Developments

Yesterday I started playing about with all the different gameplay styles that'll make up the majority of the levels in SpikeDislike3. If you're keeping track, you'll remember that WAY WAY way way way back in (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=221">SpikeDislike 1) (Made in 2011, still works on most/all iOS devices!) there was a nice little Challenge mode to keep you entertained. Unfortunately, it didn't have a whole lot of levels. 36 levels were more or less all...

Developments

Yesterday I planned to do one thing, but ended up doing something completely different! I'm not entirely sure why, but it might've had something to do with me listening to an 80s compilation at the time. WARNING : Listening to music can seriously damage your planned development schedule! Suffice to say, my 80s themed theme now looks much more 80s themed, and I even created a silly "thing" for no good reason. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_Together....

Developments

Lots of background work, yesterday, as I continued to work on the menu system. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_023.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_023.png" alt="SD3_023" width="640" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4641" /> The two circles on the right currently show the topmost highscore of the level selected, as well as the last score. Now you c...

Developments

I spent some time, yesterday, playing around with the menu system for SpikeDislike3. It's starting to look fairly usable, now, with it's little bouncing "Next Level" thing, and all the spikes and stars in the right places. I still need to add some sort of boundary to the left, so that the "Infinity" levels are more apparent, but for the most part, the menu is nice enough, and actually functions the way it's supposed to! ( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/em...

Developments

Yesterday, I made this! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_016.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_016-1024x597.png" alt="SD3_016" width="660" height="385" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4623" /> Taking sprites, sounds and music from (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=350">Invisible Munky 2), I quickly cobbled together a SpikeDislike2 theme, and re...

Developments

My first session of yesterday was spent fixing up the issues I had with the little fishy theme. I started by stripping out the fish, and replacing it with an Octopus, which although fundamentally the same sort of thing, looked a bit less weird when bouncing along the floor in the standard SpikeDislike style! So that turned out nicely. After that I tweaked a bit more of the standard engine, which is growing features every time I touch the thing, and fiddled about with a bit more m...

Developments

Yesterday, I completely rejigged the "Bounce" of SpikeDislike. Originally, the bounce was a simple Sine-wave, and has in fact been this in EVERY version of SpikeDislike, but this time I'm hoping to add a couple of new elements which have required a minor tweak in the usual ball bouncing mechanic. This isn't something to be taken lightly, as I had to be absolutely sure that the end result still "felt" like Classic SpikeDislike. At the moment it's a teensy bit floaty compared with ...

Developments

Not a lot of progress, yesterday. A LOT of stuff happened, but nothing substantial enough that I can show it off! I started adding background layers to SpikeDislike3, but at the minute it's all nasty looking temporary art. I'm quite surprised, however, that it worked as well as it did in the Faux-3D mode. Mmm.. Parallax! It took a LOT of effort to get the new elements in place, and I'm hoping that the iPhings (at least) can cope with everything that's going on. Seriously, th...

Developments

Yesterday I decided to try out something a little unusual for me. I attempted THREE DEE!!! Not "proper" 3D, of course. I'm too lazy for that! Instead, I took the 2D game engine, added a Skew function to tilt everything at an angle, then plonked the standard graphics over the top. I wasn't expecting the result to be playable, but oddly enough, it's absolutely 100% normal. In fact, since the engine sticks to the original 2D principles, the game's entirely playable like this, and...

Developments

( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l4RcZ365DbU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> *shrugs* That might change at some point in the future. For now, it'll do as it is. It only appears once, right at the start, anyway.. So it's not going to keep cropping up all the time. Lazy and cheap, but it gets the point across. There's going to be a lot of love crammed in to SpikeDislike3! ( width="560" height="315...

Developments

I spent a lot of yesterday faffing about with the "Start" screen of SpikeDislike3. At first I intended to have a giant spike be in the center of the screen, and in fact that's what happened for quite a while, but .. I'm not sure why, but I decided to switch to circles instead. Reusing my generic stripy circle from my basic menu meant I didn't have to redraw anything, and the new "Start" screen looks rather neat. .. or at least, for something I've done, it does! I spent some t...

Developments

Yesterday I settled into "Music Mode", where I can generally whip out an AL CHOON for whatever purpose. Unfortunately, after a good two hours of twiddling dials and buttons in Korg Gadget (iPad only) I came out with absolutely nothing decent whatsoever. Ashamed that I'd wasted a good amount of time pretty much doing nothing, I instead decided to load up some old Choons, and see if they worked within the new SpikeDislike3 engine. Good news! SpikeDislike3 will have music!! On t...

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

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...

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...

As has become a tradition on iOS, My Birthday = Free Spikes for Everybody!! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_8419.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_8419.png" alt="(null)" class="alignnone size-full" /> This is, alarmingly, the fifth year that I've done this, and .. Honestly, that's scary!! I can't believe that SpikeDislike is now five years old! Anyway, there it is, and it still happily r...

This week, we had the roof of our house redone. Old slates off, new framework build, new slates on. It's been a lengthy job, and certainly not one I can glance up at very much.. (My current balance-less health issues have made looking up ludicrously difficult!) Always makes me feel lazy, sitting around and watching other people do big jobs like that, but. .. There's not a lot I can help with, so it's best to stay out of the way. Meanwhile, the loud banging and clattering has been waking me up brig...

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...

Things I should be doing. 1. A new Alien Deathmatch 2. A new RetroRaider 3. A new JNKPlat 4. That space-platformer-shooter thing 5. YBox Drops 6. SpikeDislike3 Each and every one is too large for a Weekly timescale, and as such, I've not started ANYTHING! They're all random unstarted ideas, waiting for "just the right time", but at the rate of AGameAWeek, there's never really going to be time to get around to them. Heck, I was supposed to do JNKPlat 2 years ago! I started it for the Xmas speci...

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">

Messing about on Twitter, as I typically do when I'm bored, and I jokingly typed the phrase SPIKEDISLIKE3... I immediately followed this up with the following bit of silly daftly doodled artwork. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/IMG_7591.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/IMG_7591.png" alt="IMG_7591.PNG" class="alignnone size-full" /> I don't think this is a thing, yet, but it's leaving an odd taste in...

<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=347">Alpha Collexion</a> was AGameAWeek's 2014 Advent Calendar. You can <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=347">Download it Here</a> for Windows, OUYA or playable in your browser using HTML5. All games are now unlocked, and will remain playable forever! woot!

(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=347">Alpha Collexion) is AGameAWeek's 2014 Advent Calendar. You can (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/GameList.php?ShowJust=347">Download it Here) for Windows, OUYA or playable in your browser using HTML5. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/AlphaCollexion/400_H.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/AlphaCollexion/400_H_thumb.png">

Heli Hover

Concept Avoid the Spikes! ...