A Sense of Progression: Keeping your game interesting

Keeping a strong sense of progression really adds to gameplay. If you're not careful, your game could become just one boring level after another. A sense of progression is a way of rewarding the player as he or she progresses along the game. You might think that you need to overhaul your game or add tons of code to have a nice set of rewards, but so isn't the case! I will present some simple, easy-to-implement rewards that add much depth to a game:

Different tile sets:
Levels that look and feel different from one another will keep them interesting. Even simple things such as changing the colors around or making one tile-set more worn-looking than another add to the feel of the level.

Spreading out enemies:
If you have a handful of enemies in your game, don't throw them all into the first level. Save some of them so they can be introduced in later levels. So, for example, level 2 won't just be known as just "level 2," but rather the level that introduces that scary monster!

Spreading out weapons:
Same as above, but with weapons.

Secret areas:
It's a nice feeling when you stumble upon a secret area in a level. Hide some in your levels and stuff them with goodies to reward your player when he or she finds it.

Story:
I'm not talking about adding complicated dialog or cut-scenes. Think about this example for instance: level 1 is a forest, level 2 is a castle, level 3 is a dungeon, level 4 is a lava cave where you fight the evil demon. That scenario has a type of storyline progression to it; each level leads to the next. It indirectly tells of a hero venturing through the forest to find the castle that leads to the evil demon that he or she must annihilate. Try to think of a scenario more original or creative.

Conclusion:
So you see, you can add much depth to your game already using what you already have. These are just some of the basic ways implemented in most games. Try to think up other ideas than what I presented here to make your levels more interesting and to add a sense of progression.

Site is Down

The Delta Code site has been down for a couple months. I am aware of it; I've just been lazy.

I'll see if I can get it back up and running sometime this month.

I don't wanna grow up!

Between work, school and life, I don't know how I manage to get anything done. Actually, I haven't really done much this year at all. That seems to be the trend for many people: they get older--grow up or whatever--and move on from their childish game projects. Not that I have been trying to, but it would be nice. I'm tired of starting so many things that I don't finish. Maybe I could move on to a hobby that's more social. But I still want to finish some of my projects I started years ago--it's hard to let go. So I continue on with my childish projects with hope that one day in the future they may be completed. Then I can put them to rest and feel proud of myself that I have what it takes to finish those type of projects.

Keeping up-to-date with the world

FreeBasic is fun, but I want a career in IT, so spending all my time working on FB projects doesn't help much in that area.

Still, I want to contribute to FreeBasic with my own projects, but every once in a while I need to do something with what the industry uses. I also need to keep my memory fresh with courses that I took in school on C#, Java, databases, etc. You easily forget that if you don't use it.

Thankfully Microsoft has free versions of Visual Studio, the Express editions, for hobbyists such as myself. I downloaded C# and C++ and plan to work on projects with those. I'm also interested in the game library they have for C++, The Game Creators GDK. I need to work up a portfolio, even if it's with simple demos, so that I can show that I have competency with these languages.

This doesn't mean Toadman 3 will be put on hold; I still have plenty of time for that. I just need to make the most out of my free time that isn't spent working on FreeBasic projects. Hopefully I don't burn out. Like how I stated in my previous article, Code Beyond Your Comfort Zone, I just need to spend a little time every once in a while to learn something new.

Should be fun.

First Screenshots of Toadman 3 (in development)!

First screenshot of Toadman 3 very early in development. I decided heck to it with my sprite editor project and am using PixelPlus 256 for the graphics at the moment. The graphics are already turning out better than expected. You should see him hop; that's the coolest part. Unfortunately you'll have to wait until a demo comes out. For now I'll just tease you with screenshots.



Nothing too much to show off for now. These screenshots were taken on the 11th (4 days ago) ; the game has been worked on since then. I decided to take some early screenshots so I can look back on the development of the game. I'll post more screenshots in the future as the game progresses.

Site Changes

I did quite a bit of work on the site this weekend. I changed the look and moved some things around. Overall, I think it looks much better.

I plan to update the site 2-3 times per month. An update will be an article, tutorial, or game review. I want new, fresh content on the site. I don't like to see all those old articles and reviews decaying the site.

Updates also include articles that are posted to the blog (postings that are tagged 'article'). I usually post them around the same time. Maybe I'll stop posting articles here as you can get to them on the site.

So we'll see how that goes.

Code beyond your comfort zone

When is the last time you learned something new about programming? Was it a day, week or month ago? Has it been longer than that? If it has been longer than a month, then make yourself a goal to learn at least one new thing before the end of next month.

Take advantage of your time. Before you know it, a year may pass and you'll be no wiser if you didn't set aside any time to learn. You can't get that time back.

You don't have to set aside much time for growing your programming skills. No matter how busy your life is, you should be able to find some time, perhaps just 15 minutes each week. An hour each month is better than nothing. The more time the better, but don't burn yourself out.

Spend that time to learn something new or to program something difficult. I'm not asking you to start a project. Just work on a demonstration. Your code doesn't have to be pretty. The point is to learn something, not to make something.

It can be about anything you want, perhaps some new GFX algorithms for your next demo or part of a game engine for your next game.

You might not get your program working, but that's good! It means you are out of your comfort zone. This is where learning takes place. Maybe you can try it again next time, or perhaps you feel you've learned enough from the previous experience. You be the judge.

Some examples of the top of my head are:

• use a file format you haven't before (such as BMP, WAV or MP3)
• learn a new language (perhaps a simple tutorial or two, don't overwork yourself)
• read an article on networking
• touch up on 2D and 3D math (one small bite at a time of course)
• learn a new tool such as a graphics editor or an API
• refresh on programming concepts you've learned before but haven't used for a while
  
• ...

And the list goes on. Use your imagination. The point is to learn something new and push yourself beyond your limits comfort zone. Don't push yourself too hard. You don't want to dread each session. You should have fun with it. There's a difference between a challenge and frustrating yourself.