{"id":669,"date":"2016-07-24T22:39:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-24T17:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/?page_id=669"},"modified":"2016-08-31T13:19:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T08:19:33","slug":"jack-the-almost-timberman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/jack-the-almost-timberman\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack – The (Almost) Timberman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jack_Web_NonTech2\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Game Overview<\/h3>\n

Jack really wants to be a true timberman.\u00a0 He just needs an axe.\u00a0 In this game, you walk around the screen collecting perks while avoiding static and dynamic objects.\u00a0 The goal it to collect as many perks as you can without crashing into something.\u00a0 There are endless randomly generated levels.\u00a0 Once you find the axe, you move onto the next level.\u00a0 Here is the first draft of concept art:<\/p>\n

\"SpriteMap4x\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

My Audience<\/h3>\n

This is a casual gamer.\u00a0 It is for the 1-2 minutes (or more) of entertainment.<\/p>\n

Basic Requirements<\/h3>\n

The requirements of this game\u00a0are simple:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jack is in a hurry.\u00a0 He wants to be a timberman so bad that he does not stop moving.\u00a0 Control Jack by swiping (or arrows on the PC).<\/li>\n
  2. Avoid static objects such as rocks, stumps, and trees.<\/li>\n
  3. Avoid dynamic objects such as spiders and other monsters.<\/li>\n
  4. Collect perks such as Axes, Apples, and others.<\/li>\n
  5. Beat your high score.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Target Platforms:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Android, maybe the PC.<\/p>\n

    Other Goals<\/h3>\n

    As before, I am going to document the process of developing this game.\u00a0 See the Blog <\/span><\/u><\/a>for more details.<\/p>\n

    I want to publish the game to the Google Play store.<\/p>\n

    Rearrange the website and the code base to support multiple projects.<\/p>\n

    Continue improving my Gimp and Pixel Art skills<\/p>\n

    Other Goals, Part 2 – Why Jack?<\/h3>\n

    I want this game\u00a0to be simple, yet saleable; easy, yet fun.\u00a0 While these are all soft requirements, I envision a very early fun and playable prototype that can be expanded as time and money allow. Believe it or not, the idea of Jack came of a lot of thinking.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Having a simple walking sprite as my main character allows for easier animation.\u00a0 If Jack is missing his Axe, it makes my job of animating him much easier.<\/li>\n
    • Using\u00a0Photoshop is daunting for me.\u00a0 All of the\u00a0sprites above are based on a 16×16 grid in the NES color palette.\u00a0 This means I need to keep the details simple because I have a limited color set.\u00a0 I have found\u00a0these limitations help me limit the time I spend on the graphics\u00a0and meet my personal skillset.\n
        \n
      • It also allows me to expand my audience to those folks who like NES games.<\/li>\n
      • A lumberjack character is very easy to represent and generally recognizable with little detail.\u00a0 This helps when working with the small sprites and limited colors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • There are already a number of popular “Lumberjack” games on Google Play.\u00a0 Placing my game in a popular theme will (hopefully) give me a lot more cross traffic than a game titled “bubbles” or “shapes.”<\/li>\n
      • Creating different levels allows me to basically write a tutorial and a game at the same time.\u00a0 If I did this right, the whole game would not even need instructions.\u00a0 That is directly applicable to the toddler game I want to create.<\/li>\n
      • Eventually, I might consider developing an RPG \/ Zelda \/ Rouge style game.\u00a0 Developing a forest level and having Jack be a main character, offers story telling opportunities.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe once he finds his Axe, he\u00a0is forced to head out across the kingdom, etc.\u00a0 The assets I create for Jack, should all be applicable across other games.\n
          \n
        • This also could create brand recognition and other (I hope positive) side effects across products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Game Overview Jack really wants to be a true timberman.\u00a0 He just needs an axe.\u00a0 In this game, you walk around the screen collecting perks while avoiding static and dynamic objects.\u00a0 The goal it to collect as many perks as you can without crashing into something.\u00a0 There are endless randomly generated levels.\u00a0 Once you find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":708,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/669\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stonemillkids.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}