8 minute read

1/28/2011 6:00 PM

We just finished hearing the keynote given by Keita Takahashi.  Just like his games…it was different.  Seems like a guy that would be interesting to hang out with.  We’re now forming our groups.  The theme this year is “Extinction”.  Awesome, finally something simple and concrete.

1/28/2011 7:00 PM

Groups have formed, I joined the group making a global control game.  Where you adjust the temperature, cloud cover…etc to control evolution and attempt to prevent extinction on the planet.

1/28/2011 9:00 PM

We’re back from dinner.  Mmm Mellow Mushroom.  My cold is getting worse, I will probably leave early.  We’re batting ideas around, very difficult to make this game concept fun.  Lots of variables.  I fear this game is becoming Sim Earth, but like a version built in 48 hours and even more pointless.

1/28/2011 10:00 PM

Still going over the game idea, Mike is checking in our initial solution to work with.  The game idea is feeling less fun by the minute.

1/28/2011 10:30 PM

I’m heading home.  I tell everyone to find the nugget of fun or abandon the idea.  I’ll login from home and work on some GUI stuff, this game feels very GUI heavy for all the knobs and sliders you can play with to control things.

1/28/2011 11:30 PM

I fall asleep on the couch.  Thanks NyQuil.

1/29/2011 12:03 AM

I have received an email from Mike:

We are making a totally different game.

Nonsensical dodo slayer

You fire anvils, fireballs, and piranhas at a giant flock of dodos, etc…

We’ve actually come up with a solid plan, tho it doesn’t sound like it.

1/29/2011 9:00 AM

I’m awake.

1/29/2011 10:00 AM

Alright ready to go, need to go by the store and get some DayQuil and various other supplies to keep me awake and coding.

1/29/2011 11:00 AM

I’ve arrived to the Jam Site, need to get setup and understand the plan for the new game idea.

1/29/2011 11:01 AM

Ok, the idea is to make a nonsensical dodo slayer.  Appears the email was quite accurate.

1/29/2011 12:45 AM

There is a title screen and some random dodo things that move around.

1/29/2011 2:30 PM

We’re finally off and going, tummies full of food.  The art is looking pretty awesome.  Like a cross between Elmo and a dodo.

1/29/2011 3:15 PM

I’m working on the firing system.  Woo!  Simple target aiming system for now.  Will revise for maximum fun as we go.

1/29/2011 3:56 PM

I’m firing attractors into the level.

1/29/2011 4:16 PM

I love DayQuil.  I’m losing my voice.  Lame.

1/29/2011 4:37 PM

We’re getting the first drops of actual art into the game.  Those poor dodos have no idea what’s about to happen to them.

1/29/2011 5:04 PM

I’m working on the animation system, going to make the animation playback scale so that when the dodos get scared their animation rate doubles or triples.  Should provide a lot of humor.  The buy screen is in, so that people can purchase items to be used.  The background appears to have odd gamma rendering artifacts.

1/29/2011 6:18 PM

Spirits are high, the comedic humor of the art is good.  We’re working on making the poor dodos explode.  Anvils and ice-cream make an appearance, but don’t do anything yet.  We found out the DCC tool the artist was using to render the background was encoding source gamma information into the image, but XNA doesn’t respect that information.  Gamma fixed.

1/29/2011 6:34 PM

Playing with XACT 3.  This tool needs some usability love…

1/29/2011 6:49 PM

The end is nigh.  Abandon all hope all dodos that enter here.

1/29/2011 7:39 PM

I’ve got the sounds in for the splat, and the and the birds, the sounds truly bring the visceral dodo destruction to life.  The volume of the flock actually varies over time based on the number of the dodos left.  We need epic music now.

1/29/2011 7:40 PM

I love DayQuil.  My voice is almost completely gone though.

1/29/2011 7:45 PM

Chris has the blood spray working, it looks awesome.  Things are coming together.

1/29/2011 7:56 PM

Looks like we have 2 levels, with a 3rd one on the way.  I’ve suggested Antarctica with the aura borealis…that seems to have caught on.  Should be interesting.  Getting Hungry.

1/29/2011 8:21 PM

Stopped to have a brainstorming session to get people to determine the priority of items left, created a list of things to do.  We’ve still got a fair amount of work to do.  But the game should be very comical and pretty.

1/29/2011 9:12 PM

Alex has added a simple HUD.  I’m getting Hungrier.  Voting on food locations is not working.

1/29/2011 11:23 PM

Cold is fighting back.  Going home soon.

1/29/2011 11:50 PM

Still here but in a daze from the cold.

1/30/2011 12:22 AM

I’ve added the level transition logic.  Going home.

1/30/2011 3:00 AM

Sleep.

1/30/2011 8:00 AM

Awake.

1/30/2011 9:30 AM

I’m back at the jam site.  I appear to be the first one here and awake.  Someone is sleeping in the room.  Will go find somewhere else to work until they wakeup.

1/30/2011 10:30 AM

I’ve decided to change the HUD.  Changing the button layout to be spatially map-able to the Xbox 360 controller.  Fixing some sound issues.

1/30/2011 11:20 AM

Level transitions are working-ish.  Making the HUD text outlined so that it’s easier to read.  BURN DODO BURN!  Mike has integrated the burning animation into the mix.

1/30/2011 11:40 AM

Final targeting cursor is in.  The artists are working on some sweet store / score and credits screens.  We’re also getting some art of the dodo for the title screen.  The consensus is a dodo with an “The end is nigh” sign.

1/30/2011 12:00 PM

Looks like we’re working through lunch.

1/30/2011 1:00 PM

Chris added some alpha blended boxes behind the text to get them to stand out from the background in the store.  I fixed some bugs with the animation system that was causing flipbook wrapping when the animation playback was scaled.

1/30/2011 2:00 PM

The finishing touches are going into the game now.  Making sure everything resets properly after each new game.

1/30/2011 2:30 PM

Adding the music into the game.  Removing the background dodo sounds, just keeping the hurt dodo sounds.

1/30/2011 3:00 PM

Game Over.  Game looks pretty good and it’s fun.  Everyone did a wonderful job.