Random Building Generator

Here's a quick building generator I wrote to learn a couple of things. First is per-pixel manipulation to learn how to change color palettes, and second is how to randomly generate levels and make sure they are playable. Take a look at the video to see it in action!

New ideas

I've had a ton of great ideas since I finished Sneak Thief so I've been messing around with some new art styles. I've been working on my pixel art and applied it to some isometric tiles. Final Fantasy tactics games have always inspired me so I was thinking of working on an isometric game, but had other ideas that i ended up liking better. At the bottom of this post I'll have a bunch of pictures with some of my ideas. I decided to work on a 2D adventure platformer (and build my first real engine to go with it). I still have a long way to go, but in that time I'll be making the game art and posting it here!

Learning C# / XNA

On a whim I registered for Microsoft's Dream.Build.Play game development competition. I decided it was time to learn C# and XNA as I've only heard good things about it. So far I'm very happy with what I've seen and learned. I've got a great idea for my next game and I'm hoping to get it working for pc and 360!

Sneak Thief Finished!

I've finished Sneak Thief, the game I started late in December. I'm really happy how everything turned out. Give it a try! If you like what you see subscribe to my blog. I'm already starting to work on a new game and I'll be posting demo's frequently as I develop.

Here's the link for the Windows installer (installs on desktop):
SneakThief.exe
Or if you prefer the .zip file you can grab it here:
SneakThief.zip

I made this game from the ground up using C++ and SDL (event handling and blitting).
A few things I learned from this game are:

• Global variable may make code cleaner and easier to work with (we were taught never to use them in university)
• How to really focus and push through to the end (the last 10% is always the hardest)
• How to structure game data better

Where am I going from here? I think I'm going to get out of the tile-based games and give a side-scrolling platformer a try. I have a great idea for an adventure game that I've been wanting to start. I also want to learn how to stretch all the images on screen when it is resized (SDL doesn't support that natively).

Here's a video with some in-game footage:

[DEMO] Sneak Thief Final Demo

Here's the final demo for my game Sneak Thief. It currently features 20 levels of sneaky puzzle action.
The final game will have:

• Music and sound effects
• At least 50 levels
• The ability to make and play levels using a level editor
• More puzzle action and thievery than you can even handle!

Here's the link:
Sneak Thief Demo

Something I've Realized

I've noticed that I can come up with some amazing game ideas and quickly prototype them. I'm also pretty happy with my skills as an artist and a programmer. The two things that seem to hold me back on all of my projects though, are user interface and music / sound effects. If I were to ever join a team or work with people I would for sure need those spots covered. It's not that I can't do it on my own. I just feel like they're both long processes that drag on forever. That's the main reason it's taking me forever to finish Sneak Thief. I don't want to release a half-assed game. I think it's time to expand and find people to work with!

Anyways, more updates shortly. I've started a new project and will be posting that plus the main Sneak Thief demo later.

Reddit's Screenshot Saturday

Here are some new images of my game Sneak Thief. I've got a working level editor which will be available to users for custom maps when I release the game. I just finished the main menu (the buttons are click-able and resizing doesn't mess up the layout). The art for the menu is not final though. There are about 15 maps, but I plan on making a ton now that the editor is working.