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">

Jayenkai's World Cup Challenge : <a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/2010/06/jayenkais-world-cup-challenge/">A plan to do something, rather than sit watching football for 90 minutes each and every day..</a>
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No fair, I missed yesterday
Blame Apple. They sent me my iPhing Dev License, and I spent the day playing about with that, and installing everything again...

I'm halfway through NeonPlat 2, and would you believe it, I have a dream about Invisible Munky 2!
FFS, how annoying is that!?
Now I've another gameplay idea banging away in my head, and it actually seems nice and playable, too!
Bah...

Thanks, JurassicPlayer!
A lovely review of Munky Blocks DS.

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've been trying to keep things juggling around for a while now. Hopping between Socoder work, little bits of music, youtube vids, and then the biggies.. the AGameAWeek's, and the weekly Socoder Newsletter.
There's a heck of a lot to do.
Recently I've also thrown 2WarioGamesAWeek into the pile, and I'm now keeping JNKPlat2010 up in the air, too.
OMG! It's getting mental!!!
To even consider adding to JNKPlatDS08, with some of the more recent blocks, would be a very very silly idea.

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.

A great little platformer, this week, albeit one without an end!
Well, there is an end, but I'm not 100% sure anyone will reach it. Having said that, I'm probably not the world's best person to ask about that. I suck at playing!
Anyhoo...
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Munky_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100316A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Munky_in_a_Mario_Costume_20100316A_thumb.png"></a>

As most of you know, I'm a bit crap at designing levels. I tend to leave that kind of thing to random generators, or other people!
Today I'm designing a level, and it's taking AGES!
It's already 10 o'clock, I've been at it for about 2 hours, and I've managed to make about 1/8th of a level.
That's 1/4 of it done, for those counting!

I've got the basics down, and am now working on getting a nice big level to play.
At first I was going to build a bunch of levels.. But.. um.. Time is of the essence, and all!
<a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Space_Munky_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_14_Mar_2010_163953).png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Space_Munky_in_a_Mario_Costume_(Screenshot_14_Mar_2010_163953)_thumb.png"></a>
This little screen resembles about 1% of the total level area, and i...

It's already the fourth day of making Munky Mario, and yet I've hardly got anything going. Yikes!
Munky runs and jumps and falls around the level, but there are no real obstacles or other gameplay elements yet.
Lots to do, and with the realisation that Sunday is Mother's Day, I've one day less to get it all done.
Uhoh!

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.

Pain has engulfed my world, this week.

The framework's coming together nicely, and things are looking up.
But there were Audio issues with various versions of Ubuntu (or rather, with the SAME versions of Ubuntu!!) that were causing the game to be silent, and then crash!
Hopefully I've managed to fix that, now.
There's a whole list of audio drivers available to the game, and all are nicely selectable in the nice Tab box.
Unfortunately, you will have to close and restart before it'll change the driver, or el...

Today, whilst uploading the new AGAW header for this site, I wondered if anyone would be interested in a simple little challenge.

Question : Name all the games in the new AGameAWeek header.
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/header.jpg"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/header_thumb.jpg">

AGameAWeek 2010 - Game Number One!
We'll call this a test game, because the whole framework thing still isn't quite up to scratch, with all kinds of missing features!
Plus I've put in LOADS of little quirks, things that should be quick have been made extra lengthy, and there's a bunch of redundancy.. This is half-done on purpose so that I can see what the available systems can and can't cope with.
Hopefully we'll find that they can!!
<a href="https://AGameA...

That went as well as could be expected. Xmas intervened, family issues cropped up, all manner of snow based issues, and I pretty much rushed through the last 4 or 5 of those!
Not that it was entirely noticeable. I happen to think the last two were cracking games.
But which were your favourites?
Three Hens a-Laying seemed remake-able, could be something more interest.

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Socoder Newsletter
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*phew* Just about!!!
<img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Munky_Blocks_DS_20091124A_thumb.png">
Munky Blocks DS, a complete remake of the original that can even make use of the level files from the PC edition, but also adds in a little mix of "Munky's Block" levels, too.
In the end, it's turned out as a lovely little game, but BOY was that a rushed ending!

This week, I've decided to try something a wee bit different.
If you're a fan of previous AGameAWeek games, you'll notice that I'm more than a little crap at designing levels.
It's a slight issue, but one that I've never bothered to care about.
Usually, any games that NEED levels will include a built in level editor. And folk who like the games will spend minutes trying to make one, and that'll be half the fun.
The trouble with this theory, of course, is ...

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Socoder Newsletter
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The last time we tried Munky Blocks we had 1 munky and many blocks. Munky had to collect the blocks, piece them together to form coloured areas, and blammo, they vanished.
This time, we only have one block.
Munky needs to pick up that block, and place it on top of the red button, to open up the red exit, and then he can leave.
A simple enough concept, but one that took so long to build I didn't really have time to build a decent set of levels.