I get to this point once every few months, and .. well.. here we are again!
A few things are getting me here, this time around.
Let's list the reasons, then think of some solutions..

Sometimes you can start a game and it grows and grows and is wonderful.
Other times, you get about 10% through, and realise it's just not working out.
Game Idea 1
This week started with a word game. A decent enough idea, place the tiles in a scrabble-esque crossword style, and make words.

Blimey, Blockman got big!
5Mb!!
FIVE!!
That's not like me!

Blimey, that got complex!
<a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/blockmansGreatBigMenu.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/blockmansGreatBigMenu_thumb.png"></a>
Starting with "World 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1" I built a set of sideways Arcade menu start points.
Then I added the old "J/K" gameplay options in the style of World 10-1 and World 25-1.. Although from 6-1 and after, the theme isn't predetermined, and it's just picking random themes each time!

Like I suggested yesterday, those one-way arrows could lead to some serious deadends, so rather than allowing the game to plonk them down willy-nilly, I've brought back Path Mode's AI.
Path Mode will work the way it used to, a trail of dots leading to an eventual deadend..
But we'll also be using it to find paths for the arrows.
Find a path, pick 4 or 5 points at random, add the arrows.

Sometimes you have really productive days.
Occasionally, though, those really productive days seem to drag on and on, and not actually produce much at all!
Here's what I've done today.
1. We're up to 5 skins, since I added a plain rock+lava one.

A nice and simple game, this week, inspired by this week's Wednesday Workshop (#224) Board Game challenge.
Rather than having plain Questions and Answers, I've taken all the results from Socoder's daily polls, and rounded them up into the game.
Can you select the option that the most people at Socoder did?!
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Guesstimates_20091027A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Guesstimates_20091027A_thumb.png"></a>
...

Prepare for disappointment!
This week's been a bit of a disaster, really.
I started with Arcade Slots, and actually managed to get quite far into it, but eventually realised there wasn't anything new to add to the mix. So that got scrapped.
After that came a brand new Blockman graphic style, which was far too angled, and resulted in the maze being completely obscured. No good!

If you're currently coping with a bad bout of depression, it's probably not a great idea to download this week's AGameAWeek game, because.. quite frankly.. it sucks!
As I type this, the game currently consists of a badly drawn dog, a badly drawn bit of grass, and a few badly drawn birds.
I've hit a dead end as far as this game goes.
I also hit a dead end with Arcade Slots, and I even hit a major blockage with Blockman Gets More.

Friday 25th of September 2009 12:15:21 AM
Name : Thunderskull 4024
Idea : Sokoban-like game with hex-based grid.
OK, first off, not really sure what all the loving of Hexagons is about, but the word Hex is in the suggestion bag about 20-odd times!

The big-ass catalogue is now up to 68 games, and I've reached a bit of a stumbling block.
If you search for (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?Find=multiple+games">"multiple games"), you'll find a few games that have more than one internal game.
Today I'm tweaking the engine so that it counts each of those seperately inside the nice ever growing total.
I wasn't going to do that, at first, but then I came across Platdude's Retro Collection, and decided to do it.
It'd be a sh...

If you've been keeping track, you'll have probably noticed an ever increasing number in the folders of my games.
These are the weeks of the Wednesday Workshop, and as you trace through my games, you'll see a whole lot of matches between the WW and the game's basic idea.
WW is fantastic for ideas, but sometimes things don't quite work out.
Take this image, from a basic engine, all the way back in week #142.. (That's 76 weeks ago!)
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Incomplete.png">...

I was struggling to come up with an interesting game, this week, when my Mum decided to show me her latest highscore on Yahtzee.
..
Pling!
New idea!

I'd better get this game done, this week! It's getting a wee bit unruley. I need to pull in the ideas a bit and just get the game finalised.
Today I've been playing with the map again.
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap_thumb.png">

Seems to be that a fair amount of suggestions are monkey based thoughts, so I figured why not make a new monkey collection?
If you've an idea for a new monkey game, shove it below or in the suggestion box, and we'll have a good fiddle around with them all.
Gameplay wise, I'm thinking of perhaps creating a structure to a few games, release one a week and create a sort of evolving storyline that somehow manages to link the games together.
At this point, I've no idea if that'll work. But he...

The ball from Pong, the gameplay from Tetris. The name seemed blindingly obvious to me.
But over the course of the past few days, I've received an inordinate number of complaints about the name.
It should be Breakout, it should be Asteroid, what!?

It's that unexpected time, where I randomly choose to rummage through the bundles of silly game ideas, and pluck out the best/worst!
Let's throw out the spam, and get started.
..
FFS, there's a lot of spam!

Hello all, Welcome to year two!
This year, I'll be keeping track of the weeks, and games, and things like that, so we can tally up as we go along.
Week 1, Game 1, 1:1 ratio! Good stuff!
This week's game isn't a game. It's more of a toy.

Microbes is (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/?p=203">here) : Capital letters don't work in the URL, but RetroGamer uses them anyway..

WebUser Magazine have a rather interesting idea. Each issue, they make a list of all the links included in that issue, and post it onto their forum.
Lazy folk who can't be arsed to type can then go to that post on the forum and use that as they flick through the magazine.
I honestly think it's a fantastic...

Nope, not yet.
We'll call it "On Hiatus", whilst I decide what to do next.
Meanwhile, I'm not sure whether to bother with Flash.
Or at least, not Flex, anyway. 'cos BOY, that shit's messy!

With the nice big experimental writeup complete, I figured we'd get a boost in visitors.
Want to see the results?!!
See inside!!

The AGameAWeek 2008-2009 Retrospective

(URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-one/">Part One), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-two/">Part Two), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-three/">Part Three), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-four/">Part Four), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-five/">Part Five)

The Home Str...

The AGameAWeek 2008-2009 Retrospective

(URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-one/">Part One), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-two/">Part Two), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-three/">Part Three), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-four/">Part Four), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-five/">Part Five)

10 weeks, 3 ...

The AGameAWeek 2008-2009 Retrospective

(URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-one/">Part One), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-two/">Part Two), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-three/">Part Three), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-four/">Part Four), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-five/">Part Five)

Back to work...

The AGameAWeek 2008-2009 Retrospective

(URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-one/">Part One), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-two/">Part Two), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-three/">Part Three), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-four/">Part Four), (URL "https://www.agameaweek.com/2009/08/agameaweek-2008-2009-part-five/">Part Five)

AGame...

I'd like to start off Year 2 with abang. But this week has been entirely taken up with a multitude of other bits and pieces.
I'm writing up a nice lengthy post (/set of posts, probably, 'cos it's a bit big!) about Year 1. I'll probably start to post those in a couple of days time. Probably Tuesday! But I need to get as much done as I can, first.. 'cos.. well, you know me, I'll probably forget halfway through!!
So, there's that to do. And lots of it.
If you're interested in the quicky v...

First things first, here's this week's AGameAWeek game.
I've done a few dozen "Get the Greens" before, so I figured I'd keep this one short.
Simply put, get the greens, and avoid the holes.
No enemy this time, just you and the floor, so if you're nice and gentle you could probably get quite far through and score a decent score.