Hey folks,
It’s been a busy few weeks around here, and ironically, most of what I’ve been tied up in is various games. First and foremost, our game project for the semester, Skirmish, has been eating up a most of my time. After several weeks of beating our team’s collective heads against the wall trying to get various processes to work, though, we had some real breakthroughs today, which is making me very happy!
As I mentioned before, Skirmish is tactical artillery game about destroying the terrain and the other players before they can do the same to you. The idea is to use the terrain destruction strategically, along with a variety of weapons, to ensure victory. After six weeks of work, we are due to present our ‘Engine Proof’ this next week, showing we can deliver on our core concept:
A) Firing artillery in a logical way that mimics real artillery/weapon fire.
B) Destroying players and terrain appropriately by having our weapons explode on contact to create craters, etc.
This was certainly more difficult than it first appeared, though now that it is working, it all seems fairly straightforward. You can see our engine proof in action below:
If you watch the red player on the left, you’ll see the sprite adjust its barrel, move, then power up its weapon and fire. The artillery shell follows the angle of the barrel, and then explodes on contact. I’m a bit biased as a lead developer, but I think it’s pretty cool how it all works. There is still tons of work to do, especially in the number of weapons and making it super fun to play, but I’m definitely feeling pretty good about the product we finally managed to push out today.
Most of my time this semester, even on weekends, has been spent on schoolwork. But last weekend, I did manage to break away to have some fun. Friday night was spent ‘cosmic bowling’ at a local game center. Our little group had a blast, and managed to hold our own in the ‘team’ competition. The game center had a really unique (I’ve never seen it before) team component where every lane was competing for the high score. We didn’t win, but we did decently enough, all things considering. The alley also had a strike competition, where if you could get a strike when the glowing yellow pin was in the #1 position, you would be entered to win a prize. Amusingly, my friend Sammie seemed to be cursed by them. Whenever a glowing pin appeared , she would gutter-ball the first shot… and then spare with her second.
Cosmic Bowling! Sammie is a little dejected after that last shot…
After that fun night, I spent the next day exploring more of Seattle and enjoying a delicious brunch with my Uncle Jay, who came into town for the weekend. You might remember my uncle from my dirt biking in the desert last summer. We walked around Seattle for a couple hours, grabbed fresh cinnamon donuts from a local vendor, and plotted world domination while exploring a cool little globe store near Pike’s Place market. It was definitely a nice break from the normal Saturday morning work routine.
Last Sunday, as you might expect, was spent working until just before kickoff, and then enjoying the game with a group of friends from school. Although the game was far from spectacular, the company was good, and the Seahawks won, which was pretty great.
Now, to cheer on Team USA in Sochi! If I can only find some time to watch some of the Olympics before the games end, I’ll be happy. In the meantime, I’ve got to get back to work, but before I go, and in honor of the winter Olympics, I wanted to share the picture from outside my apartment this morning, of a very rare event in Seattle:
What is this strange stuff…?
See you soon!
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