Past, Present, Future

Past

After some free time on a train, I've decided to write a set of updates on the progress of the (yet un-named) team that I belong to, what I've done in the past, what we've done recently and what we've got planned for the future.

After Herriman, way back last year I started writing an admittedly overly complex engine and editor based around a component system, or GOCs (game object components). I'll post a bit more about this system and my experiences soon.

Sometime after trying to prototype a game with this system and it proving to be unfruitful, me and Gaz had came up with another idea. We are both big fans of 2D platformers, and Gaz is primarily a 2D artist and animator. We had the idea to cross the character, story of a traditional platformer with the speed of a top down shooter, as I never seen it done before. This evolved into an acrobatic lead protagonist with a whole backstory (who shall remain un-named for now). We came up with a prototype, which demonstrated (very roughly), the lead character, running and sliding around, climbing and grabbing platformers and shooting in directions that was reminiscent of Earthworm Jim.

By this time I had landed myself a job after the Herriman project and was working full time, as was Gaz (as well as through the Herriman Project). The general direction we were going, was very demanding on both of us. One of the biggest problems, was that, unlike Earthworm Jim, we wanted the player to be able to shoot in the air, while climbing and grabbing at all all times. The requirement for fluid movement was at odds with this requirement, so we put this project on hold for a while. I would very much like to re-visit this idea, perhaps with a simpler character and a prototype in the future, hopefully when we finish with the current project (more about this later). This also inspired us to think about a game that was more focused on puzzling and acrobatic platforming rather than shooting action ... but this is also an idea to concentrate on for the future.