UNITY, VISUAL STUDIO, BLENDER, PHOTOSHOP, ITCH.IO
Click the link to the left to play the latest in-development build of itty-bitty bustle right now!
A JOKE GONE TOO FAR
I originally created itty-bitty bustle as a side project. I wanted a portfolio piece that was playable in a browser, on itch.io, so I could showcase my work without the barrier that requiring a download creates.
I have been hankering for a game that captures the spirit of MicroMachines (the 1991 Sega Genesis classic), with the top-down, birds-eye view, the charming setting, and the wonder that power sliding around syrup traps on a breakfast table can elicit.
With my Design Doc complete (you just read it), I set my main project aside to "real quick" throw together a little browser game that I branded "the Dark Souls of MicroMachines rip-offs."
As you probably already guessed, I found it very hard to just "throw a game together," since if I'm going to spend time on it, I may as well try to make it worth a damn - especially if I plan on using it as a portfolio centerpiece to show off INSTEAD of UniPsycho!! (which is too large to get running in a browser).
THE EVOLVING PAIN-IN-MY-BUTT
As a solo game dev, the reality of Feature Creep, Scope Creep and their devastation is a very real threat. I would guess that the percentage of games laid waste by either would far outnumber the ranks of indie games completed by solo, or even small teams of, game devs.
As might be apparent from the design of the car, I had intended to make a low-poly game. Since I already had a ton of office-themed assets from UniPsycho!!, I began designing a track to incorporate them.
I had this pack with a 90's style computer, which I REALLY wanted to use. Once I decided that, well... any other low-poly assets wouldn't really match, right? Thus began the expanding scope and time-commitment that is:
- itty-bitty bustle -
I wouldn't even hazard a guess how a sheer plastic "tire" finds any sort of purchase on that surface
Sorry I missed your call, I am only just JUMPING OVER THE ENTIRE EARTH IN MY CAR. ...leave a msg
"Take Exit 7 East. When you get to Hoarder's Avenue, hang a left, and park when you get to 1997. No... The year. Yeah, 1997. If you get lost, follow the echoes of 'You've Got Mail!'"
They call it Dead Man's Curve (or they WILL. Well... I probably will.)
That precarious ledge crafted from popsicle sticks doesn't look sturdy enough to hold...
Sign posted for those who naturally assumed the drawer to be a thru-way
"Uh.. why are those cans just floating?" Who cares, nerd. Why don't your parents love you?
A lot of work has been done since I captured this footage, but if you caught a flawless operation as smooth as this one on tape, you might be living in the past too.
THE CARD CASTLE DILEMMA
When I had the idea to create a classic staple of the platforming genre: the collapsing platform, I wasn't certain how to implement it. I needed something that could be found in an office, that could support a toy car long enough for the player to cross, and collapse under the car's weight, like an action movie set piece.
Naturally, I settled on playing cards. We all gamble at the office, right? My boss assured me that EVERYBODY has lost their insurance benefits on a rotten hand of Texas Hold'em. See? They ARE Office Supplies.
The moment I leaned two cards against each other, I was far too deeply embroiled in the mystery, and I just had to know: Who would break first - The card castle or my patience?
SURE THERE IS A 'PRINCESS' CARD
It is right between the Jack and the Queen.
Some of the playing cards were created with art I found online (which may need to be changed before I sell the game). I created a Queen card using my buddy's dog, a Princess card with my pup's face, and a few more with original art. Yes, I'm SURE there is a Princess card in any standard deck of playing cards. Open your eyes.
I gave each a thin box collider, a rigidbody, and a fixed joint. While I was able to keep the structure standing without the fixed joints, it wasn't dependable enough to count on, and it certainly couldn't hold the car's weight. Due to wonky physics on small and lighter objects, the car is the equivalent of a few inches tall, and 500kg.
After a handful of hours spent tweaking the structure, the placement of the cards, and testing different Break Force values for the fixed joint components on each card, I finally found a combination that worked. The final problem(s) were the stragglers. If a card wasn't directly driven over, or another card didn't land on it, it would stay fixed in place.
Yes, it was about as tedious to set up as it looks.*
*Much more tedious to set up than it looks.
CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED SPONTANEITY
For each row of diagonally-oriented cards, as well as each row of horizontally-flat cards, I placed a box collider trigger. If an object with the 'Car' tag triggers a given collider, then that row of cards' fixed joints all release.
The result is that, even when the player doesn't make it all the way across, the collapse of the structure is no longer left to chance.
SPEAKING OF TRIGGERS...
Title Menu for the WebGL build as of 12/19/21
Footage of me driving bad ON PURPOSE to showcase the "restart at checkpoint" feature. I don't ever need it, USUALLY, due to my skill behind the miniature wheel.
Over the moon to be jumping the earth.
What kind of a sick weirdo set this death trap up...
Testing the card castle back before the office was commandeered by hoarders
Early screenshot from back when exposed brick was cool.
Somebody is going to be pissed when they see what Timmy has done to the divorce contract
This is why we can't have nice things.
...and this is why we can't have crappy things.
I moved away from the all caps font, and have been using all lowercase letters with a felt tip marker feel for the title
