Soaring Sheep's Time log

Ludum Dare 48 Hour Game Development Competetion Log

November 8 thru November 10, 2002

Lone Stranger

Designer's Log, Friday, 6:09PM After learning about the contest themes, I decided maybe I wasn't screwed after all. The main theme is Construction/Deconstruction, which just happened to be what I voted for. To do something 'new' might be the easiest with this one, though I don't know if I can really come up with something that hasn't already been done. Better to stick with something semi-old so that I have a better chance of completing it.

The second theme is the cosmetic one: Sheep. I really don't know what to say. I think it's way too constricting. It would have better been said as 'Farm Animals' or something. Sheep will result in too many games that look alike. Maybe I will be proved wrong.

I have fired up Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0, and added the T3D library files to my project. I assume it would do me better to start thinking of an actual game to make, rather than poking away with no idea, so I will grab the engineering paper, pencil and sharpener, heavy duty eraser, and climb upon my bunk to etch away.

Designer's Log, Friday, 6:44PM After scratching down some ideas, I've centered on one that seems feasible. Since this is my first competition, I should shoot for finishing a project, rather than doing something that I may not be able to do.

My idea is like the game where two tanks on each side of the screen launch projectiles at each other. Only this time, it will either be sheep launching things or something launching sheep. I'm thinking the former might be better. Who knows how many people will be shooting sheep across the screen.

Now that I have some ideas, I think it's time to start implementing them. Screw more planning until I need to.

Graphics will have to wait. It's more important to get the basic mechanics working first before I spend time prettifying it.

Programmer's Log, Friday, 7:30PM Well, I just had my first 'crash', forcing me to reboot. It wasn't much of a crash. Rather, I think I made a mistake in the coding, and my fullscreen window would never close. I couldn't even alt-tab out, so I had to hit the reset button. That sucked.

Programmer's Log, Friday, 8:01PM I figured out my problem. It was an endless loop right at the end of the game. It was entering the ENDGAME state, but was never actually entering the EXITGAME state. Now that I have that figured out, I can actually do something. I only have an hour though, because I have to go to the girlfriend's a make dinner for when she gets off of work. And at that point, I may not actually come back here until tomorrow morning.

Programmer's Log, Friday, 8:14PM I have the main menu architecture down, where you can start or quit. I will eventually have the options in there too. Now I have to work on the actual game.

Programmer's Log, Friday, 9:04PM I have started to draw the objects to the screen, using just rectangles for placeholders. When I get most of them done, I'll go back and fill them in with some nice looking bitmaps. So far I have the main menu showing my logo picture and the choices of Start Game and Exit. When you start the game, it shows the playing field. You can then exit or continue to stare at the screen, as I haven't put any player commands in yet. I have updated the TO DO list with some things I need to take care of. Now it is time to go.

See you in the morning.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 12:01PM I have lost all of the morning due to sleep. I think I need to step it up a notch and get some good work done. I plan on finishing this!

I think I'll grab another Guinness, turn the NASCAR Busch series race on, and start coding.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 12:53PM I am getting hungry. NO FOOD UNTIL I FINISH! Just kidding. I think I'll finish coding up the brick falling and then make a sandwich. No Guinness, though, cause if I go down that path, I'll hamper my typing ability.

After looking at some of my competitors' screens, mine may not look the best. Not that I expected it. But I do take comfort in knowing that I am probably not going to be the worst. When I get through this stage of development, I'll post a screenshot.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 1:39PM NASCAR Busch series race is over, Greg Biffle wins the championship. Now it's time to turn on the tunes. I think I'll listen to Garbage, and then maybe Transport.

I'm going to start working on the launching of the projectiles and the physics involved and stuff. This will be tricky, but not as tricky as it could be, I suppose. Thank goodness I can still remember some of my basic physics from class a couple years ago.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 3:53PM I have the launching of a projectile working with gravity. Future step is to add wind. My next goal is to let the player change the power and angle of launching. So far, I think I'm doing okay in terms of completing the project on time. If I leave myself about three hours to do graphics, I should be able to finish.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 5:48PM I'm trying to implement the collision between the projectile and the bricks, but it doesn't seem to want to work. It makes the projectile collide with things not next to it. I didn't have this problem with my paratroopers program, so I don't know what gives. This should be easy. I'm still thinking that my competitors are doing better than I am. I hear them doing animations and such... maybe I'm just focusing on the wrong thing. Then again, this is my first competition and my first project that I will actually complete. There is almost one day left. I think I can do it if I don't spend too much time tonite doing other things.

Artist's Log, Saturday, 6:02PM I fixed my collision routine, so now the projectile can destroy bricks. I think I am going to take a quick rest from programming and do some bitmapping. I need to design a little sheepie to be the projectile.....

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 7:27PM I have my first bitmap, the sheep, done. I also worked in the code so that it flips around when it files through the air. Now I just need to implement the second player's firing, so I can check that side too.

I think I need to come up with something else to make the game fun. Maybe put a moving wall or something that will block the sheepies. Or maybe not. I should implement wind shortly. I wonder if anyone is even reading this.

Programmer's Log, Saturday, 8:24PM I'm going to go get my free personal pizza from Round Table for when the Sharks won 5-2 last Tuesday. I'll probably be back later on tonite to pull an all-niter or something.

I've got both players implemented. They can both fire themselves across the screen. I also have wind in the game, with it's full effects, but I need to change it so that the effects are less than they are. We don't need sheep flying back at their own side!

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 1:46AM Only about 16 hours and 15 minutes to go. I think I may be able to get a little bit of sleep in later, but I still have some work to do.

I need to add the construction part to the game. It think I am going to let you signal a repair of your wall. Maybe it will cost you some cash later, who knows. A plane will fly by and drop a brick onto your wall, making it slightly higher.

I did my second screen shot, this one has bitmaps and looks much better.

Artist's Log, Sunday, 3:10AM I'm not sure how I want to do the construction part... so I worked on the front screen. It now says Lone Stranger presents... SoaringSheep. That's the name of the game. Too cheesy, I know, but it's all I have. I guess I can just do the original idea of calling the plane to fix a brick. I better get it done so I can at least get points for construction.

Artist's Log, Sunday, 3:31AM I have the planes drawn. They look much better than I expected them to look. Now I just have to get them to fly across the screen.

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 4:02AM I've got the planes going back and forth on command. Now I just need to get them to drop a bale of wool on the selected column. I guess I could make it cost money or something, but then there would have to be a way to earn money. Maybe by hitting certain spots on the floor or something. I still don't have a clear objective on how to win yet.

Possibly by destroying all the opponent's bricks, or hitting a certain spot on the opponent's side of the screen.

Anyway, I'm going to get four hours shut-eye, and dream of sheepies.

Nite!

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 10:03AM I didn't hear my alarm when it went off at 8:00, My roommate says it went off, but I had no clue. Anyway, I better get started on making the planes drop wool.

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 12:17AM The planes drop wool, and they drop it where you want it. If the column is full, it won't drop any at all, so you better pick the column where you want it. This means that I have fulfilled all the requirements of the competition. Now comes all the sugar coating and stuff. I think I'll do some sounds.

Sound Effecter's Log, Sunday, 12:50AM I have one sound so far, of a sheep bleahing. It plays when either player launches a sheep. Next up for sounds is crashing and maybe a plane flying by. I suppose I could record a plane from outside, since I'm not far from the San Jose airport, but that would be too much work. I'll have to do it with my mouth, the same way I did the sheep. I read in #ludumdare chat that speeding up the sound works, so I did that. It sounds awesome.

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 3:04PM I'm having a problem with the sound effects. When you fire the sheep, they bleah, but when they hit something, the bleah stops if it is currently playing. This works for the first person, but doesn't work for the second. The funny thing is, they are using the same code. It's wierd. I don't know what the deal is.

Programmer's Log, Sunday, 6:17PM The last three hours have been hectic. I put the final touches on the game in the last few minutes, and then proceded to zip up the game and source. The site was so slow that it took awhile to get to the page to upload them, but I got it done. Let's see what I did in the three hours....

I fixed the sound problem I had. It was a simple index problem. I added a flag to the middle of the game field to show the current strength of the wind. That took some remembering of my physics class a few semesters ago. I also added a line above the sheep showing the angle and the power. I wrote the readme.txt file so that people can see the controls of the game. I also implemented the scoring method so that a winner can be determined. Basicly, a timer counts down, and when it hits zero, the player with the highest points wins.

So the competition is over. Where does that leave me? Hungry, but not really tired. I did what I did in 22 and a quarter hours. Not bad, I think. If I had chosen not to sleep, or see the girlfriend, just think what I could have done!

I will probably enter the next competition, but I think I will try to get away from the side-view single screen. Maybe do a side-scroller, or a top-down-scroller or something. I would like to use a resolution higher than 800x600. That would allow for more detailed sprites. I do need to write a side-scrolling engine so that I can implement a friend's game from way back in elementary school. I can't say I learned much from the past 48 hours, but I can say that my self-image on programming has gone up.

This is Lone Stranger, signing off from the contest.

Thanks Ludum Dare.