LogiGun version 1.4 is available for download, which includes four more levels from the original Logi-Gun.
Classic Level Pack 1
LogiGun has been updated to version 1.3. In addition to some minor bug and level design fixes, the first (and hopefully not last) level pack has been added.
The first Classic Level Pack includes four levels from the original Logi-Gun updated for the new engine and design sensibilities.
You can get version 1.3 by re-downloading the game from your purchase email.
Also, watch this space for news about Steam Greenlight and the level editor!
LogiGun: A History
It’s a bit surreal, but now that a year or so spent working in seclusion has resulted in what I hope to be a working videogame, I find myself forced to write a post that somehow provides some context of its existence. Well, here goes nothing.
I first started making games back in elementary school using a program called GameMaker. They were exactly the basic, ill-fated fangames everyone creates when they first start out.
Sidescrolling platformers starring EarthBound characters:
Sidescrolling shooters starring Mario enemies with guns:
Metroid-style adventure games starring more Mario enemies, with more guns:
And then something happened. The year was 2007, and perhaps as an indicator that I had finally molted free of my Nintendo fanboy phase, I took a break from giving assault weapons to Koopa Troopas and made a game based on my own ideas. This game was Logi-Gun:
I could go into more detail, but if you’re really curious, you can just download the game for free from the extras page. Logi-Gun was the last game I ever finished in GameMaker. This was because that year, I headed off to University to get a fancy Computer Science degree, and found that I no longer had the time nor the resolve to work on games any longer.
A lot happened in the following four years. I learned real, big-boy programming languages like C++ and Java. I got to use that knowledge over an intense three-month span coding a game from scratch in a small team for a games programming course. And I also discovered a love of character writing from starting up my own webcomic.
All that time, my gamedev itch was growing. Making games was something I loved doing, and I missed it dearly. I wanted to build my own engine, using all of the techniques and practices I had learned. I wanted to design and write characters and share them with players. I wanted to take a wild shot to see if indie game development could be a full-time job. So when I graduated, I decided it was now or never.
At this time, I looked back at Logi-Gun. I still regard it fondly, as it represents a significant turning-point for me creatively, but after four years of hindsight and maturation of my design sensibilities, I found the game itself to be… flawed. Deeply, deeply flawed. I’ll likely get into particulars in a later post. Despite that, the basic gameplay concept still really appealed to me. There was merit there, it just needed to be done right.
So I did that. I took Logi-Gun and everything I’d learned, and started from scratch. And well, here we are.
Hopefully this time, I did it justice.