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Plan for Chris Labombard
Plan for Chris Labombard
| Name: | Chris Labombard |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Oct 31, 2005 | |
| Rating: |  Not Rated | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
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| Profile Page: | View profile page for Chris Labombard |
Blog post
The Funk is moving along at light speed
Well, The Funk is coming along at light speed so I figured I'd update my .plan.
I know this is kinda long... But at least there's pictures
What's New?
- Add hint beats
- Add coloured particle effects that tell you how well you're doing
- Integrate an online high score system that connects Torque GUI's with php scripts and MySQL databases.
- Complete an auto updater that polls a web server for needed files and updates your current version
- Improve menus
- Thoroughly test everything.
It doesn't seem like much at first, but when you look at the details it becomes apparent what all is there.
Hint beats and coloured particles
This screenshot displays both the hinting beats and particles.
The amount of time the hint beats is present for is proportional to difficulty. The more difficult the setting, the less time the hints appear for.
The coloured particles (I hate the T2D particle editor) are dependent on how close you are to the centre of the beat and how far off you are from the actual sound.
The high score system
The online high scores system isn't your everyday webpage high scores list. There is a gui that displays the top 10 high scores for all 10 tracks, the top 3 scores for the last 7 days, and your personal high score.
When you complete a track it encrypts you score and name and populates the scores database on my web server. I rolled the encryption and decryption in torquescript and Tom Bushby and I converted the decrypt to php.
Along the way I wrote several string manipulation and conversion functions. Torquescript has dynamic variable types, allowing me to treat strings as numbers and numbers as strings. Php doesn't. Since I don't know php very well, I wrote the functions in Torquescript, and Tom converted them all into php.
The high scores gui is automatically populated through a php script on the web server, so scores are always up to the minute. I'm having issues with gui controls drifting (which is super annoying) but it works entirely.
We are still cleaning up the last bit of this mess. It would seem the SQL syntax on my server doesn't like to play nice. Queries that work fine for Tom in phpMyAdmin, didn't work at all when set up as a query in a php script, so there is still an error with the submission script.
Auto update system
The auto update system submits it's version number to the web server, grabs the names of any files that need updating, downloads them, replaces them, and continues on it's way.... All while displaying a neat little updating gui that informs the user of progress. The next time you boot the game it is totally updated to the newest version.
This was a huge pain in the ass. The resource it is based off of (TCPObject Binary transfer) had bugs which took me a good 10 hours to solve. Everything from MIME types that wouldn't download properly, to faulty script logic provided with the resource.
But... now it works, including support for dso files, and jpg files. I will add png support tomorrow. I just couldn't bring myself to deal with it anymore.
Menus
This is what the new menu looks like. I've added some things to make the game easier to understand, as well as the beginnings of building the community.
What Now?
With all of this, the framework for the game is in place. The underlying structure will allow for rapid and efficient addition of tracks and art. In fact, if you were to download the demo of the game, you wouldn't have to download anything again. Well, other then the file downloads that the updater performs.
It's time to continue adding music tracks, which presents a problem. I don't DO music. Music and I just don't get along. I can't build a good track to save my life.
Which presents an additional problem.... The track creation process is complex. Tracks accumulate with additional beats, but the time period of a set increases. Beats need to nudge in time by slight amounts, allowing for new beats to be squeezed in. Maybe it's my ignorance when it comes to music creation tools, but I don't think this is track creation 101... It seems to me it will take a slick music composer to pull this one off. If anyone knows someone who's up to the challenge, let me know.
And then there's art. I can handle small doses of art, usually with poor results. I need an innovative artist who can develop a style and feel for this game. I am having issues creating a consistent... well, anything... for the game, and really need help in this area (with both art and music). So, once again, if you know a way to create ripply music waves please tell me how :)
Marketing Strategy
I decided I was going to plan out my entire marketing strategy for the game. I want to know where Im going before I need to start heading there. I ran into some bumps.
Most importantly is... What is my target demographic?. I wrote down the main demographics I could think of, but failed to comfortably wedge this game into any of them.
This is what I came up with:
- Soccer moms
- Young males. Action game players
- Kids
- Ex-hardcore players
I know there's more. I just can't think of them.
Next major problem was trying to figure out where I'm going to sell the game from. Obviously I will sell it from my website.
What's the issue? I browsed around 15 portal sites, taking a look at there structure and types of games. This game really doesn't fit into any of the general categories found on those sites. It's the right size and genre of game... but it just seems out of place because of it's theme.
Third issue... Platforms. I want my game on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I'm sure I can get the game running on Linux by setting Linux up as a dual OS on my harddrive. But the most important thing is Mac. I don't have a Mac (or access to one) and I don't think it'd be wise to purchase a Mac just for porting. However, I'd much rather handle porting and testing of the score and updater systems myself. They are large and intricate, and need to be thoroughly gone over. Kind of a catch-22 I guess.
Contracting
I've begun taking on contract work again. Most recently of which is for Chris "C2" Byars completing some modifications for Project Shadow
If you need contract work done, and the task is small (I don't want to eat up too much of my dev time) send me an email (Chris [AT] spunkygames [dot] com)
Special thanks
Tom Bushby has helped me immensely. He's the most reliable individual I've ever worked with. He set up all the php side workings of this game, as well as working on the Basic Bob site. He's a machine. I work extremely fast, and a ton of hours... and somehow he's managing to keep up ;)
I hope he sticks around when I tell him what's next for him :) I have a feeling he's going to run away.
Closing
If anyone read the whole thing please post... Even if you have nothing to say, I just want to know if anyone actually read this :)
I know this is kinda long... But at least there's pictures
What's New?
- Add hint beats
- Add coloured particle effects that tell you how well you're doing
- Integrate an online high score system that connects Torque GUI's with php scripts and MySQL databases.
- Complete an auto updater that polls a web server for needed files and updates your current version
- Improve menus
- Thoroughly test everything.
It doesn't seem like much at first, but when you look at the details it becomes apparent what all is there.
Hint beats and coloured particles
This screenshot displays both the hinting beats and particles.
The amount of time the hint beats is present for is proportional to difficulty. The more difficult the setting, the less time the hints appear for.
The coloured particles (I hate the T2D particle editor) are dependent on how close you are to the centre of the beat and how far off you are from the actual sound.
The high score system
The online high scores system isn't your everyday webpage high scores list. There is a gui that displays the top 10 high scores for all 10 tracks, the top 3 scores for the last 7 days, and your personal high score.
When you complete a track it encrypts you score and name and populates the scores database on my web server. I rolled the encryption and decryption in torquescript and Tom Bushby and I converted the decrypt to php.
Along the way I wrote several string manipulation and conversion functions. Torquescript has dynamic variable types, allowing me to treat strings as numbers and numbers as strings. Php doesn't. Since I don't know php very well, I wrote the functions in Torquescript, and Tom converted them all into php.
The high scores gui is automatically populated through a php script on the web server, so scores are always up to the minute. I'm having issues with gui controls drifting (which is super annoying) but it works entirely.
We are still cleaning up the last bit of this mess. It would seem the SQL syntax on my server doesn't like to play nice. Queries that work fine for Tom in phpMyAdmin, didn't work at all when set up as a query in a php script, so there is still an error with the submission script.
Auto update system
The auto update system submits it's version number to the web server, grabs the names of any files that need updating, downloads them, replaces them, and continues on it's way.... All while displaying a neat little updating gui that informs the user of progress. The next time you boot the game it is totally updated to the newest version.
This was a huge pain in the ass. The resource it is based off of (TCPObject Binary transfer) had bugs which took me a good 10 hours to solve. Everything from MIME types that wouldn't download properly, to faulty script logic provided with the resource.
But... now it works, including support for dso files, and jpg files. I will add png support tomorrow. I just couldn't bring myself to deal with it anymore.
Menus
This is what the new menu looks like. I've added some things to make the game easier to understand, as well as the beginnings of building the community.
What Now?
With all of this, the framework for the game is in place. The underlying structure will allow for rapid and efficient addition of tracks and art. In fact, if you were to download the demo of the game, you wouldn't have to download anything again. Well, other then the file downloads that the updater performs.
It's time to continue adding music tracks, which presents a problem. I don't DO music. Music and I just don't get along. I can't build a good track to save my life.
Which presents an additional problem.... The track creation process is complex. Tracks accumulate with additional beats, but the time period of a set increases. Beats need to nudge in time by slight amounts, allowing for new beats to be squeezed in. Maybe it's my ignorance when it comes to music creation tools, but I don't think this is track creation 101... It seems to me it will take a slick music composer to pull this one off. If anyone knows someone who's up to the challenge, let me know.
And then there's art. I can handle small doses of art, usually with poor results. I need an innovative artist who can develop a style and feel for this game. I am having issues creating a consistent... well, anything... for the game, and really need help in this area (with both art and music). So, once again, if you know a way to create ripply music waves please tell me how :)
Marketing Strategy
I decided I was going to plan out my entire marketing strategy for the game. I want to know where Im going before I need to start heading there. I ran into some bumps.
Most importantly is... What is my target demographic?. I wrote down the main demographics I could think of, but failed to comfortably wedge this game into any of them.
This is what I came up with:
- Soccer moms
- Young males. Action game players
- Kids
- Ex-hardcore players
I know there's more. I just can't think of them.
Next major problem was trying to figure out where I'm going to sell the game from. Obviously I will sell it from my website.
What's the issue? I browsed around 15 portal sites, taking a look at there structure and types of games. This game really doesn't fit into any of the general categories found on those sites. It's the right size and genre of game... but it just seems out of place because of it's theme.
Third issue... Platforms. I want my game on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I'm sure I can get the game running on Linux by setting Linux up as a dual OS on my harddrive. But the most important thing is Mac. I don't have a Mac (or access to one) and I don't think it'd be wise to purchase a Mac just for porting. However, I'd much rather handle porting and testing of the score and updater systems myself. They are large and intricate, and need to be thoroughly gone over. Kind of a catch-22 I guess.
Contracting
I've begun taking on contract work again. Most recently of which is for Chris "C2" Byars completing some modifications for Project Shadow
If you need contract work done, and the task is small (I don't want to eat up too much of my dev time) send me an email (Chris [AT] spunkygames [dot] com)
Special thanks
Tom Bushby has helped me immensely. He's the most reliable individual I've ever worked with. He set up all the php side workings of this game, as well as working on the Basic Bob site. He's a machine. I work extremely fast, and a ton of hours... and somehow he's managing to keep up ;)
I hope he sticks around when I tell him what's next for him :) I have a feeling he's going to run away.
Closing
If anyone read the whole thing please post... Even if you have nothing to say, I just want to know if anyone actually read this :)
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 05/01/08 - leaving the independent games industry 03/02/06 - My first drawing ever. 02/15/06 - Unanswered posts 02/08/06 - A new partner, a new game 01/23/06 - I'm looking for a partner 01/17/06 - The Funk has finally hit Beta 11/08/05 - Plan for Chris Labombard 10/31/05 - Plan for Chris Labombard |
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Submit your own resources!| Aaron Ellis (Oct 31, 2005 at 15:40 GMT) |
Anyway, I wish you luck on this.
| Unsung Zero (Oct 31, 2005 at 15:42 GMT) |
| Jon Frisby (Oct 31, 2005 at 15:46 GMT) |
In a comment on my first/only blog entry you asserted that your game was "something completely [ridiculous]" -- I'd have to disagree on that. Yours is a fairly novel concept. Mine is just a cheap copy of an existing game! It's hard to come up with really novel gameplay ideas, but you seem to have managed to do so! Congratulations!
-JF
| Stefan Lundmark (Oct 31, 2005 at 15:52 GMT) |
I don't understand what problems you had with the TCP Binary resource. I've never had any problems with MIME types and certainly not the scripts that came with it. I'm not saying these do not exist, but I have yet to see them.
Have you tried to download a file (maybe it's not even an issue for you?) larger than 8400 kilobytes?
Edited on Oct 31, 2005 15:52 GMT
| Chris Labombard (Oct 31, 2005 at 16:04 GMT) |
Jon - Thanks (I think). I tried to find websites focused around this type of game or what not, but was unsuccessful. I will continue my search.
Stefan - I ran into a couple of issues. First, the files just wouldnt get written with any info. I'd download the dso files but hte MIME type would be plain/text and it wouldnt write. I echoed everyline, and the info was there.
I changed the file to *.cs.dso.bin which forced it to have a MIME type of application/octet-stream
It then wrote the file properly but the file wouldn't run. I opened it with notepad and found an extra line break at the top of the file.
Instead of checking the last line for being hte content type I ended up having to check the last last line.
| Nathan Snell (Oct 31, 2005 at 19:28 GMT) |
Edited on Oct 31, 2005 19:29 GMT
| Chris Labombard (Oct 31, 2005 at 19:33 GMT) |
Chris [AT] spunkygames [dot] com
| Stefan Lundmark (Oct 31, 2005 at 21:37 GMT) |
Odd. Didn't have that problem here. I read it directly but by running it trough a hash-function. Sometimes the MIME types look a bit different depending on the server it is on.
Glad you got it sorted though (: Looks promising.
| Vernon Finch (Oct 31, 2005 at 22:19 GMT) |
I downloaded your initial prototype and played around with it, and even showed it to my flatmate as you were interested in if it was fun or not. I didn't find it particularly fun, but I thought there might be some promise if the interface was more obvious and it had more of a hook to keep me playing.
I had never actually played any of these music related games until I played Benjamin Bradleys game in a day, Dancing Pat flash game. I honestly spent hours on that game, so I know they can get quite addictive.
| John McArthur (Oct 31, 2005 at 22:40 GMT) |
john
| Aaron Ellis (Oct 31, 2005 at 23:52 GMT) |
Yeah, the speed of your dev cycle is impressive. Starting and finishing BB and then jumping on another game so quickly is really inspiring for a slowpoke like me. And while I'm at it, I should mention that it looks like you've done a lot of planning/processing this new idea already. I'm guessing that you probably have two or three more ideas waiting in the wings after this game is released and you may even have started tinkering with them already.
| Chris Labombard (Nov 01, 2005 at 01:29 GMT) |
What I can say for sure... is that the mistakes I made with Basic Bob will not happen again.
| Ajari Wilson (Nov 01, 2005 at 06:32 GMT) |
-Ajari-
| Chris Labombard (Nov 01, 2005 at 12:04 GMT) |
Granted, I suck at anything music related, so it doesn't sound very good. But it will in the end.
With Basic Bob I made the mistake of believing that artists actually want work, and that if I posted .plan's they would approach me. I ended up going through 14 artists. 3 of the m delivered. 1 for 100+ hours of code. Another for a lump sum of money and royalties, another for a very good price. I now know how to spot a good artist, and have a few sources to go for when I am ready to contract it out.
I also made the mistake of thinking that if I build it, people will buy it. I've been marketing it, but the game is just not good enough. There are fundamental problems with performance because of the way the game is set up. Had I tested it after finishing each of the 12 milestones, I would have caught it at milestone 5 and eliminated it.
I planned it out very very well, but I failed to plan out a marketing strategy, and I falied to plan out how I was going to get art for the game.
I work fast for a few reasons. First of which is my design document. I have a set of milestones that detail every thing that needs to be completed for each of the 6 milestones, and a rough course of action. I have completed 4 of them. The design doc for the entire game is about 2 pages. 1 of those pages is mostly just point form descriptions of the game. Focus, description, some features to help me plan the milestones and a few technical points.
When I have parts of a task done I colour it red (in MS Word) when it's complete I colour it blue. I always know exactly what I'm working on, and exactly what I will start working on next. There are things I haven't planned yet, like the art and music direction of the game... but that's simply because I don't know what way to go. I won't begin working on them until I have a solid direction.
As for not getting distracted, I have my own office in my home. A spacious room with 2 comfy chairs, my computer and a few book shelves.
I have no music on my computer. When I code I don' listen to music. The best way to not get distracted is just my love for what I do. There's nothing I'd rather be doing then coding. It wouldn't be this way if I wasn't working on the project I am. I went through about 50 designs, some with full design doc's before I decided on The Funk. I wouldnt' be working as fast with any other design.
But the most credit has to go to Torque 2D. If you know Torquescript (and you are capable of reading Mathew Langley's tutorials) you can work very fast and very efficiently with T2D.
Just think about this, this is the first thing I've ever done with T2D... I would be even further in the measly week and a half since I started this project if I had worked with it before.
I guess what it comes down to is.... Design everything. Marketing strategy, each milestone, everything. And don't pick a project that will sell. Pick a project that you will love working on.
I can elaborate on my design approach if you'd like.
| Mathieu (Nov 02, 2005 at 17:58 GMT) |
| Ajari Wilson (Nov 07, 2005 at 05:51 GMT) |
| Chris Labombard (Apr 13, 2006 at 21:05 GMT) |
Quote:
I guess what it comes down to is.... Design everything. Marketing strategy, each milestone, everything. And don't pick a project that will sell. Pick a project that you will love working on.
I wrote the above and then I didnt follow it. I am beginning to follow it again. I whole heartedly believe it is the right mindset to have in this business.
I made both mistakes. Not designing and designing around a market.
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