Secret-ish Side Project (WIP) Fista Productions

[5kids2feed]

I’m baaaaaAaaack.

Been putting things together for this side project since the first week of February.

It’s kind of a secret at the moment except for the people involved in working on it.

No time frame on this bad boy. Letting it happen and trying not to rush. But I know how I get once I’m motivated.

If I have anything to add, I’ll put it in this topic…. Things are lookin’ and soundin’ pretty nifty so far.

Not sure if I’m doing a physical release this time. They’re sort a pain. Most definitely releasing the rom for free as always and almost positive I’m making a commercial for the game.

Worked on the title screen and organizing the object/monster sheets today. Interested to see how the mechanics of the game work out.

Might need game testers in the future. We shall see.

Ominous I know lol. The game will be out there and different for sure like my previous two games. Get ready!

 

[dale_coop]

Awseome! Can't wait!

 

[5kids2feed]

Thanks, Dale! I’ll try not to bug you too much with questions this time

 

[kevin81]

Awesome! I'm welcoming this project with open arms

 

[5kids2feed]

Ha! In one of those open arms are you holding a composer’s baton?

 

[5kids2feed]

Little victories today and I’m happy about that.

Hud and object/monster placement. It’s starting to get exciting. Trying to get 1 of every screen sorted so I can get most of the programming in.

Taking my time and not overwhelming myself

 

[5kids2feed]

Every day I’m accomplishing something for the game. Big or small. It’s a nice pace. Exactly what I was looking for. Once the basics are in gotta work on background sprite sheets.

 

[5kids2feed]

Much, much programming and tinkering with the main game mechanics the last two days. I feel accomplished. Last bank isn’t full yet surprisingly. I know it’s only a matter of time until I have to implement bank switching. Once I get the main game mechanics programmed fully.. that’s pretty much 75% of the programming done thankfully… I believe.. until I decide I want to add more of course

 

[Rodnade]

I like the approach on this!
My mind went a million miles an hour on what type of game it could be.
There just wasn't enough clues in what you've mentioned so far.
Good luck man!

 

[5kids2feed]

Thanks @Rodnade! First game I made had a WIP page, second game I made was a complete secret and didn't have a WIP page.. and this time around i'm going for the secretive WIP just to let people know that I'm working on something. Also to keep me motivated. I'll tell you that it's definitely different from my first two games.. but something you'd most likely expect from Fista lol. I gotta try your new Shark game once I get a free second. My Carpet Shark and your Shark should be best friends!



Today's Update!

Speak of the devil... My last bank became full almost first thing this morning haha. I tried to do THIS method which could clear up 15% of space, but for some reason it didn't do anything. I didn't get any errors.. but it also didn't do anything. Hmm, gotta look into it.

That's okay though. I've become a bank switching master since my last two games. Not really.. I switch banks until something breaks.. then don't switch banks with that problem anymore.

Trying my best to keep my code clean too. It's been so messy the last two games, that it's hard to keep track sometimes. Trying to label things and put little notes everywhere.

I'm using WAY more User Variables than before too. They're so dang useful.

All in all, everything is working out! If I have a problem, it's never too terrible and I seem to fix it (I say that now, but wait until tomorrow). Still working on main game mechanics. Almost done with them! Then it's on the special screen mechanics, which should be much simpler.

 

[Rodnade]

That's awesome!
The messy part cracked me up because my Shark game was exactly that!
The most important thing is to never give up and never fear failure or harsh criticism because it allows us to learn from it.
I look forward to this secret project that has me curious .

 

[SciNEStist]

to paraphrase Immortan Joe: Do not become addicted to user variables, it will take hold of you and you will resent its absence.

 

[5kids2feed]

@Rodnade Hahah. I think we’re all guilty of messy coding at some points! I try to keep it clean, but sometimes make it messy until it works Agreed! I’m not worried about harsh criticism. I mostly make games I wanna see and if other people like it, it’s a bonus. I look forward to revealing it to you guys sometime soon!

@SciNEStist LOL perfect words to live by. They have for sure taken ahold of me and there is no escape. But that’s ok.. I like it.

 

[Rodnade]

Hell yeah man!
Well... be safe, be well and take care of those 5kids2feed!

 

[5kids2feed]

@Rodnade Maaaaaaan. I got five kids to feeeeeed!

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Dear Game Developer Diary,

Today was a bit of a back and forth struggle!

Had a hard time trying to hide something on screen without destroying it. I need it in the order that it is, but every action state is taken up for the object. I will figure it out. A brain teaser at the moment. Maybe I can swap the palette? Took up about half my day tinkering with this.

Then I moved on to testing different levels of things with the User Variables which worked out swimmingly. Things get more difficult in later levels so it'll be easier if you find a way to "level up."

And the final struggle was trying to implement different screen flags for the timer. No matter how I switch it around, I can't do different screen flags in doHandleTimer. I’m sure it has to do something with how I have things arranged in the script. Another brain teaser. I will figure it out or bug Dale for the 1,638,767th time.

 

[5kids2feed]

Oh my lanta... it took 3 hours today of bugging Dale.. but he figured out my 2nd issue. It ultimately came down to my screen flags being REVERSED in my code. i'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sooooooooooooooo dummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmb. I didn't know my screen flags were reversed so I was completely changing the code over and over in the doHandleTimer while losing my sanity each time it didn't work. Thank you again, Dale, and sorry for always being a pain in your side. Everything else I will be able to figure out as it should be much more basic.

Phew. Going to spend the rest of the day working on my first issue of hiding a certain object for a certain amount of time. This shouldn't be as difficult. Just have to find a work around because it needs to stay in the order it's at. Off to fry my brain some more!

 

[5kids2feed]

I'm so close to fixing my one issue. I know i'll get there. It's a split second off from where I want it to be. That's ok. I left it as is for now and continued on.

Placeholders, placeholders everywhere! That's what today was about. More programming and getting different screens setup. Every day the project keeps moving forward. I'm so close to having all of the games mechanics done.. then I can apply sprites to additional stages and enemies,

 

[5kids2feed]

Created a new mode in my game today and it worked out surprisingly well! Woohoo!

This morning consisted of lots of coding.. then something breaking.. me fixing.. repeat.

My last bank is down to the wire again. 0%!!!! I bank switched alllllllll of my inputs. Anybody have any other ideas how to free up space in the last bank?

I'm at the point where my game mechanics are about 90% done. They''ll need tweaking as I progress forward, but now comes the daunting process of trying to make my game look pretty where all the ugly placeholders are. Then I can bring in all of the variants of monsters and levels.

There’s a small glitch in my main game mechanics that doesn’t ruin anything because it still works….Just something silly…….. But… I think I just realized what the problem was as I’m typing this. Gotta test out my theory. More on this later.

Foward motion daily. Until next update!

EDIT: Got doLoadScreen moved to free up tons of space! What a game changer! Thanks AGAIN and as always, Dale!!

 

[5kids2feed]

I had every intention to start working on background tiles today, but once I ran my game something was off and it needed to be addressed. 2 hours later, everything is good now. Thankfully! Until the next speedbump.

Started drawing out on paper how I want the different levels to look. Always knew what I wanted them to be, but I needed a drawing to go off of. Will hopefully be turning these into pixels this week.

 

[5kids2feed]

Coding fixes and placement holders for new stages before I try to spruce them up. Short and sweet update!