Personal Update

I went to a Halloween event at our zoo with the family. I as dressed up as Gru while the kiddo was a minion. There was some recognition, but nothing like the rock-star attention we got when she was George and I was the Man in the Yellow Hat.

In other personal news, I backed my first Kickstarter for the Battletech project which was successfully funded. They're doing a turn-based game for btech which hasn't been done in like 20 years. I'm really looking forward to it. And here's my Battletech themed pumpkin:

Developer Update

I started looking into grid assets for Unity and found one that I liked with a free demo. So I downloaded the 30 day trial of [http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/gamelogic-grids-a-library-for-hex-tri-polar-and-square-grids.189866]Gamelogic's Grids[/url] and started to learn how to use it. I decided that I wanted to do my learning in a separate project and since I have been playing and having lots of fun with Warhammer Quest, I made my learning project fantasy battle themed. There was also some fantasy warriors in the voxel editor my wife downloaded so I threw them in for some decent visuals. Here's what I have so far:



I had to show you in the editor because Grids won't let me build and run until after I buy it (which I will be doing soon). I've only been working on this for a week, and I already have the following features:

• Simple sounds
  
• A turn-based combat system
  
• Floating Combat Text
  
• An art style that isn't crappy
  
• Simple AI
  
• A stat panel for the units
  I've been having so much fun with Warhammer Quest and making my little fantasy game while learning Grids that I decided to switch gears and try to ship this game first. I think it will be easier to deliver and I feel it has more potential at my current skill level. Plus it might lead to some tactical ship boarding in my sci-fi game much later.
  
  

  Grids Review

  
  After I downloaded the demo, it took me quite a while to get started with it. I messed around for a day reading documentation and poking around in the examples without too much success. It's a module with lots of generics (templates for you C++ people) and it made it tough to figure out what I SHOULD do. Then I stumbled across this post which was my gateway to understanding.
  
  https://gamelogic.quandora.com/grids_unity/q/799bbc5d61894539a3b8f341242579f1/I-need-some-general-guidance-Can-you-help
  
  Once I worked through the step-by-step guidance in this forum post, I was able to start leveraging the coolness of the asset. I highly recommend it.
  
  The main thing I want to do next week is get a simple inventory system going. Dragging and dropping sprites into slots on a character sheet. I'll also be cleaning up the code since it's pretty much jammed into whatever file I was in when I needed it.
  
  

  Tip from your Uncle Eck

  
  Take a little time to put in some simple graphics and sound effects. It makes your game look cool and it's highly motivating. I can't wait to get back to it next week.
  
  

  Free Games:

  
  No one took me up on my offer of free games that I have. Don't be shy people. I'll be posting them on Facebook this week.
  
  Gone Home: http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/
  Talisman: http://store.steampowered.com/app/247000/
  Steam Marines: http://store.steampowered.com/app/253630/
  Total War Battles (some stuff): - No link, just some currency and stuff for a ftp game.
  10 Second Ninja: http://store.steampowered.com/app/271670/
  Game Guru (+some DLC): http://store.steampowered.com/app/266310/