This is the comment that I got the most after I have released the latest demo of Trapped in Time. Playtesters expressed that they enjoyed the game and its new features but there wasn’t enough to keep them from playing even longer. Now this is a problem.

One suggestion was to have more enemy variety. This has been my to-do list for quite awhile now but I really didn’t think too much about it. Now, I know better. I need to come up with enemies that would give players more challenge. In line with this, I am also thinking of putting a boss character to spice things up.

Another one is to think up of more mechanics. Sure jumping around and shooting stuff is fun, but some felt that more could be done.

I’ve taken everyone’s comments and will make sure to consider it while working on the next build. Rest assured that I will make the game even more fun.

If you have any more comments suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

A lot has been added and is almost finished. If you have time, kindly download the game, test it out, and leave a comment below if you have any comments or suggestions. Download links can be seen at the end of this post.

New Features:

• Freeze Ray – Freezes enemies. Once frozen you can smash them to kill them instantly.
• Splitting Bullets
• Arc Lightning Gun – Lightning jumps randomly from enemy to enemy damaging them
• Familiars – Kinda like mini helpers that shoot enemies that are near
• Mortar Launcher
• Rocket Launcher
• A power-up that could slow or reverse the movement of the clock
• Force Field
• New sprites
• New effects
• Better controls
• Scoring System
• HUD is now on the screen displaying number of bullets as well as health
• Improved and cleaner graphics

Download:

• Zip format
• Rar format

In the following days I shall be posting new videos and maybe a demo for you guys to try out.

I am also thinking of redesigning the site so expect that as well.

Cheers!

Check out the new screenshots below:

And also, here’s a playable demo if you really want to check it out!

Download link to Zip file
Download link to Rar file

Download it, play it, and tell me what you think. I’m open to any comments and suggestions! Cheers!

Be sure to watch it in HD with annotations turned on for the commentary.

Feel free to share your thoughts!

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Hi guys,

I’ve done some coding already making programs and games but I still want to learn more, and at a much faster pace.

So which can make me learn faster? Should I go down and dirty and manually code a game from the ground up? I figured that this will make me learn the concepts of game making and programming up close and personal. However, I think that by doing this, too much time will be wasted worrying on how to code a particular problem. Not to mention doing countless of trial and errors just to make the concept execute right (But then again, I kinda like the challenge of being able to solve the problem).

Or should I make use of a game making program and see how it does the coding, how it executes the concepts? I figured that by doing so, I can be able to see how the said program applies its collision system or how it simulates physics. I bet that this would save me a lot of time but at the expense of learning less.

After awhile, people started posting their answers. Here are some that were really helpful:

Here’s a reply from Alex May:

Learning faster is a tough one. Depending on your capability, the harder you go the faster you’ll learn. So dropping yourself right into making your own engine and learning all the maths and system design and software engineering on the fly will possibly be the fastest. Unfortunately that’s too much for most people and to ease yourself into it you can use game making software to get the principles down or go with some scripting solution and a game engine (e.g. torque) or work directly with a game engine (e.g. unity), or code on top of a lower level framework/engine (e.g. sdl, ogre etc).

From bateleur:

My advice would be to work on a series of very short, non-commercial projects. Each should be a playable game, but completed as quickly as is practical. Put in as many hours as you can. If, after a particular project, you feel like the technology you’re using is holding you back then switch to something a bit more powerful for the next one.

This will work much better than jumping in at the deep and and then becoming stuck and disillusioned.

From Joe Griffin:

If you want to learn to code, go low-level. If you want to learn how to make your own games, go high. If you’re working in 2d, for example, it’s unlikely you’ll ever need anything more powerful than something like GM, except for very unusual/demanding projects. Well, for PC anyway.

Those engines are more powerful than a lot of people give them credit for. People tend to think of the crappy never-finished spriterip games, and forget about the Spleunkys(GM) and Spirit Engines(MMF) of this world.

From skofo:

If you want to learn how to develop games, I’d go with a specialized game development tool first. Those tend to have many tutorials that are geared towards the game developer, which is not the case for conventional programming languages. Plus you’d be able to experiment and learn the game development process without worrying about low level stuff.

And remember: when you finish a painting, nobody will care what kind of brush you used (except maybe a few other painters and people whose eyes are not compatible).

And finally, from nikki:

From existing rapid-development game making solutions (like gamemaker and mmf) you only learn the real basics (some container-types and conditional logic) they are however brilliant if you wanna make a game fast. If you want to learn how to organize big code they are not very good, because all that gets hidden for you…

The tip by richard kain is better imo, open source libraries show you .. the source, and when commented properly that could be very learny. usually a bit much though. Flixel and flashpunk are def. good to check out.

But even with all that, I’ve learned a lot of stuff from them and I finally have an idea on how I would go on with my game development path.

Hope their answers have helped you as well.

Here’s a sneak peek:

This game, tentatively titled “Trapped In Time”, is a one-level shoot em up game where you need to kill enemies, avoid traps, and get treasures. All while dodging the fast rotating clock hands with timed jumps.

It’s my little twist on a genre that I love to play.

To entertain myself from every slow escalator ride, I always have this image of myself escaping from pursuers by vaulting from one escalator to another just like in Jackie Chan’s movie, Mr. Nice Guy.

I have always wondered if such a mechanic would be fun in a game. This eventually led me to the creation of Escalator Escape.

“Escalator Escape is a gameplay experiment done using HTML5 and Javascript. The main goal in this game is to stay on the elevators for as long as possible by vaulting from one escalator to the next.”

I was planning to add more to the gameplay like power-ups and enemies, but halfway through coding, the gameplay didn’t turn out as fun as I originally thought so I figured I would only be wasting my time if I add more to it.

At first I was afraid that my idea would play out like Frogger, but it did not because it wasn’t as fun. In Frogger, you need to avoid oncoming cars, in my game, you don’t have to worry about such a mechanic because you go with the flow once you jump on to a new escalator. So vaulting through escalators is just a matter of pressing left or right on a vacant space.

But don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the gameplay idea is a complete failure since there’s still some fun to be had trying to stay alive when you play around with the escalator’s speed and movement orientation. It’s just that my execution of the idea wasn’t as good as I initially hoped.

Works on the latest versions of FireFox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera.

I call my game, “Escalator Escape!” and it’s about… surprise, escalators! The main goal is to stay on the escalators for as long as possible by vaulting from one escalator to another.  It’s more fun than it sounds. hehe. It starts out slow like a normal escalator but ramps up in speed and difficulty. Powerups also litter the escalators which can alter an escalators speed or movement. Some will make things easier for you, some will not.

I’m on my third day and I have the core gameplay finished. I still have a lot to add, though. Like items, levels, backdrops, and a story. I hope I could finish this in under 7 days. Goodluck to me!

This game will be playable on a browser. It uses HTML5 and Javascript like my previous game, Petix.