<img src="https://socoder.net/AGAWGold_128.png" style="float:right;"> Sometimes, stripping things back to their simplest mechanics makes for a strangely more interesting game.
Other times, however, it just makes an otherwise vaguely interesting game a little more dull.
This is a great example of the latter.

Before anyone complains, no, this is not a game!
This week's release is a "Utility!" ooooh!
Don't worry, I won't be making a habit out of this.
To be honest, I was kinda expecting to be able to half-ass a game, this week, but I've spent so much time on this, that I just didn't get around to it.

Last night I had a random idea, and drew up a silly board game.
Since then, the idea has annoyingly festered, and so this morning, I'm doing a complete relaunch of yesterday's silly idea, complete with all new advanced rules!

SpikeDislike2 will be released on March 5th, 2013

Head inside for more details.

A random oddball thought, resulted in this.
Drawn entirely using SpriteSomething on an iPad. .. Yes, I actually sat here and draw all those numbers! ... Bored? You bet!!
<img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Spike2.png">
The rules are simple.

I've updated the uploaded Jayenkai Monkey Framework to the latest version that I'm using.
woot!

The Download

Downloads have been removed due to..
A) Lack of people using it.

You're probably wondering, by now, with all this wonderful "Monkey" stuff that I've been banging on about for the past month, where the heck my iOS offerings are.
Well, while it's true that Monkey does indeed make the coding a heck of a lot easier, there's still another matter to attend to.
The dreaded "iTunes Connect" area! ARGH!!!!
You've probably read enough of my rants to know that iDev isn't easy.
There are licenses to deal with. "Provision" codes, Certificates, all manner of s...

OK, folk are getting intrigued as to how all of this is working, and how nice the Monkey language is to work with, so in the spirit of not being a complete and total git, here's the complete everything that there is so far..

The Download

Framework Downloads have been removed due to lack of updates!
I've also left the html5 build intact, so you can give it a little run if you don't have Monkey installed. (I think!)
Should be as simple as going into the .build folder, t...

Already!?
Who saw this coming?!
I sure as hell didn't!!
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/shootybangbang.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/shootybangbang-300x228.png" alt="" title="shootybangbang" width="300" height="228" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2486" /></a>

<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/done_before.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/done_before.png" alt="" title="done_before" width="396" height="308" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2473" /></a>
You might recognise that little icon.
Redrawn in super-high-definition (128x128 pixels!) for iPad Retina display, or other high-def displays.
I'm currently halfway through adding in the Pause menu, with appropriate Qui...

Welcome aboard, Tam Toucan, you're apparently the only one interested in the job of testing my crazy shit, so you're now chief tester!
I've no idea when the first test engine will be ready to get to you, but I can't imagine it'll be too long a wait.. Maybe a week or so..?
Keep your eyes on AGameAWeek for progress reports!
Meanwhile, I did a teensy bit of audio testing, yesterday, and can happily report that Monkey can pitch it's audio, unlike a certain other languag...

You didn't get to see a lot of the BlitzMax template, last year, but if you'd like to try your hand at rapid game-dev, you might like to have a peek at it's contents.
If you're a BlitzMax owner, this might be useful to you... maybe.. but you'll have to wrap your head around my coding style, first!
<a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Template-2012.zip">Template - 2012 - Download Here</a>
Soon, hopefully, there'll be a Template - Monkey - 2013, but tha...

Aaaah!
I finally got home on Thursday night, and BOY what a relief that was!
Home, My own bed, Relaxed, Relieved!
Luvly.

<a href="https://bit.ly/iOS_NeonPlat">NeonPlat iOS is now available in the AppStore</a>. o/yeayo/
There are a few changes, most notably that you no longer get to paint the tiles.
The tile painting was one of the complaints when things were in giant HD graphics, so I kinda figured things might be even worse when downgraded to such a teensy tiny screen!
Hmmm..
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/NeonPlat.pn...

Last month, I got to the end of the month, and opted to leave out the last week.
I was FAR too busy doing Unijuggler iOS, it grew out of control, and AGameAWeek took the fall.
This month, we've reached the last week of the month, and a similar kind of thing has happened.
I've spent the past four days working on a "Not Cluedo, Honest" game, and although it's gone well, it's also not!

(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FarTooLong.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FarTooLong-287x300.png" alt="" title="FarTooLong" width="287" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2337" />I was in two minds whether to do this game now, or leave it for a couple of weeks to come up a few ideas, but I had nothing else to do, so I started it anyway!
Whether the board will end up looking like...

I struggled to get anything new started, today..
I'm not 100% sure why that is. Perhaps I woke up too early, or maybe it's that "End of Project" exhaustion, who knows.
I think it's the first time this year, that I've hit that particular wall, and as a result I pretty much just sat about playing games all day, and not actually achieving a damned thing.

This is an emergency post.
The future of AGameAWeek may be in jeopardy.
Everything hinges on the decision I make within the next few hours.
Do I do the Board Game thing, or do I do the Pancake thing?

Bah.. I knew that'd happen..
As soon as AGameAWeek kicked back into action, the "Daily Blog" would take a bit of a fall.
I'm trying to keep up, though! Honest!!

You know what's annoying?
When you've been sitting, typing away for about an hour, then stop to make a brew, and suddenly realise how bloody cold it is!
Somebody needs to invent some sort of keyboard with heated keys. That'd be great!
.. A mouse would be cheaper, but I then only my right hand would be toasty warm.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Slumlord27">Slumlord27/Moshboy's Youtube Channel</a>
For a long time, Moshboy's been building a nice big list of indie games on his Youtube Channel.
There's LOADS to see, and I highly recommend that you spend a month or two playing through them all!
Great stuff.

The following blog post contains words, which are built up using various letters.
You are expected to read the words in the correct order, moving your eyes from left to right to read each line, and then moving on to the left hand side of the next line.
Continue in this method until you have read all of the words of this blog post, and are <em>happy</em> with your und...

I should've spent today doing more iDev.
I didn't.
Already I'm looking at the iDev stuff, and going "uuugh..."
Try again tomorrow.

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!

First up, be aware that these aren't working yet, so the bit where one of the achievements would appear to be mostly impossible without the others, is actually down to the fact that they're 6 items apart, and nothing to do with anything that's been earned yet!!!
.. having said that, here's the first screenshot of the Achievement table that I've been working on, today.

I've mentioned, previously, how I'm going to attempt to make a 4-game template system.
A couple of days ago, I started a neat little menu, but.. it really wasn't up to much.
Today, I restarted said little menu, and it's turned out quite a bit nicer.