Development Diary - Baldy 3D

Jan 2nd 2001:
Re-designed the whole first level with some better graphics and animation.
The first level is playable now (after about 1 weeks work), but may add a few more things for effect.

Jan 3rd 2001:
Had a stab at some music, but failed to produce anything. Created some nice graphics for the second level (a new one!) the park.
Added a few puzzles to the first level. This involved different collectable items that opens up new areas of the map when collected.

Jan 6th 2001:
With the music being a complete wash out, I continued work on level 2 - The Park. Now complete and almost playable. Just a few tweaks and level jumping code needs to be added. I am thinking about adding a sort of "Exit Open" sign that flashes on screen after you've collected enough things !
This level features some nice touches like a mad skateboard riding kid and some very cool 'walk through' scenery.
At some point I will have to work on some sound effects as well !

Jan 10th 2001:
Created some nice graphics for level 3. Its going to be a kind of ruined gothic church with arches and columns and stuff! Also had a bash at a logo - there it is - up top!
Dug out some nice sound fx as well, but they may be replaced later if they get too annoying.
Began to formulate a story. I may add small pop-up windows that tell the tale at the start and end of each level. At least there will be some kind of theme to the game !! (maybe).

Jan 13th 2001:
My new PC arrived this morning. Most of the day was spent installing all my software and setting up both mine and Sue's computers. So... there hasn't been a great deal of work done on the game. Level 3 is about 90% complete - still no baddies or collision detection yet. Here is a picture !

Jan 17th 2001:
I was beginning to plough ahead with level design, ignoring the boring old nitty gritty of programming. So today I sat down and added all collision detection, sound effects, death routine, lives counter and end of game thingy..... for level 1.
I hope to produce a demo version with 1 or maybe 2 levels soon.
I searched the internet and found some good midi files to use in-game and for the intro. I also found some absolute pants stuff.

Jan 25th 2001: 3 LEVEL DEMO NOW AVAILABLE !
Got down to some serious work and soon had a fully playable, 3 level demo ready to upload. Download it by visiting the download section.
I can't guarantee it will work faultlessly due to the 'quick' put together, but hopefully it wont' crash too often ;-)
Any comments are welcome...

Jan 27th 2001:
With the 3 level demo out of the way, it was back to graphics and level design. The next level (4) finds Baldy in the back streets, in search of newspapers with job vacancies. Created some nice graffiti covered walls and other scenery, ready to begin building the level.

Feb 4th 2001:
Level 4 is coming along nicely. The playarea is now complete, as is the object collection. A few minor tweaks and the collision detection will see it finished.

Feb 14th 2001:
Level 4 is nearly done, so I began work on the graphics and layout for level 5. This level is a large office complex where Baldy has to search for the right room to be interviewed for a job. I am thinking about adding a timer to this level, so he only has something like 2 minutes to complete it, or its back to level 4. Here is a preliminary

Feb 17th 2001:
Bugger!
Because of a system crash, I have lost all of the Baldy source. I only have the source for the 3 level demo left ! (see latest news for full story) What happens now? Who knows.....

Feb 25th 2001:
After much deliberation, I decided to continue with Baldy, just to see how it goes. My system seems more stable (!!!) and a lot faster now that Win98 is installed. The source has been loaded back in and things are looking dandy so far....

March 10th 2001:
Well, the work carries on and I am at last nearly up to the stage where it all went wrong last time. Level 4 is finished and level 5 is looking pretty good.

March 23rd 2001:
Work is going well. Level 5 is now complete, so that means that I'm over half way. Work has started on level 6 with some rather nice cave graphics, although I think this level looks to similar throughout. Also on this level, the nasty spikes and flames from level 3 return, along with a few other surprises !!

April 17th 2001:
Not much has happened of late due to lots of work, but level 6 has changed slightly. The 'samey' graphics have been added to, it now breaks up the look a bit. Does that make sense?
I have done a bit of preliminary work on Level 7 with a few nice looking graphics etc...

April 23rd 2001:
Work goes well ! Level 6 is now complete and level 7 is 90% done (just the collision detection to do). With that, I got on with some graphics for level 8 and 9. Level 8 is looking good already. Here is a piccy from level 8 to keep you going.
Level 9 is another 'nightmare' level, with some cool traps to kill you!
With this in mind, I added a few 'Extra Lives' around the other levels.

April 28th 2001:
Were flying now! Had a long session of nitty-gritty coding and managed to complete both level 7 and level 8. Level 9 is coming along fine with a few floor tiles to add and a few nasties to draw.

Not long now !!

May 7th 2001:
Had a slight problem today, with a bad object causing almost a days work to be scrapped. I managed to salvage it though, and now level 10 is complete apart from the collision detection.
This means that the majority of work is complete now, with only the intro and outro for each level to tidy up, and of course the end scene.

May 10th 2001: Version 1 released
Yippee! Version 1 of the game has been released and you can download it NOW. So, what are you waiting for - get to the download area and click that link.
If you discover any bugs or problems - let me know. I spent about 2 hours play testing it, and found only 3 major bugs (fixed now).
Let me know your thoughts...