Coins, new mechanic introduction!

    I'm adding an element of difficulty to the game. Each level will start with a very short amount of time to complete it. Fret not, each level will house several gold coins to increase the amount of time you have to complete it. They won't be hard to get to, but you do have to work at them... for example, you might have just enough time to reach the first coin, so any screwing around and it's game over for you!

     The coins were really simple to make. First off, I added a circle mesh. Then extruded the circle directly back to give it thickness. Then using extrude and scale, I created the lip of the coin before it goes into the dip. Then, extrude and scale once more to bring the coin in on itself to give it depth. Then just highlighting the newly formed inner ring and pressing the "f" key to fill in the missing faces.
     I've done some work on the first level and decided to take some screen shots as I progressed.

     This is the first in the series. Not much to see really, just kind of giving you an idea of the scale of the first level. On the far left you can barely make out the humble beginnings of level 1. At this point I was still in the planning and experimenting stage.

     Here you can see I added in some jumps and a pitfall. The pitfalls are a fun little obstacle that seem to pop up in all kinds of games. From this perspective you can see how I create the 3d effect inside of a 2d game. By placing the camera into orthographic mode it allows me to place things in the foreground and the background while both still appear to be on the same plane. As the character runs through the game along the cleared center path visible in the above picture, he passes behind the trees in the foreground and in front of the trees in the background, giving the illusion of 3d.

     Another orthographic view, just giving an idea of how much of the level is finished. The little cross in the middle of the screen is the center of the level. I'm about a quarter of the way done in this image. You can see in this screen shot that I have added another platform after the pitfall and added the trees and grass where needed.

     This is an awesome view. I deleted the back and bottom of the level as they were added geometry that was not necessary. In this screen shot you can see a second pitfall and some more trees added. Each level is going to have a different feel to it. This one is outdoors and forest sort of feel. I've already had a request for an alien level, can't wait to work on that one! Everyone needs to check out this site for amazing music that is royalty free! I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this site. It is wonderful!

     In this video I show what coins are going to look like in the game as far as movement and color is concerned. Also, it will go onto my kick starter project as fun additions while it is posted and accepting contributions. I'll get the link on here and all the other blog posts as soon as it is green lighted by Kickstarter. As always, please leave comments and suggestions!
     -Eric