Developments

Continuing with the new edition of SpikeDislike, and I'm still adding basic elements into the engine. I've a whole lot of work to do on the game, including all the graphical styles and things like that, but for now I'm happy that it's totting up the combos in the way it should be. ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YIwcx9Gcbfs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Scoring and Death are now both firmly inside...

Developments

Yesterday was spent fixing up little things in SpikeDislike3. I got Predetermined Layouts working, but still haven't bothered to implement any sort of collision detection! Still, you can now start a round, have it spawn the spikes in the same place, and then exit back to the menu. Having the spikes show up in the same place, is of course super important in SpikeDislike, as you learn the layouts of the level, and try not to die for ages and ages. I'll have to add a couple of ra...

Developments

Yesterday, someone new registered on my home village's website (LittleLever.info) They, of course, instantly forgot their password, so used the "I forgot my password" button to find it out. At this point I should probably explain why I've mentioned this..! About a year ago, the original owner of LittleLever.info gave up paying for a site that never had any visitors. He stopped payments, and the site fell into disrepair before eventually getting pulled down completely. At this...

Developments

So, after yesterday's realisation that the StarFlips game wasn't going anywhere, I opted to head back to "Larger Project" and see if I could get any more done on it. Whether I continue with Larger Project, or instead switch to a smaller intermediate project, will be dependent on how much happens between now and.. Um.. Unspecified date! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SD3_003.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SD3_003-...

Developments

My laptop's been running slow, sluggish, juddery and .. generally BAD, since some time yesterday, and as much as I hunt the system, I'm struggling to find the reason why. I think it might have something to do with Windows noticing the Mac on the network, and freaking out, thinking it's going to be replaced! .. Acting all slow and useless isn't going to get you extra loving, Windows! Learn how to show off your skills, and act like a proper computer!! Even as I type today's blo...

Developments

Yesterday, I took the phrase "Sleepy Sunday" and worked the heck out it. My cat woke me up at 6:15am, and I managed to stay mostly awake until just after 9, when I realised I was too tired to code, and instead went for a nap.. .. A long nap!! I also had a second nap later in the day, too. Ooops! I suppose when you have little/nothing else to do, especially on a Sunday, that there's no harm in having a short nap. But when you have TWO naps, and they're not exactly short ones, y...

Developments

Not a lot of coding got done, yesterday. I continued to fiddle with the new sprites, and got enemies spawning in the level, but then I started thinking about iOS again. For the past year I've been focussing on OUYA. I've been making all my games controller happy, and as a result, have been neglecting touchscreen controls. I'm not sure why, probably all the AppleWatch stuff that's currently flooding my Twitter feed, but I'm finding myself somewhat nostalgic for the times that I s...

Developments

Not an awful lot of stuff got done, yesterday, as I was having a bit of an off-day! Ho hum.. They're frequent, so expect a fair number of Daily Blogs to be of the "Couldn't do anything!" variety. Still, I did bother to grab the iPad, load up Sprite Something, and doodle some sprites for the new game. I drew a ship, a number of weapons, and some enemies, before heading over to Windows and getting them all integrated into the game. It didn't take very long at all, but it does inde...

Welcome to the new daily blog section of AGameAWeek.com. I could do with reorganising the layout of the site, if I'm honest!

Yesterday

Yesterday I did a few odd little bits and pieces. I got "bombs" to work in the new engine, and managed to get a feel for the game. So far, so good. I think! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/410_001.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/410_001-300x225.png" alt="410_001" width="300" height="225" class="...

Another big gap, as I try to figure out what's happening next. I figured you guys oughta be kept up to date with current goings on, in the world of AGameAWeek, so here's a rough bit of blogging so that you can vaguely assume you know what's going on! Current projects are.. 1. Kee Bo Ard Go Deep Another sequel in the Kee Bo Ard collection. I've so far built a fairly capable engine, but am struggling to decide exactly what I'd like to do with it. I've got the game up to a "You can complete a level" po...

Invisible Munky is BACK! It only took 10 years for Invisible Munky to re-appear*, and in that time, it's learned an excellent new skill. <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Invisible_Munky_2_20150330B_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Invisible_Munky_2_20150330A_thumb.png">

The engine's working nicely, an art style has been defined, and things are getting put together. I've started building some proper levels, now, but already the game's feeling like it's still missing something. At the moment, I'm attempting to add wandering bad-guys into the levels, which should help make things a little less lacklustre, but trying to get them to wander nicely within the areas is proving to be much more complicated than I thought, especially when the levels are build up with nothing more t...

I've had a fair amount of fun playing with Unity, but in all honesty, I haven't progressed far enough to make it worth the switch. I'm at the point, now, where I really need to make the big decision. Making the complete switch to Unity will require heavy work, recreating my entire framework, and getting everything up and running smoothly enough that I can rapidly cobble together AGameAWeek. And it's the "Rapidly cobble together AGameAWeek" bit that puts me off. At the moment, and I'll admit I am still t...

Game scrapped. Kinda scrapped. Mostly scrapped. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GameJolt-Thumbnail_3.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GameJolt-Thumbnail_3-1024x576.png" alt="GameJolt-Thumbnail_3" width="590" height="332" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4452" /> I might come back to it at a later date, when the idea's a little more "rested", but I think that re-attempting it so soon after do...

Monday : I randomly decided to buy a Pebble Watch from Amazon. Tuesday : The Pebble Watch arrived, and I experimented by making a (URL "https://apps.getpebble.com/applications/54d115812a56ee50e0000005">Platdude WatchFace). Wednesday : (URL "https://apps.getpebble.com/applications/54d29517e4d94c04cc000026">SpikeDislike Jr!!) I expected to have to download a complicated devkit to get it all going, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that, in actual fact, you can do it entirely online. The IDE...

Time to hunt for your floppy disks!! <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Futrino_20150129A_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Futrino_20150129B_thumb.png">

( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p1SAOYZdjPw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Plenty added today, and loads more to add, too. If all goes well, the game should be popping up by Tuesday. Woot!! Having LOTS of fun playing this game, and it's a fairly tricky game, too. Mmmmm

Prepare for a fully featured level! ( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vpYpzEgBtic" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Although, be aware that by the time you get to play it, this level may be different. Most of the basics are in there. There's a couple of baddies, a couple of weapons, collectables, and other bits and pieces. I've yet to add powerups (shield would be handy!) and the "Level Complete" could look a little bit less shit! ...

(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Futrino_001.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Futrino_001.png" alt="Futrino_001" width="640" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4374" /> I finally seem to have settled on a name for this thing. I think it sounds vaguely like an 80s Shoot-em-up might sound, and nobody else appears to have used it. I've spent today working on the Enemy Types, trying lots...

Enemy one is a bog standard squiggly looking alien creature. ( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/R9i32sUR9tw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> He moves around the room any-which-way, and turns whenever he hits a wall. He is very boring! Hopefully I can make a few more interesting creatures, later. For now, he simply does as you expect, and also saves his position when you exit/enter rooms, which is handy. More to come!!

Today, I added Barrels into the mix. I figured it best to hide the disks somewhere safe, so I put them inside barrels. A pile of barrels will appear in each and every room, so you'll have to do a lot of blasting to try and find the three disks. ( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/leuTP0ZOUf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> I'm also considering putting other items in the barrels, such as extra lives, weapons and even randomly spawnin...

After having played about with the maze layout a little, and getting the scrolling a little more workable, I added a little sprite for testing movement. ( width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gy1HbJFl0dI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Seems like we're heading down the Cybernoid route with this one! Next up, adding collision detection, 'cos right now there's nothing stopping the little ship from floating out into space!

Since I'm spacing out my dev-time, I should hopefully have more time to do Dev-Diary type posts, as the games progress. Hopefully, this will give you a little more insight into the sort of decision making that goes into AGameAWeek. I'll also try to take the time to add odd bits and pieces of craptastic-useless-trivia whenever I get the chance. As frequent players will have noticed, I've been using a strange secondary numbering system for a long while. (Check out the Windows-Downloads to see them!) Th...

I've opted to call Year 7 the "Gap" Year, in the sense that not every week will be a game... There will be frequent Gaps! I'll be trying out the usual crazy ideas, but each game will be given a little more breathing room than I usually give them, in an effort to make games a little more substantial than they usually end up being. The Rules are as follows.. After week one, the game should at least be playable. If it isn't, then I throw it out and start something else. No good forcing bad ideas down p...

Currently on my list of ideas, I have... 1. A kind of space shooter style platformer. 2. A redux of YBox Yahtzee from the Alpha Collexion 3. SpikeDislike3 There's also a few other ideas bubbling away, in my head. The main problem I'm having, is getting started on any, because I know that whichever I choose to start on, will more than likely take more than a week to complete. As such, I've kinda been sitting here all week going "well, what else could I do...?" and not actually getting ANYTHING started....

It's time to fry some Butterflies! Use the electrical hubs to generate lightning, and Zzap those bugs to oblivion. <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Zzap_Lines_20150113A_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Zzap_Lines_20150113B_thumb.png">