Final Presentation

Hey there,

I recorded the final presentation of my project Refugee for you. I talk mostly about my vision of the game and then show it a little. Besides that CraftyJS and Github are discussed. The webcam ended up a little bit too much in the middle but I think it still works. I'm also sorry for the loud click sounds, I didn't realized that they were that loud and that I click that often when I don't type ;)

More crafting and music!

Seventh Version of Refugee

Hey in this new update there is a bunch of new objects in the game. Build weapons out of stone to deal a more serious amount of damage! Build picks to get those stones! And a lot more!
Also now you have a background music and sound effects!
Use the stationary saw to process your wooden logs and sticks and then carry them to the craft table to build mighty (kinda) weapons! To use one of the craft objects just press X when you're standing in front of them. Also press X in the inventory to equip your new weapons. Have fun!

The new graphic style of Refugee

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 7

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v07:

• new craftable weapons and objects
• graphic improvement
• scrollable Inventory
• added Stone Objects

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Woooho, crafting!

Sixth Version of Refugee

Here we are, now you can finally do productive stuff in Refugee. Use the stationary saw to process your wooden logs and sticks and then carry them to the craft table to build mighty (kinda) weapons! To use one of the craft objects just press X when you're standing in front of them. Also press X in the inventory to equip your new weapons. Have fun!

The new crafting system

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 6

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v06:

• new Feature: Crafting System
• new Feature: Weapon System
• minor bug fixes
• more objects
• fixed pause function

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Bigger Screens and stuff!

Fifth Version of Refugee

This time I bring you bigger graphics and a bigger screen! Also some minor improvements , mostly appearance stuff but also fixed some performance issues.

The new start menu

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 5

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v05:

• new Feature: Pause function
• new Feature: Drop descriptions
• minor bug fixes movement
• bigger graphics and screen
• improved performance
• improved start menu
• improved loading screen
• improved inventory

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

We're getting somewhere

Fourth Version of Refugee

Slowly Refugee moves away from being a prototype to being an actual game. In this version I introduced the inventory and drop system, so now all the destruction you can bring to the world will pay off. Currently there are around 7 things you can collect, try to find them all!
The next step will be either sounds or the crafting system, stay tuned.

The new start menu

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 4

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v04:

• new Feature: Drops from attacked objects
• new Feature: Inventory
• new Feature: Notifys about loot
• minor bug fixes in world creation
• improved start menu
• improved loading screen

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Destroy everything!

Third Version of Refugee

Here we go, finally you can do something in Refugee! Something very destructive! You can destroy everything! So far so good, I plan to implement the inventory and drop system next so that all this destruction will have a good use ;)

Screenshot from the latest Refugee Version

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 3

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v03:

• new Feature: Start Menu
• new Feature: Attacks
• new Feature: Trees, Bushes and Flowers are destroyable
• minor bug fixes in world creation

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Progess with Refugee

Second version of Refugee

There is progress! Yay! I just released the second version of my game Refugee.

Screenshot from the newest version of Refugee

You can play it here: Refugee - Version 2

Changelog:

You can check all changelogs in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Changelog

Changelog for v02:

• fixed Movement Issues (implemented own camera)
• added Tree objects with different sprites
• movement outside of the map is not longer possible
• improved file structure
• added wood saw object (no functionality yet)

Features:

You can check the features in the wiki: Refugee Wiki - Features
You also can see the current To-Dos with priorities there.

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Game Wiki

The game wiki for Refugee is set up!

Refugee Wiki

From now on I will edit the To-Dos, Issues and further Documentation there. But I will post on the blog if there was a major change.

MargaritaVille Review

Recently I played MargaritaVille on Facebook and her are my thoughts about it:

Screenshot from MargitaVille

I think I played the game for a few hours, mostly because I was bored and had nothing better to do at that time, but I've to admit that at the beginning it wasn't bad and motivated me to play longer. At the end I had discovered the whole first island and got the new boat which was supposed to bring me to the next island but I didn't get that to work, which was kinda frustrating and I quit. But while the quests at the beginning were kinda fun and different to each other at the end I felt like every quest was the same which got very lame. I actually read this article Who Killed Videogames - A Ghost Story the guy from Explosive Barrel Games mentioned in his interview after that and found it to be quite insightful because it was describing these kind of games. I think I have to agree with the article a lot, for me these games can be fun for a hours (like MargaritaVille) but I wouldn't never spend money on them or play them longer than that, but the article pointed out how the makers still make profit with it, which is quite impressive if you consider the thoughts and science they put in it. That really impressed me but I don't know if I would have noticed it without the article because I don't have the game designer perspective on games (yet?).

So it was a good insight in the social games industry and I don't regret spending time in it, because otherwise I would have missed the experience to understand the article.

Free writing challenge

In one of my classes we at the opportunity to ask Tom Gammarino, who wrote the fancy short story Jellyfish Dreams questions about his life as an author and his connections to video games. He left us with a challenge to write quickly about anything. Better leave you with his words:

Now you're going to freewrite for ten minutes. There is only one rule: your hand cannot stop moving for even a nanosecond. Don't worry about meaning and sense. Don't worry about misspellings or grammar. Just write, headlong and as fast as you can. Outwrite your mind. If your thoughts bottom out, you can write about how stupid this exercise is and what an idiot I am for proposing you do it. That's fine. This is an evaluation-free zone. As long as you're writing, you're doing this correctly. Oh, you must be writing English words, and no doodling. On your marks, get set, go!
I do this quite a lot, and often I find it yields really strange images and surrealistic juxtapositions that I never could have planned. Even when you're feeling blocked, you can always do this. It's probably not true, but I like to imagine that the most hardcore surfer goes out and paddles around even when there are no waves to speak of. 

Tom Gammarion about his freewriting challenge

So here is with what I came up, admitting that is was not that easy for me because my speed of writing in English is a lot slower that my process of thinking so I ended up with thinking about what I want to write which kinda misses the challenge...

Slowly you awake..you don't know were you are but it seems to be a forest, at least there are trees all around you. You notice that there is not much sound around you, well there are different sounds which are unfamiliar to you. Since born and raise in a city you collected most of your experiences with forests or nature in general from stories you overheard in taverns or at the docks.
So this is new for you. But even if it feel slightly uncomfortable to be in a place you don't know with no memory of how you got there, inside you there is the urge to discover this strange place. It took some time but after a few minutes you can't resist that urge any longer and start wandering around. Quickly you see that this might not be really classified as a forest, there are a lot of trees but they have a lot of spacing in between so you can see all the grass, flowers and bushes on the ground. In the distance you see mountains. Wandering around you can't help but enjoying this place, everything seems peaceful and calm. So different from everything you know so maybe that's what makes it this interesting.
As you get hungry you see that there are a lot of bushes with berries around, and after short hesitations you try them. They are great, much more fresher than anything you are used to from your city and so you can enjoy a nice meal here. This place seems more friendlier with a full stomach and you really begin to like it, but you feel that the night is near and it might be a good idea to search for shelter, there should be a bunch of opportunities around but you should be quick..

So buy his book and try this challenge yourself, I think it's a nice way to get thoughts from your brain to paper.

First prototype of Refugee

First prototype of Refugee

I started on developing my first own game about which I blogged here when I presented my game ideas. So now I started on this one and here is the first prototype of it.

Screenshot of the first Refugee Prototype

You can play it here: Refugee - Prototype 1

Features:

Until now there is not much in the prototype, but you are able to walk around and see the random world generation. It's kinda slow and I'm not quite sure if that is the fault of my machine or not. So if you have performance issues please tell me.

• Random World Creation
• Random Placement of bushes and flowers
• Walk around with W,A,S,D

To-Dos:

• Correcting hit boxes 
• Interaction with world : able to chop down wood
• Inventory
• Interaction with world: use stationary saw to process wood
• different ground tiles with different properties
• Crafting system
• Enemies
• Camera to follow player

Repository:

You can find all the source code to this prototype online under my github account in the repository RefugeePrototype

Falling off the wagon

Hey,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive. The last weeks were busy and so I had not really time to work for this course. First I had to finish an important java project for my german university and after that I broke my laptop. Took me some time to get a new one... But now I'm back and will start to catch up, hopefully it's not too late.

Probably the only drinks I will take the next days