PogoGirl Devlog #11: HUD and Stuff
Gamedev includes a lot of fun activities, such as messing with physics, making lasers go pew and making stuff explode. However, there is also a lot of dry stuff that you have to take care of. And I’m taking care of that stuff right now, because…well, because I’ll have to eventually!
First of all, I’ve modified the menus a bit. So far I’ve been using my own solution to create menus, and while it was a bit hacky, it worked pretty well. However, then I stumbled across a helper library called djFlixel which had a much better menu system than my mess of code. It even allowed for submenus, which I wanted to make the main menu of Go! Go! PogoGirl less cluttered! So after a bit of fiddling, I implemented djFlixel into my project and ended up with more polished menus. I’ve also added the option to turn the music and sound of the game on and off in the pause menu.
Secondly, I’ve improved the HUD of the game. I replaced the text with icons to make the whole thing look less like a placeholder (which it was). Icons are also just easier to understand and don’t require localization. To be fair, my HUD is very simple, but it’s still important that it’s easy to read and not intrusive. To aid with that latter part, I’ve made the gem icons in the HUD smaller than the actual gems in the game to prevent confusion. Wouldn’t want someone to think they found a hidden gem when it was just the HUD.
Finally, I’ve implemented the goal screen that I was talking about last time! When you finish a level, you’re now greeted by a screen that shows you what goals you’ve achieved. Each goal awards you with a PogoMedal and if you’ve collected all three…nothing happens, because I haven’t implemented that yet. But something will happen and it might even be kinda neat!
That’s a chunk of the boring stuff taken care of. To be fair, the goal screen wasn’t actually that boring, but it’s still fiddly and surprisingly difficult to make it look right, let alone good. Next I’ll move back to the actual gameplay a bit, because I’ve got powerups to implement… See you next time!
PS: Go! Go! PogoGirl now has a page on itch.io! Go check it out!
Take It to the Next Level!
Want sneak peeks and early access to stuff? Join my Patreon!
Become a Patron!Just Want to Buy Me a Coffee?
Related Posts
PogoGirl Devlog #16: Winds of Fall
Seasons change, even in Go! Go! PogoGirl. I’ve already shown you spring and summer, so let’s take a look at fall next! Fall is where things cool down after a hot summer, where the leaves turn that nice brown color and cover the ground. Things become a bit gloomy, but in a good way. I’ve tried to recreate this in Go! Go! PogoGirl. The red sky adds a sense of twilight, while also signaling that you’ve entered the second half of the game, where things are about to get serious.
PogoGirl Devlog #15: The Platform Rundown
A platformer game needs some platforms, so let’s look at some of the platforms you’ll encounter in Go! Go! PogoGirl! First up, we have the Countdown Platforms. These can be bounced on a total of three times; on the third bounce they drop out of the stage. They change color with each bounce, so you’ll know when to get away. Since they’re pretty stable, you can both stomp on them and charge up a high jump!
PogoGirl Devlog #14: How I Build Levels
Last time I mentioned that I was doing levels for Go! Go! PogoGirl and that I changed my Tiled setup to make the process easier. Well, I’m happy to say that I’ve now made all levels in the game! While I do enjoy making levels quite a lot, it’s a very tricky thing to get right. Good level design is an art. And while I don’t consider myself an artist in that regard (or any other regard, actually), I thought I’d share my process of building the levels for Go!
Comments
By using the Disqus service you confirm that you have read and agreed to the privacy policy.
comments powered by Disqus