Graphs & Resurrection

Calm down ladies and gentlemen! The blog's hiatus (which was essential for me to close the semester with a golden key) is happily over!

According to the post I wrote here, my free time is a geometric progression of negative common ratio directly proportional to the moment of the semester, therefore, the closer to the end, less free time I have. As a consequence of that, some of my most beloved activities had to be left behind so I could ensure the stability of my academic life, resulting in the abadon of the blog (but still being responsable for the joy of being approved in all the subjects).

But, as I am finally free of my responsabilities with college, I can return to the writing and research. And I have a lot to post about the projects and studies I participated on during my time of absence here. Starting with graphs.

As a college task I developed along with the great Nosirrahh and other two colleagues the base for the creation of an artificial intelligence in a tactical RPG battle system (like the awesome Shining Force II :D).

To be clearer, our objective was to create the root of something like that:

Quatis Project: Biodiversity and digital learning

I mentioned, a few weeks ago on my semester's preview, my participation on a UFMG (a brazilian University) project for the development of an ecologic educational game about Mangabeiras Park. And as promised, here's a post with a little more about the game.

Formed by an ICB (Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Biological Sciences Institute in english) studies group from UFMG, the project's main objective is to teach the population about the variety and fragility of the species that live in Mangabeiras Park, a natural park with a green area of approximately 337 hectares. Through events, long range campaigns and research about the behavior of the creatures that inhabit the park, the group has acted to educate and guarantee the balance of the huge ecosystem that is the park.

A preview of my semester

With college classes starting again the geometric progression of negative common ratio that defines my free time according to the time of the semester begins to act once again, as the papers and exams start to get more frequent and scary.

So here's a short list of the thing I am going to do in this second half of the year:

Contrast: A little bit more about the game

A week after being online, Contrast was played a total of 464 times (339 at Kongregate and 125 at GameJolt :D). This way, and having the last post being a complaint above all, I feel like I should talk a little bit more about the game that took me a week to make.

Made for Mini-Ludum Dare #36, event that serves as a warm-up for the actual Ludum Dare that happens every four months, the game was made from Monday 07/09/2012, till Friday 07/13/2012 using an idea I had written down a few weeks ago that, coincidentally, fit the theme of the compo ("contrasts"). In it the  game, the player controls a black and white cube and needs to cross different obstacles manipulating the environment around him.

The idea I had written down weeks ago is the following: "Light Dimensions: the player changes dimensions creating paths for himself in another dimension". Although it sounds vague , that idea represents the basic mechanics of the game.

About disappointments and jams

A little summary of my week.

Sunday I received the news that the event I had been helping organize was not going to happen. Not because of structure or staff problems (stuff we dealt with in the beggining of the planning), but because of lack of interest. The 1º PUC Game Jam, event elaborated exclusively for the students of the course of Digital Games Development was supposed to happen from july 10 to july 13, from 8h00 to 18h00 and the winning team would have the right to represent the course on the national game jam that happens in October during Brasil Game Show. And all the participants would receive a certificate that compensates a good amount of the complementary hours needed to graduate.
Disappointment is the best word to describe what I felt (and still feel when I think about it). I do not blame the ones who had to work or were traveling on the time of the event, certain responsabilities cannot wait, but I reffuse to believe that in a course with almost two hundred students, only six had time to participate. Six. Two teams.

Monday, lots to do, too little time.

Starting the blog :)

So, I finally decided to stop procrastinating and create my blog!
The page, that already existed for over an year, was violently taken from its former owner and adapted to serve my purposes of taking over the world: to talk about games, projects and ideas.

And to begin with the right foot, a little post about the recently "finished" game I worked on:
A Fuga de Blue (In english: Blue's Escape)! :D

It's a 2D and a half, fantasy themed platform game. You play as Blue, a black kitty who was abducted by a Witch with the intention to turn him in one of her minions.