SlingBots - Foundations for Progressive Levels

posted in Septopus for project Unsettled World
Published January 10, 2019
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Been working and reworking a whole lot of things in SlingBot Boarding over the past few days.  I've finished up some of the lingering aspects of the NPC steering code, so they're a bit more reliable and less twitchy. ;)  I've also been reworking some of the player controller code... Mainly because I brought back the LOOP!! :D

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I know I never put it in the game anyhow, but I posed a teaser of it a while back.  And well, it's still not IN the game, it'll be another day or two before I put out a new build, lots to do.

So, great, a big loop to nowhere eh?  Nice one dude... 

haha, not really.. ;) 

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Here you see the invisible arena that appears as you complete the SuperLoop!

Inside this arena we have a new prototype Snowball Turret!

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I know, SUPER INTIMIDATING right?  haha!!  I'll model something more.. More!  Later..  For now, it appears to shoot snowballs just as well as a fancy model will.

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As the basis of my first level prototype(and it will likely be the contents of Level1) I have a grid of 20 of these guys in the middle of the arena that you must disable by exploding a snowball near them.  When they are hit with an explosion that is strong enough they get knocked off their pads and can no longer fire. 

I have not yet, but I will be enabling a damage and/or power meter for arena levels and racing so that I can establish a few more lose scenarios and increase the difficulty in more ways.

Another thing I've discovered on my journey to getting Tube riding working, was how to enable extended flight in a controllable manner.  So, you should expect some form of that to be appearing before too long.  But not before we have some progressively harder levels to defeat!!

So, what happens when you defeat an Arena Level?  Well, that's easy, your defeated foes start appearing in the wild.  They will show up in random places around the park and will also be setup along user generated courses.  This will allow the entire game difficulty to increase as you progress through the levels.  For example, after defeating level 1 and it's array of snowball turrets, you can expect to find snowball turrets showing up on race courses and in random spots in the park.  With bonuses and rewards and awards for defeating them wherever they appear!! :D 

Well, that's about all I feel like divulging at the moment!  More.. tomorrow probably. ;) 

Happy Coding Everybody!

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Comments

Rutin

I like the loops and turret idea! :) 

January 13, 2019 01:03 PM
Awoken
2 hours ago, Rutin said:

I like the loops and turret idea! :) 

It's incredible the progress Septopus has made since joining GameDev.  

Also, here's another one who's decided to make a go at becoming an independent game developer.  That's got me all sorts of curious all over again.

January 13, 2019 03:49 PM
Septopus

Thanks guys!!

FWIW, I've been studying game development as a hobby since I started programming on a combo of Thrift-Store Commodores and an old Tandy 80286 years ago ;)..  So if I seem to be picking things up quickly, I'm really not.  haha!  :D  In fact, game programming was what I wanted to do with my life, then I found server administration and fell in love with that old ball and chain.  Until I realized(10+years into it) that no matter how much freedom I had in that position, I was still tied to a cellphone that would wake me up at all unrighteous hours to fix servers that I didn't really care about...

So, I'm rediscovering what it was that got me into computers in the first place.  After having taken at least 4 years off from anything seriously related to computers.  I spent some of that time gold-panning in California, and driving a Taxi cab..  Now I'm chillin at my buddy's place utilizing some of his extra garage space to focus on building computer games. ;)  And there you have it @Awoken.  My entire "Become an Indy" strategy as it stands..  Quit your job, wander about for a few years, and then hammer your fingers to the bone in a unheated garage until you have something worth-while.  Impressive eh?  lol :D

Determination, Focus and years of subconsciously stored information are all I have to leverage at the moment.  But it brings about a certain kind of clarity you can't get otherwise, of that I'm certain.

January 13, 2019 05:46 PM
Awoken

That is Awesome Septopus, incredibly inspiring. 

1 hour ago, Septopus said:

Quit your job, wander about for a few years

I can totally identify with this.


So this game that you're currently toying with, sling bot boarding, it's just for fun right?  So when you do actually start on a more serious commercial project are you going to be showcasing it here on GameDev as well?
 

January 13, 2019 07:11 PM
Rutin
4 hours ago, Awoken said:

It's incredible the progress Septopus has made since joining GameDev.  

Also, here's another one who's decided to make a go at becoming an independent game developer.  That's got me all sorts of curious all over again.

It's amazing stuff for sure. :) I'm enjoying all the updates.

January 13, 2019 07:56 PM
Septopus
45 minutes ago, Awoken said:

I can totally identify with this.

Took me about 10 years sitting on my itch to do something about it.  Not for everybody though, wandering..  Easy to get lost.

Quote


So this game that you're currently toying with, sling bot boarding, it's just for fun right?

There's only so long you can toy with something before it needs to become more than a toy, the second sprint has begun. :D

I'll be posting up some progress later tonight maybe, perhaps a new build with some of the goodies. 

My goals ahead are to finalize the actual game-play features of this SlingBot Boarding prototype(progressive levels being primary here), and then work in some multi-player aspects.  Once the prototype is fully functional then I'll figure out the financials, finalize target platforms, and sort out a rev-share agreement.  Then I'll try to recruit some help with reworking assets and interfaces.  Hopefully by the time I'm done with the prototype I'll also have server access to put together some of these different pieces into an actual verifiable presence online/etc., as that will help with everything.

Yeah man, all GameDev.net, all day, every day. ;)

January 13, 2019 07:58 PM
Awoken
2 hours ago, Septopus said:

Yeah man, all GameDev.net, all day, every day. ;)

Right on!

January 13, 2019 10:06 PM
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