kodu

2D Platformers

Here's a snap from a sweet little 2D platformer that Brad cooked up to prove out the genre.

The two tricks you need for a side-scroller are:

- lock a characters motion to a single plane parallel to the screen

- lock the camera angle so it can follow a character from a fixed offset

The other key is to use roads as platforms you can jump onto. You can raise all or part of a road into the air.

The look here was also Brad's invention - if you turn out all the lights and choose a bright background, the characters wind up looking like little 2D illustrations. It's very beautiful in motion, particularly when missiles start flying, etc...

Posted: 06-12-2009 4:48 PM by mattmac | with 13 comment(s) |
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Comments

Spuz said:

Speaking of beauty in motion, some videos for your blog would be nice!  This looks great, though... very artistic looking.

You should consider adding some different rendering techniques post-release as an update or add-on.  Cell shading would be neat.

# June 12, 2009 7:23 PM

skine99 said:

I love Kodu already.

# June 12, 2009 9:36 PM

darthuvius said:

this is the meta game to end all games lol. i hope i finish my current projects because i want to devote lots of time to KODU.

i do think you need some form of global level sharing, maybe just a most played list that is internally created based on all users data?

although having space on a server to upload our levels too and see other peoples levels would be ideal.

# June 13, 2009 2:08 AM

dussintek said:

This is unique. I feel so much praise is due to the developers of Kodu.

I understand they have to have their reserves. They still need to see how the public reacts to it. I can assure it will be overwhelming praise. Though, I would be foolish to represent my opinion as assurance. There always seems to be negative people.

Some things I'd like to say though:

People can't really complain about this. You have created (to my knowledge) the first game of its type. There isn't something to compare it to, saying PRODUCT X lets you do this, and so forth. Please don't mention LBP.

As far as the sharing is concerned, perhaps if there was a way to share with developers your "best" game. Then they can feature it in their Favorites. Just an idea.

A few days ago someone implied something about the music of the game. I imagine if you guys did anything with the music, it might be just selecting a "theme" song to play. THOUGH, every new thing I learn about Kodu redefines what I thought i knew. What I'm saying is perhaps in the next version you could put in a music generator as simple as the one that came with cell phones a few years back. Entering the notes like this: a#bb gec# ... just a thought.

FINAL THOUGHTS.

I just HAVE to add. Lock a players motion to a single plane? So simple. So brilliant. The things that just seem to belong are there before I even realize I might want them. :)

Imagine what the original Wolfenstein 3D was then. And oh say, Halo is NOW. Kodu has birthed the final genre.

Freedom.

Thanks.

# June 13, 2009 9:44 AM

Armageddon1212 said:

I've been fallowing this project for awhile, and it continues to impress me.

Will Kodu be able to use the music on your Xbox 360 hard drive?

Keep up the good work!

# June 13, 2009 11:22 AM

Leonard McCoy said:

The variety of game modes that you can create with Kodu is impressive.

Do you think that it's possible to do something like a fighting game à la Virtua Fighter in one way or another?

# June 15, 2009 3:31 PM

GantryG said:

Leonard, I have not seen anything that would indicate that Kodu 1.0 could do a fighting game like Virtua Fighter, since the characters themselves don't seem to have controllable parts- maybe in 2.0...?

mattmac- on a 2D sideview game, is there a way to spawn objects just out of view of the camera?

Thanks!

# June 16, 2009 1:57 AM

Spuz said:

I like to program and do it as a hobby quite frequently.

What I look forward to the most about this program is that it's simple enough that I can sit down with friends and create things with them.  Essentially I hope it will become a doorway that I can use to share my love of programming with others.  They simply don't understand at this point what it feels like to make something from the ground up and then be able to play and enjoy the end result.

These piecemeals of information are excrutiating.  I'm glad that I didn't discover this program until three weeks before its intended release because I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if I had to wait several months to a year.

I'd love it if there was an official forum of some sort that anticipating users could discuss things with each other... Well, it'd also be nice to have a place to share techniques after release as well.

# June 16, 2009 9:03 AM

darthuvius said:

we will have an official forum on forums.xbox.com soon after the game is released. i think there are going to be websites created specifically for KODU where people can meet up to share their levels and stuff. I know this because that's what im going to turn my website into.

giveusthisdayourdailygame.blogspot.com

# June 16, 2009 10:36 AM

DoubleTriad said:

If it did have some kinda custom music system, I would guess that it would be MML.

here is an example of it being used in a game called Mabinogi where you can make your own music as a musician. (people can fail at playing, which would explain any wrong notes.

also, Mabinogi limits what you sound like based on the instrument you use. real MML has tons of sounds

www.youtube.com/watch

# June 18, 2009 7:27 AM

Spuz said:

Twelve more days until the end of June... I hope everything's running on schedule!

# June 18, 2009 5:45 PM

skine99 said:

What Spuz said. I'm slightly worried you guys all  went on vacation or something haha. I'm praying this comes out on the 24th personally. Last day of testing. :D

# June 18, 2009 8:26 PM

Heyds said:

Are those little numbers in the top right corner of the screen your stats? Like health, coints etc.? Great work btw keep it up!

# June 19, 2009 7:18 AM