Latest Posts
I've posted an early alpha video of Motor Psycho (a Road Rash style motorcycle racer/fighter) up on youtube. It is a short video of a small level I'm using just to test the physics, pathfinding, fighting, etc. I'm expecting the game to be done in the first half of 2010 and to ship on XBox Live Indie Games.
Click here to go view the video, then let me know what you think in the forums, twitter, or facebook.
--Tom Ogburn
Starlit Sky Games, LLC is currently working on an unnamed motorcycle racing-fighting game, similar to Road Rash. View a screenshot in the gallery at
http://www.starlitskygames.com/photos/motorcycle/picture203.aspx and help pick a name. Either post your suggestion in the forums or send me a tweet at TOgburn with your suggestion.
Tom Ogburn
Sky Defender is now available in the XBox 360 Indie Games channel. You can download it directly to your system from XBox.com by following the link below.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550246--Tom Ogburn
On April 26, 2009 I will be giving away one 12 month XBox Live Gold code to a randomly chosen person that retweets my StrikeForce-Psi announcement between now and then. The announcement is here:
http://twitter.com/TOgburn/status/1575409771and after you do that, go ahead and
download the game and try it. Go ahead, I dare you... :)
--Tom Ogburn
StrikeForce Psi is now in review on Xbox Live Community Games and should be coming out soon. Of course I will update as soon as it is released. I also want to mention the people I worked with to get the game done.
Art - Dami Digital
http://dami.lt/Characters - Maxim Lyulyukin
http://www.robomaniac.invitinggames.com/store/Audio - Spencer Sternberg
http://www.spencersternberg.comLevel Editing - Tom Ogburn
Ben Ogburn
Dan McCollum
http://www.danmccollum.com/Programming - Tom Ogburn
More to come when the game goes live.
--Tom Ogburn
A little more polish done and I've posted another playtest based on feedback received. SFP currently has 6 levels of what will be 12.
Now informs users if they cannot buy the game.
Allow purchase from 'Trial' message screens
Lists actual button to press to continue on message screens
Stopped vibrating controller bug on some message screens
Fixed menu selection bug when switching controllers
Edited menu background to make font more visible
New first level
Added animated loading screen between levels
--Tom Ogburn
Made a few more updates and uploading a new version to playtest.
http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/gamedetails.aspx?catalogEntryId=5a982d22-8ec7-4296-abd7-1188516a34a9&type=1. It's now coming down to adding in the remaining levels and polish. I'm planning for it to be complete and ready to ship very soon.
Added Y button to crouch in addition to left stick click
crouching jump moves at the same speed as a standing jump
Moved selection of starting unlocked level from options screen to start->select unlocked level->actually start game
re-added gold bars and scoring to hud, explain gold and scoring in how to play screen.
--Tom Ogburn
It's been 3 weeks since my last update and I have been busy. I overhauled a lot of the code and graphics based on feedback from the last SFP playtest on creators club. It is back in playtest. Log in to your XNA Creators CLub account then follow the link to download and play.
http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/GameDetails.aspx?catalogEntryId=e2f9b3b2-7d45-4c1d-8681-3596bb181e76&type=1Here's some of the list of updates:
Increased size of characters, weapons, and bullets for better clarity on SDTV
Added more cover in certain vulnerable spots of several maps
Require 'Press A to start' on initial screen to set player controller
Add in save game manager
Support all video modes and tested them
truncate save file before writing to it to prevent read errors
Upsell during and after first level and return to menu if it is trial mode
Options screen to alter volume of music and sound effects independently
Allow selection from several control schemes
Edit options screens to allow left/right on left stick or digital pad to alter values
replace backgrounds
Player crouching code and animations
reset ammo count on death
replace psk exit graphic with exit sign graphic
fix bridge graphics
lives carry across levels, ammo and grenades reset
reduced a visual bug with player gun when jumping
add 'Go Back' B-button text to controls screen
song changes based on background world and menu
save game/ load unlocked levels only if not a trial
fixed bugs in trial/purchase code that allowed an attempt to purchase for unauthorized users and threw an error
fixed a bug that only allowed storage selector to work with controller 1
grenades and bullets can both now go around crates but not through girders/platforms
stopped players from scrolling outside the safe viewable area
replaced all fonts
added gunshot sounds
replaced grenade explosion sound
fixed a visual bug where bullets were coming from below the gun barrel instead of the end of it
replaced gun images with clearer graphics
music volume reduced during pause game
fixed visula bug where enemies and player still animated during pause
modified scrolling speeds of different background layers
increased hud and font size to account for SDTV resolutions
changed player animation to fall when running off a ledge instead of continuing to run
replaced foreground tiles for arctic, jungle, and desert levels from the harbor girders
reduce enemy reaction time from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds
replaced enemy gun from same the same one as the player
enemies now only see player if facing the player
fixed visual bug where characters changed sizes in different animations
allow more detailed animations, code allows animation graphics to be in several rows and columns instead of all in one short row
fixed bug, controller doesn't stop vibrating on player death
fixed bug, enemy gun shot sounds continue after player death
fixed visual bug, gun now appears behind characters when facing left and in front when facing right
--Tom Ogburn
I have made a lot of changes since my last post. Video is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmdp-sQJnrg&fmt=22.
replaced main menu screen graphics
player has to plant charges before being allowed to exit mission
replaced all the old PSK tiles
replaced HUD text with images ("Lives" with player image, "ammo" with clip, etc...)
tinted the HUD area
moved the gun rotation point from the center of the gun to the players shoulder
removed the timer (still limited to 60 minutes before mission failure)
controller instructions only display if there is a controller connected (pc)
fixed crashing bug when jumping above the top of the level
created a map editor- tile map, collisions, and spawn points
checkpoints are now scattered throughout levels and are invisible and automatic
added more mission status texts and the status HUD re-sizes to fit the text
fixed bug where enemies could see player from offscreen
added new background music
added some new sounds
edited some graphics, particularly the player
fixed player weapon animation to better align with the player in each player animation
--Tom
I'm planning to update the website soon. The biggest thing is I need to add shopping cart functionality for my upcoming releases. Since I'm using an extremely old (2005) version of Community Server and it has worked well, I decided to check on the latest version of it.
First, they have a very limited free version now, second they don't list their prices on the website. What I found by searching google made my jaw drop. They are now charging $5,000 to $10,000 or more. There is no way I can pay that kind of money for something, especially if I then have to buy additional modules for the functionality I need (shopping cart).
So I'm going to look elsewhere. Probably DotNetNuke with CataLook since it ill be all digital sales and delivery. If any one has any suggestions, drop me an email (Tom at starlit sky games.com) or leave a comment.
Video here->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAx4Te4yyH8&fmt=22Additions from last alpha:
Enemies now shoot back - good luck :)
Enemies have a 1.5 second reaction time after they notice you before they shoot
removed wind resistance from grenade for more perfect parabolic flight
enemies only chase if they have a direct line of sight (you can hide)
replaced background
added randomness to enemy shots so they aren't always perfect
switched level 1 and 2 to better showcase background
replaced SSG logo
code updates to make future additions easier
-angles to vectors in a separate class
-templatized projectiles
-moved gun functions from player class to gun class
deleted a lot of unused code and assets
--Tom
Since the last update I sent out to my team on Tuesday, I've made lots of changes and updates. Including the following:
Added 'Buy' to pause menu if trial mode (360 only)
'Buy' on main menu if trial mode (360 only)
precision aiming 0-45 degrees (360 and pc with 360 controller only)
slowed autofire (hold button down), fast active fire (button tapping)
fixed floating in player death animation
added empty clip sound
replaced background music
lots of backend code clean up and optimizations
only draw visible items
powerups/collectibles as templates to add others easier
fixed crashing bug when enemies stacked and were shot with 1 bullet
enemies now follow player when visible on screen, otherwise resume patrolling
replaced 2 of 3 enemy graphics, unfortunately they look exactly the
same at small size so I used my elite texturing skills to change 1 to
gray
replaced gem images with a gold bar
changed HUD text color from yellow to red
One of the biggest updates is that we now have a
youtube channel to showcase development in progress. The most recent video is from the update before this one, but I should be doing a new one in a few days when I get the new background images in place.
--Tom
Since the last update I sent out to my team on Tuesday, I've made lots of changes and updates. Including the following:
Added 'Buy' to pause menu if trial mode (360 only)
'Buy' on main menu if trial mode (360 only)
precision aiming 0-45 degrees (360 and pc with 360 controller only)
slowed autofire (hold button down), fast active fire (button tapping)
fixed floating in player death animation
added empty clip sound
replaced background music
lots of backend code clean up and optimizations
only draw visible items
powerups/collectibles as templates to add others easier
fixed crashing bug when enemies stacked and were shot with 1 bullet
enemies now follow player when visible on screen, otherwise resume patrolling
replaced 2 of 3 enemy graphics, unfortunately they look exactly the
same at small size so I used my elite texturing skills to change 1 to
gray
replaced gem images with a gold bar
changed HUD text color from yellow to red
One of the biggest updates is that we now have a
youtube channel to showcase development in progress. The most recent video is from the update before this one, but I should be doing a new one in a few days when I get the new background images in place.
--Tom
Starlit Sky Games has officially been changed to Starlit Sky Games, LLC as of November 24, 2008. It is registered with the Secretary of State in Texas. It only took 4 business days from the time I filed until they mailed out the certificate, and that wasn't even with their expedited processing.
I got a new iPhone today and I'm posting this while waiting for my truck yearly inspection. I should probably link in some twitter or other short message because a long blog will take a long time. Oh yeah, I've been working my day job a lot lately but I'm still making slow progress on my games. Expect to see one in about a month, around the time of the austin gdc. Now if only I had an easy way to do development while sitting here.
Island Survival Run is a game I created for the Game 1010 Video Game Programming class at ACC. Screenshots are now in the photo gallery and I will have the game packaged up and ready for download soon. It was made using TorqueX on top of Microsoft's XNA Framework. The art and audio come from the TGB Adventure Kit.
Synopsis:
You've been shipwrecked on an island. You must quest to the other
side, surviving 1 day at a time. Your journey is made more difficult
by the roaming natives. Thankfully you have a crossbow and arrows,
unfortunately so do they. Your arrow count is limited, however when
you kill one of the natives you can retrieve your arrows from them.
I just noticed it's been over a year since I've made a front page post. I've made several blog posts (http://www.starlitskygames.com/blogs/), but those don't show up here. I think I'm going to edit the site so all my blog posts show up on the front page.
Anyway, recent news is that I'm working on my next company game, as well as working with a group of individuals on another larger game.
I'm still working on my next company project, but I have also started working with some others on a project. We are still working on the vision documents for the game, and I need to work on filling out the technical spec document. I'm a little concerned because it is a fairly large undertaking (ok, it's a multiplayer online game) for such an unitiated group of people. I have no doubt we can get it completed given enough time, I believe we mostly have the necessary skills. My concern revolves around the whole time thing and keeping motivation up during it for everyone involved. Especially since all of us are part time. I can see this project stretching for a year or more. If we are able to get funding once our demo is complete, then that should help get it complete faster, but it's still going to take a while unless we can get enough funding to go full time.
We'll see in a few months when our demo is done and we start showing it to publishers.
You caught me. I didn't shut the site down. I was going to, but didn't. After taking a few weeks off I started back up. I spent some time learning XNA and I am currently in the process of converting Sky Defender to XNA 2.0. Then I plan on jumping into my next big game. I am currently undecided if I will use TorqueX, which I have a license to, or just use straight XNA. I'm leaning towards XNA since TorqueX hasn't been updated to work with 2.0 yet.
I've recently become involved in some projects outside of my company, Starlit Sky Games, and it's going to take me atleast another year to finish my next project for SSG. At my day job, I'm being kept busier as well. I've also been making great strides in my personal life. I just don't have the time to maintain this website, which is still on outdated 2 year old version of Community Server.
In short, I will be e-moving and shutting down this site over the next few weeks. For those who want to keep up with me, there will be several ways: I am TOgburn on gmail, myspace (http://www.myspace.com/togburn), and my new blog on spaces.live.com (http://togburn.spaces.live.com). All future posts will be on my spaces.live.
So, my divorce has been over for a while. In the end I got pretty darn close to what I wanted, which is much more than I was led to believe I would get in the biased Texas (US?) family law system. We have joint custody, with me having a little over half of Alexandria's time and determining primary residence and I had to give up very little. Of course, my attorney suggested I not talk about it or my daughter online anymore, so if you want details contact me privately. Suffice it to say, if there is something you feel strongly enough about, go for it; the only real loss would be if you never try.
Since then... Starlit Sky Games is back on track. I've begun work on my next game which will be an old-school 2d platformer and I will be looking for artist (anime style) and musician contractors soon. More on that in a future post.
Also, I've met a brilliant, sexy woman, but she needs to relax a little with a good massage. Yes, I know you are googling me now and that is an offer. ;)
Future posts will be a little more professional and business oriented, but I had to indulge my loyal friends who have been wondering if I was still alive and asking for an update.
My work laptop had a hard drive failure the middle of last week. I was working at about 8:00 pm when I heard the drive start scratching and struggling to read. Two minutes later I got a blue screen and a refusal to boot or even recognize the drive existed. Recovering from a hard drive crash is hard. Well, more annoying than hard. I backed up my dev data on a weekly basis, so I really only lost a few days worth of work. The annoying part is I didn't back up my favorites, RSS feeds, and Start Menu settings. Basically all the little things that really make a computer yours and make it comfortable. In the end, it's probably better to get a fresh start on favorites and feeds; if I can't remember it then I probably don't need to waste my time on it. But it's still really annoying to lose all those links I used once in a blue moon, but that took forever to find in the first place. I'm currently using a loaner laptop while I wait for my new one to be ordered. My old one was just a few months beyond old enough to be fully depricated so they couldn't fix it and I had to get a new one.
I do plan to add all those little things to my backup scripts so I don't have to go through this again.
Note: This post is a part of an article and series of blog posts about my ongoing divorce and custody battle for my daughter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I learned my next life lesson from an unexpected source, a complete stranger.
I took Alexandria in search of a Gymboree with a play area that one of my friends had told me about. The only one I knew about was in the Arboretum area. So, after I got off work I gave Alexandria a bath and got her dressed up, then we headed out. We found the Gymboree there, however it was only a small one with clothes. So we walked around and saw an Amy's Ice Cream. I asked Alexandria if she wanted some, and her usual response to any "Do you want ..." question is yes.
While we were eating our ice cream (a small mexican vanilla) I was talking to my friend on the phone about some of the events of the past few days. A young lady whom Alexandria had been waving to and smiling at overheard part of the conversation and we started talking. She talked about how when she was only 2 her parents got divorced. She couldn't remember much, but she did remember that every weekend her dad had her they would see a movie together. Even now, that is "their thing". She suggested that we do something similar to help keep a strong bond, perhaps even a weekly ice cream trip. After that her friend showed up and they left. I have Alexandria late on Wednesdays so that would give us more time to do something... Maybe it will be just getting ice cream and watching the people go by.
Life Lesson Learned: Have a Daddy Daughter Day. Something unique that the two of you do together, just spending time and building memories. It can be as simple as watching a movie or having ice cream. Just do it consistently week after week (or every 2 weeks, or any set time) and make it a priority. Make that your time together, bonding, and show that your time together is important enough that only extreme emergencies should interfere with it.
Sky Defender and my next few mini games will be free.
Click HERE for the download.
My last few personal blog posts tell why and I am writing an article with more details and the download links.
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