Tactile Cave 2: Developer’s Diary 2. On Debug.

Debug is the most frustrating part of game design.

Debug is the most frustrating part of game design. Bugs are subtle and hide themselves well in even the most conspicuous of places. An error in logic can be as small as a single character and have game-crippling effects. This I am experiencing in my development of Tactile Cave 2. The Processing Development Environment is capable of frustrating to no end as it points out bugs and errors that are almost indetectable to the human mind.

Variables are a huge annoyance, and making sure that any variable or value you state is defined is an intricate and annoying process. Basic bugs and glitches can make the game fail to operate properly at all. This is not to mention world-loading bugs and death glitches that make the game inoperable. Creating a game that’s actually fun to play is even a greater challenge with these programming constraints.

That said, coding is still a thrilling and intellectually stimulating experience that requires little mathematical experience and a high level of patience. A propensity for logical thinking is critical and writing a functional program is not unlike formulating an argument for a debate.

Tactile Cave 0.95 (Finally!)

After months in limbo, the new 0.95 version of Tactile Cave is out and available under a CC-license! This new version features looping music, new art assets and improved debug. Its embedded below!


Not working for you? Check out the original applet at http://www.openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=26875

To progress past  the first screen, hit enter. Tap space to start the game after reading the instructions screen!
Have fun! This is Team Corsehead’s first project!

EDIT: With the current given frame size, the game will not be played properly on this site. Check out the original applet at openprocessing for the best version. 

Tactile Cave!!! (v. 0.9)

Well, for the last month, only one blog post was uploaded to this site. I was out for the entire month at an academic summer camp named COSMOS (California State Summer School for Math and Science) taking a game development class. Learning the Processing programming language, I was able to put together the embedded game.

In San Francisco, there is a children’s science museum named the “Exploratorium” in the Palace of Fine Arts. Within, there is an attraction named the “Tactile Dome”, which is an indoor maze left completely unlit. Visitors must rely on their sense of touch to move about the maze to the end. This game was heavily inspired by this attraction, featuring three levels of dark, tactile goodness.

The game is still in an semi-complete state. Win conditions, death, movement and all the necessities of gameplay are present and functional and the code is completely bug-free. However, subsequent revisions will add enhanced graphics and animation.

EDIT: I am having difficulty embedding the game into this blog. You can play it here.