shaunjs

Update

Going to keep this one brief, my father passed away last Friday. I headed back home for the weekend to relax after a fairly brutal week. I'm back down with my family now and the rest of this week while we organise the funeral amongst other very unfun things. The funeral itself is next Monday, but after that I'm going to be right back to work. That might sound quick I don't know but I want to get right back to normal and to work ASAP. I'm feeling OK and cope best just by getting on as normal. Th...

Important mini update

Hello everyone. I briefly mentioned my dad was in hospital last week, and that I'd be taking a day or two to visit him across the country. Unfortunately he's gotten a lot worse. I'm going to have to stay down here for a few days. I'll update you as soon as I'm back and we'll do some extra livestreams. Sorry to the many of you that I know are looking forward to the rope video. We'll get there. Thanks everyone. -S

Week 26 SwingSwingSwing

This week I'm cracking on with the rope swing tutorial. Nothing new there. I haven't streamed in a while either or done any work on PokeyPoke so if I can get this video sorted in time we can expect some of that by the end of the week.

Otherwise the status quo hasn't really changed from last week's updates. I don't really have any new stuff to say here so I won't keep you long and then I can crack on with things!

Cheers everyone for another week!

-S

MiniUpdate - Pendulums

So there's a reason this isn't often covered and when it is covered, it's usually highly specific or _not quite exactly_ what the searcher is after.

And that's because most games that feature a rope, rope swing, ninja rope, hook shot, etc: All do it differently and almost none of them do it with a consistent, physically-accurate model.

The gif above is me using a formula proven to be accurate for pendulums of a very, very small max angle. Much smaller th...

Week 25 - Ancient Community Posts

Hello! In case you missed it, last week saw the release of Platformer Ep 20. It sort of covers in a basic way what I was going to demonstrate with one of the poll options (Object based particles) so go check it out if you were one of the 19 folks interested in seeing that topic covered.

Today I've noticed, once again, that a bunch of community posts with questions in them had gone unanswered. I only ...

Platformer Part 20: Sparks & Dust

Source files updated: https://shaunjs.itch.io/shauns-complete-platformer-tutorial-series

Assets zip file will get updated tomorrow!

(if you're here super early the video might still be processing, check back in twenty minutes or so ;) )

[Progress] Platformer 20 - Object particles

Bringing some cute effects into the platformer and showing you how you can very quickly throw together some cool stuff without having to invoke the particle engine just by the power of Animation End -> Instance_destroy();

Also some hit effects on the bullets so they collide with walls better! Unsure how I feel about the way they look so it may or may not make the final cut. 

Starting with something easy to drop in while we all (especially me!) get our heads around the code again ...

Topic Poll

Here's your choices! I've mostly salvaged the popular choices from prior polls and also raided the submission form for ideas. As always, if you've got any more ideas of your own, drop them in the comments! You can also pop them on the public submission form. (I'd recommend doing both!)

Week 24 - Annnd we're back!

HOO BOY. I had no idea how badly I've needed that holiday until I had it. Just chilling out with the family for a week was the absolute best. I've not felt so re-energized in a long, long time. 

An enormous thanks to you all for your patience while I recover and regenerate. Now it's time to get back to making videos. I can't remember if I stated a plan for this previously but what I'm going to do is crack on with the Platformer series this week and then swing bac...

NGF Week + PokeyPoke demo for $5/$20 backers

After a bunch of inevitable train issues I'm on the way home from Norwich Gaming Festival!

I got to show off PokeyPoke live to tons of people, kids and adults. Learned so much in the process and it really helped shape the future direction of the game. I also got to meet a ton of developers old & new, delivered an ace couple of GameMaker workshops for kids where I built games live in just an hour and a half (based on audience suggestions!) and just had a downright blast.

Tomorrow, wee...

Quick Update!

I might find it hard to post updates over the next two weeks with Norwich Gaming Festival underway so I just wanted to get in quick with a couple of things.

I got my dates a bit wrong in my last update. My family holiday immediately follows the NGF. So the next two weeks are where I'm going to be out of action. (rather than off week, on week, off week as I said before.) Won't even be any live streams unfortunately as I won't even be home!

After that's all wrapped up thou...

Week 21 - PokeyCrunch

I've got a loooot to do this week so I'ma keep this one pretty brief.

In case you missed it; last week I did a livestream and talked a bit about refining the process of livestreams to be more similar to my typical video structure. https://www.patreon.com/posts/livestream-doors-18880653

This week expect more of the same as I get PokeyPoke ready for its first public outing next week at Norwich G...

Livestream - Doors in PokeyPoke!

I'm trying to refine my stream format a bit by blending a bit with my tutorial style. I don't like publishing my livestream footage because of how long, meandering, and random they are and I feel they clutter up my uploads. My past experience with channels I follow who've started publishing long livestreams is to skip these when notified because it's sometimes unclear what they're about or what I'm gonna get out of watching. Especially with the amount of time the video is asking me to invest.

...

Week 20 - The Poking Continues

I decided to only visit the Animex festival on Tuesday for the inspirational cool games talks (Gosh, Dreams on PS4 looks very exciting) and see some old friends. It was very AAA focused this year but there was some great talks nonetheless.

I figured just going for one day would mean I could get some much needed work done on Monday but it was ...

~experiencing technical difficulties~

Sorry for the delay on this week's update. My computer is out of action due to the latest Windows 10 update process locking the machine silently for hours at a time and then when finally installed has dropped a big ol corruption bomb on everything. Currently writing this update from my phone. It has been a stressful day. More news soon I hope.

PokeyPoke Stream #1

Unlisted YouTube Archive:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdOjb6Pl4Rk part 1
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKs8-0jkKFQ part 2

Did some light streaming today while working on the game. I'm thinking on Friday I'll do a bit of a quick summary video of some things I've learned, things I've struggled ...

Week 19 THESUNTHESUNTHESUN

That title is a niche reference but what I'm trying to say is it's very hot here.

This comes a day later than my usual weekly updates because Monday is a bank holiday in the UK so I spent most of it having a BBQ with my girlfriend's family and enjoying the sudden burst of good weather in the country. 

Stugan

I did not get accepted for Stugan this year! This is obviously a bit disappointing for me but I can imagine the competition was super tough. I wasn't whol...

Platformer Episode 19

Gosh this one took longer than I feel it should have. Not early access this time around, we still have that lead time to make up.

Source code is already up and available for all patrons as usual:

https://shaunjs.itch.io/shauns-complete-platformer-tutorial-series

Week 18 - Stuff n' things n' 3d dabbling

Saving & Loading video took a while and a few re-records thanks to my somewhat unpleasant neighborhood doing its thing. but it's up now. I want to get that week lead back again so I'm going to try and put a couple of things together this week, a Platformer Episode and also a time-lapse of LD41. 

Speaking...

Week 17 - Ludum Done

TL;DR: Saving & Loading video should be done this week. LD41 game is linked below along with source code. 

Whew. That was a pretty mad weekend. The problem with weekend game jams is that level of intense work doesn't leave you feeling very fresh for the week ahead. But I made a game!

You'll have noticed the JSON video did not go up last week, as I mentioned previously, this is probably going to be a two weeker.

That video will come first too, I di...

[Progress] JSON Save & Load

The coding is all done for this. Saving and loading via JSON encode/decode. It's fairly straightforward to get going with and scales incredibly well with complex projects.

I want to be careful in explaining the uses & advantages without overly re-treading the ground Juju covered in his talk. This video might take longer than the week to get right. But we'll see how it goes. I'll let you know Friday one way or the other.

Week 16 - JSON & Ludum Dare!

Last week was a two parter in case you missed it! Both those Platformer episodes will be going live to the public this Friday. Last Friday the Wall jump + slide tutorial went public.

Results of the last poll are in and this week I'm going to be looking at a video on saving & loading using JSON encoding (and decodi...

[Early Access] Platformer 17 & 18!

Part 18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUPyU4qkCOo&feature=youtu.be

it's a two part special this week because each part is sort of a small but important detour on the way towards rounding off this "first season" of this series :)

-S

[Progress] Double Platformer Episode

This week it's a two for one special. I've got two tiny but important tweaks I want to go over that didn't really fit into a specific feature so I'm putting them into two shorter-than-usual videos (I say shorter than usual, about 10m each) and releasing them both at the same time.

The first is tweaking our enemies by giving them an internal flag that can be used to stop them walking over ledges when we don't want them to. This stops enemies piling up in pits and ruining all non-bordered vertic...

Topic Poll (& New suggestion box!)

Since I have hard time collating everyone's ideas, anyone who is willing to track down the following link can now suggest their own! This keeps them in one place so I don't forget. Have also announced this on twitter and will shout about it periodically everywhere.

https://goo.gl/forms/a1dYYlK6ZVi6vCoG2

Tried to give a wider selection this time around. This will determine the topic of the video I make after I ...

Week 15 - A semblance of routine

What was, is and will be:

Last Friday I released the latest Platformer episode to the public, and released the new Wall jumps video to $5+ supporters. This week I'll be working on Platformer episode 17  and putting out a new...

Micro Platformer Guide

I've finished recording (minus any redo-ing) for this weeks tutorial, and to wrap up the day I decided to throw together a super quick written platformer guide. I've put this together from scratch so many times I figure I may as well condense it all into a permanent, lightweight guide. It's of a steps-only style to accomodate those without the time or willingness to readily invest in longform videos and a steep learning hill they're still unsure about.

Check it out here: 2018-04-04 17:50:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Progress - Wall jumping

When you can't see someone's inputs, it's always a little hard to tell when you're watching a tutorial on this kind of topic; whether or not it handles the preservation of momentum you often want in most applications of a wall jump. 

Simply being able to jump when next to a wall is (almost) as easy as jumping from the ground. Forcing a horizontal component to that jump and controlling your speeds to prevent climbing any lone wall is a bit (although not much) harder.

My next tutorial...

Week 14 - Live streams, 100k & Sweden

Week that was and what will be:

So last week I released Platformer Part 16 for $5 supporters and also did an hour and a half live stream on YouTube where I did a bit of Q&A and a touch of work on PokeyPoke.

I think I want to do more live streams via YouTube rather than twitch given that's wh...

Platformer Part 16 - Mouse menus & Title screen cleanup

Not a whole lot of new code in this part but we look at the "div" function and clean up our title screen a bit. As well as improving the menu by making it mouse enabled.

Source code project on itch.io has already been updated: https://shaunjs.itch.io/shauns-complete-platformer-tutorial-series 

Out to the public next Friday. Shortly after this post I'm going try out live-streami...