Hoovoods

Level design

2009-12-06T02:27:00.000+01:00

More work on level design. This time on hazardous environments.

Level design

2009-12-03T17:15:00.000+01:00

Some work has been done on level elements, and transportation devices in particular. Tubes will suck a player from one place to another. Spring platforms will launch a player up into the air.

Work on the Hoovoods logo

2009-11-10T19:55:00.000+01:00

After an unfortunate system crash during the exams: I am back to work. I drew a logo for Hoovoods. It might be improved or replaced in the future, but I guess we will stick to this one for a while.

Sound

2009-11-07T13:36:00.003+01:00

Another new feature has been added to the game, sounds! We're using OpenAL in combination with the OpenAL utility toolkit ALUT. This allows us to play .wav's. Wav's just take a rather small amount of memory because it are often just small sounds, however we also like to play background theme songs. These songs often have sizes of 3-5 megabytes. We prefer not load this amount memory at once and therefor we're streaming the theme songs. We're not using .mp3's for this as mp3 requires a license, so we've chosen for ogg. Ogg is as good as mp3, some even say it's better. But the great thing is that it's free for use in development.

Crosshairs

2009-10-21T18:11:00.000+02:00

For the initial development phase, we have chosen five weapons to work out completely. Since it was planned to have different crosshairs for some weapons, I designed some for hammer, the revolver, the submachine gun, the rocket launcher and the grenade.

Helmets

2009-10-21T15:15:00.000+02:00

Helmets can be added to the character to add more personality. The way of obtaining these items is still under discussion.

New weapon sprites

2009-10-21T01:04:00.000+02:00

Graphics for new weapons have been completed: an über hammer and a revolver.

Background!

2009-10-15T20:56:00.000+02:00

Some work has been done on the game's static background. A cloudy setting is picked because the (first) level is set at a mountain peak. The smaller clouds will slightly move with the player to add more depth.

Clouds

2009-10-13T22:23:00.002+02:00

What's a perfect blue sky without some beautiful clouds? Well, nothing! That's why we've implemented clouds! These clouds give more perspective to the game and just gives a more natural feeling.

First Ingame Picture

2009-10-10T13:22:00.003+02:00

Not only graphics are being made. There is also a lot of progress on the programming side. As you can see in the picture below it is already possible to walk and shoot in this so far rather minimal game. In the future these blocks will be replaced with real level elements and the background wil come alive with things like clouds and possibly mountains.

Keep walking

2009-09-25T13:55:00.000+02:00

Been working on the walking animation. Wanted to keep it pretty fluent so I followed the concept of contact/recoil/passing/high-point/contact/etc. Also it bends a little bit through its imaginative knees. I think it worked out pretty well.

GUI concepts/ideas

2009-09-25T02:14:00.003+02:00

What's needed for combat is at least a health counter, an ammo counter and a weapon overview. For a health counter, I guess a simple green cross (so avoiding a red cross) with a clear font is best in terms of functionality. Also something like a weapon overview is convenient to keep track of the picked up arsenal. The selected weapon should be highlighted, while the others remain dark. As for an ammo counter, the same concept can be applied. In that case, used ammo turns dark so that one can still see the original maximum. Machine gun belts would be fun if they could zigzag around the screen like shown below.

More grenades

2009-09-24T17:40:00.003+02:00

Sprites for two new explosives finished. I guess they don't really need any explanation.

Explosion

2009-09-22T20:47:00.002+02:00

Here's a concept for an explosion. Basically it consists of three parameters: a shockwave, fire and smoke. These can be set for different types of explosive weapons. For instance a molotov cocktail should have a very low shock, a lot of fire and some smoke, whereas a fragmentation grenade should have a high shock, some fire and perhaps a little bit of smoke. The damage and knockback of a shock should scale with 1/r², with r the distance to the explosion center, since the pressure forces are divided over the surface of a growing sphere. Next to that, flames should damage players on hit depending on fire temperature (color). Smoke should do nothing except for maybe blocking the view or looking cool. Fire is subject to gravity, smoke has an additional rising force. Here's an example of an explosion with a medium shock, a low amount of fire and some smoke.

Grenade!

2009-09-22T20:35:00.000+02:00

Sprites are finished of some explosives: fragmentation grenade, cluster bomb, nail grenade, gas grenade, molotov cocktail and sticky bomb. I guess more will be added later.

Physics Engine

2009-09-22T20:05:00.005+02:00

As there is gravity on all objects we're using a physics engine. We're making use of the open-source engine Box2D. This engine allows us to let every object move in a rather natural way.

Hoovoods Icon

2009-09-22T19:48:00.010+02:00

We've now got an icon for Hoovoods. This icon is the rocket which can be shot from the rocket launcher used in the game. The icon has been generated in all sizes which means the executable will always be shown in great quality!

Level Concept

2009-09-22T19:43:00.008+02:00

The basic idea of levels is that they're supposed to be rather small and 2D. The levels are constructed out of several different layers. A background image which remains static. On the front there are two layers. One of them is behind the character and has no effect on any game aspects and there is a front layer. The objects on the front layer are blocking. Below you'll see a level concept. This concept is rather small though it will give you a basic idea.

Weapons

2009-09-22T18:07:00.000+02:00

Weapons, as of now, are classified into 4 types. From left to right: melee weapons, light guns, heavy guns and explosives. This classification can be used to restrict the amount of weaponry carried by a player (still to be determined).

Pick-ups

2009-09-22T18:00:00.000+02:00

Pick-ups can be obtained from crates. They should frequently spawn throughout the map and can be opened by destroying it with a weapon. The item can be picked up by holding a keyboard button. Basically the crates can hold different types of items. Currently sprites are finished for (from left to right): empty crate, health, explosives, ammunition, weapons, power-ups.

Characters

2009-09-22T17:52:00.001+02:00

The basic character model consists of one head, a pair of hands and a pair of feet. The idea is that the player should be able to communicate non-verbally through various emotes, next to on-screen chatting. Also personalization of a players character should be possible with outfits, colors and maybe other perks. Weapons can be obtained from crates that spawn throughout the entire map.