I took a break after releasing 4kg: Prototype because I wanted to see how it would do if I wasn’t propping it up with blog posts here, and also because I had some other things I wanted to take care of first. Then, I got re-addicted to MapleStory, and then Google+ came out. So that was basically two extra weeks.
But now I’m back on the wagon. Yesterday I finally started work on the final level design for the game. If you remember, my last three completion updates have pegged the level designs as “94% complete.” This was because they lacked the final level. That level is now about 50% designed — it’s a really, really big level.
Coding-wise, I was able to get the fullscreen mode working correctly thanks to this post by HTML5Rocks. What do I mean? I mean that aspect ratio is now preserved when switching to full screen. I attempted to get this working before, but none of my hacks really cut it — so for 4kg: Prototype, I went with the simplest option: make it 100% wide and high regardless of aspect ratio.
I wish CSS had a rule like:
#game {
width: 100%;
max-height: 100%;
ratio: 1.0;
}
Or something, I’m not really in CSS mode so forgive me if that wouldn’t work. :P
The last thing I want to touch on is my interview with the HTML5 gaming blog, HTML5Grind. They asked about the project, engine, and what I was going to do next. Most of it all of you should know if you follow this blog, but I’ll repost this which you may not know:
H5G: What’s next?
AR: I’m in the middle of designing my next two projects right now. The next one is pretty different from 4kg and I’m really excited by the possibilities. Even counting all of videogames — console, mobile, web, PC — it’s not a type of game that’s been done all that much before.
The one after that… it’s kind of like 4kg. But I can’t say anything else without giving too much away. It’s an extremely ambitious project that will require a dedicated sprite artist and maybe even another coder in addition to myself.
Both will be HTML5 games and will be available on the Chrome Web Store. I haven’t decided yet if they’ll be “exclusive” to the Web Store, but they’ll definitely be optimized in every possible way.
Finally, although this something I do in my spare time (of which I do have a lot), I would really like to work on these games as a career. However it’s quite hard to get any sort of funding (either investments or donations) if you make games for the web, as compared to mobile. If it’s possible at all, then that’s what I’ll be doing.
I wanted to clarify some of the things I said here. Basically, even though I said I’m in the middle of designing my next two projects, I’m not seriously developing them yet. 4kg is still the primary focus of my game development, it’s just that I never stop getting ideas for games and when things pop into my head nowadays, I jot them down for these two projects. 4kg has been design-locked for a while now, and until a few months ago it was a real struggle keeping my creativity in check while I worked on 4kg.
As for the two games themselves, this doesn’t even mean I’ll be developing them simultaneously. The first game I talked about will come out some time after 4kg, and then the game after that will come out some time even later. So I’m not taking on the world and thinking I’m invincible, either. I know I can only work on one thing at a time.
Finally, for my last comment about working on these full time… What I mean by “if it’s possible at all, that’s what I’ll be doing,” I really mean that. Right now I’m exploring every possible option to see if it’s feasible at all. If there’s even the tiniest chance it is, I’ll do it. The thing is, getting to work on someone else’s game idea is relatively easy — you still have to apply for a job and go through all that, but the number of people working on an idea outnumber the amount of ideas being worked on… get it?
Anyways, if anyone out there knows about making a game startup, or startup in general I’d love to hear from you. Maybe just some advice or tips. For anyone else out there in a position like mine, this site seems to have a lot of great info, so check it out.
Back to 4kg, looking at some of the other level designs, I’ve gotten more confidence that I’ll be able to deliver a good game. I was disheartened to realize the game in its current state isn’t necessarily great, but I think the final game will be something special and worth playing.
-Andrex
