Week 122: Bugfixes, Respriting, and Level Editor (Patreon)

This week too I worked on the Breakout game! I was supposed to work on progression and finishing the game etc, and instead I reworked half the sprites in the game, did a lot of bug fixing (which is actually good) and worked on a level editor.

I have mixed feelings about my decision-making there. On the one hand, I really think the game looks better now than it did before I rework half the sprites in the game. On the other hand, this was a very unnecessary thing to do. I guess there's no point drilling on it, at least the game does look better than it used to.

You can see on this gif I added a small gameplay feature: every 5000 points, you get a free power-up. The power-ups are essential to the gameplay in this game, and they might be the most satisfying part of it as well, so I figured I'd make sure the player doesn't run out of them. It also makes the multiplier power-up a lot more interesting.

What you cannot see on this gif is all the tiny bugs I fixed along the week. Mostly bugs, when the ball hits the corner of a brick or the paddle. It was pretty messy to deal with but after a few hours into it, I found a rather elegant solution that efficiently limited the angle of the ball's bounce-back.

Something else I've been doing this week is making levels for the game. I've been doing it with Aseprite, with all the levels being color-coded in one png. I made 9 levels already, tested and balanced, but it was a lot slower than I expected, so I got the idea to make a level editor. Then I got the idea to make it more than a dev tool and incorporate it into the game.

This level editor is actually mostly today's work. I just got the level-testing part to work before writing this. (although you can't actually go back to level editing after testing just yet :X)

I will be using this editor to make the rest of the levels. And then finish the editor itself, make it user-friendly etc.

My plan for this game is to release two versions once it's finished. One version will be free. The other will have the level editor, as well as a few additional levels from myself, and (maybe) two exclusive power-ups. (and maybe other stuff, idk)

Considering how work on this has been going, I'm expecting to release that in late-september, early october. Hopefully by then I will be completely done with this project and have already moved on to the next one. Note that Patreon supporters will get access to the free version before every one else, before the premium version (and the free version itself probably) is finished. I'd say this will happen in the first half of September. (it should have happened three weeks ago but I'm playing with the "bloating projects" curse - It's getting close though)

And since I mentioned Patreon, here's your weekly notice about the fact that my Patreon supporters literally help me live and work on those crazy projects, and that they have my never-ending gratitude for it. Here are the names of the 3$+ supporters:

Joseph White, Ryan Malm, rotatetranslate, Anne Le Clech, Andreas Bretteville, Austin East, berkfrei, Bitzawolf, Chris McCluskey, Christian Östman, Cole Smith, Dan Lewis, Dan Rees-Jones, Dave Hoffman, Flo Devaux, Giles Graham, HERVAN, Jearl, Jefff, Joel Jorgensen, Marcin Majewski, Marty Kovach, Meru, Paul Nguyen, Reza Esmaili, Sasha Bilton, slono, Thomas Wright, Tim and Alexandra Swast, Zachary Cook, amy, Andrew Reitano, Brent Werness, Collin Caldwell, Finn Ellis, Giovan, Jakub Wasilewski, Qristy Overton, Andrew Reist, hushcoil, Jacel the Thing, Jeremy Bouin, Jesse Bergerstock, Max Cahill, Pierre B., Sean S. LeBlanc, vaporstack

This has been a rather good week all-in-all. There was good progress on the Breakout game, even though the goal-post keeps shifting a little further every week. I'll reach it.

This coming week, I'm working some more on the level editor, then I'm working on more levels, and then on making the game put those levels together. And then I'm taking half the week off to go in Britain with my partner! I'll be back on Monday, so there should still be a Weekly Recap next week!

Have a great week!

Take care!

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