Bud the Spud with Baked Potatos

Here we can see "Bud the Spud" safely standing on a tin foil wrapped Potato baking on the Hibachi. This is the ONLY safe way to cross the BB Q's one step on those hot grills and it's one big burn out for "Bud the Spud." Just like his Mud bog death I'll have to make a nice "Burning Death" for when he ends up on a hot grill. Maybe something like he runs around in a frantic circle until he busts into flame and then turns into a pile of ash lol :)

You can see a little more of the yard in this screen capture. Also note the Soccer ball on the grass in the background. Bud will need this ball in order to get on top of the next wall. ;)

Bud the Spud and Tin Foil Box

As "Bud the Spud" navigates his way across the top of the garden wall he'll not only come across the Hibachi BB Q's but also boxes of tin foil, a grim reminder that his fellow Potato people are being turned into Baked Potatoes. He'll even have to jump on Baked Potatoes in order to safely get across each BBQ. I still have to make the tin foil wrapped Baked Potatoes, but when I do and add them into the game scene they will cry out in pain each time Bud jumps on one. It's a little twisted I know but then again I like things with a little twisted humor ;)

The Hibachi WIP

A sneak peek at one of the Hibachi's that "Bud the Spud" will have to deal with in level 02. I have not yet created the tinfoil wrapped Potato's that he will have to jump onto in order to safely cross the tops of each Hibachi BBQ. The plan is to have each tinfoil wrapped Potato shout "Ouch" each time Bud jumps on one in order to cross. There is still a lot to do and workout in level 02 like the Soccer ball he will need to get up on top of the far wall. Placement of enemy worms, Placement of the Keys, Extra Health and Life pick ups and placement of a few good old Mud Bogs. I also need to create his new enemy "The Potato Beetle" as they will be introduced in this level as well.

Optimization & Tips

I managed reduce the file size from just over 40 MB down to 33.6 MB by reducing a lot of the texture maps from 1024 down to 512, the quality still looks pretty good even when viewed at full screen in the web player so I'm pretty happy with that.

TIPS

Making it across the 2nd or middle deadly mud bog

OK now I know there are some people who have been having a difficult time trying to figure that one out. It's actually pretty simple. The normal instinct I guess would be to try and jump to the broken dock on the other side of the mud bog and although it can be done it is a difficult jump. The easy way is to jump to the right towards the glowing mushrooms with the Fire flies flying around above. Much safer and easier jump. I was originally going to remove that little patch of land so you HAD to jump to the other dock but I thought that might make it too difficult for a first game level. I dunno though, what do you think?

Extra Life Heart & Fertilizer Pellets

There is a large broken pipe located at the 3rd deadly mud bog, inside are extra Fertilizer Pellets and an Extra Life Heart. You can always tell when an extra life heart is near by by the "Beating Heart" sound. Climb up to the floating platform and jump onto the 2nd platform, from there jump onto or into the pipe to collect your rewards.

The First Key

This one I notice some people miss when playing the game as they make there way down the path towards the middle deadly mud bog. Be sure to look for the first deadly mud bog to your right as you head towards the middle bog. It can be easy to miss if you are not looking out for it. In the middle of that bog on a rock is the first key needed to unlock the door to the surface way above. jump from the glowing mushrooms onto the rocks to get to the key. Remember "Fire flies" often give important clues, be sure to look for them in the game.

Mud Bog Drowning

Took me a little while to finally work out a good way to do a better death scene for when "Bud the Spud" falls into a "Deadly Toxic Mud Bog". But I managed to cobble together something that works pretty good. If he falls into a Mud Bog there is a splash, he sinks and can't move except play his drowning animation while a nice drowning sound plays, and after a few seconds he explodes and looses one life.

Bud's House Model

Bud's House model renders

i've been busy all day rendering the interior of Bud's house to upload to Turbosquid. The renders took a long time in 3DS Max using Mental ray, one omni light for the candle beside his bed and settings for soft shadows. I'm very pleased with how the samples turned out but they sure took a while to render.

This morning in Unity 3D I was working on a particle effects for the little candle beside Bud's bed. Lots of tweaking and a while later I was starting to get something "Candle Flame like." I still want to tweak it a bit as I feel it could be better but I think it's getting there.

I feel the 000Webhost that I have my game currently on is not very reliable of friendly with Unity 3D's Web Player as I keep getting a "Bad File Length" error message. Seems sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't and I still can't tell if my load bar is quite behaving the way it should. It seems to move very slowly and then does not completely finish and then suddenly the game level loads which does not seem right to me, but unless I can find another more reliable web host I can't really tell what the problem is.

Bud the Spuds House Interior

Bud's House Interior

Here is a sneak peek at the interior of Bud the Spud's house. It's very simple since I figure a potato does not need much. I might add some more details but I'm not sure what at the moment. I want to keep it pretty simple and basic, I was even debating about the stove but I kinda liked it so it got my vote to stay since he has a smoke stack on top of his house that you can see in the exterior version in level 01 of the game. I might add a crudely wooden framed picture or two on the walls, something "Potato" related, again not sure what at the moment.

Load Bar issues:

I'm not sure if my load bar is or is not working?? It seems to work sometimes and then others the web player stops and says "Bad File Length" whatever the hell that means?? I don't know if anyone else has had the same issue with it as no one has contacted me or commented on the blog about whether or not it's working or not so buggered if I know. It would be nice if someone did let me know either way. I can't fix it unless I know what the problem is and if I can't fix it then you can't play and that's gotta suck six ways from Sunday!

Load Bar Fixed

As near as I can tell the load bar seems to be working now. I made a few changes to the code. It does take a little while for level one to load so I still think I'll need to make a small inside of Bud's house kinda into level and see how that works. I'll see how far I get with that over the weekend. In the meantime it works and you can play it if you have a little patience.

Load Bar Issues

I've been busting a nut all evening to work out a load bar just so you won't think my game is busted while waiting for it to load up. And with a little help from Unity Answers I did manage to get one to kinda sort ify not so goodie kinda work... But it does do something but it seems that even after the load bar has finished there is a little bit of a wait before the game loads. I think what I need to do is make a very small level to load first so I guess this weekend I'll make a simple inside of Bud's house kind of level where you can kind of kill a little time exploring while level one loads up. That's OK though because I can put a "Potato News" on his kitchen table that talks about "Rotten potato's" dastardly deeds against the Potato people lol :)

And now if off to catch some Zzzzzz's

What's new! The latest Upgrades to Level 01

What's New! There was supposed to be a load bar added today but for some reason it not working as I'd hoped so again I apologize for what might be a bit of a wait while the game load. Hopefully it won't take too long. I'll keep working at trying to find out why the web player is not using my load screen that I made. I most likely have something coded wrong in it or the script not on the right object. I'm fuzzy on how the whole load bar stuff is supposed to work. But for those that are patient here is a run down on some of the cool stuff added.
	Danger signs: "Deadly Toxic Mud Bogs" are now marked by signs to warn players just how dangerous they are to "Bud the Spud." One step in these and it's "Mashed potato for "Bud the Spud."
	Fire Flies: Keep a lookout for these little helpers as they will provide clues as to either where to go or safe places to jump from. "Bud the Spud" will get lots of helpful hints from clusters of brightly lighted Fire Flies scattered about the various game levels.
	Healthy Potato Leaf: Pick up these sparkling green Potato Leafs to gain 25 points to Bud's existing health. They will sure come in handy if he has taken damage from either miss timed jumps on Worms or from worm attacks.
	Extra Life Heart: Although not technically new, players will now find that the heart has been moved from the broken pipe the deadly third mud bog and placed inside of a new broken pipe located in the middle left of that 3rd mud bog.

Updates to Online Testing Version of Bud The Spud Friday 23rd

Are you counting down the seconds to see all the sweet new changes that I've been hard at work creating to level 01 this week? Well you've not long to wait my friends, This Friday 23rd which is tomorrow around 5 PM ish I'll be uploading the latest version of Bud The Spud Unity 3D Web Player version so you'll be able to play and test out the latest updates to the game. You'll see all sorts of new stuff added to the game environment. If you've been following this blog and who whoever is interested in the game and who has been playing and likes the game would not be lol then you'll already have a good heads up on the shwack load of awesomeness that is going to be in the latest version this Friday. All kinds of cool stuff like

1. Bud's Blob Shadow fixed so not it does not spin around when he does his "Flip Jump."
2. Danger signs added around the Deadly Toxic Mud Bogs.
3. Fireflies to give players hints as to where to go in the game environment.
4. Special Potato Leaf Health pick ups that add 25 points to Bud's existing health.
5. Some cool background music.
6. A new broken pipe by the 3rd Toxic Mud Bog.
7. More worms to fight.
8. More Fertilizer pellets to collect.
9. Beast light mapping for shadows.
10. More challenges.
11. Additional sound effects.

Wow,  I mean WOW! I have been a busy little beaver this week. What can I say, I live to serve lol.

Don't forget to post comments to the blog as I would love to hear anything you have to say. Ideas, suggestions, rants, raves, you name it, it's all good. Who knows maybe some of your awesome ideas may wind up in a future level of my "Bud the Spud" game. ;)

A Little More Bling!

Just to add a little more "Bling" I thought I would add a nice magic sparkle particle effect to the Potato Leaf health pick up object. Now it's a lot more noticeable with that cool energy sparkle effect coming off of it and drifting upwards like magic fairy dust or something. I got it set up so it's color kind of cycles between a deep florescent green to a greenish almost aqua blue color. These cool health pick ups add 25 points to Bud's existing health. This one seen here is pretty easy for Bud to reach the one way up top on the floating stone platform however is another matter, Bud will need some pretty skill full jump timing to get that one without falling through the hole in the platform. ;) Gotta just love a challenge don't ya ;)

2nd Brocken Pipe Added

I added an additional challenge to Level one this morning. Over by the 3rd deadly toxic mud bog is a new broken pipe. Bud the Spud can jump onto the pipe and get in inside of it by jumping down from one of the floating stone platforms above. I added another rock in the middle of the mud bog so he'll be able to get back once he is done exploring the inside of the broken pipe. I tried to just jump out of the pipe but the distance was too great for Bud to make it across to the center rock safely so the addition of the extra stone should make it easier. I still have to test that out and see if it's possible yet but it should be.

Here you can see Bud the Spud looking down from the floating stone platform onto the new broken pipe. Inside you can see I've moved the extra life heart from the other pipe and place it inside of this one along with some additional Fertilizer pellets. I'll bet there are some player's that are going to just hate me for that. But hey it's not that bad, by now you should be all masters at making Bud jump around his underground environment. If not all I can say is practice makes perfect ;)

Potato Leaf Health Pickup

Bud the Spud has a new health pick up item, the Healthy Potato Leaf will add 25 health points to Bud's existing health points. Not only are the Fireflies helping Bud here cross the deadly middle mud bog but they are also giving a hint to look up and spot the glowing green healthy potato leaf. "Sweeet!" Bud will say when he gets one of these, especially if he's been injured by attacking worms.

There is another one located way above ground on the floating stone platform but Bud will need some supper skillful jumping dexterity to get that one without falling through the hole and having to climb back up again. I've managed to do it a few time but it is a very difficult jump to get just right, but it can be done. Worse case scenario is that he'll just have to climb back up again if he falls through the hole. Hopefully he managed to get the potato leaf in the process though.

Bud the Spud With Fireflies

As part of Jonathan's idea he suggested on Gamasutra to add visual cues or clues as to where to go I added some fireflies into the scene to give the players a hint. For instance on the middle deadly mud bog it would be perhaps logical for a lot of player to try and jump to the broken dock on the other side of the mud bog from the center island, and although it can be done it is a bit of a tricky jump. The safer jump is to the right of the dock along the mud bog edge. The fireflies flying around the glowing green fungus will hopefully provide a clue to the safer jump option.

Here we can see a screen capture of bud the spud with his very helpful Fireflies. They  are an animated particle system so if you get close to them you can see a little animated glowing bug flapping its wings while they lazily fly about and fade in and out. It's awesome comments like those from Jonathan that I just love and REALLY take to heart. ;)

Danger Signs Added

One of my game testers from Gamasutra (Jonathan) made the awesome suggestion of placing danger signs around the toxic mud bogs as he at first time playing did not know that they were dangerous. Makes perfect sense. I did actually have that planned but it is so good to hear that kind of thing from people as it lets me know I'm on the right track with a lot of this stuff.

Here we see Bud the Spud standing next to the new signs marking the deadly toxic mud bog water. This weekend I'll upload the latest changes and improvement I've made to the online playable version so people can test out and see the new stuff like these wonderful signs, the blob shadow fix, the additional worms and Fertilizer pellet pickups. It's so great to hear people are enjoying playing and testing out this first level. I think when level 02 is ready for testing I'll add that to this one so you'll be able to go from level one to level two just because people are being so absolutely Awesome!!

Character Blob Shadow issue fixed

Although a minor nuisance I found that whenever Bud the Spud performed his "Flip Jump" the shadow spun around with him which is not accurate. I found a way around this with the option of unparenting the Blob Shadow Projector from my character and giving it it's own empty object or container if you like, placed on the ground with the projector above the character. I added a very simple script onto that object containing the projector that tells it to follow the character along like so:
transform.position = objectToFollow.position + offset;
Works like a dream!! Now there is no more of the silliness of the shadow flipping with the player.

I've also been playing around a bit with trying to add a nice background music loop for level one's underground, I've got something with a bit of a tribal beat to it, not sure if I'm totally sold on it yet. just experimenting. I also added some worms to the upper floating stone platforms for Bud the Spud to deal with. I have not added any of these changes to the online web player version of the games testing page yet. I want to do a lot more tweaks yet. 

Sneak Peek at Level 2 Development

Here is a sneak peek at the very early stages of level 02 of "Bud the Spud." Level 02 takes place above ground just after Bud has exited from his underground world through the pipe to the surface, that is if he's managed to collect the two keys needed to unlock the door to the exit pipe, managed not to get himself killed by worms or from falling into toxic deadly mud bogs.

Level 02 Bud the Spud must make it through the front yard and make his way to the Tree House located in the Pumpkin Patch where he'll have to avoid more worms and a new enemy the "Potato Beetle." Inside the tree house he'll have to avoid the occasional windup toy robot as well.

I don't want to spoil too much of what's in store for "Bud the Spud" but I just wanted to show a sneak peek at how my environment for level 02 is starting out. ;)

Bud the Spud Makes it to the Top!!

Actually made it to the top with 4 lives and only half my health taken away while testing out some minor changes I made to the game today. I moved some of the glowing Fungus over towards the dilapidated wooden walkway that leads up to the giant rock across the 3rd toxic deadly mud bog. I found that after doing the beast light mapping that, that area looked a little dark and could use some light sources in there so the Glowing Fungus were ideal for that. While testing it out I was doing so well I thought; "OK... I'll keep going and see if I make it all the way to the top?" which I did!! And with 4 lives yet!! Just thought I'd share that as I thought that was pretty cool ;)

Play Bud the Spud Level One FREE!

Although it's still in development I know there are some out there who are already interested in giving my game a try so I have made level one available for free using Unity 3D's Web Player.
No load bar so you may have to be patient if you want to play.

I know what my player are going to be doing when they are tyring to cross those toxic mud bogs of instant death, "F" You Mr. Knight!! I'll bet will be some choice and colorful vocabulary that will be spewed from the lips of many a frustrated game player. OK so I like to present a few challenges in my games lol but rest assured it can be done. I guess Bud Spud should really take some time and repair those bridges huh? Oh well, I'm no super gamer and if I can do it I'm sure you can too, practice and a whole lot of colorful metaphors will eventually get you to the top of the cave where the exit is located, Bud is in for a climb ;)
Play Bud the Spud Level one for Free!!

Controls:
Movement: [W] [A] [S] [D]
Jump: [Space]
Crouch: [C]
Camera: [I] [J] [K] [L]
Hide Player: [H]

There is no load bar currently so depending on your connection speed you will have to be patient while the game loads, should take less than a minute though. ;)