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Tag Archives: Particle Effects

Anatomy of an ASCII Title Screen

The design philosophy behind Cogmind emphasizes maximum immersion wherever possible. For this reason I’d like to avoid game-y interface elements–those which are not part of the game world itself but instead remove your mind from that world and remind you that it’s a game. (A fact you’re obviously unlikely to forget, but anything that breaks […]

Posted in Art | Also tagged , , , , | 6 Responses

Projectile Penetration

At this stage of development I wasn’t planning on adding new mechanics, but projectile penetration has been hovering around on my to-do list ever since early playtesting showed the game would really benefit from a way to shoot through objects. The ability to simultaneously hit an entire line of enemies, or even fire through obstructions […]

Posted in Mechanics | Also tagged , , | 12 Responses

Non-Interactive Machines

Non-interactive machines were first discussed in the context of the object placement algorithm of the previous post. But there is plenty more to cover. Distribution We can’t simply pick random machines for any and all maps. The types of machines on a given map should reflect the theme of that map, be it storage, factory, […]

Posted in Design | Also tagged , , , | 2 Responses

Making Particles

I’ve already written about weapon particle effects, but previous posts have only focused on the results rather than the process behind their creation. Some readers would likely enjoy some elaboration on what went into that whole “week I buried myself in Cogmind scripts.” For everyone else, it’s also a thinly veiled excuse to show some […]

Posted in Design | Also tagged , , , , | 2 Responses

MORE ASCII Particle Effects

After spending a couple weeks completing item art, next up was assigning particle effects to the 200 or so weapons. Last time I posted about ASCII particle effects (not long ago) was regarding the “first pass” at them a few months earlier, when the work was more about doing “what I felt like” and thought […]

Posted in Art | Also tagged , , , | 2 Responses