Kuji-in: "Rin".

So I came up with a creative solution to an issue I was having.

I originally adopted a % health system with X amount of lives. I changed it to a % defense with X amount of health system and only 1 life.

That probably didn't make any sense to anyone besides myself.

The way Daisuke's health/life system works, is that you can take a certain amount of preliminary damage before losing a chunk of your health bar. This allows different types of attacks to effect Daisuke in different ways. For instance, if you get hit by one arrow, you'll lose a certain % of your defense, but you may not lose any life. On the other hand, if you get hit by a flaming arrow, it will do more damage to your defense. If you get a flurry of sword swings, your defense will be drained so quickly that you will probably lose one or two chunks of your health bar.

So to put it more simply, you start off with about 5 chunks of life, and 100% defense. Once your defense is drained to 0% you will lose 1 chunk of life from your life bar, and then you will go back to 100% for the next chunk of life.

Different types of attacks will drain your defense at different speeds.

The big problem with this is that because of the way that the hitboxes work, you will sustain some damage to your defense when you strike an enemy, even if you don't get hit.

I could go back and do some major work to the way the hitboxes work, but I came up with an interesting and creative way to work with this system.

OK! This is the way that Daisuke has been working, and I've had mixed feelings about it for a while, but I found something to make it a little more fun.

If your defense is less than 100%, you can hit space while standing still to perform the first Kuji-in which is "Rin" for strength. This will quickly allow you to gain back your defense back to 100%. You won't however gain back any health, so once that is gone, "Rin" won't help you get it back. Also, you must be standing still and not performing any other actions to use "Rin".

Right now, "Rin" does not cost any Genki, and I'm not sure whether or not I'll make it cost any .. I guess I just want to get some impressions before I make any decisions like that, maybe I'll try a few things out first.

Took some damage:

Use "Rin":


Defense is back full again:

Also, if anyone has any creative ideas for levels, characters, skills or anything else that would be cool in the game, let me know.

Daisuke Update.

This is an update of the functional gameplay aspects of Daisuke. This video highlights some of the changes I've made from previous builds including size, and gravity. There is a TON of other functions I want to add to the game, but they will take more time because there are a lot of bugs I need to work out.



This video is also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVOivyzKb6U

Beta Overhaul & Standing Position.

OK, so after a lot of thought, I realized that before I switch media, or jump onto a new platform, I should at least finish what I started. So I went back and made the decision to overhaul the Beta Engine using aspects of Alpha.

So I spent the morning doing that, and I am VERY satisfied of how it came out. The code is much less messy, and the sprites are more organized. It will be much easier to work with from hereon out.

I also tweaked the gravity to make it a bit less floaty, and shrunk Daisuke down to 75%.

There is still a lot I need to do, but I am happy with the way it is developing.

I do need opinions on one matter however.

I need opinions on Daisuke's standing position.

Should Daisuke be holding his sword, or should it be on his back?

Holding:


On his back:


Right now I'm leaning toward moving the sword to the back .. but that would mean I would have to redraw several sprites. Opinions?

Here is a side by side:

Frustration with AS3.

So, it turns out that neither of my engines are going to work in the future, because they're not written in Actionscript 3. AS3, is the future of flash, and is a more compatible scripting language that will be able to export directly to other media (such as the iPhone) in the future. This means several things, none of them favorable to me. What this means to me is that, I'll have to scrap all my coding and learn AS3 from scratch if I want to make Daisuke worthwhile.

There are other alternatives though.

I could try and find someone who already knows AS3 and is willing to help me make this project.

OR

I could BUY a game engine.

Here are the problems. First, I don't know anyone who programs in AS3. I don't even know anyone who programs AS 1 or 2! So I don't know where I would find someone who would work for free.

The problem with buying a game engine is that .. I'm broke. Licensing a game engine to develop my own game from what I've heard would cost around $1500 depending on what it is used for, which is money I just don't have right now. And even if I did license an engine, I would benefit from having an AS3 programmer, so as to customize it and give Daisuke the depth I've imagined.

Oh, there is also another problem. I'll have to BUY the new version of flash when it comes out, which is probably another $700 that I just don't have.

So a list of things I would need are .. ~ $1500 for the engine, ~$700 for Flash CS5 and then I still need to either, LEARN AS3 from the ground up, find someone to help me program or HIRE someone help me program.

OH! And I still need to be able to pay rent.

Things are not looking so hot for me right now. I've got about $9 in my wallet.

I'm not really sure what to do at this point. Should I apply for a loan? Should I look for investors? Should I just buy a book on AS3? Should I just keep tinkering with with AS1&2 for now?

All that I know is that I need some help here.

Quick Size Comparison.

Beta Engine:

Alpha Engine:

As you can see, Daisuke is smaller in the revisited Alpha Engine. His size is 75% when compared to the Beta engine. This was a much easier task to accomplish by switching engines, rather than resizing him frame by frame in the Beta engine. Even if I had tried to resize him, there would have been a good chance that he would have been very buggy, and would have had some major hit-test issues.

Switching Back.

When I initially started making this game (way back at the beginning of this year), I had learned how to make a rather code heavy (at least for someone barely learning actionscript) game engine, which I will refer to as the "Alpha Engine". The Alpha Engine did not provide platforms or side scrolling, as well as several other elements I desired for my game. So after I had reached the point where my scripting knowledge was maxed out, I moved on.

I learned how to make a side scrolling, platform hopping world for Daisuke to run around in. This newer engine, which I will refer to as the "Beta Engine" was VERY easy to make, VERY user friendly, and versatile enough for me to throw in some cool stuff. This is the engine you see in the 1st Daisuke teaser trailer.

I eventually hit a coding brick wall, and realized that I didn't like how several elements of the Beta Engine worked, so I stopped working on the game for a while.

I then took a look back at the Alpha Engine I started the game with, and realized that I have gained a significant amount of knowledge about actionscript in my time working with not just the Beta Engine, but a few others as well. My understanding of in game graphics has improved as well.

So today, I have reopened the initial Daisuke Alpha game engine, but this time with significantly more tools on my belt. Although it will take A LOT of time and energy to get the Alpha Engine to the point where I would want it to be, I think I have a better chance at this task, than I would if I just kept trying to work at the Beta Engine. I think that the Beta Engine just has way too many issues for me to try to work around, even though I had a lot of fun customizing and working on it. The basic mechanics of the Beta Engine were just not what I was looking for. Also, it had become a huge mess of code, and had become a pain to work with.

In just today, I have been able to get the Alpha Engine LOOKING much better than either had before. I have been able to fix the choppyness that was an issue in the Alpha Engine before, but I have done so without the floatyness of the Beta Engine, which means I have reached a pretty happy medium for the time being. I have also been able to successfully shrink down the characters to 75%, which is something that would not be easy to do in the Beta Engine. Combined with the 700 x 500 size I switched to before, there is plenty of space on the screen for all kinds of cool stuff.



It will take a while before I get this game working the way I want it to, but at least now I think I am more prepared to handle it. Hopefully this doesn't just turn out to be a big setback.