Some quick Updates:

Here’s a quick preview of some new enemies I added to the Moldering world. I’ve used the stock graphics and drew some basic sprites just to get things up and running.

On other news I’ve had some success and some problems with Ogg. I’ve gotten tracks to successfully loop and stop when finished without crashing the system or looping the last second or so. However, there’s a small lag when the track is first loaded and when it starts over.

I wonder, does this have to do with Ogg streaming, is it OpenAL, or something entirely different?

Moldering is a 2D platformer inspired by the classics for Super Nintendo like Zelda and Super Metroid and was also partly inspired by the Knytt Series. It started as a personal project by James Daniello, a Computer Programming major, to help him learn Java and computer programming in general, and has evolved into something much bigger.

The game takes place on a small alien planet that, in the middle of the night, is suddenly struck by a series of meteors. The meteors crash the player’s hot air balloon and bring a toxic mold (hence the name) to the planet that starts dissolving away the world (hence the name again). In this strange foreign locale, the player moves from one area to the next as the mold becomes more prominent the deeper in he finds himself. As the player uncovers each new meteor they gain new abilities, granting access to previously inaccessible areas along with new ways of interacting with the world and defeating its inhabitants who have become possessed.

The game is planned to have eight worlds and focuses mainly on immersion, exploration, and solid gameplay. The engine is going to be play tested thoroughly, over and over again, to give the most solid experience possible. Box2D has been incorporated to handle the physics based mechanics of the game.

A neat feature of the game is the ability to load in different ‘worlds’, which can be user-made. With a public release of the level editor anyone will be able to create and share new adventures. Or, if we decide to make new world ourselves we can share them online and continue the adventure of Moldering without needing to patch the game.

The game started as James’ learning project, but along the way has gathered a small team of developers; people he met in real life as well as online, who have contributed immensely to its progress. As the game grows (and it still continues to) it takes on new ideas, concepts, team members, and gameplay dynamics. We’re documenting the progress of the game online to help get the word out and possibly help others who are interested in developing their own games.

Is there anything you would like to see in Moldering?

We’ve got the graphics for three worlds of the eight worlds just about reworked and finalized. There’s still some objects we need to add along with additional tiles, but we’re happy with the way these worlds are panning out.

I won’t go into too much details to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but here is the rundown of the world secuencing at the moment. Links are provided with screenshots of the worlds we have revealed.

1. Starting world.

2. First cave.

3. Underwater Cavern.

4. Second Cave.

5. Dark Forest.

6. Mushroom Tops.

7. Research Station/Void

8. Final World.

-James

Here’s a mock-up of the new graphics we’ve worked out for the Dark Forest. As you can see, the little alien is angry that the graphics look so good.

-James

Here’s a short demonstration of what I’ve been working on. You can see the new physics implementation working its magic.

Note: the guys look like they’re overlapping, but it only looks that way because I haven’t incorporated image rotations to take into consideration the true angle of the bounding box. They do not actually overlap.

You will see the physics engine evolving more over the next couple of weeks.

-James