Ahoy! Long time no see. I’m not very good at updating this blog but I hope to change that starting now. Usually I just post to my Google+ stream and call it a day, but starting from this post I’d like to try to post at least once a week.
Tag Archives: Ogmo Editor
Halloween Battle 2012 – A 48-Hour Game Jam
It’s been far too long since I’ve updated this blog. I’ve been working on quite a few things lately, but haven’t had anything concrete to show until recently.
Recursion Viral Launch
I don’t know why I delayed posting this for so long. I could say that part of it was that I was waiting for a gameplay trailer that never got finished, but that’s an excuse and excuses don’t really do anything. So without further ado…
Recursion – Development Time Lapse
Sorry for the period of inactivity, I’ve been working on a project that I’m not yet ready to reveal yet, mostly because I’ve had to rework most of it over and over and I’m still not happy with the architectural structure of everything.
That said, I finally put together the time lapse footage from Recursion‘s 3-day development period, which you can view below or on YouTube. Recursion has found a sponsor and the game will be available soon – I’ll put up an official launch post when it is, but until then, enjoy the video!
A Collective Status Update [2]
Here’s another group of updates on what I’ve been up to lately:
Shatter Blocks 2
The sequel to my most-played game, Shatter Blocks, is well under way. I’ll post more about it in a development preview later, but for now, screenshots!
Community Forums
The forums fell victim to a massive spambot infestation not long ago, so I had to purge them. I’ve installed some new security plugins and so far there hasn’t been a single spambot account, so here’s hoping.
If you had already registered, you’ll have to do so again. I apologize for this, but I didn’t have the time to sort through 3000 accounts to find the handful that were legitimate. As always, you can find the forums by clicking on the Community tab above, or going to www.thevillageblacksmith.net/community/
Melee Man
The result of a GameBoy-esque mockup I drew in 20 minutes became a complete game just days later! Melee Man is currently up for sponsorship bidding on Flash Game License. It’s a brutal retro platformer featuring the music of chiptune wizard, Daniel Davis as well as sounds and levels by David Carney of David vs Goliath! I plan to release it on Android and PC as well. Here are some screenshots:
You can view more screenshots on the official Melee Man website. Many thanks to Chevy Ray Johnston and Matt Thorson for developing the tools that made this game possible (FlashPunk and Ogmo Editor respectively)!
Another GameBoy-esque Game?
I had so much fun working on Melee Man that I’ve decided to mockup another!
I’m not sure when I’ll get around to developing this, as I still have Shatter Blocks 2 to finish, but I’m really looking forward to working on it!
Things are going to get very busy going into the holiday season. See you next time!
That Game I’m Working On – Development Preview
Wow, it’s been almost a month since my last post. I really didn’t intend for that to happen.
As I stated in my “A Collective Status Update” post, I’ve been all over the place with what I’m working on. I’m actually juggling 3 or so projects right now, all of which are going great. Today I’d like to talk a little more about the game I hinted at last time. While this game still doesn’t have a name (I’ve been calling it “That Game I’m Working On” since I started), it does have a lot more meat to it.
This game started out as one of my many FlashPunk Friday Game Jams on Flash Game License. After releasing Jetpack Jerome, I decided to go back and finish it up. Shortly after my last blog post, I hired Trent Sterling to help breathe some life into the project. Trent is an extremely talented programmer who can usually be found tinkering with his proprietary 3D Flash game engine. Trent has brought a lot to the table in terms of cool concepts and visual effects. Looking back, my original concept is really bland compared to where the game is at now, and I owe most of that to him.
“That Game I’m Working On” (“ThatGame” for short) is a retro puzzle platformer starring a little robot test dummy. The game starts with the scientist booting you (the test dummy) up and running you through some beginner test chambers. As you play, more mechanics are introduced and the difficulty scales up and there are multiple goals in each level for the completists out there. We’re using FlashPunk and Ogmo Editor for our workflow and so far both have been really great to work with.
As of this post, the game is about 85% finished. Over the next few weeks we’ll be stuffing it full of content and polish. I’ll post a link when it’s available for preview on Flash Game License. Till then, ciao!
Kawaii Defense – Development Preview
I had planned on releasing the Jetpack Jerome trailer before I leaked information about my next title, but unfortunately it’s still not done and it’s high time for an update to my blog.
Over the last week or so I’ve been working on a new game, code-named “Kawaii Defense” (working title). With Kawaii Defense, collaborator David Carney (DVGmusic) and I are looking to bring the Tower Defense genre to the super casual demographic. The description we’re keeping in mind is “Intro to Tower Defense”. Everything is being designed so that you can play the whole game using only the mouse (and with touch in mind so we can easily port it over to mobile when the time comes). Of course we’ll also be adding achievements, unlockables, and juicy replay value for the more hardcore of gamers.
Here are some screenshots I’ve already leaked on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
And here are some brand new shots taken today.
This is somewhat of an earlier preview than I gave with Jetpack Jerome. All of the art you see in the above screenshots is just placeholder stuff I threw together, and will be replaced with David’s debut art. I’m using the FlashPunk framework for rendering and entity management, and Ogmo Editor for map editing, for those curious. I hope to have this game up for sponsorship on Flash Game License by mid-late August.
If you want to see updates from this or any other game more frequently, be sure to subscribe/follow/like me on the various social networking platforms. You can find all of my information in the contact page.
