Developing Ramblings

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jayenkai
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Planning ahead..

My Jayenkai Archive currently contains 287 games. At a rate of AGameAWeek, I'm going to be reaching the big 300 on August 37th.
Yikes!!
But what will it be?

I'd love to do a nice big new JNKPlat game, but it'd need a big rethink to work on touchscreens.
I'm not sure how best to tackle it, if I'm honest.
I have, at least, started the sprite-building. I'm currently taking all the characters from NeonPlat Adventures, un-neoning them, and converting them all back into the pixelated style of classic JNKPlat.
Quite how/where I'll use them, I'm not sure.

Hmmm... Not much of a plan, really, is it!
No matter, carry on!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Testing Ahead...

Today, I finally got around to updating Monkey, and got everything "working" again, but now I'm back to square one, as far as having everything fully tested is concerned.

Next Tuesday's release will be a test, to ensure everything's still running smoothly on all the various devices.
*gah*
I hate testing.
...
Well, ok, it's kinda fun, but other than that, I hate testing!!

Fun Fact/Hidden Egg : Hit the AGameAWeek logo in this week's MLG game to see the Testcard :D
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

I got a couple of nice features up and running, today, most importantly being that I now appear to be able to access online data. I'll be adding a simple test feature into next week's game, so you can try it out on your device, but without making it a pervasive feature. Pretty much just a simple "can it receive a line of text from the server" type affair.
If it works, it could mean some nice future additions.

It's odd that I'm putting this much background work into this week's game, because I really oughta be working on the actual gameplay.
This week's game is currently a (another!) remake of Kee, Bo & Ard, currently titled "Kee, Bo, and Ard Makes Three!"
I've got the engine running nicely, and need only build a bunch of levels for the game.
... Not sure I have the oomph to bother making any levels, now, though!!

Aw well, no matter, there are three whole entire days to go, before the game needs to be finished. I'm sure I can build something, before then!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by Tormuse »

jayenkai wrote: I'm going to be reaching the big 300 on August 37th.
Sounds like a long wait; my calendar doesn't even go up to August 37th! ;)

I gave MLG a try on my phone. The game chugs a bit when there's a lot of action on the screen, but I expect that that's a product of me having a slow smartphone. :P I also again face the issue that my hand keeps obscuring part of the screen when I go to the upper part of the screen, but I found it helps if I have it in landscape mode and use both hands, switching between thumbs depending on what side of the screen I want to be on. The differences between difficulty levels seems a bit steep, although that might be a product of my misunderstanding gameplay or something. When I played on Easy mode, I was able to go for several rounds, but my first game on Normal mode, I died on round 2! :o Most recently, I discovered that I can fire a stronger burst if I release the screen and then touch it again, and that seems to help a bit, and I managed to get a few rounds of Hard in. (Those blue ones are deadly, though!) :|

I'm not sure what to say about power-ups because I haven't played the original games, (maybe I'll try that next!) but my first thought is to have capsules fly out like in Arkanoid. (or did you mean you want suggestions about what kind of power-ups?)
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jayenkai
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Microbe2 has "float out" arkanoid style powerups, but those felt a bit tricky when dealing with under-the-thumb gameplay.
I did have under-the-thumb in mind, and figured it's somewhat allowable when you can imagine what's there.. If I start shifting things around, under there, it's going to get tougher to work with.
I had considered plopping a single powerup dead-center, and having the player tap on it, but then you get stuck with them if you don't use them, so I can't do my usual "power down!" evil things ;)

Hmmm... *shrugs*
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by Pater Alf »

Tried MLG on easy for som minutes. In fact it was very easy in the first levels and then suddenly got impossible to beat (around level 10). Am I such a bad player or is there really such a heavy raise in difficulty?
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

It ramps quite badly.
If I can get some sort of powerup feature going, then alternative weapons and bombs and things would help, but without them, you're pretty much doomed!!

I really need to sort something out, then balance it all out a bit better.. Hmmm....
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Another Tuesday, Another AGameAWeek!

This week, "Kee, Bo and Ard Makes Three"
It's a fairly competent Maze game, with 64 levels included, of varying random difficulty. Sorry, the levels are a bit haphazard. I never did get around to making a proper editor.. Such is the annoying timescale of AGameAWeek!!

It's a nice enough game, although this week has had it's own set of issues, and as such it's not quite as "big" as I was hoping for.
:(
Seems to be a bit of a running theme, lately..

However..

There's testing to be done!
First up, the Windows version is now using a completely different compiler. I can't work out why it won't use the old one, but it does at least appear to be working. Can't be certain, though, so if you're playing along on Windows, give it a whirl and let me know if it's working or not.

The Android version *should* work like it did, before, but.. well.. you never can be sure with these things!

Also, in both of those, in the bottom left corner, is a little bit of text saying "NEWS".
If you click/tap on it, it'll attempt to access the internet, and grab a line of text from my server, then display it at the bottom of the screen.

What it says is unimportant. (It simply states that this week's game is Kee Bo and Ard)
Whether or not it works, at all, is the important bit, so let me know how your system/device copes with it.
For the record, I won't be using this for random notifications, or nasty things like that.. Yuk!!
It'll either be used for Online Highscores, or Online Levels..
That stuff's a long way off, yet, but it's good to know it's at least do-able!

You can Download Kee, Bo and Ard Makes Three here.
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

I've spent most of the past few days juggling SpikeDislike2 iOS and next week's game.
The game involves nothing more than simple leaping, and in many ways would fit wonderfully as a new game mode in SpikeDislike2, but I'm unsure whether I want to lock it down as that, or set it free on it's own.
.. It's currently it's own little thing, and is wonderfully playable in it's current form.

... So, what have I been up to with SpikeDislike, then?
More gameplay modes, obviously, but more importantly, I'm adding in the "Choose Your Own Dislike" mode, where you get to pick a theme, select a path and speed, and then set a limit (10 spikes?) as well as number of lives.
Then you can play with just those settings.
In addition to that, you can also setup hot-seat "Play/Pass” tournaments! Simply select a number of players, (1-6) and the game repeats the exact same path for each player, keeping track of scores as it goes.
Mmmmm!! Multiplayer, the lazy way!!

Before I can release the new version of SpikeDislike, though, I need to fill up the last three gamemode slots.
Not too sure what I'm going to be putting there, but I might go a little crazy with the ideas!
.. And I might put this week's game in there, too. It is quite fun!!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

OK, first toe-dip into a whole new world.

Each and every week I've been uploading a single test .apk to the GooglePlay store, and every single week, something, somewhere has gone awry.
I can NOT believe that it's taken me this long to get something working!!
But I have..
And, since I had the game pretty much done, yesterday, I managed to do this week's attempt a day early..
.. Good grief, it actually worked!!!

I'm gobsmacked!!

Hey, look, one of my games is WORKING on GooglePlay :D
\o/hurray\o/

(About smegging time!)


Anyway, this is tomorrow's AGameAWeek.
All you Android Fans get to play it a few hours earlier than everyone else!
Hoppy Bobby on the GooglePlay store

I'll post the Windows and HTML5 editions in the morning.
.. and I also now need to tweak my Archive to account for GooglePlay links, too.. grrr!
jayenkai
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Hoppy Bobby!

I'm really proud of how well this game's turned out!
I should probably point out that, even on Easy mode, it is alarmingly difficult, but that's half the fun of AGameAWeek, right!?
Give it a few goes, and you'll get used to the odd control scheme, then it's plain sailing (/jumping).
How far can YOU get!?

Hint : Probably not all the way to the end!! .. and yes.. there's an end!

You can Download Hoppy Bobby here. :D
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by Pater Alf »

Question: How far can you get?

Answer: Not very far.

Game is really hard. Just played for some minutes and I think I only got to platform 14 the best. It's quite difficult to calculate your jumps and the rotating platforms at the same time. And the time limit certainly doesn't help. :wink:

But it's a fun game and I can see me playing it again and try to get better.
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

This week's game isn't spectacular.
It's hard, it's silly, and it doesn't really go anywhere.
V~S : Vertical Shooter

It's a simple enough idea. You shoot the baddies as they float in at the top, they explode, and the debris falls. .. We've done this mechanic before!!
You have 100 health points.
If debris hits you, you lose 10 health points.
If debris reaches the bottom of the screen, you lose 1 point.

To stop the debris, simply "swoosh" your way around it, and catch it in your tail.

You can Download V~S : Vertical Shooter here.
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Arrr!! Crazy week!

I thought this week's game would be simple, but it became mind-boggling more complex as it went on.
A simple idea, reborn into chaos!

NeonPlat Raw
For those not playing on an Android system, please ignore the onscreen buttons!!

I'm pretty happy with how the touchscreen controls have come out, but feel free to yell at me if you think otherwise.
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Can't seem to get started on this week's game. I know what it is, but like most planned ideas, it doesn't seem to be shifting!
Perhaps I should just scrap it, and do something entirely different. *shrugs*

As well as tackling this week's game, I've also promised to get back into DS Homebrew Development. In many ways, I do enjoy doing DS dev. You have a proper DPad, and buttons, for starters! But .. It means coding in a different language. I can't simply throw something up using Monkey, which means having two different versions of the same game.
Grrrr..
I'm not sure, but I think I've gotten too lazy to deal with that sort of thing, anymore.
Guess there's only one way to find out!!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Started to tackle the groundwork for the DS Homebrew game, by which I mean doing a lot of artsy stuff, starting to make a level editor, and not even bothering to start coding the game yet. So much so, in fact, that I've not even installed the Dev Kit yet! Whoops!
Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get this week's game working.
I scrapped the initial plan, and set off in an entirely different direction. Probably a bad idea, given that the new one isn't all that great, either, but at least this one's building up at a faster rate, and in the world of AGameAWeek, that's all that matters!!
.. he says, whilst messing about posting in forums, and not actually getting any of the game done.

..whoops!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

The DS Homebrew game test engine is vaguely working.. It's nowhere near a game, yet, but it's groundwork, and nice groundwork at that.
Next up, drawing sprites..
... ugh..

Ignoring that horrible bit, for a while, we get back to regular AGameAWeek territory.
This week's game is a bit simple. It's still hard, of course, but it's nothing too complex.
Simply swirl your control scheme of choice, to guide the little tadpole around the pond, avoiding all the spikes.. (SpikeDislike!!!)

You can Download Ted Poll the Tadpole here, but be aware that the Android version is NOT FREE!!!
This marks a bit of a shift in my usual niceness. I feel evil having done it, and it probably won't exactly pay the bills, but I'd like to get some sort of idea of what *could* be achieved if I actually started doing it more often.
.. for what it's worth.. it doesn't appear to be helping much!
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by Tormuse »

Just wanted to say that I gave Hoppy Bobby a try and it works very well. I like the graphics and sound and the interface and it's reasonably challenging. I haven't quite mastered the hopping, to be honest, but I was able to get as far as level 37 once on easy mode. :)

I also just downloaded Key Bo and Ard, Vertical Shooter, and Neonplat and I'll give them a good try later today probably. As for Ted the Tadpole, I guess I can send some money your way, but I'd just as soon do it directly. Is there a donation link on your site? (I'm on my smartphone right now, but I can check it out later when I'm in front of my computer)
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

Don't feel obliged to send cash. I never feel comfortable taking cash from people. Kinda why I'm stuck in this rut, to be honest, but that's just how I am, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

.. But yes, it's at the upper right of agameaweek.com! ;)
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Re: Developing Ramblings

Post by jayenkai »

SpikeDislike2 on iOS got it's big big update, early this morning.
Stupid thing got stuck in "In Review" status for about 9 hours, yesterday! I can only imagine that the reviewer was sat there, playing the heck out of it, trying desperately to unlock all the modes to ensure nothing naughty was hidden in it!
.... Good for them :)

So, at 2:09 this morning, they finally popped the update onto the AppStore! Phew!!

This is my final "original plan" update, which adds the great big option screen as the final gamemode. Lots of tweakability in there, and you can create some nice simple gamemodes of your own from the various settings.
I also added a nice "number of players" option in that screen, so you can play a nice play&pass mode, and see who gets the furthest..
..dunno how popular that'd be, but I felt it was a nice thing to throw into the mix.

Will there be more, after this?
I'm not sure.
I have an idea for a nice big complex Challenge Mode, but .. I'd have to plan that out!! And I'm too lazy to do that!

I think, for all intents and purposes, I'm pretty much done with SpikeDislike2.

I'll pop the Android update online, later, assuming I can be bothered to faff about with all of that, just for the sake of the 29 people who have bought it... :/
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