GunnSwitch

Growing up I was an avid video game magazine reader/collector as that was the best way to get new info on games before the internet. I loved when strategy guides in the magazines would piece together screenshots to show the whole layout of a stage map on a page or two. This screenshot reminds me of those spreads, this is the cave map layout so far:

Great news, was worried about a bit of stuttering on the start of my layout when previewing my project on C2. When I exported it to NWS the game had no stuttering at all and was running a smooth 60 FPS. This means I have room to play with more particles and effects.

We are officially out of the prototype stage for the most part! There will be ongoing tests as we delve further into development but the core foundation for the game play systems and structure is pretty solid already. Feels good to play and the controls are tight, the game is unique and blends some awesome games like Metroid, Megaman, Blaster Master and Metal Slug into something new with a deeper narrative than those games.

I'm beginning to think about testing 2 player local Coop modes and local battles and eventually have an online mode that's fully featured with customization, boss rush, challenges and 4 player + battles. Probably will be released as free DLC a few months after the release of GunnSwitch.

I cant wait to have some of you play it in the new year and test it out. We want to showcase what Construct 2 can do, our goal is using physics, effects, particles,scaling and smooth camera panning, multiple paralaxing layers, 1080 HD graphics, and more all running at 60 fps on middle end PCs and up.

We tested a GunnSwitch export streamed from PC to mobile, we used a Bluetooth controller to play it. It looked so good on the small screen and ran smoothly. Tested it on a 42 inch TV as well and it looks nice and clean at 1080 resolution, even when we zoom in (scale) everything is looking good.

The light rays you see in the screenshots have been upgraded using some Sine language...get it? cough cough...anyways, bad jokes aside, using Sine to change the size and movement with some rays having different period offsets is creating a wonderful effect that can only really be appreciated in video or live...screenshots dont do it justice. Everytime we do a tweaking/polishing phase, which there are multiple passes, the game starts to take shape and come alive.

I'll try to put together an animated gif to show off the lighting, I dont like to show stuff this early as things are still evolving but I also want good documentation of the changes we make through the dev process...oh well! Happy gaming!

Here is a sneak peek of the caves in GunnSwitch. The Player graphic is still prototype and will look better soon when our artist is finished.

Happy New year everyone.

Its going to be a busy one as we try our best to have our demo finished and polished by years end. It may sound like a lot of time to get a demo done but its more of a showcase than a demo and it features a lot of the mechanics that you'll be using throughout the game. The demo will run about a half hour long, featuring four unique areas, two epic boss battles, some story sequences and a good look at what the full game will feature.

As we work on the showcase/demo we are also planning, designing, and working on the full game at the same time, bouncing back and forth. All the games we have worked on to this point were for mobile and web and were small games that we thought would fit those markets better. With this project we are finally doing something that we are really passionate and excited about and now have the experience to pull off something pretty special and large scale.

Good luck to everyone this year, hope your projects bring you joy and joy to others. Cheers

Introducing the new character sprite for our protagonist in GunnSwitch.

Here is a look at our protagonist in action.

Player Animation Update: After hours of eventing, inventing and testing I finally got all of the players animations working smoothly.

- Tap the shot button and the player will lift its gun then shoot and lower the gun quickly while continuing its animation when idling, running and jumping in all four shot directions. This was the hardest part of the process to get the timing just right!

- Tap the shot button faster and the player lifts and holds the gun maintaining a shoot animation while the tapping stays at that faster tap rate or even faster tapping. Tap the shot button slower or stop tapping the button and the gun is lowered. This works nicely while running, idling and jumping in all shot directions. Tapping the shot button speeds up your fire rate.

- Hold the shot button down and the player lifts and holds the gun maintaining a shoot animation while the shot button is being held down. Release the shot button and the player lowers its gun. This works nicely while running, idling and jumping in all shot directions as well. Holding the shot button gives you a steady rate of fire.

New Experiments!

Lighting/Normal Maps - Our artist spent a good amount of hours playing with Normal Maps yesterday and wow, they can really transform the look of a game. The cave tile set with Normal Maps almost looked 3D and really popped. It added some cool depth and realistic lights and shadows. We still have much to explore here

Effects - Playing with some effects our artist tried the Pixel effect and it works really well, maybe sneak a retro world in there some where or a playable arcade somewhere in the game? The Glass Effect is going to give our crystals a really cool look with some foreground crystals distorting whatever is behind them. Parallax the crystals and its that much sweeter. Much to explore here as well.

Does anyone know cool tricks or links to good videos or tutorials with Effects, Normal Maps or Particles that they would like to share? There are so many options and its tough to get good info on these other than the basics.

A quick look at how the animation is progressing in GunnSwitch, footage is not final but we are happy with how its coming together.

Another look at the first area in the GunnSwitch demo. The GunnSwitch demo will be released later this year!

Been a busy start to the year with life stuff but we have managed to make progress and good strides so far. By the end of February we plan to have the cave stage 98% complete. Our to do list to reach that goal includes:

• Adding 3 layers with parallax in the background (We've tested this and it gives the area some nice depth), crystals to be added in the foreground that distort what ever is behind them with an effect.

• Optimizing and organizing the engine, events and and image sizes, physics use, particle counts, redundant actions, memory management etc..

• Refine enemy movements, actions and spawn points.

• Balance damage/health, difficulty, enemy spawns and attacks

• Small adjustments to lighting and scenery placement. Refine the particle effects and add new ones to replace placeholders. Small adjustments to the tanks colors and outline, add a decal to center of tank.

*****- Extra- ***** ( If time permits)

• Experiment with new lighting engine using normals and real light and shadows. (This is already looking awesome, transforms the look of the cave but we still have to test it when all layers and graphics are put in place.)

• Add a HUD (1st test)

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I believe we are on pace to reach these goals but always keeping in mind that the unexpected will arise from time to time and that there are new challenges to face after every solution. The indie gaming dev rabbit hole goes deep

We have thought of adding a more dynamic camera for a while now using lerp position/scale in some areas and we finally implemented it!

• It makes for better game play in certain scenarios like for example scaling out to show more of the level, scaling out for when you control the tank and scaling in close when you're in control of the protagonist. Also for fighting a mini boss so the screen doesn't scroll when you move around the battle area and the camera pans toward the center of the battle as you approach it.

• When falling at high speed the camera pans quickly below the player and also scales out smoothly allowing the player to get a good look at whats below.

• The game feels better with the dynamic camera. The camera movement (panning to a position and scaling in/out) is so smooth and seamless that you barely notice it but it looks and feels so much better with it than with out it.

Update:

• We have started to implement the background layers that will feature parallax on the X and Y axis giving the cave more depth.

• Many small fixes all around: the game is running smoother, at a constant 60 frames per second steady when previewing off the engine and better on export. Even with the added objects, particles, animations, backgrounds etc. Nice to know that there's still some wiggle room for the bigger areas later in the game.

• Game play is tighter, enemy spawns are being tightened up and timed better. Collision detection is better for projectiles and platforming.

This Saturday we will try to show a bit of the caves with the new backgrounds

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