Hey guys. I created another short crappy game recently that I figured I'd post about. The game is called "Mash Buttons Until Death" or MaBUD for short. You can check out the Games page for it if you are interested in getting more information on the game and why it is so crappy.

Here's your requisite screenshot

There is exciting stuff going on in Karma Riot as well, but I'll save that for another post. For now I'll just tease with this screenshot:

Ooh, new stage! Who's driving those other Karts?

Later

Over the past few months, I've been alluding to almost being at a major milestone for Karma Riot. Well, we finally hit that milestone: phase 1 complete! Actually, we hit it a month ago, but then I had to talk about Global Game Jam while it was fresh.

So, what does Phase 1 complete mean? It means that we have a working prototype that I'm ok with letting other people play. I know that's kind of a squishy definition, but using that as my milestone marker has a lot of practical advantages, and it's pretty much as far as I ever get with most of my hobby games. More specifically, here are the things we got done in phase 1:

• Established art constraints and style
• Kart driving simulation, including dynamic object collision response
• Prototype tracks
• Ranking and lap timing
• State machine including menus for choosing player count, speed, and track
• HUD
• Moves (fireball, side bump, and shield)
• Basic sound effects and music
• Kart trail rendering and physics
• A little polish and game balance here and there

But you don't have to take my word for it. One of the other nice things about being at phase 1 is that I put up a new entry on the Games page for it: Karma Riot. You cand download and play the prototype from there, however, you will need wired 360 controllers for each player.

Power slide to victory!

In case you didn't realize this, I'm working on this project with a friend - Paul Spychala. At the end of phase 1 we took a look at the game and decided that it was decent enough to go to phase 2. If/when we get to the end of phase 2, it should be at a point where we can consider releasing it on Xbox Indie Games. To close things off, here are a list of development stats:

• Phase 1 calendar time: 19 weeks
• Phase 1 initial task time estimates: 92 hours
• Phase 1 actual implementation time (combined): 119 hours
• Phase 1 average hours per week (combined): 6
• Phase 2 initial task time estimates: 126 hours
• Phase 2 projected completion calendar time: 20-26 weeks

I just ate the most delicious meal of Bojangles I've ever had. The biscuit was flaky and generously buttered, the supremes and bo rounds were hot out of the ... vat (or whatever they use to cook them; I don't really want to know), the honey mustard was a little tangier than usual, and I decided to indulge myself with a bo berry biscuit as well. It helped that I hadn't had anything to eat yet so I was extra hungry.

But that wasn't what made it the best meal. The thing that really drove it home was that this meal was my (self-appointed) reward for completing a game for the 2010 Global Game Jam. I made a game from scratch this weekend and having it done (on time, no less) is extremely gratifying; the food tastes better, the snow is prettier, and I don't mind George sitting on my keyboard and sneezing on the monitor as much.

Global Game Jam 2010

Just to get people up to speed; the Global Game Jam is a one-weekend event where people get together and try to build small games that conform to a surprise theme. Like last year, the Triangle area had a site hosted by Icarus Studios and organized by my friend Mike Lee.

This year, we had an exciting twist; the Triangle area got a pile of snow this weekend. This much (or any) snow is kind of unusual for the area so naturally everyone panicked and shut down. Unfortunately, the places to close included our site. This made development tricky because everyone kind of scattered and had to work remotely and Mike and I couldn't keep an eye on each team's progress and help out as necessary.

Nick Darnell's alternate Game Jam site

Last year, I actually got to the jam late and ended up bouncing between a few projects, which is why I don't have an entry in the games page for it. This year, I was concentrating on making sure that everyone else was discussing things, forming balanced groups, and had reasonable concepts so I didn't actually really participate in the concept proposal or team forming part. I decded to strike it out on my own and try to make a game solo.

Attention Convention

The theme this year was to make a game that centered around the concept of DECEPTION and must also contain at least one of these things: a PET, a NET, or a SET.

The concept that I came up with was a multiplayer game where one player was trying to help a group of underage dudes sneak past security into an adults-only convention and the other player tries to pick the dudes out of a crowd. The first player can purchase changes to their appearance that make them harder to pick out of the crowd, at the cost of risking not bringing enough money into the convention. The second player can net anyone he wants, but netting legal attendees makes the first player have to bring less money to the convention to win.

Net trap gameplay

Instead of going on and on about it here, I'll just point you to the newly added game page for it: Attention Convention. You might notice another recent addition to the games page. I will talk about this next time, muah ha ha!

On one closing note, if you don't recognize some of the words in the story, be careful about learning via unfiltered google image search.