Final Mud Bog Areas in Level 02

I finally got the final two deadly mud bog areas worked out in level 02. Here we can see Bud the Spud standing on top of a tin foil wrapped potato baking on the Hibachi overlooking one of the final mud bogs. You can see the key sitting on the cinder block in the middle of the bog, you can also see an extra health potato leaf pick up item as well hovering in the air over another cinder block below. In the next image you can see it as well.

In this screen capture you can see Bud the Spud has made his way onto the cinder block in the middle of the deadly mud bog and is about to grab the final key. I made these jumps a lot simpler as I know retrieving the first key from the mud bog located across the paving stones is a much more difficult jump series, getting across the first few rocks is no problem but landing on that toadstool in the middle of the bog takes a bit of practice I found. So I figured I'd give my players a bit of a break with this 2nd key retrieval scenario. There is one more mud bog to cross on the way to the exit pipe which I've still yet to work out. I'm thinking maybe perhaps a grungy wooden board in front of the pipe like a crude wall with a small door located at the mouth of the pipe with crudely painted text that says "EXIT."

I've still yet to add some direction signs and maybe those helpful butterflies I was talking about in an earlier post. I might try and do those with a particle system that has animated particles just like the Fire flies in the Underground level. Perhaps I'll see if I can get to that tonight. Oh as you can see I did make that "Drainage Pipe" I was telling you about to help justify why the Bud cannot jump off other right side of the wall, I think it turned out very well and does the job pretty good ;)

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.

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. ;)

Improved Blood Splat

Took me a little while to figure out what was going on with the projector method of doing blood splatter on my terrain for after each enemy worm has been jumped on by "Bud the Spud." I was originally using a mesh plane with a multiply texture for my blood splat on it and although it worked wonderfully if my enemy worm was killed on a flat part of the terrain, it looked like crap on uneven parts of the terrain. So I figured out a blood splat method using a projector and on my prefab for that I placed a script that destroys the game object after a minute. As you can see in the image above it works far better that my previous method of using a mesh plane ;)

Crossing The Deadly Mud Bogs

Level one of my Bud The Spud game is very close to completion... just adding some sounds and some scenic details.

Here we see Bud the Spud way up top of his underground world after collecting the two keys needed to open the door to the above ground level (Yet to be made... that's next)

I just have to work out his "Bog Death" so as when Bud jumps or falls into a mud bog he plays a drowning animation and then dies. Also need to add a nice toxic looking partical effect for bog gas to cover the bog muddy water surface.

But yeah, the basic game mechanics are in place,

• Worms can attack him if he's within range
• He can kill worms by jumping on them and they die with a nice splat (Could be better with decals need to look into that)
• He can pick up Fertilizer Pellets
• He can collect keys to unlock exit doors to next game level

BudTheSpudGameDev01.mov

This a development video clip of my indie game I am developing using Unity 3D called "Bud the Spud" which is a development title, may change it later but for now I am OK with the title. It's based off of the "Mario 3D Clone tutorial" from the Walker Boys Studios video tutorial series. I've made a lot of changes so it works with my Bud the Spud game concept. This shows some of the first level game environment and character abilities and interaction with enemies, in this case "Worms." Worms are slow and stoopid, but they will do 25 damage to Bud the Spud if they attack him. If bud kills a worm he gets a Fertilizer Pellet. You can see the first Key pickup which Bud will need in order to unlock the door located way above the top of the underground level, 2 keys are rquired, the 2nd key is way up top on top of the giant glowing fungas. Muddy bogs are instant drowning death for Bud if he lands in them (Still need to do).
The worm character death leaves behind a nice blood splat on the floor but works best on flat terrain surfaces. I hear Decals are a better way to approach this although my knowledge on this is next to nill ?? But that is somethng to look into.