Officially I am announcing my first indie project. The game will be a casual 2D game with 3D models. It will be built on the XNA platform for Xbox 360: Indie Games using Torque X 2D. As of now the team will be myself and a co-worker, Steve Santarpia in a collaboration we are calling New Seattle Games. Steve will handle the art and I will handle the Design, C# programming, Production, and Deployment.

Here is a very basic preleminary project schedule:
Randy:
Research and Design – 6 Weeks
Core Mechanics – 6 Weeks
UI Programming – 4 Weeks
Level Creation - 6 Weeks
Sound Creation – 2 Weeks
QA – 4 Weeks
Deployment to 360 – 2 Weeks

Total: 7.5 Months

Steve:
Concept Art – 4 Weeks
Modeling – 8 Weeks
Texturing – 4 Weeks
Rigging/Animation – 4 Weeks

Total: 5 Months

More details to come soon!

I’m still new to blogging and thus still realizing my mistakes as I go. During the development of the CRT prototype I was providing links to builds. This was fine for anyone who was reading the blogs as I developed but I realize if people are going back that they will be unable to find certain downloads that have been overwritten (i.e. Latest.zip) or files that have moved.

Going forward I will be sure to point out temporary links to differentiate them from permanent links. Also, all downloads can be accessed through my portfolio’s Downloads page.

All my courses are officially finished now that all assignments have been graded.

I’m now looking forward to the next project. After doing some research and asking myself what exactly I want to accomplish with this next project, I have decided to do a Microsoft Xbox 360 Community Games product. I’m still deciding on whether to use Garage Game’s TX2D or their TX3D. I will make my decision after working more on the design and researching more on Torque X in general. I plan to purchase the Complete Guide to Torque X by John Kanalakis. The reason I am truly excited about working with either of these engines is because they highly rely on C# and I am looking forward to doing some actual programming.

I will have more on the actual game design in the appropriate blog category when I have it.

In other news I will be updating my portfolio at least on the backend, this week.

Unfortunately I was unable to make any significant changes to the last build before having to submit for grading. But it is a great feeling to know that I gave it my all.

I am very ecstatic about what I have accomplished these last couple weeks and especially of the last four days.

For having to complete a game (in my case a prototype of a game) in such a small amount of time by myself, I feel that I have accomplished more than I could have asked for. This project has opened my eyes to parts of the development cycle that I have never experienced before. I over came working with a brand new engine (TGB), having to create all the art assets (be it programmer art or not), and create all the major development documents while still holding a job as a full time tester.
This definitely will not be my last indie project. I plan on continuing to gain experience by building simple games using various engines in the Garage Games catalog. It is important to me that I finish a game in its entirety. I will look at starting projects that I can learn valuable skills and have a successful finished product.

This isn’t the last time you’ll hear of Crooks’ Road Trip. I will be sure to clean up the code and the project files when I get the chance. I will also post my professor’s review.

Thanks for reading my development blog for CRT!

Downloads will now be on the download page of my portfolio:
RandysPortfolio.com/Downloads.html

Sound is the only functionality missing.

I’ve been working nonstop for an entire day now. I’m going to try and rest. After doing other work for school (Discussion, Ilab, Quiz, Reading, and Team Work) I will try and fix some bugs and possibly add sound.

I’m in crunch mode for sure right now. It’s all coming down to the wire. All my builds are blurring together. I’ve fixed many issues but many more appear with every build drop.

Big changes to this build. Added semitruck New Jersey Mission. Stopped state signs from appearing more than once. Fixed the exit trigger. Tweaked the Fed AI but barely… it is still pretty bad. Added RI indicator. Total of three missions now.

Overall I think this build shows the potential of CRT.

Downloads:
CRT-Prototype2.0.zip
Latest.zip (Download to play)

Minus sound and an indicator for R/I… this pretty much has all the functionality that I plan on getting into the prototype. The two missing elements above will come next as I create a New Jersey Mission.

I’ve also started fixing some functionality bugs. I’ll hopefully get some feedback from my Devry group and then start hacking away at QA.

Downloads:
CRT-Prototype1.0.zip
Latest.zip (Download this one to play)

Project due tomorrow night and unfortuantely there is more to it than just getting features in. I’ve got two more builds after this, one will add in a mission to show off that functionality and the other hopefully will add sound. Then I’ll focus on cleaning up the project files and fixing major bugs. Finally, I’ll create the users manual based off of the current features and submit my senior project.

This build adds vehicle weapons as well as the simple Fed Car AI. The fed car drops grenades as he passes. If the player doesn’t destroy the fed car they will be killed and taken back to just before they ran in to the fed. There are a few Fed Car triggers throughout the entire trip.

Downloads:
CRT-WM3.zip
Latest.zip (Download this one to play)

Drug trafficking is now the first feature that works throughout the game that adds some actual gameplay.

The player will get an exit 5 miles after getting into each state. If taken, the exit will take the player to a drug house. The player can then buy as much drugs as they can afford. There are three types of drugs. Herbs, Pills, and Powder. The player can then sell the drugs at a later exit where prices will vary.

I tested it all the way to California and was able to make $26875… not bad for a trip across country. : )

One flaw that will have to be addressed because I’m afraid it may have already broken my left mouse button, the how drugs are bought and sold. I will be adding a text input to give the mouse click a break.

Downloads:
CRT-SM2.zip
Latest.zip (Download this one to play)

I’ve been focusing each build on a different section of the game. I’ve just started the story element of CRT.

This build is fairly buggy but I’m just trying to cut a milestone for all major features and then go back and improve them.

Right now you can drive the car and the miles will start ticking away. After certain distances you will reach a new state (there are 13 states in all). Each state begins with a popup that has some story elements in it. I will be tweaking these and blending them in with the missions as I go.

I’ve also added in an exit. Now I can throw in an exit whenever I want that will lead to a side mission. For now I only plan for the exits to lead to a drug hosue where you purchase and sell drugs. I haven’t created the drug selling feature yet.

I’ve also tweaked the Mission Select screen. Now you see all 13 states and as soon as I add missions you will be able to choose which mission you want to start by navigating to the state you currently are in.

Downloads:
CRT-SM1.zip
Latest.zip

As my first project wraps up and I finish my degree in Game/Simulation Programming, I’ve started to plan my next game project.

I’ve learned so much from Crooks’ Road Trip that I really want to put it to use in a brand new clean project.

I won’t release any details yet but keep an eye for a new game project category. I’ll update it with my goals for the project as well as design information as soon as I have it.