Continue reading »]]> For the past few years, I’ve been building and rebuilding a silly little experimental shooter thing called “Horizontal Shooter”
The basic gist is that it’s a bog standard horizontal shooter, but with a weird control scheme, and a tail to catch things in.
I also tend to use Horizontal Shooter as a simple testbed, to see what a language can/can’t achieve in the realms of simplistic blurry lovelyness.

This time around, since we’re also focusing on mobile devices, I’ve decided to flip things around, and make it a Vertical Shooter instead.

Beware, we’re in experimental territory, here!!

First off, an all new control scheme, mostly born out of Android Compatibility worries.

For starters, the player’s ship auto-fires. This is a rarity, especially in the world of [H~S]! Usually you have limited “Squeeeeeeee” ammo, but this time around it’s a simple constant rhythmic fire pattern.

Second the controls are “Swoop” based.. If you’re playing on a PC, you’ll need to keep the mouse button held down. I might tweak that, later!!
Move a little, and the ship moves a lot.
How much it’s amplified can be tweaked in the Pause Menu.

Third, Gameplay wise we’re mixing up the nice Swoopy tail of Horizontal Shooter with the “Kill them and they come at you!” death ball thing from the Amstrad CPC classic Space Hawks!
Once hit, enemies turn into a ball of death.. SpikeDislike!
Avoid the balls, or you lose health.
However, if the balls get below the bottom of the screen, they ALSO hurt you!
Instead, you have to swoop around them, and try to collect the deathballs using your trail.
A simple premise, but a tricky one!

And lastly, the background blur can be switched off and on in the pause menu. Previous efforts at “Incomplete CLS” have been broken, but I’m not sure if the newer edition of Monkey has fixed it. Let me know!

Um, I think that’s everything!

You can Download [V~S] Vertical Shooter (experimental!) here for Windows, Android and playable in your browser via HTML5.

Continue reading »]]> It’s Saturday, and I’ve not really started a game for this week.

Well, that’s not entirely true.
I’ve actually started three games, this week, but all of them seemed to hit a dead-end pretty early on, so I’ve not really got anything to show for it.

To take my mind off my (so far) week of failure, I instead decided to make a little texture generator.
I figured it’d be nice if I could generate some neat looking repeating textures for use as sprite textures, world backgrounds, wallpaper backgrounds, or other sorts of things.
It’s nice to have a varied selection of these things, and even better if you can write a silly little program to generate them for you.
So, I opened up Blitz3D and spent an hour or so twiddling about with some code until I got it making nice little repeating textures like this..

Is it any use to anyone?
Probably not!
But there we go..
In case I don’t get around to writing AGameAWeek, this week, you can play about with this little thing, and pretend it’s a game!

You can Download WebMaker here.
Fiddle with the settings.ini, then run the program, and it’ll make a bunch of random tileable textures.

If you want anything more complex, either open the .bb and scream at my horrible code, or alternatively open the “Tiled” version into a paint package, add filters, grab the middle, and you’ll have a better looking texture.

Continue reading »]]> As unplanned as AGameAWeek usually is, I at least have a rough idea of what’ll be occurring.
Tuesdays, release a game. Wednesday’s think about a game idea. Thursday/Friday start a game. Saturday/Sunday bulk the game out where necessary/possible, and Monday finish things up before we release it on Tuesday and start it all over again.
Along the way, we get trips into the AGameAWeek Gold archive, and there are other oddities like the Uninteresting Wallpapers, and other silly little things.

Imagine my surprise, then, when halfway through E3 week, I realised I’d been posting a new/old game, every single day, onto GooglePlay!!
What started out as a shocking “OMG! It Worked!” event for Hoppy Bobby, quickly turned into me digging through my archive of Android games, and slapping up a different one each day.

I hadn’t planned it as a week-long feature.
I hadn’t even planned it to have happened at all!
It just sort of fell into place, and happened to have happened that way.

The fact that this was also E3 week, meant two things.
1. Bit odd that I should have a crazy awesome week during the same week that all the big game companies are..!
2. My games got mostly ignored, because there were much more interesting things going on!

Aw well!

The five games currently available are..
1. SpikeDislike2 – The Complete Experience (69p/equivalent)
The full version of SD2, with (currently) 15 Gameplay modes!!

2. Hoppy Bobby (free)
A cracking little platformer, and potential SpikeDislike beater!

3. Cardagain (free)
Memorise the layout, then memorise the sequence and pick the cards again!

4. Blockman Gets Hungry (free)
Guide Blockman through the maze, ensuring he always has something to eat along the way.

5. Arcade Slots (AGAW Edition) (free)
A selection of Arcade Games remade as Slot Machines.

You can Visit my GooglePlay Store here, where you can download a bunch of my Android games directly onto your device, and watch out for future additions.
Know anyone with an Android thing? Let them know, so they can join in the fun!

Additionally, since you’re playing game with an Android device, you might as well also give these a go..
TCKSoft : @CaffeineKid is remaking a whole bunch of classic games onto Android. Some cracking games, here!
Games by Zed : @dedhedzed has started his own AGameAWeek project, and is whipping his results onto the GooglePlay store, too!

In the coming weeks, I’ll be adding the regular AGameAWeek directly onto GooglePlay as well as plucking out any more of my other previous Android projects at a much more manageable rate of one a week!!

Continue reading »]]> Time for an update to my Monkey Framework!
This week I noticed that, having upgraded my version of Monkey recently, Android’s Back Button was no longer being recognised, so I took a bit of time to figure out why that was happening, and updated the Framework to suit the new methods.

The Download

Jayenkai’s Monkey Framework, as of 13th June 2013 | Blog Post

Older versions

23rd March 2013 | Blog Post
25th February 2013 | Blog Post
28th January 2013 | Blog Post

Also in this update..

* The new “Testcard in place of a Credits Screen” stuff.
* A few quick-to-access name based settings, up at the top of the file, because it was starting to wind me up having to keep opening .monkey files, just to change the name of the game!
* URL Data quicky test. You’ll want to remove it, but it’s in there, and it seems to work ok.
* New version of the Icon Resizer (See below for further details)
* A few tweaks that I’ve probably forgotten all about.

You can Download Monkey_Skeleton_2013_06_13 here

Enhanced Icon Builder

I’ve started by shoving Icon Builder into it’s own slightly neater folder.
In here, you’ll find a new “Backing.png” image.
You can either leave the default in place, replace it with something game relevant, or delete it entirely to get a random patchwork blurry thing!

The Icon Builder will take this image, and any given Icon-XYZ.png images, to construct a bunch of correctly sized and named iOS Icons, along with Solid and Transparent icons in various sizes. If you have a NameofGame.build/android/ folder, it’ll also replace the icons in there, so that your next Android Build will include the new icons..

It will then use the Backing.png (or a random splodgey thing), along with your game’s Icon-hd2.png, (../NameofGame.data/Icon-hd2.png) to generate Launch images for your iOS Game, as well as a batch of extra images that you can quickly fling over to the GooglePlay Store.
Oh, and a nice DVD Case, for good measure, which uses the included Overlay image!

As usual, the .bmx BlitzMax source for this is included, and the ini file should allow you to come up with all manner of other curiosities. Lemmie know if you do anything fun with it.

Continue reading »]]> Welcome to the wonderful world of Platform Jumping!

This week’s game was spawned by me misreading a tweet.
Last Wednesday, I misread part of a tweet as “Rotating Moons”. It actually said “Rotating Rooms”…
Rotating Rooms might be fun to visit in a future game, but for now the idea of a starfield full of spinning moons was stuck in my head.
I contemplated having a large character jump from moon to moon, but there didn’t appear to be much of a challenge to it, so instead I added singular platforms onto each of the circles, which had since become little spinning cogs.
.. and on and on and on the game went..

It’s actually turned out surprisingly well.
I had about 90% of this game up and running by late Thursday, and have since spent the past few days tweaking it to make it even more playable.

If you Liked SpikeDislike, You’ll LOVE this game! It’s just as easy, but multitudes harder!

Oh, and for you ultra competitive folk out there, unlike most of my games, the levels in this game do actually end!!! Easy is short, Normal is longer, and Hard is insane!!

You can Download Hoppy Bobby here for Windows, Android or HTML5.

GooglePlay!! : For the FIRST TIME EVER, you can download one of my games, directly from GooglePlay! Oooh, it’s luvly!!

Continue reading »]]> Apologies that this post has taken me so long to publish.
I actually wrote most of it about 3 months ago, when I first released SpikeDislike2, but it’s been sat on my Mac on a Sticky Note, and I kinda forgot all about it!
I remembered it, the other day, when I submitted SpikeDislike2-Lite to Apple.

What follows is a checklist/guide for compiling your Monkey-coded game onto iOS.

-=-=-

1 – Getting Started

Before we begin, there are a few requirements.

1.1 – Equipment

Obviously, you’ll need to get kitted out.
Monkey : To develop iOS Games with Monkey, you’ll need to purchase the full package, but it’s nice and cheap. It’s around about £100, for the complete package, give or take current exchange rates. This not only works for iOS, but Windows, Mac, Android, Browser, and more.
iOS Dev License : Another £100, needed to allow you to put your games into the AppStore, or onto your device. You can do test stuff for free, but only on the “Simulator”. If you want to see your game on your device, you’re going to need a license.
A Mac : Yeah, you’re going to need a Mac. This one’s a bit more than £100. A Mac Mini will happily do everything you need, though. My current Mac Mini is about 3.5 years old, and still going strong.

1.2 – License Shite

I’m not going to deal with this, here. I’ve ranted enough about it, and there’s millions of similar rants all over the internet.
Suffice to say, you’re going to have to wrangle with your Mac and your iPhing for about 3 to 4 months, before you can fathom the insane amount of shite that Apple makes you fight with, before your first thing properly compiles onto your device.
Once you’ve finally got it working, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING, lest you somehow stop it all from working!!!!
Provisions, Certificates, Licenses and more.
Aaah, the joys of iOS Development.

Grrr..

I’m going to assume that you’ve managed this.
If you haven’t, don’t even think about tackling Monkey, yet. Keep trying to compile with XCode, until you get a result.

Once it’s all working, you’re ready to move on.

1.3 – Make a Game

Code your game using Monkey.
If you’re like me, you might prefer to spend your time developing your game using a Windows system.
Nothing against the Mac, I’m just more comfortable in Windows. I have all my Dev-tools on there, and my Laptop is a cheap Windows one, not an expensive Mac one.
What can I say, I’m a cheapskate!

Code your game with Resolution Independence in mind, test your game on multiple resolutions, and always be aware that the iPhings have certain limitations, so don’t go overboard with all your fancy effects.
It’s true that Monkey can achieve an awful lot, especially since it recently got some nice GameCenter features, but try not to overdo it!

-=-=-

2 – Ready to Go

So, your game is finished. You’ve done everything you’re prepared to do, and are ready to send off your first version to Apple.
Let’s assume you’ve been, so far, working entirely on a PC.
It’s time to get this iPhing Party started!

2.1 – Copy folder to Mac

Since we’re working on the Windows, we just grab the folder, stick it somewhere (thumbdrive, dropbox, network drive, whatever) and copy it over to the Mac.
This was a fairly simple step, and we could probably have done without me spelling it out for you, but it felt like a necessary thing to write!

2.2 – Open .monkey file

Ensure iOS and Release are selected in the Target options.
Double check that you’ve disabled unlock, debug, cheats and anything else like that inside your code. (Although you might want to leave the cheats on for testing, it’s best to disable them before you compile your final release.)

To Compile, just use the Build. There’s no need to Build and Run since we’re going to reopen the project using XCode in a moment.

2.3 – Open Extras folder

Whenever I’m creating a game, I have a seperate “Extras” folder, where I keep things like Icons and Launch images, as well as in-dev (raw format) sprites and other bits and pieces.
Since we’ll be needing the icons shortly, open this folder up, and keep it on the side. We’ll need it in a jiffy

2.4 – Open .build/ios folder

Your game should have a .build folder, and inside that is now an ios folder.
In there, you’ll find MonkeyGame.XCodeproj
Double click that to open it in XCode.
Give XCode about an hour or so to sort itself out.. :\
(Perhaps the slow speed of this is a sign that my 3.5 year old Mac Mini is starting to show it’s age!!)
After a while, the Mac should settle down, and you’ll have XCode open and ready for action, with your MonkeyGame project open.

2.5 – Name

Monkey compiles everything with the ever-bland “MonkeyGame” title. We’ll want to change that.
Click MonkeyGame on the far left (folders), then Targets : MonkeyGame in the left bit of the main panel.
Next, head to the [Summary] tab, and right at the top it should say com.yourcompany.monkeygame
You can change the com.yourcompany to your company (ie, your domain name, but with the .com at the start! Not sure why it’s this way round, seems to be the standard, lately.. Just go with it!!!)

You can’t change the game name from here, though.
Instead, switch to [Build Settings] tab, and in the Packaging area is Product Name : MonkeyGame
Change that to your game’s name.
Head back to the [Summary] tab, and you’ll see it’s fixed the game’s title.

2.6 – Info

Back in the [Summary] tab, change the Version and Build to your current version numbers. These can be anything you’d like, but each time you upload a new version to Apple, you’ll need to increase it. Keep track of your version numbers!!

You can change the Deployment Target as you see fit.
I’ve stuck to 6.0, since I have nothing lower that I can test it on, and would rather not attempt to sell games that might break.
It’s pissed a few people off, that their older iPhing can’t play my games, but I’d rather they be pissed off that I won’t let them buy my game, than have them pay for a game that may or may not work on their system.

Also, in this Summary section, you can click to enable/disable orientations as you see fit. Monkey will deal with rotations as required, but it’s up to you to handle the different resolutions.

2.7 – Icons

Grab your icons and launch images from the folder you left open earlier, and drop them into the left-most “folder” panel of XCode, on top of the MonkeyGame folder, below the project’s name, and above “Other Sources” (!)
It’s nice if these are in a folder, btw!
Immediately, you should see the Launch images appear correctly within XCode’s summary, but for some stupid reason the icons don’t. Not sure why, haven’t figured that bit out. So we need to do a little manual tweaking, here.
Open the icons folder inside XCode, on the left, and have the Summary tab open in the main section.
Scroll down the Summary to the “Icon not specified” bit (under iPhone) and drag icon.png onto the left most one.
A little “This will replace this!” requester will pop up, telling you that icon.png will replace icon.png because icon.png already exists, and is called icon.png..
Click yes!

Icon@2x.png goes onto the Retina one, then scroll further down and put icon-72.png onto the left ipad, and icon@2x-ipad.png onto the right hand retina ipad.
Yep, quirky labelling.. Surely that should be icon-72@2x.png, shouldn’t it?! Not my fault, blame Apple!!

Next, head to the [Info] tab, and in there you’ll see an Icon Files (iOS 5) section that opens up.
Unfold it to reveal Primary Icon, and again for Icon Files.
Note there’s 5 listed, but Icon 0 is actually blank.
Where this comes from, I’ve no idea, but if you try to upload your App to Apple with this in here, Apple throws a hissy fit..
Delete Icon 0, which shuffles the rest upwards.
Job done..
Your game now has an Icon.. :\

2.8 – Music

If you compile now, all works (hopefully!), but if the player has any background music playing, it’ll be cut off.
We need to tweak code to fix this.
.. and we DO need to do this, because if your game makes my music shut off, it’ll make me delete your app!!

First, open Other Sources/main.h
and up near the top somewhere, in amongst all the other imports, add the line
#import
Then Save!

Next, open Other Sources/main.mm
Open the Find requester (WindowsKey/OptionKey + F), Search for alcOpenDevice

You should find a little area that looks like…

gxtkAudio::gxtkAudio():musicState(0),musicPlayer(0),musicVolume(1){

if( (alcDevice=alcOpenDevice( 0 )) ){
if( (alcContext=alcCreateContext( alcDevice,0 )) ){

Once you’ve found that, you’ll want to add a small chunk to it

AudioSessionInitialize(NULL, NULL, NULL,NULL);
UInt32 sessionCategory = kAudioSessionCategory_UserInterfaceSoundEffects;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_AudioCategory, sizeof(sessionCategory), &sessionCategory);

UInt32 allowMixing = true;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideCategoryMixWithOthers, sizeof(allowMixing), &allowMixing);

.. Which makes it…

gxtkAudio::gxtkAudio():musicState(0),musicPlayer(0),musicVolume(1){

if( (alcDevice=alcOpenDevice( 0 )) ){
AudioSessionInitialize(NULL, NULL, NULL,NULL);
UInt32 sessionCategory = kAudioSessionCategory_UserInterfaceSoundEffects;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_AudioCategory, sizeof(sessionCategory), &sessionCategory);

UInt32 allowMixing = true;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideCategoryMixWithOthers, sizeof(allowMixing), &allowMixing);
if( (alcContext=alcCreateContext( alcDevice,0 )) ){

Save, and Compile!
You should now find that background music runs happily alongside your App. Huzzah!

2.9 – Test Compile

Connect your device, fiddle about with XCode for another half an hour or so, until it notices your device is connected, then Compile and Run.
Double/Triple check everything is ready for launch.
Test your GameCenter methods, double check your Accomplishments, test all the levels, try all the buttons.
Everything.
Make sure it all works, and it fit for purpose.

2.10 – Distribution Settings

Back to XCode, head to the folders, click on MonkeyGame, then in the main area, select Project – MonkeyGame, and click on the [Info] tab.
Be sure you’ve set the same Deployment Target as the other section.
Just below that are “Configuration” settings, and under those are little tiny, almost invisible, + / - buttons..
Click the +, then Duplicate “Release” configuration.
Name the new config “Distribution”
Next click the [Build Settings] tab, and under Code Signing there’s a new Distribution setting.
Leave the “main” bit as it is, but underneath is Any iOS SDK. Change THAT to iPhone Distribution.
(If it doesn’t have one listed, then good luck pissing about with all the iOS License gubbins! Seek help on getting your Provisions, Certificates and other crap sorted.)

2.11 – Switch to Distribution

I don’t know where this is in the menus.. I used to know it in XCode 3, but they moved it somewhere in XCode 4, and I just can’t damn well find it!!
I only know the keypress for it!
[Winkey/Option]+[Left_Shift]+[Comma/<]
This will open up a new Distribution window dialogue thing.
Within the default “Run” section, change “Build Configuration” to Distribution, then click OK.
From now on, every time you compile, it’ll target the Distribution build, instead of the previous Debug build. Use the same keypress to change it back if necessary.
Now if you compile the game, you’ll find that it complains about a missing Provisioning Profile.
This is normal, it just means you can’t run a “Final Compilation” without it being approved by Apple. .. I think.. or some other crap like that, I can’t be arsed faffing about with it!
Either way, this is the end result.

This is the App you’re about to upload!!

-=-=-

3 – The Upload

The App is compiled, and you’re ready to send it off, but first you need to setup an iTunes Connect page!

3.1 – Preparation

Grab all your iPhings, and start taking lots of screenshots!

You’ll need at least 2 screens for each resolution that your game supports.

iPad (2048×1536), iPhone Old (640×960) and iPhone New (640×1136)
In each case, you can use either Small or Retina, but will probably be better off with Retina.

If you’ve not got a specific resolution’d device, either use the Simulator, or cheat like I do, and take screenshots of your Monkey App running in HTML5/GLFW mode!

You’ll also want a 1024×1024 sized icon

If you’re adding GameCenter elements, you’ll also have to add page after page after page after page of details for all of that, ensuring you get all the Leaderboard and Achievement names labelled correctly, as well as supplying oversized 1024×1024 icons for all the badges and things.
It really is a stupid amount of work, to get it all done!

You’ll also need to fill in the general blurb, as well as supplying your web address, email address, and even your real name and contact number.. ..!

Loads of stuff to fill in.

Once you’ve got it all sorted, click the blue “Ready to Upload” button, and.. you’re ready to upload!

3.2 – The Upload

In XCode, in the folders panel, at the bottom is a “Products” folder, and in there should be YourGame.app
Right click that, and “Show in Finder”

From here, right click on the app, and “Compress”
This will give you a YourApp.zip
This is the actual file you’ll be uploading.

Now open up Application Loader.
Use the Mac’s Search thing to find it. If you can’t find it, it might not be installed. Head to iTunesConnect and you’ll be able to find the download lurking around there…. somewhere! They seem to move the damn link, every time I try to look for it!!

Once Application Loader’s running, sign in, click “Deliver”, select the app*, choose the file, click Send, and .. Hopefully your App gets to the other side in one piece!!
* If your App isn’t listed, close Application Loader, head back to iTunesConnect, be sure you clicked “Ready to Upload”, then try again.
.. oh, and make sure you’ve signed in to both using the same login details.. !
Fingers crossed!!

If all goes well, which it usually doesn’t, the little progress bar will eventually hit 100%, and you’ll hear a nice Mac’y “Ping!” and get a nice big green Tick on your screen.

If something’s gone wrong. … Head back to step 1, and double check everything!

Continue reading »]]> AGameAWeek Gold looks back on this day in history, and trawls through the Jayenkai Archive to see if I’ve previously released any interesting games, today, in the past.

It’s like playing around with a time machine, but without the risk of destroying the entire universe, simply because you happened to sneeze near a butterfly, or something!

Today, we find two great classics.

2010 – NeonPlat 2

Has it really been 3 years since NeonPlat 2?
Doesn’t feel that long ago!
Anyway, if you’re going to grab a NeonPlat game, this one is probably the best of the bunch.
Sure, NeonPlat Adventures is HUGE in comparison, but this one’s a much more arcade-like experience, whereas NeonPlat Adventures took the game in an entirely new direction.

Lots of gameplay options, and Multiplayer to boot.

You can Download NeonPlat 2 here for Windows, MacOSX or Linux.
Enjoy!!
Incidentally, you can also grab NeonPlat Classic here for iOS!

2009 – Blockman DS

This game is somewhat of a leftover.
Back in 2009, I started a fresh collection of minigames. A larger collection of games. A sequel to Platdude’s Retro Collection.
It didn’t get very far.

I’m not really sure why, it just kinda stalled, and spluttered, and then eventually stopped.

Out of “PRC2″, came three games.
Blockman, Blockman Gets and Sokoban.
All three were eventually released as seperate games, but I never did get around to finishing off the complete collection.

Shame.

Still, it’s Blockman (The Platformer) and it’s fun, so that’s good!

You can Download Blockman DS here, which should run if you’ve got a compatible DS Homebrew enabled cart.
If you don’t have a DS, or any way to get a DS Homebrew Game to work, you can also Download DeSmume here. It’s my DS Emulator of choice. .. It plays my games, that’s more than enough!

Continue reading »]]> Another week, another sequel.
This week, we’re revisiting the puzzle-maze world of Kee, Bo and Ard (Occasionally spelled “Key, Bo and Ard” due to me forgetting the spelling of the green character’s name!)

I also need a couple of features tested, so there’s quite a bit of rambling included below this post!

You might notice that this week’s game is a bit of a rush-job.
I spent most of the week building up a nice smooth game engine, before getting to Sunday night and realising I’d somehow need to build a whole bunch of levels for the thing.
I took the easy, cheap way out, and wrote a small Blitz program that could play itself, and build it’s own little levels.
As such, the levels aren’t in any specific order, nor are they as taxing as they might’ve been had I attempted to build them properly.

But what the hey!
There’s 64 levels to beat.
Can you complete them all!?!

You can Download Kee, Bo and Ard Makes Three here for Windows, Android, or simply play it in your browser.

-=-=-

Monkey Upgrade

Alright folks, this bit’s a little more important.

Windows Version
This week I’ve updated my version of Monkey. It’s lead to me being unable, for some annoying reason, to use MinGW to compile Windows versions with. Instead, Monkey is now using Visual Studio based stuff, so it should be an unnoticable change, but.. well.. I don’t trust Microsoft’s own compilers.. They never play happily!!
As such, I’d like to know if this is running on YOUR system!
Give the game a download, Unzip, run the .exe, and then let me know in the comments below.
Does it run, or Doesn’t it!!?

Android Version
Similarly, my upgrade might’ve borked a couple of system incompatibilities. Ugh.. I hate upgrades!!
Download the Android .apk, give it a whirl on your device, and let me know if it does or doesn’t work.

Failure
If either of those versions fail, Download SpikeDislike2 using the same device, and tell me if that similarly fails, fails in a different way, or maybe even works! This’ll help tell me if it’s the new upgrade that’s causing it, or something deeper.

Both Versions : Internet Feature Test
The reason I bothered to upgrade my version of Monkey, was to attempt to finally get a little internet based action going.
There isn’t anything huge in this game, but I have at least left a little test in the game.
On the main menu, snuggled down in the bottom-left corner, is the word “News”.
If you click/tap that, the game will access the internet, and read a line of text, which will then be displayed along the bottom of the screen.
It’s nothing amazing.
But it is a test, and it’s quite an important one.
If it works on a decent number of systems, it means I can attempt to implement some nice online features into future games.
No promises, but this makes things at least vaguely do-able.
..maybe!

Post your results in the comments.
Thanks

Continue reading »]]> Although I am sort of planning things ahead of time, I’m not really doing a good job with the things I’m planning.
In the majority of cases, the better AGameAWeek games seem to be those spur of the moment games that I cobble together fairly quickly.
Anything over-planned seems to die a death, halfway through!

At the start of May, I planned to do two fairly large projects.
Both of those projects have remained untouched for at least a couple of weeks.
Whoops!

My coders-ADD is taking hold, and anything that requires more than a few days work, seems to lose my attention.
Instead, anything I can instantly rummage together, usually has a short enough dev-time that I can see it through to some sort of completion.

So, what’s to come?
I’ve started drawing some sprites for a possible JNKPlat game. I’m not sure what the end result will be. I have no plans, I just know that, somewhere down the line, I’ll probably need some sprites.

I’ve also started to doodle some backdrops for a RetroRaider sequel, this time drawing them to a scale that might fit nicely onto a Nintendo DS, were I to attempt such a thing.

Code wise, I’ve managed to get Internet-based data flowing from my framework to my server and back again. It’s currently next to useless, but in the future, it might be useful for sending strings of data, like nicely compressed level data, between an editor and a server.

I also got some nice new tweaks done to my framework. In case you didn’t spot it in last week’s MLG game, I spent a good hour or so, redrawing the EditUndo font, so that it now finally includes lower-case letters. I must admit, it’s been a heck of a long time since I sat drawing a font!!

Additionally, if you tap the AGameAWeek logo in that game, (and future games!) you’ll be taken to the new Credit Screen, featuring Greenie on a nice real time Testcard pattern.
Hurray for Testcards!!

Tomorrow (today?)’s release will be a sequel to Kee Bo and Ard. It’s nothing major, and features lazily slapped together random levels, but it’s got quite a lot of them, so should at least keep you playing for ten minutes or so.

After that, we’re back to random unplanned oddities.

If you’d like to make a suggestion for a game, either plop it into the comments below, or click on the Suggestions box, up at the top.