"It is 2372.

"Fusion power and space warp technology are commonplace. The corporation Everett-Moya Industries, EMI, developed and patented first miniaturized fusion batteries and then exotic matter generation. Exotic matter, or XM, enabled a dozen different new industries and EMI has become a near-monopoly across all of them. Power generation, interstellar and faster-than-light travel, asteroid mining, orbital habitats, quantum computing and generalized AI, even automotive – everything has been revolutionized by near-limitless clean power and the awe-inspiring power of XM.

"Everything, but especially historic wealth inequality between the top one tenth of 1% and the rest of us."

#amwriting #writing #scifi #cyberpunk #bHopper #gamedev #indiedev

#gamedev update: #bHopper has a working magnetic plasma weapon sheet I broke it. Using #Construct3's Bullet and Line of Sight behaviours, I have the plasma ball seeking only if a target is in range and within 45°. Previously I was doing math to check distance to the target, but it wasn't doing a good job of seeking a particular instance of the object. LOS behaviour fixes that - somewhat. I still don't understand picking an instance by UID, which would fix it, but this will work as a prototype.

In tonight's edition of "stayed up too late to do a little #gamedev" I got a couple of more weapons prototyped in #bHopper. Tonight's weapons: chaingun, which is already super satisfying even with garbage art, and the nitro crackers, which are slower-moving but send objects flying. I'll need to get some solid sound design on them, but even silent and ugly they're fun to play with. I also managed to break the magnetic plasma weapon - will look at that tomorrow.

The #bHopper weapon list: ion gun (medium starter weapon), magnetic plasma (slightly seeking slow projectile with splash damage), chaingun (high-speed low-damage go brr, maybe hitscan?), nitro crackers (moderate AOE damage but with significant knockback), and concussive blast (short-range low-damage AOE with moderate knockback and stuns enemies & NPCs in the blast radius). Feels like it can be a recipe for mayhem. #gamedev #Construct3

Little bit of #gamedev progress on #bHopper, my cyberpunk flying car combat game prototype built in #Construct3. Chose five weapons for the player to use, shamelessly adapted (stolen) from the game's inspiration, 1999's BHunter. Got an array-based inventory and weapon switching implemented, the first two (ion gun and magnetic plasma) built out with placeholder art and ammo. Can't wait to add the others!

I think the scope of #bHopper makes it a lot easier to complete, too, and as someone who's tinkered a bunch but never released a game, that's very appealing. And despite the Zelda-like being a perfect project to learn #GDevelop, which is something I've been looking for, I'm comfortable enough in #Construct3 that I think b•Hopper is a more achievable build. So, sorry to the people who liked the moody dreamlike storytelling game pitch, but that needs more time to percolate. #gamedev #indiedev

Taking the ideas for the Murakami-inspired Zelda-like and turning them into interesting gameplay is proving a little more conceptually difficult. Meanwhile, my brain is constantly problem-solving gameplay and mechanics for #bHopper in the background, puzzle pieces clicking into place. b•Hopper is a game that I just have to build; the Zelda-like is a game I need to actually conceptualize first. #gamedev #indiedev

So despite the direction my little #gamedev poll asking what project to work on (https://strangeobject.space/@lovemakeshare/109961139091838475) is taking, I've decided to double down on option 1, #bHopper, my chaotic #cyberpunk flying car combat game. It's got a pretty clear vision and I can build mechanics now, whereas Unnamed Moody Dreamlike Zelda-like has a cool setting and like half a dozen vignettes, but no throughline. #indiedev

This came from "I want to plan for the version of this that isn't just a cat-and-mouse game, and I'd love for players to learn the city and have a police radio calling out events and where they're happening in real time." To do that I'd need named districts and streets... and then if I've already got that, it's trivial to tie that into the hunter AI. #BHopper #gamedev

To be specific, I had a system for my Fifth Element/Blade Runner-inspired top-down flying car WIP #BHopper where a hunter is coming after you, and the longer you survive the more accurate their tracking gets. Moving from a shrinking radius to a staged approach, where they start broadly and then know your quarter/district/street, feels fun and authentic to how narrowing a search would go. #gamedev

... But weirdly not because of the events - yet. I've got 12 events remaining in my budget. No, I am finding myself in need of families in a way I hadn't quite anticipated, if I want to populate the city with a diverse array of buildings and add some pickups and breakables, and that feature isn't available in the free version. And I would really love to remap some of these keybindings, but that takes events I haven't budgeted for. #BHopper #gamedev #construct3

I'm really running up against the limitations of the free version of Construct 3 now. I thought about moving to #gdevelop, since it's ostensibly a top-down driving game, but then I'd lose the 3D objects I'm using for buildings in #construct3 and I don't think I'm willing to do that. The fun exercise of trying to fit the game into 50 events is nearing a close... #BHopper #gamedev

...I also spent a few minutes laying down more roads and adding new buildings to the city map. I was worried that I'd need to seriously adjust my map because the streets were too narrow to navigate down thanks to the car's lack of cornering, but with the new driving model in place I think I might be more or less okay. #BHopper #gamedev #construct3

... With the more thoughtful state machine chugging along, and the hunter harder to escape, I decided that the player's flying car needed to handle a little tighter. Right now chases are a mess of collisions and careening off of buildings, and while that has merit, I keep destroying my car while trying to escape! Faster deceleration and less drift both contribute to tighter gameplay... #BHopper #gamedev #construct3

Stayed up too late tinkering with B•HOPPER: HUNTED, my Fifth Element-inspired #cyberpunk #gamedev project. As a simple cat-and-mouse game, I want the bounty hunter chasing you to feel menacing, and it was very easy to distract and outrun previously (leaving its "hunting" state too early and re-entering a more sedate "seeking" state). The prototype is now provoking some real emotions in me while testing... #BHopper #construct3

Did a little work on B•HOPPER: HUNTED, the silly little #scifi #cyberpunk flying car game prototype I'm working on. Still working in the free version of #Construct3. Managed to fit both the ability to destroy NPC cars and some new enemy AI into only two events, but in tweaking other stuff re-introduced some previously-solved performance issues. Sub-30 FPS is really frustrating for a game that's supposed to be a high-speed chase! 36/50 events used. #gamedev #BHopper

It's half past midnight and I'm thinking about state machines. My Fifth Element/Blade Runner-inspired game prototype has (in addition to player & enemies) a couple thousand "civilian" flying cars pathfinding through the city but they don't do much else. Thinking about how to fit new behaviours (flee, agression, damage states) into the 50-event limit in the free version of #Construct3. Might need to just buy, but I kinda like that enabling constraint. #gamedev #prototype #cyberpunk #BHopper