Pharaoh's Frenzy Hits Milestone #2!

Heh.. these small advancements seem so BIG! PF has hit milestone 2, I can't believe it. It's been weeks of constant coding, but I'm actually seeing something game-like, and it's playable (although only one level) and becoming more and more fun by the day.

Accomplishments:

Create the player, get him moving, get placer art in and animations working correctly.
Get SimGroups for treasure generation completed.
Get Gems group created, falling properly, being grabbed out of the sky correctly, and hitting the ground, flashing and despawning correctly.
-MILESTONE 1-

Get Jewelry group created and functioning as per Gem group.
Get Household group created and functioning as per Gem group.
Get Furniture group created and functioning.
Create points tracking and damage tracking system.
Update animations so pharaoh is actually "grabbing" treasure as it's falling.
Create new keystroke commands to match new abilities.
-MILESTONE 2-

Currently, PF has a single level. A player at the bottom of the screen who can move back and forth on keypress; who gets a turbo boost on keypress and who can crouch on keypress. Various types of treasure worth different amounts of points, that the player can grab while it's falling or pick up off the ground. Furniture that can be caught, but which causes damage if the player isn't braced in a crouching position; or which breaks upon hitting the ground, blocking the player from moving past it.

It's already starting to be fun to play, and a little challenging. Level 1 releases only 20 treasures, and they're mixed randomly from all the groups. By the end of most tests, a hefty amount of points (between 1k and 3k) have been generated, and the player is often between 80 and 90 health points (he starts at 100).

Next things are to revamp points alloted (I have a single amount for everything, point values need to be more realistic). Damage should be alloted for treasures that are caught by being hit on the head with them. Points should be reduced for treasure that lands on the ground and is picked up by walking over it. Food needs to be introduced to help the player regain health, and then it's on to the inventory items like spell scrolls, power ups and so forth. (All the current treasure are non-inventory pieces. Points only.)

There's a lot of work left to do, but I can't believe I got this far! It's amazing to watching something that's been in my head for two years actually starting to look and function like what I dreamed.

Here's a couple of screenshots, for those interested:
(Keep in mind, this is not final art! :) )


In this shot, there's only a couple of treasure released, 2 gems and a piece of furniture, but you can see the player grabbing for the treasure near the bottom of the screen.


In this second one, there are more treasures released, gems, jewelry and furniture (the big urn), and you can see the player crouching in preparation for catching the urn. If the crouch doesn't happen on time, he still catches it, but takes some damage.


This is what a faux pas looks like. That's a chair, broken on the ground, and the player can't walk past it. Any treasure dropped on the opposite side, will be lost if it falls before the chair fades away.

I'm really excited about the progress, if you can't tell, and I'll try to keep you guys posted. I registered the NetjerSoft domain name recently, and as soon as I can figure out what I'm doing, I'll start to post a blog and screenies there so people can follow what's happening with the game.

See ya!