Luckily for me Bennu has moved into infinite realms(!) of cross-platformability. As Hero: The Realm was developed in Bennu it is now quite possible to port it to more or less any console/machine available.

So here is a video of Hero running as Nintendo Wii Homebrew (using a wiimote):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raL61UcWRLk

That's possibly the last stage of development for Hero.

One possible port is to Dingux, the OS for Dingoo type machines. I'm investigating this at the moment. However I'd have to invest in an appropriate handheld - that might be fun.

(Posted on January, 3rd 2014, 18:43)
1 comments

Ok, I finished with Hero for a peroid of a year or so in the state it was. This was 2/3 levels with 30 or so sub-levels.

I liked the fact I could get it running at a fast frame rate, but if there was a future for this game it would have to be using present technologies.

I opted for Unity3d as I'm getting pretty versed in that environment and programming everything in C#. Of course hardware acceleration is a luxury (something presently impossible in Bennu) and things are moving quite fast.

The graphics I've been enhancing for double the size per pixel and it looks a lot better.

I'm also using 2dtoolkit by Unikron software which is really an extension for Unity and totally speeds up the development process once you have the tools all figured out, perhaps is for more intermediate users (people with Unity experience) though I recommend it for this type of game.

Unity provides a lot of porting options, all kinds of consoles and devices.

Anyway, I'm just getting the enemies working... here is a screen for you, which possibly ends the worklog here. If I start a worklog anywhere else I'll post the link here for those who are interested.

Adios!

You can find my new workblog here -> http://squarefishspad.blogspot.co.uk/

(Posted on April, 6th 2013, 15:14)
4 comments

I've been working on this game since March 2010, had some original graphics and the basic ideas. It's now Feb 2012 and it's almost complete.

Recent additions include the Hero's ability to throw daggers, which home in on close targets - solves the problem of wasting them on sharp moving enemies, and makes it feel a bit more like an arcade game. Overall makes the game feel a bit more lively... these daggers are found in enemy loots, as 3 packs. If the player likes using them, there are plenty more at the shop.

I've made some basic engine improvements, coder talk coming up: The level tiles used to respawn every frame to avoid being plotted out of the viewport, but now exist as constant game objects until ruled out of the area (using a secure layer). Speed was previously wasted opening and closing processes. I know, I'm terrible.

The game now runs at 60 fps, which sadly means I will aim at platforms that are faster than the GPH/Caanoo (only enough processing power to run the game at 30fps consistently). However this is a kind of win situation for Hero, as the whole thing looks and feels more professional.

At the request of some people, I adapted Hero movements to be more reactive to the controls. The game is certainly speedier and (thankfully) less boring than a few months ago.

I plan to compile this latest version for Linux too!

So as a final word - I'll make the Windows and Linux demo versions available on booleansoup.com very soon.

Here is a snap of the shop screen with those trusty daggers on sale:



Things to do immediately:

* Add fullscreen graphics support, with a menu to alter the display from 16:9 to 4:3

* Tidy up a bug where enemies can go astray when offscreen

* USB joypad support, possibly xbox360 controller too

* Create the rest of the desert level tilemaps

(Posted on February, 15th 2012, 19:44)
4 comments

Now, I'm not using this worklog so much for a game-dev diary anymore. Instead I think I'll post when I'm excited about something.

I will just quickly go over how the game is developing:

Hero: The Realm now has 40+ levels/screens and 5 types of enemy with 80 levels planned and more enemy types. (Of course.) In many respects it's a near-finished game, particuarly as the game code is about ready - I'm mostly designing levels and plotting objects and monsters.

One thing however that needs coding are the end-of-level guardians.



This guardian is about ready to roll. I'm going to include some extra druids, that fall down the holes at certain intervals and complicate killing the "Big Druid".

Anyway I'll say the last 8 months have been rather slow in development terms, but I'm getting there at least, with nearly 7000 lines of game code. That deserves a beer methinks.

Oh and thanks to the booleansoup team for keeping this worklog up and alive!

(Posted on November, 30th 2011, 20:28)
1 comments

Recently, I've been drawing a few additions to the background sprites, to make the game more exciting.

Here, I've animated some poor villagers, that are distressed at seeing their little outpost destroyed:

(Posted on May, 24th 2011, 10:12)
5 comments