So here we are at the last official meeting of the Artsy Games Incubator. Unfortunately, most of us were in various states of unfinished. But have no fear! The games will be (more) finished by the time they are showcased!

We talked about our varying levels of busyness and how to shift possible future iterations of the AGI to accommodate this. Miguel noted when he did the AGI there were two two-week gaps that helped with development. Craig brought up how much T.O. Jam helped him and suggested a “jam” days for future AGIs. After watching the new Trico video and wondering why our games didn’t look like that, we got down to business.

Craig:

Craig’s made some progress with The Alpinist. He admitted to only having enough time this week to get back into the game and break it. He told of his attempts to have his protagonist have a flowing scarf, only to, instead, have scarves appear at random locations. By the end of the meeting, he was able to get the scarf to flow majestically off of the little guy’s neck. Craig also attempted to replicate the effect of snow kicking up after movement, by having an animation spew snow from his heel, but this had the unintended effect of making it look like there was a snowblower attached to the poor guy. The gameplay speed has also been tuned since last week, which made for a more responsive control scheme. Overall, it’s shaping up awesomely.

Myfanwy:

Ludd the Potato has an intro screen! It also has sound and a bitchin’ old ragtime theme. Enemies are now implemented, and it is now possible to exit houses. Sockets now give a satisfying electrocution sound, and also inexplicably raises your score. Ludd the Potato also sports the best death screen in gaming, bar none. Touching the TV leads to a shot of a skull with red hair. It reminded me of Joan Rivers. And Joan, if you’re reading this, we love you, we’re just goofin’ around. Anyways, I look forward to playing some more of Ludd and finding new ways to die.

Miguel:

Miguel’s project now has most of the animation completed. The shotgun can now be used. Each pellet has its own shadow! The characters can also switch items and walk around with them. Overall it’s looking spiffy. Miguel talked a bit about how the barricades were going to look and work, and said he was going to concentrate on features. The game handles really well, and promises to be a rip-roaring adventure.

Phil, Daphnee and Nadine were swamped with real life the last week and didn’t make any progress since the last meeting.