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AppGameKit/AppGameKit Studio Showcase / Blast Mutant Invaders in this AGK2 3D game that came out of an informal Game Jam

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GarBenjamin
AGK Developer
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Joined: 30th Nov 2016
Location: USA
Posted: 4th Jul 2017 19:25 Edited at: 4th Jul 2017 19:41
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Hey folks.

Over at the Unity forums (although I am now developing in AGK2 I still frequent the Unity forums simply because we have many good discussions and made several friends there over the years)... a few of us did an informal game jam.

I used AGK2. I used the game jam as an opportunity to learn the AppGameKit 3D api and also get familiar with working in AppGameKit Tier 2. Not the best things to do during a game jam but overall it worked out very well.

Originally I developed the game simultaneously in AppGameKit BASIC (T1) and C with the AppGameKit library (T2). I dropped Tier 2 about 50% of the way through. I saw T2 as basically being the same as T1 so was no sense in spending the time to develop two versions of the game. That time was better spent on the game itself.

I spent 18 hours on this game. Inspired by Space Invaders. I found working with the 3D api very straightforward. Of course, I am not doing anything fancy. I always strive to use the least advanced (i.e. least time consuming) things and then maximize them. So I am only using cubes.

You can play the game on my website here in your web browser (Firefox).

And here is an earlier video to give you an idea of what it is like. Be sure to watch it in HD.
The audio is terrible because I recorded it coming out of my laptop. I forgot how I used to record the audio internally. Will need to to figure that out again. ha ha


I finally figured it out! In case anyone else wonders how to embed a YouTube video... [video=youtube]YouTube VideoID[/video] where YouTube VideoID is that hash that appears after the watch? in the url. Such as hkqn2xAQHcA

And here is the full playlist of videos I made during development so you can see how it progressed.

I haven't put the game up on GameJolt yet. I probably will at some point.
I want to grab the AppGameKit logo when I do and make a splash screen that shows the logo and some text like...

Only App Game Kit 2 (AGK2) Makes This Possible

or maybe

App Game Kit 2 (AGK2) ... Now You're Developing With Power!

...(remember that ole NES slogan?)
TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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george++
AGK Tool Maker
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Posted: 5th Jul 2017 06:13
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Nice one GarBenjamin.
Quote: "I used the game jam as an opportunity to learn the AppGameKit 3D api"

I agree this is the best method for learning
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GarBenjamin
AGK Developer
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Posted: 5th Jul 2017 16:24
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Thanks @george++ I had a lot of fun making it although I wasted too much time on visual stuff especially considering I ended up throwing a lot of it out and going with the very basic simple colors. lol It was good though because I identified a flaw in my dev approach. Tweaking colors and such is very fun. It alao wastes a lot of time.

I made an example of what I *should* have done... I'll make a video for that lean version tonight and post it to show what I mean.
TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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SpecTre
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Posted: 5th Jul 2017 20:19
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Great work as usual GarBenjamin, always look forward to seeing your work.
Like the style too.
The Amiga and Amos were great!
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GarBenjamin
AGK Developer
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Posted: 6th Jul 2017 00:58
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@SpecTre Thanks. I'm glad you like it.
TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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GarBenjamin
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Posted: 6th Jul 2017 01:01 Edited at: 6th Jul 2017 01:02
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As with all projects there were "lessons learned" with this one.

This is an example of what I think I should have done with this project considering it was created to participate in an unofficial game jam (just a few guys making games).

Basically, I had spent far too much time messing around with visual stuff. Changing colors as well as digging through MANY audio files.

In this example I am using very basic visuals and all audio was created by me with a microphone and vocal sound FX.

Although it may seem "weird" this would have allowed me to focus more on the actual game. The core. And put more gameplay in it. In addition, using this kind of audio can be helpful in debugging because there is clear audio confirmation of what is happening.

In fact, a person could record audio for special debugging cases and when a specific case occurs play the audio. Sometimes it is not easy to rely solely on visual feedback and adding audio feedback can help.


TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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Chris Tate
DBPro Master
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Posted: 6th Jul 2017 12:31
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Quote: "In fact, a person could record audio for special debugging cases and when a specific case occurs play the audio. Sometimes it is not easy to rely solely on visual feedback and adding audio feedback can help."


I find this to be ever so true. Particle effects also provide debugging feedback.
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nz0
AGK Developer
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Location: Cheshire,UK
Posted: 7th Jul 2017 02:10
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That's actually quite nice. I can see a nice style in that work and if you made that really quick, then double points!

There could be an interesting variation on space invaders here!
My Robotron remake
My I,Robot remake WIP
My Defender remake
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GarBenjamin
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Posted: 7th Jul 2017 02:40
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Thanks @nz0 Fairly quick it ended up being almost 18 hours. It was my project to learn the 3D api (the little I used of it) as well as play around with developing in C++ and AGK. But I wasted more time on visual nonsense (color tweaks) that I ended up throwing out in the end. Still I am happy with it overall.

I'm glad you think there might be some potential to make something interesting out of it. That is my main interest. I think in all classic games there are so many ways to keep the core game loop while also enhancing the game (and I mean the gameplay not just visuals).
TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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nz0
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Posted: 7th Jul 2017 22:58
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That's generally what I am interested in as well.
I like to remake old classics with a modern twist.
My Robotron remake
My I,Robot remake WIP
My Defender remake
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CJB
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Posted: 14th Jul 2017 09:51
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We should arrange a UK AppGameKit jam. I get more done in a weekend of jamming than months of grabbing the odd hour here and there after work. Great work GarBenjamin - game looks really good!
Aaargh! Ducks!
Phone Tap!
Uzmadesign
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GarBenjamin
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Posted: 14th Jul 2017 21:37 Edited at: 15th Jul 2017 03:09
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@CJB Thanks. There are at least a couple weekly game jams already. And participating in such things is also a way to market App Game Kit. This is what happens with Unity and Gamemaker.

There are always people participating in game jams, releasing games on GameJolt etc in Unity, Gamemaker and the others. A person plays a tiny amateur game and thinks I bet I could do that!! And off they go to check out Unity or whatever. Same thing could be happening for AGK.

Check out the GameJolt Game Jams page and also the One Hour Game Jam.

Although 1 hour is an incredibly tiny amount of time I find it interesting because of that.

There is a nice grid schedule view on Game Jolt for the jams somewhere but not sure where off the top of my head.

EDIT: Ah nevermind... of course... it is not at GameJolt... it is at itch.io!

So here is another list of a lot of game jams at itch.io

Anyway... just a suggestion if someone here makes a jam consider setting it up at either GameJolt or itch.io so it can readily tap into the huge number of developers and gamers frequenting those sites.
TI/994a (BASIC) -> C64 (BASIC/PASCAL/ASM/Others) -> Amiga (AMOS/BLITZ/ASM/C/Gamesmith) -> DOS (C/C++/Allegro) -> Windows (C++/C#/Monkey X/GL Basic/Unity/Others)
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