Game Development - Saving, Loading, and New Mechanics!

It's been a while since my last update outside of the occasional screenshot on twitter, it's not that I haven't been working on the game, just that the game still LOOKS pretty much the same as it did previously.

Now that the majority of the game mechanics are coded and in the game, it's been a busy few weeks creating new assets, editing the old ones, and working out the final game mechanics.

The game has progressed a long way from the original silhouette-only look. Most background scenes now have spots of colour and light, and almost 100 new scenes about to go into the game, which will more than quadruple the variety of background scenes!

Some of the new and edited scenes about to go into the game.

Other than that, there's now a working UI, and a few performance tweaks. A save and load system is in progress, along with a character progression system! Busy, busy times indeed.

It turns out, after getting a working game... There is still waaaaaay more work to do.

Stay tuned!

Game Development Blog: Art, art, and more art.

After many hours spent experimenting with various styles, THIS will be the final look for the game.

You can't see so well in the GIF above (GIF can't quite distinguish between the shades used), but there are now 8 parallax layers (and climbing) in total, all of the procedurally generated, and I'm really happy with the look.

This is the first time I've shown the game with platforms and foreground layers.

The trickiest part for me was figuring out an efficient way to generate this many layers of parallax backgrounds procedurally, without taking up too much memory, as it is intended to eventually be played on mobile devices.

Also, have recently introduced some new gameplay mechanics which I really like, few code tweaks required but I think it will be worth it in the end. Very soon going to need a name. Characters is currently being animated, always lots to do!

Microsoft Surface Pro 2 - How's It Holding Up In 2015?

Made with the Surface Pro 2 & Sketchbook 7

I'm a huge technology addict, and as a designer the most exciting announcements are the new professional-level tablet devices, which allow you to get your creativity out while on the go.

2013 was for me the first time it was really feasible to really complete professional quality work on a tablet device, with the release of the Wacom Companion and the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, the key differences being Wacom's offering was Android based and Microsoft's a fully-fledged Windows 8 machine... I opted for the Surface Pro 2 and overall was really pleased.

You can read my Surface Pro 2 review here.

The problem for me as a tech-addict is the pace at which is gets out-dated, and now in 2015 the iPad Pro has (predictably) been announced, as well as the Surface Pro 3 being released in 2014 also, but how is the Surface Pro 2 holding up?

Great!

I'll admit that Apple's new offering and the Surface Pro 3 are prettier than the pretty bulky Surface Pro 2 model, but honestly the hardware is holding up just fine.

I frequently use the machine for normal browsing, occasional gaming, sketching, and finished work. The programs don't stutter, even live rotating large canvases works seamlessly though I naturally find myself just rotating the screen most of the time.

So if you're wanting to get a creative tablet but are put off by the prices, the Surface Pro 2 is now about half the price of a Surface Pro 3 and keeps getting cheaper, it's still a great buy and still a great piece of kit, that I'll still be using until a truly significant new feature is announced.