I think I'm heading back to bed, today!
Some days just don't seem to start off very well, and after a few hours of trying, don't appear to be getting any better!
Today I've managed to complete the following amazing achievements.
1. Get two dice to roll on the screen.

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Last weekend, most of the developers on the internet took part in the great big Global Game Jam, whereby everyone settled down to a nice ...

Today, I became a complete and total recluse!
It was the only way it was all going to get crammed into the day.
Let's go through last night's list, shall we?

Gah!
Extra hats today!
I now need about 3 hats, and annoyingly I think I might need an extra bunch of baddies, which also means more hats!
D'oh!

Alright, time to start on the next iOS project.
Over the past year I've started around about 500,000 iOS games, and released 6.
You're probably wondering WTF happened to the rest of 'em.

Today I'm focussing my blog on iOS trials and tribulations. The basic steps of designing a game when working with iOS.
These are pretty simple things, and should be apparent, but .. having played a fair number of iOS games.. they're not always done!
Note, this isn't really about my actual development, as such, more the train of thought that generates the end result.
In a future bloggy thing, I might focus more on the what/where, than the how/why that this does. Let me know if ...

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Is Barry The Spelling Bee going to be the star of my next iOS game?!

Back at school I used to randomly write thoughts into my jotter. Not school-based stuff, of course. I was an idea-filled coder, back then!
Lately, the ideas are few and far between, as anyone who's been following AGameAWeek lately has noticed.
My "Waffle" was general thoughts about gui layouts, game thoughts, and then anything else that randomly appeared along the way.
I'm starting to think that it might be a good idea to restart that old habit.

The year is new, but the logo's old.
Sod it. I love this logo!
I should be doing a year-long roundup thing, but I've not had much time, what with the whole Advent and stuff.
No matter, there's been some good, and plenty of bad, and that's what AGameAWeek's all about!

54 games. Last year I only managed about 30-odd, so I think that's pretty good going.
Sure, it might not have truely actually been A Game "Per" Week, but I did at least keep the ratio up.
If I hadn't taken the time out to build the framework, I probably would've actually achieved the target a little better
The stats show I was pretty much on top of things up until that point, but then things got slower and slower until my buffer zone was all dried up.
Anyhoo, this is a n...

54 games. Last year I only managed about 30-odd, so I think that's pretty good going.
Sure, it might not have truely actually been A Game "Per" Week, but I did at least keep the ratio up.
If I hadn't taken the time out to build the framework, I probably would've actually achieved the target a little better
The stats show I was pretty much on top of things up until that point, but then things got slower and slower until my buffer zone was all dried up.
Anyhoo, this is a n...

Is it really 200, already?! Blimey!

The quickly made retrospective "look at what you've done" post..

I started writing games as a kid, went through school making silly games, and ended up with not-much-at-all to show for it.
<img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/JNKPlat_5_:_Resurrection_20020910A_thumb.png"> <img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/JNKFruit2K2_20020807A_thumb.png">

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 le...

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.
Any...

I haven't really been updating this like I oughta be, so here's the "So Far"
Day one (Tuesday 30th March 2010)
Make it Big
Decided to go with the "upped size" style, so set about redrawing all the old background tiles at a higher resolution.
I considered making 50-odd brick tiles, and give them all a slight texture, but figured that'd kill your memory, so instead created an overlay texture that would be added to the screen once the game's done it'...

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!)

A classic Blockman game, in the style he was meant to be in! Sure, he looks great doing his whole "Pacman maze, but hungry" thing, but this is the style he made his name in, so it seems only fitting that this would be where he finds his Mario Costume.
And not just once. He can find it over and over again!
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Blockman_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100330A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Blockman_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100330A_thumb.png"><...

Blimey, that was quick!
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Usually I spend most of Sunday and Monday rushing through the end of a game, but this week's game seems to have slotted perfectly into place.
nice!

First up, this week's game will be Blockman in a Mario Costume. Greenie looked great in his costume, but he's a lost cause, and I'm moving on.
Blockman will return to his original Flicky style gameplay, with the Mario Costume acting as a power up to give him an amazing new ability! Combo scores aplenty!
After that, we're done with Mar10, so I can start playing with fresh, original, and fantastically new ideas..
Speaking of which, Tetripong is apparently needed on the DS, so that'll probab...

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.

Ever since I came up with this whole MAR10 Costume idea, I've had three games in mind.
1. Ted Bob was a great game, and needed an update. By making it More Mario, I could easily add extra bits into the mix.
Job done, turned out nicely.
2. "Monsters Upside Your Head" played bizarrely, but nicely! Redoing that in DK style seemed obvious, but didn't quite turn out exactly as expected.

I'd love to get a game done, but finishing the music thing, and sorting out the last bits of the Framework ready for first release? Well, that's going to take some time. And with only 2 days to get it all done.
..
eek!
So, instead, we'll try something a little different, this week.

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 ...

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Because there may or may not have been resulting copyright issues, I've left this post on the backburner until the magazine went off the shop shelves. Usually I'd happily scan in a bit of a page if my games are mentioned, but this time it's a whole entire page, and that's a completely different kettle of fish. (Although, to be fair, I'...

It seems my decision has now been made.
I'm going to reacquaint myself with BlitzMax, and give things another try.
But first I need to build up a nice new Jayenkai Framework.
There's a fair number of things that I want to put into place before we begin, so let's get cracking on the list.

I get to this point once every few months, and .. well.. here we are again!
A few things are getting me here, this time around.
Let's list the reasons, then think of some solutions..