Occasionally, I base games upon crazy bits of coding that seem fun to play with. Sometimes games can form from odd little artistic doodles that look strange and unusual. Other times, I'll start with a sound effect, or a piece of music, and allow it to fester away until a game has emerged.
This week is different..
This week, the game's idea came solely from the stupid mock game title that randomly popped into my head.
*shrugs*
<img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Alien_Spind...

People often complain that my games look "too retro", and yet, this mostly-monochrome game with a seriously shitty sprite, is getting lots of attention.
.. You can't please everybody!
Seems to be going fairly well, and is relatively popular, but the exact same issue seems to be cropping up over, and over, and over and over again..
The helicopter only ever faces Right, and the planes only ever face Left.

(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Accumulative_Stats_15_Dec_2013.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Accumulative_Stats_15_Dec_2013_thumb.png">

The internet is a place for trolls and complainers (like me!) who like to gripe at every opportunity.
For the most part, we tend to ignore these types, which generally means that comments sections have become largely ignored.
Here at AGameAWeek, the opposite has happened. There are apparently no trolls daring enough to even attempt to play my games! I seem to have scared most of them away.
As a result, there are no trollers or complainers here, and since those are the types that make up ...

I'm taking a slight break from my usual AGameAWeek schedule.
Over the course of September, I'll be spending extra time building up a super awesome edition of BlastTrax, whilst also taking the time to enjoy GTAV properly!
Hurray for games!
Meanwhile, I'm digging through my archive of old forgotten gems, and plucking out anything that isn't yet part of my Archive for reasons of terribleness, or general forgetfulness!

BlastTrax has passed iOS Review, so all is looking good for it's target August 27th release date.
Since the game is now up on the AppStore, but currently locked tight until the release date, I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it, so I posted the following challenge onto Twitter.
(URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/photo-4.jpg"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/photo-4-898x1024.jpg" alt="" title="photo (4)" width="590" height="672" class="alig...

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 (URL "https://monkeycoder.co.nz">Monkey-coded) game onto iOS.

A remake, this week, of a popular old game, but one which appears to have lost it's powerups along the way.
The game plays well enough, but it feels somewhat lacking.
Perhaps a little community-driven inspiration might help bulk it back up again?

<img src="https://socoder.net/AGAWGold_128.png" style="float:right;"> AGameAWeek Gold is a daily trip through the Jayenkai Archive, to see if I've previously released any games on this day in history.
Sometimes the day is uneventful. Not even I have managed enough to pad out every single day of the year!
Oddly, though, other days contain more than one game.
And today's one of those days!

<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.

Yesterday was the #Indievisibility awards ceremony, which involved a bunch of indie guys, a pub, a brawl and a number of teabags.
Awards were given for all manner of things.. Different genres, games with certain features and other seemingly random reasons.
You can scan through a list of all the <a href="https://www.sizefivegames.com/2011/12/11/indievisibilty-end-of-year-awards-results/">Awards here,</a> and read all about the joys of the fight!
Awesome!

<img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Platdude__s_Retro_Advent_Collection_20101201_Logo_thumb.png">
A brand new game, EVERY DAY over Christmas!

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...

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...

August 26th 2009
That's the last time I did a Mailbag post!
Blinkin' eck!
Over the past 6/7 months, I've occasionally dipped into the mailbag and plucked out little snippets, but I figured it was about time I did a proper one.

I don't usually repost this here, but. What the hey!<br>
<br>
(URL "https://groups.google.com/group/socoder-newsletter">Sign up, it's fun, and weekly, and written!!)<br>
<br>

When I first started to think of "A game that uses Badges" the name "Dungeon Badges" stuck in my head, and slowly but surely evolved into Dungeon Badgers.
Over the course of the week (during which I was finishing off Centipong 2) the idea had evolved to include a garden, a house, a cat, and of course.. mushrooms and... arrghh! A snake!
Today's post is a brief description of the game that was in my head, before it got thrown out and replaced with an idea that could be drawn a wee bit quicker!

The titlescreen of future games requires many things.
1. Title of Game
2. Credits
3. Highscores

Trying to add puzzle elements into a shoot-em-up never seems to work out as well as the idea in your head.
I should know that by now!
And yet, this week, that's what I tried to do.
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Webdings_Fighter_20090922A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Webdings_Fighter_20090922A_thumb.png"></a>

RPG
Here's what's done.
1. Characters
2. Main character

I'd better get this game done, this week! It's getting a wee bit unruley. I need to pull in the ideas a bit and just get the game finalised.
Today I've been playing with the map again.
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap_thumb.png">