We’ve started to look into distributing our app via the chrome web store.

I’ve signed up for a developer account, and started reading the documentation on how to publish apps.  So far it has been easy.  All of their forms have worked, and so far the documentation is easy.  This time I’m trying to do as much of the administration up front.  Things like validating my account and setting up payments.  Only after that works will I actually attempt to publish my app.

Let’s hope it’s easier than the intel appup program, which I’m still not able to publish my app through.

I’m not sure when exactly I decided that I was going to attempt the October Challenge, but I had just started working on a new project a couple weeks ago and it seems like something that could be completed in a relatively short amount of time so I’m going to give it a shot. My game is tentatively titled ‘Frantic Dungeon’ and is a real time roguelike that forces the player to move at a frantic pace. The idea is that on each floor of the dungeon the player will only have a very limited amount of time, probably 20 – 30 seconds, possibly less. With this limited time the player is going to have find the exit,  collect stat bonus, and kill enemies for some experience. So far that’s the basic idea and I’m trying my best to keep it as simple as possible and not fall victim to feature creep.

Here is a quick video I made to show off my current progress. I have a lot of the basic systems complete, but I still have a whole lot of work adding content.

Distribution

The game is written in C#/XNA and I am planning for a PC only release. I would really like to get on Desura, but I’m not sure if I can meet the quality and polish necessary for that to happen within the specified time. Does anyone have any experience publishing through Desura? It would be interesting to hear some advice about that. If Desura doesn’t work out then I will probably try to distribute myself through fastspring or BMT Micro.

Courrier of the Crypts got it’s own very first video preview to show first stages in action. Since the last post here, I’ve made a map editor and gamecore mechanics (loading maps, moving, collision).

For some times I was having problems how to implement lighting into the 2D game and with the last project I’ve made something quite nasty just to get glimpse of light. Today, my brother called me and offered a simple solution to me still using sprites as a “light”. It works just perfectly for me and I’m thankful for that!

For more regular updates, follow my blog @ Blodyavenger Games

Ok So i added a few new things since my last post. Iv added an Archery Skill, Magic, and Blood Effects. Iv also been working on the map a little bit. You should be starting the game off inside castle walls and work your way out. Iv also added a highlighting system for character selection and also new character skins. Armor will come soon as i am planning on making capes, shoulder guards and much much more.

Note: The camera angles that you see below, is actually the way you see it in game. You navigate the camera by pressing down on the middle button thus letting you rotate around your character. Also using the wheel up/down you can zoom in and out. The angles are capped so you will not be able to make the camera go below ground .

Next update? Bigger map, more effects, new enemies!, stay tuned guys!!

I’ve been playing with Stencyl in the past few days, and I’ve decided that I will make a practice game.

I decided to check out Stencyl because I’ve thought for a long time that I don’t like point ‘n click game development tools. After trying Stencyl, I’ve decided that I was wrong; Stencyl is loads of fun!

So, the practice game.

The premise is this: Two adventurers are delving into a dungeon to defeat a dragon. You switch between the two and try to get both to the exit of each level. The character you aren’t using at the moment is guided by AI and you can give commands to the other character, as well.

There are two characters: A guy who can throw things and a girl who can wall-jump. They are used together to solve puzzles and navigate the levels. Their abilities will factor into the final boss battle, as well. They also each have a sword and a shield.

I’m hoping to have this done by Sunday night.

Peace, love, and inspiration,

— Henry

(Edit: Quick spelling fix)

As some of you may know by now I’m setting a goal of making 12 games by the end of 2012, basically one a month.  To facilitate this I set myself a task of coming up with 36 game ideas that I could turn into possible one-month games.  Now I need to decide, and I would like you to help me.  I’m going to go for two rounds, the first round I want to get it down to 24 game ideas, and then finally get it down to the 12 I’m actually going to use.  I will use the ones that receive the most votes.  So I would like to ask you all to vote in the comments and pick the 24 ideas you think could most likely be done in a month and you would think would be fun.  Just by writing down 24 numbers for the ideas you like.  I will wait a week for the first round, and then create a new list of the top 24 games that were voted on (even if they only get a few, I will still do it).  Then I will narrow it down even further, later.  Since this post is going to be long I’m going to put a page break here.  Please read the whole post and vote.  Thanks.  (If I get enough votes quick enough I might even try to get one of these games done for the October Challenge).  Most games will be played on a single screen, which means it’s going to be non-scrolling.  If there are any scrolling games the level will be randomly generated.  Please click “Read the rest of this entry”.

(more…)

I iced my ‘Ship’ project. Stuck it in the carbon freezing machine. I’ve decided it was too large in scope for one month. The good news is that I’m not giving up on the challenge, and the even better news is that I’m not doing a 180 degree turn. It’s more like a little detour, a side trip, and pretty much 90% of what I have already completed can be used in the new project.

The paused project is a side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements and an open world similar to The Legend of Zelda. The problem with that is generating the content. Way too much work for one dude and a computer in a small time frame. I’d like to come back to the project sometime, as I think it would be fun to actually be able to spend time designing levels instead of rushing through to complete them in a semi-arbitrary deadline like the end of the month. I felt that it was best for myself to drop it early instead of pushing through and not having any time for a backup plan. Though, now with a third of the time gone, I will have to redouble my efforts.

The new project will be more of an arcade platformer. I envision Donkey Kong and Pac-man. Single screen (or close to it) levels. Sounds good in theory. We’ll see how implementation goes. I should be able to have a prototype set up in a day or so, and maybe a screen shot. We’ll see if it’s entertaining and what kind of tweaks I should make to raise the fun factor.

A quick MSPaint mockup. You run around and collect stuff to unlock the goal, while avoiding the boss attack and his minions.

Pitch: Negative Space, the video game (with a hint of MSPaint).

Concept – taking up the gauntlet thrown down by the critically-acclaimed video game development studio Treasure and their esteemed framework “Ikaruga”, Ghost Police is an experiment in the expansion, destruction and possibly protection of parallel worlds. Following on from the “Negative Space” game-play mechanic/s devised by video game designer/entrepreneur Sean Howard, Ghost Police tasks you with commanding ships of clashing natures in a monochrome battlefield that both fighters are ill-equipped to survive alone.

Product so far – enclosed is an engine test that allows the player to either use One Ship or Two – One Ship mode lets you ‘flip’ between black or white on the spot at the right-click of a mouse, while Two Ship switches control between either fighter and asks you to blaze the trail ahead for your partner. Currently the level design is functional at best and no scoring, damage or enemy system is yet implemented, but the player is given free reign over the bullet brush – scroll the mouse wheel to adjust the size of your ‘ink’.

Demo v0.3

IN PROGRESS:

• four-colour palette allowing for complexity in conflicting backgrounds – clear and iconic, not muddy and confused
• original chiptune music
• three levels and boss fights
• Minefield mode – encouraging the player to navigate an 8-bit wasteland in search of treasure and traps

I got an email back from Comodo about the code signing certificate, and now their form works.  Then I had to submit my company certificate, and then have to wait for up to 2 days to get the certificate.

I probably should have realised I needed this certificate before, and applied earlier.  Oh well.  For some reason I didn’t remember this was needed.

Next I’ll begin packaging it up for the google web chrome store, so maybe we can sell some on there too.  I don’t think that will take all that long to do.

Finishing the iOS port might be hard since I’ve noticed the performance of JavaScript and canvas on old iOS devices is terrible.  I could just make it available for iOS 5, and the latest iphone 4 phones though… they might be fast enough.  I’ve been exploring possible optimizations for it too.  So I’ll see how that goes.

I’m in the same situation with the android port.  The current web browsers on there are fairly garbage for canvas performance, so I’d need to do some performance work before it would work on there.  Making it available on the latest versions of Android is also one possibility.  I know an android application is likely to be accepted faster than an iOS one, so that might sway me to release there first.

A Mac application is also possible I guess.  For that I’d need to figure out if there is a UIWebKit wrapper that is easy to use, and quick to integrate.

The other option is to finish the other intel appup app I have in development.  But porting this game to other platforms seems easier I think.  Once the whole process is done I’ll have an idea of how long the other app would take to do for the appup platform.

Been working on this educational iOS app for a while, finally got it finished! Just submitted it to Apple, hoping for a fast approval ^^

Well, I may have screwed myself for the october challenge. I decided to change projects. I decided that a brainfuck interpreter for iphone is retarded, and no one would want to use it. Well maybe there are a few people. The other problem was that my core programming interface was really bad, and it was hard to enter programs. I just couldn’t bring myself to work on it more.

I decided to resurrect an old project that I never released. Itch is a partial clone of scratch for iOS. I wrote a bunch of it way back in the day, and even have videos and stuff. There were a few problems with it. One big one was that I never implemented saving, so it was a pain to work with. Another was that a bunch of the interesting opcodes were hidden in an arb opcode. Yet another was that I was paranoid about both apple and the scratch team, on one hand apple was way more strict about interpreted code, and on the other I didn’t really understand code licenses, and was afraid of the scratch one.

No longer! I have started rebuilding the project, and have a pretty good stab at it going after one weekend of work. I am probably just going to include the logo / turtle ops this time around, and leave the interactive and sprite drawing for another time. If I have time I might throw in some sound opcodes. To see.

In all likelyhood, this will make me miss the october deadline. I will try my hardest, but if I don’t make it, at least I am not putting out something that I think is a bad idea down at the core.

It’s like I’m an all powerful force, able to stop time at a whim. Fear not from incoming doom, for time shall be rewound for one more attempt to evade your fate. Or perhaps you’d like to go home or be deaf from the horrors of the world. Fear the menu’s almighty power!

*going crazy with boredom making menus

I know I said this last year, and all the other LudumDare compo’s that have been on since then but now I’m finally getting into programming again (or really starting now). I have been using Corona SDK for creating iPhone games but have decided to move off it it due to the iPhone Developers Licensing fees and all the money involved, and have moved onto Unity!

I’ve been following a few tutorials, with no Java knowledge, and I’m glad at how it’s turning out and how simple Java is and how simple it is to use it in conjunction with Unity. So I have gotten a group of peope together, where we all learn different languages and tools and make games and I am making the first one to be sold. Not sure how I will sell it/earn money yet, but I’m leaving htat to last, probably using Kongregate or something simliar.

Expect more posts from me soon on the progress of my game!

Well, I have a temporary menu up and running… and it is smooooooooth…

Random menu link

Actually, he didn't. But.. *psssh!*

The HUD is coming along well, I need to make scrolling text for it, then inventory and stats.

Now, onto the adventurous cookie huntz!

9 days in, and this is where I’m at:

Currently, the plan is to get path-finding working, and then getting the rest of the game logic in place (Win conditions, objectives, combat, etc).

I would like to participate in the October challenge, and make a completely new game. I started an engine and then I thought, “I don’t think this game will actually go anywhere”. And “Games that get money fast are simpler, arcade style, and pixely”. So, I decided to stop working on the engine. And before I begin think up some concepts for another game, I was wondering if anyone would like to join my quest in a miny dev team. I work in FlashDevelop with FlashPunk Library. If you seem interested to do a project this month, comment. Also, to be specific, I am not looking for a co-programmer, I am looking for someone(s) good at pixel art, thinking up concepts together and making Music.

The dialogs used to be like this:

And now they are like this:

What you guys think?
I’m also thinking of trying Desura too, on a desktop format, I hope they accept my game

Well, I managed to prepare my app for submission to the intel appup store.

I first had to figure out bugs: Sound doesn’t work. Also fonts don’t work. This was very disappointing considering that I’ve been working with a musician on sound effects and music. So we’re not able to use any of that work we did until they fix sound. I even tried to use a flash based sound player, and use the embed tag. None of it worked.

Also the lovely font we selected does not work. Trying to use a font-face crashed the browser completely. So instead I had to use ‘Arial’. arg.

I’m not sure what sort of html5 games and apps they expect if fonts and sounds aren’t working?

It seems they are using a 1 year old webkit implementation, so I hope they will upgrade their encapsulator soon. One year in web browser years is about 70 human years.

Anyway, we decided to submit the app anyway. The font makes it look a bit ugly, and without sounds it looses a lot – but at least the game play works.

Then I filled out a few pages of forms, prepared images, wrote copy, and did all sorts of guff so that I could upload the app. For some reason they required silverlight or google gears to upload the file (weird). Not sure why they couldn’t use a normal html upload form, or even a flash upload form.

Anyway… all that got done until I had to apply for a security certificate to sign the files. I fill out another form of my personal details, press submit and I’m greeted with a great error message: “An error has occurred. -1″

Oh well. Sent off an email for support, and now I wait.

Finally blocked after a couple of long days and nights – stopped by the error “-1″.

Woah! Not-so-niftyness!

Welcome to moving squares and a HUD.. thingy.. I still.. need to properly implement!

The family friendly game!

There’s the player (green square), the walls (dark brown square), a chest (violet chest-square thingy) and the HUD (the rest of the screen)!

That’s it. Back to work.