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Animated Kittens

I’ve made a task list with subtasks for the further development of Kittenswarm. First task to do is the animation stuff. For that I’ve created a simple animation of the kitten sprite and two colour variations of the kittens:

 

 

 

These are scaled 4x. The original in-game sprite will be 16×16 pixels. Quite small, so I don’t need that precise animation and am quite happy with these. So have a look at my task list:

  • Animations
    • Animated sprite (done)
    • Different colours (done)
    • Implement loading spritesheets
    • Implement animation
    • Implement facing of kittens
    • Implement random coloured kittens

Still some subtasks to do to finish the animations task.

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Ruleofindiegames – Compilation

@dogbomb started this on twitter (#ruleofindiegames) and these rules are just true (with a wink) and important to save somewhere. So I decided to make this compilation. Will be updated in the future.

  1. you must talk about indiegames. (@dogbomb)
  2. you MUST talk about indiegames. Seriously (@dogbomb)
  3. The indie game takes as long as it needs (@elkoino)
  4. If you build it. They will come. Then they will build something similar.(@dogbomb)
  5. Everyone will try. But few will succeed (@elkoino)
  6. Keep going, just keep going (@elkoino)
  7. Making money isn’t a bad thing. (@dogbomb)
  8. Actually being able to eat and pay rent is usually seen as a positive. (@lefishy)
  9. It doesn’t HAVE to be on Steam/Desura/XBLIG/Etc to be successful… it does however, need YOU. (@dogbomb)
  10. Make games you want to play. There will be others like you. (@dogbomb)
  11. Make games not engines (@elcoino)
  12. You want this to be your job? Treat it like a job! Set times to work and stick to it. (@dogbomb)
  13. The best way to learn the skillset is to attend competitions and game jams. Do it (@elcoino)
  14. Don’t try to copy success stories, make your own (@elcoino)
  15. OBEY THE TENTH RULE!!! And don’t spend your day on tweeter, it helps =] (@jiem_)
  16. Do collaborate. There is always awesome people around who want to do awesome things (@elcoino)
  17. People WILL kick you in the teeth and scar your hard work. Keep smiling. Missing teeth and scars are cool. (@dogbomb)
  18. There is ALWAYS something to learn. Never close your eyes, your ears or your mind. (@dogbomb)
  19. Developing indie games is 90% hard work. Polish is the other 90% (@elcoino)
  20. Play less games for inspiration. Go outside. Visit art galleries. Watch movies. Talk to people. Seek original. (@dogbomb)
  21. Don’t be afraid of failure. A failed attempt is better than no attempt at all – and you will overcome it by learning. (@dogbomb)
  22. – missing –
  23. When looking for honest feedback on your game, look outside of your sycophantic friends and family circle. They suck. (@dogbomb)
  24. If you blame your tools then YOU are the tool. If your tools are bad: change tools, you tool! (@dogbomb)
  25. Yes, you ARE awesome and know everything there is to know about everything… but you’re still allowed to ask for help (@dogbomb)
  26. Go to global game jam if you can. Meet people, collaborate, make awesome games, learn a ton (@elcoino)

(Additional important rule: 0.  not to listen to gits trying to tell you what the rules are – @DarkAcreJack)

More most probably to come…

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Devlog is open – Kittenswarm

My plan for the next weeks/month is to expand my Ludum Dare 22 warmup game “Kittenswarm”. My main competition entry was rated as quite innovative but not that fun to play, so I decided to do a post-compo version of the warmup game instead. Personally I see a lot more potential in the swarm guiding puzzle concept of this game. So here is what at least to add:

Guide the kittens to the goal by placing fish
  • Visuals like animation, nicer sprites
  • Some status information how many kittens are alive and how many need to survive a level
  • Multiple levels / level editor
  • Bitmap font
  • Sound

So with this blog I will post development updates and other gaming stuff, especially Indie related.