More Blue Giant updates

I've reached a point where I can't proceed with the development of the game without changing half of the game's design and looks. Having discussed with my teammates we've decided that I should take a break from Blue Giant and enjoy my perfectly-timed call-up to serve my country (ugh... 25 days "reservice" is killer).

For a period of a good month the rest of the team will continue working on the project following a very rough discussion we've had prior to my reservice (I think). Perhaps I'll be able to see the project in a different light after 4 weeks of physical work in the name of serving my country (hahaha... right).

For the moment I'm "kinda" working on Futile Hunt as much as I can on a nightly basis.

Blue Giant's Direction

We've spent quite a bit of time building up the framework for our Blue Giant project, and it has reached a point where our original vision of the project no longer seem feasible, given our limited resources/time. After a good discussion with jon I think we have a good direction we're heading towards.

Basically, we are to

• Greatly increase the pacing of the game (emphasis on time limit), which leads to ...
• An increased emphasis on action
• Reduce the scale of the game world

More details of the design to come over the weeks.

For now, I'd like to share a few renditions of our main character, named Dave.

This was the original sprite, kinda looks terrible to me now. Dull colors, stiff animation.

This was the sprite in our 0.0.1 build of the game. This was after victoria worked her magic on the existing sprite.

This was an experiment. I created this new sprite to explore new possibilities for the project (Notice the huge gun in his hands). We eventually deemed it (and its accompanying changes to the game design) too far a departure from the current systems that we have implemented.

This is the latest one I have. The way the sprite is drawn borrows a lot from a soon-to-be-released game called "Super Time Force" (which looked amazing). The original 0.0.1 design, with the bold outlines, was a little too difficult to animate (the stiffness in the animation is apparent). Given that our character needs to move fast in our new design, I had to adopt a style that allows me to animate the character more fluidly. I chose this style. We just might stick to it.

How I feel half the time.

Blue Giant on IndieDB

Hi ho, we've added a basic game profile page of Blue Giant on IndieDB here. We'll be adding some details and uploading a really early build of the game (just keep in mind that a lot will change in the final product) in a moment.

3D-glasses-wearing skeleton donning Link's tunic and is set against a rainbow-colored background

Because.

Sequel please.

If there's an Ubisoft game that I love, it's Beyond Good & Evil.
Sequel please!!

Random Pixel Art #01

I think I'm going nuts working on Blue Giant non-stop, so I shall take a 10-minute break and show some of the random pixel artwork I've worked on for fun.

A chicken sprite I made for a random runner idea that we could implement in a few days. This chicken is supposed to "fire" explosive eggs from its rear - a move that destroys enemies and serves as an air-jump. Talk about killing 2 birds with one stone.

Another runner idea, this time featuring a man running from a horde of zombies as he runs from building to building. Think Canabalt with zombies. Never did finish the prototype. (A modified version of this sprite was used in Day X).

Lately I've taken a liking to going for a minimalistic presentation, such as the sprites above. These are for a game tentatively titled "Futile Hunt" (I've posted a few entries about it). I'm been working on this title on the side for a couple of weeks now (like about a few hours of work per week) - it hasn't gone very far as of yet, but I'm interested to see how this idea turns out.

This is actually the first complete project Jon and I worked on (saved for school projects). I had an idea to make a "Karateka" with guns. The end result is a relatively fresh idea - but a somewhat boring game. We did not release the title; instead, we intend to improve upon it before releasing it.

Random Game Post 3

Untitled

Dear Sis,
If I had known what was really happening, I would have talked to you more. I have so much I want to share with you - like my struggle with starting an indie games startup, my various school game projects, my views on "Evangelion" (even if we've already briefly discussed the series). But it's a little too late now, because I'm an idiot.

About a few years ago I started to find you a tinny bit more distant. At first I thought it was because of my ill-expressed remark on your Facebook page that led to a mildly heated exchange with your peers. Then I assumed you were just building some distance between yourself and the rest of us (the gang) in order to be considerate towards Adrian. I never thought to ask. I thought I should respect that "distance". I'm sorry, I should have talked to you and understood the situation. I guess a part of me was afraid you were angry at me for causing that commotion on FB. But of course, you weren't. If only I had asked, I would probably have a better understanding of what was really happening.

If HY hadn't invited you to our little whatapp group just a few months back, I'll probably never get to have a proper conversation with you. I'm grateful to have chatted with you about your work, about Evangelion, and about how I shouldn't prioritize career over finding my other half. But if I had known that would be the last few times we get to talk, I'd have shared a lot more of my experiences, or asked you more questions about... anything at all.

I guess I just want to say that I'm really happy to have been your god-bro; and, as your god-brother, love you dearly. There is nothing I wished more than for these words to reach you somehow.

Goodbye sis, I'll miss you dearly.

-Your brother.