art and added some characters you can meet along the way.
You are invited to submit any iconic people (or other) from history that you would like to see represented. No guarantees of inclusion.
02-09-2019
Adjusting some triggers today to allow skipping text on future playthroughs. Also finishing some of the end text and flow. Finally implemented the cycling of cLIVE image after each round. This somehow broke the Time Shift animation but that is for another day.
02-08-2019
The time-transition effect is set up, as is the engine to allow the machine to swap faces and destinies. I was able to complete a runthrough but the end text is sloppy; hopefully by the end of the week I can start actively seeking feedback. Side note: I'm not sure how to use semicolons; was never properly taught; rather have never properly learned.
02-07-2019
It is great how quickly I can change the entire layout in Unity. This took less than an hour to update. I wasn't happy with the aesthetics of the previous one but this feels like a stronger starting point to build off of. Much less boxy.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I was unhappy with the general look below so I changed it to match more 1890's industrial like above. Of all the time machines in pop culture, those have always been my favorite. The new sprites are in. These will represent modifiable aspects of gameplay, the long term RPG elements.
While updating the cLIVE image to be transparent, I stumbled upon a strange effect which I was able to replicate. Make a selection and press BACKSPACE on a locked layer, and this happens:
Which reminds me that I need to set up an effect for temporal disruption.
02-06-2019
When I first started importing art, I was in a rush and Sprites were coming in tiny, so I would just scale them up. For a while I have been using this work-around until, the image quality became too horrible to bear. The pixels per "unit" setting was at 100 by default. Now I have fixed it to 1 and before I resize everything, It made an interesting graphic clusterf###.
02-05-2019
Spent the morning drawing different Hitlers and ways they would meet their end in the game.
02-04-2019
Started on another round of art today. The general TIM with moving parts is in progress.
And the building blocks for a few new sprites are ready.
02-03-2019
SuperBowl was today but I still did a little sketching.
02-02-2019
Rough sketching. Outlining what components will need to have art and how many assets.
02-01-2019
I was able to make a build today. It runs up to the results of the introductory mission.
01-31-2019
Integrating code and finishing the win flow. Dealing with a lot of little display order bugs. Just a hairy problem that requires tweezers. For a while it was skipping over some lines of text until I realized the button had an extra NEXT function applied to it. I felt dumb for having missed it but in trying to solve it, I refined some code and make the whole system stronger. I am almost to the results text now. Will need to do an art pass next week.
01-30-2019
Mostly working on the test project trying to improve the text engine and flow of activity. Got the basics of winning minus the UI response. Also have to implement 2 forms of losing Side Bar: People don't like to check for lose conditions in testing. It deletes your progress and generally feels bad to lose. What games do really well, is give the user the opportunity to fail in interesting ways at a low cost.
01-29-2019
Trudging through, trying to advance the amount of story that is implemented and have the buttons respond as expected during different game states. As of now, it works up to the second question the user is asked. Many bugs seem related to the ordering of the document and are only resolved after some trial 'n error.
01-28-2019
Somehow the text generator I integrated three days ago completely broke. The scripts aren't talking to each other nicely, so I hacked it and moved some functions around until they did again. It is almost ready to use in game. Still producing mostly jibberish but that is the faults of the text file.
01-27-2019
Updated the web gallery today. A lot of work remains on that.
01-25-2019
Edited some text today and made a random sentence generator for missions. It wasn't writing properly at first and I was hitting a wall, so I broke it down into its parts and different found a fix I had made months ago on some text wasn't applied to these sections I needed. SO in my past haste I made more work for future me. But all is working now and integrated to the main project. Also started a bunch of diagramming on paper which I will need for the mission structure. Only a few unique functions remain to write before I con move on to mission implementation.
01-24-2019
Setting up many triggers today. I was able to get through the first question and post a new version that fixes the welcome sequence. The other day I was trying to get a conditional statement to work. It wouldn't accept integers so I wrote a workaround but then I switched computers and it started to magically work as originally written. This:
bool X; bool Y;
if (CATnum == 8) { X = true; }
if (IDPathNum >= 8) { Y = true; }
if ((X = true) &&( Y = true))
was reduced back to:
if ((IDPathNum >= 8) && (CATnum == 8))
Much more legible. Glad I was able to avoid that nasty hack.
01-22-2019
I spent some time cleaning up the debug log. It should be easier to read now and thereby more useful. Was also able to add more hooks and triggers to make the first chapter playable.
01-15-2019
I was able to make a build today. Got a lot of the flow issues working better. Still very rough and it ends when you are asked if you want to kill Hitler.
01-14-2019
Integrated some of the test code for running chapters, into the project. It works for now and text advances on clicks as expected. I should be able to integrate the switching of game states by the end of the week.
01-11-2019
Did a deep dive today into my primitive scoring system and button updating. Sounds less exciting than it is. I was able to surgically remove a large chunk of code that may have turned malignant in the future, or at least would have led to some confusion.
01-10-2019
Did some mapping on paper today and applied the previously made pattern to the game engine. Still some work to do before the first "chapter" of gameplay is completed (or even really playable). The buttons speed up now after each click. It was a bug due to me calling a new repeating function each time but I kinda like it, so I'm going to keep it for now. Added some new animations.
01-08-2019
Jumped in a test project to try and connect some of the dots. I ended up making a basic pattern which I can use as the core of the text engine for an improvement in efficiency and elegance.
01-01-2019
My prediction of December 20th proved correct. After 11 days away from my computer, everything is now broken and I'm not sure why. Half of the fix was having to relink documents, but that was more cosmetic than core. I have it mostly back together but I still don't know how it broke, which is worrying. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
12-20-2018
Is this my last work day of the year? Likely. We'll see. For now I set up some functions to support in-game events with text. I will move them out of the test project next and try to integrate it with the main trunk to build a super short one mission walkthough. I was also able to get in a text delay on lines but not characters. I tested the worst workaround ever by putting each letter on its own line but I failed at that for a different reason, so it is tabled again.
12-19-2018
Eureka! Finally cracked my text engine issues. I now have an overly complicated variable system, primarily designed that way for future flexibility. We'll see how that pans out. So far so good. I am using a simple C/N/L notation using Category/Node/Line to determine which line of text should be called. It makes long strings easier and randomization possible but plucking individual lines can be messy. This is why I use debug statements to help me localize any errors (user created).
12-18-2018
Still messing with text engine. It kicked my ass. I have hit a wall.
12-17-2018
Reading up more on System.Xml namespace in the .Net framework and what I can do with unity. We'll see what sticks. Undid the click tracking I tried to implement yesterday because it didn't actually count as expected.
12-16-2018
Uploaded v004 alpha today. It is functionally similar to v003 alpha except has a different code base. Also added a web counter to see if anyone is actually clicking on the version link.
12-13-2018
Stimulus buttons are appearing and disappearing. Now to make them work as the game demands. I am close but no cigars yet. The tricky part will be dictating the function by mission. Not so much TRICKY as TEDIOUS and MESSY until I figure out a cleaner way to set up these tasks.
12-12-2018
Started with reading and dissecting sample code then moved back to my project and new implementations. Figured out some weirdness with some buttons, so that was satisfying. Diagrammed out the stimulus buttons and their display functions on paper. Hope to implement them tomorrow.
12-11-2018
More reading and dissecting.
12-10-2018
The last few days have been spent studying prewritten code from tutorials. Reading through, editing comments and searching online for examples of things I don't understand. It is a deconstructive exercise like taking apart a broken vacuum but "easier" to put back together when it wasn't broken to begin with. Plus you can trim the fat and use the bits and bobs you like. I will adapt aspects of a procedural level design. The backgrounds will update depending on player actions. Those updates should be themed and semi-random in content.
12-07-2018
No current errors in the console. Starting to reattach everything in unity. Functionality is approaching that of the ported original.
December 3rd - 6th
Porting over the pre-Alpha demo code I want to continue with. The project was much too messy and the amount of necessary code was comparatively small. Let's call it STREAMLINING. Looking into necessary app functionality. I'm adding another goal of this project. A game has many moving parts (literally and figuratively). There are thousands of tasks great and small that need to be completed to develop a working product. I'm undercover-bossing myself and trying and do each one personally that I have often asked others to do in the past.
11-29-2018
Doing some tweaks to the text engine and continuing to add functionality. It now appropriately can go to the next queued dialogue on click. It's a small thing but I have been building towards it for some time so it makes me very happy. Hope to have it humming with some light complexity next week.
11-28-2018
Got some sketching done on robot assistants. It should change subtly along with the timeline.
11-27-2018
I know I said I was moving on from the XML import but I spent a lot of time today
trying to automate text reading through some loops and iteration. All of which failed, until one worked. As usual, the final confounding issue was a missing line of code. I forgot to tell the output variable to read from the intended text string. Now that it is able to iterate I started to automate more of the functions like adding an array to cycle through the text headers. In the battle between brute force and elegance, I strive for elegance but would save a ton of time in the short run through brute force. The main problem with a force based solution is it limits the number of new concepts I encounter. I also learned I started tests with resources that are more complicated than they need to be. Instead of just using a simple XML, I tried a filled in text doc. Helpful in some ways (figuring out story) but unhelpful in implementation.
11-26-2018
After a bit of a break due to some home improvements and the Thanksgiving holiday, It's time to get back in the saddle. Speaking of saddles, Red Dead Redemption added no additional delays, probably.
After some time away, It takes a moment to rebuild the program in your mind. A clear mental picture of the entire project is essential for progress. Still stuck on getting a coroutine to work in the text engine when importing the text to an XML but that can sit for now. Building to HTML5 is still failing, even in a new project. I have read the error I am receiving is a bug with Unity itself but I don't know why it worked a couple of months ago. No problems with building to a PC Desktop version (Alpha 003) but that isn't nearly as exciting.
11-15-2018
Tweaked the text engine a bunch, including adding a typing effect (currently non-functional) and got rid of the old unused code (from previous attempts at functionality).
Made a great button prefab which will count its progress and set a signal flag when a threshold is met for that button. When integrated with the rest of gameplay, this should allow the user to make "choices" and provide unique win conditions for each level based on those actions.
11-14-2018
FINALLY got the text engine importing from an XML. After trying MANY methods, I found one that worked for this game. That was way harder than it should have been. It seems everyone uses a slightly different method.
Now that the general text import is functional I can begin to tackle the larger issues inherent in the dynamic text design.
11-13-2018
I'm thinking of rebuilding the project. It seems like a good time to optimize and repair. For now I continue to work in a test project specifically for the Text Engine as I anticipate it being a beast.
11-12-2018
Did some minor editing on the website.
Later ran into a brick wall trying to export the latest version to the web (HTML5). It is throwing errors I could not figure out. I would fix one and two would appear. I tried several (5-9) solutions suggested but the web but none worked as hoped. I thought I found an answer on a Spanish youtube video. It was a setting in a config file (which for added headache I had to change ownership on) but that failed too. Tried reinstalling with WEB GL support to no avail. For now I will let it rest. Hope to soon dive back into the text engine.
11-09-2018
Got the text reader close but was denied cigars. Still throwing some errors on launch. I had to stop because of a hard deadline but can hear success calling from around the corner. She is close.
11-07-2018
Finally it feels like I understand how the main gameplay should all click together. I have been dancing around it for some time and now it feels more solid. Basically, I have defined how to transition between dialogues and how dialogues are integrated with the gameplay phase. Along the same lines, I feel good about how the user makes choices and performs actions. Writing some sample text yesterday really helped this come into focus.
It was supposed to be an integration day but I got bogged down in installations on a secondary work station. Did you know that the Visual Studio installer crashes if you are using an HP laptop with a second screen plugged in? Neither did I. You have to disable the drivers on the secondary screen to install. Makes perfect sense.
11-06-2018
Today was a great day for text. I wrote a bunch of sample dialogue and mission outlines and added it to an XML. It should be very helpful for setup. It should also allow me to test some of the tricky ways I want to display dialogue and develop dynamically generated texts.
11-05-2018
Today was a study day. I have to take more time to learn the systems foundations so I understand how to work with them properly. Also moved some code over from a test project. The integration was relatively smooth. The only bumps were the ones I made myself when I tried to expand the functionality.
11-04-2018
I thought I would steal a few moments today to work but the ramp-up time is such I got nearly nothing accomplished (except maybe acknowledging the futility of something I was going to attempt). Next time I have a brief moment, I will choose a task much quicker to start and finish. Or maybe I will ignore my best instincts for time-management.
11-03-2018
Was able to get the XML text importing working barely. I am still getting an error which I will try to fix today. I do want to also work on the XML import as I see it being more useful long term for the project. I foresee many values I would like to have in tables and XML is much better for that. We'll see which I prefer for housing my text.
11-01-2018
Got taken out of the game for the past few days due to the whole family being briefly diseased. We were all better in time to enjoy Trick-or-Treating. Back in action albeit slowly.
10-26-2018
Was able to get a dialogue system working on a basic level. It calls lines and types one letter at a time as any interval set. It also blocks some click-through behaviour to advance as it was jumbling up the letters otherwise. I still need to put the text in an XML or CSV for easy reference and updating.
10-25-2018
Added some CSS to the website so the top menu bar floats down with as you scroll through the blog. A little clunky on mobile but it'll do for now. Speaking of NOW...I will now start coding the PseudoCode I wrote the last few days. Wish me luck! Though if you are reading this on any day other than October 25th, 2018 you will already know what the result was/is. Did I mention this game involves Time Travel?
Side note, it's good to always check where you left off. Almost forgot I had broken a feature last time and If I hadn't gone back to fix it before starting the new feature implementation, all sorts of headaches could have followed. It was a simple fix in the inspector.
10-24-2018
PseudoCoding - The outlining of functions, objects, components, variables, etc. without reguard to language or form.
10-23-2018
Imported some sketches into the project and knocked out their backgrounds. Will probably be focused on art and pseudo-coding the mission assignment system in the near term. I could start to implement the response tree but it is complicated and it scares me AND I need a better way to procedurally generate missions.
10-22-2018
Got some sketching done for mutants. A result of your efforts in game. You may have stopped WWII but now there are lizard men in Paris. Congratulations.
10-20-2018
The core of the gameplay revolves around failure. You can succeed at individual "battles" but is seems the grander "war"" is being lost. In that vein I want to implement a personal assistant to act as your tutorial giver and cheerleader. The only twist is that it has different goals and measurements for success. It thinks the catastrophes you are causing are just dandy and encourages you to go further.
10-18-2018
Spent most of the day optimizing the code after the test scene integration. Got rid of a lot of extraneous variables and functions that I was using during some previous tests. Always feels good to streamline. My current challenge is to determine the best way to cue how turns proceed. What cues work best with what response triggers, etc. How to make it clear to the player and fun to play. Currently it is neither, but the timing feels good.
10-17-2018
Added new placeholder images today and got some logic in there. Ported over the code from the test scene and made it a little more elegant when I implemented it. Was able to get back to the arrays like I wanted. It is still pretty messy in the rules section. I just need a simpler way to declare what wins VS what. Now it is like a tangled nest that could be filled with vipers but nothing in there can hurt you very much (yet).
10-16-2018
Nothing was giving me the result I wanted so I brute forced it and wrote some ugly hack but it works now so I can move on. Basically I am turning on and off each sprite manually instead of moving down the array. Someday I will go back and fix it to be more elegant but today is not that day. That day will probably be in a month when I want to have a more flexible system because I am adding more images. Made some temp icons while watching 'The Conners'.
10-13-2018
Added a simple counter to the website to track visits:
Ran into a small issue where It said I didn't have permission to rewrite to a file, so I contacted customer support only to realize halfway through that I had written the wrong file path...Whoops! Exciting stories! Side note, I started the counter at 1,000,000. Sprite swapping is still not working as expected.
10-11-2018
Still stuck deep in this sprite swapping issue. Getting closer but the correct image only moves the first time through the cycle. Then it switches to changing the button texture. The source of the issue is the way I am calling the components and communicating between scripts.
10-10-2018
Moved to a test environment to try and figure out some mechanics. Sprite swapping and dependent on conditions.
10-10-2018
Got a basic logic implemented now. When the player clicks, they are playing RoShamBo against an AI opponent who makes moves based on dice rolls. The player's moves are dependent on the buttons they click.
10-08-2018
Fixed some display issues with the sprites and now have an animated background. Time to tweak some rules and get some logic in there.
10-06-2018
Wife went on a retreat for the weekend, so the baby and I had fun (more of a toddler now than a baby). Very energetic.
Saturday we went to a dads support group party for the abandoned husbands with the wives on the retreat.
10-05-2018
Added some sprite arrays and now I'm trying to get the buttons to behave as intended. Showed the FPP to a game dev friend and he said he imagines "that's what Alzheimer's feels like." Mission accomplished.
10-04-2018
After much headache, I got a decent version that plays on the web. Behold an FPP!! It is still super basic and doesn't have any logic implemented but it runs. Email contact@punchrunner.com with comments at any time.
10-03-2018
I was able to implement some basic functionality that makes it feel like a game. The clicks and pacing are a good first shot, though I have to make them a little more dynamic. Next up are game logic, stim/responses, performance modifiers and lots of art.
10-02-2018
Finally figured out a problem that's been vexing me for weeks. When I was running through an array, the first item wouldn't display the first time through. It was one line of code out of order. Sad. Not sad is the fact that once I noticed this I was able to fix a bunch of small bugs by simply cleaning up the code.
10-01-2018
Still trying to un-break the parts of gameplay I broke with the integration of a bug fix from a test scene. I was able to get the Game Controller working properly again with a few minor exceptions. Now back to getting the buttons updating as expected when clicked.
09-30-2018
Spent some time sketching Time Machine interfaces and Main Gameplay sequences.
09-27-2018
As predicted, the integration of the bug fixes broke many things. I was able to get basic game functionality working again as previous but I had to do it outside the Game Controller. Now I need to apply the fix back to the Game Controller so it will work across the game.
09-26-2018
Working again on the inventory. Tried optimizing some earlier code. Ended up breaking some things. Still have some text responses to update but that is for later. I am closer to finalizing the core gameplay. The goal is to make it as simple as possible but still engaging (read 'addictive'). Cracked a core gameplay bug with changing items at 10:18pm. Made a test scene to try and fix the bug. Stripped out all other variables until only the button I wanted to change remained and I was able to crack it. Now integrating the fix will probably break everything.
09-25-2018
Working again on the inventory. Not as productive today as I would have liked but even a small amount of progress is better than nothing. I still learn when I fail. In the evening I started reading an old iPhone Programming book. It ended up confusing me more than anything but it did get me excited to check out some SQLite another day.
09-24-2018
Trying to get an inventory working. It is surprisingly complicated. All the tutorials I can find thus far are not really functioning the way I want it to. I'm making a Frankventory (clever word play on Frankenstein and Inventory which is not really clever since I need to explain it) by pulling bits and pieces from different tutorials. I am concerned it will be a giant mess but I press on as the cost for failure is low.
09-21-2018
Fixed an issue where my buttons weren't working in one scene. It confounded me for a while yesterday but turns out I accidentally deleted the event system in that scene. Whoops. While looking at a different issue, I also found the answer to a previous mistake I was planning on ignoring or working around. Seems like a lot of things happen like that.
Added more placeholder graphics and now trying to get core gameplay to have some semblance of FUN. Trying to have some icons switch through clicks and do so in a challenging yet intuitive manner. I think this part needs an AI "opponent" which the user may never interact with other than them taking moves during the game. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense now but maybe it will later in this blog.
09-20-2018
Got the scenes communicating with each other today and started adding some placeholder graphics. Was so engrossed in coding today I almost forgot to get the baby from daycare. ALMOST.
09-19-2018
Got some temp art in to start and gauge some art issues. Also have the main menu switching over to main gameplay now. Great that such a small thing can make me so happy.
09-18-2018
Still messing with menus. It is easy to ignore the depth of the simple things we take for granted.
09-17-2018
Did some sketching today and over the weekend. Mainly menu layout and contents.
Did some menu tutorials. I think I need to go through them again but I did figure out why a panel was disappearing. I had a function being set to FALSE that shouldn't have been. Sounds obvious when you say it like that but not as much when you can't see it hidden in the code. Coding is very taxing on scanning and visual discrimination skills. Sketching is much more
09-13-2018
Got some basic effects going on some menu buttons. Playing with the timing to see how they can contrast and draw your eye. Hoping to have some significant framework progress. These menus keep kicking my butt.
09-12-2018
On to more unglamorous Menu work. Spent most of the morning sketching and puzzling through the mechanism to rate player input and display responses/results. The system basically is a math problem that uses +/- as a bool and Int/Float as a bool for finer tuned responses.
I'm going for a "Choose Your Own Adventure" with "Madlibs" backend where you only have 5 choices and the choices are made indirectly. There's going to be a lot of scripting involved. My remaining questions are:
What is the "cost" for switching between Time Engine parts?
How does the player earn that currency?
09-11-2018
A somber day today for many people, including myself. One day it will probably be a national holiday and people will BBQ. Usually I begin this day by listening to the names being read aloud and bells tolling from ground zero. Today I did not and that makes me a little sad.
I worked on some menus and support systems. Trying to round out a framework before I do any branching. My goal is to have a solid foundation that I can base a variety of products. Later I will do a lot of re-skinning and small alterations to perform an experiment through the appstore to see which topics have the best exposure/DL rates.
09-10-2018
Tried to take some aspects from a tower defense game tutorial and realized again just how much I actually don't know. I do think I can make a fun mechanic out of it though.
Spent WAAAAYY too much time trying to figure out a text display bug (which was really an IF/THEN issue) which wasn't throwing any errors, only to realize in the end it had an extraneous semi-colon.
Also spent some time sketching a TIME MACHINE interface with chronoton engine, temporal settings and view window.
09-07-2018
Got some good sketching in for a potential gameplay concept. Time travel puzzles playing with the butterfly effect.
09-05-2018
Introduced a threshold for endgame loss plus a restart feature that seems to be working as expected.Now I just have to figure out how to have prompts appear on a set schedule. Thus far they don't appear at all.
09-04-2018
I've finally conquered the non-disappearing panel. Not sure why the solution was so vexing. It did not take me 3 days of work (it was Labor Day weekend) but it was far more difficult than it should have been to find the proper syntax.
I found some old portfolio images but am still missing many. I think they are on a zip disk, in a box, in basement, in NY (not where I live).
05-2001
09-01-2018
Saw a dialog system I would like to try and implement. Let's see how it goes. Basically stuck fixing photoshop issues for two hours.
08-31-2018
Having difficulty getting a panel to stay on screen for a set time interval before disappearing today. For now I work around it. Plenty of menu stuff to start on.
I had to find out some information for an invoice, so that inspired me to go back and fill in this blog as I have not posted since March 12th before today.
08-30-2018
Was able to complete most of the framework for rough gameplay. Still have to do some end conditions and the start menu. The gameplay needs a lot of design. At this point I only have a rough clicking game that is order dependent. I want to interesting puzzles for the user to solve. I am picturing an escape room but less about hidden objects and more about pattern interpretation with a strong response time component. Ideally I want a puzzle that can be procedurally generated.
08-29-2018
Finally figured out why my buttons weren't switching properly in. I didn't define something correctly.
08-24-2018
Started translating SCRAMBLE into Unity using a Tic-Tac-Toe tutorial as a base.
08-19-2018
HIGH SCORE wraps and it all gets thrown in the trash.
08-17-2018
Installation day for HIGH SCORE. Filming starts tomorrow.
07-26-2018
Got an idea for a new game. Right now I'm calling it SCRAMBLE. I'm sure this image makes everything completely obvious.
07-20-2018
High Score Arcade Build Begins Today!
07-10-2018
Had a meeting about production art for a short film HIGH SCORE.
We have to make a cardboard arcade.
07-08-2018
Delivered a proposal for in-game economy framework with 25 potential monetization features, outlining one specifically.
Project is on hold for funding.
06-25-2018
Started a consultation for a dating sim.
06-08-2018
Delivered 12 WireFrames, detailing the OtterSpace Screens and Features.
Main Menu
Machine Upgrades
DNA Recombinator
Growth Chamber
Biome Builder
Cargo Loadout
Map
Environment
Galactic Empire
Multiplayer
2 Skill Trees
05-30-2018
Wireframes are ready to post for initial review.
04-30-2018
Brainstorming Mechanics, Interactions and Levelling. Sketching is going well.
04-24-2018
Started weekly meetings for the wireframe design.
04-14-2018
Estimated 40 hrs for 8 wireframes of screens and features.
04-11-2018
Got the call to make more Otter Space. Provided with updated documentation to review.
03-12-2018
Still banging my head against a wall.
03-12-2018
Been banging my head against a wall trying to get a database to display. I know there is a dumb answer I am missing.
03-08-2018
Justified the text on this page. Not sure if I like it better or worse. You know what I decided because you see how it looks NOW. Have been trying to absorb PHP and SQL. I really need to learn more about security. Please don't attack me and I will not hire people to come to your house.
02-15-2018
On advice from a friend to make it less like the 90's, I added a button.
Also updated some text to highlight the ITERATIVE approach that is essential for top quality development.
Spent a lot of time today picking up Sea Lion poop.
Photo courtesy of the California Wildlife Center.
All opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect the views of the California Wildlife Center.
01-09-2018
Finally got the gallery display in a first working version. Much work remains.
Did some more in unity trying to figure out why my procedurally generated levels keep crashing. It was caused by carelessness of course. When I did a copy and paste I missed two variables that needed to be changed. That was enough to freeze all of Unity, but not throw any compiler errors.
Sweet.
01-04-2018
Updated the site for a while, made new Business Cards and did a Unity tutorial, Documented our Christmas "Vacation." Almost added a script to replace a missing image with a default but was convinced by the internet that it was more trouble than it was worth since it would hardly be used.
12-28-2017
It started on Christmas afternoon...
(this has nothing to do with game development).
...We were in Nova Scotia with family and a storm rolled in. Power was out around 3:30PM. Luckily our Nephew Omar was there to save the day. His Grandpa is a volunteer fireman and we could use the firehouse to finish cooking dinner and get water. Omar (Age 4) bravely led us through the storm to save Christmas. A tree hit the firehall around 6PM, but that didn't stop us.
We didn't get power or water back until three days later. When we had to go catch a plane. We missed our connecting flight due to delays, Waited in Toronto for 4 hours to get a new ticket and hotel. Got to the airport and was told the flight was cancelled and rescheduled to two hours earlier and wife elfet her phone in the hotel. We already missed the flight, the sent an email to tell us to wake up. Finally get a connection through Phoenix. We were running out of milk.
All this with a sick baby and wife. Thank god for Moana. Landed in PHX. Got a nice burger and walked around Tempe during a 6 hour layover. Flew home and had the fastest taxi back on the 405 ever. Wife miraculously got her phone back by mail the next morning.
12-14-2017
Updated the website and filled in some of the past on the blog. It would help you understand what "Otter Space" is.
12-13-2017
Found out Space Otters is on Hold but still in the mix.
Here is some art (not mine).
(Images currently redacted due to NDA)
12-05-2017
Learning some PHP today. Trying to display thumbnails on a webpage from a folder. Recently the baby has been sick (turned out to be teething) and I have been exhausted. Did some sketching and came up with a game Mafia & Dragons.
Set in 2615, After Donald started a war with Wind for trying to blow his hair off which subsequently led to nuking the moon to try and diminish the extreme tides causing the winds.
Humanity has finally recovered to an industrial society nut more focused on local needs and an agrarian structure. People have basically settled in farming village co-ops using wind and solar power. Mass production and transport exists again. Goods are traded and national relations are stable.
The Greatest Bigly War also awoke something dark and ancient in the world. Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies (yes I have embraced the Oxford comma).
But it also awoke Magic and Elves. So that's cool.
Enough fun, daycare texted and I have to go pick up a crying, sick baby.
Later that same day...I was able to mess around with PHP more and it is much more difficult than I originally suspected (seems to be a pattern).
You with experience will call me a dumb but I wasn't thinking you needed to install a local server with PHP SDK and MySQL if you want to work with it locally. Of course that is the purpose of an SDK.
If your hosts support it you can skip that if but then you are testing everything live.
Which do you think I should do?'
Spoiler, I'm taking the easy way out and just running it live. Caution be damned, I will keep the requests small.
11-??-2017
The inlaws are in town for the holidays. I am able to spend a little time visually on the webpage (nothing to upload yet) and learning if ImageReady can display text as text in an HTML export. Turns out it can but it doesn't display before export. ImageReady has been sunsetted anyway. Not sure if I should upgrade to InDesign. What do you think?
Thanks.
11-09-2017
Watched some tutorials today and followed along in Unity. I'm surprised I find watching people code to be enjoyable.
It's fun when you write something and it works, even if you copied someone directly.
11-07-2017
Baby is back in daycare and the wife is in an office today.
I almost carved out some time to focus on app development today. So very close. Instead I used the time for file keeping and a 20 minute nap.
A large mental barrier to programming is the feeling I need to carve out a large amount of time to focus. I need to find a way to do it in 15 minute increments on my phone. I just checked and I can download a code editor to my phone. We'll see if that is a helpful productivity tool.
10-24-2017
I tried to do some edits today but the internet is acting up so I am only able to work offline. I will upload when the network is being more cooperative.
10-21-2017
I downloaded the site files and necessary SW to an additional terminal to expand my ease of access. Now I can work in different locations thanks to the cloud.
I started a new page today for sketches. From there I will choose which projects to develop further.
I worked on some error handling to set up a custom 404 page. Try it out if you are so inclined.
Spent a lot of time getting OG Meta Tags to work on FB and Linkedin.
Baby is sleeping. Wife is out at a Moms Group Party. Yankees lost the ALCS.
10-19-2017
My wife gets home today. She was away for 3 nights and I successfully kept the baby alive. God willing baby will remain so until she returns (and for many many decades after that).
I did a little more work on the other logo. The goal was to make it look more like a "Yaghuwiire""
10-12-2017
Most of my time today was spent on errands and chores but
I did get some time to work on a logo for a separate podcast.
10-11-2017
It has been a while since I coded anything.
The baby's FIRST birthday was last weekend. They spend a lot of time telling you what will kill babies in year one. It is a relief, to not have let death embrace her, yet. It will catch us all some day.
I would also say Mass Effect has had an effect on my work schedule but the game is done now.
I can spend time on formatting like I did today, though you wouldn't know it from looking at this page.
09-28-2017
In the morning I helped terraform a planet into a habitable world and then did some random space tasks like solving a murder and finding some lost logs. I also cleared out the enemy forces which threatened my allies. Did I mention I was playing Mass Effect? The story is a little overbearing but I really like the combat systems and exploration.
My wife is working from home today, which you think would motivate me to do some coding but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
By the afternoon I was ready to sink my teeth into work.
Goals are:
( 1 ) Create a table I can populate with a web call
( 2 ) Import Settings from a hosted document
( 3 ) A neat Raspberry Pi Project
09-26-2017
The morning started with the baby going off to day care (after an hour or so of playing). The rest of the morning was spent inspecting some damage in the neighbors apartment after, I was able to focus a little on some back end stuff like getting PHP and MySQL to play nice. So much to learn. Thankfully my goal is not to be a technical guru, but rather gain a deeper understanding of the systems we use.
Simple functionality is within my grasp!
09-21-2017
Happy New Year!
Some say it is the 5778th anniversary of the creation of the universe.
I am trying to learn CSS while the baby is at daycare. I can now link documents to a CSS file. Linking was quick to learn. I spent more time trying to change a hotel reservation earlier. Still a ton to learn about mass customization.
Time for lunch with MP.
Started messing more with CSS to help clean up the code. Not quite as quick or easy as the morning attempts.
09-15-2017
Spent most of the day with the baby.
Realized this is more of a diary than a blog. Maybe one day I will type something interesting but that day is not today.
Started experimenting with CSS.
09-14-2017
I took some HTML classes on my phone and put some of my new skills to work here.
09-11-2017
I reopened the defunct Punch Runner site, changed hosting companies and started to learn HTML
05-04-2017
Otter Space
Some Design Docs
03-02-2017
Project Otter is relaunched as
OTTERS 2 : OTTERS IN SPACE
01-20-2017
Budgets would include digitizing a test on web or app, not including the server side for roughly $XX,XXX with design, ui, local programmer, QA and management. A more exact estimate would be made after more exploration. For $XXX,XXX or more, we would add story additional art and immerse users in the interactive experience. Since it is a test, we would need to also develop assessment standards show scientific validity at additional cost. $XXX,XXX and up, adds a small sandbox (open play) environment to allow generalized interaction outside of story, with limited content provided. Data reporting would be minimal at this cost for a sandbox game. The server side development would be an additional $XX,XXX depending on the display type and depth
After a brief acknowledgement, no further contact until project cancellation on August 21,2017
01-15-2017
Researching the budget for the Gamified Survey Assessment
Rough Initial Estimates range between $XX,XXX and $XXX,XXX to create a login system for multiple users, digitize a multiple choice test, export data to the cloud and display it on a simple website with limited functionality. That would include design, ui, programming, DB.
01-03-2017
Otters Planning Delivery.
7 Phases, including fixed startup costs.
Estimated $XXX,XXX.
12-25-2016
The Gamified Survey Assessment came back.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
11-30-2016
Design Docs Examples
11-18-2016
Was approached about gamifying a survey assessment.
10-16-2016
Some of the first pitch images
OCTOBER MMXVI
Met this angel for the first time
08-22-2016
Some of the first sketches for an Otter project
05-05-2016
Today I resigned, got the keys to a "new" condo and found out we were having a girl.
