Development Diaries

That Series: Episode 0

For this month's Klik of the Month Klub event, I've decided to start a series. A strange, eclectic, multi-format, multi-storylined series that will go in directions I currently know nothing about. This game (a Z-code game like Chaos Theory, runnable in Frotz, also downloadable here) is Episode 0 - the next game will be either Episode 1 or Episode -1. I can also put games between episodes (these will always have numbers halfway between those of the adjecent games - for example, 0.25 or 28.03125). A game taking place after or before all existing episodes will always have a whole episode number.

kirkjerk's picture

KotM; KNP or Java Processing? YOU DECIDE!

So i know I spent way too much time whinging about being the only guy not writing stuff in KNP for the Pirate Kart, but still I'd like to ask the (ir)regulars here: assuming I can get to a computer in time for this weekend's KotM, should I do something in Java Processing or Klik N Play?

Both have their pros and cons. I can do more and more interesting stuff in Java, though I haven't yet worked up getting the sound libraries going. KNP is more in the spirit of what everyone's doing, and I'm more like to get the abuse of clip art and sounds going.

(at some point, I'd like to get into trying to build engines more than games. I guess I'm more of a Carmack than a Romero, if you know what I mean, or at least aspire to that.)

kirkjerk's picture

CAoleslaw 0.01, no fun at all

this is so much a work in progress it's not even funny, or fun.

So one year "rince"'s entry in the Obfuscated C Contest (I'm not your damn Google, but see http://www.ioccc.org/1993/ , the "rince" files) was a program called CABBAGE, Cellular Automata Based, Beautifully Abysmal Game Environment. I'm taking an inspiration but not an implementation (on any level, and probably losing most of the elegance) from him and trying to do something similar in java. If it works you can share really lame games just by cutting and pasting strings and I have all sorts of weird debugger ideas in mind but right now it's just a heap of Java bleh. Download and fire up processing if you want to see it; I'm posting it here to try to kick my butt into finishing it, and so I can download the file instead of having to carry it around with me when I do want to work on it.

captaincabinets's picture

VIRAL MARKETING

I took this photo while out and about the city last night. My eyebrows nearly shot right off my head. It seems that someone has hired graf "artists" to leak images from the forthcoming mega-hit "Phantom of the Firefox".

Recent results from a comprehensive Roy Morgan poll have gauged public reaction to be "lukewarm at best".

captaincabinets's picture

This is the way the blog ends

So, fellow trainsurfers, it is with misty-eyed hesitance that I present the final chapter of the emotional-teacup-ride-history-rewriting-bliggity-bloggo. It took 1.5 hours to make, and features stunning water effects.

I don't have much more to say on the matter, apart from thanking SpindleyQ, and everyone, most profusely for all this site is, and all it has inspired me to do.

Chaos Theory

I've been fiddling with the text adventure creation system Inform 7 and I decided to make a game for this site. I hope this counts as a trainwreck by your standards, or is at least sufficiently strange or interesting. You can run it with Frotz, downloadable here and also here.

Edit: It should be noted that this was semi-loosely based upon a now-concluded running joke in the comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug (information here, see 'Chaos Butterfly').

Relevant commands:

look (or l)
north (or n)
south (or s)
east (or e)
west (or w)
examine (or x)
take (or get)
drink

captaincabinets's picture

Baby, I'm a lost cause

Chapter 6! Out of breath and red-faced and hot off the dating treadmill! You played it here first!

SpindleyQ's picture

Glorious Trainwrecks Dot Com Has A Half-Birthday

As of yesterday, this site has been around for six months! SIX FUCKING MONTHS. Holy shit it does not seem like that long.

It is pretty rare that I keep up with any of my projects with the level of enthusiasm that I have for this website. Glorious Trainwrecks has been pretty well a constant source of delight for me. The Pirate Kart was one of the highlights of my LIFE. Thanks to all of you for keeping this site kicking ass.

kirkjerk's picture

On Conway West

thought I'd try a blog entry.

Fun time for KotM #4

So maybe I was cheating a bit by thinking what I'd want to do. And that was: a game based on cellular automata, specifically, John Conway's Game of Life.

(Wikipedia has a great page on that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life )

I didn't think KnP was up for it so I went back to processing.org, like I did for most of the 100-in-1. (I think I got a little intimidated by what I forgot about KnP)

I warmed up in the afternoon on this: http://kisrael.com/temp/conwayice/
that's 3D plotting and rotation of generations of Life.

I thought about trying to do a platform game, I really love the idea of unsual platform game setups (esp. because of KnPs weird and wonky default behavior... too bad it's not easy to make platform-y enemies, except ones that just walk back and forth)

But anyway, the event started, and I started from scratch, except I lifted the actual life code from elsewhere. I also tried to grab some of the movement code from http://kisrael.com/features/java/cosmicarkatamari/ -- originally the player controlled quite a bit more like the ghost, but i realized making the player constrained to the grid felt better .... )

So anyway, the game. I had some different ideas, like having multiple enemies making "bombing runs", but this kind of organically emerged. The ghost farting out random blobs worked at least well as I hoped it would, in terms of triggering "Life" events. The gameplay, grab the treasure, health depletes, is nothing too special, but I think it works, more or less. Other details: the ghost is actually using a nice transparency effect. the goal cross wasn't obvious enough so I had it flash colors.

At one point, 90 minutes into it, I thought I lost EVERYTHING of the game, but few, the processing editor unlocked.

You can also see the game online at http://kirkjerk.com/features/java/conwaywest/ and the zip is at http://kirkjerk.com/features/java/conwaywest/conwaywest.zip

If you look at some of the other games I've done in Java, http://kisrael.com/features/java/ , penultimate section, it looks like I'm developing a bit of a visual style. Just like my HTML style though, it's very utilitarian, based as much on what's easy to do than aesthetic goals... just blasting text to the screen for title and/or ending screens, and score/live read outs along the top or bottom. Plus I tend to use the gray background a lot, which is kind of a "processing" thing.

So, I really liked some of the other works this time, especially the great SFX of "Klik of the Kollossus" -- the use of a tiny character was quite striking, I always dig stuff like that. And "Assassinatrix Adventures" was right sexy.

ZM

I managed to haul myself out of bed and do a second entry within the usual time window: Zm, the sequel to Mz.

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