Developments

One of the new themes sees me playing a bit more with Monkey's Skewing. The Transform and Matrix commands let you do some weird things with sprites. I never bothered to use them in the past because it's generally hard to pull off a good effect with them, that doesn't just look like you're pissing about with fancy effects! But during SpikeDislike3 I decided to experiment with it a little. You can see it used best in the Pseudo-3D theme. No 3D is used, and only simple skewing is...

SpikeDislike3 is getting a lot of attention, around the net, so I thought it'd be nice to keep a In-The-Media Page all about it's journey. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SD3_15Themes.jpg"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SD3_15Themes-1024x768.jpg" alt="SD3_15Themes" width="604" height="453" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4790" /> (URL "https://itunes.apple.com/app/spikedislike3/id1001277860">...

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

Oh, boy, did I sleep, yesterday!! Saturday night was FAR too hot, and I couldn't settle at all. I spent most of the night lying in bed, listening to music and not achieving anything at all. Sleep wise, I got around about 2 hours total, leading to a very very sleepy Sunday! Suffice to say, Sunday I got NOTHING done.. Nothing at all, except for sleeping. Lots and lots and lots and lots of sleeping!! Dev-wise, I'm a bit closer to getting a good feel in Boxsplosions, but it's sti...

Developments

I'm still fiddling about with the level generator for the new Boxsplosions game. Currently it's coming up with either of two level styles. Either the arena a HUGE and has one or two targets to hit, thus leading to a huge chasm where not much happens, or it's generating a teensy tiny level that's completely flooded with millions of little bloody targets, which completely kills any sort of gameplay mechanic. It's going to be hard to get it to balance that out, without ending up wit...

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 ...