It has been almost two years since I last dabbled with HTML5. It was still at its infancy at that time but it showed great potential. I was deciding on what platform to make my first game on and it was the promise of revolutionizing the world, especially the field of gaming, that pushed me towards HTML5. Plus, I’ve heard that Flash was already dying. Haha.
And so there began my discovery of HTML5.
Even though information on how to do things was scarce I still went with it. There were no libraries at that time that were usable or complete so I rolled with coding everything from the ground up using Canvas and Javascript. There were problems with getting audio playing and making your game work properly on different browsers was pure hell. In spite of all the problems, I still managed to create a decent clone of Tetris.
While I did learn a lot at that time, I decided to seek out other platforms. HTML5 just wasn’t ready yet. It had potential but I felt that I might get too drowned working on an engine when I could have been making a game.
Fast forward to the present day and a lot of stuff has changed. Thanks to this article, I have learned just how much HTML5 has grown. Not only is it working well on the different browsers, it can now also work on mobile devices. Tutorials, libraries, and development tools are now abundant. And developers are now earning from the medium. What a great two years it has been for HTML5!
If this continues, I might just go back and give HTML5 another try.
Although development for Detective Rizal is currently at a halt, it doesn’t mean that I have completely forgotten about it.
Over the past few weeks I have come up with a plan on what I will do with the project once I decide to resume development. Keep in mind that these are not set in stone yet and may change in the future:
First plan of action is that I will be porting the project from AGS to Flash so that people can access and play it online. This means no more downloading and installing. Just get the link and start playing.
I also have already talked to some people if whether they are interested in collaborating for the project. So this means I will be delegating the art and writing to them while I concentrate on programming. Because frankly, I suck at script writing.
I am also planning on looking for a sponsor who can fund the project to keep the team motivated because while I can run with an empty stomach, I don’t think others in the team can. This also means that the game will remain free forever.
Finally, we might add some new stuff to the project gameplay-wise. It’s a secret for now but I guarantee that the game will be more engaging and fun.
So that’s about it. I just thought I’d write about it to let fans know that the project is not dead yet.
For now, you guys can enjoy the demo by downloading it here. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them on the comments section below.
And just out of nowhere, I come out and announce a new game.
Movaball is a 2-player game thats can be described as a futuristic game of billiards. The objective is to change the color of all your opponent’s balls to your color by hitting them with your main ball (or puck), and avoiding hitting the red balls. The game features real-life physics and customizable play modes.
Movaball is a game I created in under 8 days as a challenge to myself. You see, my biggest problem is that I always take on game development projects that are too large of a scope that I rarely finish them. This game is the first out of the many projects I’m planning to do that will only take a week or two to finish. I’m hoping that once I already have a number of finished games under my belt, I will be ready to take on bigger ones.
To those who are not familiar: Ludum Dare is a rapid game development competition held online wherein participants need to create a game solo in 48 hours. The most recent one was held just this weekend and I am proud to say that I took part in it.
Coming in 6 hours late into the competition I still managed to dish out a fairly decent game which I titled “Rescue Support” which you can play online by clicking here.
OMG! A new game! Eeeek!
Rescue Support is a game wherein you take control of a rescue ship to rescue and help out your comrades. The unique twist I made with this game is that you take the role as support. You have no guns that you can fire but you do get to help out the team by dropping turrets to help with killing enemies, and health packs to regenerate health. The more people you rescue and bring back to your base, the more money you get for equipment and upgrades.
Please pardon the bugs, the art and lack of music in the game. As there was only a limited time for development, I decided to concentrate more on the gameplay. But even with that said there is still a lot of room for improvement which I am considering in the future.
So go ahead and play it here. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.
I would like to apologize to everyone who have been waiting for the release of Detective Rizal. Development of the game has been temporarily halted as I am currently bogged down with an important game development project as part of our school curriculum.
When will I plan to continue development? I can’t really say for sure. Since I’m already on my final year of college, I am focusing all my efforts to finish my studies. Maybe I’ll continue once I finish the project I’m working on right now. Or maybe when I find the time during a school break.
How much is left for full completion of the game? I’m already done with the game engine so the only thing left are a couple of art assets, the script, and the coding. So I’d say still around 35%-40% until completion.
What is this development project I’m currently working on? It’s for our Software Development class where we were asked to create our very own Facebook game. Development is expected to span for a few months. I’ll start posting more details on this blog soon for those who are interested to know more.
You take control of a boy who needs to go through a forest full of endangered species in order to get home. You remember your mother’s warning that you should never hurt or kill any animals as they may become extinct and respawn as ghosts and haunt you forever.
The game highly discourages killing. If you happen to kill an animal, they spawn as ghosts and try to exact revenge by preventing you from reaching your goal. The more ghosts there are, the harder the level becomes.
The levels are designed so that you will be forced to making decisions on whether to kill an animal or not. There are times when killing, makes things easier. There are times that it doesn’t. It’s up for you to decide what choice you make.
Here are some videos of me digitally inking my very first character concepts for the game Battle Witches. They won’t be in the final game though so I figured I’d give them their shine on the spotlight here on my blog.
While you’re at it, please subscribe to my Youtube channel! From there, I will be posting a lot of videos on the development of my games so be sure to check it out!
Yes, I am quite aware that I already have an ongoing project in the oven but this one is too special to pass up.
The TigSource Forums has just recently started their newest compo with the theme “Versus”. It’s a theme that has the community coming up with really cool ideas on having unique multiplayer games both offline and online. Since there are a lot of benefits in joinging compos (learn new stuff, exposure, collaboration) I decided to jump in on the bandwagon as well.
However, for this project, I won’t be doing it on my own. I have teamed up with another TigSource member, Aik, he’s gonna be doing the programming while I do the art. I was initially planning on doing it solo but since I lack the knowledge on how to do online connectable games, I decided that collaborating is the best option for me. Furthermore, this arrangement would still give me time to finish my own game.
So far everything is looking great. Aik and I have come up with a really unique game idea and we’re really excited to get started. We already have the basic concept down but we still need to flesh it out before we reveal more.
So stay tuned! I will be posting more about the project here along with Escape of the Minibots.
