Still no name for the train game, so it's currently named "Jay's Train Game"! silly name! It's a bit more gamey, now. Some sort of cross between a proper sim-type thing, and a cheap arcade game! Odd. Needs a few more "This is happening" type notifications, but it's all falling into place. No idea if it'll all be done by the morning, but it's closer than it was yesterday, and it feels a lot more like I've bothered to plan it out!!! <a href="https://socoder.net/upload...

My super copyright infringing retro game is back! Take one part Pitfall, one part Tomb Raider, and mix in a little Indiana Jones, and this probably wouldn't be the first thing that springs to mind. Never the less... <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/RetroRaiderII_20100712A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/RetroRaiderII_20100712A_thumb.png"></a> <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/RetroRaiderII_20100712B.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/c...

I just spent the past two hours trying to get my iPod game to pause when the user quits via Multitasking, or by the lock button, or whatever. Trying to pass a variable (a single little integer) from one part of the program (AppDelegate) to another (ViewController) is probably one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do! Good God, why do they have to make things so damn difficult!? I mean, seriously, can't we go back to... 10 Print "Hello" 20 Goto 10 Used to work fine for me!?!! Stupid ...

OK, so I finally got my DevLicense, and the first thing I did was to slap the test engine onto my iPod Touch. If you've tried that, you'll probably found exactly the same thing that I did. ...that, rather than going "Weeee!" it went "... plod... plod..." at about 2 frames a second. This is not a good thing. Today I've been experimenting with all kinds of things. I've figured out how to draw images to a "buffer", and then have that buffer be one of our UIImageView things, so that it...

Jayenkai's World Cup Challenge : <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/2010/06/jayenkais-world-cup-challenge/">A plan to do something, rather than sit watching football for 90 minutes each and every day..</a> --- No fair, I missed yesterday Blame Apple. They sent me my iPhing Dev License, and I spent the day playing about with that, and installing everything again... Nothing productive, just a wasted day. Today is marginally better..

Jayenkai's World Cup Challenge : <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/2010/06/jayenkais-world-cup-challenge/">A plan to do something, rather than sit watching football for 90 minutes each and every day..</a> --- This was 95% done last night, with only a minor tweak this morning.. But it was far too late, and I couldn't be bothered faffing around with the three OS's, trying to compile everything for everyone, so... well.. Here it is now!

Jayenkai's World Cup Challenge : <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/2010/06/jayenkais-world-cup-challenge/">A plan to do something, rather than sit watching football for 90 minutes each and every day..</a> --- Well, that didn't go to plan, but it's not entirely awful, either. In fact, it's turned out so nicely that I've even added it to the Archive. AGameAWeek just took a turn for the weird! Today's quickly made game was made in about 4 hours, and is a nice Scrabble...

Simply put, Awesome!!! Hop around, grab the balls, throw them at the bad guys, and paint all the white floor tiles in the colour of your pants! There are four difficulty modes on the titlescreen, and you can play Co-Op style with up to four players simultaneously!!! (although, you all have to be using the one system. Still haven't learned to do any Network stuff, yet!!) <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/NeonPlat_2_20100608B.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Ne...

This week's game didn't quite turn out as well as expected. We'll call this week a fail, I think! Still, you could probably play it once, if you could be bothered, and then delete it in a slight rage that you played something that wasn't all that good! <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Boing_Again_20100601A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Boing_Again_20100601A_thumb.png"></a> Amiga's Boing Ball bounces around the platform level, and collect...

Blimey, that didn't take too long. <a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/iphoneshot2.png"><img style="float:right;" src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/iphoneshot2_thumb.png"></a> Well, it DID, but it took significantly less time than I thought it would.

iPhing "View Based" Jumpstart

A series of tutorials that will allow old-style coders to quickly grasp the bits and pieces they need, to develop games for iPod/iPhone/iPad (iPhings) <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/?...

A couple of days ago I posted my first test compilation of a Mac game. I asked for test-based feedback, and absolutely nobody responded, whatsoever. We're just going to have to go for the "Worked on mine, *shrugs*" approach for these!! Today, I'm rereleasing the game from Wednesday with a quick fix, and also releasing a bunch of other games that I've written in BlitzMax. We've also got JNKPlat and Gravity Bombs to come, but I want to tweak those a little before I rerelease them. Anyway, here's ...

Learning iPhing development Today's schedule by 10am, Simple text on the screen by 12pm, Drawing pictures on the screen by 2pm, Bit of sound by 4pm, Move it all around, as if it's some kind of game. Fingers crossed!! Although, at this rate, the first bit will likely take me until 4pm Finding it very hard to find information on iPhing development that doesn't require me to sit through 100 stupid video clips to learn things. I hate w...

I've been trying to keep things juggling around for a while now. Hopping between Socoder work, little bits of music, youtube vids, and then the biggies.. the AGameAWeek's, and the weekly Socoder Newsletter. There's a heck of a lot to do. Recently I've also thrown 2WarioGamesAWeek into the pile, and I'm now keeping JNKPlat2010 up in the air, too. OMG! It's getting mental!!! To even consider adding to JNKPlatDS08, with some of the more recent blocks, would be a very very silly idea. It'd be even wor...

Gettin' a wee bit messy, this week, isn't it.. hmm.. Lots going on, and commenting all over the place. Might need to do something about that.. Anyhoo... WarioWare DIY Thanks for the Wario-adds so far, and I'm glad to see there's some interesting games coming out of it. ExciteMike's getting some nice little games going, and I've been playing around with Shadow's little boss thing. Not really sure what was going on with that Platdude tune, though, Jiro!! Games will stay up unti...

2beegames.com has, since May 1st, become IndiePub, but haven't bothered to claim indiepub.com domain, or indiepub.co.uk, or .net, or.. well.. whatever. For the past month or two, they've been banging on and on about their all-new coming soon site, and how amazing and new it'll be. They were originally going for a nice bright yellow theme, with all nice sparkly-ness, and instead seem to have settled on kind of dull desaturated brown/orange theme, along with a complete identity change. Still, their m...

Mmmm.. Wallpaper! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Brick.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Brick_thumb.png"> (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Metal.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Metal_thumb.png"> (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Dirt.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/Platshot%20Dirt_thumb.png">

Very rarely do I get feedback direct, other than from the few of you who seem to hang around here a lot, but there is feedback out there.. if you really hunt for it! This past couple of weeks have, as per usual, been all about the Two-Button-Jump. "OMG! Two!? WTF!" and so on. I can deal with those complaints, I've heard them many a time before, and even added the extra one-button rubbishy mode to help those who can't shut up about it. It's annoying, but what the hey. *fingers in ears* "La, La, La, ...

<a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/DSConverts.zip">DS Converts : Part One</a> As much as I tried to make the 2 versions compatible, I did mess a few things up along the way. Plungers and Darts move at a slightly different speed, and even Platdude runs at a different "steps-per-block" speed, too. It's not a whole lot of a difference, but there's enough changes to have broken some of the levels. So, rather than having a "Load my Levels" option, I'm doing things bit by bit, and ...

Think you've got what it takes to make JNKPlat levels? Want to get your name into a game before the game's even finished yet? Want to even get to play the game before it's even finished?! email me, NOW! Jayenkai@Gmail.com or post "Me!" (or otherwise) into the comments below. A limited selection will receive the pre-pre-pre edition of the game, with a very simple batch of test levels, and the fully formed level editor, ready to build some kick-ass new stuff. Pre-pre-pre editi...

(note, this is a bit waffley, and tends to jump about from point to point!!) Today I've been working on the editor. It's been a bit of a challenge, trying to think of every little think you might use, and also the keys for all of it, but I think it's coming along quite well. Draw with the mouse to draw, left for the selected tile, right for blank. WASD will scroll the screen around E picks the tile under the mouse Q allows you to draw a rectangle using either Left or Right mouse butt...

Today I've made a start on the next JNKPlat. Everything will be sprite based, but MASSIVE compared to previous outings. Where previously they'd been 8x8 pixel tiles, this time around they're going to be 64x64 pixels. That's a 6400% size increase! (Assuming I did the maths right!) Look inside for the super high-resolution mock-shot!

August 26th 2009 That's the last time I did a Mailbag post! Blinkin' eck! Over the past 6/7 months, I've occasionally dipped into the mailbag and plucked out little snippets, but I figured it was about time I did a proper one. A few of these have already been posted, but there's a whole batch of new ideas here. Let's go!!! (There's a lot!!)

This week, Munky in a Mario Costume. Next week, possibly Blockman in a Mario Costume. Third week, I should probably do Greenie in a Mario Costume, but that's more 'cos he'd look funny, than for any gameplay reasons! That brings us to April, and with my head spinning with ideas about "The BIG JNKPlat game", I'm not sure if I really want to attempt that.

A bit of a chore, this week, to be honest. I started on a game, expecting it to be nice and fun, but it's not really been all that great. Instead it's been one of those "By the numbers" type things, and there's not really anything special about it, at all.. Aww well, not to worry, it's still a game! <a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ace_Paceman_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_08_Mar_2010_092927).png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Ace_Paceman_in_a_Mario_Costume_...

I don't usually repost this here, but. What the hey!<br> <br> (URL "https://groups.google.com/group/socoder-newsletter">Sign up, it's fun, and weekly, and written!!)<br> <br>

Socoder Newsletter

<br> <br> "Best viewed in Peiplum"<br> #045 - 5th March 2010<br> <br> <big> Print</big><br> Hello all<br> <br> The worst thing about writing AGameAWeek is that<br> horr...

aka BadgeBox, because I kept changing it's name, but forgot to update the exe's title! d'oh! A nice simple maze game, with health points and power points. Collect the gems to up your health and power, and collect Badges to increase your abilities. If you manage to collect the four outer "Cornerstone Badges" you'll open up an exit in the level, which completes the game. Otherwise you'll probably die! <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Box__s_Adventure_20100216A.png">&...

Late last night, as I was half-asleep and reading through Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/komiga">@Komiga</a> asked me if I was going to be using any version tracking software for my lovely framework. My twittered response was limited (by lack of sleep, and also 140 chrs!!), so I figured I should explain it a little better. Last year, around about Alien Deathmatch/Centipong time, I built up my 2D-in-3D framework to work in Blitz3D. It worked wonders, and let me achieve a whole new abi...