November

What’s next? This month’s schedule.

| Taro Omiya

So now that Prototype: Murakami has unfortunately been delayed, what’s next? Well, we have a ton of stuff coming, and we think a little transparency is in order. Here are all the big events going on at Omiya Games:

First, a Pie for Breakfast game called Dead Man’s Trail is going to be submitted for Indies in the Middle at Smithsonian in DC. And naturally, we’re giving as much help as we can for the project to meet the live-judging deadline. We’ll keep you up to date on how that goes.

Second, we’re collaborating with Indies Need Booze to create next month’s free game for them. Jacob, the organizer, has been incredibly supportive of our games, and it’s only fair we return the favor. We’ll have more about that in the coming few weeks.

With two projects going on at once, we won’t have the time complete a game for November’s #OneGameAMonth. What does this mean to the Patreon donors? Good news! Donors will not be charged this month. The campaign is setup so that donors are charged only when a game is out, so this month, they get a break and keep those precious dollars for holiday shopping.

Lastly, this leaves December. We’ll be helping Tech Valley Game Space to organize Ludum Dare, the world’s largest online game jam, in the Troy, NY. This major event will take up the majority of December, since even after the 72-hour development period, there’s still a 3 week period of voting. We’ll probably do a lot of live streams playing other people’s games, so stay tuned about that.

Ludum Dare 31 (Jam & Compo)

Friday, Dec 5, 2014, 7:00 PM

Tech Valley Game Space
291 River St, Suite 304 (3rd floor) Troy, NY

5 Space Cadets Went

Are you ready to get started on the largest, longest running Online Game Jam in the world? Let’s kick-off the Ludum Dare challenge, both Jam (team, 72-hours) and Compo (solo, 48-hours), with a bang! Remember to read the rules and post on the Ludum Dare site that you’ll be participating this exciting event:http://ludumdare.com/compo/rules/Please …

Check out this Meetup →

Hopefully that makes our situation a little more clear, as well as explain why Prototype: Murakami was delayed a full 2 months. In the meantime, we have updated Suddenly, Thousands to fix several bugs, including the camera being obstructed by walls all the time. Expect an update on all the web portals soon.

Prototype: Murakami Progress #13 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Today, I finally ironed out a lot of bugs I had left-over on the point & click puzzle portions of the game. The items being dragged around different puzzles now rotate to the correct orientation. The cursor now changes based on what action you take. Finally, the cursor appears in the game only when it needs to, i.e. when buttons appear, or you’re in a point & click puzzle portion. This means that I can finally get started on the combat portion of the game.

PrototypeMurakami13

Actually, I take that back. I plan on taking a break for a few days due to certain circumstances (a birthday to celebrate, a few unfinished choirs, etc.). At least this time it’s a scheduled break from development. I plan to be back on this project Monday next week, so stay tuned!

Prototype: Murakami Progress #12 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Hey, guys. Sorry for the late update. Last time, I said I was going to work on several things, including fixing the menu placement and making items persistent. While there’s no save slots to store your progress, you can now carry objects from one location to another with ease. Additionally, when the pistol is in the characters inventory, not only will she be carrying the gun around, she’ll carry it with her after entering doors as well! Things are finally shaping up!

PrototypeMurakami12

I only have a few more issues related to the point & click puzzle portions to iron out, including the orientation of the items when using them between different locations. I can finally get started on the combat portion very soon.

Prototype: Murakami Progress #09 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

After a wave of events that happened at once around this weekend, I’ve took a bit of break on Tuesday before getting back on Prototype: Murakami. Right now, the current build is very broken, so there won’t be an automated post today, but there is a new screenshot to show off.

PrototypeMurakami09

Yup, Unity-chan is finally holding a gun. The plan is to have this as an equip-able item during the puzzle sequences, so there may be portions where you have to sacrifice your pistol for a brief moment to get through a certain passage. How thrilling!

And for early credits, the pistol was created by Lotnik, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

Prototype: Murakami Progress #08 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

I update the point & click portion of Prototype: Murakami with a rear-view mirror and an inventory space to drop your items into. There’s no items per se in the game yet, but the graphics are there for demonstration. At least the plank of wood now doesn’t look that bad anymore.

PrototypeMurakami08

So what’s with the rear-view mirror? Well, the idea is that time doesn’t stop when you’re approaching a point & click puzzle. While attempting to assess the puzzle, you’ll also have to keep track of what’s going on behind your character. This means I might put a few jump scares during the puzzle portion…

Prototype: Murakami Progress #07 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Yesterday, I spent some time working on the point & click puzzle portion…and found it a lot more difficult than I expected. The point & click puzzle itself exists in the 3D space, so to convert that space into 2D controls requires a lot more math. So instead, I switched tasks and started on something simpler: being able to look around in third-person aiming mode.

PrototypeMurakami07

Similar to Resident Evil 4, this causes your character to stop moving entirely. Additionally, aiming is done using a laser rather than a reticle. Killer7 fans should immediately recognize what this part is for: to emulate the incredibly disjointed combat portion, just in third-person perspective.

Prototype: Murakami Progress #06 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Today was a an incredibly busy day with the Bacon Game Jam voting period going on and the inauguration of the Tech Valley Game Space. I was able to fit in a few hours for Prototype: Murakami, though, to start on the point & click portion of the game. Behold!

PrototypeMurakami06

Alright, I admit it, it’s just a plank of wood. And I don’t think I’ll get any cookies when I say getting to here was a lot harder than I expected. Rest assured the next update will be a lot more interesting. In fact, you can playtest it right now!

Prototype: Murakami Progress #05 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Now that the Bacon Game Jam has started, here’s a quick update: I fixed the buttons from last time. I’ve also improved the camera animation to react more quickly. Similar updates has been made to the menus as well. As mentioned earlier, point & click puzzles will be next.

PrototypeMurakami05

While I’m working on Bacon Game Jam, there might be a mysterious post that claims it’s automated. That’s the playable build of Prototype: Murakami! Now that the game is in a testable state, I’ve configured the automated system to post publicly to this blog. The prototype is, well, in super-early state, but it should bring better context to these development updates.

Prototype: Murakami Progress #04 (November 2014 #OneGameAMonth)

| Taro Omiya

Yesterday, I finished the navigation, and had a working menu system to navigate from one path to another. Today, I added in camera animations to provide better view on the paths the character can take. I’m still working on update the buttons to indicate direction, but as you can see in the screenshot below, I’ve made some progress on that as well.

PrototypeMurakami04

Once I fix the buttons (you can tell the text leaking out of the screen), the plan is to start on the Point & Click puzzles. For a week-long effort, it’s exciting to see the navigation working, but I still have a long way to go!