Update #24

Hello world! Welcome to the twenty fourth Dev with Dave game progress update!

So, at the end of the last update I said I would try and get the settings page on the menu working, and if there was time then I’d make a start on the IAP (In app purchasing) to allow the player to buy more coins. And you know what? I’ve actually managed it! Lol.

Settings page

I’d already mostly finished designing and creating the Settings page in the UI system, and all that was really left to do was add functionality to the ui elements.

The first thing I did was add a couple of variables to store the current sound effects and music volumes.

Next, I added some code in the ui button handler for each of the – & + buttons. This simply adjusts the volume variable, checks it’s not exceeded the limit and sets it to the limit if it has. Then it calls the UpdateVolumeSprite() function.

The volume bars are made of two sprites, a larger outer which is white with a black outline, and the blue inner, which is slightly smaller. The UpdateVolumeSprite() function works out the current volume as a percentage of the maximum size of the blue bar, and resizes the bar accordingly.

I then added the sound and music volumes to a saved file, so they could be loaded in when the game starts. I also added some code to call the UpdateVolumeSprite() function for both volume bars when the values are loaded in.

The very last thing I did was implement the new volume variables every where where the code called a play music or sound effect command.

I’ve left the Ad Settings button for the time being. This will need a consent page building, as well as needing the adverts to be set up.

Coins purchasing

I’ve also managed to get the coin purchase buttons almost working. Unfortunately, as with the adverts, the IAP needs some online setup, so I have been unable to implement that just yet. Once I’m getting ready to Upload a test build of the game to the store, I’ll create the adverts and IAP stuff as well.

However, for now just clicking on the buttons to buy a coin pack will credit the correct amount of coins to the players coin total.

I’ve also added temporary values to the amount of coins you get in each coin pack. I still however, need to create images for the coin packs and other items on this page.

And that’s all for now!

As always I’ll be back with another update on how the game is coming on in two weeks time!

By then I’m hoping to have done some more work on the level design and added a few more zone layouts.

Until next time 🙂

Update #23

Hello world! Welcome to the twenty third Dev with Dave game progress update!

Despite what I said at the end of the last update about either working on IAP or the settings page this time round, I did neither and instead worked on the music systems instead. It made sense to get the music working first before adding the stuff which lets you change the music volume.

According to the GDD, The sound and music for Flappy-vaders should also be inspired by 80s gaming technology.

The aim is to have a game soundtrack which speeds up slightly the longer the player plays the game
for.

The Music System

I’ve decided to use Andrea Baroni’s Arcade Jam tune from the 8 Bit juke box collection for the time being. It’s suitably retro and it speeds up quite well. I may attempt to create my own tunes at some point, but I doubt I have time right now.

The music for the game is split into two sections, the “introduction”, which is played first and the “main loop”, which starts playing on a loop as soon as the intro has finished.

As always there is an Update() function for the music, which handles two things. Firstly it checks to see if the intro has finished and starts the main music loop playing; and secondly, it checks to see whether the game is playing in which case it gradually increases the music speed. Or if it’s the game over screen, then it decreases the music speed until it returns back to it’s actual speed.

In the video above, I’ve greatly increased the rate at which the music speeds up to make it more obvious. In the actual game the speed up effect is much more gradual and subtle.

Outro

And that’s all for this update. I’ll try and get the Settings working next, and if there is time then I’d like to make a start on IAP and currency purchasing.

I’ll be back in two weeks with another exciting Flappy-vaders update.

See you then 🙂

Update #22

Hello world! Welcome to the twenty second Dev with Dave Game Progress Update! 🙂 It’s around 3pm on Friday afternoon as I write this, I still have to script record and edit the video and write all the social media posts (*sigh*) but I am hoping this update will at least be on the right day, if a little later than usual.

So, this update I have finished the Loading/Saving game data, and also spent some time removing duplicate code.

I’ve also taken some time out to get the Trello and the GDD updated.

Loading and saving game data

Having taken all the time available to me last time playing around with encryption for the save game file, this update I have managed to get the Loading and saving working properly.

The first time the game is run there is no save game data, so the game creates one using the default values. The LoadPlayerData() function then loads the data into an array and decrypts it. The decrypted data is then stored in the individual variables ready to be used in the game.

Saving the game data is pretty much the reverse. The data from the individual variables is stored in an array, then encrypted before being written to the file. If the file exists, it’s simply overwritten.

Both getting the loading and saving were quite easy to achieve in comparison to the next bit, which was updating the UI to reflect the data which had been loaded in.

Now, had I been smart, I would have considered this when I was writing the code which updates the store page info when the player makes a purchase and written it with a view of reusing it to update the display after loading the game data in as well.

It seems, however, I am not smart 🙁 as I did not do this at all! Which led to some serious rewriting and refactoring code.

Refactoring

A lot of the code used to update the UI display when purchasing an upgrade or boost was duplicated. It didn’t take too long to copy and paste the duplicated code into a function and make it more generic so it could be used for all instances where it was required.

I created four functions, one to update the upgrades store page after loading, one to update the boost store page, and two to update the individual items on either page. As you can see from the picture below, they didn’t quite work the first time round, lol.

The functions to update the store pages are called after the game data file is loaded in, and they both call the update store page item function for the relevant page, for each item on the page.

I also replaced the old code for updating the store page data when a purchase was made with the new function.

This refactoring has made the code some 750 lines shorter as well as making it much easier to read in places.

And that’s all for now

I still need to include data for the trophy progress in the game data file, but as there isn’t actually any trophy progress data currently I can’t do that just yet. It will have to wait until I have created at least one functioning trophy.

I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing for the next update. It’ll either be getting the IAP systems working or adding functionality to the Settings page. Maybe both if time allows?

Until next time 🙂