Eclipse

#screenshotsaturday

Cat AI

I have been working with the cat's AI for quite some time. Simon has different reactions at different times. Sometimes he's lazy, hyper, playful, meh..

While testing a part where Carter is hopelessly trying to figure out a way to escape Marsi's brig, Simon shows up. This is how he reacted when called for help..

Do you believe in chance?

Months ago when I reluctantly decided to change the project name from Epoch to Tardigrades, I had to edit all my media pages along with a few screenshots that had the Epoch logo watermark. I didn't do anything to the game's note book I keep with me though. The first page had Epoch drawn on top as a cover page thing.. I just found out there was a spare page behind it! It seems it was stuck to the first page when I turned it over to start writing notes for the game's puzzles.

Was that by chance? Or maybe my future self moved some gravity strings from behind my book case and stuck the pages together knowing that I will eventually change the title?

Forest Pond

#screenshotsaturday

Game Developers And Game Directors

The term game developer (gamedev) has been overused, misused and mistreated by many. The same applies for a pixel artist. I am going to focus on the first term here. What is a game developer? When does one have the right to be called a game developer? Who gets to call someone a game developer?

Recently, people who install and run any game engine give themselves the honor of being called game developers. I have even seen some rookie testers calling themselves game developers. I am calling them rookies because they only play a beta version and complement it without any knowledge of the software testing protocols. There are other professional game testers out there adding so much value to the gamedev industry.

RQ1. (Validity): Does installing and running an engine make you a gamedev?

RQ2. (Originality): Does playing around an engine and creating short/test games make you a gamedev?

RQ3. (Identity): Does every task related to game development considered gamedev?

RQ4. (Stupidity): Is every artist a gamedev?

If you are able to create a game using an engine specialized for its genre then you gotta work harder to earn the title gamedev. For instance, I am currently using Adventure Game Studio (AGS) to create my point and click adventure games. I refused being called a gamedev for only doing so, even though I created my graphics and story from scratch. I have to put several mini-games and “non-adventure gaming material” in between. Simply, using an engine for a different genre which requires tons of original code. I even reached a point where I had to edit the engine itself (AGS is open source) to test some of my custom functions.

Nowadays, game engines attract hobbyists with the most appealing line: few or no coding knowledge required. This kills the game development experience instantly. IMO this only creates a game director rather than a developer. I am now asking all of you hobbyists to edit your profile and change your gamedevs to game directors! This industry is suffering enough. You are being an extra burden.

Oh speaking of suffering and burdens, if you’re into gamedev for the money, I got bad news for you. You can work for years on a game -a super game in your case, by the time you finally manage to release it, it would be as old as the mobile device you were using during the time you decided to purchase the engine you are using. Who is going to buy your old looking game (assuming during the development time no one else created a better version..)? A few ‘game director’ friends and/or a couple of people into classics and near-dead genres?

So basically, you have to know the gaming core mechanics and be able to manipulate them yourself. Meaning, if the engine you are using lacks a feature but you managed to include it with your own work (probably code) then you are on the right path of being a gamedev. If you use a combination of available features to mimic something your engines lacks, then you are on the path of a game director.

Progress of Forest Cave Entrance

Aziz is High

What the puck

Practice Portrait

The spark

New Avatar

  

Tint Change

Here's another background that puzzled me on how to improve. The need to improve means that I didn't like it much... Usually I like to play a little with the coloring and lighting before I decide to delete and re-draw a new background. This one got away with a blue tint. The character is standing inside a tunnel with glass walls/ceiling leading to an airlock. I will add stars reflection to the glass later.

Space Police Quest

I wanted to design a locker room for the guards of Marsi-3. So I remembered one of my first adventure games that I've re-played recently: Police Quest I. It had this locker room in all its ega glory. I thought to myself that Marsi's guards are as good as Lytton's police officers and deserve a luxurious locker room too.

Marsi-3 Prison Wardens Control Room

And then he became a botanist

  

v78

Marsi-3 prison cells

Cursors changing

The icon bar and cursors for walking, interacting and talking change depending on the current view of the character.

Carter the Cosmonaut

When Carter decided to steal one of the spies' orange spacesuits, he really made me re-draw all his sprites (walking, talking, interacting, picking up, jumping...) took too much time but was worth every pixel. Of course the player has a choice whether to wear the orange or the white spacesuit.

Titan Oxygen Garden

Home Improvement

I can't believe I was going to get through with this background. It was one of those backgrounds I created and always hesitated of using. Even when I was testing the game, I used to speed up the game to the maximum when I had to be in the room containing it so I can avoid looking at it! After chatting with a friend on the AGS forums, I got a push to work on some improvements on old elements instead of creating new ones. So I spent clean 2 hours re-coloring the same background and only changed the glass design. So typically it's the same background with colors change. Here's the old vs. new Microbial Garden of Marsi-3 near the Jovian system.

Natasha is a bad.. bad girl

Natasha's first appearance is on Titan. She's on the Eram team which is the major rival against your nation. What was she doing on Titan and specifically on land owned by your team? ..and will she be able to buy her way out?

Are you going to be more than friends with her? Maybe -at least- to get more information about what was she doing on Titan. What about Alex? Will she be 'okay' with this situation?

You've got a lot to explain Carter. Just be careful of the women of Eram, there's a big monster lurking behind their beauty.

Tic Tac Tardigroe!

Last night I had a quick chance to sit and code. I created a little mini-game of Tic Tac Toe you can play with the Titan crew through the communicator. The mini-game can be used to manipulate the crews' moods and trigger events as well.

Tardigrades - Steam Trailer

Tardigrades has been Greenlit

Thanks for all of your support! Without you, this wouldn't have happened <3

Can't say it? Sign it!

Carter must prove an emergency in order to convince the captains of Marsi-3 to take a trip to Saturn. However, being a botanist is not enough to have permissions to land with the rescue team on Titan. He has to prove that he -as a botanist- is needed on Titan. If he did so, Carter would be assigned a spacesuit and a communication device where he can use it to talk to other crew members and also use it as a radar map to find his way in the vastness of Titan deserts.

But what if Carter wasn't able to prove his importance on Titan? The game won't stop there, he will have to sneak into the airlock or maybe fool another crew member to hide in the landing shuttle. Of course he won't have a communication device then. After other crew members discover Carter's presence on Titan, they have no time to evacuate him. So he would have to use sign language to talk to the crew.

Not having the communication device means no radar maps privileges too. You'll have to wander around and discover Titan on your own. Using little flags you can mark the places you already visited. Not to mention that your oxygen is limited too. There are some lost oxygen tanks here and there..