Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Baby's First Blog

I wanted to post this because I have no idea what I'm doing, and I wanted to make that clear. Please understand that I tend to create things based on the first thought I have. It's never usually thought out. I am confident in my creations, however. I have yet to be disappointed in myself for something I have created, because it's just that. My creation. It's the representation of my imagination.

I'm currently working on several video games using the computer program RPG Maker MV, which is available for PC, at the very least. All of my creative juices are being funneled into that. I don't have much talent in dialogue. I can't make characters say funny or witty things, and I think it's because I approach everything in regards to dialogue and interactions between characters as though it were scripted. I'm not very good at getting them to say realistic things, because I feel like I struggle with finding what I want to say in my normal, every day Cortni world. It's difficult. I'm trying to find ways to expand upon what I have, but it's tricky.

I've completed three games so far, which I made as Christmas presents because I'm cheap and wanted to save my money. I ended up spending my money anyways, but that's a different matter.

The first game was for my really good friend Lindsay. All she told me when I asked her if she wanted anything in particular in her game, was dogs. So I created a game called A Really Good Dog, in which she plays as a dog. She has three levels to play (and I can always add more later, since she seems to really love it), and in each level, she has a specified number of trees. She has a timer for each level, and her goal is to pee on as many trees as she can before the timer runs out. The amount of trees she pees on by the end of the timer are turned into currency, called Doggo Coins. She can then spend 20 Doggo Coins to buy a picture of a dog in the game. Every picture costs 20 Doggo Coins, and there are 20 pictures. I was aiming for replayability, since she likes Mario Kart so much and likes to get better at things. It's really, really cute. She giggled the whole time she played it, and that made me happier than anything else could have in regards to this game.

The second game has a similar concept. Mitchel's game, called Ultra Epic Man, stars Ultra Epic Man himself. He has to run through three levels, also set to a timer, and collect computer chip pieces. The level changes themes every so often, and collecting the pieces becomes more difficult with each level. He can only play the first level until he has saved up enough computer chips for the second level, and same for the third. He can also unlock other characters to play as. Also a fun game, but his is cool, whereas Lindsay's is cute.

The third game, titled Mission Max-Possible, stars my good friend Max. His is unlike the other two games. So for some backstory, Max fell off of a boosted board, which is basically an electric long board that can go 25 MPH, a while back and had some pretty serious brain damage as a result. Of course, being the awesome friends we are, we hid the pieces of his board (the board itself, the controller, the charger) and didn't let him near it for months. However, we still tease him for it. He's recovered completely, in case you were wondering. But his game opens up with an opportunity to use the boosted "wagon" (because I didn't have an image for a boosted board and I have no artistic skill, so making one wasn't an option) or to safely descend the ladder into the next level. If he chooses the boosted board, it drops him into Hell, and he is chased by demons that will kill him if they touch him. It actually opens a combat sequence, but he is given no weapons or armor at this point, so he would definitely die. The ladder leads to the second room, as I've called them. He must find weapons and then find and defeat the seven deadly sins, and only upon doing so can he enter the last level. The last level I added simply to wrap up the game. I had no reason to add it otherwise, except that I needed more filler. I made it look epic, though, in hopes that the appearance would distract from the obvious lack of material there.

I'm currently working on three others.

Robert is my best friend, so I'm putting a lot more work into his than I did for the others. He plays a man who was stranded on the side of the road due to a car accident, stumbles through the woods until he reaches a mansion hidden away in the depths of the woods. He uncovers the horrid truth of the area (a man killed his wife and daughters because he's nuts), and has to flee for his life at the end of the game. He wanted it to be scary, but 1) nothing scares him, like ever, and 2) that's a little hard to do with 2D animation. So I looked around and found some lighting plug ins, so added bits of scripting that change the flow of the game. I have set it up so in certain rooms, he will only have the lighting of a small radius around his character. I wanted a flashlight effect, but I'll settle for this.

Kyle wanted a game where he has to kill the president in five levels, but five levels is a lot to work on, and considering I promised these games for Christmas, they are already very late. So three levels, he gets. His game is titled Secret Agent 555 because he chose the number 5. I haven't actually done much on his game, but I'll start as soon as I finish Robert's game.

Shawn's game is about him as a gangster, who is hunted down by his "business" partners and decides to get revenge. So far, I've only created the scene where he is attacked, and the area where he wakes up. I would post the title, but it is too explicit, in my opinion.

Anyways! I'll share pictures and more updates as I get further and further into the games. I noticed a video option above, so maybe I'll make a video of the game making process at some point, or record me playing it. Who knows!

Thanks for reading. It encourages me.

2 comments:

  1. I think it's so cool that you make individualized games for your friends. A truly unique and creative gift. :)

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  2. Thank you! It's my favorite way to spend my free time. Creating a game is almost as much fun as playing one. It's not the easiest process, though. I spend a lot of time watching YouTube tutorials for the various things I'm attempting to do.

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