Short Update: The Past Few Days

You may have noticed that I haven't been too active lately, and that I didn't post a FS. This is because I don't really have too much to report and that development has been quite slow. So, please enjoy the game and give feedback! I'm excited to hear more about how much you've enjoyed it.

Feature Spotlight #5 - Mount

Well, here's Feature Spotlight number 5! I've got some exciting new features to share. First of all, I've updated the following to the game.

• Added Mount
• Added Level 4 (In progress!)
• Updated GUI
• Updated Player Physics
• Removed Scrapper*
• Removed wall-leaping*
• Fixed some other minor bugs

*To be added in a future update.

You can get these changes by going to the downloads page to get the latest cross-operating system version. This will be listed as "RC1.0.2", and it'll be pretty hard not to find it. Please note that because this is a subversion, it's not really packaged that well. For example, you'll be playing level four and then you'll get to a point where you see... nothing. That's because I haven't finished it yet!

What to Check for While Playing

While playing this version, please check for the usual inconvenient bugs, but in particular do you ever find difficult to jump from one platform to the other? The new changes I've added may have impacted the levels a bit even though I checked through myself. Let me know if I missed something through the review form, please.

Blog Update: New Stuff Headed to the Blog!

I hope you're all enjoying RC1!

I've discovered a... well, I want to say "surprising amount of bugs", but to be honest, I expected quite a few flaws. So, I'll just say I discovered "an amount of bugs". Anyway, I'll list the ones I've seen so far. If I missed some, which I probably did, please fill out the review form (see the page toolbar)!

Known Issues

• Bug where the player can play any level before he saves the game for the first time.
• Bug that disorients the "talk" system.
• Bug where Scrapper will follow the player out of water (I blame the tiger for this one).
• Bugs in the HUD and other UI systems.

I've highlighted green the ones that I've fixed, yellow the ones I'm fixing or have nearly fixed, and red the ones I haven't fixed at all. Fortunately, I've also added some features! Orange means "in progress". Otherwise, they're done.

• Improved player physics (jump height, gravity, ground deceleration)
• Improved wall-leaping.*
• Other minor bug fixes.

*Wall-leaping is to be removed and added as an unlocked item in a future update.

HandDrawn RC1 Trailer: The HandDrawn Habanera!

Hello!

Have you had a chance to pick up RC1, yet? Well, if not, here's a trailer I made to make you want to! Make sure to max out the quality and watch it in fullscreen.

HandDrawn, Release Candidate 1, is Here!

Let All of the Earth Rejoice!

Your patience has payed off—HandDrawn is now publicly available! You can find it on the "Downloads" page. I'd like to highlight some of the features I've added:

• 4 levels
• 8 items in the Pinecone Weapon System
• A functioning save/load system*
• Monstrosities, Verts, Subs, Snappers, Scrappers
• More!

*Deleting is to be added.

IMPORTANT: Bug Testing 

Because this is a pre-release, I'd really appreciate it if you'd go to the review form page to tell me your experience with the game.

Now go play!

Game Update: Friday and RC1

Hi, all,

So, as I mentioned earlier, if I release HandDrawn on the 25th, there will be a lack of levels. And just to give you fair warning, that's the way it's going to be! :( There will probably be only 4 levels (tutorial + 3 campaign missions) as opposed the intended 6 (tutorial + 5 campaign missions) that I had hoped to put along side the game. I will do my best to make an extra campaign level, but please remember that it's super difficult and time consuming to make good-sized levels. In fact, it usually takes me days to finish a level because I'm juggling 20 different scripts, music projects, images and more at the same time. Not to mention things outside of my game.

Anyhow, I will try to, by the second release candidate, I hope to have a total of 10 levels out. That may mean there will be a bit of a longer wait, but please understand that Rome was not built in a day!

Good News!

I'm happy to report that the issue with the Windows version of the game has been resolved (probably). I still hope to release it on time, but because of the time it took to resolve that problem, the following may happen:

• HandDrawn will be released on time, but without all 5 levels.

Otherwise,

• HandDrawn will be delayed by a few days, but when it does come out, it will have all 5 levels

Hopefully,

• HandDrawn will be released on time and have all 5 levels.

Which of the first two choices would you rather have? Let me know in the comments!

Game Update: Agenda and More

Instead of a feature spotlight today, we'll get an inside look at the agenda. As such, this is going to be a shorter look at the game. However, Feature Spotlight 5 will be shown next Friday at the release HandDrawn's first RC.

EDIT: (Nevermind.)

Without further ado, the agenda!

Agenda

Last week, the agenda told you that there were (and in some cases, still are) several things I hadn't done yet. They were:

• Make Level 4 and 5
• Patch up bugs with the other levels
• Improve the save/load system
• Improve the level complete system
• Fix crashes
• Lock up the tiger so he doesn't distract me or murder my computer
• Add at least one more enemy

But now, I've completed some and even added more to what I set out to do!

Short Update: Alpha Testing

You'll be happy to know that HandDrawn is currently going through Alpha testing! This means that I'm debugging it (thanks to the help of Peter M.) to sort out the display and cross-operating-system problems. On Friday, I'll be posting my agenda along with what I've added since the last Feature Spotlight.

Stay tuned; only about a week until Release Candidate 1 goes live!

~ Robert V.

Feature Spotlight #4 - Reverse Zones

This feature spotlight has officially arrived! And that's not all. I fixed the white flash that was messing things up which means I can show you Reverse Zones in detail. Now, let's get started.

Description & Origin

The idea of the Reverse Zones actually arose when I first created the game. To make the game unique, I thought up this concept. There would be certain levels where all the colors are inverted, and along with those levels, I thought up Vert. However, I ran into a problem. The engine I use does not support shaders (which made it impossible for me to us post-processing effects) and because of that, my only option was to make copies of and invert every single texture in the game. At this point, you're probably laughing your guts out at that, and I'll be honest, it wasn't the most efficient idea ever. Eventually, I figured out that you could mess around with color blending filters and finally, I created an "invertinator". Long story short, I was finally able to use it to make exactly what I needed.

Feature Spotlight #3 - Mechanics

Sorry, folks. No video again. I was a bit under the weather this week, so I'm afraid that screenshots will have to suffice.

But enough with the excuses. Focus has been less on graphic art and enemies, lately, and more on smaller, more fine details—the mechanics of how the game is played. I thought that I might introduce a few things. Firstly...

Swimming

I mentioned this in one of the first posts, I believe. This was one of the more difficult things to add to the game. The hard bit wasn't the animations and music, but finding a way to simulate buoyancy. If you do not know what that is, I suggest looking it up.  I do not have time to explain three-sylable words to people. If you do not know what "syllable" means, use your dictionary to look it up and buy a sheet of vocabulary words so you won't run into these embarrassing situations again. If you don't know what "embarrassing" means, rethink your life. I'm sure you'll find it apply to many occasions. (Kidding! ;) )

Game Update: New Additions

I recently added some cool stuff for the game and its blog! I'll list them.

• A Git Repository: Here you can get subversions (unfinished) of the game! So far, I've only added the bare source files. The game's executable isn't quite ready to be put with the package yet meaning you won't be able to play the game. All of that will happen hopefully near the 15th of this month. I hope to have details on the release date tomorrow. You can download the game's source if you want but it's all going to be compiled scripts, pictures, and music. So you can imagine that there's a ton of stuff that I haven't mentioned, all in there! When RC1 is out, I'm going to include the decompiled scripts. Please don't get attached to anything in there, as I will delete it without notice. In fact, there are many things which you might like that are scheduled for removal. Nothing I've explicitly mentioned, mind you, but think of it as a Greek tragedy: it's not a good idea to get attached to the characters.
• In addition to this, there is a Downloads page, which in reality, is a separate site. Lots of stuff will be stored here, soon. But I ask you to wait a little longer for the game to be out. :)

~ Robert V

Feature Spotlight #2 - Snapper, Scrapper, and Sub

Today I'm writing about my newest enemies: Snapper, Scrapper, and Sub. (Could you ever have guessed?)

Unfortunately, Quicktime, the application I use to record on-screen video doesn't like me right now and makes these weird flashing thingies when I try to videotape Reverse Zones. I think it may have to do with the fact that I saw the tiger hacking at my computer with an axe the other day, but that's not really relevant and frankly, accusing him of a wrong isn't exactly the best for my physical health. In fact, I do not believe he ever returned the axe so I should probably be careful what I say about him.

*Ahem* Anyway, the point is I can't show footage of the three enemies so I'll have to make do with screenshots. Information on these enemies can be found here (as well as entries on other monsters, as well). Here are some screenshots and some facts about them as well. Thanks for checking in! Please comment. :)

Short Update: HandDrawn Wiki

Hello! Just a quick announcement. The HandDrawn Wiki was officially opened recently. You'll find lots of goodies there, such as (more) detailed information on enemies I've mentioned as well as intel on monsters that I didn't even talk about such as Snappers and Subs. Obviously, I'm not asking for contributions yet because everything you know about the game I've already put in the wiki. When I do release the game, I'd more than appreciate contributions from the community. In the mean time, check it out for more info!

~ Robert

Feature Spotlight #1 - Pinecones and Enemies

Hello, everyone! I didn't get eaten by a tiger! Yay!

However, he was giving me nasty looks so I only wanted to stay on the computer long enough to make a 90-second video and (obviously) this blog post. Without further ado, the video. Bask in its glory. Sorry that things are kept brief; I don't have too many levels right now!

HandDrawn Then... HandDrawn Now!

Ever wondered what Minecraft looked like two months before their first publicly attainable release that dates back the most? I don't, but if HandDrawn tells us anything, games evolve—fast! Check out this video of the game just a little while ago. It's 6 minutes long: skip to 3:10 if you're uninterested in the machanics of the game and just want to see a little demonstration!

When HandDrawn: Release Candidate Development Build 1 is out, you'll definitely notice the differences. To name a few:

Welcome to the World of HandDrawn!

Many Thanks to All

Thanks to the terrific support of many friends, this blog is now operational. I'd really like it if you told your video-game goer friends about this blog so they, too, can hear about the game! Firstly, I'd like to introduce my game, HandDrawn, the topic of this web log.

The Story

As with all stories, it takes a really long time to develop it more time to not hate it. So I'm afraid that HandDrawn's plot is rather in-dev, meaning... I haven't finished it yet. Anyhow, the main concept is as follows: