Week 12

JT

Spear Grapple:

Goo Shot:

SHANE

Peasant Armor Ability and New Death Explosion:

WYATT

Barracks:

Wooden Room:

Third Floor Pattern:

Week 11

Want to see some new stuff in action? Check out this video that JT made this morning:

So what's new this week? Shane has been busy getting the peasant armor 100% finished. He also added animations for the bow and spear abilities. Check out these awesome new animations:

I did some HUD work. I redid the HP Gears and replaced them with 'ticks'. These are much easier on the eyes, easier to count, and they compress well. You can see them in JT's video. Note that they will be adjacent for next week. Also note that they change color to yellow / red when the player's HP drops to 1/2 and 1/4, respectively.

I converted the main menu into symbols and uploaded it all into the SVN so that JT could make it usable. It is also available to view in JT's video. You can also see the new HUD layout I've designed as well -- note that everything is compressed at the top of the screen so that nothing will obscure the player's vision of the battlefield. I've also located some more sound effects, this time for the ninja, spear, and bow abilities. I'll be editing these and they'll be in-game for next week.

Lastly, I've been working on creating some finalized level art. It may not look like much, but I think I've nailed down the style I'll be using. Here's a sneak peek:

The room - first pass

Close-up

Mountains of gold

Cobblestones

JT has been working to resolve issues with the school firewall (interfering with network play) as well as a nasty memory issue where all the art we've made is hogging a ton of resources due to an annoying feature built into Ex2D that increases each file's size.

He also managed to add some new UI elements, and shift the UI around towards a finalized version (it's not there yet, but it's getting close!) He added the weapon/armor ability cooldown icons and got the main menu working as well.

Should all go as planned, you'll be seeing peasant armor in-game next week, and maybe a new environment for the bots to battle in.

Week 10

This week has been heavy on behind-the-scenes work. JT has been busy resolving networking and animation bugs. That means no video this week. But it also equates to a smoother experience for you, dear reader!

After a rigorous musical odyssey, I have procured a sweet selection of music for our game. I'll be matching these bumpin' beats with the gameplay, main menu, and victory screen very soon. Here are a few samples:

Shogun
Connecting to Japan
Mist of Battle

I finished up the teleporter, created Ability Cooldown HUD elements, and made Kill Tracker weapon silhouettes as well.

I've also made first-pass menus. Check these out:

Shane started working on the bow's new special ability, the goo-shot, which traps its victim in place for a couple seconds.

And he got a ton of spear animations done as well.
See you next week!

Week 9 -- Content-palooza

We've started coding in the bow (AKA the Ronin's Recurve). It's still in its very earliest form, but the basic functionality is in. Check it out below:


Shane has been creating the body and and hat/hair assets for the robots.

He's also been working on converting animations to the samurai armor.


In the background, I've been planning the layout for the level. I also made a scoreboard, a bunch of environmental assets, and I've started work on a teleporter which players will spawn from. Check it:

You can try the game here:

http://users.wpi.edu/~jthomas/imgd/WebPlayerTest/WebPlayer%201-28/WebPlayer.html

Week 8 -- Abilities and housecleaning

Happy new year! Bushido Bots is back and we've made some cool improvements. Check out this video JT made, showing off a functional capture beacon, sound effects, the armory, an objective point HUD element, parrying and recoil, the new death animation, and the first armor ability: ninja stealth. POOF!



Shane has been busy making more character art. Check it all out!

Standard issue bow projectile. Also known as an "arrow" by some.

Rocket -- a special bow attack!

Left: upper body of samurai armor
Right: Draft of Peasant armor

Next week we'll likely be showing off the scoreboard, some archery, red models, animations with a new armor type, an improved HUD, and more sounds added in. See you then!

-Wyatt

Week 7 -- Cleanup, and a look back

Hey all, the team wanted to push out one last update before the inevitable Mayan Apocalypse. Check out the following video, which shows off all of the features of the game after one term of work.

-Networked Multiplayer
-Animations
-Capturable Points functioning (hard to see currently, but they are!)
-Health Bar
-Gold Pickups
-Gold Counter
-First pass of the Armory menu
-Win/Loss condititons
-Map auto-reset after win/loss



The big adventure ahead for the next couple months will be:

-Implementing a couple more combat mechanics
-Up to eight new weapons and armors, plus their abilities
-An improved environment
-Lots of beautiful sound effects and some sweet music!


Happy Apocalypse!

Week 5 and 6 -- Armory, HUD, Presentations, etc.

Between creating and preparing for a presentation to our faculty advisor, and finals week, its been a stressful couple of weeks for the Bushido Bots team. We have, however, managed to find time to make plenty of progress. Feel free to check out our first 'term presentation' below:



The objective markers, showing who owns the point (background color) and who/how many are capturing the point (colored numbers):

Here's the recoil animation that plays if your attack is parried by an opponent:

The Blade Rush ability animation for the katana:
 Here's a shot of the Armory, where you spend gold on weapons and armor between lives. Take a look at the final selection of weaponry, which is showcased on the left. (The armor on the right is placeholder art)

Here are the various heads that can appear in-game on your robot:

A red version of the bot:


And that's it for this week. We'll be working over winter break so we can make as much progress as possible before the end of the year. See you in a few weeks!