A Whole Day Off!

So I had a whole day off yesterday, so I decided to do something computer related with it.

I also did a few pages of editing (read: copious amounts of deleting) for my book, so that's still ticking along (about 1/3rd done with edits).

Anyway, I decided to do this:

I need a name for this blocky mess.

It's a little game I made.  I found a program called 'game maker,' on humble bundle, bought and downloaded it (15 of your us dollars) and started messing around.

So it's all programming which is unfortunate, because I have no idea how to program.  Luckily there's a decent sized community, and I know just enough to change up the bits I need to when two tutorials conflict.

In the screen you see above, the green box is the player.  The red box is an enemy that moves back and forth as it runs into walls.  The pink box is a portal of sorts that sends you to the next level.

If you land on top of the red box, it disappears, simulating the banishment of said enemy.

If you land next to the red box and it runs into you, the scene resets, simulating the unfortunate death of a green box (the player).

The basics are there with this setup.  The player jump height varies depending on how long you hold down the key, up to a maximum height, and the player has a nice momentum to it, so you're not just at 100% speed when you move left and right.  There's also a decent feel to the gravity.

Some other stuff I want to add: enemies that detect edges, so that they don't need to be boxed in and they won't fall off ledges.

A player attack that affects what would be the equivalent of a square in front of them in this design.

Pickups, that show text on the screen.  I want the player to walk over a box and for it to pop up text, to tell a little story.

Spikes, but that should be an easy thing to make as I already have the red box code.

If I get all the done, then it's just a case of making a metric boat load of art to take the place of everything.  Art for backgrounds, art for the characters, art for the enemies.  So much art.

The only problem is that I cannot art to save my life.

Oh well.  We'll cross that bridge should we ever come to it.