Game
Hensen Hopper
1 year ago

I'm going to set myself a goal to release the first beta/demo of Hensen Hopper by the end of this year. I'm going to try to use static backdrop images rather than tiles for the backgrounds in this game, which presents a bit of a challenge in one aspect...


Tile-based design worked really well for Deathly Descent because the levels themselves are large and varied. In that case, I needed the kind of modularity that comes with a tile-based workflow.

This is unnecessary for Hensen Hopper because the player moves in a very limited space, the camera focuses at one point in the scene, and I don't plan for there to be many unique maps. For this reason, it's probably optimal to use a backdrop image for the level, this will also allow me greater control over what is placed where in the scene.

The only hiccup I can foresee will be the fact I can't simply slap this backdrop into the GUI as a panel, I'll need to place it below Hensen and the enemies in the scene which means I'll ALSO need to figure out a way to scale the image according to the display resolution so, no matter what resolution and aspect ratio the player is using, the backdrop is placed optimally.

Figuring out how I'll do this might actually be worth the time I have left before I need to get ready for work. I DO have a backdrop script already that handles the backdrop change between the profile selection menu and other menus in the main menu scene. I suppose re-analyzing that script and seeing whether I could adapt that to handle backdrop scaling iff the backdrop isn't under the GUI canvas would be a good start.

To Do Before The Demo/Beta:

  • Figure out how I'll handle backdrop scaling (on it!)

  • Draw a backdrop for the main scene

  • Create button art for the main menu buttons

  • Search for a good font for the main menu buttons and in-game text

  • Add collision animation and sound effects for enemy bullets

  • Enemy and player defeat animation

  • Build interactive pause and death screen menus

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I've been working on the backdrop today! Among other things I've done, I made a bush! I know, SOOOO impressive lol.

You see I was GONNA get to work on the procedural enemy wave generation algorithm but then I remembered I still haven't drawn a defeat animation for the spider so now I'm working on that instead. 🤣

Doing it in layers starting with the web as usual.

AAH! SPIDERS!

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Well, that didn't take long HAHA!

Why did nobody ever tell me you could simply export to GIF from DaVinci Resolve?

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This is a short video showing off the new procedurally generated enemy waves in Hensen! In theory, the game will become more and more unpredictable as I continue to build and implement new enemies!!!

I've worked out a process for drawing bushes that I'm using for the backdrop! First I draw the branches, then "paint" where the bush texture will be, copy it's alpha to a new layer in white, then draw it's shadows in a layer over the bush layer.

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I've been working on improving the backdrop for Hensen Hopper! The way I'm doing it this time is I'm creating a 32x32 image for each texture I want, tiling it to fill the backdrop image, and using layer masks to "paint" where that texture will be visible.