Polishing Phase, or Why I Decided to Add a Lamp to LRRS
With the release date on the horizon and a playtest build about to be released (check my Discord for that!), now comes the phase of development where I iron out bugs and solve little problems which could cripple my game. As the old programmer’s proverb goes...
10 little bugs in the code
10 little bugs
Take one out, patch it around
4,297,345,746,235 bugs in the code
It’s also during this time which I add several small features to improve quality of life and make the experience more immersive. Initially, I was going to add a vending machine in which you could buy a drink (which would only be good for throwing), but I recently had a thought to myself: “What if you got little trophies from defeating bosses?”
And thus, the lamp was born! This lamp will appear in your little corner of the HQ once you defeat the Megabeamer Mk. I, the boss of Level 2. I basically just took part of the sprite and used that. Additionally, you can cycle its color from yellow to green to blue to red and back again! It even stays on your save file! So customizable!
So... why the lamp?
Well, the Rebel Coalition HQ is the central hub of the game, so I wanted the player to have a place they could personally connect to. I felt like making the corner with the protagonist’s enemy logs be this place would help the player feel a special connection to it, just like him. In addition to enemy logs, the occasional boss “trophy” would be a landmark of progress and the player’s achievement. This and the fact that the player can can permanently change the color gives them a sense of agency over this corner, which lends well to creating a bond with the location. Customization in games gives the player a form of expression.
As for the vending machine? Out of order... for now. Maybe closer to release.
Oh yeah, that Discord server? Here it is: https://discord.gg/AWuawfm
Hey, so this is my first post to the Tumblr blog! Hello, Tumblr!
Anyway, I mainly intend for this place to be a massive dump for all of the nerdier aspects of the game’s development I don’t want to pester my friends with.
In this first post, I’ll talk about the basic dynamic music system. By default, the game gets three music channels and one sound effects channel:
The first music emitter is used mostly for the basic music that plays in the background. The next two emitters are where the magic happens. These emitters get muted initially, but music can still be played - and synced with the main music - on them. By fading the emitters in and out (like in this simple toggle object), we can make each version of the track fade in and out seamlessly:
In the future, I might also be able to have three or more “layers” over the original song which can be switched when necessary. As for the current dynamic tracks, however, I simply take the original track and add some extra bits to it in FL Studio. Due to my lack of project files for many of the current songs, my options are a bit limited, but adding only a few basic layers can still retain the base components of the track.
Here is an example of this system at work:
Anyway, that’s all for this post. I literally made this spontaneously to show someone how it works, but I hope you found it slightly intriguing. I’ll definitely post more about this project in the future. I’m really enjoying this whole Tumblr thing.
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