Zones

Let's see. So far, my (and my wife's) ideas for zones are:

• Circus
• Temple
• Swamp
• Underwater

I think there was one more, but I can't remember it right now. I need to figure out that last zone, and then the big problem is graphics. My pixel art is getting a bit better, but I'm going to need quite a bit of it for this game. I wouldn't mind including hats (or something) but that'd need even more art.

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Details

Well, I think I've finally decided what to do with the physics. Grapnel 1's physics works just fine, so I think I'll leave that alone and focus on other things to differentiate the two games.

My idea right now is to have different areas, with different hazards and different scoring systems. So in the Circus area, there might be flaming hoops to jump through. That'll also give the player a use for all those coins. (That, and maybe hats. Everyone seems to like hats.)

Of course, I need to make an interesting list of areas. So far, I've got the Circus and the Jungle Temple... but that's about it. (I'll need at least 5. Feel free to comment if you have any ideas.) Then I'll also need graphics for all that...

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Still here

Just stopping by to say that I'm still around. No comments, so I don't know if anyone else is. :)

Anyway, I want to work on Grapnel 2 some, but I can't think of anything that would make it significantly different, gameplay-wise, from Grapnel 1. I do want to add some upgrades so there's something to do with all the coins you collect. I also want to add different areas, but that's mostly just different graphics. Any areas you'd want to see?

The physics is going nowhere. I can't think of anything else to try. I'll probably just end up going back to the Grapnel 1 model.

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In case anyone's wondering, I haven't given up on Grapnel 2. It's approaching finals week and I've got a lot of grading to do. Right after that I have some family business to attend to. But then it'll be summer and I'll have a lot more time to work on this.

In the mean time, I'm trying to figure out what to do with the game. I don't really like how the new physics are working. I might just use the same physics as Grapnel 1 but leave the extra bits in just for the graphics. It seems like a bit of a waste though.

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Delays

Well, I got distracted near the end of spring break, then I had too much work and school to deal with over the past week or two, but that's settled down for now. Unfortunately, I've mostly lost my sense of "I need to get this done." I have a really hard time working without deadlines.

In an effort to get back in to a game-programming mood, I feel like working on a rogue-like for a bit. I've always wanted to make one, but I never get very far before getting hung up on different bits. (I think last time I was trying to make a good island generator and couldn't figure the rivers out.) Anyway, I probably won't get very far this time either, but hopefully it'll help me get back on track with Grapnel 2.

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End of Spring Break

Well, I didn't manage to finish my game in a single week. I got distracted by TopCoder events and other things for the last half of the week. I'm not going to abandon the project though. Here's a demo so far:

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Control

The control scheme's been throwing me off. The physics code works fine until I try and get it to react to the mouse. Nothing I've tried works very well.

My first thought was to have the mouse control the rotation of the center joint of the character. (The character is made up of three points with a single joint at the middle point.) Doing that interferes with the rest of the physics code though. I can't really tell how it feels to play because of that. (Verlet physics isn't great at handling rotational constraints.)

My second try was to just move either the hands or feet towards the mouse. That works better, especially with a bit of code to prevent the center of mass from moving. Unfortunately, it makes the rope really springy when you move the mouse around. It's too hard to play.

For a third try, I went back to the original method of just adding a force towards the mouse. Applying the force to the hands or feet works fairly well, but doesn't give much control over doing flips and the like.

For the moment, I'm trying to apply a force on the hand or feet towards the mouse, and a force on the joint away from the mouse. This should give the player some ability to flip without making the rope too bouncy or other such errors. Now I've just got to get the numbers right.

Using the Verlet physics does miss one thing though. Raising your arms should increase your moment of inertia, which makes you spin more slowly. The Verlet ragdoll model doesn't track moment of inertia explicitly, and I don't know if it works implicitly. I suppose it doesn't matter too much, since you'd probably want to control both the arms and legs to really take advantage of something like that.

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