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Socoder Newsletter

; Oops.. Missed a week!

#247 - Friday 15th January, 2016

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Developments

Oh dear.. I only managed about half-a-game yesterday. It started off well, but as I needed more and more art assets, I kinda got lazy, drifted off, and then started playing Words With Friends instead of drawing sprites. Whoops! That's not helping the limited schedule, much. Hopefully I can get the game finished, today, and maybe even move on to the next one. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/414_014.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-conten...

Developments

Spent yesterday powering through a quick monster-maze game. Managed to build a basic dungeon layout builder, got monsters wandering around, and generally made a nice playable little game. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/414_006.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/414_006-1024x597.png" alt="414_006" width="604" height="352" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-5165" /> This i...

Developments

I Think... *think* that I've finally got all my Multiplayer Controller code working in a suitable manner, for OUYA, Forge, GameStick and Flare, all from the same code. Unfortunately, my Archos GameStick is STILL bugging out. For some bizarre reason, it seems to feed the digital controls as Port One and the analogue controls as Port Two, which would explain why I'm always having to redefine the controls on the bloody thing. But, so far so good, and everything seems to be flowing ...

First thing's first, please be aware that I'm not compiling with sales in mind. With sales/IAPs, you'll need to do all manner of extra stuff like managing purchasable items and ensuring your code handles them correctly. This might break if you have IAPs!!! Untested!!! 1. Select OUYA target, and compile. 2. Head into build_folder/android_ouya/res/drawable-xhdpi Here you'll find the regular icon, and the OUYA Dashboard icon. Replace/doodle as necessary. 3. Compile again. 4. Head into build_fo...

Developments

RAWR! Last night I tried combining multiple controllers into one, which I mostly assumed would fail spectacularly, and indeed it did! The experiment was part of my efforts to get that bloomin' Archos Gamepad to work, but annoyingly trying to combine controllers 1 and 2 (Where controller 1 is the digital buttons, and controller 2 is for some reason the analogue sticks) only resulted in me being given lots of fake controller inputs, leading to the analogue sticks doing all manner ...

Developments

How long have I been coding NeonPlat Adventures 2? Because last night I only just got around to adding moving platforms, and that was one of the first thing I wanted to add to the thing. Grrrr. All this OUYA-Recompile stuff is certainly taking it's toll on getting the newer things done. Other things I wanted to do this year include getting an online scoreboard system working, making a new version of The Gear That Works, and of course making a new Advent Collexion, as well as g...

Developments

NPA2 is now NPCA, as it finally finds a proper title, "NeonPlat's Cosmic Adventure". I spent about 5 or 6 hours trying out various programs desperate to find a nice way to get a properly designed logo that would curve around the edge of the planet. In the end, I did what I usually did, and opted to just do the bloomin' thing myself. Ingredients 1. (URL "https://blitzmax.com">BlitzMax) 2. Selection of Fonts from (URL "https://www.1001freefonts.com/">10...

Developments

( width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z95Cn1S9d78" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>> Yesterday was spent tweaking various difficulty settings. There are 11 (0-10) available difficulties being coded into the level generator, and this video shows what happens at Level 3. Level 0 is easiest, with fewer easier to manage baddies, whilst level 10 is full of spikes and nasty Duck-Turrets. Today I'm going to be tweak...

Developments

Jumped back and forth through a couple of things, yesterday, but mostly spent more time working on the level builder. Things are starting to look a little more varied, and thankfully the addition of vertical scrolling has added a little bit more. I'm currently worried about making sure the levels are completable, as I haven't yet added an AI player run-through of the level, to ensure it's at least playable. I'll have to do that next, I suppose. In the meantime, I've been ensurin...

The Upgrade

Yesterday's blog was about an upgrade, and that's pretty much what today's is, too! Windows 10. Initial thoughts Everything is very very very very very very very very white. Even window titlebars are white. It's like someone figured out that White Emulsion is cheapest in bulk, so bought enough to cover the planet. It's THAT white! In fact, there's too much white, and the amount of white with light-grey is really hurting my eyes. I'm having ...

Upgrades

Annoyingly, not the upgrade I was looking for. Yesterday, for some bizarre and unexplainable reason, PaintShop Pro 7 suddenly broke. I'm not sure why it did, and I spent a good hour or so trying to figure it out, including a complete delete and reinstall, only to find the same issue. It's weird, and I'd never seen it ask for a "User Directory" before, but no matter what directory I told it to try, it failed, failed and failed again. I bought PSP7 in a Game store, way way way way b...

Developments

I really should be getting back to Boxsplosions, but watching SpikeDislike3's journey through the AppStore has been so much fun!! Yesterday, (URL "https://twitter.com/craiggrannell">@CraigGrannell) posted a glowing review over at (URL "https://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/SpikeDislike3/review.asp?c=66176">PocketGamer.co.uk) (URL "https://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/SpikeDislike3/review.asp?c=66176"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SD3_Po...

Developments

By now I should be mostly done with Boxsplosions, but unfortunately, and yet again, I've found myself wasting the day away doing not much more than SpikeDislike3 things! .. and a lot of that has been playing! Alarmingly, Rychan has been reaching amazing heights on the GameCenter scoreboards, easily slaughtering most of my best scores. Of course, I'm all too aware that people are much better at SpikeDislike than I am, but to see such HUGE scores shows just how compelling the gam...

Developments

A somewhat eventful day, yesterday, but one that took WAY too long!! As I finished off the last of the levels, and got the game working toa moderately lovely standard, I figured I might as well start throwing bits and pieces into iTunes. I've still got a number of days until Invisible Munky (hopefully) passes AppleReview, so I can relax and take my time with all the iTunesConnect gubbins. Starting with the the description, the screenshots, the icon, I continued on and decided to ...

Developments

Yesterday was spent tweaking a few odds and sods that I never really got around to doing previously. I, of course, added a few extra levels, and I added "OUYA Controller Button Icons" to the main menu, so it's marginally more obvious that you can use the shoulder buttons to open the Options menu and Scoreboard. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HeavilySubtle.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HeavilySubtle-1024x597.png" a...

Developments

Just when you think you're done with your menu system, you suddenly realise you've not got any options on the titlescreen! Whoops! (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_024.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_024-1024x597.png" alt="SD3_024" width="604" height="352" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4649" /> An hour or so later, and I'd half-wrangled old code with new, t...

Developments

Lots of background work, yesterday, as I continued to work on the menu system. (URL "https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_023.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SD3_023.png" alt="SD3_023" width="640" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4641" /> The two circles on the right currently show the topmost highscore of the level selected, as well as the last score. Now you c...

Developments

Not a lot of progress, yesterday. A LOT of stuff happened, but nothing substantial enough that I can show it off! I started adding background layers to SpikeDislike3, but at the minute it's all nasty looking temporary art. I'm quite surprised, however, that it worked as well as it did in the Faux-3D mode. Mmm.. Parallax! It took a LOT of effort to get the new elements in place, and I'm hoping that the iPhings (at least) can cope with everything that's going on. Seriously, th...

Developments

I spent a lot of yesterday faffing about with the "Start" screen of SpikeDislike3. At first I intended to have a giant spike be in the center of the screen, and in fact that's what happened for quite a while, but .. I'm not sure why, but I decided to switch to circles instead. Reusing my generic stripy circle from my basic menu meant I didn't have to redraw anything, and the new "Start" screen looks rather neat. .. or at least, for something I've done, it does! I spent some t...

OK, I still have lots of stuff to work out in my framework, but I've managed to get the important stuff into the engine, and everything else can be added and tweaked as we go. Although the "Online Scoreboards" aren't even barely started, I have at least made it work in such a way that, in future.. it "should" be pretty simple to head into my old code and bring the stuff to life. .. Hopefully! Anyway, that's all background stuff. What you're really here for is the games, and I'm happy to report that I'...

I say Failure, but it's been a sort of productive week. The thing is, every time I open my framework, I realise there's still LOADS of stuff that I haven't started, yet. At some point over this year, I'd like to start implementing online scoreboards, but that needs groundwork, and I haven't even begun. .. Well, I have, actually.. I started about a week ago, but there's a LOT of things you need to do, to get it working correctly, and that means a LOT of forethinking, and planning ahead. This week, I'v...