Level 2’s redesign is almost complete. Thought you might like to have a look at it. Check it out full-screened in high quality!

The new level code allows me to create MUCH longer levels. They’re friggin’ huge now! You can see for yourself in the following image.

The top level is the new level 3 stage 1, the bottom is the old. As you can see, the new design is 4 times longer, with no serious hit to the CPU. I’m really excited to see how the new level redesigns go. Level 2 still needs some soft shadowing, as well as animated props and checkpoint events, but it’s coming along.

So you can see why it’s been a while since y’all saw an update. There are other reasons, some of which I’m not too fond of. On the lighter side, Southern California has been suffering through a bit of a heat wave lately, and my non-air-conditioned office must have cardboard for insulation because it gets downright miserable from 2 PM – 10 PM. I also helped a friend with another game project which I hope you’ll get to see soon. But, on a more serious note, I’m turning 30 in a couple of weeks, and for some reason I’m not taking it very well. It’s been hard to keep focus and stay motivated, but I do what I can. I should be back on track now. Progress like this is always inspirational.

P.S. I HATE Flash CS4. If I didn’t need native support for Flash 10, I would have never upgraded. The bones tool is a useless joke, my sessions crash repeatedly, despite the fact that I fixed a common corrupted font problem. Some filter effects turn off completely when you zoom in to certain levels. The deco tool is another useless toy. And the UI has so many glitches and bugs it’s nothing short of aggravating. And to top it all off, there is STILL a laundry list of bugs carried over from previous versions of Flash that they STILL HAVEN’T FIXED! Worst… upgrade… EVAR!

The redesign is going great! The new code that loads a level is all in place, in Flash 10, and running quite efficiently. I can load up animated background and foreground props like the water fall animation and rising dust in the sun beams. Check out the following for a peek at the new level 1 training stage. Man it feels good when hard work pays off.

Now on to block out the new artwork for the remaining levels. Wish me luck.

Do me a favor, would you? I have the latest version of IE and the latest Flash 10 plugin, and for some reason it tells me that running the movie from the link above only takes 1% of the CPU. That’s gotta be bullshit. Tell me what kind of computer you have. Click the link, hit control+alt+delete. Go to the task manager. Go to the performance tab, and tell me at what percent CPU usage the line bounces around. Make sure you don’t have any other windows or tabs open, please.

My goodness, a long time has passed since the last post! Well, it’s sorta expected. A lot has been going on in the real world. School just started Fall Quarter, which means I now have a life again. This time around it includes classes in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Graphics (OpenGL programming). I guarantee that A* will find it’s way into my future games from now on. What an awesome little path-finding algorithm!

I haven’t given up on Conjurer! It’s merely second to my schoolwork now. As you can see, a LOT has happened! Here’s a video of the new Goblin enemy, as well as a demo of checkpoints!

Goblins chase the hero around trying to whack him with their little spears. The exciting part is that they can use ladders to chase after the hero! It needs a little refining. Right now the little dudes will have a seizure if the hero is behind a wall while they decide to climb, but I’ll work it out.

Checkpoints are the next big addition. They limit the hero to certain areas until a goal is achieved, like killing all enemies on screen. It also limits the camera to a specific area as well, which is exactly what I needed before I could begin working on the bosses. Bosses are pretty big, so getting both the hero and the boss to fit on screen at once is important.

As an added bonus, I’ve completed the magic spell casting animations for the hero, as well as their subsequent particles. There will be two degrees of magic spells cast in Conjurer: standard and charged. These are just the standard casts. Charged casts will be a little more devastating. I think I’ll keep those secret so y’all have somewhat of a surprise when the game is released.

Let me know what you think!

NOTE: Also, do me a favor would you. Try digging this article. I’m kinda interested in seeing how much of a draw this gets. You’ll find the digg icon at the bottom of this post. Thank you very much!

Ice Tarantula enemies have been implemented. You’ll see these little buggers in the cold tombs of level 2, and maybe in a few spots on level 4. They wait on the ceiling until you pass under them, then lower themselves down by a strand of silk and scurry after you. Eek!

You know what the bad part is about animating spiders? 8 legs!!! Argh! So much to keep track of!

In other news, I’ve moved and school is back in session. Hence the longer wait for original content on this blog ( Sorry about that… >_< ). The new place is wonderfully quiet. Nice and small, just the way I like it. I have my desk situated in a way that's very Feng Shui-ish, in that it feels more inspiring to work, and at the same time I have the Xbox wired for immediate business in case my good friend Andy decides it’s a fine time to annoy 11-year-old n00bs on Halo 3.

We were without bowls for a while, and as many of you know I’m a cereal fanatic. But I’ll be damned before something as trite as lack of eating utensils keeps me down.

Behold! Cereal Stein!

Here’s looking forward to another disappointing quarter at college. GOD I can’t wait to graduate.

Melee attacks, enemy bats and item drops such as extra health and mana have been implemented! What an exciting update! This may seem minor, but the functionality behind building an enemy template, implementing “self aware” attack boxes and hit boxes, and figuring out the logic behind the hero’s attack capabilities has been a bit tricky. Plus, there was the functionality behind adding the impact effects of the weapons, or when a bat drops out of the air and lands of the ground.

Now it’s on to ground based enemies. The fun part will be to make sure they know how to use the appropriate ladders to keep from being marooned a floor above or below the hero.