Update Central

Greetings peeps,

Yes, I have been busy. Just had my Japanese style wedding a few days ago, and boy am I glad that's all over. Anyone who's ever had an 80 year old relative sing karaoke at their wedding will know exactly what I'm talking about.

But somewhere inbetween in between the sake drinking and the speech-making, I managed to find the time to sneakily work on The Damned, and in fact I have quite a few updates to report (as if anyone reads this shit).

The third level is going well now. I rewrote the entire enemy spawn function, and also made the decision to reduce the dimensions of the sprites. It's amazing how much faster the game runs now, and without any serious compromise in visual quality. Sure, the monsters look a bit blockier when they get close, but the extra frames of animation more than make up for it. This was the way I should have had it from the start.

Got the little Crow dudes running around in there now, and I FINALLY invented a method that works successfully in simulating fog with movieclips. Further more, the modified weapon code is functioning well now, and can accommodate any other firearms I decide to include (not likely until The Damned 2). Another addition (though still in testing) is the implementation of a power-up symbol that gives you extra shotgun rounds if you shoot it. It's done but needs a cool sound effect.

One last amendment is the inclusion of a new beastie. Yes, I thought just having CrowMen to shoot might make the level a little bit bland, so I've gone ahead and designed my own Garrador/Dr.Salvador hybrid. No name for them as yet (any suggestions?). I downloaded (oops, rented) Friday 13th the second part the other night and the whole sack on the head thing was working for me. My character doesn't wield a machete, but a karambit, an ancient Indonesian style hunting tool. It's a lot uglier.

Check him out;



The other day we were chit-chatting on FlashKit about C64 remakes, and I was thinking how I'd love to remake the Friday 13th game. Making a Jason character now might save me some time in the future if I ever do pursue such an idea.


More to come real soon!