Developments

I really should be getting back to Boxsplosions, but watching SpikeDislike3's journey through the AppStore has been so much fun!! Yesterday, (URL "https://twitter.com/craiggrannell">@CraigGrannell) posted a glowing review over at (URL "https://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/SpikeDislike3/review.asp?c=66176">PocketGamer.co.uk) (URL "https://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/SpikeDislike3/review.asp?c=66176"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SD3_Po...

Developments

By now I should be mostly done with Boxsplosions, but unfortunately, and yet again, I've found myself wasting the day away doing not much more than SpikeDislike3 things! .. and a lot of that has been playing! Alarmingly, Rychan has been reaching amazing heights on the GameCenter scoreboards, easily slaughtering most of my best scores. Of course, I'm all too aware that people are much better at SpikeDislike than I am, but to see such HUGE scores shows just how compelling the gam...

One month, Three games!? Sure, why not!! It might not be "AGameAWeek" but getting 3 games onto iOS in a month is still a pretty decent achievement, especially when they're all nice and big. As you might know, my old MacMini (from 2010) was starting to rot away due to lack of use. This month, knowing that SpikeDislike3 was due to arrive, I attempted a quick test compile, and.. well.. it didn't go very well. So, out with the old, and in with a brand new MacMini. Further compiles were quick and pai...

Developments

I honestly never considered the time it takes to restart a level in SpikeDislike3 to be all that much. If nothing else, it gives you a second to stop, breath, and prepare for the next attempt. But bloody hell, the number of people asking for a "Quick Restart", is MENTAL!!! Yesterday I spent a good number of hours rejigging the way the saves work, and a lot of other things necessary for the new "Quick Restart" to work properly. (Previously the saves only saved when the menu rel...

Developments

After a good 28'ish hours, the game appears to be picking up pace. Hopefully the pace will stay up for some time, and not peter out in the way that most of my games tend to do! First day's sales (keep in mind that Day One was only about 4 hours) was 9 whole sales.. oooh! Day two's not shown up in my stats, yet, as it's too early in the day for that sort of thing. Apple's timezones and schedules are all over the frickin' place!! One day starts at one point, and ends at a complet...

Developments

HURRAY! After 20 (TWENTY!) days in review, SpikeDislike3 is finally available on iOS! o/yeayo/ And it's about damn time, too. ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KnfnkRnT2Ag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Feel the full dislike, as you bounce your way through the 15 different themes, and 150 levels of spikes! You can buy the complete SpikeDislike3 (URL "https://itunes.apple.com/app/spikedislike3/...

Developments

Further rejections, this month, as a game gets rejected from yet another format. I'm not going to give them the publicity of a good rant, but suffice to say they rejected Invisible Munky 2 because, within the End Credits, I bothered to thank the people at OUYAForum.com, who helped me when I needed to test the game's physics. ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y-Oi5a8TTuU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> ...

Right in the midst of "AGameAWeek Meets iOS Month", with SpikeDislike3 (hopefully) incoming, and two other games already out, and ... well.. I'm having a teensy tiny problem with iTunesConnect. Usually, at the bottom of a game's info-page, is a little "Request Promo Codes" link, which you click on to get promo codes for that game, that you can then send out for promotional reasons. The link USED to be there.. In fact, I used it mid-February to grab a bunch of SpikeDislike2 codes. But, for some curio...

Developments

Hurray! Another week, another iOS release. This week, ChuckABall shows up in the AppStore, and people go CRAZY for it!! .. ... Probably not, but they should, because it's an awesome game. Lovely and simple, and great for that 10 second wait that you just can't stand waiting through. Jump in, play a level (or ten), jump out. It does exactly what you need from a game of it's type. ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iDJjJXOBGxs" frameborder="0" al...

Developments

Yesterday's doings. Boxsploding I continued work on Boxsplosions, and got a nice new control scheme up and running for touchscreens. I might have to zoom out a little bit, though, as you can currently only see an area of about 8x8 tiles, whereas the whole arena is 128x128!! Today I'm going to be playing with the actual Splosions, and seeing if the gameplay matches the previous edition, or whether it all needs to be rethought and reimagined.. Hmm...

Developments

A whole lot of yesterday seemed to vanish just as much as the day before.. I now realise, of course, why this is.. I recently started playing the iOS game "Fallout Shelter", which is a spin-off of the Fallout franchise, in which you need to build, organise and maintain a fallout shelter. The game works a lot like Sim-Tower, and is "Free to Play", but not in a terribly horrific "F2P/IAP" style. It's fair, and it's nicely balanced. The IAPs are there if you want them, but skill ...

Developments

.. Did I do ANYTHING yesterday?! I'm really struggling to come up with anything that I actually did. Urm.. .. Oh, I did spend some time playing about with my telly. Trying out different "Smart" features, and trying to get the GameStick plugged in. Unfortunately, the GameStick didn't actually fit, because I've already plugged 101,000 computers and consoles into the back of the thing! I've had to order a HDMI switch thing, and will be plugging it into there, but that won't be...

Developments

So, I suppose I'm making a new version of Boxsplodings, then.. I spent most of yesterday coming up with a nice Arena-Generator. It took a while to get the feel "just right", but it seems to be coming up with nice enough shapes. You can see some of the generated shapes in (URL "https://twitter.com/Jayenkai/status/610214745283653634">this Vine). So, assuming that's the levels, what of the splodings..? That'll be today's task. Trying to find something that doesn't end up being...

Developments

With SpikeDislike3 out the door ('ish), ChuckABall ready to relaunch (chuck?) and Invisible Munky already getting played by at least one person, it's time to think ahead to what project comes next. For a while, I've been wondering if I should attempt a newer edition of (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=325">Boxsplodings). It's a fun little game, but was quite limited by the number of levels and how they were organised. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/B...

Developments

Here's how today should've been going. "Woohoo! Yeay! SpikeDislike3! YIPPEEEEE!!!" Here's how today's going.. "...... FUCKING APPLE!!!" (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BloodyApple.jpg"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BloodyApple-1024x256.jpg" alt="BloodyApple" width="604" height="151" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4723" /> Apple rejected SpikeDislike3 because ...

You want dislike!?! Here's your dislike. Apple have just rejected SpikeDislike3 because within the keywords metadata, I listed both SpikeDislike and SpikeDislike2. I'm sure if I'd've called my game "Super Angry Candy Saga Warrior Crossy Flappy Bird" then that'd be fine, but got forbid I actually try to include the titles of previous editions of the very same game, MY GAMES, within the metadata of my own frickin' game. Well, screw them, then. SpikeDislike3's great big first-release debut is now...

Developments

Well it's about sodding time!!! After just over a week and a half, Invisible Munky 2's finally gotten through Apple Review, and is now available on the AppStore. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason that I've not yet tracked down, the "Promo Codes" button appears to be completely missing from iTunesConnect. For this game, I was hoping to dish out a few promo codes to folk with different devices, to ensure the game runs as it oughta on those iPhings. Due to my lack of ability...

Developments

So.. GooglePlay... I vowed never to return, but am already being bombarded by people meithering about the Android version of SpikeDislike3. The Story So Far Jayenkai created SpikeDislike2, and figured it'd be nice to get that onto GooglePlay. Jayenkai learned the ropes, filled the forms, and got SD2 onto GooglePlay. iOS Edition sold about 1500 copies. GooglePlay edition sold about 50. For the sake of my own sanity, it's best not to ask how many people on Android pirated t...

Developments

If there's one thing I hate, it's waiting for stuff!! I'm a very impatient person, and have gotten used to things moving along at a fast AGameAWeek-like pace. I now have TWO games, waiting for Apple Review, and quite frankly it's doing my head in! All this waiting. I can't hack it!!! I'm now pondering what my next project's going to be. Should I continue on this Gap-Year thing, and make something else that's way bigger than normal? Or should I do a couple of quicky AGameAWe...

Developments

(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_9694.jpg"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_9694-1024x768.jpg" alt="IMG_9694" width="604" height="453" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4688" /> And so ends our journey of creation. or, rather, HOPEFULLY ends the journey! We'll find out in about a week, whether I managed to click all the settings in an accurate manner. With any luck, I...

Developments

A somewhat eventful day, yesterday, but one that took WAY too long!! As I finished off the last of the levels, and got the game working toa moderately lovely standard, I figured I might as well start throwing bits and pieces into iTunes. I've still got a number of days until Invisible Munky (hopefully) passes AppleReview, so I can relax and take my time with all the iTunesConnect gubbins. Starting with the the description, the screenshots, the icon, I continued on and decided to ...

Developments

Yesterday was spent tweaking a few odds and sods that I never really got around to doing previously. I, of course, added a few extra levels, and I added "OUYA Controller Button Icons" to the main menu, so it's marginally more obvious that you can use the shoulder buttons to open the Options menu and Scoreboard. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HeavilySubtle.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HeavilySubtle-1024x597.png" a...

Developments

A busy day, yesterday, as I set about building more of those Mission/Level things for SpikeDislike3. I've now got marginally different Mission modes for 10 of the 13 themes, although "Super X!" seems to appear a fair number of times! With only 3 more sets of levels to create, I'm pretty much nearing the end of development, although there's a bunch more extra bits that I might end up throwing in. Anyway, I figured now's about as good a time as any, to give you an idea of my targ...

Developments

OK, I *think* I managed to post Invisible Munky 2, correctly, to iTunes Connect! Unfortunately, due to the world in which Apple operates, we're going to have to wait just over a week to know for sure, as we wait for it to get through the stringent Apple Review gubbins. No doubt, even if it's as broken as Cardagain is, it'll still get through, so I'll be counting on the masses of Twitter-folk to let me know if it works on all the different types of devices that are out there. My...

Developments

A quick video.. ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SUFKcQothYI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> About a week ago, I booted up the MacMini to test compile SpikeDislike3 onto my iPad. I was SHOCKED by how poor the functionality of the MacMini was. Slow, unresponsive, and certainly not what you'd call "Useful" in any way shape or form. I guess that's what happens when you buy a Mac Mini in 2010, and only e...

Developments

A lot of yesterday was spent fiddling about with new Challenges. In actuality, I only ended up adding one single challenge type, but I also spent a LONG time ensuring that the challenge was indeed do-able. I'm going to be honest, and say that a lot of these challenges are going to be tricky for newcomers, but hopefully the fact that the "3 fails = unlock" mechanic's in place, will help that, somewhat. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_025.png"><i...