30 SEP 2023

Last weekend of my business trip, then it’s back home and back to working on Scrapship!

While researching a quote for this week’s devlog, I came across some by the creator of The Sims, Will Wright:

“On vacation, I totally unplug. I don’t bring a laptop with me.”

“I find it refreshing to unplug from it for a while. You kind of forget how deeply you get embedded in it.”

Lacking context, I’m assuming the “it” he is referring to is “game development”. Assuming that’s the case, I totally agree. A vacation — or in my case, a business trip — can give one a pleasant rest from the rigors of making a game. 

So I haven’t been working on Scrapship the past 2 weeks, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing gamedev-related stuff. 

I’m already thinking about my next game. 

I won’t say too much about it yet — things can change — but it will make heavy use of procedural generation, emergent narrative, and persistent states. 

If that sounds overly ambitious, it may very well be, but to that end I’ve laid out several “guardrails” to ensure I don’t scope creep the hell out of it. 

But if it all works out, this game will be “infinitely” replayable. Even I as the developer will be finding new things all the time.

On this business trip I’ve already got a nice long list of notes for how different game mechanics will work. Some of these I have already prototyped in the past.    

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“The programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future.” — Gabe Newell

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

7 OCT 2023:

Finally back from my business trip (and very very jetlagged!) Nonetheless, here are this week's updates:

- Adjusted the "scrapstorm" so that it looks like the debris is hurtling towards you faster. 

- As shown above, not only the player, but the satellite can also be damaged by scrap now. It will look better when I make some explosions in Embergen.

- Fixed a nerve-wracking bug where the player shots were getting cut short after destroying some scrap. Like seriously, I spent more time fixing this bug than anything else this week. Thankfully I got it figured out just in the last hour or so. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window." -- Steve Wozniak

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

14 OCT 2023:

- Spent a lot of time this week making explosions in Embergen! There are 4 just for the satellite:

• explosion after being hit by player's rapid laser
• explosion after being hit by player's scrap cannon
• explosion when a satellite segment is destroyed (shown above)
• explosion when the entire satellite is destroyed (shown above)

- Explosions can be a little random by having a different angle at which they're drawn. I had also experimented with random scale, but that complicated positioning and images scaled larger just don't look as good as 1:1 images. 

OTHER NEWS:

- Recently finished listening to episode 104 of the Game Design Round Table podcast. It mentioned a good website, whose writer is the source of this week's quote.

- I also came across this website that features news from around the video game industry.

- Haven't had too much time to play games, but I have enjoyed a couple hours with The Bloodline. It's basically a low-poly Skyrim made by a single indie developer. I asked him on Instagram how long he had been working with Unreal Engine 4 and he said "about 4 years", which sounds very reasonable for a project of that scope. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Many players cannot help approaching a game as an optimization puzzle." -- Soren Johnson

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

21 OCT 2023:

This week I started looking at my options for making backgrounds in Scrapship.

The main goal is to have a wide variety. Every time you play a level, there should be a good chance that the background will be different. 

So far I’ve tried: 

• Blender — I can make good planets — if I have good textures to work with. Can’t really get much of a bloom effect though when saving with transparency.
• Unreal Engine 4 — Same as above, but does a better job of creating an atmosphere effect.
• Textures for Planets — Has the ability to make tons of different planet textures — but at a lower resolution. 
• Space Engine Pro — Lots of realistic variety and uses transparency, but in some of my testing the resolution is still too low.

- Above is a screenshot with an Asteroid background from Space Engine (jpg format). Looks nice, but the downside to jpg is that it will make it more difficult to create dynamic backgrounds that don’t conflict with different layers. PNG format can fix this, but at an often huge cost in file size. 

Currently I plan on working with Space Engine Pro some more to see what I can do, but I am also looking at another option:

GEOGEN!

So JangaFX, the company that creates Embergen (which is what I’m using for explosion effects), just recently announced that they are making GEOGEN which will allow one to make planets and geographical textures. From what I gather, it’s around the beta stage, so I might have to wait a while if I want to try it out.  (I am not affiliated with JangaFX btw, but I do like their software). 

Currently on a business trip this week and next, so there won’t be much in the way of Scrapship updates, but of course I’ll think of something to post.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Ideas are easy, games are hard.” — Rob Daviau (episode 105 of the Game Design Round Table podcast)

(The context behind this quote was if game developers should be cautious about sharing ideas for upcoming games they want to make. In his estimation, one shouldn’t be too worried — even if you have a great idea, actually turning it into a reality is such hard work that it is unlikely that someone would try and steal your idea and beat you to market.)

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

28 OCT 2023:

Just got back from my business trip last night. Since there are no Scrapship updates for this week I'll share with you the latest cool gamedev-related things I've come across:

• Saw a really good YT video between Jordan Peterson and Robert Sapolsky where they discussed Game Theory as applied to human behavior. Very deep discussion! Watch the video for +10 to your Intelligence.
• In particular, I found this gem in the comments section. Great stuff if you're contemplating the next Skyrim or Dwarf Fortress. The post was by @BillWiltfong

This is the best talk anyone has ever done for giving game designers ideas on how to describe and stat out a human race in a fantasy RPG.

"Humans are the race of people who are driven, never satisfied, always yearning for a future they can never see. The limitations of their lifespans, far shorter than those of elves and dwarves, produces a people who strive in everything they do to transcend the limitations of their finite lives. Yes, they yearn for an eternity they cannot fathom, but the only means by which they can reach it is to find the greatest struggle, and face off against it. This is why humans have spread further from their homelands than any other race, and why humans are found in every climate and every niche. If it can be done, humans will find how it must be done, for the only option for a human to fail, and yet continue on in another lifetime with another effort, is to give the future to his or her offspring, set and prepared for even greater works."

- Also saw this Star Engine Tech Demo which looks really promising for the future of game engines. The real test though will be how easy it is to work with and how much support it gets. 24 minutes well-spent!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"The path of maximal adventure is better than the path of infantile satiation." -- Jordan Peterson (from the video mentioned above, 1:21:42)

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

4 NOV 2023:

- Made lots of 4k backgrounds with Space Engine Pro this week. Steam says I've used the program for about 15 hours.

- The backgrounds are oversized jpg images that are then compressed, using this awesome online tool that I found. Compressing the images decreased the initial load time by half! Nice! Because the images are oversized, I can position them on the screen with a little variation.

- I continued working on planets as "middleground" objects and to give a slight parallax effect. But there were 3 problems:

• Although Space Engine Pro can generate png's with transparency, it can only go up to 1024 resolution (in skybox mode). So all the renders were not very detailed.
• Even small png's caused the game to lag noticeably.
• Getting the planets to look right during level transitions was . . . not impossible, but not worth the effort that would be required to get it working properly.

- Obviously performance is better than "looking cool" so I made the decision to scrap the "middleground" planets entirely. 

- When a level is completed, the player will warp to the next. Above you can see a preview of that (minus the railgun which I haven't added back in yet). 

IN OTHER NEWS:

- Started playing Red Dead Redemption 2. All I have to say is, wow, the level of immersion and detail in that game is amazing. There were quite a few parts that felt more like a movie than a game.  

- Have you ever thought about how much you spend on Steam? I made a spreadsheet and calculated that I've spent over $800 on games -- most of which I haven't completed or even play anymore. Sad, isn't it? As a result, an early resolution of mine is to only buy games that are on sale.

- Star Ocean: the Second Story R just released -- so it's definitely not on sale -- but they did have a demo. And what a demo it is! I remember playing the original on the PS1 and couldn't get into it. But this new version is just fantastic! Loving the 2.5D art style.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"True creativity flows only from stillness." -- Eckhart Tolle

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

11 NOV 2023:

Put in quite a few hours this week, including most of yesterday! Above you can see how Scrapship looks when the whole screen is visible. The warping is because I'm forcing the game to change levels rapidly. 

- Added in all level backgrounds:

• Levels 1 and 2 is a random planet background
• Level 3 is an asteroid field
• Level 4 is a random deep space background
• Level 5 is a black hole

- Ensured that music changes during level transitions

- Added the titlescreen back in.

- Asteroids can be destroyed (needs an animation though)

- Added option for Captions On/Off as there will be some voiceovers integrated later.

- Mostly done adding the shield fighters back in. The big win here was that I was able to reduce file size 80% by trimming with Aseprite and hand-jamming coordinates to reposition segments. I plan on doing this same thing to all the enemies.

- After much thought, I also made some last-minute design decisions:

• I got rid of the easy/normal/hard difficulty levels as the game is designed to adjust difficulty in-game anyways. 
• Removed the railgun and ability to heal between levels. Because the game is designed for a short play experience (~15 minutes), I think it makes sense to have the game be harder rather than easier. So it will definitely be more roguelike in the sense that you only have one ship, one life! Also I was never happy with how the railgun looked as it was something I threw together in Blender.

Getting rid of things like this has also helped motivate me as it's less stuff to have to worry about. 

So how close to done am I? It's always hard to tell. The parts that are left to do have already been done before, they just need to be re-integrated into the new build. Lots of copy and paste, but also sometimes I have to recalculate coordinates and make minor edits to graphics.  

No promises, but things I will probably add in towards the end:

• Gamepad support
• Multiple languages for the captions (and maybe the audio?)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"You must be prepared to work always without applause." -- Ernest Hemingway

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

18 NOV 2023:

- One of the harder effects for me to create has been the "electrocution" effect when you hit an enemy with the single laser. Thankfully I found this video that has an excellent (and up-to-date) tutorial on how to make lightning effects in Embergen. I tested about 10 or 15 different variations before settling on the one you see above.

- Also worked on scaling so that the game looks right at smaller resolutions. This is something that I have to do for each object that goes back into the game, so it's a little tedious. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Every complex system starts as a simple system that works." -- Amy Jo Kim

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

25 NOV 2023:

No updates this week due to Thanksgiving vacation. But here’s the motivational . . .

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” — Jordan Belfort

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

2 DEC 2023:

- Continued reintegrating the shield fighters. It has rocket flames again. 

- Moving away from sprite sheets as it causes issues on lower screen resolutions. Thankfully I can still get the animations to look correct with little or no impact on performance.

- In previous versions, the player explosion particle effect happened in a sort of vacuum where all of the background images would be absent. I fixed that this morning, as shown above. So now when you get destroyed, all the background objects are still there and active.

- Fixed a bug where the electrocution effect was animating in random locations.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"There is little success where there is little laughter." -- Andrew Carnegie

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

9 DEC 2023:

- Scrap is not just a threat to the player, but to your enemies as well! I think this is a nice touch in the name of consistency. It would be weird if scrap hurt you and not the enemy ships. 

- If you look at the right-most shield fighter, you can see a new explosion effect I made in Embergen. 

Some notes on the gif above:

- Enemies aren't moving because it's easier to test them for hit detection when they're stationary. Movement will be added later when I do the AI.

- This is what the full game screen will look like (hopefully not that small though, although I have tested it on a 7" monitor.) Ideally you'll have a 32" widescreen monitor.

- Very minimal UI and what UI elements you do see will be integrated into the environment. Above you can (kinda) see 2 of them: The orange dot on the player ship indicating what weapon is currently selected and the green outlines of the scrap indicating when they are a threat to the player. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Sharing two that I just read in StephanRewind's excellent Atlantic '41 blog here on Itch.

". . . a good composition always alludes to something more, outside the boundaries of the canvas."

". . . you make a game for other players too, and you can't always assume that they'll play it as you intended."

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

16 DEC 2023:

- Trimmed and logged coordinates for the bomber graphics. Originally the bomber sprites took up 3MB, now they only take up 1MB!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Software and cathedrals are much the same -- first we build them, then we pray." -- Samuel T. Redwine Jr.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

23 DEC 2023:

- Now that the bomber sprites are all trimmed, I started putting the code back in so they appear in the game. Originally I was using a scale function to draw them, but found that the trimmed sprites have major coordinate issues. Basically none of the bomber segments were aligning properly and just looked like a jumbled mess. Really didn’t want to spend all week troubleshooting that so I took an alternate route where I just draw the sprites to the screen directly with _PUTIMAGE. 

- Not a whole lot of progress this week and next . . . but progress nonetheless!

IN OTHER NEWS:

Godzilla Minus One is a lot of fun to watch! Until yesterday I hadn’t been to a movie theater since before Covid. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“First do it, then do it right, then do it fast.” — Addy Osmani

Thanks for reading and have a Merry CHRISTmas!

30 DEC 2023:

- Started adding the bombers back into the game. All 4 types are assembled and drawn correctly and can also be damaged. 

- Fixed a graphical inconsistency where part of the bomber tail section would be floating unattached to anything if the middle segment was damaged while the wings were intact. 

- I forgot to mention this last week, but this devlog just passed 15,000 views. Thanks to everyone who has read, liked and/or commented over the years! 

- Scrapship is made using QB64PE, a modern version of the QBasic programming language. If you're interested in the QBasic programming language -- or just want to try some retro-style games --  check out the 5th QBasic Game Jam which is wrapping up soon. Although I'm always asked to participate, I usually don't since that would detract from my progress on Scrapship. But it is fun to play and rate the games and see what other people can do.

PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR:

I really want next year to be the year that I finish Scrapship. I was hoping it would be this year, but my job has a lot of business trips that take time away from game development. So  we'll see how it goes, although there is also a big possibility that I'll be changing jobs next year as well. Either way, I'll keep chipping away at this project until it's done. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"It's never too early to think about performance." -- Rebecca Parsons

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

6 JAN 2024:

- All-new bomber explosion which you can see at the very end of the gif above!

- Added back in most of the bomber code. The bombers above don't move as they're still in a testing phase while I work some bugs out.

The 5th BASIC Game Jam had some really good entries! My favorite two were a puzzle game called TapOut and a side-scrolling endless runner called Ruins of Zeugma.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin." -- Ivan Turgenev

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

13 JAN 2024:

- Bombers and bombs are finished.

- Started adding the Cruisers back in.  Almost done with that. Just this morning I was working on getting the attack animations to work again. 

- On the sticky note on my monitor I have 7 more TO-DOs before I can call the game done:

• Cruisers
• Battleships
• Carriers
• Cargo Boss
• Final Boss
• AI (for all enemies)
• Other (voiceovers, gamepad support? minor adjustments, bugs, playtesting, etc) 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Always do what you are afraid to do." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

20 JAN 2024:

- Finished adding the cruisers back into the game. 

- Created a new cruiser explosion animation. 

- Started working on the battleships. This is going to be tedious. As you can see from the screenshot above, just one battleship has a dizzying number of gun sprites to cover all the different firing positions and states. As with all the previous enemies, I huge change here will be the fact that I'm trimming all of the images to save space.

Above is one of the guns before trimming. As you can see there's a lot of wasted space above and left.  The real benefit to keeping it like this is that it allows me to place the image using just one x,y coordinate.  For all the guns in the first screenshot, I have to use Aseprite to get the updated coordinates which I'll then have to update in the code so they draw correctly. Hopefully I'll be able to draw more than one battleship to the screen without losing fps. The last build of Scrapship could handle one battleship but lagged with the addition of any other enemies.

I'll see how the "trimmed" battleships work, but if I deem it impractical then I'll revert to my original files (in the ORIG folder) and go with that.

- Also updated my version of Aseprite to 1.3.2. You can update Aseprite by going to their website.

- You can get spend a lot of time trying to make an explosion in Embergen -- especially if you're doing it from scratch. But a quick and effective workaround I've found is this: Take one of the presets and view the explosion from top-down instead of making an animation of the default camera angle. Then change some of the values to your needs.  This allowed me to make the cruiser explosion in less than an hour.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Those who keep learning will keep rising in life." -- Charlie Munger

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!