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By Flipline_Tony, December 23, 2014 7:32 am

Hey Everyone!

While we are getting ready for the holidays over here at Flipline Studios, we wanted to show off a festive new location from Papa Louie 3: When Sundaes Attack! Check out Foodini soaring through a winter wonderland!

This area is called Wintergreen Way. In Papa’s Freezeria, you served up cold ice-cream sundaes in a warm tropical setting. So for Papa Louie 3, we really wanted to mix together a tropical/winter vibe. So be expecting some snow, palm trees, and  slippery ice!

Stay tuned for more info on Papa Louie 3: When Sundeas Attack!

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By Flipline_Tony, December 16, 2014 8:43 pm

Hey Everyone!

For this week’s sneak peek we wanted to show off an enemy which will be making its first official appearance in Papa Louie 3: When Sundaes Attack… The Cherry Bombs! They may look familiar to you because they can be seen in Foodini’s mini-game called “Cool Shot”, on the back of Scooter’s skateboard, and as a holiday drizzle in Papa’s Donuteria.

In Papa Louie 3, when triggered, Cherry Bombs will feverishly chase after you until they finally blow up! There are also several varieties like the hard-shelled Cordial Bombs, and the aquatic Cherry Mines. Be very careful around these guys.

Stay Tuned for more info for Papa Louie 3: When Sundaes Attack!

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By Flipline_Tony, December 9, 2014 4:08 pm

Hey Everyone!

This week, we wanted to take you behind the Flipline Curtain and show you just how Papa Louie 3 is being created.

A robust platformer game like Papa Louie 3 needs an equally robust Level Editor to both create and adjust levels throughout the development process. We created our level editor from scratch and it has evolved over the years with every new game. Each of our platformers has a level editor that we use that is tailored to that specific game.

Now before we get any further, let me clarify: This is a Level Editor that we use here at Flipline Studios. Please do not misinterpret this blog post and think that we will be releasing a Level Editor with the game. Though that would be awesome, it’s not designed for public use.

It’s all very technical, and we could write pages upon pages about each of the tools and how they are used.  But for this post, we just want to give you a quick glimpse into our work environment and how we bring these games to life.

With that being said, check out Papa Louie 3′s Level Editor (Click on the image for a larger view):

Here we have three main parts… first being the Stage panel:

Here you can see the level laid out on the grid. We can pan around the environment. We have a wide variety of tools that we use to draw, erase, and select tiles. When drawing the ground, it automatically adds all the edging and caps, and can even automatically slope the ground. It’s pretty neat.

Then we have the Storage panel

Here we can grab background objects to place around the area. We can also grab any enemy, object, or item to place in the level. The Event Setup tab is used for orchestrating complicated events like telling a Switch to open a specific Door when pressed.

The third part is the Layers panel.

This is where we go to select different parts of the level to draw and adjust. Bridges (Platforms GB), Blocks, Ground and Soft Ground  all have their own layer to work in. The Detail layers are where things like trees, bushes and other background objects are placed. We even have our new Water layer which is used to draw in the boundaries of the swimming areas of a level. From this Panel, you can also save the level, set the level’s tilesheet, along with making it larger or smaller.

That’s our Level Editor in a nutshell! Stay tuned for more info and sneak peeks of Papa Louie 3: When Sundaes Attack!